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"Grips the reader . . . The story has pace and excitement, unforced sentiment and wholly unaffected gaiety." - Times Literary Supplement "He knows how to build a story mounting page by page in suspense . . . a thriller if ever there was one, and a classic thriller at that." - New York Times "Admirably written . . . full of drama and good humour." - Evening Standard As wartime assignments go, Jerry Chambers doesn't have it too bad. By day he flies routine patrols over the English Channel, leaving his nights free for drinking and dancing with his girlfriend, the lovely barmaid Mona. Everything seems to be going right - until Jerry accidentally sinks a British submarine! Seeking to redeem himself, he accepts a transfer to a dangerous mission, risking his life to test an experimental and deadly new weapon that could help defeat Hitler. Meanwhile, back home, Mona thinks she has discovered proof of Jerry's innocence and sets out to clear his name - but will anyone believe her, and will she be too late? Based in part on real-life events that occurred during the Second World War, Nevil Shute's seventh novel, Landfall (1940), is a thrilling page-turner that draws on Shute's own experiences as a pilot and engineer. This edition features a new introduction by Rob Spence. About the Author: Nevil Shute (1899-1960) was one of the most popular and beloved British novelists of the 20th century. A prolific author, his works include the classics A Town Like Alice (1950) and On the Beach (1957), both of which were adapted as successful films.

"Andrew Pinkney is a young English lawyer with boyish good looks and a gentle manner, but a dark side emerges when his girlfriend Jennifer laughs at his impotence. He lashes out in a violent rage, knocking her unconscious. At the suggestion of his employer, Andrew heads to an isolated cottage in the dark Welsh countryside to take a break and get a grip on himself. In the woods, he discovers the grotesque stinkhorn mushroom, whose phallic shape seems to rise in obscene mockery of his own shortcomings. But the stinkhorn gives him an idea, a way to win Jennifer back. As the seeds of obsession take root in Andrew's mind, he embarks on a nightmarish quest, with unexpected and horrifying results"--

"A horror story the like of which is not often seen ... a tragic tale calculated to chill the blood of any reader whose nerves are not well under control." - New York Times "Twentieth-century American version of loup garou lore handled with due regard to traditional trappings and plentiful thrills ... Scary!" - Saturday Review "Sophisticated werewolf thriller, a serious attempt to ground lycanthropy in contemporary psychology ... Years ahead of its time." - Robert Knowlton, Horror Literature: A Reader's Guide In the heart of the superstitious Pennsylvania Dutch country stands the mansion of Pierre de Camp-d'Avesnes, whose family history dates to the 12th century, when, according to family lore, an ancestor made a deal with the devil. As part of the bargain, the legend says, every seventh generation a terrible curse is visited upon the eldest child of the family. Recently strange things have begun to happen: children are being savagely murdered, a mysterious white wolf has been sighted, and Pierre's daughter Sara has been behaving oddly. Is the curse to blame, or is there a rational explanation? Desperate to uncover the truth, Pierre enlists the aid of cynical journalist Manning Trent and psychiatrist and occult expert Dr. Justin Hardt. It's a race against time to save Sara and stop the killings as modern-day science and skepticism are pitted against medieval magic and superstition in this suspenseful thriller. Praised by contemporary critics and recognized by horror scholars as considerably ahead of its time, Franklin Gregory's The White Wolf (1941) is one of the best werewolf novels of its era. This new edition features the unabridged text of the first edition and a reproduction of the original jacket art.

'A writer of subtle, finely crafted supernatural tales.' - T.E.D. Klein '[H]is stories . . . build up a unique sense of unease.' - Brian Stableford '[T]ense, cryptic . . . brooding supernaturalism . . . unjustly forgotten.' - E. F. Bleiler Something is wrong with Colonel Habgood's young son Denis. Some mysterious force seems to be sapping his physical health, and his behaviour has become oddly evasive and deceptive. Habgood suspects the pernicious influence of Raoul, a sinister handyman with whom Denis has become infatuated, believing that the man may be corrupting and defiling his son. But even after Raoul's departure, the troubles continue, and Denis's strength continues to wane. In an old book of medieval legends, his father finds a possible, if implausible, answer in stories of a nameless horror from beyond the grave that feasts on the young in order to return to life. Or could what's happening to Denis have any connection to an unexplained death in the attic turret nearly eighty years ago? And isn't there something strange about the scarecrow out in the fields, which seems, barely perceptibly, to have moved . . . ? Originally published in a limited hardcover edition by the legendary Arkham House, John Metcalfe's The Feasting Dead (1954) is worthy of being ranked alongside The Turn of the Screw and the tales of M.R. James, L.P. Hartley, and Robert Aickman. This new edition of this classic novella, previously available only in expensive secondhand copies, will allow modern readers to rediscover the unjustly neglected Metcalfe (1891-1965).

"Inventor of a new mythology and weaver of surprising folklore, Lord Dunsany stands dedicated to a strange world of fantastic beauty . . . unexcelled in the sorcery of crystalline singing prose, and supreme in the creation of a gorgeous and languorous world of incandescently exotic vision. No amount of mere description can convey more than a fraction of Lord Dunsany's pervasive charm." - H.P. Lovecraft "There is a seam of memorable beauty running through the whole story." - Seamus Heaney, The Listener "This story shows Lord Dunsany at his best. His imagination, and his mellifluous prose, are to be found in it; but more than most of his books it keeps its feet upon earth . . . it has the singular, melancholy charm of something solid and yet hazy, like the woods in autumn." - Saturday Review "[N]o reader will forget the final wild scene . . . There is a strangeness and beauty and sorrow here, and all within a small and unobtrusive frame." - Bookman After his father's interference in Irish politics ends with a band of killers arriving on Christmas night to assassinate him, young Charles Peridore finds himself master of the estate. During idyllic school holidays, Charles enjoys riding to hounds and hunting geese and snipe while his friend Tommy Marlin tells stories of Tir-nan-Og, the land of eternal youth that lies just beyond the bog. But when Progress arrives in the form of an English corporation determined to convert the landscape into factories and housing, it appears that an entire way of life is destined to vanish. Only one thing stands in the way: the sorcery of an old witch, whose curses the English workers do not even believe in. In the novel's unforgettable conclusion, the ancient powers of the wise woman will be pitted against the machinery of modern corporate greed, with surprising and thrilling results. Lord Dunsany (1878-1957) is one of the most influential fantasy authors of the 20th century, counting H.P. Lovecraft, J.R.R. Tolkien, Michael Moorcock and Neil Gaiman among his many admirers. Regarded by many as his finest novel, The Curse of the Wise Woman (1933), a rich blend of fantasy, nostalgia and autobiography, returns to print for the first time in decades in this edition, which features a new introduction by Mark Valentine.

Series statement from publisher's website.

Originally published by Jonathan Cape in 1976.

'Buy, borrow or beg Keith Waterhouse's outstanding new novel. I can't recommend it too highly. Waterhouse has an uncanny gift for recapturing every attitude, agony and phrase of childhood and youth.' - Daily Mirror 'I wished I'd written Keith Waterhouse's first novel; and now, even more, I wish I'd written his second . . . Billy Liar is very funny: funny in a wild and sardonic and high-spirited way without malice or cruelty.' - John Braine, author of Room at the Top 'A brilliant novel, in language fresh and sweet, with characters vivid and singular in an inventive and dynamic story. It teems, it bursts with originality.' - Saturday Review 'Extremely funny . . . its lambent humour, quick-changing from robust to the delicate, is always fresh . . . should gladden the hearts of even the most exacting readers.' - Daily Telegraph Billy Fisher feels trapped by his working-class parents, his unfulfilling job as an undertaker's clerk, and his life in a dull, provincial town. His only refuge is in his daydreams, where he is the leader of the country of Ambrosia. Unfortunately, Billy's wild imagination leads him to tell lies constantly: to his parents, his employer, and his three girlfriends. On one tragi-comic Saturday, as Billy plots his escape to a life of adventure and excitement in London, all his lies finally catch up with him, with hilarious and disastrous results. A smash bestseller and one of the great comic novels of the 20th century, Billy Liar (1959) inspired an award-winning film, a play, a musical, a television series, and a sequel. This edition marks the novel's first publication in America in more than fifty years and includes a new introduction by Nick Bentley and a reproduction of the original jacket art by William Belcher.

'[A]mong the few great writers of our time.' - Auberon Waugh, The Independent 'He gets into the mind of his eleven-year-old, sees the world from the height of three foot six . . . The book is vivid, accurate, perceptive . . . how brilliant - and how honestly - the author makes his original effect.' - The Observer 'An exceptionally talented novelist.' - The Sunday Times 'Remarkable for the deep and unwavering insight it gives into child behaviour . . . the candour of his vision and the cunning of his art are such that he captures the very essence of the eleven-minus mind.' - The Times Inspired by its author's own childhood experiences, this moving novel is the story of a fateful few weeks in the life of an eleven-year-old boy on a public housing estate. When an eccentric man who is unusually fond of children (they nickname him 'Uncle Mad') moves onto the estate, the wheels of tragedy are set in motion, a tragedy made especially poignant because we experience it through the eyes of the young narrator, who is incapable of fully understanding the significance of the terrible events unfolding around him . . . Although Keith Waterhouse (1929-2009) is best known for his classic comic novel Billy Liar (1959), many critics believe his first novel, There is a Happy Land (1957), is his best. This edition is the first ever published in the United States and includes a new introduction by Bill Hagerty and the original jacket art by William Belcher.

"A valid and important human situation . . . The book is vivid with the characteristic Braine sights and smells." - Kenneth Allsop, Daily Mail "Triumphantly underlines the point that Room at the Top was no flash-in-the-pan. He alone, of the generation that has achieved celebrity in the last five years, is a genuine novelist in the great tradition." - Yorkshire Post "A gifted and skilled writer . . . His prose is at its best extremely vivid." - Richard Hoggart, The Guardian "The work of a real writer." - Peter Green, The Telegraph "Once again Mr. Braine shows his great capacity for a tearaway narrative, for crisp dialogue and stark emotion . . . The Vodi increases his stature." - London Times As a child, Dick Corvey discovered the existence of the Vodi, a race of ferret-faced creatures with luminous eyes responsible for all the misfortune and suffering in the world. Now fully grown, Dick lies in a sanitorium, suffering from untreatable tuberculosis. Unable to leave his hospital bed and convinced that the Vodi will win its ultimate triumph with his fast-approaching death, he spends his time remembering the many failures in his life that have led him to this point. But when an attractive nurse, Evelyn Mallaton, is transferred to Dick's ward and takes an interest in his recovery, Dick begins to believe in the possibility of regaining his health and defeating the Vodi once and for all. . . . The hero of John Braine's smash bestseller Room at the Top (1957) was a man determined to succeed at all costs; in his second novel, The Vodi (1959), Braine depicted a very different type of character: a man who seems destined to fail. This edition of The Vodi, which M. John Harrison has called "the defining moment of an as-yet-unreported genre: kitchen sink gothic," is the first-ever American reprint of the novel and includes a new introduction by Janine Utell.

"Remember the name John Braine. You'll be hearing quite a lot about him. Room at the Top is his first novel and it is a remarkable one . . . it's a long time since we heard the hunger of youth really snarling and it's a good sound to hear again." - Sunday Times "The most discussed, debated and lauded first novel of the year." - New York Times "This novel is brilliant . . . The observation is shrewd and the emotion and the comedy are so true it hurts." - Daily Express Brought up amid squalor and poverty in a dead, ugly small town, young Joe Lampton has one ambition: to escape the anonymous, defeated crowd of "zombies" and make it to the top. Everything seems to be going according to plan when he moves to a new city, finds a good job and new friends, and inspires the love of a pretty girl with a rich father. Only one thing holds him back: his passionate affair with an older married woman. Forced to choose between true love and his ruthless pursuit of wealth and success, Joe will have to make a terrible decision, with violent and tragic consequences. Room at the Top (1957), the first novel by John Braine (1922-1986), earned widespread critical acclaim and was a runaway bestseller in England and America, running into dozens of printings and spawning a sequel and an Oscar-winning film adaptation. Still explosive more than half a century later, Braine's classic of the "Angry Young Men" movement returns to print in this edition, which features a new introduction by Janine Utell and the original jacket art by John Minton.

Thousands, even millions, of birds are descending on London - gathering, sitting, watching. At first their arrival is met with curiosity and amusement, as people debate where the birds have come from and what they're doing here. But soon the feathered invaders start to show their sinister side, attacking, maiming, and even killing in incidents of tremendous brutality and violence. Are they an example of nature gone horribly awry, or a paranormal manifestation? Only one thing is certain: their aim is the destruction of mankind, and nobody has any idea how to stop them ... Frank Baker's avian apocalypse novel The Birds (1936) went largely unnoticed when first published, but after the release of Alfred Hitchcock's film in 1963, Baker threatened to sue, believing the director had borrowed from his book. The text of this definitive edition of Baker's classic is taken from his own copy of the book, in which he made hundreds of changes and corrections, never published until now. This edition also features an introduction by Hitchcock scholar Ken Mogg."The most original piece of imaginative fiction since Wells wrote War of the Worlds." - Birmingham Mail"Against the novels written for wholesale consumption, the fantasies of Frank Baker are an unfailing delight." - The New York Times"The story . . . is ingenious, and succeeds in creating a sinister atmosphere." - Time and Tide