English Horses

In life there are choices. In times of clarity we may go right, but in our darkest hour we make a left. In our choices, our soul is judged - a devil in your right ear, an angel in your left, whispering sweet promises of blissful torment or anguished relief. Damned in life or damned in death, which will you choose? Welcome...to The Crossroads, an anthology series of 13 dark short stories that will make you ponder the question: Will you lead your fate or will fate lead you?

It's two years after the Zero Day attacks, and cyber-security analyst Jeff Aiken is reaping the rewards for crippling Al-Qaida's assault on the computer infrastructure of the Western world. His company is flourishing, and his relationship with former government agent Daryl Haugen has intensified since she became a part of his team. But the West is under its greatest threat yet. A revolutionary, invisible trojan that alters data without leaving a trace—more sophisticated than any virus seen before—has been identified, roiling international politics.

In this bold reimagining of the classic Grimm’s fairy tales, five iconic heroines—Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Mother Holle, and The Goose Girl—are given the chance to reclaim their stories. While the original tales remain intact, each is followed by a sharp, witty essay from the perspective of the so-called villains. From wicked stepmothers to jealous queens, these familiar antagonists finally get to speak for themselves—adding unexpected humor, insight, and a touch of irreverence to the timeless tales.

In the late 1980s, a spectacular three-year-old female racehorse named Winning Colors was being groomed for success under her famous Hollywood trainer D. Wayne Lukas and the billionaire owner of the San Diego Chargers pro-football team Eugene Klein. Meanwhile, three fun-loving gamblers Miami Paul, Dino Mateo, and Big Bernie believed that Winning Colors could be the unlikely female winner of the 1988 Kentucky Derby.

Demeron, a Shinkyan stallion who can speak to humans with magic, is cut off from his master. He must find a way to return hundreds of miles to Deftnis Monastery, his master's home. To do so, Demeron must travel through the country of his birth, eluding humans who would eagerly take possession of him.

When Kit Fielding, champion steeplechase jockey, finds out that his chief patron, Princess Casilia, is facing an increasingly serious threat, he goes unhesitatingly to her aid. Neither realises that his instinctive support is the first step towards a frightening battle involving violent risk, with the honour of the princess's family as the prize and Kit's own destruction as the forfeit.

Hoof Beats transforms our understanding of both horses and humanity's ancient past and asks us to consider what our relationship with horses means for the future of humanity and the world around us.

To a jockey, losing his license is the equivalent of being struck off, or disbarred, or cashiered. When steeplechase rider Kelly Hughes lost his license his first feelings were of bewilderment and disbelief, for he was not guilty of the charges. Nor, to the best of his knowledge, was the trainer he had ridden for, who lost his livelihood as well. When his first stunned state of shock subsided, Kelly began to wonder why he had been framed, who had done it, and how it had been achieved.

Sometimes a villain is not a villain, and first impressions have to change.... When the disgraced kelpie of Loch Lomond, Murdoch, discovers a new threat to his homeland, he finds a loophole in his banishment to show up at Sorcha Darrow’s door. Despite initial misgivings about Murdoch’s plea for help, Sorcha quickly agrees to help the creature out of guilt for what she did to him two years ago in the faerie realm. Lachlan, now the king of the Seelie Court, is less than happy about the kelpie’s reappearance by Sorcha’s side.

Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull: Their names are iconic, their significance in American history undeniable. Together, these two Lakota chiefs, one a fabled warrior and the other a revered holy man, crushed George Armstrong Custer’s vaunted Seventh Cavalry. Yet their legendary victory at the Little Big Horn has overshadowed the rest of their rich and complex lives. Now, based on years of research and drawing on a wealth of previously ignored primary sources, award-winning author Mark Lee Gardner delivers the definitive chronicle, thrillingly told, of these extraordinary Indigenous leaders.

On 31st October 1917, as the day's light faded, the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country, towards the artillery, rifles and machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemingly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history. This brave battle and the extraordinary adventures that led to it are brought vividly to life by Australia's greatest storyteller, Peter FitzSimons.

Felicity loves riding horses far more than stitchery or serving tea. When she falls in love with a beautiful chestnut mare, she schemes to save the mare from its cruel owner with the help of Ben, her father's young apprentice. Yet as talk of revolution rumbles around her, finds it harder to tell right from wrong. Ben wants war, while her best friend's family remains loyal to the king. Then receives an invitation to the Governor's Palace, and she must decide where her own loyalties lie.

Each year along the Eastern seacoast, the wild ponies of Assateague Island are driven across a narrow strip of ocean to Chincoteague. There the shaggy, untamed ponies are sold. When young Paul and Maureen Beebe rescue a drowning newborn foal, they take her home to nearby Pony Farm. Now the foal has grown into their free-spirited pony, Misty, and has been the subject of a popular children's book.

Nevergirls meets the Spirit series in this magical chapter book series about two sisters who must help the horses of Disney return to their original fairytales, by New York Times best-selling author Kiki Thorpe.

First, there was pain, and now, there is just...nothing. No one can ever understand the losses I've suffered. A solitary existence that consists of my work and the empty house that serves as a constant reminder of all I have lost. After months of paralyzing emptiness, I turn to the Wicked Horse so I can feel something. Anything, really. Any shred of emotion that will explain why I'm still here. Any justification for why my life was spared and theirs were not. It's all in vain. Until she walks in.

Some would call me irrevocably broken. I submerge myself in long work hours by day and debauchery at The Wicked Horse by night, using those things to numb the pain and guilt I feel over the death of my wife. What isn’t satisfied by one will surely be resolved by the other. At least that’s how I’ve survived the last few years.

One day, at the age of 31, Susan Richards realized that she was an alcoholic. She wrote it down in her journal, struck by the fact that it had taken nine years of waking up hung-over to name her illness. What had changed? Susan had a new horse, a spirited Morgan named Georgia, and, as she says, "It had something to do with Georgia.

Kim Wickens, a lawyer and dressage rider, became fascinated by this legendary horse when she learned that twelve of Thoroughbred racing's thirteen Triple Crown winners descended from Lexington. Wickens spent years meticulously researching the horse and his legacy—and with Lexington, she presents an absorbing, exciting account that transports listeners back to the raucous beginning of American horse racing and introduces them to the stallion at its heart.

Georgia would love nothing more than to raise horses every day and avoid her annoying stepbrother at all costs. But she could never have guessed that a tiny, antique winged horse figurine would be the key to her escape to another world and another time. When Georgia arrives in a 16th-century city called Remora, she is plunged into a dangerous and treacherous world of horse-racing, family honor, and deadly rivalry.

Bruised, battered, and barely standing, Vandal soon returns to the cockpit to bolster the ranks of a desperate defense force. As he and his fellow Chevaliers attempt to hold back the flood of turncoats, spearheaded by a legendary cadre of off-world mercenaries, Vandal must learn to master the fickle and deadly upright tanks if he wants to live to see the next contract.