Alex Pheby Livres

Paul Schreber is a man who wants to go home - but can't. He is a man stymied by an illness he doesn't understand - and sometimes doesn't even know he has. He has to deal with past traumas, a disintegrating family, his own fantasies of persecution - as well as the very real forces marshalled against him. As Playthings delves deeper into Schreber's disturbed mind, the book also unearths the roots of the great ills in the 20th century, the psychological structure of fascism, the cancer of anti-Semitism, and the abuse of institutional power.

Nathan Treeves is dead, murdered by the Master of Mordew, his remains used to create the powerful occult weapon known as the Tinderbox. His companions are scattered, making for Malarkoi, the city of the Mistress, the Master's enemy. They are hoping to find welcome there, or at least safety. They find neither - and instead become embroiled in a life and death struggle against assassins, demi-gods, and the cunning plans of the Mistress. Only Sirius, Nathan's faithful magical dog, has not forgotten the boy, and, bent on revenge, he returns to the shattered remains of Mordew, newly deformed into an impossible mountain, swarming with monsters. He senses something in the Manse at its pinnacle - the Master is there, grieving the loss of his manservant, Bellows - and in the ruins of the slums he finds a power capable of destroying his foe, if only he has the strength to use it. So the stage is set for battle, sacrifice, magic and treachery in the stunning sequel to Mordew. ...Welcome to Malar

Alex Pheby's extraordinary novel takes us inside the darkness of Lucia Joyce - gifted dancer, lover of Samuel Beckett, daughter of James - who spent her last thirty years in an asylum. Since her death her voice has been silenced, her correspondence burned and her story shrouded in mystery. In sharp, cutting shards of narrative this novel evokes the things that may have been done to Lucia, for her and against her. Yet while it tells these stories in vivid and heart-breaking detail, it also questions what it means to recreate a life.

GOD IS DEAD, his corpse hidden in the catacombs beneath Mordew. In the slums of the sea-battered city a young boy called Nathan Treeves lives with his parents, eking out a meagre existence by picking treasures from the Living Mud and the half-formed, short-lived creatures it spawns. Until one day his desperate mother sells him to the mysterious Master of Mordew. The Master derives his magical power from feeding on the corpse of God. But Nathan, despite his fear and lowly station, has his own strength - and it is greater than the Master has ever known. Great enough to destroy everything the Master has built. If only Nathan can discover how to use it. So it is that the Master begins to scheme against him - and Nathan has to fight his way through the betrayals, secrets, and vendettas of the city where God was murdered, and darkness reigns... WELCOME TO MORDEW - THE FIRST IN A MONUMENTAL NEW TRILOGY FROM THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR, ALEX PHEBY