Hungover aristocrat Edward "Charlie" Decharles awakens in the back of a steam-cab, only to discover that the driver has been murdered. Unused to feeling responsible for anything, he feels compelled to find the killer. As he investigates, he meets "The Amazing" Gladys Dunchurch, a stage magician's assistant whose employer has disappeared – and not in a good way. They form an alliance – Charlie will help Gladys with his considerable resources and Gladys will help Charlie with her even more considerable brains. Soon they discover that their respective mysteries are not only connected to each other, but related to other seemingly unrelated strangeness transpiring in London – the murder of an astronomer, an attack on a patent medicine factory, a mysterious cult in an idyllic town, and reports of deadly creatures in the London sewers. Charlie and Gladys find themselves pitted against dead-eyed assassins, murderous pirates, wingless flying machines, and perhaps even creatures from beyond this Earth. And lurking behind it all lies a sinister cabal that knows the secret origin of the steam-powered society that powers their world. Can our heroes save the day, or will the fallout from that secret destroy two worlds? Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys is a fun, witty Steampunk adventure yarn, featuring a cast of eccentric characters.

Axel Platzoff does not work at the Handy Pavilion by choice. Stacking shelves seemed beneath the former supervillain who had come close to world domination so many times. But as part of his plea deal with the Hague, Axel had to work somewhere, so he worked at the big-box hardware store in the sleepy Australian suburb of South Hertling. Fortunately, he is not the only eccentric employee of the place. Other Pavilionites come from backgrounds almost as strange as Axel's. There are cyborgs, ape-men, ghosts, and assistant managers; dryads, time-travellers, demigods and school leavers. Finally, Axel feels at home. Then, tragedy strikes. The construction of a rival hardware store, just across Hurley Road, threatens Axel's living and his new friends. Axel has no choice but to to take the fight to his enemies, the only way he knows how. But is the DIY Barn really nothing but a rival hardware store, or is it a front for sinister forces, far more terrifying than the Pavilionites ever imagined? (Spoiler: It's the second one) An engaging mix of urban fantasy and workplace comedy, Mysterious Aisles follows its eccentric ensemble cast as they march towards open warfare with the Barnling forces.

The future is now, but also was then, and may still be happening at the same time. South Hertling is no stranger to weirdness. Evil hardware stores, aliens, supervillains, talking cats... the little Australian suburb has seen them all, and more. Now there's a spooky Pyramid, and it spreads its shadow across the South Hertling Super Centre every day. It falls to Alfred Pilbrook to do something about it, which is a little unfair because he just runs a watch shop. Fighting anomalous monuments isn't really his thing. But Emma Crispin from the storage accessories shops is quite keen on tidying the Pyramid away and Alfred is quite keen on Emma so... Yeah, it's looking like it's Alfred's problem however you slice it. Fortunately, the shopkeepers have help in the form of the time-lost steampunk engineer Fanaka and the deeply unammused Donna Coheco. Can this colorful quartet save the day and defeat the ill-defined but probably evil forces behind the Pyramid? Or can they fail to do that? Those are really the only options, here. AI content free.

Think deep. The deep of the sea, the deep of space, the deep of our souls, our fears ... ourselves. Fear not the monsters under your bed—but the mermaids under your boat. Merciless Mermaids: Tails from the Deep?features thirty original stories and poems by Mercedes Lackey, Rick Wilber, D.J. Butler, Gama Ray Martinez, Julia Vee, Ken Bebelle, and many others. From Japanese legends to mafia mermen, from carnival freaks to flying aces, from bayou legends to kraken-like behemoths, these tales explore the darker side of merfolk: desire, envy, love unfulfilled, grace ungranted, loneliness turned to rage.... Can you see the shapes in the waters that watch you? Do you hear the lure of a siren’s call?

Comedic film actress Kay Kendall, born to a theatrical family in Northern England, came of age in London during the Blitz. After starring in Britain's biggest cinematic disaster, she found stardom in 1953 with her brilliant performance in the film Genevieve. She scored success after success with her light comic style in movies such as Doctor in the House, The Reluctant Debutante, and the Gene Kelly musical Les Girls. Kendall's private life was even more colorful than the plots of her films as she embarked on a series of affairs with costars, directors, producers, and married men. In 1954 she fell in love with her married Constant Husband costar Rex Harrison and accompanied him to New York, where he was starring on Broadway in My Fair Lady. It was there that Kendall was diagnosed with myelocytic leukemia. Her life took a romantic and tragic turn as Harrison divorced his wife and married Kendall. He agreed with their doctor that she was never to know of her diagnosis, and for the next two years the couple lived a hectic, glamorous life together as Kendall's health failed. She died in London at the age of 32 with her husband by her side shortly after completing the filming of Once More with Feeling!. This book was written with the cooperation of Kendall's sister Kim and includes interviews with many of her costars, relatives, and friends. A complete filmography and rare photographs complete this first-ever biography of Britain's most glamorous comic star.