The Stories so far
Zoo - Bloomsbury, 2005 / YA
Life couldn't get any wilder
Cam Stewart's had a bad couple of days.
He's been kidnapped in San Diego, and chased by the cops. He's had to jump a freight train in Seattle, and been shot at by an angry citizen in LA. He's also killed a man. How much worse can it get? It depends on what you call worse. When your whole world's falling apart faster than a cheap T-shirt, what do you do when it looks like you can't even trust your own parents?
He's been kidnapped in San Diego, and chased by the cops. He's had to jump a freight train in Seattle, and been shot at by an angry citizen in LA. He's also killed a man. How much worse can it get? It depends on what you call worse. When your whole world's falling apart faster than a cheap T-shirt, what do you do when it looks like you can't even trust your own parents?
"Reads like an homage to [Elmore] Leonard with its rhythmic repartee, underworld characters and action-packed plot" Sunday Times (Book of the Week).
How It Works - Bloomsbury, 2004 / YA
Everyone gets the angel they deserve
When you screw up, really, totally screw up, and then some complete stranger saves your life, the least you can do is say thanks.
Seb isn't bad. Not really. His Mum's on his case - again - the bank's giving him a hard time and Shona's dumped him. All on the same morning. So sod college. Today Seb feels like cutting loose, like not giving a toss about anything - like going up the West End and seeing what happens. But bad things happen, like nearly dying...
So what the hell do you do when you think you've been saved by an angel?
Seb isn't bad. Not really. His Mum's on his case - again - the bank's giving him a hard time and Shona's dumped him. All on the same morning. So sod college. Today Seb feels like cutting loose, like not giving a toss about anything - like going up the West End and seeing what happens. But bad things happen, like nearly dying...
So what the hell do you do when you think you've been saved by an angel?
"This book has a soul" Philip Ardagh, Guardian Review.
Radio Radio - Bloomsbury, 2003 / YA
It be a crime not to listen...
Everything's got to be about something, otherwise what's the point. Right?
This book is all about being heard. Loud and clear.
It's about making a noise, making your mark, getting noticed. Trouble is, you get noticed and you get maximum trouble. Everyone's after you. Pirate radio. High stakes, lo-fi. Watch a group of heroes and villains put it all together over one extraordinary summer in this screenplay format novel.
This book is all about being heard. Loud and clear.
It's about making a noise, making your mark, getting noticed. Trouble is, you get noticed and you get maximum trouble. Everyone's after you. Pirate radio. High stakes, lo-fi. Watch a group of heroes and villains put it all together over one extraordinary summer in this screenplay format novel.
"A genuine shot in the arm for YA literature" Eoin Colfer.
Skitzo - Scholastic, 1997 / sci-fi, timeslip novel.
Things are coming unstuck in the year 2667 and unless something can be done about it, the world is going to fall apart. Literally. It's up to Dachron Amok to return to the past and stop the person whose ideas will end up destroying everything.
This book has the tag line "Dacron Amok had seven days to save the world and only half a mind to do it". There are two heroes in the story, both inhabiting the same body - the man from the future, and the boy whose mind he attempts to hijack. Hence the title.
Fault Line - Corgi, 1996 / sci-fi
Everybody knows Los Angeles can be a strange place, but when four dinosaurs appear in a park and kill a young boy, something is wrong. Reporter Elaine McFarlane, and Jamie Delgado, begin to uncover a series of bizarre events, and enlist the help of Simeon, the medicine man to find the astonishing truth.
Haden's Quest - Corgi, 1996 / alternative reality novel.
A post-holocaust style story which follows a teenager and his mute companion as they seek revenge after the inhabitants of their village are all wiped out in a savage raid.
Strange Hiding Place - Scholastic, 1995 / sci-fi trilogy.
Dez is on holiday with his parents when there's a fatal car crash that kills them both; miraculously he escapes, only to find himself at the centre of an intergalactic battle for survival between two alien races. Zenith North TV bought the rights to this story, and a 12-part series was proposed but never quite made it into production. Recently more interest has been shown in getting the project back on line, so who knows. Russian rights were sold, and the books were published there as a single volume.
The Finding of Stoby Binder - Hodder and Stoughton, 1982 / novel, with 9 b/w illustrations by John Bolton.
First novels are supposed to be autobiographical, but there were never any fairies, hobgoblins boggarts or bogles at the bottom of my garden when I was a kid. Not that I found anyway. A paperback edition was published by Collins and a sequel planned, but in the end it never got written.