Troubador Publishing strana 8 z 16

Brilliant computer scientist Professor Mitch Daniels unveils his greatest creation: Amie, an advanced quantum AI designed to spearhead an intellectual renaissance. But with the world on the brink of war, she is seized by the military and installed onboard the Sentinel, an orbital space station tasked with protecting the U.S.Still grieving the death of his wife Kathryn—an astrobiologist devoted to the search for extraterrestrial life—Mitch immerses himself in Amie’s integration. On the eve of his return to Earth, he watches as Kathryn’s final legacy is launched into the stars: Keryx, an interstellar probe sent to seek out intelligent life.But the probe’s launch disturbs the void.A rogue fragment of space debris cripples the Sentinel, leaving Mitch stranded. Reviewing the external footage, he is horrified to see Earth being obliterated. The timestamp? Twenty-four hours in the future.Amie believes the explosion fractured space-time and sent them into the past.Space Command deem Mitch a delusional threat. When they attempt to shut him down, he severs all communications. Now hunted and alone, he and Amie must race against time to unravel the apocalyptic mystery—and save humanity.

When his sister Lotte dies of blood poisoning, Casper Van Doujke leaves his island home of Terschelling for Amsterdam. Blaming himself for Lotte’s death, he studies to be a doctor. Meanwhile, his mother Elske Van Doujke’s quiet mourning for her daughter is interrupted when the Nazis occupy Terschelling. When a face from her past returns to the island, Elske has a final chance of happiness. But can she take it? Mother and son join the Dutch Resistance, risking everything for their people as they live through occupation and famine. Elske shelters young Dutchmen and shot-down Allied airmen, while Casper works as a resistance doctor in Amsterdam and falls in love with the fiancée of his resistance cell’s leader. But when the war threatens those closest to them, Casper and Elske are forced to make impossible choices just to survive.

The gritty story of working-class lads in Bradford, at the heart of Northern Monkeys is The Ointment — a football firm built on pride and reputation. But behind the matchday clashes are deeper struggles: addiction, poverty, broken homes, love, revenge, and the fight to stay above water. As the firm rises, the police close in, determined to bring them down.Some lads are just trying to escape their mundane lives. Others are chasing power and a reputation. And some just want a few beers, a laugh with their mates, and a bit of casual violence.But what happens on the streets is only half the story.Northern Monkeys goes beyond the terraces — deep into the lives, relationships and choices that shape these men when the crowds are gone, and the doors are shut.A brutal, honest look at life on the edge, when the lines between good and bad start to blur — and then start to cross.

A Village Boy’s Memoir is the compelling story of Professor Upendra Chowdary’s life, from growing up in village in India in a Zamindar family, to becoming a Professor of Neurosurgery.Leaving behind his family in India, this was a journey that required considerable sacrifice, and threw several obstacles in his path, as he adapted to the different culture and working environment overseas. But with will power, persistence, ingenuity and moral integrity, Professor Chowdhary reveals how he achieved a life-long ambition, going on to help thousands of patients. Throughout his work, he learnt and used evolving modern neurosurgical techniques, the effects of which were often life changing for those he treated.

Bremen, Germany, September 1943. A chance meeting sets into motion a chain of events that is destined to align the lives of four young Germans. On the run, they must face dangers far from the battlefield as they make their perilous journey across Germany and beyond – not only to find sanctuary but to find themselves. To succeed, not only must they evade the Nazi war machine that threatens to consume the world around them, but confront the shame, anger and secrets that they all hide. A story of survival, friendship, forbidden love, hope and resistance, in the very worst of times.

Why have urban foxes died in posh Veronica Grove? What is the secret of the run-down hotel with its creaking ceiling fans and unpredictable showers in magical Senegal? Who is the unlikely hero in the National Gallery? Why is an actor up before the magistrates in Chelsea? Ivor Rawlinson’s second collection of short stories covers the comedy, absurdities and sadnesses of our post-pandemic world. The characters constantly surprise – an Indian astro-physicist, a student of artificial intelligence delivering pizzas, a wily garage mechanic in France, an informer in cold-war Poland.Infused with gentle humour, these ten-minute reads are just right for the train or the bedside table. Allow yourself to be whisked away to Florence or Warsaw or a village in the vineyards of France. Smile or laugh aloud at the ten stories set in London, in streets like Veronica Grove.

This account of a journey for which few predicted a happy outcome before or after it began – with struggles through unforgiving terrain, close encounters with hostile animals, and a disastrous camp fire – has turned out to be not only a full-on survival story but also a rare time-capsule of life in Central Africa in the early era of independence. The author shares his enjoyment of a rich variety of people encountered, from astonished children first seeing white faces to great-grandparents with family memories of Victorian explorers. A fed-up city-dweller’s idea of retracing on foot Stanley’s 1,200-mile expedition of 1871 originated in his boyhood reading of the American explorer’s classic account. Stanley’s team had been nearly 200 men; George Tardios’s for his equally historic expedition was himself, his wife and a young friend. A diary-based account of a journey accomplished 40 years ago has had to await the author’s thorough physical and mental recovery from it, further years earning a living in Tanzania, and self-reinvention in a changed England.

Steve, a young architect, and his wife Anne have sold their house in London and rented one in a nearby country village. The house has a nefarious reputation, and the landlords are hated by the local villagers. The couple are happily married, but their happiness is marred by the fact that Anne cannot conceive a child. While applying for a minor alteration to the new house, Steve meets Lesley, an attractive young graduate, and they have an affair. On discovering this Anne expels him from their new home and then divorces him. Rejected now by Lesley, Steve leads a solitary life in London. Lesley then writes to him to tell him that she is pregnant, but he ignores it. Steve meets Karen, a sophisticated gallery owner and tries to overcome his earlier relationship failings. But the rented house he and Anne moved into will continue to have a malevolent hold over his future life.

Katy’s life will forever change when her new boyfriend, Brian, assaults her after a prayer meeting, one that was supposed to help her to stay ‘good’. Her guilt, shame and the blame she suffers after this ordeal, pushes Katy towards a completely new path. Instead of letting this horrific incident make her a victim, Katy vows to get revenge, not only on her boyfriend but on anyone trying to coerce or manipulate women. Unfortunately for some, Katy doesn’t do things by halves. Katy’s respectable job as the principal of a primary school, her polite, composed manner and her seemingly perfect family life with her two daughters and husband prove a worthy screen for her crusade. Katy’s intimate stream of consciousness, sometimes moral, reveals the dark wit of a woman who maintains her light and breezy attitude to life whilst leaving in her wake the perfect storm – the ideal multi-tasking femme fatale. When the opportunity arises for Katy to meet up again with Brian, it’s inevitable that she tells him the truth. They have a daughter. Katy’s nonchalant attitude contrasts starkly with the vicious ends that befall her victims. But her story, and events, will take a shocking turn

This magical story begins with three friends, who are unhappy on the farm where they live. Pal is a wise border collie dog, Pickle is a piglet who tends to be quite timid and Patsy, another piglet, who is his girlfriend.Pal overhears a conversation with the farmer, where they live, saying pigs on his farm are going to be made into sausages. He is devastated, but must save his friends. Luckily all the animals and small creatures know a secret! That the Isle of Wight, where the friends live, has a secret place. For this is where Harmony Haven can be found, and its guardian is the majestic and very powerful Oliver Gruffle who is our hero of these books. Pal knows how to reach this safe haven, so the three friends set off on their journey as runaways.Along the way they meet their guides. First there is a Galoak, a little wooden man, who makes them see how beautiful the world is. Their next guide is a grumpy badger, but here it is the friends who turn him into a happy and very interesting one through the adventures, which involves fighting giant moles, they share with him.With many magical adventures and so many amazing characters to meet, the runaways excitedly wait to meet their guardian Oliver Gruffle. How will they react when they find out he is an alien teddy bear from a planet far away who possesses Alien Special powers!

Percy is a promising young athlete and photographer living in Derbyshire during exhilarating times at the dawn of the 20th century. His introduction to professional athletics brings him face to face with the corruption and threats from gambling syndicates with the power of money and hierarchy. When World War One begins, Percy and his pals are amongst the first to volunteer for Kitchener’s army. While training in Nottingham they meet up with girls employed at Players Cigarettes, who supply them with Woodbine Cigarettes from their factory. Consequently, they become known as The Woodbine Boys. Their first deployment is to Gallipoli, Turkey, where Percy’s stash of Woodbine Cigarettes soon makes him the only soldier to have any cigarettes. He supplies his officers, and they promise to return the favour, which might just save his life…

A deeply personal and professional journey into the world of children’s social care. Written by a caregiver with nearly five decades of experience, the book blends heartfelt storytelling with a critical look at a system in crisis. Through the author’s own family life and the many children she has cared for, it explores the joys, challenges, and heartbreak of navigating a system designed to protect but often failing those it serves. With compassion and honesty, the author reveals the struggles against bureaucracy, inequality, and the tension between doing what’s right and what’s required. This book is not just a memoir—it’s a call to action. Through gripping anecdotes and insightful analysis, it delves into trauma, resilience, and the importance of genuine relationships. It highlights systemic flaws, corporate interests, and the impact of a compliance-driven culture, while also celebrating the triumphs: the children who thrive, the caregivers who persevere, and the transformative power of connection. For anyone who has worked in social care, fostered or adopted, or simply cares about children’s welfare, this book challenges readers to rethink what it means to provide true care. Poignant, thought-provoking, and ultimately hopeful, it reminds us that change is possible when we listen, learn, and care.

The stakes couldn’t be higher at the poker service in the Russian Unorthodox Church over the chip shop: Ottoman Ozgur is after a crucial Greek recipe, but risks getting Stavro’s dreaded daughter instead. Up the High Street, retired light-heavyweight ‘Shakespeare’ O’Brien’s Oxford Academy of Higher Learning could be about to lose its only student to the Chinese Secret Service. The Rev. ‘Sunshine’ Jackson’s Boy’s Club isn’t doing much better, so if the juvenile delinquents won’t join him, he’ll have to join them. Meanwhile serial loser Puffy Addit has got religion and job on the buses, and they don’t mix well. Accidental celebrity chef Gordon Bennet is in well over his head, and so is Rob Turpin when he tuns up to nick a work of art he nicked once before. If it ain’t one bloomin’ thing it’s another.

Joseph Wright, a young, alcoholic, mixed-race man, lives alone in a Peckham council flat earning a living by solving tough problems for people in his community. A chance phone call leads him on a tense trail from the poverty of London housing estates to gold mines in Ghana, and from the sinister underbelly of London’s global service sector to the gaudy riches of Mayfair. As Joseph struggles to make sense of his own story, he takes the reader on a dangerous journey of discovery towards a truth that should be as unpalatable as it is unacceptable for those who still want to believe in democracy. In doing so he finds both the personal and institutional reasons for the gaping inequality in economic outcomes we see today and has to confront powerful forces, which, over hundreds of years, have captured much of the world’s history for their own ends.

The Christmas Remembering is an exciting and heart-warming Christmastime adventure about a little boy called Timmy, who runs away from home with his favourite Christmas tree decorations to save them from being thrown into the dustbin by his stepmother. Timmy’s stepmother came to live with him and his daddy after Timmy’s mummy died. Timmy’s stepmother loves Timmy and does not mean to be unkind, but she does not understand the importance of these decorations. As the adventure moves through moments of magic and romance and danger and daring and heartache and happiness towards a heart-warming conclusion where all ends well, the importance of these decorations and the reason for Timmy’s brave attempt to rescue them are revealed.This is a story for any child and certainly children who are bereaved or who know a child who is. As the adventure unfolds, the reassuring and recuring messages about child bereavement provide children and families with opportunities to pause and talk about loss and grief. It can be read to younger children; older children can read it for themselves. As well as being read by children and families, this story can be used by counsellors, therapists, schoolteachers and librarians.

Since the end of the Second World War, the audacious Operation Jaywick has remained little known amongst the public or military in the United Kingdom. It was an incredible endeavour executed by British and Australian service personnel. The deepest surface waterborne penetration behind enemy occupied lines undertaken by special forces of WW2. This hand- picked band of men would achieve what some thought to be impossible, a major strike at the very heart of the Japanese in their newly acquired Empire in South East Asia. This story ranks and deserves the same acknowledgement as exploits such as the Dambusters or the Cockleshell Heroes.In the words of British Generals and US Admirals and Commanders it achieved what everyone thought was impossible, without loss and with the minimum expenditure of resources. A terrible twist in the tale is that by not using the success of the mission as a propaganda victory, as had been intended by Jaywick’s commanders, a terrible price was paid by local Singaporeans who were scapegoated by the Japanese Secret Police. This is perhaps the reason that Operation Jaywick was never hailed with the success it truly deserved. The highly effective delivery of Operation Jaywick gave a green light to an even more ambitious endeavour from which no British or Australian personnel would survive, many being executed, beheaded by their Japanese captors. The Tiger’s Revenge is the story told by the son of a special forces crew member who was the only post WW2 British survivor of Operation Jaywick.