Category Archives: fiction

The Aqad Sword
Conrad Carew

Published: May 2024
Paperback: 308 pages
Price: £11.99
ISBN: 978-1-915972-43-9
Available on Amazon

The Aqad Sword
The History of the Secular State of Isferin 1
by Conrad Carew


Qerem must journey through a violent, ravaged landscape, spurred on by the mesmeric Qadar twins Raden and Daqel, who share his lust for revenge.

Legend has predicted that in the blissful and remote northern forests of Lornilian he will discover how to combine the magic of the past with the science of the future to raise rebellion and defeat the forces of the Secular State of Isferin.

But will his own doubts and addiction thwart his crusade and put an end to everything he holds dear? And will the Bali-flame end up destroying the world he seeks to preserve?


Conrad Carew was born and brought up in Westmorland, England.

He has worked as a teacher, university lecturer, education advisor and Research and Discovery consultant.

He lives in Bristol where he manages an agency in partnership with his son.

The second volume of his trilogy, Lornilian, will be available later in 2024, with the final volume, Valdiron, scheduled for publication in 2025.

Nick Gosman
Presidium

Published: Feb 2024
Paperback: 318 pages
Price: £13.00
ISBN: 978-1-915972-34-7
Available on Amazon

Presidium
The face of evil has many disguises, the thrilling sequel to AMAZONIA
by Nick Gosman


A primal terror unleashed upon the world.

A malevolent syndicate hiding within the corridors of power.

As Humanity takes the first steps towards its place among the stars, can Brigitte Fassbender and crack Special Forces Marine Matthew Towers subvert plans set in motion by the Master of a diabolical conspiracy to exploit Earth’s resources for the benefit of a tiny elite?

Presidium is a story of universal love and its power to confront evil in all of its forms.


A born adventurer, Nick Gosman started rock climbing as a teenager finding excitement and solace in wild places.
Having travelled the world using most forms of transport, some practical, some ridiculous, he is always on the lookout for a good story.
A tale well told can be an inspiration for us all.

Birth of the Tiptons
Philip Davidson

Published: April 2024
Paperback: 298 pages
Price: £11.99
ISBN: 978-1-915972-44-6
Available on Amazon

Birth of the Tiptons
by Philip Davidson

This first part of the Tipton Saga is a romp through Victorian England with the first generation of the extraordinary Tipton family.

It follows the twin Tipton boys growing up in a Black Country orphanage seeing the industrial revolution taking shape.

However it appears an external force is pulling the strings on the boys. Not one force, but two, and this is because of their highly unusual parentage which they are initially unaware of.

In adulthood one brother joins the East India Company, the other a large industrial ironworks. They have a fallout and a near fatal fight in the half-built Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, but they come together for George's application to the Great Exhibition of 1851. After a brush with royalty it becomes necessary to escape to the new world and lay low for five generations as the enormity of the fantasy and the destiny of their task is revealed.

Starting in 2019 it is encumberment on their descendants, two beautiful women, to secretly begin this task.

Sight from Sound
Abeni Chopra

Published: Jan 2024
Paperback: 359 pages
Price: £15.99
ISBN: 978-1-915972-21-7
Available on Amazon

Sight from Sound
by Abeni Chopra

Jumapili Mwangi was blessed with optimism and resilience. The two characteristics she needed to survive and then thrive, because she was born blind in the slums of Kibera. Orphaned at the age of seven, Jumapili was one of the chokora (street children) of Nairobi under the care of her twelve-year-old brother.

While begging on the streets, but with the gifts of a harmonica and a penny whistle, this remarkable child taught herself to play music by listening to the radios being played around her. However, it was the purity of her singing voice which most captivated any audience.

As she grew up, Jumapili developed another rare skill – echolocation. By clicking her tongue and listening to the returning echo, she was able to create an image in her brain of the world around her. This gave her a freedom rarely found by blind people.

Triumphing over personal loss, Jumapili discovered her purpose in life: to build a successful career in the music industry in the hope that it would lead her to the precious gift she had lost. This burning ambition, driven by discipline and focus, took her to some of the world’s top concert halls allowing her to establish a school in Kenya teaching echolocation to young blind children.

This wonderful, if harrowing, story is a joy to read. It is the epitome of hope and courage overcoming adversity. You will find it hard to put down.

Poltwhistle’s Final Defeat – Fictional sequel to Gilbert and Sullivan’s Yeomen of the Guard
Malcolm Dunbar

Published: July 2023
Paperback: 38 pages
Price: £5.00
ISBN: 9781915972064

Available
on Amazon


Poltwhistle's Final Defeat
Fictional sequel to Gilbert and Sullivan's Yeomen of the Guard.
by Malcolm Dunbar

Poltwhistle’s Final Defeat is the sequel to Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera ‘The Yeomen of the Guard’. Here Sir Clarence Poltwhistle is enraged at being thwarted over his attempt to claim his cousin Colonel Fairfax’s estate which falls to him if he should die without marrying. Poltwhistle makes one final attempt to thwart his cousin, but even this fails, leaving Poltwhistle desolate. In the end everything works out for everybody concerned, even the broken hearted jester Jack Point finds happiness and love once more.

Malcolm Dunbar was born and brought up in Edinburgh.

Malcolm wrote a number of autobiographical stories about his war experience and later life. He also wrote several biblical essays.

However, it was his love for Gilbert and Sullivan's opera “The Yeoman of the Guard” that urged him to write a sequel to the opera.

He enjoyed writing the story and hopes that you will enjoy reading it.

Beachcomber
Nick Gosman

Published: March 2023
Paperback: 218 pages
Price: £9.99
ISBN: 9781914424908
Available on Amazon

Beachcomber
A search for the truth
by Nick Gosman

Her childhood destroyed by a brutal father and her mother’s indifference, Fran Tremayne’s only refuge has been her older brother, Cal.

But when Cal embarks on a solo round the world sailing trip, it seems that even he has abandoned her.

Then disaster strikes, a mayday message from Cal and then a long silence can mean only one thing; her brother has gone for good.

Refusing to accept his death, Fran sets out to find him, but is she prepared to face the shattering truth that lies behind her brother’s disappearance?


Cover illustration, ‘Sunlight On The Water’ from an original lino print by Helen Maxfield: www.helenmaxfield.com

A born traveller and adventurer, the author found excitement and solace in wild places from an early age. Having travelled the world using most forms of transport, some practical, others ridiculous, he is always on the lookout for a good story. A tale well told can be an inspiration to all of us. Falling in love with Norfolk, its wide-open skies and the sea, the author has spent almost twenty years of his life in a small village planted in the wheat fields of the Norfolk-Suffolk border.

The House beneath the Black Hill
Chris Green

Published: Feb 2023
Paperback: 225 pages
Price: £11.99
ISBN: 9781914424984
Available on Amazon

What dark secrets lie in
The House beneath the Black Hill
by Chris Green

For composer Nick Mortimer it is a dream come true when he and his sister Kate inherit a house in the tiny village of Clodock in a remote corner of Herefordshire’s Golden Valley.

But it is a dream that soon turns into a nightmare when they are confronted by a series of mysterious and frightening events.

Their search to find answers unearths a tragic tale of blighted love set against the background of the disturbing political and social divisions of the late 1920s.

After a lifetime supporting other artists, Chris has finally found time to fulfil his own creative ambitions as a writer.

His first novel The Swinging Pendulum of the Tide was published in 2018. It is a story of the loss and rediscovery of love and faith, set against the background of the wilds of Bardsey Island off the North Wales Coast.

In the The House beneath the Black Hill, he combines his fascination in the telling of a good ghost story with his interest in the turbulent politics of the late 1920’s, highlighted by the remarkable electoral victory of journalist and author Frank Owen over his Tory rival in Hereford in the 1929 General Election.

As a former Popular Events Director City of the London Festival, Director of The Poetry Society and Chief Executive of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors (now The Ivors Academy), Chris knows all about the challenges faced by the creative community. He’s well versed in politics too having contested Hereford and South Herefordshire for the Liberal Democrats in the 1979, 1983 and 1987 Parliamentary elections where he came within a whisker of taking the seat.

He is chair of the Learning Skills Research Foundation and of the Francis W Reckitt Arts Trust, a patron and trustee of Hereford’s Courtyard Arts Centre. a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Freeman of the City of London. He was awarded the BASCA Gold Badge of Merit for service to the Music Industry in 2009.

He is married with two grown-up sons and lives with his wife Sheila in the village of Garway on Herefordshire’s Welsh Border.

Natalie and Nassima
Judy Arliss

Published: Jan 2023
Paperback: 134 pages
Price: £7.50
ISBN: 9781914424731
Available on Amazon

Natalie and Nassima
by Judy Arliss

At forty, Natalie’s life seems to be a mess.

Her teenage daughter, her ex, her horrible ex-mother-in-law, none of it is much fun.

But when she heads to France backed up by her wonderful friends, everything changes -

love to a Frenchman beckons and life starts to get better and better.

The ex settles down with another woman, which is no bad thing but her daughter has tough times ahead...