Transported to a medieval realm of magic and myth, a World War II resistance fighter undertakes a perilous quest in this classic fantasy adventure. Holger Carlsen is a rational man of science. A Danish engineer working with the Resistance to defeat the Nazis, he is wounded during an engagement with the enemy and awakens in an unfamiliar parallel universe where the forces of Law are locked in eternal combat with the forces of Chaos. Against a medieval backdrop, brave knights must take up arms against magical creatures of myth and faerie, battling dragons, trolls, werewolves, and giants. Though Holger has no recollection of this world, he discovers he is already well-known throughout the lands, a hero revered as a Champion of Law. He finds weaponry and armor awaiting him—precisely fitted to his form—and a shield with three hearts and three lions emblazoned upon it. As he journeys through a realm filled with wonders in search of the key to his past, Holger will call upon the scientific knowledge of his home dimension, the destinies of both worlds hanging in the balance. Before Thomas Covenant, Roger Zelazny’s Amber, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the great Poul Anderson introduced readers to the Middle World and the legendary hero Ogier the Dane. Inventive and exciting, Three Hearts and Three Lions is a foray into fantasy that employs touches of science fiction from an award-winning master of the speculative.

***FOREWORD BY FABIO CAPELLO*** Since their first appearance in the competition in 1950, England's World Cup story has been one of broken dreams, bad luck, shock losses and penalty nightmares, with one shining exception in 1966, when they famously won the Cup after beating Germany 4-2. In Three Lions Versus the World, Mark Pougatch talks to those who have shaped England's World Cup odyssey, from Brazil 1950 when England lost to the amateurs of America, through the triumph of 1966 and the subsequent failure to retain the Cup in 1970, to the spirit-sapping quarter-final defeats in Japan 2002 and Germany 2006. Household names such as Sir Tom Finney, Don Howe, Martin Peters, Trevor Brooking, Gary Lineker, Tony Adams, Glenn Hoddle and Danny Mills share their personal recollections of playing for England both on and off the pitch in the World Cup. Some reveal how they were affected by the demands placed upon them and by the mounting pressure of expectation from the English public. Others comment candidly on the myriad controversies to befall the England squad over the years. Massive highs are recounted and crushing lows painfully recollected. The contributors are united in the pride they shared in wearing the Three Lions shirt for their country in this most special of tournaments. The players' stories and anecdotes woven around the narrative of the World Cup itself, this is an unbeatable, entertaining and enlightening journey through half a century of English World Cup action that no football fan can afford to miss.

An all-encompassing, chronological guide to football's World Cup, one of the world's few truly international events, in good time for the June 2018 kick-off in Russia. From its beginnings in 1930 to the modern all-singing, all-dancing self-styled 'greatest show on Earth', every tournament is covered with features on major stars and great games, as well as stories about some less celebrated names and quirky stats and intriguing essays. Holt's focus is very much on what takes place on the field, rather than how football is a mirror for economic corruption, or how a nation's style of play represents a profound statement about its people, or how a passion for football can lift underpaid, socially marginalised people out of poverty. From the best World Cups, in 1958 and 1970, to the worst, in 1962 and 2010, he looks behind the facts and the technical observations to the stories: the mysterious sins of omission; critical injuries to key players; and coaching U-turns. He explains how England's World Cup achievements under Sven-Göran Eriksson, far from being a national disgrace, were actually quite impressive, and looks at why Alf Ramsey didn't take Bobby Charlton off in 1970, but this is no parochial, jingoistic account. The book also asks why Brazil did not contribute in 1966, despite having won the previous two tournaments and going on to win the next one? Why the greatest players of their day did not always shine at the World Cup - George Best and Alfredo Di Stefano, for example, never even made it to the Finals. Why did Johann Cruyff not go to the 1978 World Cup? And why did one of Germany's greatest players never play in the World Cup? There are lots of tables, some filled with obvious, but necessary information, but others with more quirky observations. Alongside accounts of epic games, there are also brief biographies of all the great heroes of the World Cup.

Prolific, popular and critically acclaimed, Michael Moorcock is the most important British fantasy author of his generation. His Elric of Melnibone is an iconic figure for millions of fans but Moorcock has also been a pioneer in science fiction and historical fiction. He was hailed as the central figure of the "New Wave" in science fiction, and has won numerous awards for his fantasy and SF, as well as his "mainstream" writing. This first full-length critical look at Moorcock's career, from the early 1960s to the present, explores the author's fictional multiverse: his fantasy tales of the "Eternal Champion"; his experimental Jerry Cornelius novels; the hilarious science-fiction satire of his "End of Time" books; and his complex meditations on 20th century history in Mother London and the Colonel Pyat tetralogy.

"David Beckham, Prince William and David Cameron are in Zurich the night before England's bid for the 2018 World Cup. Between them they thrash out a plan that will woo FIFA and bring the beautiful game home. But as precious minutes tick by things start to go disastrously and deliciously wrong. Whatever else is at stake, this is more, much more, than a question of sport."--Page 4 of cover.