Crushed

William Ferguson had willingly followed the footsteps of his father into the family business, accepting the challenge to continue to enhance the reputation and fortunes of the highly respected Ferguson Trading Company.  

The legacy was daunting – his father, Sir Charles Ferguson, a Victoria Cross winner for bravery during WW2, had returned to New Zealand after the war to, in a short time, become the Commonwealth’s pre-eminent businessman, confidant to successive prime ministers and governments and most importantly, a beloved husband and father. All of these accomplishments were achieved without blemish, incident or notoriety.

With such a stellar backdrop, what could possibly go so wrong that would crush William Ferguson’s life?

Culloden

As Bonnie Prince Charlie lands in Scotland, intent on regaining the British crown for the Stuarts, Gregor, a young, ostracised Highlander, has fallen in with a gang of murderous outlaws, whose actions lead him ever closer to a date with the hangman…

Meanwhile, Flora, a young, beautiful Scottish girl, finds herself visited by a ghostly and sinister hag, who wishes to involve her in the fate of the prince.

Both Gregor and Flora find the paths of their lives dramatically altered by the Bonnie Prince, and their futures dependent on the success or failure of the Jacobite rebellion. Futures which would ultimately be decided at the battle of Culloden…

D.A.N's Little Book of War Poetry

This little book of war poetry is a reminder, if ever we needed one, of all those young men who have fought in wars: those who left and never returned; those who came back wounded, limbless, blind, disfigured and gassed; those who came back apparently unscathed but still had horrifying stories to tell of what had happened to them. 

This book is dedicated to all those who sacrificed their lives. 

And yes, we will always remember!

Daddy Won't You Please Come Home?

At 21, Sam Middlemas was haunted by a recurring dream: two little girls of distinct backgrounds beckoning him home. He tried to shake it off, but the dream persisted. It wasn’t until he saw his own daughter grow that he recognized her as one of the girls from his visions. Tragedy struck when his daughter’s life was cut short, turning his orderly world into chaos. Thrust into an unexpected journey spanning continents, Sam seeks answers. This gripping tale follows his quest to unravel the mystery of the dream, leading to a heart-stopping revelation.

Damn Your Eyes...STOP!

A well-dressed young man makes his way into the Bald Faced Stag Inn, Putney Vale, London and books lodging for a few nights. With a wide smile and gracious pleasantries, he takes his key from the unsuspecting innkeeper. Little does the innkeeper know, this young man is about to embark on a journey that is, to say the least, defiant, unpleasant and often shocking. It soon becomes apparent that he’s not all that he appears to be.

Damn your eyes...Stop! Tells the story of Lewis Jeremiah Avershaw, a notorious highwayman who terrorised travellers in the late 18^th century. His short life was one of terror and violence that led to the inevitable conclusion...the gallows.

Damned If I Do

We both stood there exhausted, looking at each other like they do in old western films. “I just need to talk to you Archer, please don’t throw more stuff at me. I would never hurt you or your family.” He glared at me while lifting his arm back up. I glanced to his sides to see what else he had to throw but didn’t see anything. Then it sunk in that the only other thing around us both was my car.

It was levitating above me as I looked at Archer who was glaring at me again. “Speak then, but when you are finished know that I will destroy your car and you under it.” I could feel my eyes stinging as tears began to form. I wasn’t ready to die but I was stuck at this point.

Dancing in the Dark

Up until yesterday, I knew who I was. Up until yesterday, my life was mapped out.

Joey is a smart guy who has it all figured out: a girlfriend, a good university degree, and then the professional job of his dreams.

One knock at the door and that all changes.

His life will never be the same and his world has been turned upside down.

Danger in the Delta

A huge archaeological site in the Egyptian delta is being excavated. The work disturbs a team of Russian scientists/thugs who were using this previously unused site for their own purposes.

Archaeology students, Lucy Phipps and her cousin, Toby,  arrive to help her father, Professor Donald Phipps. They cause problems for the Russians, with unforeseen results. Kidnapping and a near drowning follow. 

A previously unknown tomb is guarding Russian secrets. Will the Russians blow it up before it can be documented?

Will Don’s super rich American patron be impressed?

Will Toby and Lucy’s relationship flourish or finish?

Dante Fog

While other boys celebrated their raging hormones by scragging each other from one end of the sports field to the other, Angus Fog was the solitary figure that watched. While other boys played rugby in winter, tagged and bombed each other at the town pool in summer, he sat and did nothing because in his twelfth year, Angus lost his passion. He subconsciously suppressed the why and when the event took place but the repercussions would significantly impact his life.

Angus works for ten years as a theatre designer and builder in Wellington, New Zealand, before his mother, frustrated with his lack of artistic success, buys him a ticket to London. There he creates an alter-ego from the clique bohemian art world. He changes his appearance and name and becomes the successful artist, Dante Fog.

Dante’s initial subject matter is the beauty in other people’s childhoods. Later, he searches for beauty in the adult world but fails to find it, until he falls in love with Bronagh.

When Dante wakes on the floor of his studio hungover and fearing he may, in a jealous rage, have killed Bronagh or her suspected ‘new lover’ or both of them, the magnitude of that unknown childhood event resurfaces. Dante must return to New Zealand as Angus to uncover what he suppressed all those years ago.

Dara

Dara is a story of a legendary boy, which dates back to early 1940s. He is born in a poor family, in a remote village of Vaidan Di Kotli, situated at Indo-Pak border. His life is full of struggle and adventures. He is a fortunate child born in an unfortunate family.

During Indo-Pak partition in 1947, people migrate in large volumes from either sides of the border. Dara’s family settles in a village called Khilchian, 30kms from Amritsar. A school master sees a sparkle in Dara’s eyes and convinces his step-mother to put him in a school, but he finds true friends amidst the immortal elements of nature and animals. Later, the school master encourages him to join the Army.

Dara meets a caring friend in a recruitment camp. After joining his regiment, he discovers a band of brothers…a family beyond blood.

Once, while crossing a graveyard, he gets trapped in a vicious circle. It’s a rendezvous with death. While he is away, his sister, Beero, is forcibly married. Dara sinks in a deep anguish.

Dara falls in love with a beautiful damsel and is submerged into an ocean of romance.

Darcy Lane

As she sat in her bed reading from a book, seven-year-old Elise Rose was unaware that her childhood would be over by morning. She was too young to know that violent hands played cruel tricks or that innocence held little fight against cheap beer and cigarette butts. After the trauma of childhood, Elise, now twenty years old, walks the streets in need of escape. The town around her has become stained and the ghost of a loved one will not let her rest. So, when she stumbles across an isolated house at the end of Darcy Lane, she believes that she has found the thing that she needs more than any other. The house is away from town, surrounded by green fields and absent of the memories that she would rather forget. The house is bright in the morning sun and soon becomes lodged in her imagination. So, the question is set. How far is she willing to go in search of absolution?

Dark Days on the Fairest Isle

It’s a turbulent time on the island. A grandmother has disappeared. Resisting her parents’ objections to her going back into the violence they had fled to settle in the U.S., twenty-six-year-old Claire Wynter returns to the place of her childhood to help the family members there search for the missing grandmother with whom she had lived as a child and whom she loves almost as much as she does her own mother. Once on the island, Claire receives a jolt of reality. The family members have given up their search, feeling that the prevailing violence had swallowed up the grandmother, so it was useless looking for her. Claire finds herself a one-woman search party, but she feels certain her grandmother is alive and begins her search. She accepts help from an unlikely source and sets out on a venture she could not have undertaken on her own. The suspenseful path to finding her grandmother leads through missteps, dashed hopes, and to a beckoning romance. Everyone involved—most of all Claire—is unprepared for the outcome.