When the Cataclysm arrives, Megs, a 12-year-old streetwise girl, is trapped in a hotel parking garage in Los Angeles; and 16-year-old Josh is stuck in a house in Prosser, Washington, with his increasingly obsessive-compulsive father. Food and water and time are running out. Will Megs survive long enough to find her mother? Will Josh and…
Spider Worlds by Duncan Long
Duncan Long’s Spider Worlds is a children’s science fiction trilogy is not to be confused with Colin Wilsons’ Spider World quartet; a series of dark post-apocalyptic stories for adults and young adults. Long’s Spider Worlds is a tale about a boy, Jake, who discovers a giant talking spider in his basement, Bekla, who is actually a being…
Deepwater Landing by Ken Catran
The biggest flaw with this book is that it tastes and smells and feels like a nineties young adults book. The biggest flaw with the nineties was the decadent sense of style – this book reads like that pair of neon-striped shorts that I used to always wear to school with the tie-dye shirt my…
Zombie Britannica by Thomas Emson
Britain is suffering the most extreme heat wave it has ever experienced when suddenly the dead dig their way out of earthen and watery graves and swarm across Britain, devouring and dismembering everything living in their path. Emson is a contemporary British horror writer, born in Wales and currently residing in England. He writes both…
Starbright and the Dream Eater by Joy Cowley
The town of Claircomb is afflicted an illness which makes people suffer terrible nightmares before becoming unconscious. Starbright, an adventurous young girl, discovers it is not an illness, but a malignant psychic alien entity that feeds on people’s dreams. She also discovers that she has been named in a prophecy to be the one whom can…
How to Write Science Fiction by Bob Shaw
Bob Shaw (1931 – 1996) was a science fiction writer who is known for his highly imaginative and evocative stories full of creative worlds and subjects, and for his proactive role within the science fiction world with fan publications and conventions. His works have won many awards and he has an extensive collection of published fiction…
Batman Unmasked: Analysing a Cultural Icon by Will Brooker
Many people are Batman Fans, and some are Batman fanatics. Will Brooker firmly places himself somewhere in the middle of the spectrum with Unmasked. It is a look at the development throughout the generations of the mythos of Batman and what he means. The book discusses social and political parables, sexual innuendo, satire and comedy, war propaganda…
Cerberus: A Wolf in The Fold
Qwin is an agent of the Confederacy; a master spy and assassin. He is sent to the penal colony of Cerberus to infiltrate the crime lord’s syndicate and stop the alien subterfuge that threatens all of mankind. But there is a catch – the planets in the Warden system have a symbiotic microbe that infects everything living…
An Interview with Beth Webb.
After reading Foxdown Wood by Beth Webb I decided to contact her and talk to her about her book. She is a fascinating woman who is an artist, writes books for both adults and young adults and works with an organisation called Books Beyond Words, helping teens and adults with learning difficulties. On your website you mention…
Foxdown Wood by Beth Webb
Beth Webb is an accomplished author of children’s and young adult’s stories. Foxdown Wood (1997) is one of her earlier books, aimed at a younger audience. It has narrative similarities to works such as the Narnia chronicles or The Bridge to Teribithia, but rather then being derivative is actually a refreshingly original take on the ‘other…
Adrian McCauley 