The Moondial

BALLADS OF TRAGIC HEROISM arise out of the harsh life on this planet. In these tales, no one emerges unscathed. IN THE MOONDIAL, Hranna, daughter of the chief of the Yunaut Clan struggles to save Rolly, an explorer, from dying on the icy wastes of Hurt. As Hranna races to save Rolly and his crew and to secure her own place in her village, she faces a constant struggle for survival in the arctic landscape and among the dangerous creatures that prowl on the ice. Award winning author Hans Hergot blends epic fantasy with Victorian technology to create an exciting new world: the World of Hurt.

A new edition of the much-loved classic story of time travel, ghosts and friendship. Even before she came to Belton, Minty Cane had known that she was a witch, or something very like it . . . Minty is the kind of girl who notices things. Pockets of cold air on a stairway. Cries on the wind. Ghosts. On night-time jaunts from the house where she's staying while her mother recovers from an accident, Minty stumbles upon a moondial which takes her back in time. She finds Tom, a sickly kitchen boy, and Sarah, a girl with a birthmark who is only allowed out at night because her family think she has the mark of the devil . . . Can Minty save her friends, or will she get stuck in the past . . .? 'Fresh and entertaining.' Publishers Weekly 'Carefully wrought and evanescent as a ghost story should be, this will be enjoyed by any admirer of Tom's Midnight Garden.' Kirkus

Secret, strange, dark, impure and dissonant...Enter the haunted landscapes of folk horror, a world of ­pagan ­village conspiracies, witch finders, and teenagers awakening to evil; of dark fairy tales, backwoods cults and obsolete technologies. Beginning with the classics Night of the Demon, Witchfinder General, The Wicker Man and Blood on Satan's Claw, We Don't Go Back surveys the genre of screen folk horror from across the world. Travelling from Watership Down to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with every stop inbetween, We Don't Go Back is a thoughtful, funny and essential overview of folk horror in TV and cinema."A beautiful rumination on the dark films and television that shaped me and a generation of odd children, for good or ill, worth a year of your time, because you won't just read the book, you'll feel a burning desire to watch everything mentioned within." - Robin Ince"A comprehensive, accessible and often riotously funny tome weaving together folk horror in all its forms, from British television to the American backwoods, from Eastern European fairytales to the vengeful ghosts of East Asia. Ingham explores uncanny landscapes haunted by things buried, old cultures converging with the reluctance of contemporary reason, that very tension that gives his book its name. He attempts to both define folk horror and free it from definition, creating the ultimate guide to the genre's manifestations on film and offering a convincing argument as to why the genre resonates so compellingly with people today." - Kier-La Janisse, author of House of Psychotic Women

Yesterday’s Sun, a poignant debut novel from British author Amanda Brooke, finds a young woman having to choose between her own life and the life of her future child. When newly married Holly and her husband Tom move into a charming old manor house in the English countryside, she couldn’t have predicted that a mystical moondial would change her life—and her destiny. In the style of Jodi Picoult, with memorable characters, and tender, warm, prose, Yesterday’s Sun is a brilliant, suspenseful tale of free will versus fate; a heart-wrenching story of family and the risks we take to break from the past.

When Jessie and her friend Pete sneak into August Erasmus's lab, they mean to rescue his abused animals. Instead they find a boy in a cage. Horrified, they set him free, and Jessie promises to hide him. The strange, pale boy is August's son, Lucan. He knows he's strange. He can't bear the sun, sleeps by day, bursts with energy by night, and can only digest raw blood. Like August, he has the family disease: nothing sinister about it. But sinister does describe August's lizard-like hounds, and the grey-faced servant who haunts Jessie's dreams of her parents' death. None of it matters when she runs with Lucan under the moon. Her senses sharpen. Energy sizzles through her body. But deep down, a terrible hunger grows. She recalls how her blood mixed with Lucan's during the escape, when their cut hands clasped. Lucan finally confronts August, but who wins? And Jessie, fighting to stay human, has only Pete's loyalty and her own new powers to pit against the oldest, deadliest enemy of all.

An investigative reporter gives up her job when her young twins are killed in a fire, but when she stumbles across the body of a missing teenager, she' s thrust into a chilling investigation that will leave no one unscathed... `An extraordinary debut: intriguing, unsettling, heavy on atmosphere and with a formidable leading lady ... Suzy Aspley is one to watch&´ Mari Hannah `A gripping piece of contemporary gothic, Crow Moon signals the arrival of a hugely promising new talent&´ Kevin Wignall `A nerve-tingling thriller that both enchants and terrifies. Aspley weaves sinister folklore into a tense murder investigation that has you looking over your shoulder as you turn each page&´ Eve Smith ____ When the crow moon rises, the darkness is unleashed... Martha Strangeways is struggling to find purpose in her life, after giving up her career as an investigative reporter when her young twins died in a house fire. Overwhelmed by guilt and grief, her life changes when she stumbles across the body of a missing teenager &– a tragedy that turns even more sinister when a poem about crows is discovered inked onto his back...

From Alice Hemming, the bestselling author of THE MIDNIGHT UNICORN, comes a brand-new unicorn fairytale. In the faraway kingdom of Elithia, a powerful king holds the throne, with ten Royal Knights under his trusted command. Fearsome warriors and talented fighters, the knights are led by Samara, the most exceptional of them all. Samara's brother, Hero, also works for the king, and his role as the king's advisor gives him a privilege unrivalled by most. So when he falls ill, the king sends for the wisest healers in the kingdoms. Many healers answer his call, but none are able to discover the reason for Hero's failing health. In desperation, Samara seeks out a wizard called Ardis who practices dark magic. Ardis promises Samara the chance to save her brother's life, but the cost is her soul. When Samara refuses, Ardis curses her in rage. Weaving his magic, he forces Samara to take the form of a unicorn and Samara becomes an outcastÜand a legend: the Cursed Unicorn becomes well-known in the surrounding kingdoms, though where the unicorn came from nobody could say. Will Samara remain a unicorn forever, or will she break the magic that traps her? Her story started once upon a time, but who knows how it will end...

Marius was a simple house slave content to spend his days emptying chamber pots till an unfortunate series of events puts Marius on the bad side of a powerful magician. Suddenly ensorcelled, Marius finds himself compelled to act the fool as a victim of the JESTER’S CURSE. Aided by a menagerie of colorful characters, Marius must break the curse and take revenge on the magician who tore him from a cushy life of slavery. Thrust into a daily fight for survival on the mean streets of the ancient kingdom of Arovia, you’ll wonder: can a simple house slave prevail against Arovia’s fiercest foes? And can he do it with bells on? THE JESTER’S CURSE: RUN AMOK by HANS HERGOT is the first of four books following Marius’s epic adventure in the kingdom of Arovia and beyond.

Whenever you hear the prevalent wailing blues harmonica in commercials, film soundtracks or at a blues club, you are experiencing the legacy of the master harmonica player, Little Walter. Immensely popular in his lifetime, Little Walter had fourteen Top 10 hits on the R&B charts, and he was also the first Chicago blues musician to play at the Apollo. Ray Charles and B.B. King, great blues artists in their own right, were honored to sit in with his band. However, at the age of 37, he lay in a pauper's grave in Chicago. This book will tell the story of a man whose music, life and struggles continue to resonate to this day.