Kirjahaku

"I hate ghosts I've played follow-the-leader with a bunch of dead men, fronted up to a demon with all my runes round the wrong way, been half strangled by a book illustration, nearly killed by a bunyip in a launderette washing machine. So when Raissa invited me to a s ance I was sure was a fake but turned out to be real, I knew there could only be trouble for Ernie Pine. And there was-wedging a witch, an apprentice magician, an alcoholic Vietnam veteran and me all too literally between the Devil and the deep blue sea..."

"Curl up in bed with a warm cuppa one night and start reading. The tea might help keep away the chills Kennett's stories will cause, but I doubt it ..." Marty Young, Australian Specfic In Focus "Kennett weaves a beguiling atmosphere through that holds the attention unerringly until the culmination of the tale. He has a knack for environment and ambience that he brings to bear with each and every story." Peter Worthy, Black Books ezineTwo bush walkers hear a rain-sodden forest speak at midnight in "The Dark and What it Said." M.R. James is revisited in "Anningley Hall, Early Morning" and "Dolls for Another Day." The mine-sweeper Barringji, a latter day Mary Celeste, drifts out of a storm that killed three other ships. In "Chinese Whispers" a parlour game goes horribly wrong. Mr. Lewisham sees Hell through a keyhole.Ernie Pine is a ghost-hunter who hates being a ghost-hunter.

As a child on Phobos: She sits watching, thinking it is another six year old, but can't decide if it's a boy or girl. The skin on the blotchy-red face is stretched and shiny. The eyes are lost in deep sockets, the mouth is toothy in a perpetual grin and the nostrils on the hooked nose open and close, as if sniffing for her.As a cadet on Mars: Hitting the general frequency, Cy yelled words she thought she'd never hear herself say: "Guard Point South Intruder alert Intruder alert "As a gunnery officer in space: Peters glanced at De Gerch. She didn't seem to be listening to Scanner Room at all, and her breathing came shallow and rapid in his earphones. Captain Brown, watching his weapons repeater, saw the cross-hairs leave the target, go hunting across the screen. Frowning, he leaned forward, cold with doubt.As captain of a starship: "Mr Peters ..." Captain Cy De Gerch hesitated an instant, then said what she'd always wanted to say: "Engage Engage Engage "As a free wheeling teenager, genetically engineered to meld with a starship's weaponry system: Antigone Pitra flinched with offence and shock."You're insane ""Oh, I hope so," said Cy. "I hope I'm utterly certifiable."