Get Real

Justin lives in a future when Earth’s humanity has become largely desensitized to violence and regard for others. He is a Delivery Real superstar whose daily cargo is the soon-to-be exploited, and the already-voided synthetic life forms that look human but are not. He – like the world around him – views artificially created intelligent beings as either property or slaves designed to be used and used up by their human masters without remorse of conscience.

In Justin’s world, everything is up for grabs if you have what it takes, and if you are fit enough to take it. Such is the state of affairs on an increasingly sterile planet with increasingly sterile people who no longer know how to appreciate the gift of life. It isn’t until Justin is introduced to the wise stillness of silence under the tutelage of Mother Entity that he begins to discover what lies just beneath the barren violence of his home planet.

Grasp the Nettle

Set in a remote district of Western Australia in the 1920s, an era which outlawed suicide, an unidentified body has been found and police are treating the death as suspicious. The story presents a chance for strangers (the reader) to peruse the very private diaries of the protagonists. Intriguingly, this is like peeping through the coin slot of a piggy bank to count the wealth inside. Elsie has married Tom in an arrangement brokered by her brother. Tom’s job is delivering the Royal Mail, and it takes him away from home for weeks at a time. Vivacious, imaginative young Elsie must entertain herself in their isolated, unsophisticated bush hut. Married women were not allowed to be financially independent. Grasp the Nettle is not a fairytale ‘lived happily ever after’ romance, but a lode of accurate historical data balanced by details of underlined moral standards of life before the advent of reliable contraceptives, and acknowledgement of gender diversity. In those harsh times, things that are commonplace for us today were yet to be invented: like mobile phones, internet communications, and GPS. There were not even engineered roads through country districts in this vast nation, Australia. Grasp the Nettle poses the question: how did people cope with life’s challenges?

Gunner's Island

Gunner’s Island is a post-war novel that will engage dog lovers, military veterans, history enthusiasts, and undoubtedly anyone who is all three. Set in the small town on a tiny Canadian maritime island, the story unfolds with the return of World War II pilot Linus, following a plane crash that left him irrevocably altered. Linus is grappling with PTSD and acclimation back into civilian life, when he is mysteriously befriended by Gunner, a full grown and affable Newfoundland dog.

With a wide array of detailed characters and scenes that jump between flashbacks and present life, Gunner’s Island is both a drama and comedy. It is earnest yet jocular, weighty yet wholesome, and meant to set sail the reader into the story as effortlessly as its northern ocean waves.

Hard Luck Motty

You will not be able to put this book down once you start!

Hard Luck Motty has been through everything you can imagine.

See if you can find someone who can top my life adventures!

The famous people I have met and spent time with: Hollywood superstars, sporting greats.

The family tragedies along the way.

The excitement and thrills.

The silliness.

The lessons I have learnt the hard way, in my working, sporting and fun life.

You need to read this book.

Hartsfield

Prepare to be captivated by the intriguing tale of Jane Clair, a woman harbouring a secret she dare not divulge to her enigmatic employer, John Ronald. In a desperate bid to preserve her job at Hartsfield, a place upon which her very livelihood depends, Jane must leave behind her cherished loved ones – Charlie, her childhood sweetheart, and her devoted grandfather – and venture into the enigmatic realm of Hartsfield. Little does she know that her life is about to undergo an unforeseen twist within the confines of this mysterious estate.

Haunted by the possibility of joining the ranks of the countless housemaids carelessly dismissed by John Ronald in the past, Jane must navigate her new role without prior experience in the world of housekeeping. Will John Ronald succumb to the allure of Jane’s beauty and captivating personality? Can she escape the fate that has befallen others who failed to meet his exacting standards?

Prepare for a journey brimming with friendship, love, and heartbreak as Jane’s path intertwines with the magical realm of true love. Delve into a world where secrets and desires collide, where the bonds of loyalty are tested, and where the ultimate power of love can transcend all obstacles.

Have Not Charity - Volume 1: Sins and Volume 2: Virtues

Have Not Charity is a fascinating and profound investigation into deep and important concepts which have become obscure in modern times: sin and virtue. Alexandr Korol examines what motivates people in their actions, how goals and behaviours align, and how these are all affected both for good and ill both by virtue and by sin. He seeks to show that many ‘good’ deeds are in fact motivated by sin.

This is a true modern work of ethics, in the classical sense, a guide for a better life. If you have ever hoped to gain a clearer and fuller understanding of how society and life work, this book will prove invaluable.

Heart over Time

Heart over Time encapsulates the sense of intrigue, of appointed times and of personal election that permeates the writer's work throughout. Marie Barrett's poetry and prose has a 'Jacob's ladder' type feel to it, the journey of life winding and rewinding itself with new revelations revealed in old themes. From her first book, The Witnesses, which was written under instructions from the words in a dream: ‘Write about your experiences in London and call the book The Witnesses.’ a follow-up to Over the Boundaries, in which a wide spectrum of emotions are confronted. In Heart over Time, eschatological concerns are particularly to the fore, stemming most poignantly from the recent death of her husband. The internal rhythms of the speech of her soul find a companion in nature and in the silent workings of the seasons and the universe and have a hypnotising effect that draws the reader in its wake to a state of shared metaphysical being.

Henry VIII’s Narrow Escape

In 1536, King Henry VIII faced a major rebellion called The Pilgrimage of Grace, in opposition to the religious changes being imposed by the king and his ministers. The rebels, based mainly in the north of England, were particularly keen to defend the monasteries against the government’s attempt to close them down. This book tells the story of the struggle for Sawley Abbey on the border of Yorkshire and Lancashire near Clitheroe and how close Henry VIII came to a disastrous defeat there. The involvement of other northern monasteries in the struggle to save Sawley, at Whalley and Furness, is also explored. In his dealings with all three of these monasteries, Henry enjoyed great fortune and a very narrow escape. This is the story of how close these monasteries came to destroying Henry VIII and changing the entire course of English history.

Hidden Words

‘Perspective of danger changes when reality floods through the dark. 

It takes wild events of immense forbidden love for Christopher to realise he’s been living life all wrong.

Christopher has to make serious changes in order to become the person he’s always wanted to be. 

Unfortunately, his biggest enemy is always close in his mind.’

Hippie Kushi Waking up to Life

Most people as they get older tend to forget about themselves. It seems to be a normal part of the process of life and it happens to the best of us. We forget to reach our own potential because we are far too focused on bringing up a family, working long hours to pay off the mortgage and bills, locked into the cycle of the never-ending treadmill of work and career. It is easy to lose our way and disregard our own existential well-being.

Suddenly one day thirty years later, we say to ourselves, ‘What happened to the person I used to be, what happened to my life? We used to be fun, go to parties, dance the night away at night clubs and have loads of crazy friends.’ Your social life now consists of a bottle of wine at home watching TV. Your friends are getting fewer and fewer because over the years you have focused on everybody else except yourselves.

My name is Stephen Cox, I am 55 years old and I describe myself as a modern hippie. I am spiritual, forward-thinking, a traveller of the world and a lover of life. I paint my brow with the colours of the rainbow, I wear bright multi-coloured clothes and beads and I dance with my whirly friends all through the night. I am happy! I have found hippie happiness, I have found Hippie Kushi and I would love it if you find it too.

Hobbo on Life

In this first in a series of humorous poetry collections by Hobbo, he takes a quirky look at the absurdities and foibles of life from a Yorkshireman’s point of view. Sometimes he takes a walk in someone else’s shoes and occasionally he is assisted by his black Labrador Dauphy, who has his own perspective to add, Hobbo will brighten your day, shorten your journey and leave your fellow passengers wondering what you are chuckling about.

Beware though, Hobbo on Life delivers a sting in the tail now and then. What starts as a giggle, may take a sudden turn and leave you pondering the real meaning of life. 

If you are browsing for a serious book of traditional poetry, or a literary masterpiece to help you look intellectual, then put this little gem down and search elsewhere. If you want a laugh, something to talk about with your friends, and an easy read that will lighten your mood for the rest of the day, you have found it. Happy reading. Enjoy!

Holes in the Ground: War and Ore

When Thomas Longois Lefoy is sent to Tangiers to investigate a German plot involving Moroccan phosphates, he uncovers a sinister Soviet Union involvement in the Asturias miners’ strike of 1934 and its unforeseen consequences for Andoni Arriola, a Basque metallurgist. As he delves deeper into the case, he finds himself caught in a web of intrigue involving the Spanish Civil War, the injury and death of British intelligence agents, and the protection of Britain’s interests in the iron and copper mining industries. As he travels from Tangiers to Gibraltar, Huelva, and Bilbao, he witnesses the devastating effects of civil war and the destruction of open-cast mining. Along the way, he encounters Heinrich Rathenau, a German industrial chemist seeking refuge, and becomes embroiled in a dangerous game of espionage and political maneuvering that reveals the high stakes of international trade and the human cost of war.