Willoughby Wind Has Fun!

Willoughby Wind Has Fun! is a fantastic new book for children written by Maggie Lycett and illustrated by Jan Woods.

It is a charmingly written and well-illustrated book that tells the story of the wind, the sun and the clouds.

It is guaranteed to capture the imagination of all children from ages three to five.

The illustrations are bright and colourful skilfully blending reality and fantasy.

The book introduces children to stories about the weather, and it also brings to their knowledge (in language that is aimed at their age range) the concepts of being good or being bad/naughty.

Children will be able to identify with the character Willoughby Wind who is really neither naughty or particularity bad, but who is a little bit mischievous!

This book is ideal for children and is perfect for their adult careers to share. Will also be idea for nursery or infant classes, too.

It is published by Matador Books at £9,99, and can be ordered through the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find to the right of this review.

The Skyscar. Début novel by Xander Macdonald.

The Skyscar is the début  novel by Xander Macdonald.

What happens to souls after they leave this mortal realm?

The Skyscar takes us on a journey into the afterlife. 

What happens to the souls who failed in life? Those who are the condemned?

They might become a demon, inhabiting one of a myriad different types of hells.

Where they will be fated to live out a life of misery and torture, with all the demonic overlords and their lower order demons battling for supremacy, whilst all fighting to gain supremacy on The Skyscar, which is the name for the mortal realm, which includes planet Earth, itself. 

Somehow, a pure soul becomes involved. A pure soul which has the ability to grant untold and immense powers to its owner.

Unfortunately this pure soul has suffered the fate of falling  into the clutches of Mullroch, who is an arch-demon.

But all the other demons are desirous to wrest the ownership of the pure soul from Mulltroch, so battle is commenced.

However, there are other beings who seek to restore order and remove the chaos. Angelic beings who range through the afterworlds seeking to impose harmony. One such angelic creature seeks to hide amongst the battling demons, working to save the soul, removing it from the demonic forces that would take it and keep it for their own nefarious purposes. 

But the task is not as easy as one might suppose.

This novel is published next month and, of you are a fan of fantasy novels and the works of authors such as Lovecraft, Tolkien and the like, you will need to purchase this book, available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which is to be found to the right hand side of this review.

It is published by Matador in paperback at £8.99.

Written Off

Written Off is a new and satirical novel that casts a weary, and wary, eye on the world of wannabe authors.

Charles Dickens did it, so why shouldn't you do it?

What? Write and publish your own book!

In his novel Paul Carroll follows the fate and fortunes of four very different wouldbe authors as they struggle to get their book published.

In their attempts to follow their dreams of literary fame and fortune they decide to employ the path of self-publishing.

In his novel Paul Carroll turns his beady eye and satirical pen on a variety of targets: Batty and self-important writers, Literary agents who like to imagine that they are far more important than they really are, publishers who are bewildered by the constant pressure of their lives and what about the self-proclaimed experts who promise (oh, the promises they make!)  to turn the aspiring authors into a publishing star. All for a not inconsiderable price, of course!)

The book is filled with humour, of that there is no doubt. It's a fun read that guys those who deserve to be guyed and also pokes gentle fun at the credulous and the well-meaning.

But as they say, it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Or a life...

But the author points out that behind the humorous aspects of this book the avid reader (and those of us with several novels that require just that little bit more polishing before publication!) will find more genuine and worthwhile information and guidance on how to get your novel or non-fiction book published than you will find in any of the over-priced writing courses and the workshops that are available and, it would seem, designed to part aspiring writers from their money.

And with courses starting at £500 for a ten week beginners course, the smart option would appear to be to pay £8.99 of the paperback version of this book (published by Troubador) or £2.99 for the e-version.

You can purchase this book -and thousands of other books- via the That's Books and Entertainment online book shop, which you will find to the right of this review.

Couple Finds $10 Million Dollars During Unplanned Treasure Hunt

Diamonds for Rice

Diamonds for Rice is a biography that tells the remarkable yet entirely true story of Eric Evans.

Eric survived a terrorist bomb, a civil war and cancer of the blood. Two of his bone marrow transplants came fro the same young donor.

 Eric was standing directly next to the terrorist who bombed Orley Airport, in France.

He survived being interrogated several times in war-ravaged Liberia and was able to buy his way out of the civil wear in that country by the use of a bag of rice.

Eventually, Eric was lying in a hospital bed, pondering his life. In six decades he had seen a great deal and lived through a lot. Including blood cancer.

He knew that he must now finish off writing the story of his extraordinary life.

The result is his book Diamonds for Rice, which skilfully interweaves the various aspects of his incredible journey through the North Sea oil boom, his first Million Pounds by age 28 and his adventures and escape from Liberia and his battle with blood cancer aided and abetted by many people, but most especially by Axel, his double marrow donor.

This is a truly remarkable book as not only does it relate Eric's amazing story it also promotes the campaigns to help beat blood cancer.

The book is published by Matador at £10.99 and is, of course, available through the That's Books book shop which you will find on the right hand side of this review.

For details of how to help the campaign you can visit  http://www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk/en

Judith Wants to be Your Friend

Judith Wants to be Your Friend is the début novel by Annie Weir.

Judith Dillon is 36. Somehow, she has yet to work out what she wants to do with her life.

She has failed to find her own way in the world, and can't quite work out what her place in society is.

She has problems in establishing relationships and can't seem to maintain them. She seems to have special difficulties with relationships with women.

And then Judith becomes attracted to Joanna.

Judith decides to follow Joanna, she tracks her down, learns more about her and her family and, eventually, manages to work her way into Joanna's family.

Judith attaches herself to Joanna and her family over one Christmas period.

All seems to be going well, until Joanna's mother takes a little more drink than might be wise for her and starts asking questions of Judith. Questions that are about her past life, questions that might prove to be somewhat awkward to answer.

Eventually Judith's past life begins to catch up with her.

This is an edgy, mysterious novel. It is published by Matador at £8.99 and is available from the That's Books Book Shop, which is to the right hand side of this review.

The Silent Children

The Silent Children is a book by Amna K. Boheim.

It is a modern-day ghost story set in Vienna.

It has a multitude of themes covering secrets and horrors that beset Austria in the 1930s,

It is 1938. Annabel Albrecht notices that things are not quite right within her once happy and stable home.

First, there is the mysterious disappearance of Eva, her favourite maid.

Then her good friend Oskar also vanishes

But those events are a mere drop in the ocean, when compared to the dreadful event that occur next, when her beloved brother is murdered.

In a horrendous continuation of these evil events, her mother is taken away from her and Annabel is left to, somehow, fends for herself.

Nearly 70 years later Max, who is Annabel's son, decides to dig into his mother's mysterious past and is able, with persistence, to disinter the secrets of his mother's vanished friends.

Now that his estranged mother is dead, all he has is a photograph of his mother and of Oskar, taken in 1938.

But something appears to be amiss. Are the missing completely silent?

The ghosts of the past are haunting Max.

The house in the photograph. There seems to be something wrong with it. Something amiss.

Can Max learn what it is? Can he help the ghosts of the past?

This is a highly evocative first novel by Amna K. Boheim.

It is published by Matador at £8.99. It can be bought from the That's Books bookshop, just to the right of this book review.