Bocconcini

Bocconcini, a cornucopia of stories, a horn of plenty: youth, art, love, life, Ireland, Italy, Thailand, the macabre, the forbidden, age, and much else. 150 dives into other worlds, other moments, emotions recollected in tranquillity. Points of departure, reflection, possibly even action. New insights into the familiar, a new friend warranting a place among earlier friends.

Bogga

Who would have thought leftover broccoli from dinner would create such a friendship? After Billy discovers a Pocco, his whole world is opened up to these fantastical creatures who have exceptional powers.

Until now, this Pocco’s shyness of humans has kept them hidden, but Bogga saw that little boy’s kindness which made them brave enough to call out. That’s when Billy first saw those big, wet, eyes.

If you’re scared of dark and dusty places, fear no more, as these are Poccos’ favourite places to hide.

Bonds

Stories intertwine in a world where pirates rule the seven seas and myth-steeped islands with untapped treasure lie on the horizon.

When Luke is unsuspectingly kidnapped into a life of barbarism and piracy he finds himself with a choice: escape from his confines and live a life of freewill, or continue to fight in the gladiatorial arena to ensure the safety of his companions. Growing tension between two powerful pirate lords ensures that this choice might very well be the last he makes.

Alongside this, a young, insignificant man, Art has to try and flee an island filled with indigenous dangers. He is by no means heroic but understands that fleeing might not be his only way out. Should he have the courage, Art could save the island and its inhabitants, but doing so would pose a threat to his own life. Perhaps he’s not even brave enough to save himself.

Bonecreake: The Strange Tale of Maudy Jiller

December 1878. North Sea gales batter the wash estuary of England’s east coast, covering the desolate marshes and riverbanks under a near impenetrable blanket of snow and ice. Isolated and alone, the impoverished fishing community of Bonecreake faces hardship like never before.

But when the warmth of spring thaws the freezing conditions of a prolonged winter, a terrible secret is revealed: four children of Bonecreake are missing.

Investigating their disappearance falls on the youthful shoulders of Constable Hollins. With both the inhabitants of Bonecreake and his superiors demanding answers, is the inexperienced Constable Hollins capable of solving the macabre puzzle of the children’s disappearance?

What part does the widowed mother, Maudy Jiller, have to play in an investigation exposing the hypocrisy at the heart of the social and moral values of Victorian England?

As disturbing as it is engaging, Bonecreake: The Strange Tale of Maudy Jiller is every parent’s fear, and every mother’s nightmare.

Bonfire Night

A bonfire blazes in Outback Australia. Two men sit all night in its glow, commemorating their dead friend. He blew his head off with a shotgun. Bonfires burn across Lewes, England, commemorating Guy Fawkes Night. As crowds of revellers lurch through the streets, a boy stands teetering on the ledge of a bridge, waiting for the train to pass below. Two different lives, two different places, one story to tell.

Book It!

Entrepreneur, politician and philanthropist Dinesh Dhamija emerged from the recession-hit streets of 1970s West London to create, build and sell ebookers – one of the world’s premier travel agencies and a pioneer in the millennial dot.com boom, earning himself a £100 million fortune.

How did this son of an Indian civil servant, with no connections to the travel industry or technical background, end up with one of the most successful internet companies in Europe? How did ebookers withstand the serial catastrophes of the dot.com crash of 2000, the global travel freeze after 9/11 and the disruption of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, outlasting and out-performing its rivals?

In his candid, buccaneering autobiography, Dhamija looks back to his globe-trotting childhood, his Cambridge University education and the hair-raising, energising, eyepopping rollercoaster ride of his business career. Not content to retire gracefully into anonymity, Dhamija then focused his energies and talents on politics, where his insider tales from Brussels and the Liberal Democrat party expose the looming Brexit disaster.

His insights into philanthropy, investment and entrepreneurship offer a rich diet of advice, observation and storytelling, spiced with anecdote and perceptive details.

Among the outstanding businessmen of his generation, Dinesh Dhamija’s life story is one of adventure, risk-taking, ambition and unique achievement across multiple fields.

Prepare to be entertained!

Book Seller

This book is meant as an anthology of minimalist short stories that I have published throughout the time in literary magazines, using a minimum of means to create the artistic background. In terms of style, I could mention Jack London, J.D. Salinger, Raymond Carver, Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust, as authors that influenced my career as a writer. Though seemingly simple, the short stories in Book Seller are carefully crafted, like exquisite pieces of jewellery and each, in turn, can represent the appropriate starting point for other challenging books. I let my characters speak for myself and give a decisive role to suggestion. This leads to a lyrical outline of the events, described as if my characters sometimes dress themselves in poetry from time to time. A moment in the existence of a character, a snippet of a moment, a coincidence, may be enough to make the beginning of a novel or the beginning of a short story similar to those found in this book.

Bop-Bop's First Day

On the first day of school, you might be really scared and that's okay, because secretly everyone is…even the teachers. Bop-Bop is a very brave little alien starting reception and this is the story of her first day, which is one to remember.

Border Wars

The Kurils, the border islands in the north of Japan, have been in dispute for many centuries. Taken as reprisals by Russia at the end of World War 2, they were eventually returned in the year 2056 in exchange for favourable trade deals across the Northern Pacific region. Just over a century later, the islands were taken again, by the Russians, and the entire population was relocated to Hokkaido, the northernmost of the Japanese Home Islands.

This is the story of the deception, and the duplicitous method used by the Russians to steal and keep the islands and their plan for the newly discovered oil riches that lie below.

What the Russians did not factor in, in their carefully created plan, was the meteoric rise of the career of Jackson Nakagawa; the man who was to eventually become known as the most fearsome and innovative ground forces commander for more than 200 years.

Never overawed by any assignment, his innovative methodology was to see the decisive defeat of the Russians in what was to become known as the Border Wars; but what no one could foresee was the war that was to come just a few short years later.

Born into a World I Don't Belong In

For women and girls who have been misunderstood, miss-diagnosed and quite frankly missed altogether in getting an autism diagnosis – THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU.

For decades females on the spectrum went undetected causing a lifetime of struggles, anxiety, depression, missed opportunities and incorrect diagnoses. Women and girls tended to fly under the radar due to the fact that they learned from an early age how to mask, mimic and role-play in order to fit in with societal norms and expectations. Due to a lot of research in this field, there are now a lot more evidence-based theories to support the view that autism is just as prevalent in females as it is in males, but it just wasn’t picked up due to the gender difference in presentation. There still needs to be a lot more awareness and information available for women and girls who may feel different but don’t know why. Maybe they have been searching for answers in the wrong places. My mission is to help raise awareness of this condition. And who can do this better than a female on the spectrum that walks, talks and lives each day in those shoes?

Born To Change

Do you know what that egg will turn into once it has hatched?

From bugs and insects to chicks and birds, watch as nature unfolds with the turning of every page.

With beautiful illustrations and fantastic rhymes, can you guess what I will be when I grow up?

Botanist, Naturalist and Adventurer

This autobiography presents the compelling and unusual story of one man’s personal journey, from high school dropout to finishing an advanced degree in Natural Science and having a successful career as an Environmental Scientist. At the height of his career, he became vice president at a major environmental firm, published four botanical reference books, taught advanced courses in botany, and was a graduate student advisor. He also took part in plant and musk oxen research in the Canadian Arctic and plant research in the Amazon jungles of Colombia. His life has been rich with hunting and fishing scuba diving adventures in remote wilderness of Alaska, Idaho and Colorado, and throughout the Northeastern US, and foraging for wild plants and mushrooms.

This book is filled with descriptions and photos of remote wilderness that few people will ever see and describes a life of successes and adventures most people only dream about. The sections on living off the land and harvesting plants and animals present methods and lore for gathering and preserving food; something that is capturing the interest of increasing numbers of people. In all, the book is presented in the context of a highly socially relevant theme: concern for the environment. This is the story of an ordinary person who ended up doing extraordinary things, and learned life lessons and spiritual insights from the journey, now collected in one place for everyone.