Cobble is a Neanderthal with itchy feet and the mind of an engineer, unlike anyone else in his old-fashioned tribe. Making Man follows his journey as he leaves the village of Boardom behind, taking him through mountains, underground animal lairs and into new landscapes. As with all good prehistoric comedies, there is a mysterious pendant and a healthy dose of talking insects. Fans of Douglas Adams and Sir Terry Pratchett may not enjoy Making Man as much as those esteemed authors, there are fewer elephants and no Vogons after all, but they should enjoy and remember it fondly nonetheless.
(2020 Independent Audiobook award finalist)
Even the Black Death has a lighter side. A street-side conman becomes embroiled in high politics when his scheme to relieve the doge of Genoa of a sizable portion of his wealth backfires. He is conscripted to deliver a message to The Cutler, a mysterious figure in the papal city of Avignon. Two English pilgrims are also making their way to the pope, seeking repentance for their sins. Their journey takes a debauched turn, however, and their arrival is one of a pair of wandering drunkards rather than pious pilgrims. Meanwhile, a Germanic woman leaves her homeland, intent on killing the pope as revenge for the church’s involvement in her brother’s death. There’s just one small problem; she’s not a natural murderer. Their worlds converge on the Palais des Papes amid the ravaging gloom of the plague as the shadows of the doge’s network are brought into the light to save the papacy and the brittle hope of the people.
Sending his Human Resources Manager on a reconnaissance mission to the great Jin city of Rhizun seemed like a good idea to Genghis Khan at the time, until a serendipitous scroll appears with revelations of a secret heir to the khanate. To save his legacy, Genghis sends his Mongol Horde into Jin lands with nothing more than the fiercest army the world has ever known and several hundred of Captain Kupcayk’s famous buns.
Unfortunately for Genghis, his successor is on the wrong side of the city walls.
