'A terrific, unexpected twist' Guardian 'Withered Hill is the ultimate nightmare destination' Laird BarronInsideA year ago Sophie Wickham stumbled into the isolated Lancashire village of Withered Hill, naked, alone and with no memory of who she is.Surrounded by a thick ring of woodland, its inhabitants seem to be of another world, drenched in pagan, folklorish traditions.As Sophie struggles to regain the memories of her life from before, she quickly realises she is a prisoner after multiple failed escape attempts. But is it the locals who keep her trapped, with smiles on their faces, or something else, lurking in the woods?OutsideIn London, Sophie leads a chaotic life, with too many drunken nights, inappropriate men and boring temp jobs. But things take a turn as she starts to be targeted by strange messages warning her that someone, or something, is coming for her.With no idea who to trust, or where to turn...

Political conflicts on Earth erupt into open hostilities between their colonies in space, with Xenomorphs as the ultimate weapon.On Earth, political tensions boil over between the United Americas, Union of Progressive Peoples, and Three World Empire. Conflict spreads to the outer fringes, and the UK colony of New Albion breaks with the Three World empire. This could lead to a... Colony War. Trapped in the middle are journalist Cher Hunt, scientist Chad McLaren, and the synthetic Davis. Seeking to discover who caused the death of her sister, Shy Hunt, Cher uncovers a far bigger story. McLaren's mission, fought alongside his wife Amanda Ripley, is to stop the militarization of the deadliest weapon of all—the Xenomorph. Their trail leads to a drilling facility on LV-187. Someone or something has destroyed it, killing the personnel, and the British are blamed. Colonial forces arrive, combat erupts, then both groups are overwhelmed...

Nineteenth century London is the center of a vast British Empire, a teeming metropolis where steam-power is king and airships ply the skies, and where Queen Victoria presides over three quarters of the known world—including the east coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775.Young Gideon Smith has seen things that no green lad of Her Majesty's dominion should ever experience. Through a series of incredible events Gideon has become the newest Hero of the Empire. But Gideon is a man with a mission, for the dreaded Texas pirate Louis Cockayne has stolen the mechanical clockwork girl Maria, along with a most fantastical weapon—a great brass dragon that was unearthed beneath ancient Egyptian soil. Maria is the only one who can pilot the beast, so Cockayne has taken girl and dragon off to points east. Gideon and his intrepid band take to the skies and travel to the American colonies hot on Cockayne's trail. Not only does Gideon want the...

Nineteenth century London is the center of a vast British Empire. Airships ply the skies and Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world—including the East Coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775. London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast. Gideon Smith dreams of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, told in Gideon’s favorite “penny dreadful.” When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work.  Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him, Gideon sets off for London. On the way he rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities. Together they make for London, where Gideon finally meets Captain Trigger. But Trigger is little more than an aging fraud, providing cover for the covert activities of his lover, Dr. John Reed, a privateer and sometime agent of the British Crown. Looking for heroes but finding only frauds and crooks, it falls to Gideon to step up to the plate and attempt to save the day...but can a humble fisherman really become the true Hero of the Empire? David Barnett's Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a fantastical steampunk fable set against an alternate historical backdrop: the ultimate Victoriana/steampunk mash-up! Review"A triumph of the modern pulp genre. Funny, clever and superbly executed…I guarantee you'll have fun as you breeze through this first adventure of Gideon Smith, and I commend it to you all. I'm already anxious for the next one."—George Mann, author of The Immortality Engine“A great-hearted, rollicking romp through the many worlds of classic pulp—loads of fun.” —Nick Harkaway,  author of The Gone-Away World and AngelmakerAbout the AuthorDAVID BARNETT is an award-winning journalist, currently multimedia content manager of the Telegraph & Argus, cultural reviewer for The Guardian and the Independent on Sunday, and he has done features for The Independent and Wired.  He is the author of Angelglass (described by The Guardian as “stunning”), Hinterland, and popCULT!

Flying straight from the pages of the Gideon Smith steampunk novels is airship pilot Rowena Fanshawe, who in this tale pre-dating the books discovers that heroes do not necessarily always behave with honor.At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Born in darkness, they arise. Seductive angels of murder, madness, and horrors beyond imagining. Bathed in moonlight, they feed their darkest hungers in a festival of perversion and death, demented orgies that serve a cruel, unspeakable will… They are irresistible sirens in black, corrupting the living and raising the dead. Now the silent town of Exham will surrender to their loving embrace…