There’s something very wrong at the Otterside care home.
When Sam Applewhite tries to help a friend who’s lost a beloved pet she finds that it’s just the first in a series of seemingly unconnected deaths. Is it her imagination, or do all of them somehow point back to the same residential home for seniors?
Sam’s skills are in demand elsewhere however, as she must orchestrate a safety drill with animal actors, cook dinner on an abandoned oil rig and keep an eye on those vikings who are building a longship.
When the police don’t see the pattern, it’s all down to Sam, and the closer she gets to uncovering what’s going on at Otterside, the more danger she’s in
Let’s discover the path on Emma’s quest, to protect and respect the earthlings among us.
Emma will show you how precious her life, your life and all the creatures on this planet’s lives are by going on a legendary quest so we can all fill our lives with love.
This is the first illustrated book for children by T. R. Willard aimed at young readers from 4 upwards.
When a client tells Sam Applewhite she’s seen ghosts in the nearby graveyard, Sam dismisses it as the ramblings of an old woman. She’s got bigger things to worry about — Keeping on top of her job at DefCon4 Security Services isn’t easy – particularly since her manager is a cactus and no one will tell her what her job actually is.
But when the ghost-spotting client goes missing and only Sam suspects foul play, she is compelled to dig deeper.
Aided by her retired stage magician father and the owner of the most outlandish junk shop on the sea front, Sam dives into a mystery involving psychotic seals, unexploded air force munitions, DIY foot surgery and a corpse that just won’t quit.
PUBLICATION DATE: 10 JUNE 2021 | ORENDA BOOKS | PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £8.99
Sebastian James Murphy is twenty years, six months and two days old. He loves swimming, fried eggs and Billy Ocean. Sebastian is autistic. And lonely.
Veronica wants her son Sebastian to be happy, and she wants the world to accept him for who he is. She is also thinking about paying a professional to give him what he desperately wants.
Violetta is a high-class escort, who steps out into the night thinking only of money. Of her nursing degree. Paying for her dad’s care. Getting through the dark.
When these three lives collide, and intertwine in unexpected ways, everything changes. For everyone.
Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, This Is How We Are Human is a powerful, moving and thoughtful drama about a mother’s love for her son, about getting it wrong when we think we know what’s best, about the lengths we go to care for family and to survive.
‘Storytelling at its finest, Louise Beech is a beguiling wordsmith’ Amanda Prowse
“Though This is How We Are Human is fiction, the premise was inspired by my friends, 20-year-old Sean, who is autistic, and his mum Fiona. Fiona had spoken to me about how much Sean longed to meet a girl and have sex. No one talks about this, she said – the difficulties navigating romance often faced by those on the spectrum. It ’s an issue that I wanted to explore. Fiona and Sean encouraged me and guided me through the book; Sean regularly consulted on dialogue, rightly insisting that his voice was heard, was strong, and was accurate. I cannot thank my extraordinary friends enough for their help and support.” Louise Beech
Published by Gollancz 24 June 2021 (NEW DATE) Hardback £14.99 also as eBook and audiobook
Blurb
Not long from now, in a recognisable yet changed London, Signy and Matthew lead a dull, difficult life. They’ve only really stayed together for the sake of their six year old son, Jed. But they’re surviving, just about. Until the day the technology that runs their world stops working. Unable to use their phones or pay for anything, Matthew assumes that this is just a momentary glitch in the computers that now run the world.
But then the electricity and gas are cut off. Even the water stops running. And the pollination drones – vital to the world, ever since the bees all died – are behaving oddly. People are going missing. Soldiers are on the streets. London is no longer safe.
A shocking incident sends Signy and Jed on the run, desperate to flee London and escape to the small village where Signy grew up. Determined to protect her son, Signy will do almost anything to survive as the world falls apart around them. But she has no idea what is waiting for them outside the city…
Join the creators of Queer: A Graphic History (‘Could totally change the way you think about sex and gender’ VICE) on an illustrated journey of gender exploration.
We’ll look at how gender has been ‘done’ differently – from patriarchal societies to trans communities – and how it has been viewed differently – from biological arguments for sex difference to cultural arguments about received gender norms. We’ll dive into complex and shifting ideas about masculinity and femininity, look at non-binary, trans and fluid genders, and examine the intersection of experiences of gender with people’s race, sexuality, class, disability and more.
Tackling current debates and tensions, which can divide communities and even cost lives, we’ll look to the past and the future to ask how might we approach gender differently, in more socially constructive, caring ways.
● This ground-breaking anthology brings together an eclectic cohort of trans, nonbinary, agender, gender-fluid and intersex contributors to share their experiences of “gender euphoria” – bringing stories of joy, belonging and positivity to the conversation around transition ● Moments of gender euphoria include an agender dominatrix being called ‘Daddy’, an Arab trans man getting his first tattoos, and a trans woman embracing her inner fighter ● Gender Euphoria reached its funding target in less than a week, and has over 1,000 backers
So often, the stories shared by trans people about their transition centre on gender dysphoria: a feeling of deep discomfort with their birth-assigned gender, and a powerful catalyst for coming out or transitioning. But for many non-cisgender people, it’s gender euphoria which pushes forward their transition: the joy the first time a parent calls them by their new chosen name, the first time they have the confidence to cut their hair short, the first time they truly embrace themself.
Gender Euphoria seeks to show the world the sheer variety of ways that being non cisgender can be a beautiful, joyful experience. What each of the book’s essayists have in common are their feelings of elation, pride, confidence, freedom and ecstasy as a direct result of coming out as non-cisgender, and how coming to terms with their gender brought unimaginable joy into their lives.
Paperback Published December 23rd 2019 ISBN:1677313129 (ISBN13: 9781677313129)
Blurb
Overwhelmed by creating fantasy worlds?
Lost in your world? Unsure where to go next?
30 Days of Worldbuilding breaks the task into manageable chunks. By following 30 creative prompts, this book will guide you from idea, to full world.
This workbook will help you to:
* Break the epic task of worldbuilding into easy steps * Build a full and complete world with prompts you may not have thought of * Tie your worldbuilding into your story to increase tension and conflict * Bring your worldbuilding back to your characters to get your readers hooked
This book also includes a bonus lesson on building magic systems that work. By completing just one prompt each day, you can have a fully created fantasy world in a month. You will also have an invaluable book of worldbuilding notes to keep beside you as you write.
Get 30 Days of Worldbuilding today, and stop getting lost in your world.
Available as both an ebook Guidebook and a paperback Workbook with space for answering each prompt.
My Review
I bought this book on a whim yesterday and it arrived this afternoon while I was out swimming. As some of my long-time readers might know, I occasionally write fantasy.
I know the world I built, Erce, from the core upwards, but I don’t know know how I know. I have written some of it down on here. There have been some changes to the world since then, and I’m working on a massive rewriting project. The main character of Lizzy remains but the world is changing a touch, with more obvious magic and fantasy elements.
In July I’m running a four part fantasy writing workshop through The Faraway CIC, and I needed some ideas for writing exercises. I wanted to check I had enough content as well. There are bound to be things I’ve missed if I don’t check it against other people’s work.
As it happens, this book has been quite though-provoking both for my own worldbuilding and for the workshops. I’ve ordered a couple of other books by the author because I think this workbook will be very useful to me as a writer. The author is a massive fantasy fan and a writer of speculative fiction herself, so she knows what she’s talking about (I have doubts about her taste – Narnia, really? Everyone knows Tolkien was the best Inkling!). I think I will return to this book every time I build a world (there are a couple sitting in my notebooks and several stories waiting to be written in those worlds), and I will be using it to work on the re-writes of the Erce stories.
I’m not going to write in the book itself, although there is space in the book for that. It’s the sort of book you can dip into and work on an aspect of your worldbuilding or work your way through it over a month, perhaps in preparation for NaNoWriMo, or a writing retreat. The author always brings it back to the question of ‘how do these aspects of your world affect your character?’ How does a particular law or cultural event affect them and their lives? What conflict does it bring? The author reminds the reader that you have to keep these things in mind even if you don’t use it in the story. It gives the story depth, by implying that there is a history and culture that is totally normal to the characters even if it is alien to us as readers.
Very happy to recommend this book and I’ll be happy to read the other books I’ve ordered.
Stephen struggled for most of his life with severe mental health issues, endured 25 years inside British psychiatric wards and never felt acceptable outside, in the ‘normal’ world. People found him difficult and demanding yet on the inside was a man with wide interests, deep longings and an integrity that would not be compromised, whatever the cost. This is his story, inside and out; a story of grave injustices, saints and bigots, a faithful dog, a wild woman, a fairy godmother and angels hidden in plain sight. It is also the story of the author, Susie, who started off by wanting to ‘help’ Stephen ‘get better,’ and instead found herself profoundly challenged by a friendship she did not expect. Idiosyncratic, unorthodox, tragic, yet at times hilarious – this book not only tells a compelling and important story but will be vital reading for anyone who cares about mental health in our contemporary world or who might just be open to a different way of seeing: from the inside out
Hardcover, 448 pages Published February 28th 2019 by Bodley Head ISBN:1847924751 (ISBN13: 9781847924759)
Blurb
Do you have a female brain or a male brain? Or is that the wrong question?
Reading maps or reading emotions? Barbie or Lego? We live in a gendered world where we are bombarded with messages about sex and gender. On a daily basis we face deeply ingrained beliefs that your sex determines your skills and preferences, from toys and colours to career choice and salaries. But what does this constant gendering mean for our thoughts, decisions and behaviour? And what does it mean for our brains?
Drawing on her work as a professor of cognitive neuroimaging, Gina Rippon unpacks the stereotypes that bombard us from our earliest moments and shows how these messages mould our ideas of ourselves and even shape our brains. Taking us back through centuries of sexism, The Gendered Brain reveals how science has been misinterpreted or misused to ask the wrong questions. Instead of challenging the status quo, we are still bound by outdated stereotypes and assumptions. However, by exploring new, cutting-edge neuroscience, Rippon urges us to move beyond a binary view of our brains and instead to see these complex organs as highly individualised, profoundly adaptable, and full of unbounded potential.
Rigorous, timely and liberating, The Gendered Brain has huge repercussions for women and men, for parents and children, and for how we identify ourselves.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 