Books with author Simon Vance

A stunning departure, a surprising and compelling return…From Anne Rice, perennial best seller, single-handed reinventor of the vampire cosmology--a new, exhilarating novel, a deepening of her vampire mythology, and a chillingly hypnotic mystery-thriller."What can we do but reach for the embrace that must nowcontain both heaven and hell: our doom again and again andagain…" --from The Vampire LestatRice once again summons up the irresistible spirit-world of the oldest and most powerful forces of the night, invisible beings unleashed on an unsuspecting world able to take blood from humans, in a long-awaited return to the extraordinary world of the Vampire Chronicles and the uniquely seductive Queen of the Damned ("mesmerizing" --San Francisco Chronicle), a long-awaited novel that picks up where The Vampire Lestat ("brilliant…its undead characters are utterly alive" --New York Times) left off more than a quarter of a century ago to create an extraordinary new world of spirits and forces--the characters, legend, and lore of all the Vampire Chronicles.The novel opens with the vampire world in crisis…vampires have been proliferating out of control; burnings have commenced all over the world, huge massacres similar to those carried out by Akasha in The Queen of the Damned…Old vampires, roused from slumber in the earth are doing the bidding of a Voice commanding that they indiscriminately burn vampire-mavericks in cities from Paris and Mumbai to Hong Kong, Kyoto, and San Francisco.As the novel moves from present-day New York and the West Coast to ancient Egypt, fourth century Carthage, 14th-century Rome, the Venice of the Renaissance, the worlds and beings of all the Vampire Chronicles-Louis de Pointe du Lac; the eternally young Armand, whose face is that of a Boticelli angel; Mekare and Maharet, Pandora and Flavius; David Talbot, vampire and ultimate fixer from the secret Talamasca; and Marius, the true Child of the Millennia; along with all the other new seductive, supernatural creatures-come together in this large, luxuriant, fiercely ambitious novel to ultimately rise up and seek out who-or what-the Voice is, and to discover the secret of what it desires and why…And, at the book's center, the seemingly absent, curiously missing hero-wanderer, the dazzling, dangerous rebel-outlaw--the great hope of the Undead, the dazzling Prince Lestat…

The first book written by C. S. Lewis after his conversion, The Pilgrim's Regress is, in a sense, a record of Lewis' own search for meaning and spiritual satisfaction that eventually led him to Christianity. It is the story of John and his odyssey to an enchanting island that has created in him an intense longing, a mysterious, sweet desire. John's pursuit of this desire takes him through adventures with such people as Mr. Enlightenment, Media Halfways, Mr. Mammon, Mother Kirk, Mr. Sensible, and Mr. Humanist and through such cities as Thrill and Eschropolis, as well as the Valley of Humiliation. Though the dragons and giants here are different from those in Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Lewis' allegory performs the same function of enabling the author to say in fable form what would otherwise have demanded a full-length philosophy of religion.

The bestselling novel, "a brilliant, massive combination of history and supernatural horror" (Stephen King), now a major TV series.The men on board the HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. But what they don't expect is a monstrous predator lurking behind the Arctic ice. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a horrifying end, Captain Francis Crozier takes command, leading his surviving crewmen on a last desperate attempt to flee south across the ice.But another winter is rapidly approaching, and with it, scurvy and starvation. Crozier and his men may find that there is no escaping the terror stalking them southward. And with the crushing cold and the fear of almost certain death at their backs, the most horrifying monster among them may be each other.

The first book written by C. S. Lewis after his conversion, The Pilgrim's Regress is, in a sense, a record of Lewis' own search for meaning and spiritual satisfaction that eventually led him to Christianity. It is the story of John and his odyssey to an enchanting island that has created in him an intense longing, a mysterious, sweet desire. John's pursuit of this desire takes him through adventures with such people as Mr. Enlightenment, Media Halfways, Mr. Mammon, Mother Kirk, Mr. Sensible, and Mr. Humanist and through such cities as Thrill and Eschropolis, as well as the Valley of Humiliation. Though the dragons and giants here are different from those in Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Lewis' allegory performs the same function of enabling the author to say in fable form what would otherwise have demanded a full-length philosophy of religion.

The certainties of the modern world are about to be blown apart by a three-thousand-year-old conspiracy nurtured by blood and lies. A man throws himself to his death from the oldest inhabited place on Earth: a mountain called the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in southern Turkey. But this is no ordinary suicide; it is a symbolic act. And thanks to the media, it is witnessed by the entire world. Few people understand its consequence. For foundation worker Kathryn Mann and others around the world, it is evidence that a hopeful new beginning is at hand. For the secretive monks who live inside the Citadel, it may mean the end of everything they have built--and they will kill, and torture, to stop it. For Liv Adamsen, a New York reporter, it spurs the memory of her lost brother and begins the next stage of a journey into the heart of her own identity. At that journey's end lies a discovery that will change everything.

Clem, a working-class boy living in government-assisted housing, and Frankie, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, must keep their relationship secret. If it’s discovered, their world will be blown apart.But unknown to them, President John F. Kennedy and the Russian leader, Nikita Khruschev, are shaping up to do just that—blow the world apart—as the two leaders fight over a small island in the Caribbean Sea, leading up to the events that will later be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.For Frankie and Clem, “time, like everything else, is against them.”In his most brilliant and ambitious novel yet, Mal Peet portrays the shattering power of love and the ricocheting effect of war through generations. “Witty, super-smart, heartbreakingly generous, it’s so good, you almost want to keep it a secret.” -Patrick Ness, author of the award-winning Chaos Walking series“Life: An Exploded Diagram is Mal Peet’s finest work to date, by turns hysterically funny, sad, poignant, bitter, and rude, but always with that unfakeable sense of deep truth.” -Anthony McGowan, author of The Knife That Killed Me“A new novel by Mal Peet is always something to be eagerly anticipated: finely drawn characters, ambitious storytelling, a broad historical canvas, piercing social critique—and now, much more than in previous novels, a delightfully irreverent streak of humor.” -Jonathan Hunt, blogger for School Library Journal’s Heavy Medal blog “An astonishingly engaging, wonderful, un-put-downable book. His gorgeous writing makes one reread sentences over and over again for the pure joy of experiencing the language.” -Carol Stoltz, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA

A man climbs a cliff face in the oldest inhabited place on earth, a mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in modern-day Turkey. But this is no ordinary ascent: it is a dangerous, symbolic act. And thanks to the media, it is an event witnessed by the entire world. Few people understand its consequence. But for foundation worker Kathryn Mann and a handful of others, it's evidence that a revolution is at hand. For the Sancti, the secretive monks who liveinside the Citadel, it could mean the end of everything they have built, and they will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to keep what is theirs. For American reporter Liv Adamsen, it spurs the memory of the beloved brother she lost years before, setting her on a journey across the world and into the heart of her own identity, where she will make a discovery so shocking that it will change everything.

Clem, a working-class boy living in government-assisted housing, and Frankie, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, must keep their relationship secret. If it’s discovered, their world will be blown apart.But unknown to them, President John F. Kennedy and the Russian leader, Nikita Khruschev, are shaping up to do just that―blow the world apart―as the two leaders fight over a small island in the Caribbean Sea, leading up to the events that will later be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.For Frankie and Clem, “time, like everything else, is against them.”In his most brilliant and ambitious novel yet, Mal Peet portrays the shattering power of love and the ricocheting effect of war through generations. “Witty, super-smart, heartbreakingly generous, it’s so good, you almost want to keep it a secret.” -Patrick Ness, author of the award-winning Chaos Walking series“Life: An Exploded Diagram is Mal Peet’s finest work to date, by turns hysterically funny, sad, poignant, bitter, and rude, but always with that unfakeable sense of deep truth.” -Anthony McGowan, author of The Knife That Killed Me“A new novel by Mal Peet is always something to be eagerly anticipated: finely drawn characters, ambitious storytelling, a broad historical canvas, piercing social critique―and now, much more than in previous novels, a delightfully irreverent streak of humor.” -Jonathan Hunt, blogger for School Library Journal’s Heavy Medal blog “An astonishingly engaging, wonderful, un-put-downable book. His gorgeous writing makes one reread sentences over and over again for the pure joy of experiencing the language.” -Carol Stoltz, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA