This fast-moving adventure highlights frightening realities about the changing world in which we live. A gripping action-packed story for fans of Ian Fleming, John Le Carré and Clive Cussler. Global issues are addressed through a complex weave of fiction and un-nerving facts. From the author of two recent adventure books featuring the same main characters: The Final Shah Mat and The Acionna Projects. Traditional ways of life in the Arctic are being forced to end. Ancient viruses are being released as the ice melts. A family that hid from civilisation for decades has been found. New sea routes are being opened. The climate is changing. The Hwanung Solution is a story of political intrigue, greed, and military might, interspersed with a love story. It follows two British scientists who are sent to Siberia to assess how mysterious holes are appearing there. Is Russia about to take strategic advantage of the melting ice seas of the Arctic? And how does all this link to a mansion on the far north coast of Scotland? This gripping Bond-like adventure novel with a serious message will appeal to fans of adventure, thriller and espionage fiction.

Epic Reads Pick for The 30 Must-Read YA Books for the Rest of 2022 BookRiot Pick for 12 Amazing Asia-Inspired Fantasy Books “Last of the Talons is a stunning blend of dark romance and Korean mythology. Sophie Kim writes enemies to lovers with heart-pounding intensity, blurring the line between love and hate. Bloodthirsty, addictive, and searingly romantic.” —Axie Oh, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea After the destruction of her entire Talon gang, eighteen-year-old Shin Lina—the Reaper of Sunpo—is forced to become a living, breathing weapon for the kingdom’s most-feared crime lord. All that keeps her from turning on her ruthless master is the life of her beloved little sister hanging in the balance. But the order to steal a priceless tapestry from a Dokkaebi temple incites not only the wrath of a legendary immortal, but the beginning of an unwinnable game... Suddenly Lina finds herself in the dreamlike realm of the Dokkaebi, her fate in the hands of its cruel and captivating emperor. But she can win her life—if she kills him first. Now a terrible game of life and death has begun, and even Lina's swift, precise blade is no match for the magnetic Haneul Rui. Lina will have to use every weapon in her arsenal if she wants to outplay this cunning king and save her sister...all before the final grain of sand leaks out of the hourglass. Because one way or another, she'll take Rui's heart. Even if it means giving up her own. The Talons series is best enjoyed in order. Reading Order: Book #1 Last of the Talons Book #2 Wrath of the Talon

In Literary Sinitic and East Asia: A Cultural Sphere of Vernacular Reading, Professor Kin Bunkyō surveys the ‘vernacular reading’ technologies used to read Literary Sinitic through a wide variety of vernacular languages across diverse premodern literary cultures in East Asia.

The determined woodcutter stands before The Most Beautiful Tree on four occasions. In the spring, summer, and autumn, the Tree is able to use her wits and generosity to cleverly avoid his axe. In the dead cold of winter, she finds herself barren and defenseless when he comes calling one last time.

Operating outside the commercial boundaries of Hollywood cinema, alternative and independent filmmakers have much to offer the discriminating viewer. Yet they struggle for a place in the popular culture, and even more for recognition by the scholarly community. The specific aim of this book is to provide much-needed critical examination of titles, particularly those by British filmmakers. In-depth commentary from such acclaimed writers as Maitland McDonagh, Jasper Sharp, Johannes Schonherr and Marcus Stiglegger considers filmmakers who work at the very heart of the independent medium, giving the reader specific insight into alternate cinema and the struggles its filmmakers endure. Featured are interviews with both rising and established filmmakers, including the infamous Guy Maddin and Herschell Gordon Lewis. Finally, this collection of interviews and essays boasts a 20th anniversary retrospective on the British cult classic The Company of the Wolves, complete with an exclusive interview with director Neil Jordan.