Böcker av TERENCE PARK

This is Terence Park's first collection of poetry. It is split into two sections. The first: Silt From Distant Lands ranges through time and space (Golden Age Islam, WW1, the Oort Cloud), dips into current affairs (Scottish Referendum, EU Referendum) with several stopovers at poetry within fiction. Making up the latter are: The Eggman, Impressions, Aeschia, and As If You Were Near. The complete text of two short stories have been included; Impressions gives voice to a paraplegic and in Aeschia, an insubstantial alien makes her observations as she drifts around Paris. The second section: Close As Kin, includes 11 additional poems. The reader is invited to consider it as either a long afterword or teaser to his next collection. Terence confesses to shying from obligatory cuss words.

Writing Day: a wannabe librarian is on the run -from the last library on Earth. The Slow Holocaust: once again millions of Britons are out of work. The Wrong Lane: it's the individual versus society, but who wins? Undercroft: a crotchety scribe downs his quills.

Five tales, eight stories. A journalist leaves the Big Apple to go tornado chasing in Indian country; An America where law enforcement is as feared as the mob; A private investigator checks out the legend of the Ridge Runner; A corsair threat to the Kingdom of Sicily; The slaughter of three Roman Legions at Teutoberger Wald has repercussions as far afield as Alexandria.

It's 2060. Western civilisation crumbled decades ago. A new and mysterious power controls what's left of the world - the Mandat Culturel. It came into being when the Earth was first contacted by aliens and it controls access to advanced technology. All that remains of the once mighty United States is the Petits États, centred on New England. Outside of there, civilisation survives in enclaves. The confederation of Sioux Nations, headed up by Wahchinksapa, a former intelligence operative, keeps the Mandat Culturel at bay. Triste is a bounty hunter with all the latest ordnance. He works the ruined cities, especially the former urban area of New York, now known as FUA 1. When the cities were abandoned, a lot of loot was left behind - his contracts are dangerous but they pay well. Creatures older than humanity watch over all. These are Star Beings, aloof and unsympathetic to human affairs. They have a plan.

A sketch for a fantasy (mythic, heroic) As a youth, Brant flees his homeland which has been conquered by the augeruch. He vows to one day return and free those he knows. That is some way off. He hires himself out to trader caravans and learns the trade of a mercenary, travelling the Northland steppes, the far off Khaif empire and beyond, even to the fabled city of Hrim The realm of Tyrikhon has fallen on hard times. Princess Aralie is to be bartered by her uncle, who rules in place of her assassinated father. She is kept prisoner in the town of Orby. Not far away bands of mercenaries gather, waiting for an opportunity. Things are looking bleak. Through the nearby forest a lone wanderer approaches....

A sketch for a space opera. Long, long ago, there was war in the heart of the galaxy. The core stars were ripped apart by the fury of that conflict. Lucky is a survivor from it; she is lucky to even exist. Her people, the flowing people, were destroyed by the measuring people. War separates the victors from the losers. The victors survive and the losers are crushed from existence and from memory. To go home would have been death, so Lucky fled. She programmed her ship, the Expedient, to take her away from the galactic core, away from the planets where her people once lived and into the skeins of stars that make up the spiral arms of the galaxy. That was a long time ago. Few of the places she once knew can now support life. She has been a refugee since, drifting from star to star, in a half-life of suspended animation, known as slowtime. The Expedient charts a careful course, ploughing its lonely furrow between the stars, always away from what she once knew. She'd stop running but it's now all she knows.

A sketch for a Space Opera. Lory Gato is a commissioning agent for CEAD, Core-Earth Azimuth Developments. What that involves is a stressful life, hopping from star to star seeking out ever more piquant tastes. Why? because the teeming billions of Earth can't afford the fare to the exotic pleasure palaces of the galaxy. His mission? to boldly seek out places where no human tongue has tasted or nose has sniffed before. No matter how repulsive or quixotic those alien luxuries might be, he's got to test them and send some back home. Yep, not what your average Joe does, but it has to be done. Genial, fun-loving star-traveller Lory comes to T'negi 36. Does he bite off more than he can chew when he meets lovely xeno-archaeologist, jih Le'acia?

What if you're not like anybody else? What if you can't be? What does it mean to be human? The odds are stacked against the lost and alone. Lucky is alien. Yep she really is an alien, and this edition collects the first four episodes in her tale. Long, long ago, there was war in the heart of the galaxy. The core stars were ripped apart by the fury of that conflict. Lucky is a survivor from it. Her ship charts a careful course, ploughing its lonely furrow between the stars, always away from what she once knew. She'd stop running but it's now all she knows. Eventually she comes upon a back-water of the Milky Way, known locally as Orion's Belt. Also in this collection, four short stories: After School - civilisation is collapsing, even in the UK. Writing Day - a tale of the last library on Earth. Flower to Tree - all SF nightmares have a beginning. Joe and the Xenophids - humanity are next up on the extinction list. Some explicit content. http://tparchie.wordpress.com/lucky/

This book gives an account of Burnley Grammar School before it was closed and, in doing so, offers an insight into the state of education in the town. It also looks at less well-known aspects of Burnley's history. Many towns have their claim to fame. For Burnley, this includes a dip into Anglo-Saxon times with Brunanburh, the battle that helped form the character of the English. Included is a nostalgic look back at advertisements in the 60s and 70s which paint a picture of town life from a different era. This 2nd edition is greatly expanded to include photos and other extracts from the B.G.S yearbook, The Brun.

"It's the writer's job to find the facts and build them into his story." Is this drudgery or are you inspired? In Little Jimmy, Asbestalux and Pax Imperii an enormous reservoir built in the Rossendale Valley is backdrop to the hazards of asbestos and a still supreme British Empire. Message for Oeipa and Winter in Alexandria are set against the slaughter of three Roman legions in 9 AD. What would our pets say about us if they could talk? Carrie gives a cat's view and Dodger a dog's. If an alien came to this planet, what would she see? In Night of Life, first contact with aliens comes with strings. Cuckoo looks at cross species hook-ups. In Joe and the Xenophids, first contact has gone badly wrong and the extinction of the human race is on the cards. Brant is a knight-errant who gets drawn into the intrigues, as the royal blood line of a kingdom comes under threat. Not all fantasy is happy ever after as our heroine discovers in City.

Real Fiction shines a light on a murky world of crime and business, where detectives pit their brains against each other, criminals try to beat the system and no-one is entirely good or evil. Jonny Muse is an OpEd. In Alibi He gets involved in a suicide and his life is changed. In Tornado Alley, fresh from New York, he chases tornadoes and gets an introduction to Indian culture. Ray wakes up in Korlam Heath, beaten and battered. Who's Ray? That's me. I live in New Goodshaw, capital of New England and biggest city in world. When I find who left me like that I'm gonna beat the crap outta them. Read my story in Goodshaw City Blues. Lellegheny is febrile with rumours of a local legend, the Ridge Runner and Mr Dimling has decided to go missing. A job for Bernie Doarn, private investigator, in Harjazes At the time of the Crusades, corsairs prowled the Mediterranean. A storm near Malta upturns the lives of three friends in Xewkija, The Central Sea and Adriana.