9-11 Yrs - Novels
This is a series of four, featuring 12-year-old Ross and his dog, Stoke. They are about the earth fighting back against the pollution caused by humankind, using a boy and his dog to bring about the required repairs. The books’ themes and targeted audience mature as Ross gets older.
Cold Call - Available now - Click here for details
 |
Available at all good book shops across UK, USA, Canada and Europe.
|
Legacy of Lyonesse – future publication
At Easter, Ross and his family visit Cornwall following the death of his grandmother. Oil-riggers are causing trouble near to an island just off the coast. University researchers are in conflict with the oil workers, on discovering that they are both seeking the same thing – the entrance to the lost land of Lyonesse. Ross is shown connectivity between sea water and domestic fresh water, finds a link to the past and is lead to an underground passageway still guarded by the people of Lyonesse. Centuries before these people discovered a simple system of generating endless power from seawater, with the use of sound; this had produced local seismic activity and caused their land to disappear under the sea. The oil workers want to destroy this discovery, the University want to save it. Ross helps to retrieve the secret, and is left the gift of an ocarina which plays the required music to generate power.
Breath of Beelzebub – future publication
During the summer holidays, Ross is staying in the New Forest with his Auntie Phlip, a dress designer who was a bit of a protestor in her day. Part of the forest environment is threatened by plans to extend the regional airport. Ross and Stoke are pestered by dragonflies, the local landowner, Lord M, has a theory that the odonata possess a collective memory of the earth since the time of the dinosaurs. The housekeeper’s daughter, Reggie, is helping Lord M with research into the fact or fiction of the spirit of the woods, The Green Man. Local folklore says that if the forest is not respected and cared for, the trees will withdraw their bounty and leave the forest lifeless, apparently put down to the work of the devil. Auntie Phlip is kidnapped after trying to stir up support against the airport developer, whom she had known as a young woman. The Green Man is sighted, the trees drop their leaves, a conspiracy perpetrated by the developer is uncovered and he is haunted by the spirit of the trees.
Vulcan’s Voice– future publication
Ross should be using the autumn half-term break to study for his mock GCSE’s, but the voice is back again. The voice he’d heard a few years ago when the snow had come with a vengeance. Now the vengeance is real. The world didn’t listen well to that last warning. Nothing happens anywhere without some incidence of violence or confrontation, which inevitably impacts on the environment. The spirit of the earth doesn’t like it.
In Ross’ home town a fight breaks out in the Market Square over a ridiculously trivial issue relating to refuse collection. Raised voices and hot tempers are immediately quelled when spontaneous jets of fire shoot up through the paving, like someone had lit a gas burner underneath. Word spreads and these jets of fire are experienced all over the country, then all over the world. Scientists can only hypothesise fearing that the fires are a new manifestation of climate change.
Ross is drawn to the high downs above the town and meets a strange old man whose face is oddly familiar. He calls Stoke his little friend, so the dog knows exactly who he is. (Ref: Cold Call). He calls himself Prof Archibald Goodman and proves to Ross that the fire jets are only apparent within urban areas; outside the towns all is calm. The world has to learn how to douse the fires and, with Goodman’s help, Ross has to find a way to teach them.