Coping? (Part 1)
Released in March 2012, Coping (Part 1) is Lisa's first non-fiction work. This autobiographical work follows Lisa's battle with bowel cancer. Available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com as a Kindle ebook.
Meet Lisa.
She’s forty years old, married with three children, doesn't smoke and rarely drinks. Four cats, two chinchillas and a hamster share her house. She has an allotment which isn't completely overrun with slugs. And she’s just been diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer.
Follow Lisa’s journey from the first out-of-the-blue symptoms to surgery, diagnosis and beyond. Using email, phone texts, chat forums and the social network Facebook, Lisa has a very modern way of coping.
Laugh with her, but don’t cry. Because that is something she refuses to do.
Meet Lisa.
She’s forty years old, married with three children, doesn't smoke and rarely drinks. Four cats, two chinchillas and a hamster share her house. She has an allotment which isn't completely overrun with slugs. And she’s just been diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer.
Follow Lisa’s journey from the first out-of-the-blue symptoms to surgery, diagnosis and beyond. Using email, phone texts, chat forums and the social network Facebook, Lisa has a very modern way of coping.
Laugh with her, but don’t cry. Because that is something she refuses to do.
Plague
Plague is my newest horror novel, released in December 2011. Available on Amazon.co.uk as a Kindle ebook. Plague regularly features in the UK Amazon top twenty horror and sci-fi charts. Soon to be released as an ebook by Simon & Schuster in the US.
A new strain of bubonic plague is diagnosed in London. Before it can be contained it spreads through the population, faster and more deadly than anyone could have imagined. Three weeks is all it takes to decimate the country.
Johnny tells Liz not to phone the NHS when their young son starts to show symptoms. But she ignores him and a few hours later the army arrives and boards them into their house.
Now Nathan is dying and there is nothing they can do to help him. Hours pass like weeks as their little boy grows weaker and weaker. All Liz wants is that they die with some dignity but the authorities refuse to help. Then the broadband dies and the phones stop working. Cut off from the world and boarded into their house, the family try their best to cope. But there is nothing they can do to stop the plague.
A new strain of bubonic plague is diagnosed in London. Before it can be contained it spreads through the population, faster and more deadly than anyone could have imagined. Three weeks is all it takes to decimate the country.
Johnny tells Liz not to phone the NHS when their young son starts to show symptoms. But she ignores him and a few hours later the army arrives and boards them into their house.
Now Nathan is dying and there is nothing they can do to help him. Hours pass like weeks as their little boy grows weaker and weaker. All Liz wants is that they die with some dignity but the authorities refuse to help. Then the broadband dies and the phones stop working. Cut off from the world and boarded into their house, the family try their best to cope. But there is nothing they can do to stop the plague.
Blue Smoke and Madness
Blue Smoke and Madness is available as an ebook only on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Also available in Amazon shops as a paperback, and soon to be available in most bookshops.
Clive beguiles and seduces and only Alex can see, hear, and touch him. The demon comes bearing a gift … and a warning. With the fate of their universes in the balance, Alex is the best candidate, hand-selected to save the human race, and Clive offers his guidance and support to help her fulfill her destiny.
It’s like having an imaginary friend but nineteen year old Alex soon learns that the line between reality and perception is murky, with consequences too terrible to ignore. The gift is ‘sight’and what she sees is chaos and danger lurking on every corner.
Clive makes claims—and promises—manipulating and punishing at will until he drives her to incomprehensible acts of desperation. Terrified, Alex must choose … but can she trust those closest to her?
Blue Smoke and Madness was formally titled My Demon.
Clive beguiles and seduces and only Alex can see, hear, and touch him. The demon comes bearing a gift … and a warning. With the fate of their universes in the balance, Alex is the best candidate, hand-selected to save the human race, and Clive offers his guidance and support to help her fulfill her destiny.
It’s like having an imaginary friend but nineteen year old Alex soon learns that the line between reality and perception is murky, with consequences too terrible to ignore. The gift is ‘sight’and what she sees is chaos and danger lurking on every corner.
Clive makes claims—and promises—manipulating and punishing at will until he drives her to incomprehensible acts of desperation. Terrified, Alex must choose … but can she trust those closest to her?
Blue Smoke and Madness was formally titled My Demon.
Coombe's Wood
Coombe's Wood is available to buy in ebook format at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Now a bestseller on Amazon.com.
Izzy Santana and her 13-year-old son Connor move into a Reading Council-provided flat in the sleepy village of Cedham. Locals darkly warn her to stay away from nearby Coombe’s Wood, hinting first at elves, then at multiple murders… which may or may not have taken place in the woods hundreds of years ago. It’s all ludicrously superstitious, and Izzy is so delighted to have found a haven for her son – after being threatened by her sadistic ex-partner George – that she takes little notice.
She meets a neighbour who seems kindly, if a trifle fey, and who takes a great interest in her son. Connor seems instantly comfortable with him. She begins to feel as if she is also falling under his spell. But Connor is bullied at school, and one night she finds herself tracking those bullies in the wood, where she believes they are waiting for him. She doesn’t find them, but something closes in on her – something that sounds like a savage animal. As she runs she realises she may have been set up – or Connor was – to be caught by whatever the animal was. She strengthens the barricades in her flat, no longer puts all the local tales about ‘danger in them woods’ down to superstition, and even begins to wonder about the way she was selected by the Reading Council officer to live in the village in the first place.
Then a slit rabbit turns up on her doorstep, along with a distinctive cigarette butt, and she knows George has found her. Desperately compassionate, her neighbour calls the police, who turn up next day, harumph the ceiling, and take the attitude: You’ve not been attacked, then, Miss? You haven’t actually seen him? Why, if your ex-lover has tracked you down, do you suppose he would he dump a rabbit at your door…? Her own question, more urgent, is: if George can get in the front door of the building, can he get into her flat?
What Izzy needs to do is protect Connor. She has already started to uncover the ancient secrets of the village, and now she works out the perfect way to get rid of George… for good.
Izzy Santana and her 13-year-old son Connor move into a Reading Council-provided flat in the sleepy village of Cedham. Locals darkly warn her to stay away from nearby Coombe’s Wood, hinting first at elves, then at multiple murders… which may or may not have taken place in the woods hundreds of years ago. It’s all ludicrously superstitious, and Izzy is so delighted to have found a haven for her son – after being threatened by her sadistic ex-partner George – that she takes little notice.
She meets a neighbour who seems kindly, if a trifle fey, and who takes a great interest in her son. Connor seems instantly comfortable with him. She begins to feel as if she is also falling under his spell. But Connor is bullied at school, and one night she finds herself tracking those bullies in the wood, where she believes they are waiting for him. She doesn’t find them, but something closes in on her – something that sounds like a savage animal. As she runs she realises she may have been set up – or Connor was – to be caught by whatever the animal was. She strengthens the barricades in her flat, no longer puts all the local tales about ‘danger in them woods’ down to superstition, and even begins to wonder about the way she was selected by the Reading Council officer to live in the village in the first place.
Then a slit rabbit turns up on her doorstep, along with a distinctive cigarette butt, and she knows George has found her. Desperately compassionate, her neighbour calls the police, who turn up next day, harumph the ceiling, and take the attitude: You’ve not been attacked, then, Miss? You haven’t actually seen him? Why, if your ex-lover has tracked you down, do you suppose he would he dump a rabbit at your door…? Her own question, more urgent, is: if George can get in the front door of the building, can he get into her flat?
What Izzy needs to do is protect Connor. She has already started to uncover the ancient secrets of the village, and now she works out the perfect way to get rid of George… for good.
The Ultimate Choice
The Ultimate Choice is available as an ebook from Amazon.co.uk. Now a bestseller on Amazon.com. The Ultimate Choice also won an excellent Publishers Weekly review in the ABNA (Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award) in 2012. Soon to be released by Simon & Schuster in the US.
Worldwide overpopulation. Legalised suicide. A government dedicated to reducing citizen numbers. And a woman who is sentenced to death, but refuses to be culled.
Cassie O’Neil broke the law: she had sex before marriage. After learning she was pregnant, she hid from everyone and gave birth alone. Now she must give her life in exchange for the baby she illegally produced.
She chooses a game show, The Ultimate Choice, for her suicide. Watched by millions, she questions contestants, one of whom will receive her organs when the public choose the winner. Halfway through the show, and finding a will to live she didn’t realise she had, Cassie changes her mind, dodges security, and goes on the run.
Hungry and forced to steal to survive, Cassie raids one of the government-run greenhouses. She disturbs a dissident group. Their leader, Dan, takes Cassie in and forces her to help sabotage a laboratory. But the virus they destroy is far more important than any of them realise. Captured by the police, they are taken to a secret government installation. The Prime Minister arrives and he’s furious – he had plans for the virus… a cull of the population. He forces them to accept a mission and Cassie will eventually have to make the decision she's force to make the decision she’s been running from for so long.
Worldwide overpopulation. Legalised suicide. A government dedicated to reducing citizen numbers. And a woman who is sentenced to death, but refuses to be culled.
Cassie O’Neil broke the law: she had sex before marriage. After learning she was pregnant, she hid from everyone and gave birth alone. Now she must give her life in exchange for the baby she illegally produced.
She chooses a game show, The Ultimate Choice, for her suicide. Watched by millions, she questions contestants, one of whom will receive her organs when the public choose the winner. Halfway through the show, and finding a will to live she didn’t realise she had, Cassie changes her mind, dodges security, and goes on the run.
Hungry and forced to steal to survive, Cassie raids one of the government-run greenhouses. She disturbs a dissident group. Their leader, Dan, takes Cassie in and forces her to help sabotage a laboratory. But the virus they destroy is far more important than any of them realise. Captured by the police, they are taken to a secret government installation. The Prime Minister arrives and he’s furious – he had plans for the virus… a cull of the population. He forces them to accept a mission and Cassie will eventually have to make the decision she's force to make the decision she’s been running from for so long.
What Alice Sees
A sample of What Alice Sees is available only on Authonomy.
After the death of her baby brother, Alice dedicates her life to finding the man who stole his breath.
Alice Monroe is four years old when a man appears in her bedroom and takes the breath of her baby brother. Her father, Shaun, never recovers from the loss, and two years later dies while taking a bath. Alice catches glimpses of him for months after. Her mother, Teri, doesn’t believe in ghosts, and definitely doesn’t believe in the man who took David’s breath.
Paul Sinclair runs Beechwood nursing home in Tilehurst, and kindly offers a nursing job to Teri after Shaun’s death. Alice meets the ghost of an old lady at the home, who tells her she’s actually been seeing Death.
Alice begins a life-long obsession with catching Death. From the age of twelve to the age of eighteen, Alice tries to trick and cajole him into appearing. Her tactics become more desperate, threatening to close the nursing home and destroy her life.
When she finally corners Death, she learns that fantasy and dreams almost never work out.
After the death of her baby brother, Alice dedicates her life to finding the man who stole his breath.
Alice Monroe is four years old when a man appears in her bedroom and takes the breath of her baby brother. Her father, Shaun, never recovers from the loss, and two years later dies while taking a bath. Alice catches glimpses of him for months after. Her mother, Teri, doesn’t believe in ghosts, and definitely doesn’t believe in the man who took David’s breath.
Paul Sinclair runs Beechwood nursing home in Tilehurst, and kindly offers a nursing job to Teri after Shaun’s death. Alice meets the ghost of an old lady at the home, who tells her she’s actually been seeing Death.
Alice begins a life-long obsession with catching Death. From the age of twelve to the age of eighteen, Alice tries to trick and cajole him into appearing. Her tactics become more desperate, threatening to close the nursing home and destroy her life.
When she finally corners Death, she learns that fantasy and dreams almost never work out.
