Showing results by author "Ra-Ra" in All Categories

The relationship between sleep and storytelling is an ancient one. For centuries sleep has provided writers with a magical ingredient, a passage of time during which great changes miraculously occur, an Orpheus-like voyage through the subconscious daubed with the fantastic. But over the last 10 years, our scientific understanding of sleep has been revolutionised. No longer is sleep viewed as a time of simple rest and recuperation. Instead it is proving to be an intensely dynamic period of brain activity.

Science is always telling stories. Whether in the creation myths of evolution or the Big Bang, or in the eureka moments of science history, narrative just as much as metaphor is a key tool in the scientist's surprisingly literary toolkit. In this unique anthology, authors have collaborated with leading scientists, to bounce literary, human narratives against purely theoretical ones, alloying together real stories with abstract ones, to produce truly extraordinary results.

Friday's Mum, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, has been accused of espionage. The police think she's been selling secrets about the CERN Hadron Super Collider. Friday knows her mother isn't capable of such a thing - this is a woman who can't even operate a dishwasher. She's got to smuggle...

I may have escaped their house but there is no running from Grayson, Royce, and Logan. Not when Royce knows my most precious secret, Logan refuses to let me go, and Grayson hates to see me remotely happy. As if I don’t have enough to deal with already, between worrying about my daughter and dodging my sleazy boss, not to mention keeping up my grades, now I have to worry about what Royce might do with my secret while attempting to get over Logan and avoid Grayson at all costs.

Computers are changing. Soon the silicon chip will seem like a clunky antique amid the bounty of more exotic processes on offer. Robots are changing, too; material evolution and swarm intelligence are creating a new generation of devices that will diverge and disperse into a balanced ecosystem of humans and robjects (robotic objects).

Humans and elves, dwarves and gnomes, wizards and warriors all live and do business in the thriving, overcrowded port city of Cliff's End, to say nothing of the tourists and travelers who arrive by land and sea, passing through the metropolis on matters of business or pleasure or on quests. The hard-working, under-appreciated officers of the Cliff's End Castle Guard work day and night to maintain law and order as best they can. Arra Cynnis is the youngest child in one of the most powerful families in the wealthy district of Unicorn Precinct.

As the haunting echoes of a future apocalypse linger in his mind, Nick Gallows toils to save humanity from complete destruction, using his regression into his past to relentlessly train and prepare the world for what is coming. Yet, as Nick bears the weight of humanity's future, his new fiancée blindsides him with a dangerous new adversary.

As humanity is taking its final breath, facing extinction from a myriad of monsters, the last three people on earth are creating a final chance for the hero to go back in time and stop the apocalypse. However, before the hero can enter the chronomancer portal to the past, she and the portal's creator are both killed, leaving only the weak assistant to carry on their dream of saving the world. Will Nick be able to right the wrongs done to him, and prepare the hero for the world to come?

Halston University was supposed to be my fresh start, my chance to prove I can stand on my own, except it’s not only passing classes I have to worry about. And then there’s them. Three guys, each with their own darkness and allure. My demons.

A curly tale of revenge, rescue and jam-filled doughnuts. With a runaway lion loose in the neighbourhood, Derrick, Samantha and Michael feel scared. Nanny Piggins feels like a slice of cake. And Boris feels like that lion looks strangely familiar. In this third action-packed book of adventures...

The siege is over, but the war is far from won. After narrowly defending the Black Witch’s castle from a monstrous assault, Nick Gallows returns home to a city in mourning. But War waits for no one. A brutal power struggle, a dangerous rescue, and a marriage forged in the heart of conflict push Nick to his limits.

Humans and elves, dwarves and gnomes, wizards and warriors all live and do business in the thriving, overcrowded port city of Cliff's End, to say nothing of the tourists and travelers who arrive by land and sea, passing through the metropolis on matters of business or pleasure-or on quests. The hard-working, under-appreciated officers of the Cliff's End Castle Guard work day and night to maintain law and order as best they can.

There is a great disturbance in the Force. . . . From the sleek ships of the glimmering Coruscant skyscape to the lush gardens of pastoral Naboo, dissent is roiling. The Republic is failing, even under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, elected ten years earlier to save the...

After clashing fiercely with Fellhorn's followers, Argrave has been forever altered by the desert's crucible. Awaiting him as he makes his way back to his homeland are faces from the past – friends and foes, all unprepared for his transformation. Argrave now ventures into the core of a land besieged by plague, forced to ally with his unpredictable, fervently passionate brother: Orion. Wielding strength that borders on the mythical, Orion might just hold the key to quelling the foul force spawning the unnatural pestilence.

Finding my family was supposed to be a dream come true, but it’s only brought more questions, more secrets and forced family responsibilities. Surprisingly, Hawk is by my side while dealing with the utter ridiculousness our parents keep pushing on me. I’m learning how to have a brother, and I think we might actually like each other.

Caius Oppita has served the Alyrion Empire for more than half his life, watching with growing revulsion as the royal family descends ever deeper into corruption and depravity. Powerless to do more than stand by as the land he loves slides toward civil war and social upheaval, he longs for his days as a general on the battlefield rather than a tame palace lapdog. When the execution of one of the emperor’s inconvenient bastard sons goes wrong, Caius has a choice to make—do his duty, or do what is right and spirit the innocent man away to safety.

Aurora is out there somewhere, and I’ll do whatever it takes to bring her home. Thankfully, I’m not in this fight alone. I have Logan, my rock, who is always ready to catch me when I fall. Royce, who is learning to trust and opening his heart, and Grayson—still haunted but finding strength in our connection. Together, we're unstoppable.

When Detective Domenica Kiernan solved the murder of a mayor’s aide—killed by a vampire—she never imagined she’d find herself at the vanguard of the NYPD’s latest special squad: the Supernatural Crimes Unit. Tasked with closing cases involving magic and monsters, the SCU has dealt with a shape-changing domovoy committing assault in Chelsea, the murder of a kappa on City Island, a thieving Taotie in Chinatown—and their latest: two murder victims whose corpses have been liquefied by a powerful spell.

When Friday Barnes cracked the case of Highcrest Academy's mysterious swamp-yeti, the last thing she expected was to be placed under arrest. Now with the law on her back and Ian Wainscott in her face, Friday is not so sure boarding school was the smartest choice. From a missing or not-so-missing...

In book five of her enthralling adventures, Nanny Piggins discovers some startling truths about the ruthless Ringmaster, provides counselling to a Molavadinian princess with pre-wedding jitters, inadvertently wins a Nobel Prize while impersonating her sister and catches up with her favourite 4-tonne friend, Esmeralda the forgetful elephant.