Cirrus@Austlit

'The House of Ramesses falters as Tausret relinquishes the throne upon the death of her husband, King Seti. Amenmesse's young son Siptah will become king until her infant son is old enough to rule. Tausret, as Regent, and the king's uncle, Chancellor Bay, hold tight to the reins of power, and vie for complete control of the kingdoms.

'Assassination changes the balance of power and Chancellor Bay attempts a coup...

Tausret's troubles mount as she also faces a challenge from Setnakhte, an ageing son of the Great Ramesses who believes Seti was the last legitimate king. If Setnakhte gets his way, he will destroy the House of Ramesses and set up his own dynasty of kings.'

source: Publisher's blurb.

'Merenptah is dead after only nine years on the throne and his son Seti is king in his place. He rules from the northern city of Men-nefer, while his elder brother Messuwy, convinced the throne is his by right, plots rebellion in the south. The kingdoms are tipped into bloody civil war, with brother fighting against brother for the throne of a united Egypt. On one side is Messuwy, now crowned as King Amenmesse and his ruthless General Sethi; on the other, young King Seti and his wife Tausret. But other men are weighing up the chances of wresting the throne from both brothers and becoming king in their place. The House of Ramesses crumbles under the onslaught.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Scarab and her brother Smenkhkare are in exile in Nubia, but are gathering an army to wrest control of Egypt from the boy king Tutankhamen and his controlling uncle, Ay. Meanwhile, the kingdoms are beset by internal troubles and the Amorites are pressing hard against the northern borders. Generals Horemheb and Paramessu must fight a war on two fronts while deciding where their loyalties lie - with the former king Smenkhkare or with the new young king in Thebes. Smenkhkare and Scarab march on Thebes with their native army to meet the legions of Tutankhamen on the plains outside the city gates. The fate of Egypt and the 18th dynasty hang in the balance as two brothers battle for supremacy and the throne of the Two Kingdoms.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Egypt was at the height of its powers in the days of Ramesses the Great and the young king confidently predicted that his House would last for a Thousand Years. Sixty years later he was still on the throne and one by one his heirs had died and the survivors had become old men. When he at last died, he left a stagnant kingdom and his throne to an old man - Merenptah. What followed laid the groundwork for a nation ripped apart by civil war. The northern tribes rebelled and joined forces with the Sea Peoples, invading from the north; while in the south the king's eldest son, angered at being passed over in favour of the younger son, plotted to rid himself of his father and brother. An ageing king takes to the field to fight for the House of Ramesses.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Ned Abernathy is a hot-tempered young cowboy in the small town of Hammond's Bluff in the Dakota Territories in 1876. In a drunken argument with his best friend Billy over a girl, he guns him down. He flees, and wanders the plains, forests and hills of the Dakota Territories, certain that every man's hand is against him. Horse rustlers, marauding Indians, killers, gold prospectors and French trappers cross his path and lead to complications, as do persistent apparitions of what Ned believes is the ghost of his friend Billy, come to accuse him of murder. He finds love and loses it, he finds gold in the Black Hills and must defend his new-found wealth against greedy men. Finally, he comes to terms with who he is and what he has done. Ned confronts the ghosts of his past and returns to Hammond's Bluff, where a shocking surprise awaits him at the end of the haunted trail.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Australian Professor Ian Delaney is single-minded in his determination to prove his theory that one can discover the moment that the life force leaves the body. After succumbing to the temptation to kill a girl under scientifically controlled conditions, he takes an offer of work in St Louis, hoping to leave the undiscovered crime behind him. In America, Wayne Richardson seeks revenge by killing his ex-girlfriend, believing it will give him the upper hand, a means to seize control following their breakup. Wayne quickly discovers that he enjoys killing and begins to seek out young women who resemble his dead ex-girlfriend. Ian and Wayne meet, and when Ian recognizes the symptoms of violent delusion he employs Wayne to help him further his research. Despite the police closing in, the two killers manage to evade identification as the death toll rises. John Barnes, the detective in charge of the case, is frantic, willing to try anything to catch his killer. With time running out, he looks desperately for answers. Will John get them before it's too late?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Born of the smokeless flame in the wilderness of prehistoric Arabia, a djinni comes into being. A creature of pure energy, he takes the form of a green-tinged blue flame that feeds off the life forces of human kind, taking pleasure in death and terror. A chance encounter with a shepherd on a mountain alters the course of his existence. The man mistakes him for a god and offers up an act of worship. Amused, Djinn maintains the deception and the god al-Ilah is born.

'Over hundreds of years, he bends the tribes of Arabia to his will until another man and another god oust him from his place of pre-eminence. Cast back into the role of demon, Djinn wanders the Islamic world, from Spain to India and beyond, bringing death and despair to those whose lives he touches. Then he encounters a Raksha demon in India and finds himself fighting for survival against the gods themselves.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'January 1945, and the Soviet Army is poised for the final push through East Prussia and Poland to Berlin. Elisabet Daeker and her five young sons are in Königsberg, East Prussia, and have heard the stories of Russian atrocities. They seek to escape to the perceived safety of Germany. This is the story of their struggle to survive, of the hardships endured at the hands of Nazi hardliners, of Soviet troops bent on rape, pillage and murder, and of Allied cruelty in the Occupied Zones of post-war Germany. 'We Came From Königsberg' is based on a true story gleaned from the memories of family members sixty years after the events, from photographs and documents, and from published works of non-fiction describing the times and events that are described in the narrative. Elisabet Daeker's sons, and subsequent daughters, all have families of their own, and have carved out meaningful lives for themselves in far-flung parts of the world. One thing they all claim, though, is - we came from Königsberg.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A small boy discovers that being a Jew in Germany can be a dangerous thing. Fear prompts Konrad Wengler to put his faith aside and he tries desperately to forget his heritage. He fights in the Great War and is wounded, becomes a policeman in his tiny Bavarian town, where he falls under the spell of the fledgling Nazi Party. He joins the Party in patriotic fervour and becomes a Lieutenant of Police and Schutzstaffel (SS). In the course of his duties as policeman, he offends a powerful Nazi official, who starts an SS investigation of this troublesome police Lieutenant. When war breaks out, he joins the Police Battalions and is sent to Poland where he has to witness the atrocities being committed upon his fellow Jews. The SS investigators have discovered Konrad's origins and follow him into Poland. He is arrested and sent to Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Suddenly, Konrad must face what it means to be a Jew and fight for survival. He has friends on the outside, a wife and a lawyer, but will they be enough to counter the might of the Nazi machine?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Three thousand years after the reigns of the Amarnan Kings, the archaeologists who discovered the inscriptions in Syria, journey to Egypt to find the tomb of Smenkhkare and his sister Scarab, and the fabulous treasure they think is there. Unscrupulous men, and religious fanatics, also seek the tomb, either to plunder it or to destroy it. Can the gods of Egypt protect their own, or must they rely on modern day men and women of science?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Storing carbon dioxide underground as a means of removing a greenhouse gas responsible for global warming has made James Matternicht a fabulously wealthy man. For 15 years, the Carbon Capture and Sequestration Facility at Rushing River in Oregon's hinterland has been operating without a problem – or so it seems. Annaliese Winton is a reporter, and when mysterious documents arrive on her desk that purport to show the Facility is leaking, she investigates. Together with a government geologist, Matt Morrison, she uncovers a morass of corruption and deceit that now threatens the safety of her community and the whole northwest coast of America. Liquid carbon dioxide, stored at the critical point under great pressure, is a tremendously dangerous substance, and millions of tonnes of it are sequestered in the rock strata below Rushing River. All it takes is a crack in the overlying rock and the whole pressurized mass could erupt with disastrous consequences. And that crack has always been there...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Rakshasa is a demon. He doesn’t know where he came from or how he came to be in the first place. All he knows is that he feeds on the dying thoughts of men and that he is hungry.

'Engendered in ancient times in the north of India, he wanders, doing exactly what he wants, killing when and where he pleases until he attracts the attention of a god. Fleeing for his life, Rakshasa must now come to terms with what he is and his place in the scheme of things. Hiding from the gods, he delves into the world of men, following individual lives and impacting on them. As his knowledge grows, so does his dissatisfaction and he wonders whether he must always be a demon or whether he can change his nature.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'General Horemheb has taken control after the death of Ay and Nakhtmin, and forcing Scarab to marry him, ascends the throne of Egypt. The Two Kingdoms settle into an uneasy peace as Horemheb proceeds to stamp out all traces of the former kings. He also persecutes the Khabiru tribesmen who were reluctant to help him seize power. Scarab escapes into the desert, where she is content to wait until Egypt needs her. A holy man emerges from the desert, and demands that Horemheb release the Khabiru so they may worship his god. Scarab recognises the holy man and supports him in his efforts to free his people. The gods of Egypt and of the Khabiru are invoked and disaster sweeps down on the Two Kingdoms as the Khabiru flee with Scarab and the holy man. Horemheb and his army pursue them to the shores of the Great Sea, where a natural event or maybe the hand of God alters the course of Egyptian history.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Tutankhamen is dead and his grieving widow tries to rule alone, but her grandfather Ay has not destroyed the former kings just so he can be pushed aside. Presenting the Queen and General Horemheb with a fait accompli, the old Vizier assumes the throne of Egypt and rules with a hand of hardened bronze. His adopted son, Nakhtmin, will rule after him, and stamp out the last remnants of loyalty to the former kings. Scarab was sister to three kings and will not give in to the usurper and his son. She battles against Ay and his legions under the command of General Horemheb, and aided by desert tribesmen and the gods of Egypt themselves, finally confronts them in the rich lands of the Nile delta to decide the future of Egypt.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Scarab – Smenkhkare follows on from the first book in this series as King Akhenaten, distraught at the rebellion and exile of his beloved wife Nefertiti, withdraws from public life, content to leave the affairs of Egypt in the hands of his younger half-brother Smenkhkare. When Smenkhkare disappears on a hunting expedition, his sister Beketaten, known as Scarab, is forced to flee for her life. Finding refuge among her mother's people, the Khabiru, Scarab has resigned herself to a life in exile, when she hears that her brother Smenkhkare is still alive. He is raising an army in Nubia to overthrow Ay and reclaim his throne. Scarab hurries south to join him as he confronts Ay and General Horemheb outside the gates of Thebes.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A chance discovery in Syria reveals answers to the mystery of the ancient Egyptian sun-king, the heretic Akhenaten and his beautiful wife Nefertiti. Inscriptions in the tomb of his sister Beketaten, otherwise known as Scarab, tell a story of life and death, intrigue and warfare, in and around the golden court of the kings of the glorious 18th dynasty. The narrative of a young girl growing up at the centre of momentous events - the abolition of the gods, foreign invasion and the fall of a once-great family - reveals who Tutankhamen's parents really were, what happened to Nefertiti, and other events lost to history in the great destruction that followed the fall of the Aten heresy.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Samantha and James Hay have been advised that their missing daughter Gaia and Yowie nursemaid Cindy have been located in ancient Australia. The scientist, Dr. Xanatuo, an alien scientist who, along with a lost tribe of Neanderthals and other beings who are working to help mankind, has discovered a way to send them back in time to be reunited with Gaia. Ernie, the old Aboriginal tracker and Garagh, leader of the Neanderthals, along with friends Ratana and Nathan, all characters from the first two books of the trilogy, will accompany them. This team of intrepid adventurers have another mission for the journey along with aiding the Hayes' quest, which is paramount to changing a terrible wrong which exists in the present time. Lauded as the 'Australian Jurassic Park' Looking Glass is a mixture of Aboriginal mythology, present day UFO activity and pure science. It guarantees to please any reader who enjoys well researched, action packed and mind blowing events.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.