A brand new young fiction series by TV broadcaster and intrepid explorer Ben Fogle, inspired by his real-life animal experiences... Co-written with best-selling children's author Steve Cole and illustrated throughout with beautiful black and white illustrations by Nikolas Ilic. You can always count on Mr Dog to help an animal in trouble... When a mother rabbit is captured in a trap, he ends up playing bunnysitter... But someone wants rid of All the rabbits, not just this one, and time is running out for Mr Dog to save them... Views: 522
Mankind shows no mercy to those of the Black Sun Temple. For those cultists who warn those alien sirens are mankind's doom jeopardize the melodies those creatures share with humankind. But that zeal for justice blinds mankind's empathy, until the executioners attending to their duty upon Ganymede push too far and ruin any chance to some day sing alongside those incredible sirens mesmerizing man.Gunner has executed uncounted cultists of the Black Sun Temple as a sentry and executioner stationed on the penitentiary built upon Jupiter's moon Ganymede. War has ravaged his body, and escorting so many condemned prisoners to their deaths has shredded Gunner's soul to tatters. He would have forsworn his duty long ago had he not been blessed to hear the sirens' alien melody that heals the most wounded of hearts. For the sirens sing a different song to every prisoner facing whatever form of death Jackson Hardcase and his gameshow deliver. The sirens sing, and their notes lift the condemned and chase fear from their hearts. But Gunner's wounds are deep and unhealed, and even the most loyal of executioners can serve for only so long before his resolve shatters to show the sirens the frailty, and the danger, inherent in mankind. Views: 516
Anton risks more than his carnival when he makes a place for Bora and his magical creatures. Anton worries that Bora's monster swells too quickly within its cage, and he frets that the monster might soon escape to feed upon the world. But Anton risks that danger because he needs a unicorn's magical horn to heal his girl, and he cannot have one magical creature without the other.Ancient Bora holds his breath and feels the world balance upon his magical creatures. An empathic world would nurture the young unicorn, until that animal realized its glorious potential to wield miracles capable of healing any affliction - like the disease that grips Anton Finnegan’s daughter Marcia and prematurely ages that girl. A dark and resentful world would feed that monster of tendrils and tentacles moaning within the confines of Mr. Finnegan’s house of horrors. Such a monster’s girth would know no bounds, and such a monster’s mass would swell until it choked the land. Bora carried his creatures to the bright lights of the carnival, thinking a carousel’s song would provide a wonderful melody for a young unicorn. Yet Bora still worries that even that nation of wealth and luxury has little to provide to a unicorn. Views: 515
Kate no longer runs in the field with her loyal dog Gyp. Gyp worries for Kate's exhaustion. Gyp sees how the color fades from his beloved master. He knows how Kate sweats through sleepless nights. Gyp suspects a terrible sickness gripping Kate, and he fears the family cat Isis holds a terrible secret from him, one which Gyp is determined to learn no matter if he has to shake that cat apart.Gyp is a champion of a loyal dog. Gyp closely follows each of his master Kate's commands. Together, they are a team, and Gyp loves nothing more than running through the training field and pleasing Kate with his cunning and speed. But when a sickness grips Kate so that they can no longer take the field, Gyp will brave even the family's ancient, temperamental cat Isis to learn what can be done to bring health back to his Kate. Gyp will not flinch before that cat's eyes, and the dog will complete any challenge, or pay any cost, to pull Kate back upon the green fields. Views: 514
The community of Monteray's suffering budget dooms the park's baseball diamond to demolition to make way for development. The community gives Mr. Harmon the task of informing Coach Boyle of the decision. Mr. Harmon's conversation with the aging, yet still powerful, coach proves a difficult one, for the the gap between the two men assign them each to a different time.Jas Boyle upkeeps the memories to be found between a baseball diamond's first and third base foul lines. Raking the infield and mowing the outfield grass does not take all of Jas Boyle's time, and the aging man often still grips a wooden bat to face a pitching machine. Mr. Harmon hears the cracks from that bat as he approaches that field to tell Jas Boyle that the community of Monteray will no longer require his services. Waiting for the pitching machine to empty as Jas Boyle takes his hitting practice, Mr. Harmon is amazed to watch the older man still send majestic fly balls far beyond the outfield fence - towards the direction of the looming bluffs, towards the direction of a lost age. Views: 511
The world's troubles make Mrs. Queen hum. But when her son threatens to separate her from her grandson unless she gains control of her behavior, Mrs. Queen vows to master her nervous habit of humming. The world's wars and famines, storms and earthquakes, fail to cooperate with Mrs. Queen, and the sweet woman must decide if chasing away her hum is worth placing her neighbors in peril.Fear constricts Mrs. Queen’s life. Anxiety turns her to stone. And all of Mrs. Queen’s worry overflows into the hum forever spilling from the trembling woman. Recognizing how the nervous habit has consumed his mother, Maven refuses to let his son David visit his grandmother until Mrs. Queen promises to follow the prescribed steps required to regain control over her trepidation. Mrs. Queen forces herself to cease fretting over her diet. She volunteers throughout her community to again socialize with her peers. She even tosses her emergency radio into the silence of her closet. Yet the woman's environment seems to unravel all the more furiously with each of Mrs. Queen’s efforts, until the world itself shakes in an attempt to make Mrs. Queen return to her humming. Views: 493
A brand new young fiction series by TV broadcaster and intrepid explorer Ben Fogle, inspired by his real-life animal experiences... Co-written with best-selling children's author Steve Cole and illustrated throughout with beautiful black and white illustrations by Nikolas Ilic. You can always count on Mr Dog to help an animal in trouble... Mr Dog is spending some time out at sea, riding the waves with the fishermen. But when a local seal goes missing, he has to spring into action – fast... Anchors aweigh! Views: 488
Markus Kohl's aching body struggles to attend to his duties as the kingdom's lowly tinker. Though his neighbors rely upon the tinker to keep the mechanisms of their livelihoods in working order, few in the kingdom appreciate Markus's effort. Regardless, Markus satisfies his king's newest request with a creation that will remind all of those in the kingdom of the debts owed to the humble tinker.Markus Kohl's old bones groan as the tinker wakes to the first morning of the second sun. The second sun's humidity and heat give Markus little relief. His neighbors show him little patience as their poorly maintained machines shudder for the tinker's attention, and the villagers calling on the Markus's services refuse to allow the tinker's helpful Fay to enter their homes. Markus's work schedule strains to meet King Tiber's request for a device that will cool his court as the second sun crowds the sky. Though his body aches and though his neighbors show no respect for his duties, Markus meets the king's order with the help of his silver-haired Fay. What the tinker presents to the court challenges the realm to take responsibility for itself, or suffer terrible plague should ruin be allowed to gnaw at Markus's final, stunning achievement. Views: 488
Braving the lethal elements and buzzkills, four crawl out from the shelter of their hovel to push an invention towards the legendary tower the fatcats built before the world fell into ruin. They hope their machine will discover where the fatcats sleep, so that, finally, those who were left behind to languish in the wastes can take revenge by filling the fatcats' dreams with nightmares.Old man Sparker has built a powerful drill in the hovel, driven by a hissing engine of steam. Hoping the drill will help those who must call the wastes home find where the fatcats have retreated, Sparker’s daughter Sweet Tea leads a group that pushes her father's machine towards the tall tower rumored to be the fatcats’ home. There’s the giant Crotch, whose legs give the group so much strength. There’s Shiv, whose skills with the wicked razor may prove useful upon encountering any enemy. And there is Bug, the most resilient man to call the hovel home, a man who refuses to be squashed beneath any adversary’s heel. Together, they grunt and push Sparker’s contraption through the wastes, motivated by the desire to wrench the hated fatcats out from their pleasant dreams. Views: 482
A tycoon, an heiress and a reporter hunt the most exotic creatures found in the cosmos. But a stranger from the stars has arrived first on the safari, and that alien will stop at nothing to collect every human's face as a trophy.The obliterators execute the Law of Extermination, cleansing alien planets of native life and reshaping extra-terrestrial landscapes to prepare the new worlds found in the stars for human settlement. Yet a creature of shadow and fear prevents the obliterators from completing their duty on the planet of Tybalt, a world that promises humankind a New Eden, if only the obliterators can exterminate that glowing jungle in which the monster hides. Teddy Jackson accepts the obliterators’ challenge to claim that monster as a trophy. But an intelligence unlike any Mr. Jackson has ever tracked threatens to turn the table on that great hunter who has mounted so many alien heads upon his walls. Views: 458
The archivist Un'Yhe has honored the strangers throughout his long lifetime. The strangers have smiled at every relic of the broods' homeworld Un'Yhe has brought before them. Un'Yhe's care continues to expand the museum built upon the strangers' crashed ark, until one day the strangers unfold the homeworld's bright sky to reveal a sparkling treasure more glorious than even Un'Yhe's museum houses.The strangers have spent eons floating through the chasms separating the stars. After so many millenniums, the strangers reach their loftiest goal and arrive upon an alien world filled with intelligence, life and splendor. But the strangers have evolved since the day so long ago when their ancestors first stepped into the stars. Only, the strangers' eyes remain transfixed upon the stars. The strangers still pine, despite all the alien treasure that surrounds them, for a return to those dark chasms that expand between the night's twinkling starlight. Views: 452
Radio talk-show host Max Jervis plays the part of victim better than anyone, and that talent has made Mr. Jervis a very wealthy man. Mr. Jervis will share in any indignity and imagine any conspiracy that might help grow his broadcast empire. But Mr. Jervis forgets that there is a monster for every victim until a scraping and clawing arrive one night outside his studio door.Mr. Jervis plays the role of victim as fine as any actor. By taking offense at the slightest rebuke and by seeing conspiracies behind every shadow, Max Jervis has built an empire of listeners and sponsors with the countless parts of his victim-hood. Max rages and cries with anyone who hears his voice, and he creates monsters out of the airwaves to grip the passion of any broadcast market. But Max Jervis learns too late that his words summon abomination. The scraping of claws arrives outside his door following a caller's curse, and Max Jervis must face the creature his words have shaped. Views: 441
A brand new young fiction series by TV broadcaster and intrepid explorer Ben Fogle, inspired by his real-life animal experiences... Co-written with best-selling children's author Steve Cole and illustrated throughout with beautiful black and white illustrations by Nikolas Ilic. You can always count on Mr Dog to help an animal in trouble... Mr Dog has travelled north for an island escapade. But when a local hedgehog problem seems set to threaten his new friend, Hog, he knows he'll have to act quickly to save his prickly companion... Views: 434
Owen Masters doesn't like the community of Flat Knob, and the community doesn't like him. No matter his efforts or intention, Flat Knob has despised Owen since he arrived to teach at the county school. A camera Owen purchases at the Turner estate auction, however, has a strange knack for capturing the dark held within the heart. Through that camera's lens, Owen will claim what is rightly deserved.Owen Masters languishes in the community of Flat Knob. He wastes his weeks at the front of a high school English classroom, where he suffers the futility of trying to instruct those who despise him. On weekends, he drifts through the barren county to attend estate sales searching for exotic and strange possessions that might deliver a little satisfaction to his days. A dark, phrenologist skull grips Owen’s attention at Homer Turner’s estate sale. Though his bid is not enough to bring that relic home, Owen soon finds himself tossed into Flat Knob’s oldest feud between a hated entrepreneur and a wicked family named Turner. And through the lens of a strange camera that clicks through the night, Owen Masters learns he must first become a monster to gain Flat Knob's respect. Views: 429
