A New Life in the Sky

Thankfully the loss of a child from any cause is very rare. That said, brain tumours are one of the more common forms of childhood cancers with significant morbidity and mortality rates. Treatments can be lengthy, brutal, and with a huge amount of emotional fallout for the patient, their extended family, friends, and classmates. Siblings suffer immeasurably. Many children die due to either the tumour or complications of the treatments.

This book was born of the need to help those most affected by the sorrow of loss. It is structured to help children, particularly siblings but also friends, to remember the good times, rather than the bad, as a tool in order to assist a positive progression through the stages of grief.

Parents who have suffered loss, teachers, and parents of classmates will find this book helpful in dealing with children affected by the loss of a child dear to them from whatever cause. The book has a positive approach to the aftermath of loss and as such will appeal to anyone seeking to come to terms with such a loss, or to better understand and help your own loved ones.

A Nice Quiet Life

This is the story of my grandfather’s life in the Merchant Navy, originally written by him during his retirement. He was a Marine Engineer from 1908 to 1945. This book describes a lifetime of adventure, hardship, and joy on all the different ships that he sailed, from grand liners to rusty hulks. He survived the two world wars, the depression of the 1930s, and at one time he even took his family to sea with him.

He sailed on the Oceanic, the Olympic, the Britannic, and almost sailed on the Titanic. During the First World War he spent some time as a volunteer tugboat engineer at the Gallipoli Landings and later saved a ship from sinking from a torpedo strike. During the Second World War he survived two shipwrecks from torpedo strikes and avoided another sinking, thanks to the Enigma code breakers. He met a whole variety of people throughout the world during his career and often gave humorous talks in many ports that he visited around the world.

This book also gives some details on the ships he sailed and a small window into the events, and the world at those times.

A Nod’s As Good As A Wink …

It’s the early, swinging 70s in London, and Ollie is riding the wave. There’s a day-job and rent to pay but that never gets in the way of the pubs and women.

What does get in the way is the ever-present black dog of depression: a depression that clouds his daily life with feelings of guilt, more or less about everything. And if that wasn’t bad enough, add a stalker to the mix, no doubt the result of something else he’s guilty of, and Ollie knows he’s in real trouble.

So he needs to get his head right, but it’s not until his shrink, Kline, hypnotises him that Ollie remembers dark events in his early years and he is able to confront his demons, inside and out.

‘A Nod’s As Good As A Wink …’ is Ollie’s tale of discovery, full of pain and humour, as he goes from relationship to relationship looking for his place in the sun.

A Pariah's Heartbreak

A Pariah’s Heartbreak is a series of beautifully written poems which gives a compelling look inside the chaotic mind of a trauma survivor. The poems give an alluring and devastatingly painful account of issues such as solitude, heartbreak, gender based violence, society’s disapproval, anxiety, trauma, mental health issues, among many others.

A Passion to Run

After ten years of six-days-a-week training, she has gained three bronze medals in individual events and three relay medals at World Masters level, yet the competitive fire still burns brightly. She continues to train and now, as a sprint coach, she shares her passion for running to enable others to improve technically and live out their dreams. Speed is always the focus, whether her athletes are training for rugby, football, basketball, netball, hockey, track, tennis or mogul skiing.

A Pilgrim's Journey

When life doesn’t have the answers about living up to the expectations of society and you just don’t fit in anywhere, what else can you do? Well, this pilgrim packed his bags, said goodbye and set out to for the Holy Mountain to seek God and to find answers, if such a divine energy existed.

So began the adventure. As he travelled through different countries with different religions and political beliefs, he found he upset the locals which put his life in danger. Somehow, he realised he needed to take chances and with the help of others managed to keep himself and the journey alive – moving forward, never ever giving up or quitting because he found it too hard.

You will find that this is your story too. So come and read an adventure and get some insights that just might save your life as well. Even though this is an epic fantasy story, some divine loving truths are held within the story for you to discover and maybe apply to your life. Buy this book and discover who you really are and what your life’s journey is all about.

A Poet's Heart

Lies of night

If the tip of a sun doesn’t wash your ink away,
Then your eye has sinned throw that lamp away,
This darkness like a sigh is the sight of an eye,
With the rise of a sun comes the news of a night,
That which will give a raging fever to your art,
For years has to burn like a flame in your heart,
Every wood brings change when placed in a pyre,
Happy or sad it’s bewildered by a fire,
Filled with memories are your empty eyes,
Full of life but your spirit has died,
A night always comes with a dagger in one hand,
For those happy boarders of a joyful land,
The fire of love burns in those parts of hell,
Where windows of heaven open to drizzle her smell,
And If god lives in heart or so says the Christian man,
Then when a heart is broken does he feel the pain?

I wrote this poem in fear that should a day come where I have to write a synopsis for this book what will I say? Well, this short poem truly encapsulates my story, words, sentences, and paragraphs don’t do justice to art, so “Let the rise of sun be the proof of sun”. Poetry has burnt within me for years. This book is about that fire, I believe every single person in the world has an interesting story to tell, but not all can tell an interesting story. Then there are those stories that are both interesting and intense, those stories are really worth telling. While a neurotic can choke on his own intensity, an artist makes a story out of the flesh of his madness. There is not a lot of difference between the two, except the latter is somehow penetrable.

A Pony Named Bart

This story is written through Bart’s observations and thoughts of his life from early memories to the present day.

As well as telling his story it is also educational. Bart teaches many aspects of horse and pony care. He explains his early training, both as a riding and driving pony. He tells his readers about the many animals who live in the New Forest and life in this magical place.

It is presented with warmth and humour and provides an insight into the lives of these noble creatures.

A Quest to Get Home Bound

It is the midst of the Second World War and rationing is tightening everyone’s belts. Yet down the dark alleyways of the French capital Paris, you would find a man who could get you anything on the underground market.

When a captured American ranger receives news from home, he knows he must escape from the Nazi prison camp in East Germany and embark on a quest to get to a neutral land, so he may return to his wife in America. Unexpectedly the ranger finds himself becoming mixed up in the Paris black-market syndicate. Can he survive long enough to afford his escape? Can he be homebound once again?

A Question of Belief

Belief is rarely pure and never simple. This book explores the particular perplexities of belief as experienced by one female vicar in the Church of England. To exercise a public and representational role within any faith community will always bring its own pressures and paradoxes. Here, the author acknowledges and explores her own questions, which cover a wide range of topics from politics to preaching; from science to suffering. A constant theme of the book is the relationship between fact and truth. Fact is, of course, an important vehicle of truth, but not the only one. Symbolism, metaphor, myth, the creative arts have all conveyed the deep truths of Christianity to the author, who remains totally committed to her faith. Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, she takes a non-literalist view of belief, which she accepts will not be shared by some fellow Christians. But in her experience and understanding, to follow Christ means to seek the eternal truth which he embodied, and which will always be more elusive and intriguing than a recital of fact. And – for the author at least – more joy-giving. This is a hopeful book!

A Question of Identity

Sally Barton, a lively thirty-something Yorkshire ex-patriot, has long settled into her niche as an assistant librarian in the University of West Lancashire. She had found a life for herself in Ormsbury when a new member of staff, Ralph Armstrong, an English lecturer, brings a breath of fresh Yorkshire air into her life. After an initial disagreement, she finds that her expertise in her hobby of family history is required to help solve the mystery surrounding Ralph’s background, a mystery that has been bugging him and which needs solving before he can move on. Family history questions take time to unravel as they involve delving deep into documents and mythology, but eventually the mystery, which involves a crime, murder and some disturbing revelations, is finally solved. Working together with humour and understanding, Sally and Ralph find that the quest develops into a relationship neither had been expecting and together they face many problems before the conclusion.

A Question of Time

It’s November 1967, and when a girl’s body is found in the burning embers of a fire in a farmer’s field in Cheshire, DCI Sheraton begins a complex investigation. When a second body is found a short time later, the hunt now commences for a possible serial killer. Though, are the two really connected?

With murder, hidden secrets and revenge, all combining in this fast-moving thriller, is it just a question of time before the crimes are eventually detected?

There are several twists and turns in this latest entertaining crime thriller by David McCaddon, which is sure to delight his readers and keep them gripped until the very last page.