3 April: Starfish

Today is World Aquatic Animal day, so I’m taking this opportunity to present 10 facts about an animal I’ve not had the chance to cover yet, the starfish.

1. First of all, they are not Fish. They are part of a group of animals known as echinoderms, which also includes sea cucumbers, sea urchins and Sand Dollars. Because they are not fish, scientists prefer to call them "sea stars."

2. They don’t have Brains or Blood. They use sea water to pump nutrients through their bodies.

3. Their mouths are on their underside. They can however eat things that won’t fit in their mouths by essentially turning themselves inside out, so that their stomachs are on the outside and can digest the food before ingesting it.

4. There are about 2,000 species of sea stars. While we tend to visualise them with five arms, some species have as many as 40.

5. Their rudimentary Eyes are situated on the ends of their arms, so depending on the species, they can have as many as 40 eyes. Each arm also has hundreds of little feet to help them move on the sea floor.

6. If a starfish loses one of its arms it’s not the end of the world, because they can grow another one. However, it’s not something they’d do lightly as an arm will take about a year to grow back. In addition, the severed arm, provided it’s not eaten by something, can grow into a whole new starfish.

7. Starfish can weigh up to 11lbs and live for up to 35 years.

8. Their skin is made from calcium carbonate, which is tough like armour and difficult for predators to break down. Some species add spines as an extra defence as well.

9. Starfish are easy to study in a lab because they are easy to handle in seawater at room temperature, and they develop quickly. They are of particular interest to scientists because of their ability to regenerate. However, studies involving tracking them are a bit more tricky. Starfish also have an unusual ability to expel foreign objects from their bodies, so they will spit out any tracking devices people might try to attach.

10. The most famous fictional starfish is probably Patrick Star, the best friend of SpongeBob SquarePants.

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

2 April: Sir Alec Guinness

Sir Alec Guinness was born on this date in 1914. 10 things you might not know about him.

1. He was born in Maida Vale, London, and was registered as Alec Guinness de Cuffe. His mother was Agnes de Cuffe; the name of his father was not recorded and has never been officially confirmed. One theory is that it was one of the sons of Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, who would have met Agnes while she was working as a barmaid at the Royal Yacht Squadron clubhouse at Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Members of the Guinness family claimed a "distinct resemblance" between Alec and members of the family, and one of the earl’s sons had a bit of a reputation as a womaniser. Also, why did his mother give him Guinness as a middle name? Alec himself preferred to believe that his father was a Scottish banker called Andrew Geddes, who he also resembled, and who occasionally visited, posing as an uncle.

2. Before he started acting, Guinness worked at an advertising agency.

3. He made his stage debut in 1934 as an extra at the King’s Theatre in Hammersmith, London. His screen role was as Pip’s friend Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations, an adaptation of the novel by Charles Dickens. Guinness was reluctant to appear on TV, but accepted the part of George Smiley in the serialisation of John le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy after meeting the author.

4. Guinness served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in the Second World War, initially as a seaman before receiving a commission as a temporary Sub-lieutenant and later a promotion to Temporary Lieutenant. He commanded a Landing Craft Infantry at the Allied invasion of Sicily.

5. He’s well known to many as Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi in Star Wars, and was the only person to receive a best acting nomination in any of the Star Wars movies. That said, he didn’t like the role at all. When he first saw the script for Star Wars he described it as “fairytale rubbish” although he did like the sense of morality in the movie, and the fact that the studio doubled his salary to get him on board no doubt helped. Even so, he only agreed on the strict condition that he would not be required to take part in any publicity. He later asked George Lucas to kill off his character, because “I just couldn’t go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I’d had enough of the mumbo jumbo.” Talking of lines, he never uttered the line "May the force be with you" in any of the Star Wars films. "The force will be with you" was the nearest he got.

6. He met James Dean, just days before his fatal car crash, and on seeing Dean’s new car, made the chilling prediction, "Get rid of that car, or you will be dead in a week!" Evidence of psychic powers? Not necessarily. In subsequent interviews, Guinness recalled that all Dean's friends had given similar warnings because Dean drove too fast.

7. When working in theatre, Guinness preferred new plays to the classics, because he didn’t like having his performance compared to that of previous actors in those roles.

8. While serving in the Royal Navy, Guinness planned to become an Anglican priest. He would eventually convert to Catholicism, influenced in part by having been mistaken for a real priest by a local child when playing one in a movie. Before he converted, the actor spent time in a monastery so as to experience the typical routines of practising Catholics. Every morning, Guinness recited verse eight from Psalm 143, "Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning".

9. His name is an anagram of "genuine class".

10. In his last book of memoirs, A Positively Final Appearance, he admitted to being a huge fan of the television series The Simpsons.

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

1 April: 91

Today is the 91^st day of the year. 10 fun facts about the number 91.

1. 91 is the atomic number of Protactinium, a chemical element with the symbol Pa. It is a dense, radioactive, silvery-grey actinide metal which readily reacts with oxygen, water vapour, and inorganic acids.

2. +91 is the international dialling code for India.

3. Ninety One or 91 is a Kazakh boy group formed by JUZ Entertainment in 2015. The band consists of four members: Alem, Ace, Zaq, and Bala. Once a five-member group, A.Z. left in 2020. Ninety One is the pioneer act of a new musical genre called Q-pop (Qazaq-pop), a synthesis of Western and Asian pop music.

4. It’s the smallest number that looks prime but is not, proven using the Rotten Theorem by John Conway.

5. In London, the 91 bus runs between Tottenham Lane YMCA and Trafalgar Square

6. The Saab 91 Safir is a three or four seater, single engine trainer aircraft built by Saab AB in Linköping, Sweden and by De Schelde in Dordrecht, Netherlands.

7. 91 Aegina is a large main-belt asteroid discovered by French astronomer Édouard Jean-Marie Stephan on 4 November 1866. It was the second of his two asteroid discoveries. The name comes from Aegina, a Greek mythological figure associated with the island of the same name.

8. Ninety-One is a solitaire card game which is played using a deck of Playing cards. The object of the game is to move cards so that the top cards of the piles total 91.

9. 91 Magazine is a UK Independent interiors and lifestyle magazine telling stories of creative people & businesses through their interior spaces.

10. In numerology, people influenced by this number are self sufficient and independent, and dislike others interfering in their business. They are comfortable in social situations but don’t always feel part of the group. They are tolerant and humanitarian and their goals in life will often include things that make life better for humankind.

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 March: The Golden Raspberry Awards

The First Golden Raspberry Awards took place on this date in 1981. Here are 10 things you might not know about the Razzies.

1. The Golden Raspberry Awards were created by publicist John J.B. Wilson as a humorous alternative to the formal awards season.

2. They are also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards. The name comes from the action of "blowing a raspberry", that is making a Fart noise by placing the tongue between the Lips and blowing. It’s usually done to signal derision. The action is also sometimes referred to as a Bronx cheer.

3. Wilson first got the idea after seeing a double feature of Can't Stop the Music and Xanadu and during his drive home decided that those movies deserved awards for their low quality, and subsequently started thinking of all the other films which had disappointed him in 1980.

4. The first ceremony took place in Wilson’s living room. He was in the habit of hosting a potluck supper on Academy Awards night and the night of the 53rd Academy Awards was no different. However, after the main event, Wilson passed round a ballot for his friends to vote for the worst films of the year. Then he stood at a lectern made of cardboard in a tacky tuxedo, with a foam ball attached to a broomstick as a fake microphone to announce the result.

5. Approximately three dozen people came to the 1st Golden Raspberry Awards. Over the next couple of years, that number doubled and doubled again, and it started getting attention from the media. Wilson soon figured out that bringing his event forward, so it took place before the Academy Awards, it got more publicity.

6. The first film to receive a Razzie was Can't Stop the Music, and the first individual to receive one was Neil Diamond, winning Worst Actor for The Jazz Singer.

7. At time of writing, Sylvester Stallone is the most-awarded actor ever, with 12 awards.

8. On occasion, the Razzies have had to retract an award because they later found out there were tragic reasons behind an actor’s less than stellar performance. In 2022, a dedicated award category, Worst Bruce Willis Performance in a 2021 Movie, was created after the star had appeared in several flops. On March 30, Willis's family announced that he had been diagnosed with aphasia. The Golden Raspberry Awards retracted the award category, saying it was inappropriate to award a Golden Raspberry to someone whose performance was affected by a medical condition. Another time was in 1981 when Shelley Duvall won worst actress for The Shining. Some years later, Duvall admitted in an interview that Stanley Kubrick had subjected her to constant verbal and mental abuse throughout the making of the film, which had affected her performance. The Razzies rescinded the nomination and publicly apologised to her.

9. In 1989, McDonalds mascot, Ronald McDonald, won a Worst New Star award, and in 1991, Donald Trump won a Worst Supporting Actor Razzie for playing himself in Ghosts Can't Do It.

10. Sometimes actors get nominated for both a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year, for example, composer Alan Menken in 1993, screenwriter Brian Helgeland in 1997, and actress Sandra Bullock in 2010, although it has to be said that in each case the awards were for different films. Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the only animated film to date to be nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie.

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 March: Amelia Name Day

Today is the name day for people called Amelia.

Amelia is a feminine given name. Its English form may have been influenced by the names Amalia, derived from the Germanic root amal, with meanings "vigorous, active, work", and Emilia, meaning rival. 10 famous Amelias:

1. Amelia Earhart (pictured): American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.

2. Princess Amelia Sophia Eleonore of Great Britain: second daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Queen Caroline.

3. Princess Amelia: fifteenth and last child and sixth daughter of King George III the United Kingdom and his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

4. Saint Amelia: nun and saint who lived in the 7th century. Patron against arm pain, bruises, and fever. Her feast is celebrated on July 10.

5. Amelia Jenks Bloomer: American newspaper editor, women's rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women's clothing reform style known as Bloomers, her name became associated with it because of her early advocacy.

6. Amelia "Minnie" Driver: British and American actress who rose to fame with her break-out role in 1995's Circle of Friends.

7. Amelia "Amy" Pond: companion of the Eleventh Doctor in the television series Doctor Who.

8. Amelia Lily: English singer and television personality. In 2011, she was a finalist on The X Factor, where she finished third. In 2017, she finished as runner-up on the twentieth series of Celebrity Big Brother.

9. Lady Amelia Windsor: British fashion model and member of the British royal family. In May 2023, she was 43rd in the line of succession to the British throne. She is a granddaughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, so she is consequently a great-great-granddaughter of George V.

10. Amelia Shepherd: a neurosurgeon in the TV medical dramas Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.

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 March: Edward Stanley Earl Derby

This date in 1799 saw the birth of Edward Stanley Earl Derby, English statesman and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 10 facts about him:

1. He is the longest-serving leader of the Conservative Party to date, serving from 1846 to 1868.

2. He is one of only four British prime ministers to have three or more separate periods in office. However, his ministries were short, less than two years and only totalled three years and 280 days. He is the only modern-era prime minister who never enjoyed a parliamentary majority.

3. He was born at Knowsley Park, Lancashire, the eldest son of Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, and his wife (and first cousin) Charlotte Margaret Hornby.

4. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford. He left university without a degree, which was common at the time. It didn’t mean he lacked intellectual talent, though. He won the Chancellor's Prize for Latin poetry in 1819 with a poem on Syracuse.

5. The Stanley family rose to prominence in the 15th century and entered the peerage during the reign of Henry VII after Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, fought at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The family was a big noise in Horse racing: Earl Derby’s grandfather, the 12^th earl, was the one after whom the Derby horse race was named, and earlier, the 7^th earl, had instituted horse-racing on the Langness Peninsula on the Isle of Man.

6. He was first elected to Parliament in 1822, in the rotten borough of Stockbridge as a Whig, the traditional party of his family. Years later, Stanley would criticise rotten boroughs, arguing that no matter how talented their representatives, they lacked true legitimacy in the eyes of the people.

7. Stanley married The Hon. Emma Bootle-Wilbraham, the second daughter of Edward Bootle-Wilbraham, 1st Baron Skelmersdale, on 31 May 1825.

8. He resigned from the Whig Party over a difference of opinion with Lord Melbourne over reformation of the church in Ireland, and joined the Tory party.

9. His first stint as prime minister came in 1852 following the collapse of Lord John Russell's Whig Government. A lot of experienced politicians had left the party at the time, and so Stanley found himself having to appoint a lot of new people to the various posts. Only three of his cabinet had ever served in that capacity before. When their names were announced in the House of Lords, the Duke of Wellington, who was very old and rather deaf by this time, would shout out "Who? Who?" which led to Stanley’s first government being known as the "Who? Who?" ministry.

10. So what was his premiership known for? The India Bill in 1858, which transferred control of the East India Company to the Crown; the Jews Relief Act 1858: ending the disablement for Jews to sit in Parliament; Derby also introduced the state education system in Ireland, and reformed Parliament.

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 March: Toffee Apples

On National Something on a Stick Day, have 10 facts about  Toffee Apples.

1. They are known as candy apples in the United States.

2. They are said to have been invented in 1908 by a sweet shop owner called William Kolb, of Newark.

3. His first candy apples weren’t meant to be eaten. They were created as a Christmas window display by dipping apples in Red cinnamon candy. His customers had other ideas, however. He sold the whole first batch for 5 cents each, and after a few years was selling thousands of them.

4. It was 1917 before the term “toffee apple” made it into print, the BEF Times Christmas edition that year.

5. There are several reasons why these treats are common at Halloween and Guy Fawkes night. One is that the hard Sugar coating doesn’t set well in hot and humid weather.

6. The other, of course, is that it’s just the right timing for the apple harvest in the Northern Hemisphere.

7. Granny Smiths are the most common apples to use for toffee apples. Granny Smiths have a tart flavour which goes well with the sugar coating as well as having a crisp texture which can survive the heat and the weight of the coating.

8. They may not immediately strike you as healthy food, but a home made toffee apple has just 215 to 286 calories and contains 0 to 3 grams of fat. There’s a lot of sugar in it, of course, but the apple underneath is one of your five a day.

9. The most common sugar coating is made from sugar (white or brown), corn syrup, water, cinnamon and red food colouring.

10. In Brazil, candy apples are called maçã-do-amor, equivalent to the French pommes d'amour, meaning "apples of love". There, they are commonly eaten during the festivities in honour of John the Apostle.

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