Books published by publisher Orion Pub Co

Ten witty and enchanting animal fables in verse which, like a modern Aesop's Fables, can be enjoyed by young and old alike'Because it was very hot in my house one day and I could not concentrate on my work, I decided to write a summer story involving mangoes and a river. By the time I had finished writing 'The Crocodile and the Monkey' (in a cool room lent to me by a friend), another story and other animals had begun stirring in my mind. And so it went on until all ten of these beastly tales were born - or re-born.Of the ten tales told here, the first two come from India, the next two from China, the next two from Greece, and the next two from the Ukraine. The final two came directly from the Land of Gup. I hope you enjoy them and have a beastly time.' Vikram Seth.

Antonia Fraser's bestselling account of the lives of women in seventeenth-century England.Just how weak were the women of the Civil War era? What could they expect beyond marriage and childbirth in an age where infant and maternal mortality was frequent and contraception unknown? Did anyone marry for love? Could a woman divorce? What rights had the unmarried? What expectations the widows?An expert on the period, Antonia Fraser brings to life the many and various women she has encountered in her considerable research: governesses, milkmaids, fishwives, nuns, defenders of castles, courtesans, countesses, witches and widows.

One of the most famous true stories from the last war, The GREAT ESCAPE tells how more than six hundred men in a German prisoner-of-war camp worked together to achieve an extraordinary break-out. Every night for a year they dug tunnels, and those who weren't digging forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes to wear once they had escaped. All of this was conducted under the very noses of their prison guards. When the right night came, the actual escape itself was timed to the split second - but of course, not everything went according to plan...

Gary Paulsen was in his forties, an internationally famous children's writer. Then he was overtaken by his passion - a passion for Alaskan dog-racing and a passion for the wild, beautiful landscape of the Arctic. Winterdance is the story of this passion. It is a powerful, almost unbelievable adventure, told with humour, pathos, vitality and excitement. Beautiful, funny and laconic, it is a book about men and dogs and their souls. 'An unputdownable celebration of the human spirit' Sunday Express

Dexter Morgan isn't exactly the kind of man you'd bring home to your mum. At heart, he's the perfect gentleman - he is supportive of his sister Deb, a Miami cop; he has a shy girlfriend and is liked by her young children. In fact, Dex seems to lead a quiet, normal life bordering on the mundane. Despite the fact that he can't stand the sight of blood, he works as a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami police. But Dexter also has a secret hobby: he is an accomplished serial killer. So far, he's killed 36 people and has never been caught because he knows exactly how to hide the evidence. And while that may lead some people to assume he's not such a nice guy - he tempers his insatiable hunger for brutality by only killing the bad guys. However, Dexter's well-organised life is suddenly disrupted when a second, much more visible serial killer appears in Miami. Intrigued that the other killer favours a style similar to his own, Dexter soon realises that the mysterious new arrival is not simply invading his turf but offering him a direct invitation to 'come out and play'...

Zara, Ziggy and Zoe are three little witches who live together in Magic Wood, where anything can happen. Cups and saucers wash themselves up, letters sprout wings, a calendar sings a song, the signpost changes direction, and Wizard Wink's school moves from place to place. These seven stories show the little witches' daily doings and their preparations for a Hallowe'en party with Baby Dragon, the Troll family, two little wizard boys and a horrid little witch called Melissa. Zara, Ziggy and Zoe are no more than small children living in a world of magic, and their adventures are full of humour and fun. Punctuated by catchy rhymes and speech bubbles, the stories demand to be read aloud, and with their bright, funny pictures and lively design they are hugely appealing.

Everyone - wizards, soldiers, farmers, elves, dragons, kings and queens alike - is fed up with Mr Chesney's Pilgrim Parties: groups of tourists from the next-door world who descend en masse every year to take the Grand Tour. What they expect are all the trappings of a grand fantasy adventure, including the Evil Enchantress, Wizard Guides, the Dark Lord, Winged Minions, and all. And every year different people are chosen to play these parts. But now they've had enough: Mr Chesney may be backed by a very powerful demon, but the Oracles have spoken. Nw it's up to the Wizard Derk and his son Blade, this year's Dark Lord and Wizard Guide, not to mention Blade's griffin brothers and sisters, to save the world from Mr Chesney's depredations.

For 10 years the august scientists of Harvard University have scoured the world's research establishments for the most bizarre and weird real-life scientific research. WHAT: The Ig Nobel Prize honours individuals whose achievements in science cannot or should not be reproduced. 10 prizes are given to people who have done remarkably bizarre things in science over the previous year. The Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony is held in October. Prizes are awarded by genuine Nobel laureates. WHY: The 'Igs' are intended to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative and shine a grubby spotlight onto the weird corners of laboratories around the world. PAST WINNERS: Peter Fong's experiment in which he fed Prozac to clams (Ig Nobel Biology Prize, 1998) on the basis that if they chilled out more they'd taste better. Harold Hillman's report on 'The Possible Pain Experienced during Execution by Different Methods' (Ig Nobel Peace Prize, 1997) Jerald Bain and Kerry Siminoski's examination of The Relationship among Height, Penile Length, and Foot Size (Ig Nobel Statistics Prize, 1998). Masumi Wakita (Ig Nobel Psychology Prize, 1995) and their achievement in training pigeons to discriminate between the paintings of Picasso and those of Monet Richard Seed (Ig Nobel Economics Prize, 1997) and his plan to clone himself and other human beings. Ida Sabelis (Ig Nobel Biology 2000) for Magnetic resonance Imaging of Male and Female Genitals During Coitus and Female Sexual Arousal The book will look behind the scenes of these landmark researchers and feature the weirdest research from a hundred years of science.