Umbadinga

When an end-of-term field trip goes horribly wrong and not all the students return, the teacher loses the plot. One student hatches a plan and together with the school bus driver, they attempt their own rescue mission.

The lost children enter a new world through a subterranean portal and things take a twist when the group get split up.

Umbadinga is full of mystery and intrigue. Their pursuit for self-preservation leads them into encounters with weird and wonderful creatures, but not all of them are friendly.

Become part of the adventure in Umbadinga, be a fly on the wall during the battle and mind-boggling escapes. But the big problem is, can they get back home again? That’s for you to find out!

Valerie

Valerie is the sequel to the book One Chance published in 2019. A young mother, Valerie had abandoned her infant daughter and left her with her parents. June, her daughter, now a grown woman had struggled with her decision to get in touch with her mother, many years had passed and much water under the bridge. There would be joy and sadness in their meeting, all would not be rosy all of the time and many skeletons would be peeping out of the closet. June had been oblivious to the many times her mother had tried to contact her through the years. Birthday cards, Christmas presents, all returned unopened by her grandmother who’d held a grudge against her only daughter that could be seen in her eyes on the odd occasion her name would be mentioned. She’d felt that void in her life that only a mother can fill, her grandparents had been so good to her and she’d loved them dearly and missed them still. Valerie, a story that will make you laugh and make you cry.

Velvet

Vengeance is Mine

In Nursery Rhymes, D.C.I. Keir Dickson put two young brothers behind bars for eight years. In They Never Saw It Coming, the government devised a two-year plan to reduce the congested English prisons. A priest by the name of Fr. Shaun O’Brien takes on the task of rehabilitating the two brothers, or so it appeared. The real purpose of taking on these two brothers was to wreak vengeance on the police and British army. D.C.I Keir Dickson foils the plan but the priest is injured, losing his hand in the process.

The story now continues with Shaun O’Brien escaping from the hospital bed, hellbent on revenge for the death of his two twin brothers, shot by British soldiers while trying to run a roadblock in Ireland, and for the torture to which he was submitted.

D.C.I. Keir Dickson and his team now have the task of finding O’Brien, and finally bringing him to justice for good.

Very Practical Magic

Master easy spellcraft. Written by Nicola Kelleher, this collection of spells is perfect for creating positive spells quickly and easily with everyday items around the home. This modern take on witchcraft will allow the reader to explore spellcraft and positive affirmations whilst learning about the world of witchcraft without the need of specialist tools. The book contains around 40 spells and offers insight into the properties of oils, candles and crystals. Each spell is fun and easy to perform and includes simple instructions. This book is designed to whet the appetite of would-be witches which should allow the reader to continue to build their own positive spells for future use.

Vorclaw

Spurred on by the unexpected loss of his wife, the military officer Baltus Blackpool plans to enact his revenge by dismantling the decadent ruling council of Vorclaw by building his own cult—The Black Masks! Meanwhile, his son Dru bonds with others and delves into a less respectable career path that his father is forced to embrace. 

Magnus Foehammer, the infallible right hand of Baltus, rears an orphaned elf he names Leif. The elf, raised as a human alongside his adopted brother Bjorn, has no memory of his past but has an uncanny propensity towards good. 

Leif and Bjorn bond with Dru Blackpool and all three follow their own fathers’ footsteps into the army. However, they get caught up in Baltus Blackpool’s plans to overtake the Vorclaw while falling into their own misfortunes involving deceit, magic and a quest to save Leif from the vampiress and her arch-goblin hoards! 

Wavelengths

‘Wavelengths' is an exploration of light, colour and form through the creation of transfigured natural images.

The result is a series of multi-layered image-scapes exploring the spectrum of visible wavelengths and my fascination with refraction and the interaction of light and glass, taking the images through the colours of the rainbow.  

These images are linked to a selection of poetry that provides a sidelight on the images.

One does not illustrate the other, but gives a different departure point for interpretation.

The poetry is chosen to have some relevance to the facing image  -  in a variety of styles, from 18th century to modern poets, and from well-known favourites to unknown poems.

Weirdo Tales for the Littlie Mind

dear reader,

i must warn you that the following may entice you to a collection of stories that could leave you feeling curious and even a little odd. in these pages you will meet the part of me that is still a littlie, who often played alone finding solace in the sanctuary of imagination, yet struggled with the desire for a friend. don’t be fooled by the seemingly ordinary plot lines, there is more to these stories than meets the eye. within these pages you will find contentious topics that challenge societal norms, or stories that encourage children to think critically and form their own opinions, all in the hope to provide a neo-pedagogy-of-mutual-child-adult-parenting-experience. 

while these stories are perfect for littlies who may be eager to explore the weird world of the self, this children’s book is for all.

and while the tales may seem strange, they are full of magic, dreamy adventures of self-discovery and journeys of growth, hope and renewal. you’ll learn the joys of decluttering the mind from dull forgettable thoughts. you’ll witness the magic of watching something grow and thrive. you may learn the lesson that true comfort can come in the simplest of forms. the endless, arduous journey to search for true friendship is matched by the raw emotional struggles of our weird and wondrous mind. 

so if you are brave enough to venture into the world of the weirdo tarot, i invite you to turn the pages and explore the mysterious and peculiar, weirdo tales for the littlie mind.

yours weirdly,

the weirdo tarot

(be weird it’s normal)

What a Wicked Web We Weave

What a Wicked Web We Weave is a novel full of mystery, intrigue, murder, revenge, fraud and betrayal amongst many other things. It has several twists and turns as you get enthralled into each chapter and it will leave the reader in suspense and at the edge of their seat, right up to the end.

After spending ten years working for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), Tony Lodge finally lands the job of his dreams in the fraud department. He gets thrown in at the deep end when they receive an anonymous phone call, asking them to investigate one of their managers. Being the new kid on the block, it was easier for the department to put him on the case, as it was thought to be a hoax.

As Tony gets deeper and deeper into the investigation, things start to unfold and point him in the direction of someone a lot closer to home than he imagined. Tony tracks back in time to when the office the senior manager in question moved to when it opened a few years before. This is when the investigation starts to throw open suspicious deaths and an episode of mystery.

I hope you enjoy reading my first novel, What a Wicked Web We Weave, as much as I enjoyed writing it.

What’s Beyond the Garden Gate

The book is a mystery concerning a man who did not have control of his life, and due to twists of fate encounters an explosion of deception, false imprisonment, drama, intrigue, strong women, sadness, his own weaknesses, sex, friendship and love.

The story ends with a remarkable twist.

When Reason Dreams

We live in a rational age in which science and modern technology have removed doubt and ignorance. We no longer fear the dark, we no longer need to use superstitious symbols to protect our houses and families. We know what is happening in the world and are in contact with friends and family who might live miles away. Ours is a rational world… or is it?

These short ghost stories are not set in remote Scottish castles or haunted Victorian houses. They are about the modern world, places where you would not expect to encounter the supernatural. Just because we can see the world on television, speak with people across the oceans and know exactly what causes natural phenomena, the happenings that so terrified our ancestors, does not mean that ghosts have disappeared. Scientific progress has not buried the supernatural.

Children play with long dead ghostly friends, a cruise ship is haunted, a Stuart tragedy reveals its secret in a horrifying way, a married man revisits his past in Florence where he meets his death lured by the ghost of a former lover, a doctor fails to save his wife’s death in a car accident and is haunted to destruction by her spirit, a man is obsessed by a dream, an art dealer steals a painting from an old lady but her ghost returns to pursue him, a man buys a First World War memorial plaque and wished he had never seen it.

Reason and logic still dream.

Whispering Shadows

Money, the need of an estranged parent, paedophiles or trafficking, these are the usual motives for kidnappers. If their plans fail, fear and panic may end in murder.

It is June 1995 in Sydney, Australia. Detective Chief Inspector Martin Janson is investigating a heinous crime: a small boy is missing. It appears random, and motiveless. Janson is frustrated, there are no witnesses and few clues.

A troubled Irishman who is said to have a ‘mysterious gift’ which he uses in the TV show ‘Spirits and Mind-blowing Magic’. His manager, a flamboyant, loud showman; a known paedophile, a children’s entertainer and a Scotsman, are all suspects.

The Irishman, Kieran Madigan, may be a phony, and his ‘mysterious gift’ a nonsense, thought up for the TV show. Barchester, his manager, is a liar and a fraud, but does that make him guilty?

In Melbourne, where two women are found dead, a Scotsman is a major suspect. A Scot was seen near the scene of the crime in Sydney; is there a connection?

Detective Chief Inspector Janson and his team race the clock to solve the mystery and find the murderers before it is too late to save the child.