A look at the season of Christmas and winter through the medium of light verse, 'The Arse End of the Year' chronicles the build up to the festive season, the solstice, the day itself and the post-Christmas slothfulness, together with aspects of the cold and dreary winter season so beloved by, well, not many people actually. From the reindeer shaped blips on the air traffic controllers' screen, to the disappearing cheese portions; from forgetting auld acquaintance to the difficulty of burying dead bodies in frosty weather, Peter Goulding gives us a uniquely personal insight into the season in his inimitable style, not that many people would want to imitate it.

As a detective’s personal life unravels, he must piece together the clues to a baffling series of murders in this Scottish Highlands crime thriller. A family day out turns sour for DI McKay when he stumbles across an unidentified corpse. The day becomes darker still when his brother-in-law goes missing and is eventually found dead, the result of a seemingly accidental fall. Meanwhile, DCI Helena Grant has a disastrous on-line date with a senior manager of a local hotel chain whose behavior escalates from pompous to downright disturbing. And, as she arrives home, she receives a threatening text from someone who has clearly been watching her. When a further body is found at the edge of the Cromarty Firth, McKay and Grant begin to piece together a grim tale of violence, human trafficking, and the darkest family secrets.

For the first time, Her Majesty's diaries are opened... 'Had Mrs 'call me Carole' Middleton on the phone after lunch. Wanting to check 'our outfits don't clash on the big day'. One seriously doubts they would.' Queen of sixteen sovereign nations, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. She's one of the world's most well-known and powerful leaders and has reigned for almost 60 years. She's been privy to every major event and decision. But what does she really think? 'One does enjoy the Eurovision Song Contest. Lovely to be reminded how much more civilised the British are than our European neighbours. Royal Eurovision Fancy Dress Party to celebrate. Unfortunately Camilla misread the invitation as 'Euro-tunnel Fancy Dress Party' and came as a train.' Taking in the momentous events of 2011, including two Royal Weddings, the phone hacking scandal and the Duke of Edinburgh's 90th Birthday Tarts and Vicars Party, these diaries reveal the seldom-seen workings of state and reveal how an octogenarian is quietly ruling the world and still has time for a gin. 'No, Mr Clegg, people born in Libya are not 'Librarians'. twitter.com/queen_uk facebook.com/royalginoclock

Short-listed for the 2015 Man Booker Prize The Guardian: The Best Novels of 2015 The Independent: Literary Fiction of the Year 2015 From one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and Man Booker Prize nominee Sunjeev Sahota—a sweeping, urgent contemporary epic, set against a vast geographical and historical canvas, astonishing for its richness and texture and scope, and for the utter immersiveness of its reading experience. Three young men, and one unforgettable woman, come together in a journey from India to England, where they hope to begin something new—to support their families; to build their futures; to show their worth; to escape the past. They have almost no idea what awaits them. In a dilapidated shared house in Sheffield, Tarlochan, a former rickshaw driver, will say nothing about his life in Bihar. Avtar and Randeep are middle-class boys whose families are slowly sinking into financial ruin, bound together by Avtar’s secret. Randeep, in turn, has a visa wife across town, whose cupboards are full of her husband’s clothes in case the immigration agents surprise her with a visit. She is Narinder, and her story is the most surprising of them all. The Year of the Runaways unfolds over the course of one shattering year in which the destinies of these four characters become irreversibly entwined, a year in which they are forced to rely on one another in ways they never could have foreseen, and in which their hopes of breaking free of the past are decimated by the punishing realities of immigrant life. A novel of extraordinary ambition and authority, about what it means and what it costs to make a new life—about the capaciousness of the human spirit, and the resurrection of tenderness and humanity in the face of unspeakable suffering.

Her husband's moved out - and her dad's moved in... Curl up with the page-turning story full of emotion about family, marriage and second chances It's New Year's Eve, and Iris has just found out that her husband, Adam, is cheating on her. Furious, she kicks him out, and enlists her Dad to move in and help with the children whilst she tries to mend her broken heart. But her Dad soon starts to display signs of Alzheimer's, and Iris realises that if she loses her partner, she'll be managing an awful lot on her own. Soon, she realises that Adam wasn't the only one taking their marriage for granted, and for the sake of the children she decides to give him one more chance. But is it braver to stay than to run? And can anyone fall in love with the same person twice? See what your favourite authors are saying about I Give It A Year: 'Emotionally smart and thought provoking' Clare Pooley, author of THE AUTHENTICITY PROJECT 'So well-observed, with a kind eye and an open heart. It's wonderful.' Laura Jane Williams, author of THE LOVE SQUARE 'A keenly observed tale of love gone wrong and the things we do to try and make it right again. Whitaker deftly mines the complexity of long-term relationships, exposing both their fragility but ultimately leaving the reader with a real sense of hope. A triumph!' Mike Gayle, author of ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE 'Wise and warm and full of 'aha!' Moments' Helen Russell, author of THE YEAR OF LIVING DANISHLY

PREORDER SIMON TURNEY'S THRILLING NEW ROMAN EMPIRE NOVEL, AGRICOLA: WARRIOR, NOW! An empire on the edge. A scheme for glory. A plan to control the greatest river in the world. 61 AD. Under Emperor Nero, Rome is rich and powerful, but dissatisfaction is rife. The emperor himself schemes avidly to increase his wealth and indulge his pleasures - and slaughter his many enemies - but also seeks glory. The great River Nile, life-giver to the Egyptians, the Kushites, and many other kingdoms through the African continent. Nobody from the Roman Empire has ever tracked the Nile to its source... but if it can be done, mastery of the greatest waterway in the known world - and with it, the control of friend and foe alike - may be possible. But the price of obtaining such knowledge will be terrible. Those soldiers selected to command and serve on the mission will be at risk the moment they pass beyond the Roman borders of Egypt. Kingdoms and tribes hostile to Rome, vast swathes of desert, fierce beasts... and the price of failure hanging over their heads, for Nero is not an easy man to please. A gripping historical adventure featuring many historical figures from the classical era, Terra Incognita is perfect for fans of Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane. 'A wonderful story, rich in absorbing detail' The Times on Terra Incognita

Short novels may well be the perfect length for science fiction. They are movie length tales that resonate with moxie while exploring characters, new worlds, and ideas. The stories in this unabridged collection are the best-of-the best short science fiction novels published in 2010 by current and emerging masters of this form. “Return to Titan,” by Stephen Baxter, is set in his Xeelee sequence. Michael Poole and his father search one of Saturn’s moons for sentient life that would interfere with their plans to build a gateway to the stars. In this year’s Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award winner for best short fiction, “The Sultan of the Clouds,” by Geoffrey A. Landis, a terraforming expert is inexplicably invited to Venus by the child who owns most of the planet’s habitable floating cities. “Seven Cities of Gold,” by David Moles, tells the story of a Japanese relief worker charged with tracking down the renegade Christian leader responsible for detonating a nuclear device in an Islam-occupied North American city. In “Jackie’s-Boy,” by Steven Popkes, an orphaned child befriends an uplifted elephant from the abandoned St. Louis Zoo as they trek south across a sparsely populated North America to find sanctuary. “A History of Terraforming,” by Robert Reed, involves a young boy’s ambition to take up his father’s work of terraforming Mars and then much of the solar system and discovers that much more than planets have been altered. In “Troika,” by Alastair Reynolds, the lone survivor of a mission that explored a massive alien object attempts to reveal what he discovered despite the wishes of the Second Soviet Union. Set in the author’s S’hdonni universe, “Several Items of Interest,” by Rick Wilber, the Earth ruling aliens ask a human collaborator to help quell a human insurrection led by the collaborator’s brother.