P U B L I C AT I O N DATE: 12th OCTOBER 2023 PA PE RB AC K O R I G I N A L | £9.99 | ORE N DA BOOKS
Blurb
On a snowy winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near Reykjavík. Inside are the bodies of five young women – one of them barely alive.
As Icelandic Police detective Daníel struggles to investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Áróra looks into the background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daníel’s former wife, and the connections don’t stop there…
Daníel and Áróra’s cases pit them both against ruthless criminals with horrifying agendas, while Áróra persists with her search for her missing sister, Ísafold, whose devastating disappearance continues to haunt her.
As the temperature drops and the 24-hour darkness and freezing snow hamper their efforts, their investigations become increasingly dangerous … for everyone.
Paperback £9.99 || $12.95 Jun 30, 2023 978-1-78904-662-5
Synopsis
Rachel Patterson unearths and shines light on England’s ancient gods and goddesses – many of whom, until now, had long since been forgotten. Based on archaeological finds and ancient manuscripts, and including information about the tribes that once made their home in England’s pleasant lands, this book serves as a guide to the gods and goddesses of England, with suggested ways to work and connect with these very special deities.
My Review
Trevor at Moon Books sends me emails every now and then with new books and I agree to read and review them. I read this one a while ago, sorry Trevor, I’ve had a bit of a time lately, but I’ve finally got around to writing the review.
Rachel Patterson covers the broad history of Britain from the Iron Age to the Vikings – the broadly speaking non-Christian period, although Christianity existed in Britain and Ireland during the mid to late Roman Imperial period, and continued into the post-Roman period. However, during this period other deities were also worshipped, and some of these were recorded in monuments for the first, and in some cases only, time. Later deities were recorded in manuscripts, the days of the week and personal items.
The second section of the book covers the deities themselves, where they were worshipped and what we know about them, and ways to connect with a few of them.
The book focuses heavily on deities recorded on Roman monuments and in later Christian manuscripts – chronicles, sagas and legal records. The monuments are quite interesting, because they tell us something about the person who erected the monument as well as the deity they were erected to. In the later Cristian documents we obviously get a rather partial and one-sided view – no priest is going to give you a rounded opinion on rival religions, when they believe the gods of that religion are demons and believers are deluded or devil worshippers.
The author doesn’t seem to understand that pagan England is a specific time and place, and that it’s slightly disingenuous to include 2nd century northern British gods and 10th century Scandinavian deities.
The selection of rituals to connect with the deities are fairly standard neo-pagan rituals, that rely on the usual inclusion of elements, calling fairly generic directions, etc., which would not have been included in the original rituals, as they are 18th – 20th century inventions. I honestly don’t think the Matrones care if you call the Quarters, they just want us to remember and honour them.
If you’ve never thought about ancient deities in what is now England, this book is a place to start and if you want to know more, there is a list of books and websites in the further reading section.
I have recommendations of my own, although some are hard to get hold of. Brian Branston wrote ‘The Lost Gods of England’ in 1957, Kathleen Herbert wrote ‘Looking for The Lost Gods of England’ in the early 2000s, and then there’s ‘The Elder Gods: The Otherworld of Early England’, by Stephen Pollington. For the more academic, there is ‘Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited’, edited by Carver, Sanmark, and Semple, from 2010. It’s probably the newer and most comprehensive of the sources. These aren’t mentioned in the Further Reading so Patterson may not have heard of them.
Gods and Goddesses of England is easy to read and reasonably informative for those just beginning to explore these ideas.
Rachel Patterson
Rachel is an English witch who has been walking the Pagan pathway for over thirty years. A working wife and mother who has had over 25 books published (so far), some of them becoming best sellers. Her passion is to learn, she loves to study and has done so from books, online resources, schools and wonderful mentors over the years and still continues to learn each and every day but has learnt the most from actually getting outside and doing it.
She likes to laugh…and eat cake…
Rachel gives talks to pagan groups and co-runs open rituals and workshops run by the Kitchen Witch Coven. High Priestess of the Kitchen Witch Coven and an Elder at the online Kitchen Witch School of Natural Witchcraft. A regular columnist with Fate & Fortune magazine, she also contributes articles to several magazines such as Pagan Dawn and Witchcraft & Wicca. You will find her regular ramblings on her own personal blog and YouTube channel. Her craft is a combination of old religion witchcraft, Wicca, hedge witchery, kitchen witchery and folk magic. She lives in Portsmouth, England. Website: www.rachelpatterson.co.uk Personal blog https://www.rachelpatterson.co.uk/blog You Tube:https://www.youtube.com/user/Kitchenwitchuk Instagram https://www.instagram.com/racheltansypatterson/ Twitter https://twitter.com/TansyFireDragon
Publication date Thursday, September 14, 2023 Price £10.99 EAN\ISBN-13 9780857839732
Description
This book is a call to action. It warns that unless we learn to accept and respect our social, cultural and political differences as town and country people, we are never going to solve the chronic problems in our food system and environment.
As we stare down the barrel of climate change, only farmers – who manage two thirds of the UK’s landscape – working together with conservation groups can create a healthier food system and bring back nature in diverse abundance. But this fledgling progress is hindered and hamstrung by simplistic debates that still stoke conflict between conservative rural communities and the liberal green movement.
Each chapter, from Family and Politics to Animal Welfare and the Environment, explores a different aspect of the urban/rural disconnect, weaving case studies and research with Anna’s personal stories of growing up on a small, upland farm. There is a simple theme and a strong message running throughout the book – a plea to respect our differences, recognise each other’s strengths and work together to heal the land.
Cover the Bones (Detective Mark Turpin series, book 5 Imprint: Saxon Publishing Publication date: 18 September 2023 Availability: Worldwide ISBN eBook: 978-1-915231-56-7 ISBN paperback: 978-1-915231-54-3 ISBN large print: 978-1-915231-55-0 Audiobook: 978-1-915231-57-4
Book details
When archaeologists discover a skeleton in secluded woodland, the body is first thought to be related to an ancient Saxon settlement.
Then the torn and rotten remains of another woman’s bones are uncovered, her injuries bearing the markings of abuse and a violent death.
Detective Mark Turpin is tasked with finding their killer, except the forensic evidence is perplexing and the victims’ bodies are proving impossible to identify. When a third victim is discovered only metres from the first, Mark and his team realise they’re running out of time to find out whoever is responsible.
Are the brutal murders the only evidence in a case gone cold, or does a serial killer lurk in the shadows, stalking their next victim?
Cover the Bones is the fifth book in the Detective Mark Turpin series from USA Today bestselling author Rachel Amphlett.
● Genre – Fiction > Fantasy ● ISBN hardcover – 978-1-78758-840-0 ● ISBN paperback – 978-1-78758-839-4 ● ISBN ebook – 978-1-78758-841-7 ● Pricing [USD] $26.95 (HC) / $16.95 (PB) / $4.99 (EB) ● Pricing [GBP] £20 (HC) / £9.95 (PB) / £6.95 (EB) ● Releases September 12 2023 ● Published by Flame Tree Press ● Distributed by Simon & Schuster (US), Hachette Book Group (UK)
Blurb
A Sword of Bronze and Ashes combines the fierce beauty of Celtic myth with grimdark battle violence. It’s a lyrical, folk horror high fantasy.
Kanda has a good life until shadows from her past return threatening everything she loves. And Kanda, like any parent, has things in her past she does not want her children to know. Red war is coming: pursued by an ancient evil, Kanda must call upon all her strength to protect her family. But how can she keep her children safe, if they want to stand as warriors beside her when the light fades and darkness rises?
Promise collects Christi Nogle’s best futuristic stories ranging from plausible tech-based science fiction to science fantasy stories about aliens in our midst: chameleonic foils hover in the skies, you can order a headset to speak and dream with your dog, and your devices sometimes connect not just to the web but to the underworld.
These tales will recall the stories of Ray Bradbury, television programs such as Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone, and novels such as Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin or Under the Skin by Michel Faber.
They are often strange and dreadful but veer towards themes of hope, potential, promise.
HARDBACK 978-1-80018-268-4 320 pages 303 × 216 mm 24 August 2023 £30 / $36.95 / C$54.99 / €32.49
A full-colour compendium of hundreds of never-before-published artefacts from Adams’ archive, including diary entries, notes and musings, letters, photographs, scripts, poems and more.
– Authorised by the estate of Douglas Adams, it includes personal memorabilia from his family. – Features a foreword from Stephen Fry and letters written after Adams’ death from friends and fans: Neil Gaiman, Margo Buchanan, Dirk Maggs, Robbie Stamp, Arvind David.
When Douglas Adams died in 2001, he left behind 60 boxes full of notebooks, letters, scripts, jokes, speeches and even poems. In 42, compiled by Douglas’s long-time collaborator Kevin Jon Davies, hundreds of these personal artefacts appear in print for the very first time. Douglas was as much a thinker as he was a writer, and his artefacts reveal how his deep fascination with technology led to ideas which were far ahead of their time: a convention speech envisioning the modern smartphone, with all the information in the world living at our fingertips; sheets of notes predicting the advent of electronic books; journal entries from his forays into home computing – it is a matter of legend that Douglas bought the very first Mac in the UK; musings on how the internet would disrupt the CD-Rom industry, among others.
42 also features archival material charting Douglas’s school days through Cambridge, Footlights, collaborations with Graham Chapman, and early scribbles from the development of Doctor Who, Hitchhiker’s and Dirk Gently. Alongside details of his most celebrated works are projects that never came to fruition, including the pilot for radio programme They’ll Never Play That on the Radio and a space-inspired theme park ride. Douglas’s personal papers prove that the greatest ideas come from the fleeting thoughts that collide in our own imagination, and offer a captivating insight into the mind of one of the twentieth century’s greatest thinkers and most enduring storytellers.
Title: Defeating SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) Subtitle: A Guide to Health and Happiness Through All Seasons Author: Norman E. Rosenthal M.D. Trim Size: 6×9 • Page Count: 238 • Pub Date: 8/15/2023 • Self-Help / Emotions Trade Paperback: 978-1-7225-0630-8 Price: $24.95 US, $32.99 Can., £17.99 UK, €21.99 EU ePub: 978-1-7225-2762-4 Audio book: 978-1-7225-5094-3
Blurb
In his landmark new book, Defeating SAD, Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, who first described Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and is the foremost authority on the subject, offers an up-to-date guide to overcoming the miseries that millions experience with the changing seasons. In his lively style, Rosenthal offers advice on how to identify, treat and overcome both winter and summer varieties of seasonal affective disorder, as well as the less severe, yet bothersome, winter blues. Having pioneered the use of bright light therapy for SAD and relying on his decades of experience treating SAD patients, Rosenthal offers strategies and techniques for defeating the condition, including cognitive-behavioral approaches, diet and exercise advice, medication, and meditation. Dr. Norman Rosenthal is the author of Poetry Rx released last year to rave reviews including:
The New York Times The Well Book List of 8 Favorite Books in 2021 for Healthy Living
The subject of a New York Times op ed by Jane Brody
This inviting chapter book series explores health topics through the friendly lens of therapy dogs. Follow an adorable therapy dog helping a child through a diagnosis of epilepsy with strong messages of empathy, kindness, and courage. Therapy dogs are specially trained to help kids through medical experiences—from lifting spirits, motivating movement, modelling the power of play, and more. Nonfiction back matter provides more information about medical topics introduced in the books, from acute to chronic issues, while also providing more information about therapy dog programs and the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center.
My Review
A short chapter book with lots of illustrations, covering epilepsy. Cricket spends the day helping a child cope with his seizures and the tests he needs to help control them. Cricket also plays with a child in physio rehab and plays frisbee with another of the therapy dogs.
I liked the story. I think it explains epilepsy, and the way seizures are investigated, well, and the illustrations are very good. They’re fun and cheery. The book shows the relationships between therapy dogs, their handlers, hospital staff and, most importantly, patients.
Dash and the Cancer Center: Learning About Leukemia
This inviting chapter book series explores health topics through the friendly lens of therapy dogs. Follow an adorable therapy dog helping a child through a cancer diagnosis with strong messages of empathy, kindness, and courage. Therapy dogs are specially trained to help kids through medical experiences—from lifting spirits, motivating movement, modelling the power of play, and more. Nonfiction back matter provides more information about medical topics introduced in the books, from acute to chronic issues, while also providing more information about therapy dog programs and the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center.
Mayo Clinic Press Kids creates empowering health and wellness content in partnership with paediatric experts.
My Review
In this book we meet Dash, who helps a child with leukaemia understand their diagnosis and treatment. Again, short, educational chapters and fun illustrations, that follow Dash through their day.
Lumos Helps with Healing: Battling Broken Bones (Helping Paws Academy)
This inviting chapter book series explores health topics through the friendly lens of therapy dogs. Follow an adorable therapy dog helping a child who broke her arm with strong messages of empathy, kindness, and courage. Therapy dogs are specially trained to help kids through medical experiences—from lifting spirits, motivating movement, modelling the power of play, and more. Nonfiction back matter provides more information about medical topics introduced in the books, from acute to chronic issues, while also providing more information about therapy dog programs and the Mayo Clinic Children’s Center.
Mayo Clinic Press Kids creates empowering health and wellness content in partnership with paediatric experts. Proceeds from the sale of every book go to benefit important medical research and education at Mayo Clinic.
My Review
We meet Lumos, a therapy dog at children’s hospital, and his handler. They help Ada, a child with a broken arm, cope with her first visit to a hospital after falling and hurting her arm, and Greta, a child in a wheelchair at her rehab session. Lumos enjoys helping children and mentoring other therapy dogs, and playing with his handler’s sons once his working day is done.
This story guides children through hospital trips and what happens when you have an X-ray and brake an arm. The story sensitively explains the process of having a cast put on and how to properly care for it. The interlude with Greta normalises children being in wheelchairs and the freedom a set of wheels brings. A wheelchair opens up the world to those who need them. I wish they’d mentioned that you shouldn’t touch a person’s chair without asking. The story shows Greta and Lumos navigating an obstacle course and having a lot of fun.
I enjoyed this story; the information is explained in a way children will understand but without being condescending. I also enjoyed the illustrations and the relationship between Lumos and his handler.
There’s only so much I can say about each of the books, but overall I think these books are helpful introductions to hospitals and a variety of medical conditions, for young children. I also think they’re good introductions to the concept of therapy dogs and what they can do for patients. I found the stories engaging and characters likeable.
Everything Is Better With Dragons 