Kirjahaku

Swallows and Amazons meets The Famous Five for the 21st Century. Springtime: Terry and Paul are looking forward to getting their beloved dinghy, Orinoco, back on the water. Perhaps, this year they can concentrate on sailing without running across criminal gangs or having another adventure searching for treasure. Unfortunately the criminals have other ideas. As witnesses, the boys and their older siblings, BJ and Graham, are a possible link to putting them behind bars, and anything might happen before they come to trial. All the youngsters have to do is lie low at their new cottage in the Lakes, keep out of trouble and not use social media... easier said than done. Their cover is blown, and they have to make a desperate escape, ending up in a remote village in Norway. Safe now? Not this bunch of youngsters. It's a case of frying pans and fires! Danger, intrigue and treachery follow... and that's just a normal day's sailing.

Tom wakes after an accident to find he has mislaid a load of years, his body and a whole planet.In search of his lost love, he becomes the ultimate commuter, moving into a new universe, where the Second World War had gone on rather too long, and Scotland gained independence. If that wasn't bad enough, another faction is determined to collapse the whole of creation.A liberation force from the US, spoiling to try out some new kit, joins the fray, and goes for total annihilation. It's Tom's job to save the lot, aided only by a bunch of slaves and a bit of alien technology.One of the problems with hopping between universes is that there is a faint chance you can meet yourself. That can't happen of course, and so it does, exactly at the point where the whole fabric of space and time breaks down.

When Tom's non-payment of a parking fine coincides with the breeding season of his security forces, and the rise of a vehicle storage junta, he is forced into a life as a fugitive.Using a converted cruise ship, he sets about kicking back against extortionate car parking charges, the proliferation of revenue speed cameras and the new 10 mph national speed limit.Regrettably, the laws of the land don't apply to the rich people who might have done something about it, or the poor, incarcerated in enclaves of antisocial housing, so Tom's reign of piracy, despite offering loyalty cards to the victims for being repeatedly plundered, quickly comes to an end when he loses his life in a freak copper-sodium flavoured pizza incident.Is there any hope for the common citizen, now that the figurehead of insurrection is gone, and the authorities continue to impose draconian traffic controls across the galaxy?

In Tudor times, the blow of a knife ended Ankerita's unhappy marriage, and condemned her soul to a living death.There is a chance to atone for her crime, but 500 years have passed, and the new world she awakens to contains not only the shadows of the past, but also the nightmares of the present.She is thrown into a desperate flight to stay ahead of police and criminals determined to end her freedom, and the demons who want to drag her back into the silence of the grave.

A rough treasure map, discovered in a neglected dinghy, starts two boys on a set of clues, each one bringing a greater reward. It's not plain sailing (as they say), because all the way, they are dogged by a modern day pirate, who wants the treasure for himself.They think they have escaped him when they travel north to the remotest part of the Lake District, but then fall foul of a gang of desperate criminals. While their family is besieged, the boys make a break for it in their dinghy. Will they ever find the treasure, or simply be lucky enough to escape with their lives?Swallows and Amazons for the 21st century.

Just when he thought he was dead and could have some time off, Tom Two-Dan $mith (sic) is catapulted into leading a business, in a chaotic world where bureaucracy and process have taken over from all logic and good sense.Everything seems to perpetuate an organisational structure, but nobody knows what his company actually does. Tom's challenge is to find out, and track down who is really in charge.Add into this multiple attempts on his life as people try to stop him, his quest to find true love, an investigation into a murder without a victim, the first rule of being a private investigator, and the impending total collapse of four universes, and we have a tangled knot that even Alexander the Great would have trouble cutting.Tom has to do something, otherwise it will be the end of everything he knows, and quite a few bits he doesn't.A lusty romp through everything wrong with business and life today. Adults only, and only those not easily offended... and managers everywhere.

There is a theory that death is not the end of existence, but is simply a shift into an alternative universe. This is true and keeps happening to Tom Two-Dan $mith (sic).Usually, one forgets everything of the past and starts a new life. Tom is not so lucky; he remembers.In his last transition, he became the head of a large corporation, famous for doing something, but nobody knows what, including the staff.He is still investigating.To make life more difficult, the Temporal Conduct Authority, who don't believe the above theory, and are miffed about the fact he has shamelessly flaunted the Laws of Time and Space, are looking to return him to his proper place in the universes (i.e. completely dead).

A fast-moving Gothic thriller, sinister and evocative, calling on many elements of the supernatural as well as contemporary issues, as experienced through the eyes of a feisty heroine without a recorded identity.Ankerita, a Tudor noblewoman released from her tomb after half a millennium of disturbed sleep, is desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the evil organisation that needs her for her unique blood, and the demons still trying to reclaim her soul.Her best friend is dying, but that there is a chance the friend can be cured if Ankerita can complete the 'Summoning' using a number of lost treasures, hidden long ago by a sorcerer from Celtic legend.The ritual has to be evoked on a specific night, when five planets are aligned for the first time since she died, but her pursuers are ever present, and the Summoning comes with a price. Hers will be the ultimate sacrifice, if the invocation fails.

Tom, Two-Dan $mith (sic) thought his life couldn't get any worse, until a gorgeous alien turns up at his door, and drags him off on a quest to sort out the company responsible for all the troubles in the galaxy.But as is usual with Tom, what glitters is nothing more than polished coal. His guide has another agenda, using him as cannon-fodder. Taken in by her charms, he follows her directions, surviving by sheer luck and circumstance only, to the very end of Time itself, and discovers a confluence of unimaginable universes and an alien plot to take over the lot.If that wasn't bad enough, Tom has to challenge a super-intelligent being, created by a brewing accident and a lot of radiation... and our man's not even sober by now.

New Illustrated version. In Tudor times, the blow of a knife ended Ankerita's unhappy marriage, and condemned her soul to a living death.There is a chance to atone for that guilt, but 500 years have passed, and the new world she enters contains not only the shadows of the past but the nightmares of the present.She is thrown into a desperate struggle to stay ahead of the police and criminals determined to end her freedom, and the demons eager to drag her back to the silence of the grave.

A modern day fairy-tale for people of all ages from 6 upwards.When Stefan digs up a mysterious amber stone on a deserted beach he releases the powerful forces of the hideous sand witches. Their mission, to appear as beautiful young women, infiltrate society and live long and happy lives supported by wealthy businessmen who have no idea what they actually are. However, to keep the illusion going involves eating children.Being mistaken for trolls doesn't help, and Stefan and his friends meet the awful Sandman and are captured by the witches. The gem dragged them into this, but can it get them out again, or will they become supper rather than getting home in time for it?

This book is not intended to be a Lonely Planet style guide to the Jewel of the Mediterranean, but actually a lighthearted diary of events on a guided tour. Recently updated, you'll learn about the island as we go, however, and hopefully smile a bit on the way.Try picking a good tour operator for the insights and history that normal tourists miss completely, add a smattering of reflection and adventure recording a travelogue of Sicily, the focus of much history of Europe, and you have this, a journey unfolding and piloting you on a tour around this beautiful island, that everyone with an interest in history should visit at least once in a lifetime

A contemporary Gothic tale of horror, blood, sex and corruption.Ankerita sacrificed herself, saving the life of her friend, but a promise she made to an enchantress from the sixteenth century hauls her back.The world she returns to has changed.Strangers from pre-history are waking to resume their age-old battles, and the specter of the Nazis rises again.Ankerita is thrown into a power struggle between two primal factions, and is forced to use her arcane links to petition for aid.Together with a Dark Ages chieftain, she descends into Limbo to rescue the witch, but unwittingly release an evil, supposed to be held there for eternity.And now, the execution bell adds its terrible call, awakening more of the ancient Strangers with the Eyes of Men from their millennia of idleness.

This is the monochrome version of my published book, North Cyprus, One Man in a Bus, a travelogue of a guided tour around this little country, barely larger than Cornwall in the UK. The colour version has to be expensive, because Amazon take 40% of the price and charge another wad for printing. This will be better value, and the colour pictures can be found from the website links at the end of the book.There is also a short guide, 'North Cyprus, One Man in a Pocket', that you can use to get around on your own. And... it really will fit in a pocket. It has all the information, without my narrative.50% of the royalties of all my North Cyprus books are being donated To Kyrenia Animal Rescue.

Ancient Aliens meet Greek gods in an epic confrontation that spells the end of the world." The strangers came, and they were not like us. Something else, but wearing the skins of men, the eyes of men, their hands..."Ishur Ninku, Sumer, 4000 BCE On a paradise planet, the far side of the sun, Anthea, cast out of an isolated colony of refugees, shelters from a firestorm of meteorites. The Gods are returning, the vanguard of a race who were abandoned by her own elders millennia ago. Their arrival triggers a countdown on an alien artifact, given to her as a child, and a chain of events that can only lead to deadly conflict. Anthea's amulet holds the key to salvation, or her own death, but will the elders and the Gods listen to reason before the planet is devastated?

A contemporary Gothic tale of blood, sex and corruption. *** Ankerita died in an arcane ritual, but a promise she made to a witch from the sixteenth century forces her to return, unwittingly opening a portal into the realm of demons, and reawakening the Strangers from their millennia of sleep. *** The spectre of ancient evil now asserts its malign influence as the country is torn apart by shocking events. Only Ankerita can tackle the menace and attempt to release the victims from its thrall. *** In a race against time, the Doomsday Bell continues to toll, calling the Strangers with the Eyes of Men back into their unending conflict from millennia ago. ***

At the very end of Time is the vast Star Palace of the Sombre Warrior, the final haven for all those significant through history. Alas, the Warrior has cheered up, and retired to farm bees, nominating Tom, Two-Dan $mith (sic) as successor. Tom finds this convenient-he is on the run from the Financlia (sic) Police-but also inconvenient-the End of Time is under threat from the multi-limbed quadrillipods, engineering geniuses and proud inventors of the thousand-button keyboard, who have eaten everything else in the multiverse, and are now intending to break into the Palace, and finish off the rest. Tom has to repel the invasion, and with nothing to help him-the Star Palace being dedicated to peace, harmony, and shower units that don't go cold when someone flushes the loo-he has to do it alone. From the End of Time, everything that came before it is readily available, though. If Tom can travel backwards in, let's say, a clapped-out Time Cylinder, he might be able to collect something environmentally unfriendly and loud to use against the intruders. While the continued existence of the multiverse is in the balance, retired private investigator, the Magus, has a seemingly unrelated and simple task of solving an attempted murder. Motives could include the sale of faulty methane-powered undergarments, or worse: his client is refusing to pay his TV licence. It seems the influence of the Galactic Broadcasting Hypocrisy is extending in every direction, and they have become even more powerful than the modern parking juntas. But how are the GBH, the murder attempt, the kidnapping of the Magus's soulmate, a day in the life of a dung farmer (a doku-mentary), and Mrs Tuesday, the eternal tea-lady, linked to the invasion? Trust me, they are, and ultimately can everyone pull together to save the destruction of the End of Time, and every single thing that came before it?

Please note, that despite that the Amazon 'Look Inside' shows the pictures in colour, they are in monochrome in the actual book, to keep the price affordable. There is a link to the colour photographs on the Net at the very end, so you won't miss out on the experience of this comic travelogue to and from the Greek island of Syros, one of the lesser known and certainly lesser reported holiday destinations in the whole Mediterranean.If you want to sit on a beach, you can do that anywhere, but to appreciate the empty spaces, away from the usual holiday destinations, you can't do much better than a trip to the Greek Islands.Avoid the usual tourist traps of Mykonos and Santorini if you can, and follow my trail into the unknown.The tale incorporates the whole experience, from the trials of negotiating the airport, through the calculated lack of coordination of plane and ferry, and past the ladies touting their (possible) accommodation, before final arrival.Once there, Syros is explored in detail, and features, amongst many other observations, the eternal 'Cigarette Smoking Man', the beggars that give receipts, a Greek Basil Fawlty, and why self-driving cars on the island would be a 'Really Bad Idea'.