Was It Worth It?

In Was It Worth It? readers will follow the journey of one family from Poland to Ottawa.

Written by Liliana Arkuszewska, this is a heartwarming story of the struggles of one family from Poland.

The 1980s brought great changes to the country of Poland. Recently freed from the Soviet Union's Iron Curtain, millions of Polish citizens fled from their moribund country to seek a better, more fulfilling life in a variety of foreign countries.

But no matter where she travelled, Liliana still knew that her heart belonged to Poland.

Eventually,  however, the writing was on the wall and with the situation in Poland becoming worse and worse, she realised that the time to emigrate permanently with her husband and three-year-old child, plus her sister and brother-in-law, had come.

And so they left Poland for a new life in Ottawa, Canada.

Was It Worth It? is her story. A story of trials, tribulations, of adventures and fun.

Was It Worth It? Read her fascinating and extremely well-written story and find out for yourself.

It's published on the 28th July at £19.99.

Betrayed

In Betrayed, the latest novel from science fiction author Geoffrey Arnold, readers rejoin the Quantum Twins.

This is the third novel in the series that saw he Twins torn away from Vertazia and placed on the planet Earth a full thousand miles apart, bereft of their telepathic link.

Fearing that the twins could return to Vertazia and spread the "Human Violence Virus" the rulers of Vertazia have, with unconscious irony, began using utterly unacceptable degrees of violent behaviour to stop the friends of the Twins from effecting a rescue mission.

In Betrayed we join Qwelby as he enteres the fifth dimension, his mission is to free Tullia from imprisonment.

In his second awakening Qwelby finds love, yet tullia is troubled by bloody knife fights.

He manages to shoot his way out of danger, the Twins are able to reconnect, but before he can do anything, Qwelby is captured by the Professor.

Meanwhile, the situation on Vertazia is becoming fraught, with two key rulers plotting against one another, both have decided to use 16-year-old Xaala. But Xaala has plans of her own and corrupts their plans for her own nefarious ends.

Xaala plans to capture the heart of one of the Twins and to destroy the other. But what for? What is her real aim?

There are journeys on a pirate ship, and the Twins must return to their home world to teach the truths they have learned on the planet Earth, in order to save their own planet.

But hat will happen? Will the Twins be doomed to living on the planet Earth for good? And what of the Professor, of Tullia and Qwelby?

This book is published by Matador at £12.99.

Please note on this occasion if you buy this book at the publisher's online bookshop, there is a discounted price of £10.00 if you use the code "BETRAYED" in the appropriate box.
https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/sci-fi/betrayed-1897/

Windows 96

In Windows 96 author Cal Holmes takes her readers back to the year 1996.

We meet Alex. Alex is a teenage boy who spends his days dormant in the den in the garage, smoking diope and dreaming of the time when he will be able to cast all this aside and travel the world.

But there's a bit of a problem, really. Lack of money = no travelling anywhere, least of all the world!

However, Alex meets up with Fox who is a double glazing salesman, who brings Alex news of another lifestyle. The lifestyle of the double glazing salesman!

Knocking on doors with the coldest of cold canvasing, daytimes spent in the boozer, nights out in somewhat less salubrious pubs.

There was Brigette, beautiful, but cool and aloof, Brigette, in the Baston telesales department, he fancied her, but she wasn't in the slightest bit interested. Or was she?

Pretty soon Alex is finding out that things at home between his parents weren't all that he had thought they were, his finances are running on empty and he finds himself spiralling into a life of crime whilst sharing a rundown flat with his double glazing sales colleagues.

Can he get out of the rat run of double glazing sales, too many visits to pubs and nightclubs and the grotty shared flat?

If he can, where would he go? Could he jet off to explore the world? If he can, who would he go with? Who would get his Playstation, who would get his car?

This is a wry and amusing look back at a not that distant piece of our history and it's clear that the author has seen the world of double glazing sales from the seedy inside.

It's published by Matador at £7.99.

In Between The Stars

In Between The Stars is a debut science fiction novel for children and young adults from author A. A. Ripley.

A. A. Ripley examines a number of complex themes, for example, what is normal? What is alien? What can we learn from one another?

Inan is a young girl who is living on her home planet. But she is a girl who longs for excitement and adventure.

She wants to travel to planets around distant stars. But there's a major problem. For Inan's people forbid females to travel to other stars. It just isn't the done thing!

However, following a series of events including a shipwreck, Inan is kidnapped by ex-military men who have become pirates. She finds and befriends a fellow prisoner who is a human boy.

She must use her considerable wit and talents to keep her and her newfound friend safe and alive.

After an escape attempt fails to gain them their freedom they discover a strange and obviously ancient artefact that, it becomes clear, will decide the destiny of the entire galaxy of stars.

Inan must be resourceful, Inan must be brave. For the lives of the entire galaxy rest upon her shoulders. But can she do it? Can Inan risk her life to save the lives of everyone of everything else?

This is a riproaring space opera of the highest order. Although intended for children, science fiction fans of all ages (and all species) will really enjoy this book.

It's published by Matador at £7.99.

I have been a reader of science fiction novels for over 50 years. In A. A. Ripley I have found another name to watch out for.

Good job, A. A. Riley! Well done!

The Pleasure of Reading

The Pleasure of Reading Novels and their Writers and Readers is an interesting book. Having just completed a BA (Honours) degree course in Creative and Professional Writing I found it especially fascinating. In fact, I could have made great use of this book which is written by Eric Macfarlane had it been published a year or two earlier!

In his book Eric Macfarlane examines the situations that help people to become dedicated readers and also looks at the ways parents and teachers can encourage the love of stories in children.

He is critical of the traditional methods of studying literature that, he points out, deter many children from considering reading as something to be done for pleasure or relaxation.

Through his book the author examines the interests and passions that are the motivating forces for novelists and the varied topics they decide to write about, the types of stories that they decide to tell, the different themes they decide to explore, plus the skills with which they deal with plots, characters and settings.

He gives particular attention to the role of the novelist as a protester against injustice, persecution and the abuse of power.

His first gift of a book was The Digger Gnome Earns a Pippity Pebble, (a prize from Miss Falkner, owner of one of the country's last surviving Dame Schools).

He later earned copies of R. M. Balantyne's The Young Fur Traders, james Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. However, the latter books were not enjoyed by the young Eric Macfarlane and when, as a student, he had to make his way through Robinson Crusoe as a set text and realised that it was somewhat turgid and that his youthful inability to do more than look at the illustrations was not, actually, his fault!

He speaks of his home life with the small number of books that they owned, of the deliciously politically incorrect comics that he and his friends shared (The Beano, Dandy) and more serious publications such as the Adventure, Wizard, Hotspur and Rover, all published by D. C. Thompsons.

He provides commentary on the novels and writings of Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, Vikram Seth, Sue Miller, Anne Tyler, Nick Hornby, Roddy Doyle, Charles Dickens, Barbara Pym and many others.

As the book is fully indexed and cited, although it has a thoroughly readable style it will serve very well as an academic text and should be on  the list of recommended books for all creative writing and literature classes at every school, college and university in the land.

And it will make a most welcome gift for any student studying literature and creative writing.

It's published on July 28th by Matador at £8.99.

Destination and Destiny

In Destination and Destiny we meet Tom and Clotilde.

Tom has spent the vast majority of his working life working for NGOs in Africa. In fact he was working in Rwanda when the genocide took place.

His partner, Clotilde, decides to embark on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela with a parish group from Melbourne, Australia.

The group was a little dysfunctional but well-meaning although perhaps a little self-indulgent?

The couple had enjoyed a less than conventional relationship, but even though they spent more time apart than together, their relationship held fast and firm. In fact, was that part of the key to their success?

When they were apart they constantly corresponded with each other, sharing all that there was to share.

The book takes a backward look at the lives of these two people, of their friends and family members and the people who they met and worked with, and allows them to use the telescope of memory to look back and learn about an extraordinary couple who really loved each other but also loved other people, too.

It's a very moving romance novel by Rosalyn Taylor.

Published by The Book Guild at £8.99 it will be safe in many suitcases this summer.

The Good Priest

The Good Priest is a debut novel from author Tina Beattie.

Father John is parish priest of Our Lady of Sorrows in Westonville.

He lives an orderly and peaceful life, but all of this is virtually destroyed when, on one Ash Wednesday, a stranger walkies into the church, enters the confessional box.

What the stranger confesses to Father John is so horrific that it shatters his life.

Old memories of abuse from his past bubble up to the surface and he realises that what he thought to have been forgiven and forgotten many years since, might actually still be powerful, dark forces.

Murders are being committed. Could these be linked to the stranger's appearances in the confessional box?

And is the man really a stranger? Or could he be the cardinal who had abused John whilst he had been in Rome, many years ago?

But surely the cardinal had died during the horrendous 9/11 attacks? But what if he hadn't? What if he was here, now, tormenting Father John in his own church?

Or is he a ghostly apparition, like the young girl, Sarah, who has been a protecting presence in his life? Or is he something more sinister? Something far more evil and insidious?

This is a stunning debut novel. I think that Tina Beattie will be a potent force to reckon with in the field of detective and mystery and thriller fiction.

It's published by Matador at £9.99.