Saturday 12 October 2024

13 October: National Face Your Fears Day

Today is National Face Your Fears day.

10 unusual phobias:


  1. Arachibutyrophobia: Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.

  2. Xanthophobia:  Fear of the colour yellow. Also porphyrophobia, fear of the colour purple.

  3. Octophobia: Fear of the number eight (There aren’t many known phobias to specific numbers apart from this and triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13. A fear of numbers in general is called arithmophobia.

  4. Ombrophobia: fear of rain. Other weather related phobias include hurricanes (lilapsophobia), snow (chionophobia), cold (cryophobia), and wind (ancraophobia).

  5. Anatidaephobia: is the irrational fear that somewhere, a duck or goose is watching you. Or is that just a Gary Larson cartoon? If so, Anatidaephobia would simply be a fear of ducks.

  6. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: fear of long words, which is, ironically, one of the longest words in the dictionary.

  7. Aibohphobia: Fear of palindromes, ie words, verses, sentences, or numbers that read the same backward or forward, as does the name of this phobia.

  8. Ephebiphobia: fear of teenagers or adolescents. It could be argued that nearly every generation of adults has a mild forms of this phobia, viewing teenagers as "out of control".

  9. Kathisophobia: Fear of sitting down.

  10. Phobophobia: Fear of phobias, or perhaps a free-floating anxiety, where a person spirals into a circle of anxiety due to fearing fear itself.


NEW!!

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


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