diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/handler.py b/src/calibre/srv/handler.py
index 595310c93f..b7630a148e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/handler.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/handler.py
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ class Context(object):
 
     log = None
     url_for = None
+    jobs_manager = None
     CATEGORY_CACHE_SIZE = 25
     SEARCH_CACHE_SIZE = 100
 
@@ -92,6 +93,12 @@ class Context(object):
         self.ignored_fields = frozenset(filter(None, (x.strip() for x in (opts.ignored_fields or '').split(','))))
         self.displayed_fields = frozenset(filter(None, (x.strip() for x in (opts.displayed_fields or '').split(','))))
 
+    def start_job(self, name, module, func, args=(), kwargs=None):
+        return self.jobs_manager.start_job(name, module, func, args, kwargs)
+
+    def job_status(self, job_id):
+        return self.jobs_manager.job_status(job_id)
+
     def is_field_displayable(self, field):
         if self.displayed_fields and field not in self.displayed_fields:
             return False
@@ -193,6 +200,9 @@ class Handler(object):
         if self.auth_controller is not None:
             self.auth_controller.log = log
 
+    def set_jobs_manager(self, jobs_manager):
+        self.router.ctx.jobs_manager = jobs_manager
+
     def close(self):
         self.router.ctx.library_broker.close()
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/jobs.py b/src/calibre/srv/jobs.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..996b1905ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/jobs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,241 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python2
+# vim:fileencoding=utf-8
+# License: GPLv3 Copyright: 2016, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
+
+from __future__ import (unicode_literals, division, absolute_import,
+                        print_function)
+import os, time
+from itertools import count
+from collections import namedtuple, deque
+from functools import partial
+from threading import RLock, Thread, Event
+from Queue import Queue, Empty
+
+from calibre import detect_ncpus, force_unicode
+from calibre.utils.monotonic import monotonic
+from calibre.utils.ipc.simple_worker import fork_job, WorkerError
+
+StartEvent = namedtuple('StartEvent', 'job_id name module function args kwargs')
+DoneEvent = namedtuple('DoneEvent', 'job_id')
+
+class Job(Thread):
+
+    daemon = True
+
+    def __init__(self, start_event, events_queue):
+        Thread.__init__(self, name='JobsMonitor%s' % start_event.job_id)
+        self.abort_event = Event()
+        self.events_queue = events_queue
+        self.job_name = start_event.name
+        self.job_id = start_event.job_id
+        self.func = partial(fork_job, start_event.module, start_event.function, start_event.args, start_event.kwargs, abort=self.abort_event)
+        self.result = self.traceback = None
+        self.done = False
+        self.start_time = monotonic()
+        self.end_time = self.log_path = None
+        self.wait_for_end = Event()
+        self.start()
+
+    def run(self):
+        func, self.func = self.func, None
+        try:
+            result = func()
+        except WorkerError as err:
+            import traceback
+            self.traceback = err.orig_tb or traceback.format_exc()
+        else:
+            self.result, self.log_path = result['result'], result['stdout_stderr']
+        self.done = True
+        self.end_time = monotonic()
+        self.wait_for_end.set()
+        self.events_queue.put(DoneEvent(self.job_id))
+
+    @property
+    def was_aborted(self):
+        return self.done and self.result is None and self.abort_event.is_set()
+
+    def remove_log(self):
+        lp, self.log_path = self.log_path, None
+        if lp:
+            try:
+                os.remove(lp)
+            except EnvironmentError:
+                pass
+
+    def read_log(self):
+        ans = ''
+        if self.log_path is not None:
+            try:
+                with lopen(self.log_path, 'rb') as f:
+                    ans = f.read()
+            except EnvironmentError:
+                pass
+        if isinstance(ans, bytes):
+            ans = force_unicode(ans, 'utf-8')
+        return ans
+
+
+class JobsManager(object):
+
+    def __init__(self, opts, log):
+        mj = opts.max_jobs
+        if mj < 1:
+            mj = detect_ncpus()
+        self.log = log
+        self.max_jobs = max(1, mj)
+        self.max_job_time = max(0, opts.max_job_time * 60)
+        self.lock = RLock()
+        self.jobs = {}
+        self.finished_jobs = {}
+        self.events = Queue()
+        self.job_id = count()
+        self.waiting_job_ids = set()
+        self.waiting_jobs = deque()
+        self.max_block = None
+        self.shutting_down = False
+        self.event_loop = None
+
+    def start_job(self, name, module, func, args=(), kwargs=None):
+        with self.lock:
+            if self.shutting_down:
+                return None
+            if self.event_loop is None:
+                self.event_loop = t = Thread(name='JobsEventLoop', target=self.run)
+                t.daemon = True
+                t.start()
+            job_id = next(self.job_id)
+            self.events.put(StartEvent(job_id, name, module, func, args, kwargs or {}))
+            self.waiting_job_ids.add(job_id)
+            return job_id
+
+    def job_status(self, job_id):
+        with self.lock:
+            if not self.shutting_down:
+                if job_id in self.finished_jobs:
+                    job = self.finished_jobs[job_id]
+                    return 'finished', job.result, job.traceback, job.was_aborted
+                if job_id in self.jobs:
+                    return 'running', None, None, None
+                if job_id in self.waiting_job_ids:
+                    return 'waiting', None, None, None
+        return None, None, None, None
+
+    def abort_job(self, job_id):
+        job = self.jobs.get(job_id)
+        if job is not None:
+            job.abort_event.set()
+
+    def wait_for_running_job(self, job_id, timeout=None):
+        job = self.jobs.get(job_id)
+        if job is not None:
+            job.wait_for_end.wait(timeout)
+            if not job.done:
+                return False
+            while job_id not in self.finished_jobs:
+                time.sleep(0.001)
+            return True
+
+    def shutdown(self, timeout=5.0):
+        with self.lock:
+            self.shutting_down = True
+            for job in self.jobs.itervalues():
+                job.abort_event.set()
+            self.events.put(False)
+
+    def wait_for_shutdown(self, wait_till):
+        for job in self.jobs.itervalues():
+            delta = wait_till - monotonic()
+            if delta > 0:
+                job.join(delta)
+        if self.event_loop is not None:
+            delta = wait_till - monotonic()
+            if delta > 0:
+                self.event_loop.join(delta)
+
+    # Internal API {{{
+
+    def run(self):
+        while not self.shutting_down:
+            if self.max_block is None:
+                ev = self.events.get()
+            else:
+                try:
+                    ev = self.events.get(block=True, timeout=self.max_block)
+                except Empty:
+                    ev = None
+            if self.shutting_down:
+                break
+            if ev is None:
+                self.abort_hanging_jobs()
+            elif isinstance(ev, StartEvent):
+                self.waiting_jobs.append(ev)
+                self.start_waiting_jobs()
+            elif isinstance(ev, DoneEvent):
+                self.job_finished(ev.job_id)
+            elif ev is False:
+                break
+
+    def start_waiting_jobs(self):
+        with self.lock:
+            while self.waiting_jobs and len(self.jobs) < self.max_jobs:
+                ev = self.waiting_jobs.popleft()
+                self.jobs[ev.job_id] = Job(ev, self.events)
+                self.waiting_job_ids.discard(ev.job_id)
+        self.update_max_block()
+
+    def update_max_block(self):
+        with self.lock:
+            mb = None
+            now = monotonic()
+            for job in self.jobs.itervalues():
+                if not job.done and not job.abort_event.is_set():
+                    delta = self.max_job_time - (now - job.start_time)
+                    if delta <= 0:
+                        self.max_block = 0
+                        return
+                    if mb is None:
+                        mb = delta
+                    else:
+                        mb = min(mb, delta)
+            self.max_block = mb
+
+    def abort_hanging_jobs(self):
+        now = monotonic()
+        found = False
+        for job in self.jobs.itervalues():
+            if not job.done and not job.abort_event.is_set():
+                delta = self.max_job_time - (now - job.start_time)
+                if delta <= 0:
+                    job.abort_event.set()
+                    found = True
+        if found:
+            self.update_max_block()
+
+    def job_finished(self, job_id):
+        with self.lock:
+            self.finished_jobs[job_id] = job = self.jobs.pop(job_id)
+        self.update_max_block()
+        self.prune_finished_jobs()
+        if job.traceback and not job.was_aborted:
+            logdata = job.read_log()
+            self.log.error('The job: %s failed:\n%s\n%s' % (job.name, logdata, job.traceback))
+        job.remove_log()
+        self.start_waiting_jobs()
+
+    def prune_finished_jobs(self):
+        with self.lock:
+            remove = []
+            now = monotonic()
+            for job_id, job in self.finished_jobs.iteritems():
+                if now - job.end_time > 3600:
+                    remove.append(job_id)
+            for job_id in remove:
+                del self.finished_jobs[job_id]
+    # }}}
+
+def sleep_test(x):
+    time.sleep(x)
+    return x
+
+def error_test():
+    raise Exception('a testing error')
diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/loop.py b/src/calibre/srv/loop.py
index 536ed1b1c8..ac30c38938 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/loop.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/loop.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ from calibre.ptempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 from calibre.srv.errors import JobQueueFull
 from calibre.srv.pool import ThreadPool, PluginPool
 from calibre.srv.opts import Options
+from calibre.srv.jobs import JobsManager
 from calibre.srv.utils import (
     socket_errors_socket_closed, socket_errors_nonblocking, HandleInterrupt,
     socket_errors_eintr, start_cork, stop_cork, DESIRED_SEND_BUFFER_SIZE,
@@ -313,6 +314,7 @@ class ServerLoop(object):
         self.handler = handler
         self.opts = opts or Options()
         self.log = log or ThreadSafeLog(level=ThreadSafeLog.DEBUG)
+        self.jobs_manager = JobsManager(self.opts, self.log)
         self.access_log = access_log
 
         ba = (self.opts.listen_on, int(self.opts.port))
@@ -607,6 +609,7 @@ class ServerLoop(object):
         self.wakeup()
 
     def shutdown(self):
+        self.jobs_manager.shutdown()
         try:
             if getattr(self, 'socket', None):
                 self.socket.close()
@@ -620,6 +623,7 @@ class ServerLoop(object):
             pool.stop(wait_till)
             if pool.workers:
                 self.log.warn('Failed to shutdown %d workers in %s cleanly' % (len(pool.workers), pool.__class__.__name__))
+        self.jobs_manager.wait_for_shutdown(wait_till)
 
 class EchoLine(Connection):  # {{{
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/opts.py b/src/calibre/srv/opts.py
index b2c5802523..0439c13c69 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/opts.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/opts.py
@@ -57,6 +57,18 @@ raw_options = (
     'worker_count', 10,
     None,
 
+    _('Maximum number of worker processes'),
+    'max_jobs', 0,
+    _('Worker processes are launched as needed and used for large jobs such as preparing'
+      ' a book for viewing, adding books, converting, etc. By default, the max.'
+      ' number of such processes is based on the number of CPU cores. You can'
+      ' control it by this setting.'),
+
+    _('Maximum time for worker processes'),
+    'max_job_time', 60,
+    _('Maximum amount of time worker processes are allowed to run (in minutes). Set'
+      ' to zero for no limit.'),
+
     _('The port on which to listen for connections'),
     'port', 8080,
     None,
diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/standalone.py b/src/calibre/srv/standalone.py
index 408bd91852..4757be6066 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/standalone.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/standalone.py
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ class Server(object):
             plugins.append(BonJour())
         self.loop = ServerLoop(create_http_handler(self.handler.dispatch), opts=opts, log=log, access_log=access_log, plugins=plugins)
         self.handler.set_log(self.loop.log)
+        self.handler.set_jobs_manager(self.loop.jobs_manager)
         self.serve_forever = self.loop.serve_forever
         self.stop = self.loop.stop
         _df = os.environ.get('CALIBRE_DEVELOP_FROM', None)
diff --git a/src/calibre/srv/tests/loop.py b/src/calibre/srv/tests/loop.py
index 820d0a4964..7585f27b51 100644
--- a/src/calibre/srv/tests/loop.py
+++ b/src/calibre/srv/tests/loop.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ __license__ = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2015, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 
 import httplib, ssl, os, socket, time
+from collections import namedtuple
 from unittest import skipIf
 from glob import glob
 from threading import Event
@@ -222,3 +223,39 @@ class LoopTest(BaseTest):
         self.assertGreaterEqual(b, a)
         self.assertGreaterEqual(b - a, 0.09)
         self.assertLessEqual(b - a, 0.2)
+
+    def test_jobs_manager(self):
+        'Test the jobs manager'
+        from calibre.srv.jobs import JobsManager
+        O = namedtuple('O', 'max_jobs max_job_time')
+        class FakeLog(list):
+            def error(self, *args):
+                self.append(' '.join(args))
+        jm = JobsManager(O(1, 5), FakeLog())
+        job_id = jm.start_job('simple test', 'calibre.srv.jobs', 'sleep_test', args=(1.0,))
+        job_id2 = jm.start_job('t2', 'calibre.srv.jobs', 'sleep_test', args=(3,))
+        jid = jm.start_job('err test', 'calibre.srv.jobs', 'error_test')
+        status = jm.job_status(job_id)[0]
+        s = ('waiting', 'running')
+        self.assertIn(status, s)
+        status2 = jm.job_status(job_id2)[0]
+        self.assertEqual(status2, 'waiting')
+        while jm.job_status(job_id)[0] in s:
+            time.sleep(0.01)
+        status, result, tb, was_aborted = jm.job_status(job_id)
+        self.assertEqual(status, 'finished')
+        self.assertFalse(was_aborted)
+        self.assertFalse(tb)
+        self.assertEqual(result, 1.0)
+        status2 = jm.job_status(job_id2)[0]
+        time.sleep(0.01)
+        self.assertEqual(status2, 'running')
+        jm.abort_job(job_id2)
+        self.assertTrue(jm.wait_for_running_job(job_id2))
+        status, result, tb, was_aborted = jm.job_status(job_id2)
+        self.assertTrue(was_aborted)
+        self.assertTrue(jm.wait_for_running_job(jid))
+        status, result, tb, was_aborted = jm.job_status(jid)
+        self.assertTrue(tb), self.assertIn('a testing error', tb)
+        jm.start_job('simple test', 'calibre.srv.jobs', 'sleep_test', args=(1.0,))
+        jm.shutdown(), jm.wait_for_shutdown(monotonic() + 1)