This is an autobiographical tale in which Michel Kichka goes back over the significant moments of a childhood, an adolescence, and a life overshadowed by the Holocaust, from Belgium to The Promised Land, from nightmares to funny anecdotes, moments of joy and liberation.
This is the tale of Luisa Casati Amman, otherwise known as 'The Marchesa', an Italian heiress whose life ambition was to transform herself into a living, breathing work of art. She was obsessed with beauty and extravagance, and devoted her entire family fortune to purchasing the means to astonish her contemporaries with her daredevil style. But her originality extended to more than just the adornment of her own person; she embellished her whole life with a succession of fantastical parties, large houses, ostentatious pets and outrageous public appearances. But, as ever, such exorbitance can hardly last forever... This intriguing biography traces the rise and fall of one of the 20th century's most fascinating personalities.
Allow us to introduce Olympia, an exquisite young woman living in post-First-World-War Berlin, a time when the town was continually shaken up by internal revolutions and cultural turbulence. Olympia is beautiful. Louise Brooks-style beautiful. She is the archetype of that generation of war-women, the likes of which we'll never see again. Her father, Count Van Den Golzt, sends his daughter to Berlin following the Bolsheviks' establishment in Courlande, a move that he knew was a threat to the safety of his family. She soon becomes a fascinating character, with lovers from all walks of life, from bespectacled Communist intellectuals, to pimps. Alongside her decadent lifestyle, she fights passionately for the Socialist cause. Nihilistic, but driven, she ends up in the arms of the most unlikely suitor.
Peaceful country living consisting of leaky roofs, puppet shows, and drinks and arguments at the local tavern is disturbed when a rare species of grasshopper is discovered in a local field, and suddenly environmentalists, politicians, hunters, Big Pharma, union people, mushroom pickers and geriatric anarchists are all loudly fighting for what they believe is the right approach to things. In the midst of all this, one love story may be blooming in spite of a curse, another may be doomed for good and for poop, and questions of paternity arise yet again.
More shenanigans from everybody's favorite geriatric anarchists and their offspring as fathers and sons are treacherously set up, people from the past make an unexpected comeback, pranks go awry, familiar faces say goodbye, and a rugby match takes a shocking turn. A perfect cocktail of mayhem, madness, and merriment, with a few lessons on social justice thrown in for good measure.
This first volume of the Ken Games series gives us a profile of Peter Fermat (aka Rock), a young man who, like each of the three main characters, is leading a double life. His story opens with a boxing match which has a nasty ending for the up-and-coming boxer, despite his victory. It's not long before we discover that Rock is not only striving to make it in the boxing world, but is also something of a mathematical genius, which is how he met his best friend, TJ. For the first time in all their years of friendship, TJ introduces Rock to a girlfriend, the lovely Anne. Anne and Rock soon establish a bond of trust when Rock discovers that Anne too is living a double life, even though Anne's secret is not exactly what she leads Rock to believe. This is just the beginning of the tangled web of lies and deception that gets ever more convoluted as the series goes on...
Pico Bogue is the eldest child of a normal family, and when we say 'normal', we mean unique, quirky and occasionally just stark raving mad! Along with his little sister Anna, Pico goes through life with as many certainties as he has questions, making the kind of pertinent observations that only children are capable of. Sometimes challenging, always loveable, there's no end to Pico's mischief, much to the amusement, exasperation and surprise of his long-suffering parents!
A man - filthy, stinking, alone and obese - is taken in by the police. We don't yet know what he's done, or why he's there. But he's going to tell us his story. The story of a man who strives to live by his own rules, free from the bounds of socially imposed morality and norms, an ambition inspired by one blinding, ecstatic, vivid moment of ultilmate perfection in life and existence - The Blast. He makes the only choice possible for him after such an experience: he leaves everything behind and sets off to live, really live, in the wild, on his own. This first volume is a homage to the acute beauty of nature, solitude and feeling alive. And to the pain and brutality necessary for this man to find his way to another, purer, more complete level of existence. But is the mysterious 'Blast' really what it seems? And so the interrogation begins.
What exactly is a harem for? For the pleasure of a sovereign, of course. But he would be foolish to limit it to this sole purpose. They say that if you can satisfy a man, he'll give you all the treasures of the earth. Including the spoils of war. Sultan Murati's harem is a far more powerful weapon than the British and German armies, both of which are seeking his alliance. The flower of all flowers, the weapon of all weapons, Jade, the Sultan's new favorite, is entrusted with the Sultan's scheme to launch an assault on an English diplomat. A model of British calm and impregnability, like all men, Lord Nelson has his Achilles' heel: his wife...
50 years later, Jade's granddaughter, Kim, is trying to trace the footsteps of her fascinating ancestor in a modern Istanbul, where the harems have all but disappeared. But not the brothels, as Kim discovers at her own expense. But Kim's not just trying to find her roots. Legend has it that Jade, and Jade alone, knew where the Black Sultan hid his treasure, a treasure that no one has ever managed to unearth...
Former CIA agent Floyd Whitman investigates whether someone manipulated the US presidential elections. While carrying out the investigation he meets some of his old Russian acquaintances. Acquaintances who take him back to his youth in the 60s, when together they developed an ambitious plan to bring the Russian mafia back on its feet in order to fight the communist regime from within the borders of the United States. But today, forty years later, the White House decides to get rid of all the mafia bosses left in the country... The great spy adventure continues!
This first volume of the ongoing Spellbound series initiates us into Dufaux and Munuera's Medeival-style fantasy land, a land brimming with witchcraft, demons, enchantments and foul-play.
The whole of Middleland has been thrown into turmoil by the sudden and brutal murder of the king. The unfortunate victim's dying wish was that his daughter, Blanche, should take the throne, rather than her weak-spirited brother. Thus Blanche finds herself catapulted into a position of power that she never expected, or even wished for. The grief-stricken young woman is forced to renounce her lover, and on top of that, the enemy's army is assembled at the country's border, poising to strike. Blanche looks like she's off to a promising start as queen of the land, but unfortunately she's no match for the various plots to topple her... at least, not yet...
Agrippina, a wonderful prototype of the rebellious teenager, spends her time squabbling with her exasperated parents, determinately ignoring her infuriating brother, discussing the latest couplings with her girlfriends, studiously avoiding 'being normal', and falling madly in love with a different boy every two minutes. Quite simply hilarious.
Lord Nelson, Lady Nelson and Jade continue to enjoy their ménage à trois as they travel to Africa. Their boat is savagely attacked by the natives as they go up river, deeper into the heart of this vibrant but mysterious continent. But is this just an act of pure brutality? Or is there another reason, perhaps one connected to that black pearl that Jade wears in her ear, a pearl that exactly matches that of their goddess? This is the beginning of a second cycle of the grippingly exotic adventures of Jade, the mistress of the eminent Lord and Lady Nelson.
Sometimes tragic, always moving. Trivial Quantities talks about the relationship between the artist and his work, the rise of extremism and the connection between people with huge sensitivity and a rare intelligence. Our hero, Marco, carries on along his path. He exhibits his photographs in a fancy Paris gallery; he returns to the shipyards where his father used to work to photograph the workers and his old friends, and he moves in with his charming vet, Emilie. Manu Larcenet never judges, and approaches his interrogations of the human condition with extreme caution. This is just one of those books that stays with you long after you've turned the last page.
He has committed treason. Marcus has to face the facts: Arminius, the man who is like a brother to him, is in the midst of preparing a rebellion against Rome, the city that gave them everything. Two men, two destinies, a broken friendship, and the inevitable and eternal march of history. In this fourth installment of the enthralling Eagles of Rome series, Enrico Marini turns history into a breathtaking human adventure, extravagant and tragic, his realist artwork plunging us right to the heart of the struggles of Emperor Augustus' reign.
Their reign is coming to an end. They had the power, they dominated the town, the whole world. Order prevailed. Their order. But then a certain pair of siblings came along -- the Raptors. United by blood, decked out in skin-tight leather, slipping through the night, sowing disorder. The head of the town is worried, and not without reason. The immortal race to which he belongs is starting to discover what it means to die...
Two women, in two different times, and for two very different reasons, choose to be initiated into the harem. One is the harem of the Black Sultan in 20th century Istanbul, dominated by the captivating Jade. The other is the only remaining one of its kind, an echo of a bygone era, hidden away in the middle of the Turkish desert, far from prying eyes. Both women must carry out certain rites of passage before they can truly attain the heart of the harem. Both women are doing it for Jade. Plots and manipulation abound within those dark and sensual spaces behind the walls of the harem...
The strategic general Drusus is entrusted with the mission of bringing the indomitable barbarians of Germania under the Roman Empire's control. Once the battle is won, Prince Sigmar offers his son, Arminius, as a hostage to the Romans. Caesar consigns the education of the young barbarian to one of his most trusted companions, Titus Valerius Falco. Titus has a son of the same age as Arminius, an unruly young man called Marcus, also in need of an education worthy of his name. Together, these two budding soldiers go through full training, and are time and again subjected to the steely discipline and harsh tests of their tutor, an ex-legionary. Through these trying experiences, the insolent young Roman and the hot-headed German gradually transform their reciprocal hatred into a strong friendship... especially as they begin to discover the irresistible charms of their various female contemporaries...
Having gone through the same training, Marcus Valerius Falco and Arminius have discovered together of the intoxication of combat and the pleasures of the senses. What started as a mutual dislike has gradually turned into shared respect, and eventually friendship. In this second volume, Marcus launches himself into the amorous pursuit of the gorgeous Priscilla. Unfortunately, the lady in question is already promised to another, leading the love-crazed Marcus into rash decisions and sticky situations. Luckily, Arminius has got his back, but his tolerance of his best friend's foolishness soon reaches its limits... Sexy, action-packed, with plenty of plotting and poison, against the backdrop of the Roman Empire's relentless military conquests.
In present day Turkey, Kim Nelson continues her quest to recover the long-lost treasure of the Black Sultan to which only her captivating ancestor, Jade, the Sultan's favorite, had the key. Meanwhile, we're flung back in time to the sumptuous era of the Ottoman Empire, where Jade has been kidnapped by a certain Lord Nelson in his efforts to retrieve his wife from the depths of the Sultan's harem. It's not long before the captive falls in love with the captor, and the pair experience an unprecedented passion. Nelson's name sinks into the djinn's skin, and, for the first time, the djinn's heart begins to beat...
Marco's left town for the countryside. He's left his psychologist because he feels he's doing better. He's quit his job as a reporter because he's had enough of photographing corpses. He gets himself a little cottage in the heart of rural France, where he lives with his cat, Adolf. He throws out all his work, and cuts ties with his employer. That night, he has his first panic attack.
It's not long before he meets the lovely Emilie, and also the wise and good-natured old man who lives in the cottage just across the way... but who, it turns out, isn't exactly what he seems...
It's the 70s, and Floyd Whitman, a young and idealistic CIA agent manages to get in with the Russian mafia, at last seeing an opportunity to strike at the heart of the communist regime. So, with the CIA's backing, he's going to launch a huge secret operation to help the worst of the Soviet mafia in their cause. This third volume kicks off in present-day America with the arrival of a squad of ex-KGB assassins, whose aim is to get rid of Whitman's old accomplices, under authorization of the American secret services.
It's all kicking off in this action-packed series from Marini and Smolderen: Car chases on the intercontinental highway; struggling for survival during the global cooling; the coronation of a young Russian tsar; the resurrection of a Mongol army tracing the footsteps of Genghis Khan; a multinational superpower controlling all terrestrial transport... and right in the middle of all that, there's the man who goes by the name of 'Gypsy', a loveable tough-guy truck driver.
This is the second round of this hard-hitting series centered on three friends, all with something to hide. This time, we're zooming in on Mr. TJ Paper, who passes himself off as a banker, while he's actually raking it in on the gambling scene. And now he's got himself into a televised poker tournament, but will his lucky streak see him through a competition of this level? In the meantime, TJ's girlfriend, Anne and his best friend, Rock, run into each other again in even more surprising circumstances, and the bond they established previously strengthens even further, perhaps too far... to the extent that Rock even starts making big sacrifices in his own life. And all the while, there's Louviers, the love of Anne's life, lurking in the background, a constant reminder of the danger and violence she wants to leave behind.
