Small Lives, Big World

Small Lives, Big World is a collection of short stories by R. M. Green.

The inspiration for the stories comes from the absolutely extraordinary amount of world travels that he has undertaken.

Over 90 countries, in total, have brought together the inspirations for these vastly different short stories.

Or are they all that vastly different? For Green has noticed that all the people he met, no matter what their many different and varied lives they lead, there is one common thread that binds them together, that of a firm belief in hope.

The stories, he reassures his readers, are all based on people he has met and on events that he, himself, witnessed on his many different and varied journeys around the globe, from Australia to Zambia. And some from closer to home, too.

There are ten stories in total, they reveal miniature universes of pain, frustration, of angst, fear, of love and joy, and of hope.

The book is published by Matador at £9.99 in paperback and is available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, just to the right hand side of this review.

Summer Skool

Summer Skool is an interesting book about being a teacher. Because it is written by a real teacher, Edmund Irons.

Edmund Irons spent 20 years working as a PR consultant, an industrial editor and a copywriter. He also wrote a number of books, news and feature articles.

Eventually he decided that he had had quite enough of the demanding clients and their often impossibly tight deadlines, so he decided that he would retrain as a teacher, instead.

After all, wouldn't that be a much quieter, calmer lifestyle? A nice, steady income, all those long holidays and never home later than 5pm!

And then, reality hit home and Edmund found himself in a highly stressful job, that was very time consuming and one in which newly qualified teachers could often finds themselves putting in 12 hour days.  And assailed by problem pupils and problem educational policies, too!

During his first year as a newly qualified teacher Edmund found work as a supply teacher, working throughout a total of in excess of a dozen different schools.

He realised that many pupils at the different schools he worked in all used the same tactics during lessons to disrupt the learning process.

"But how and where could they be learning these tactics?" he thought, idly.

Eventually such musings caused him to wonder if someone, somewhere, was offering pupils lessons in the art of disrupting the learning process?

These thoughts eventually coalesced into the book Summer Skool which is about a group of boys who take special classes to learn tactics to disrupt lessons and bring chaos to the classrooms.

And they then test out their newly obtained skills on the put upon Mr Godfrey.

Although the book is humorous, Edmund does point out that it has a serious side to it, as he hopes that if read by teachers -both old and new hands at the education game- it might help them develop a better understanding of what is happening in their classrooms.

We watch as pupils learn the "no pen" trick, the use of relevant conversation to delay a teacher, what break time is really for, the masterful employment of misdirection, the use of blinds to interfere with the lesson and so on.

It's published by Matador Education, so if you are a teacher, or you know a teacher, or if you have children or you were a child at one stage in your life, this book -at £8.99 in paperback- is worth every penny!

It's available from the that's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find to the right hand side of this book review.

Legerdemain

Legerdemain is a new novel by Anne Wodehouse, the distant cousin to P. G. Wodehouse.

It's a romantic novel set in the rural Midlands back in the early 1970s.

A typically urban couple decide that they want to live the good life. For this, surely, will be the answer to the many problems of their lives?

When they arrive in their rural idyl, to live in a derelict farmhouse, they realised that perhaps things are not going to be as idyllic as they had hoped or thought?

As the wheels fall off their metaphorical hay cart, they meet some of the rather flamboyant local residents and realise that running away from your problems is never a good solution as they can all run very quickly after you.

It is a story of relationships that flounder and eventually fall to bits, of new relationships that suddenly pop up and become something more than they might have been, and all set against a backdrop of people weird, wonderful and, when you come down to it, just all very, very human folks, with all the faults and foibles that usually entails.

There's James, who drinks far too much and has a different lie and excuse as to why he drinks to excess to match every drink he takes.

There's his wife, Sarah who is sickened and utterly defeated by what her husband has become and their two children, too.

James will remain in the city in a flat, whilst Sarah and the children will live in a self-sufficient smallholding in the country.

There are marriages, deaths and the hope of unexpected new beginnings both in the city and out of the city.

Legerdemain is published by the Book Guild at £9,99, in paperback.

Legerdemain is ideal to be packed for your summer holidays and you can buy it at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, just to the right hand side of this review.

The Voice and the Echo

In The Voice and the Echo BJ Bulckley brings their readers a gritty story of the last 40 years of social and political unrest.

It follow the lives of five neophyte journalists as they stumble from the heady days of the 1960s when everyone was going to change the world, right through to the less-than-inspired Noughties, with the cynical "do whatever it takes" attitude epitomised by the excesses of the tabloid press of the day.

The journalists the reader is asked to follow are Marcus Roache, Clive Parkhouse, Clara Tomlinson, Dave Shearman and Mike Boddington.

They meet together when they are tasked with producing the university's newspaper, The student Voice.

We are with Marcus and Clive, through the ensuing 40 years of major news stories and world events, strikes, political unrest, corruption of police officers and the "institutional racism" of the police during those years. And of the problems and excesses within the tabloid press.

And what happens to the very believable characters within it.

It is published by Matador at £9.99.

Charlie Green and the Pirate's Treasure

Charlie Green and the Pirate's Treasure is the first novel for West Sussex-based writer Martyn Blunden.

He was inspired to write this book by watching his young daughter's pretend play games.

The hero of Charlie Green and the Pirate's Treasure is Charlie Green himself.

He is a feisty and brave boy of 11 years of age, he lives with his mum, his little sister and his older brother.

The family moves to a new house which is next to an abandoned airfield.

An abandoned airfield, next to the house? What a brilliant place for children to play on! After all, it was only used for grazing sheep and there were some footpaths crossing it, so what could possibly be wrong?

But... why were the local villagers so agitated about the airfield and its rusting hangers and crumbling concrete control tower? Why were they so insistent that the children should never be allowed to play there?

And why was there a face at the attic window of their new house? A window to a room nobody had access to?

Of course, the boys decide to search through the hangers, even though they are aware of the villager's warnings and the entreaties of their own mother.

They find that the workshop area of the hanger is filled with valuable tools and they also find that there is a special and very secret airplane with amazing powers.

The previous owner of the property, a man called Oliver, had vanished under mysterious circumstances many years previously.

But Oliver had been searching for a treasure map of Captain William Kidd, the Scottish sailor and Captain who was hung,  some say unjustly, as a pirate.

Oliver is actually trapped, back in time, on board a 17th century sailing ship.

But what did Harry the local postman know about Oliver and his mysterious little trips?

Could the children reach back through the years? If they could, would it be possible for them to save Oliver?

This is an exciting adventure yarn for all children and adults.It is published by Matador at £8.99 in paperback and needs to be on your Christmas filler list!

It's available via the That's Books and Entertainment online bookshop, along with thousands of other books, CDs, DVDs, etc.

Next of Kin

Next of Kin is a fictional book that is rooted in the factual observations of its author, Bernadette Maclean.

The story is set in a typical village in rural Ireland and it commences with a funeral of one of the most valued members of the life of the village, which is called Prim.

The village has just witnessed the funeral of an influential and very wealthy village inhabitant, Luke Mulryan.

Luke had made his fortune -and it was rumoured to be a considerable fortune, at that- in running a highly successful racehorse business.

Luke had made promises to a number of the inhabitants of Prim. But, as the book carefully reveals, some relatives of Luke had designs on his fortune. And as they are without scruples so were none too careful about how they might be able to lay their dirty hands on the money!

However, even the most well thought through plans can come awry when there is added to the mix the greed of the plotters, the lusts of the flesh, gambling and even a little bit of marital infidelity.

And then a sprained wrist -not even the wrist of a main protagonist!- brought about the precipitous and dreadful downfall of the plotters.

This book is a rare triumph. It is the first book by Bernadette Laclean and is set within the type of rural village that she was raised in in County Longford, Ireland.

It is written with joy, clarity and with great sympathy, even, perhaps for some of the characters who might not deserve any sympathy!

It is published by the Book Guild in paperback at £12.99 it is available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find to the right hand side of this book review.

I can heartily recommend this book.

Starganzia

Starganzia is a thrilling science fiction novel for children. Apparently it is based upon a car racing game invented by author Jay K Price to keep her son and his friends amused and the works of Dr Immanuel Velikovsky.

The novel tells the story of Marco, Suzy and Jo, and their arrival at Schloss Montrosa, which is a castle that is chock full of magic, microchips and mystery.

They are to stay there for the summer holidays as the guests of their uncle, Professor Egbert  Able, who is a secret scientist.

Soon they find themselves in an adventure that they never could have imagined!

They find a riddle in the castle library, a riddle that leads them on to a quest, a quest to save the very fabric of the universe itself!

They meet a crazy variety of mysterious creatures and denizens of different worlds whilst they are on their quest.

But disaster looms in the form of Spondoolix, the evil and very greedy king of Spondoola.

Will the three children get home?

The book is published by Matador at £9.99 in paperback and is available via the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find to the right of this review.