Children of the Cull (17 page)
AFTER THE WORLD DIED, THE LEGEND WAS REBORN.
When civilisation shuddered and died, Robert Stokes lost everything, including his wife and his son. The ex-cop retreated into the woods near Nottingham, to live off the land and wait to join his family. As the world descended into a new Dark Age, he turned his back on it all.
The foreign mercenary and arms dealer De Falaise sees England is ripe for conquest. He works his way up the country, forging an army and pillaging as he goes. When De Falaise arrives at Nottingham and sets up his new dominion, Robert is drawn reluctantly into the resistance. From Sherwood he leads the fight and takes on the mantle of the world’s greatest folk hero.
The Hooded Man and his allies will become a symbol of freedom, a shining light in the horror of a blighted world, but he can never rest: De Falaise is only the first of his kind.
This omnibus collects the novels
Arrowhead
,
Broken Arrow
and
Arrowland
, with a new introduction by editor Jonathan Oliver. The ebook edition also exclusively collects the stories ‘The Servitor,’ ‘Perfect Presents,’ and ‘Signs and Portents.’
‘AFTER THE WORLD DIED, WE ALL SORT OF DRIFTED BACK TO SCHOOL. AFTER ALL, WHERE ELSE WAS THERE TO GO?’
Lee Keegan’s fifteen. If most of the population of the world hadn’t just died choking on their own blood, he might be worrying about acne, body odour and girls. As it is, he and the young Matron of his boarding school, Jane Crowther, have to try and protect their charges from cannibalistic gangs, religious fanatics, a bullying prefect experimenting with crucifixion, and even the might of the US Army.
Welcome to St. Mark’s School for Boys and Girls...
School’s Out Forever
collects
School’s Out
,
Operation Motherland
and
Children’s Crusade
, with the short story
The Man Who Would Not Be King
, an introduction by the editor, interviews, and new, previously unpublished material.
‘Youthful idealism conflicts with jaded experience, and the characters are frequently forced to balance ruthless effi ciency with utopian optimism... A lot of provocative discussion sneaks in under the cover of machine gun fire.’
Pornokitsch
on Kitschie Award Finalist
Children’s Crusade
WHEN THE WORLD ENDED...
The Cull swept the world in the early years of the twenty-first century, killing billions and ending civilisation. Only a fortunate few, blessed with the right blood type, were spared. In the chaos of the Afterblight, scientists, priests—even armed robbers—may become leaders, or heroes. Three incredible writers, including the bestselling author of the
Shadows of the Apt
series Adrian Tchaikovsky, lead us into the apocalypse.
In Malcolm Cross’s
Orbital Decay
, the team in the International Space Station watch helplessly as the world is all but wiped out. Exiled from Earth by his blood-type, astronaut Alvin Burrows must solve the mystery of the “Pandora” experiment, even as someone on the station takes to murdering the crew one by one...
In C. B. Harvey’s
Dead Kelly
, fugitive and convict “Dead” Kelly McGuire returns from hiding out in the Bush to the lawless city of Melbourne. McGuire has three jobs to do: to be revenged on his old gangmates, to confront some uncomfortable truths about his past, and—ultimately—to discover his own terrible destiny...
In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s
The Bloody Deluge
, Katy Lewkowitz and her friend and old tutor Dr. Emil Weber, fleeing the depredations of the so-called New Teutonic Order, take refuge among the strangely anachronistic survivors at the monastery of Jasna Góra in Western Poland. A battle of faith ensues, that could decide the future of humankind...