The Sapwood Tales

Join Lucy, Doe, and Colin on a wild adventure in the mysterious world of the Sapwoods, where we meet strange tribes-folk and cast special spells, explore old mines, and invent clever devices, and fight for our lives using only our wits and a rather large knobbly parsnip - and it all begins when we discover a rare amber gem with a magical Sprite trapped inside. We travel to a far-away town to seek help from a Great Magician, but when we get there, something happens, and everything changes!

Will Lucy swap the gem for a pair of funny gloves and a new pencil case? Will Doe hop about like a rabbit? And will Colin splat-a-duck with his new Three-Bolt-Catapult?

All these questions - and more! - will be answered in The Sapwood Tales – The Adventures of Lucy, Doe, and Colin, a story stuffed with dim-witted humour and a lot of giggling.

The Secret Of Juke's Oak

Tom is on holiday from school during a long, hot summer sometime in the early 1970s.  While on an errand for his mum he saves Charles Bradwell from drowning in the local quarry and finds that he has gone back in time to the mid-1660s to just after the end of the Civil War and the rule of Oliver Cromwell.

When Tom’s cousin Matilda turns up unexpectedly, Tom, Matilda, Charles and his brother James team up to explore Juke’s Farmhouse.  They make an exciting discovery that will have consequences long into the future!

Tom makes an astonishing discovery at the end of the adventure that turns everything he thought he knew on its head.

The Silver Ghost Ship

Two brothers watch a ghost ship sail along the river towards the sea, one Halloween night. They suddenly find themselves enveloped in fog, before being deposited on the deck of the ship. They later learn from the crew that they have no hope of escape.

When the ship trades goods with the Bobbup Island, the chief refuses to let the boys go. However, after getting help from the boys, the inhabitants of the island set them in the direction that should lead them towards home. There are many dangers ahead for them, not least when they fall foul of the deadly blowpipes of the Grenhogs of Gremable Island.

Later they once again see the ghost ship, and fall in danger of being spotted by the captain, and being returned to his clutches.

Can they survive the perils facing them and reach the safety of their home? Can they evade being captured or will they never escape?

That is for you to find out.

The Stars of Jaxoras Are Beautiful

When the moon of Bixlam is taken over by aliens, it falls to the military of Jaxoras to take back their base and their moon for the glory of the empire! Those brave souls who dare to test their mettle on the battlefield do so to earn glory, and possibly, the hand of the fair Lady Xiva.  
One such warrior is Jared Koenig, a high-schooler from Chicago trying out the new total-immersion virtual reality video game with his best friend, Layla. Jared, however, only has eyes for Layla, who does not seem to return his feelings. Then, an accident in the video game leaves Layla thinking that she is Lady Xiva, and is now only devoted to Jared. As the only thing she recognizes in this new world, Jared is asked to help Layla recover, and come back to her old self. Jared now faces the daunting task of rescuing his best friend from herself, while also having to contend with his own conflicted feelings.

The Storm Pipes

Adam is dared by his friend Matthew to enter the darkness of the reputedly haunted storm pipes at night. 

Adam accepts the dare as he feels it will impress Melissa, a girl from his school he’d very much like to take more notice of him.

Adam’s short and fearful walk into the darkness of the pipes takes an extraordinary turn as he falls into underground caverns and finds himself in a strange and dangerous land with no obvious way home...

The Survivors

Birds fly over the streets of Saxet. A sense of despair looms in the air as the Resistance prepares for the annual tests. 

Seven deadly tests.

Designed to kill and leave behind the Survivors, the ones who must be eliminated. With blood on their hands and a grave history with Saxet, Resistance leader Veronica Blanchard, will stop at nothing to find every last one.

16-year-old Mavis Sterling, naïve and unsure of her place in society, is selected to take part in the tests. With her life on the line, Mavis discovers she will do anything to survive.

After the tests, Mavis flees to the abandoned city that surrounds Saxet. Battling between the loss of her family and the uncontrollable pull to the dark and mysterious R, Mavis’ life will never be the same.

As she navigates her new life and what dangers are around every corner, she discovers her hands were not made for playing piano, they were made for throwing knives.

The Tale of Anne Carter

Born into a wealthy family, Anne seeks to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a teacher. Her life is going well and she has her mother there supporting her all the time. But one night, after a slow deterioration in the relationship between her mother and father, her mother abruptly leaves in the middle of the night. She moves on and finds the love of her life, but ends up finding out he was cheating on her. Devastation devoured her and she was left with one choice in her mind. She took it. Supernatural events happen in the town and attacks commence savagely with no end in sight, but can Alex, Anne’s brother, find a way to stop it…

The Test

Power from the gods. Myths, legends, and a forgotten world.

Bek is sixteen and life is hard... in an ordinary kind of way. School is tough; home is worse, and she wishes things would change. And for once, change comes. 

Bek unwittingly sets an ancient test in motion, imbuing her with godlike powers and opening her eyes to an unseen world.

Finally liberated from her dismal reality, this exciting discovery takes a darker turn as Bek is thrust into the middle of a primordial war between the natural and the supernatural.

She may have the power, but for how long?

Forced into a quest for survival, being hunted by creatures she cannot comprehend, Bek must learn to trust others with her life. 

She must choose whether to run and hide, or stand and fight.

The Thicket

After weeks of not being able to see for smoke; there was a wall of thick vines which reached to the sky; people started to call it ‘The Thicket’. They were as thick as tree trunks, they grew and entwined just like creepers.

Beyond the thicket lay a forest, mountains and very unusual animals and creatures. There lived a people who belonged to the same tribe; who were very special and very loyal and devoted to each other.

Two children called Hali and Aaron who found their way into the forest, a forbidden world, had no idea of their wrongdoing as they were intruding in a place that was forbidden.

Their exploration was fun and exciting. They looked for hidden lands, which led them through the mountains and the forest.

Hali went in search of her brother; who she thought was lost.

But Aaron was on a different journey. He had no idea where he was or who he was. They encountered demons and serpents; their journey took them deep into the mountains. They travelled far from their home into the dark; and beyond a magical place.

Will they make it?

The Time Bunker

If you could travel into the past and prevent the death of your father, would you? Thirteen-year-old Noel Villan must make this decision in a story of bereavement, time travel and nuclear war. Noel has discovered a bunker within the forest near his hometown. What appears at first to be an air-raid shelter is found to be a forgotten Cold-War era time machine, capable of sending humans into the past to prevent the end of the world after a nuclear war. Noel plans to use the machine to change the past and prevent the accident that took his father’s life. Along the way, he learns about an enigmatic character, Owen Milburn, who mysteriously disappeared without a trace in 1989 and his involvement in the nuclear deterrent programme. Who exactly is Owen Milburn? What are those huge golf ball structures that dominate the landscape outside of his hometown? What is the Ministry of Defence? And can he, or more importantly, should he prevent his father’s death?

The Why Question

What if you were growing up in a war, with a best friend who has fled from the enemy for safety? To whom do you talk? And whom can you trust? And then in a zoo you discover a secret that you must never tell anyone. Imagine yourself in that same Dutch city, famous for its mouse and windmills, with your everyday life of bicycles, schools, visits, friends and parents.

And then disaster strikes. The boots arrive. Who is on whose side? Who is brave and who not? And even if you make a little sense of it all, you are no longer a child, and growing up fast, and the very biggest question of all is coming your way… why?

The World Through My Eyes

You might be wondering why this child is writing the story of her life down. There’s nothing interesting in a little “farm girl’s” life story or her view on how messed up the world is. You may be right. I’m not a big, wise person. However, I felt like I had a lot of things I needed to get off my chest, and also, when I was younger, I kind of wished I knew of someone similar to my age now, who was ready to speak about certain things with a freshly turned adult’s mind.

I do believe that sometimes young adults need young adults to share their perspectives because we speak a similar, if not the same language.