Bill Stenlake

A Pair of Shorts by Bill StenlakeThe 1st Leg: I am woken by a noise in the middle of the night. I listen for a few seconds before I definitely hear there is a noise coming from downstairs. There shouldn't be any noise coming from there I live alone. I get out of bed and stand by the door to hear what is going on. The noise comes towards me and I hear the intruder start to climb the stairs. I hide behind the door and am glad I do so, as when the intruder comes into my bedroom, the first thing I see is the gun he is holding. I leap on him and wrestle him to the floor. As he falls beneath me he hits his head on the frame of the bed. Just as I think I am out of the woods I hear another intruder downstairs. This one also starts to climb the stairs. I expect he has a gun too Why are these armed men breaking into my house? Why have they broken into the apartment of my employer? Why have they broken into our offices and why have they raided the warehouse and taken away two boxes of stock? The story moves quickly along as it becomes apparent that one of my employers is conducting business other than what we are in business for. Matters aren't helped when we can't get the answers we need to resolve the situation. There is only one thing for it. Anna and I take it upon ourselves to try to find out what is going on and what we can do to get some determined people off our backs.The 2nd LegI arrive at the airport ready to take the plane back home from Spain, to rejoin my family. Just at the wrong time, before the flight, I get the recurrence of severe stomach pains. I try to ride it out while waiting for the flight to be called, but this time I am not going to get away with that. The pain becomes more severe than it has done ever before. I make my way into the bathrooms and lock myself into one of the cubicles. I sit down and draw my legs up to me as I try to ride out the pains in my stomach. At some point I lose consciousness.I wake up, still in the cubicle. It is 1 o'clock in the morning and I am in pitch black. Do they shut down the lights overnight in the airport? I make my way into the departure lounge. That is in darkness too. There are no people around either, not one I search the airport but it is all in darkness and totally devoid of people. When I make my way outside there are no lights in the surrounding area. There are no cars moving anywhere. It is obvious to me that something has happened while I have been unconscious. I have been out of it for several days.I locate my car and retrieve it, before making for my villa. I don't come across a single soul while I do so. It is only when I venture to the shops that I hear the first signs of life. 2 helicopters fly to where I am. I get the feeling I have been spotted on CCTV cameras. Rather than wait out in the open, I feel I have to hide. The helicopters land and men come searching for me. I am fortunate to have found the hiding place I did. I realize the need to do something to try to get out of the area, but I need a better vehicle than my small car if I am to evade capture. It is while I am procuring this that I come across another survivor, rather than people who are tidying up after the contamination.

THE ROOTSI find that my life has come to a crossroads. I need something to change the recent pattern of my life. While clearing out my Mother's things, I come across a letter sent to my late Father, 25 years ago. The letter has come half way round the world from a solicitor in Cornwall. I have no idea what it was about, nor do I know if my Father ever responded to it.I realize how little I know of my family history and start the process of unearthing my ancestors. It should be relatively easy to do online, once I have a starting point. But I decide that as I need a change of scenery. I will travel half way round the world and visit Cornwall; the home of my ancestors. I contact the solicitor who had sent the letter to my Father all those years ago, more as a starting point to try to trace my family. His reply asks that I make an appointment to go and see him when I reach Cornwall, which is what I do once I have made my journey.It would appear that there are some people, who are not so welcoming on learning of my visit. First they take pot shots at me with an air rifle and then they attack me when I visit the old family house in Polfowys. All they seem to want from me is information about an old well. They are convinced there is something to be found in it and they seem to think that I know something at the very least about it. They watch me from afar, as I try to bring the house and garden back into a cared for state. I haven't really started my ancestry search as yet. They won't keep their distance for long.

The MannachsFantasy, Folklore, Legend, Stories of Old, and Fishermen's Tales, or any number of other ways of telling old stories. There is always something to be told about local history, things that have happened long ago in the past, but which still have an effect on life today in the same place. There are physical objects that have been put in place hundreds of years ago which are still there today, hundreds of years later. Do we know why an object was put there in the first place? This story revolves round events in a small village called Porthbro in Cornwall. There is a group of seven stones; some people say there were originally eight, and a Fogous. These stones have overlooked the village for hundreds of years. Why were they put there? What is their purpose? Were they erected on religious grounds? No, in fact these stones, The Mannach Stones were not. Their history is more to do with three golden cones, two of which were lost when a terrible storm hit the village soon after the villagers saw what they thought was a shooting star crossing the sky, come to a stop over the hill.Hundreds of years later there are more storms and Mary Ann is led to find one of the missing golden cones. She is told that there is another one as her father tells her the story behind the Mannach Stones that has been passed down through the centuries. She tries to find the second missing cone but does not do so in her lifetime.The story moves on now to the current day. There is another series of storms in the village. And then there is the last cone to be found. This falls to Brad and Jed, who live through an earthquake to begin with. And then there is the question of what happened to the cone that Mary Ann found?

'Dimensions' is in fact the first novel that I wrote, in the early 1990's. I had the manuscript printed out but never got to the stage of publishing it. I came across the manuscript again recently and I have decided that it deserves to be published, along with my other novels: on kindle and in paper-back. So here it is, over twenty years after I wrote it: Adam Wilcocks and his family get caught up in an explosion in the in local shopping center. The emotions that he goes through when he learns of the outcome are quite powerful. Also on the scene is John who has just parked up his vehicle when the explosion occurs. He belongs to a small special unit that operates out of London. John is in the middle of his annual vacation but that has to be cut short and he is asked to return to London. Following a meeting of their team, John is contacted by Liam who asks to meet him up. His group wants to deny any responsibility for the explosion. Two members of John's unit are assassinated shortly after and the unit separates to work on their own.William has been employed as a consultant for over four years by his company. He is about to be made redundant and so has time on his hands while he thinks about looking for another job. He has been experiencing some strange occurrences with some people he sees having a colored dot that only he can see, by their heads. Over the days he thinks he discovers what the dots mean and decides to do something about it, his own little crusade.'Dimensions' is a passionate, emotional, fast moving action thriller. Nobody really understands what is going on and when they think they get a handle on it, they find they are wrong. The story moves in a full circle and the characters come together to conclude in an unexpected ending.

Bramley Book 2In Bramley the Detective, Book 2, we have the return of Bramley, with some new cases to solve.It has been a quiet time recently for the detectives in the Braston Precinct. There has been a distinct lack of serious crime for a few weeks now. Surely it is going to change soon.In the meantime there are a series of break-ins and thefts from Jack's Mart. He is regularly being stolen from overnight but there are no signs as to how it is being done. Because things are so quiet, the team is able to spend more time than they normally would do, investigating these thefts. Billy has the unenviable task of plowing thru the CCTV footage, looking for clues.The quiet spell does not last and starts to return to normal when a girl with bright red shoes and long legs lures her first victim to his death. Is this the first of many or just a single crime? Bramley and his team are about to find out that they very quickly going from having nothing to do, to having their hands full with an assortment of serious crimes.

The Coridae Key is the sequel to Lowarth Toll. Arthur Snade has inherited a house in Torleith, from his Aunt Emily. He spent some time visiting her and reading to her, when he was on holiday in Cornwall. Emily's brother and sister found a note from Charles Trewartha reminding Emily not to forget about the family treasure. They did this when Emily was taken to hospital having been found on her hall floor. Emily knew nothing of the treasure, so they systematically pulled her house apart in an effort to find it. When Emily died, they found out that she had left everything to Arthur, so they started on Arthur. They presumed he knew about the treasure. He knew even less than Emily did. Arthur is rescued from a further beating by an heir hunter. Arthur inherits Lowarth Toll and moves to Cornwall. He meets up with his childhood sweetheart, Jenny, when she stops to give him a lift as he walks home with several bags of shopping. The family still hasn't given up on finding the treasure themselves. Having watched Arthur find something in the field behind Lowarth Toll, they investigate it for themselves during the night, with tragic consequences.Arthur and Jenny keep working at the clues and discover 4 pieces of treasure. They are made of a dull coloured, very heavy metal. There is a crown, a collar, a ring and a bangle. They report the find to the authorities and the treasure is taken to the British Museum to be assessed. One morning when they open their vault they find the treasure has gone, but no one has been in the vault.Arthur finds the treasure inside a safe he is having delivered to Lowarth Toll. He is given the instructions to hide the treasure away again until the right time, so he does.The Coridae Key takes up the story from that point. It tells of how the treasure was made and how it was brought to Cornwall many centuries ago. Arthur and Jenny try to find more about the treasure and where it might have come from. Events come together to make this 'the right time' and so they find out a little bit more about the treasure and eventually find The Coridae Key.

Lowarth Toll.While on holiday with his parents one summer in Cornwall, Arthur visits his Great Aunt Emma. She spent the first 50 years of her life, nursing her parents. Not that many years after they passed away, Emma has suffered a stroke. Her brother and sister do not believe she will survive, so go to her house to check on things. Emma lives in a cottage in the hamlet of Torleith, in Cornwall. They go through her papers and find, along with her will, a note from their Grandfather, Charles, to his son. In it, he reminds his son not to forget about the family treasure. It does not specify what the treasure is.They set about taking the cottage apart, but still fail to find anything. They then take to visiting Emma in hospital, trying to force information out of her about the treasure. Even if she does know anything about it, which she does not, Emma is incapable of communicating to anyone. Eventually they give up.When Arthur visits his Aunt whilst on holiday, he feels for her. Every day he visits her and reads to her. He buys her a radio to listen to when he is goes home again. Emma responds to this and after Arthur has returned home, she continues to improve. The progress is slow but in the right direction. She improves to the degree that it is thought that she might even be able to return home. That is until the social worker visits and discovers that the family has wrecked her house. The family start to visit again too and the combination of all this sends her rapidly downhill, culminating in her having another stroke.Only when she eventually dies, does the family learn that when she improved she had also changed her will. Arthur now inherits her estate. They now turn their attention on Arthur, to reveal the family treasure to them. Arthur isn't even aware he has inherited when they first attack him in his home. On the second occasion they do so, a visitor steps in to help save him.This visitor leads him back to Cornwall, where he follows the clues left by Charles. Is it all a big family joke or is there something to be found at Lowarth Toll?

I am Bill McIntyre and I am a healer by trade. I have recently developed the dubious ability of hearing voices in my head. I wake up one morning and hear a voice asking for help. Before I lose the voice, I manage to get a little information, but not much. Discussing the situation with a colleague, I find a possible matching address for the voice. Based purely on that, I make my way there. I knock at the door and when I get no reply, I ask the neighbours. They haven't seen anything today. I decide to call a policeman I helped a few months back, when he was having a strong allergic attack whilst eating a sandwich. Not surprisingly, he can't help me now.I am so convinced that the voice is in trouble and Alice is in the house, that I break down the front door of the house. I find Alice unconscious and barely alive, curled up in the under stairs cupboard. The policemen want to know me now Alice (the voice) has been left for dead and her son Harry has been taken hostage by two of Grant's people. Grant is trying to track down Daniel (Alice's husband). Unbeknown to Alice, Daniel has been working for big time criminal, Grant, for a year now. They were not supposed to harm Alice or Harry, but things didn't go the way they were meant to. Daniel has helped himself to some of Grant's goods, after misjudging how the business works and thinking Grant wouldn't miss them. When Grant finds out that Alice is not dead, as he had been told, he takes action to erase any connection that may lead back to him.Daniel finds out what has happened to Alice and Harry but is no position to do anything, as he has his own skin to save and has no intention of going back to Alice.Bob Hall (the policeman) eventually & unofficially, asks for my help to try to locate Harry. I have been in the hospital, sitting at Alice's bedside. She has no other family and I didn't think it was right she should be alone. I hear the voice again and again it is Alice who is still unconscious, but slowly coming round in Hospital. When she regains consciousness again, she asks me to help to find Harry, whose pleas for help have now come into my head.The story follows my efforts to help Alice recover and to try to find Harry. It follows Daniel's story and that of Grant too, as he tries to recover his goods.

Detective Bramley Book 1The metal detector is bleeping loudly. Jason has already dug down a couple of feet in the muddy ground. He has still not reached his target. When he does reach it, he can see his prize is a gold ring. This is what has triggered his metal detector. Taking his treasure home with him, he feels his nighttime foray has been well worthwhile. When he gets home he realizes that the detector has stopped working. He returns in daylight to see if he has missed anything at the spot he found the ring. He is in luck as he finds another ring. However this ring is still attached to someone's finger, a very dead someone's finger. Detective Bramley is enjoying a few days at home. He is on annual leave, enjoying spending some deserved rest time. That is until he is woken up in the middle of the night and asked to accompany two colleagues back to the precinct. Two bodies have been discovered in a field at the edge of town. The Captain wants Bramley to tell him what he knows as the bodies are those of his brother and his ex-wife.As it turns out the ring and the finger both belong to Detective Bramley's ex-wife. She and Bramley's brother are buried in a field along with two others. Someone has been serving up their own style of justice. Then the copycat murders begin & Bramley is given the task of tracking down the perpetrators and bringing them to justice. This is the first of the Detective Bramley books.

The Grand Master: The Keeper Trilogy: Part 2This is the second book of The Keeper Trilogy.The Keeper Trilogy starts like this: A long long time ago when the universe was arranged three Guiding Masters were appointed to oversee and act if the overall balance was not maintained. If necessary they can step in to sort problems. As a back up to the system The Keeper was also created. He holds the balance or rather he can restore the balance should it ever be required. The role as The Keeper passes down through the generations and although they are each aware they are something important they do not know what it is. The Keeper is protected by The Watcher who is a humanoid. The planet where The Keeper lives unexpectedly has serious unrest so The Watcher decides to move The Keeper and his parents to another planet (Earth) in the universe. On their journey they go through a time jump (unbeknown to them at the time). The Watcher knows it will only be a matter of time before they are found but it is all he can do. One of the current Guiding Masters notices the unrest and leaves the other two Guiding Masters at their base. Their system is set up so that there must always be two Guiding Masters present at their base at all times. The remaining two suspect that the third Guiding Master is up to something so they seek guidance. They are told that they should leave things as this was the sort of circumstance The Keeper was created for and it will be a good test. Their hands are tied so all they can do is keep a watching brief. The third Guiding Master arrives on the planet Velchitta where the unrest has been only to find The Keeper has gone. The new leader Algreb is also keen to follow them and bring them back under his control. He and The Guiding Master team up to follow The Watcher and The Keeper. This group too in their turn are followed by a small band of family and friends to do what they can to stop The Keeper from being found. They fail The Keeper has been captured by The Grand Master. His aim is to upset The Balance across the Universe. The Grand Master wants to be the power force of the Universe. He recruits like minded individuals and arms them. They set out across the quadrants to conquer the planets and take the wealth for their own. The Watcher, who has so far been ineffective in guarding The Keeper sets out to redeem the situation, but so far it is The Grand Master who definitely has the upper hand.

Living a quiet existence in South-West Scotland Wendell (the wanderer) Drethen quietly goes about his life of Writing & Painting in the beautiful solitude of his mill, Auchenglen Falls. The mill is set down an almost inaccessible track which helps Wendell keep visitors at bay. His contacts with the outside world come via his mobile phone, switched on once a month, and Angus who owns the village store in the nearby village of Auchenglen.Wendell receives a visit from Angus telling him his brother Charles has sent a text and needs to speak to Wendell urgently. Charles and Wendell have 2 more brothers, John and Miles. Miles has gone missing.Wendell drives back to his native Cornwall to meet up with Charles to try to unearth what has happened to Miles. They soon discover that their brother John is also missing and has been so for a considerable time. Miles may have known but he hasn't told his brothers. Why?Wendell's search leads him back and forth between Scotland and Cornwall as he tries to unravel what is happening to his family and their properties. He struggles to understand what is going on and why. Someone is trying to systematically and violently remove him & his family from this Earth. He discovers a new side to himself and his own needs when he meets Miles's neighbour, Lily, and through her meets someone who is destined to change his life forever.

John Staven is forced into taking some time off work. He attends an auction and though not winning his two prized lots he bids and wins three boxes of odds and ends from a house clearance. Sorting the boxes he finds an old book. Inside the cover is an inscription but not in English. Interest triggered, he flicks through the book only to find a section in the middle is hand-written. He spends some time on the internet trying to find out the language it is written in. He discovers it is in the Cornish Language. The writing is the diary of Kenan Ennor Lanyon. Kenan is a 17 year old man, who with 7 other Cornishmen, is leaving Cornwall to go to America in 1835.John gets gripped with Kenan's diary and spends the next few days translating it. The diary tells of their ocean crossing to America in an old 30 foot Cornish Lugger they have patched up for the journey. It tells of the settlement where the men decide to live and the start of their life there. At this point the diary stops.John investigates a little more the Cornish link of the diary. He contacts the family and shows the Granddaughter, Jen, his translation. They are confronted by Carl, a distant relative of one of the others mentioned in the diary. John and Jen find this worrying and interesting. As a result John and Jen fly to America to try to see what they can uncover. They stay at a small boarding house and with help from a couple of locals start to dig into the history surrounding Kenan's diary. They discover on a 50 year old map a name which requires more research and a visit to the land agent opens up a whole new side to the diary. John and Jen follow through this line of research which takes them all the way to Boston before they discover more of what happened to Kenan. The possibility of their being another part of the diary increases interest too. John and Jen's arrival in McKenzie and Boston signals a change in something for the first time since Kenan's death.

Cornerstone is another Cornish based story by Bill Stenlake. Cador Krev's family are an old Cornish family. His parents have given him an old Cornish name. Cador was involved in an accident at work. One of his colleagues died while Cador and one other were badly burned and scarred for life. It takes him two years to be fit enough to decide whether he wants to go back to work or move on to a new challenge. With compensation in his pocket he decides to move to Cornwall, the home of his ancestors. While looking for a property he stays at a private Hotel in Perranporth which was recommended by his surgeon.. On his first night he is nearly run down by an out of control car. The family who own the Hotel become involved in trying to help him and protect him too.Events lead Cador to believe he is the target for one family's resentment and loss. He finds out he is the beneficiary of a will which appears to be where the hate comes from. Everything seems to centre around the Cornerstone which is an innocuous stone in the corner of a cemetery on the estate. It is believed the Cornerstone holds the key to why the Krevit mines were so successful in the 1700's compared to the other mines in the area. The secret is there to be told in a book about the Cornerstone but no one knows where it is.The story deals with Cador's efforts to resolve the situation today and also eventually goes right back to the middle of the 1700's when Troudemons Hall was built as Cador follows a trail of clues to uncover the meaning of the Cornerstone, a secret that has remained uncovered for well over 200 years

RandolphThe Randolph brothers, Abraham & Isaiah are hunters in the late 1800s. They live out in the middle of nowhere in New England. They are joined by a Norwegian, Denbac, as they try to make a good life for themselves. One of the brothers, Abraham, goes to town but does not return. He has taken all their wealth with him to exchange. They find he is not in town and has gone away. When Abraham dies in New York, he leaves everything he has in a trust. He has bought a building and it has become a hostel for the homeless. This year the money Abraham left in trust to keep the hostel going has run out. The hostel is about to be redeveloped. Someone has other ideas about that Who and why?Suddenly I become aware that I am sitting down. I have absolutely no recollection of where I might be. I can't remember where I was and what I was doing last. My eyes are still closed as I try to bring my mind into gear.There is a pungent smell drifting into my nostrils. It is not one I find particularly pleasant. I only struggle for a couple of seconds to place it. The recognition comes to me swiftly. It is the smell of pee.At that I open my eyes. I am on a bench in a park. I look to my left; because that is the direction the smell is originating from. Sitting next to me is a woman and she smells of pee. She is sitting maybe a foot over from me. She is looking at me with crystal clear blue eyes. Those appear to be her best asset. Her face is grubby with a mixture of ingrained dirt and exposure to the sun. Her smile is a toothy one, but I wish she wouldn't as the teeth she does have left are stained and chipped. She is much smaller than my five foot ten inches height, but she probably matches my 200 pound weight, at a guess.'I see water and trees' her words startle me as she shoots out a stubby hand, cupped for a donation. This isn't the first time John Ford has come to, not knowing where he is. The previous time was several years ago, after he had been knocked down by a car. He woke up in hospital not knowing who he is or why he had been to Charlottesville. He still doesn't know. He has had to start his life afresh.The woman sends John on a mission, apparently to try to save a homeless hostel destined to be redeveloped. The hostel was gifted by Abraham Randolph. She guides John to other people who will help him on his quest. His journey takes him from downtown Manhattan to the middle of nowhere in New England. However there are some people who don't want John to fulfil his quest. John starts to think his past life has caught up with him. Someone seems to be fairly eager to stop him, to the extent they want to kill him if necessary.Everywhere John goes the woman has been before him priming people for his arrival. Each one has something that John needs to be able to unravel whatever it is he is being guided to find out.

A long long time ago when the universe was arranged three Grand Masters were appointed to oversee and act if the overall balance was not maintained. If necessary they can step in to sort problems. As a back up to the system The Keeper was also created. He holds the balance or rather he can restore the balance should it ever be required. The role as The Keeper passes down through the generations and although they are each aware they are something important they do not know what it is. The Keeper is protected by The Watcher who is a humanoid.The planet where The Keeper lives unexpectedly has serious unrest so The Watcher decides to move The Keeper and his parents to another planet (Earth) in the universe. On their journey they go through a time jump (unbeknown to them at the time). The Watcher knows it will only be a matter of time before they are found but it is all he can do.One of the current Grand Masters notices the unrest and leaves the other two Grand Masters at their base. Their system is set up so that there must always be two Grand Masters present at their base at all times. The remaining two suspect that the third Grand Master is up to something so they seek guidance. They are told that they should leave things as this was the sort of circumstance The Keeper was created for and it will be a good test. Their hands are tied so all they can do is keep a watching brief.The third Grand Master arrives on the planet Velchitta where the unrest has been only to find The Keeper has gone. The new leader Algreb is also keen to follow them and bring them back under his control. He and The Grand Master team up to follow The Watcher and The Keeper. This group too in their turn are followed by a small band of family and friends to do what they can to stop The Keeper from being found.The book introduces all the main characters and slots them into their places and sides in this book, the first of a trilogy. Some of the characters will not fully develop yet but they have been introduced in The Keeper.This is the first book of a trilogy: The Keeper, The Grand Master & The Watcher.