1 September: 244

Today is the 244^th day of the year. 10 fun facts about 244:

1. 244 is a code for making the word “ass” safe for work. It derives from the keyboard layout in which @ is above 2 and $ is above 4. @$$.

2. 244 is the international dialling code for Angola.

3. The year 244 was a leap year starting on Monday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Armenius and Aemilianus. It was the year Diocletian, the Roman emperor, was born.

4. London Bus 244 runs from Queen Elizabeth Hospital/West Entrance to Abbey Wood Road.

5. Unit 244 is a 2024 film directed by Andy Tennant and starring Don Johnson. The Internet Movie Database describes the plot as follows: “After the shocking discovery of an unconscious man in a locked unit, the lone employee of a remote storage facility must fight to survive the night against a ruthless gang, dead set on retrieving their precious cargo – at any cost.”

6. 244 is part of a sequence where each number is formed by reversing the digits of double the previous number: 1, 2, 4, 8, 61, 221, 244…

7. 244 Sita is an Asteroid discovered in 1884, by an Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa in the Vienna Observatory and was named for the Hindu deity Sita.

8. The A244 is a road in England which connects Leatherhead and Hounslow.

9. In Squid Game, Player 244 was notable for being a devout Christian and often shown praying during the game.

10. 224 resonates with business, organisation and teamwork. It is also realistic. The energy tends to focus on the building of large structures like roads or buildings which will have a positive effect for some time to come.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

31 August: Roy Castle

Today’s birth anniversary is that of Roy Castle, English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. He was born in 1932. 10 things you might not know about him:

1. Born in Yorkshire, he was the son of a railway porter and a hairdresser.

2. He had learned to Tap dance by the age of eight and sang in Sunday school Pantomimes. He left school at 15 to become a variety entertainer.

3. In 1965 he appeared in a Doctor Who movie. In Dr. Who and the Daleks, he played Dr. Who's first male assistant, Ian Chesterton, played by William Russell in the TV series.

4. He had one hit record, a Christmas song called Little White Berry, in 1960.

5. He’s probably best known for being the host of Record Breakers, a TV show for children about world records. The show ran from 1972 to 2001, and was one of Britain's longest-running shows.

6. Castle recorded the theme song, Dedication, himself, and usually performed it live over the closing credits.

7. He was the holder of several world records himself, which he set while presenting the show. They include: the fastest tap dance (1,440 taps per minute – 24 taps per second, set on 14 January 1973); playing a tune on 43 different instruments in 4 minutes; and the longest wing walk (3 hours, 23 minutes).

8. He was introduced to his wife, Fiona Dickson, by Eric Morecambe. Harry Secombe was the best man at their wedding in 1963.

9. He was a committed Christian and attended a Baptist church regularly. He also recorded eight Bible parables for the Scripture Union Label in 1978.

10. He died of lung cancer, despite not being a smoker. He believed he’d contracted the disease through playing in smoky clubs for years. After he died, his widow campaigned for the smoking ban in public places in Britain. Before the ban came into effect, some restaurants chose to be smoke free and there was an award for adherence to a smoke-free regime: the Roy Castle Clean Air Award.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

30 August: Ernest Rutherford Quotes

On the birth anniversary of Ernest Rutherford, chemist and physicist, ten quotes from him. He was born on this date in 1871.

1. All science is either physics or stamp collecting.

2. If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.

3. Never say, "I tried it once and it did not work."

4. A theory that you can't explain to a bartender is probably no damn good.

5. Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking.

6. Should a young scientist working with me come to me after two years of such work and ask me what to do next, I would advise him to get out of science. After two years of work, if a man does not know what to do next, he will never make a real scientist.

7. You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than about 10-12 to 1.

8. Of all created comforts, God is the lender; you are the borrower, not the owner.

9. If you don't do the best with what you have, You could never have done better with what you could have had!

10. Men of science are not dependent on the ideas of a single man, but on the combined wisdom of thousands of men.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

29 August: Whist

Edmond Hoyle's Short Treatise on the game of Whist was published on this date in 1742. It became the standard text and rules for the game for the next hundred years. 10 things you might not know about whist:

1. It appears to have evolved from a number of other card games prior to the 18^th century, such as ruff, ruff and honours, whisk and swabbers, whisk, trump, honours, slamm and ruff. All these games are thought to have evolved from an Italian card game called Ronfa, now lost in the mists of time. Whist began, presumably, as another variation of this family of card games.

2. The name whist may come from an old English word meaning calm, quiet, and attentiveness, which was common in the 17th century. The modern word wistful comes from the same root.

3. In the 18^th century, whist was seen as a game fit only for servants, country squires and hunting men, not at all suitable for people of quality or ladies.

4. Edmond Hoyle was a member of a group of men who met up in the Crown Coffee House in Bedford Row, London, to play the game according to scientific principles. He began to teach wealthy young men how to play, which is no doubt why he wrote his book.

5. More than a century later, another whist writer emerged, one Henry Jones, aka "Cavendish", who in 1862 published a book with the snappy title of The Principles of Whist Stated and Explained, and Its Practice Illustrated on an Original System, by Means of Hands Played Completely Through which then became the standard text.

6. In the 19^th century another game came along which rather eclipsed whist as the card game of choice in English society, namely, bridge.

7. Whist, however, remained popular as a social game and even today there are events known as whist drives, often held as fundraisers for charity in which players play 24 hands against different opponents.

8. The game is played with a standard 52 card deck. Each player is dealt 13 cards and the aim of the game is to win tricks. In the game’s early days the trump suit was determined by the next card turned over from the top of the pack after the hands were dealt, but more recently there is a cycle followed the trump suit cycles through hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs every four deals, or there is a five deal variation in which the fifth deal has no trumps at all.

9. Three of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories feature whist: The Adventure of the Empty House, Ronald Adair plays whist at one of his clubs shortly before he is murdered. In The Adventure of the Devil's Foot, Brenda Tregennis plays whist with her brothers shortly before she is murdered. In The Red-Headed League, the banker Mr. Merryweather complains that he is missing his regular game of whist in order to help Holmes catch a bank robber. Edgar Allan Poe briefly mentioned whist in his tale The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

10. Several characters in literature are whist players. One such is Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days, where he is described by Jules Verne thus: “His only pastime was reading the papers and playing whist. He frequently won at this quiet game, so very appropriate to his nature.” Charles Dickens’s Mr Pickwick and Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind are others. In more recent literature, Outlander author Diana Gabaldon describes a whist game between Jamie Fraser and Phylip Wylie.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

28 August: Lohengrin

The opera, Lohengrin, was performed for the first time in Weimar on this date in 1850. 10 things you might not know about it:

1. Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner.

2. It is based on the story of the title character, who first appears in a medieval German romance called Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach. He’s the son of Parzival, a knight from Arthurian legend. His story is called the Knight of the Swan legend as he’s a magical, god-like figure who rides around on a Swan.

3. The story takes place in Antwerp, around the 10th century, by the Scheldt river. Lohengrin is called upon to save a young woman called Elsa who has been falsely accused of murder. He tells her she must never ask his real name. If she does, he will have to leave her. Inevitably, the pair fall in love and on their wedding night, Elsa asks the forbidden question and Lohengrin is forced to give a public answer and then depart on his magic swan. Elsa dies on the riverbank from a broken heart.

4. Lohengrin was written between 1845 and 1848 when Wagner worked as Kapellmeister at the Royal Dresden court.

5. The date for the premiere was chosen because it was the birthdate of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was born on 28 August 1749.

6. The conductor at the premiere was Franz Liszt, Wagner’s close friend. Wagner wasn’t at the premiere at all because he’d been involved in an uprising in Dresden earlier in the year and was in exile. He didn’t get to see and hear his opera performed for another 11 years, when he got to attend a performance in Vienna.

7. The United Kingdom premiere of Lohengrin took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 8 May 1875 using an Italian translation by Marchesi.

8. Its most famous piece of music is the Bridal Chorus, better known as Here Comes the Bride.

9. The singers who play Lohengrin occasionally have mishaps at the point where they have to step on board their “swan”, generally a mechanical contraption of some kind in order to make their final exit. In 1913, the Moravian tenor Leo Slezak is said to have missed hopping on the swan, whereupon he turned to the singer playing Elsa and asked: "Wann geht der nächste Schwan?" ("When does the next swan leave?")

10. King Ludwig II of Bavaria named his castle after the title character. Schloss Neuschwanstein means New Swanstone Castle. Ludwig is known to have been a great admirer of Wagner’s work.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

27 August: 239

 On the 239^th day of the year, ten fun facts about the number 239.

1. Roger Bannister ’s exact time for his first sub 4 minute mile was 239 seconds.

2. 239 Adrastea is a main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa in 1884 in Vienna, and was named after the Greek nymph Adrasteia.

3. Professor Dick Solomon, lead character on the TV show Third Rock from the Sun, teaches his classes in room number 239.

4. 239 is a telephone area code representing part of Florida in the United States.

5. Pu-239 is a 2006 film directed by Scott Z. Burns, Original title: The Half Life of Timofey Berezin. A worker at a Russian nuclear facility is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. In order to provide for his family, he steals some plutonium and sets out to sell it on Moscow's black market with the help of an incompetent criminal.

6. In The Simpsons episode Homer's Night Out, Homer weighs himself at 239 pounds and resolves to exercise.

7. There are 239 primes less than 1500. 239 is a prime number and is therefore one of them.

8. The first known observation of Halley's Comet took place in 239 B.C., according to the European Space Agency.

9. K239 is Mozart's only work for two orchestras.

10. In numerology the energy of 239 is creative and adventurous. People and organisations influenced by this number will work well in teams, and will prefer to do so, but won’t let the lack of team support stop them from pursuing new experiences.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

26 August: Samuel Name Day

If your name is Samuel, today is your name day.

Samuel is a male name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "name of God". 10 famous Samuels:

1. Samuel Clemens: American writer better known as Mark Twain.

2. Samuel L. Jackson: American film and television actor and film producer.

3. Samuel Pepys (Pictured): English diarist, naval administrator, and Member of Parliament.

4. Samuel Vimes: captain and, later, commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch in the Discworld series.

5. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: English poet, a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth.

6. Samuel Wilson: American meat packer from Troy, New York, whose name is purportedly the source of the personification of the United States known as "Uncle Sam".

7. Samuel Johnson: English writer known for A Dictionary of the English Language which appeared in 1755.

8. Samuel Beckett: Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Best remembered for his tragicomedy play Waiting for Godot.

9. Samuel F. B. Morse: inventor of Morse Code.

10. Samuel "Sam" Wilson: major character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe aka The Falcon/Captain America.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

25 August: Wizard of Oz

On this date in 1939 Wizard of Oz was released in the USA. Ten things you might not know about this classic film.

1. The film was based on Frank Baum's 1900 children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Prior to 1939, the story had already been adapted into a stage play which was a hit in Chicago and New York, a silent film made in 1925 and a 1933 Canadian short film.

2. It was one of the first films to use technicolor. This meant the set required a lot of lighting which made the set extremely hot. Some reports say that temperatures got up over 38 degrees Celsius. This meant many of the actors were really suffering in their costumes. Bert Lahr, for example, wore a costume that weighed 90 pounds and was made from a real Lion skin.

3. He wasn’t the only star who had to suffer for their art. The wicked witch’s Green make up was so toxic that Margaret Hamilton could not eat on set once it was applied. It was Copper based. And left her with green-tinged skin for weeks afterwards. Scarecrow Ray Bolger had to wear a mask which was not only almost unbearable in the heat, but left him with lines on his face that took a year to disappear.

4. Showing off what Technicolor was capable of influenced much of it. Dorothy’s dress, which appears to be Blue and White was actually blue and light Pink, because that was easier to shoot in Technicolor. Also, in Frank Baum’s novel, the ruby slippers are silver, but they were made red in the film in order to show off the colour process.

5. Toto was played by a female Cairn terrier named Terry, who was already a movie star. She had appeared in Ready for Love, and in Bright Eyes, with Shirley Temple. She appeared in 16 films in her 11 year lifetime. She even received a salary of $125 a week — roughly $2,200 in today's money, which was more than some of the human actors received. The Munchkins got just $50 a week.

6. The Tornado was a 35-foot-long muslin stocking, spun around among miniatures of a Kansas farm and fields in a dusty atmosphere.

7. The Tin Man’s tears were chocolate syrup, because machine oil didn’t show up very well on camera.

8. The Horses in the Emerald City were coloured with gelatin powder. Their scenes had to be shot quickly before they started to lick it off.

9. Other actresses considered for the role of Dorothy were Deanna Durbin, Bonita Granville, and Shirley Temple. Initially, Dorothy was meant to be blonde and Judy Garland had to wear a blonde wig and heavy make up. However, when there was a change of director part way through, he decided Dorothy looked just fine as a brunette and told Judy to ditch the wig and make up and just be herself. That said, she was still expected to lose weight and wear a corset to hide her womanly figure.

10. The first cut was heavily edited as it was decided the film was a bit too scary for children. A scene of the tornado destroying the farmhouse went, as did some of Hamilton’s wicked witch scenes.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

24 August: 236

It’s day 236 of 2025. Here are ten fun facts about that number.

1. The year 236 was a leap year starting on Friday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Verus and Africanus. In this year, Pope Fabian succeeded Pope Anterus as the twentieth pope. He separated Rome into seven deaconships and sent seven missionaries to Gaul.

2. According to the Urban Dictionary, 236 is slang for an extremely bad day.

3. The A236 is a road in England which connects South Croydon and Mitcham.

4. The international dialling code 236 belongs to the Central African Republic. It is also an area code in British Columbia, Canada.

5. London bus number 236 runs from Finsbury Park Interchange to Hackney Wick.

6. Sektor 236 is a 2010 Swedish film directed by Björne Hellquist and Robert Pukitis. The tagline is “Campers and the Swedish army fight a monster from beyond time and space.”

7. The divisors of 236 are 1, 2, 4, 59, 118, and 236.

8. 236 Honoria is a large main belt asteroid discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa in 1884 in Vienna. The asteroid was named after Honoria, granddaughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, who started negotiations with Attila the Hun.

9. There are 236 episodes in total in the television sitcom Friends.

10. In numerology the energy of this number resonates with creativity and teamwork. Locations with the number 236 generally are a good fit for organisations with a purpose related to sports teams, wedding planning, construction and industrial subcontracting, and relationship consultation.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

23 August: The Furies

In ancient Greece, today was the Feast of the Furies. 10 things you might not know about the Furies:

1. The furies are goddesses of vengeance according to Greek and Roman mythology. According to Euripides, there are three of them.

2. They were also known as the Erinyes, or Erinys. This word may originate from words meaning raise, stir, excite, or strife.

3. Their names are Allecto (“Unceasing in Anger”), Tisiphone (“Avenger of Murder”), and Megaera (“Jealous”).

4. According to some writers of the time, they are either daughters of Nyx, the goddess of night, or Gaea (Earth). In the latter case, they were born from the Blood of Uranus after he was mutilated.

5. The most heinous crime in the eyes of the Furies is murdering one’s father or mother. However, any murder, or the harbouring of a murderer would be subject to their wrath. So might acting in a way that goes against the natural order of things.

6. One of the most famous myths about them is their pursuit of Orestes after he avenged his father Agamemnon’s death by killing his mother, Clytemnestra.

7. Anyone could summon the Furies to curse someone who had committed a crime against them. Disease and madness were common punishments. Even whole nations could be cursed with famine or disease.

8. The curse could be lifted if the victim performed a ritual purification or a task to atone for their crimes.

9. In art, the Furies are depicted as ugly, winged women with Snakes entwined around their arms and waists, and in their hair. Each of them carries a whip and they will be wearing either hunting garb or mourning clothes.

10. When they weren’t busy cursing people, they had a regular day job, working for Persephone and Hades in the underworld. Their job there was to oversee the torture of the prisoners in the Dungeons of the Damned.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book