1 December: Siena

Today is the feast day of St Ansanus the Baptiser, Patron saint of Siena. 10 facts about Siena.

1. Siena is a city in central Italy, in the Tuscany region. It lies about 30 miles (48 km) south of Florence. It was built on three hills connected by three major streets forming a Y-shape. Where they intersect is where the piazza del campo is now.

2. According to legend Siena was founded by Senius and Aschius, sons of Remus, one of the twins suckled by a wolf who went on to found Rome. Twins being suckled by a wolf is therefore a symbol of Siena as well as Rome. The symbolic colours of Siena are Black and White, representing the colours of the Horses the founders rode.

3. It was historically an important banking city, until Florence stole its crown in the 13th–14th century. Cosimo I de Medici introduced strict anti-banking laws into the city, which wouldn’t have helped. Nevertheless, Siena is home to the oldest bank in the world, the Monte dei Paschi bank, which has been operating continuously since 1472.

4. Siena changed hands fairly frequently. Its rulers included the Visconti family, Charles V and the Medici family.

5. Siena is divided into 17 neighbourhoods, known as 17 Contrade, which were originally formed as battalions for the city's defence. Each one has a flag and a symbol: Aquila (Eagle); Bruco (Caterpillar); Chiocciola (Snail); Civetta (Little Owl); Drago (Dragon); Giraffa (Giraffe); Istrice (Crested Porcupine); Leocorno (Unicorn); Lupa (She-Wolf); Nicchio (Seashell); Oca (Goose); Onda (Wave); Pantera (Panther); Selva (Forest); Tartuca (Tortoise); Torre (Tower); and Valdimontone (Ram). Every Contrada jealously guards its treasures and its memories, so each district has its own museum.

6. Residents’ loyalty to their Contrada is fierce, especially at the time of Il Palio, a famous horse race which takes place in the city every year on 2 July and 16 August. There are ten horses taking part, each one representing one of the neighbourhoods. These will be the seven contrade which didn’t take part last time, and three more chosen by lots. The prize is that the contrada represented by the winner gets to rule the city for the year. The race lasts about 90 seconds and is by all accounts a bit of a free for all as riders do whatever they have to in order to win, including unseating their rivals. The most successful ward is Oca, the Goose, which has won 63 races, followed by Chiocciola, the Snail, with 51, and Tartuca, the Tortoise, with 46.

7. The cathedral was never finished. The building there now was originally only the transept of the final project. The project was abandoned because of the plague and architectural problems.

8. The heart of Siena is the Piazza del Campo, a large square in the shape of a shell. Some of the city’s best known landmarks are here, including Palazzo Pubblico, originally the seat of the government, now a museum, and the 102m high Torre del Mangia (Tower of the Eater), named for its first guardian, Giovanni di Balduccio, who was known to spend all his money on food. The tower has 400 steps and panoramic views from the top.

9. Siena is twinned with: Avignon, France; Concord, North Carolina, US; Weimar, Germany; and Wetzlar, Germany.

10. Siena has an intact and still working aqueduct that dates back to the Middle Ages. A 27 kilometer-long network of galleries was excavated to bring Water to the city Fonte Gaia, the monumental fountain sculpted by the Sienese artist Jacopo Della Quercia literally means “fount of Joy” because it finally allowed the population to get water in the main square.

Latest

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 November: Thistles

Today is the feast day of St Andrew, patron saint of Scotland. Today’s subject is a symbol of Scotland, the thistle.

1. There are around 200 species of thistle. Thistles belong to the aster family (Asteraceae), meaning they are related to daisies and Sunflowers.

2. Thistles can grow to more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall.

3. The thistle has been the national flower of Scotland since the 13^th century. The legend goes that Viking invaders were sneaking up on the Scottish army to attack them in the dead of night. The Vikings were barefoot, and one of them trod on a thistle. He cried out in pain and the Scottish army were thus alerted to the presence of the invaders.

4. The plant is also an emblem of Lorraine, a region in France, on the border with Luxembourg and Germany. They chose it because it was associated with The Virgin Mary because a thistle’s milky sap reminded them of her breast milk. The Dukes of Lorraine adopted the thistle as part of their coat of arms with the motto: Qui s'y frotte s'y pique, meaning "who touches it, pricks oneself".

5. The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry, second only to the Most Noble Order of the Garter, which is bestowed to those who have made an outstanding contribution to the life of Scotland and the greater United Kingdom. Only the king can award it. The motto of the Order of the Thistle is Nemo me impune lacessit which means "no-one attacks me with impunity".

6. In ancient Greece and Medieval times the thistle was thought to be a cure for baldness and as time went on was thought to be a remedy for headaches, plague, cancer sores, vertigo, and jaundice. The Milk Thistle, also known as silymarin, has been used to treat liver or gallbladder problems.

7. Next time you’re at a Cheese and Wine party, you can regale the other guests with the connections of both of these with thistles. In the Beira region, thistle flowers are used as rennet in cheese making; and the Latin term for a thistle is Carduus, and Cardonnacum is Latin for a place with thistles. This is believed to be the origin of name of the Burgundy village of Chardonnay, famous for its wine.

8. The thistle is also the emblem of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

9. The stalks of some thistle species can be used to make strong, durable fibres, which are used in traditional crafts and textiles.

10. The flowers of some thistle species can be used to create natural dyes for fabrics.

Latest

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 November: Juniper

In the French Revolutionary Calendar, today is Genièvre, Day of Juniper. 10 facts about juniper:

1. Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus Juniperus, part of the Cypress family Cupressaceae.

2. It’s an evergreen conifer which can reach a height of 10m and live for up to 200 years.

3. Its bark is grey-brown and peels with age; its twigs are reddish brown. The female seed cones resemble berries. In some species they are red-brown or orange, but most of them are Blue.

4. Common juniper has the largest geographic range of any woody plant in the world. Junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south as tropical Africa, including the Arctic, parts of Asia, and Central America.

5. They form one of the highest tree lines on Earth. The highest-known juniper forest occurs at an altitude of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft) in southeastern Tibet.

6. The wood was used for the construction of hunting bows among some Native American cultures. Today, juniper wood is used to make cabinets, fence posts, and Pencils.

7. Ancient Mesopotamians believed juniper oil would ward off the evil eye. In Britain it was used in a similar way – hung over doorways on May Day Eve and burned at Halloween. Dreaming of gathering juniper berries in winter meant you would be prosperous.

8. Juniper has also been used for medicinal purposes. Some Native Americans used it to treat diabetes, and believed eating the ashes after it was burned was a source of Calcium.

9. Juniper berry sauce is a popular flavouring for quail, pheasant, veal, rabbit, venison, and other game dishes, although perhaps its best known culinary use is Gin making. In fact, the word gin derives from the Dutch word for juniper: jenever.

10. In Scotland and Gaelic cultures, burning of juniper was part of a ritual to cleanse and protect a home and the people living there. New year (Hogmanay) is one of the times such rituals are performed.

Latest

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 November: William Blake

This date in 1757 saw the birth of the poet William Blake. 10 facts about him:

1. He was born in London, one of seven children born to James and Catherine Wright Blake. Only five of those children survived infancy. Blake’s favourite brother was Robert, who died of TB at the age of 24.

2. Blake was a very spiritual person and possibly psychic. He spoke of visions from an early age. At four, he claimed to see God’s head in a Window, and once while out for a walk with his parents, told them he could see “a tree filled with Angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars.” His father was ready to beat him for such fanciful notions, but his mother intervened and saved him from that. He also claimed to have seen Satan on the staircase of his home in London.

3. He’s known for his poetry but in his lifetime his main occupation was as an artist and engraver. At 10, he was enrolled in art school, but when that became too expensive he was apprenticed to an engraver. At 21 he studied at the Royal Academy and made a living illustrating books with engravings and watercolours. Blake’s first important commission was to illustrate every page of Edward Young’s long poem Night Thoughts—a total of 537 watercolours.

4. There was perhaps a demonstration of Blake’s psychic abilities when his parents took him to meet the engraver they wanted him to apprentice for, William Ryland. Blake declared that “I do not like the man’s face: it looks as if he will live to be hanged!” Eleven years later, Ryland was hanged for forgery, one of the last criminals to be executed on the gallows known as Tyburn Tree. Blake, meanwhile, was apprenticed to another engraver, James Basire, instead.

5. He was jilted by a woman named Polly Wood, and soon after met a woman named Catherine Boucher, who expressed sympathy for his experience. After a year’s courtship, Blake married Catherine, who, at the time of their wedding, could not read or write. The couple had no children but Blake taught Catherine to read and write and to draw, so that she became an accomplished draftsman in her own right.

6. Not long after his marriage, Blake acquired a press for printing engravings and with a fellow apprentice named James Parker opened a print shop. Within a year, however, Blake left the business and returned to making rather than selling prints.

7. Illustration was his day job, but he wrote poetry from an early age, too. Through a friend, John Flaxman, he was introduced to Harriet Mathew, whose drawing room was a meeting place for artists and musicians. There, he read some of his poetry and was encouraged to publish a small book of poems called Poetical Sketches in 1783.

8. His favourite brother, Robert, died in 1787. Blake was at his deathbed, and said he saw a vision of his brother’s “released spirit ascend heavenward through the matter-of-fact ceiling, ‘clapping its hands for joy.’” After that, he continued to have visions of Robert and that it was Robert’s spirit which taught him “Illuminated Printing,” a method of painting his designs on copper in a liquid impervious to acid before the plate was etched and printed. This enabled Blake to be his own compositor, printer, binder, advertiser, and salesman for all his published poetry from then on.

9. Blake died in his rooms in Fountain Court, the Strand, London, on Aug. 12, 1827. He was buried in Bunhill Fields, a burial ground for Nonconformists, but he was given a funeral service by the Church of England.

10. In his lifetime, many considered William Blake to be quite mad, although today he’s seen as the earliest and most original of the Romantic poets. His works include The Lamb, The Tyger, London, and the lyrics to Jerusalem.

Latest

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 November: Freckle Pride Day

Today is Freckle Pride Day. 10 facta about freckles.

1. The word freckle derives from Old Norse slang.

2. There are two kinds of freckle. One is ephelides, the little Brown marks we commonly describe as freckles, which can fade according to the seasons and Sun exposure. This word comes from the ancient Greek "éfilis," which means "rough spot on the face," although freckles are not rough or raised.

3. The other type is lentigines, which don’t fluctuate with sun exposure and are sometimes known as liver spots.

4. While genetics determines whether a person has freckles or not, they are caused by exposure to the sun, so newborn babies never have them. Typically, freckles don't appear until two to three years of age.

5. Geoffrey Chaucer mentioned freckles in the Canterbury Tales.

6. The German word for freckles is "sommersprossen," or "summer sprouts."

7. Pliny the Elder described freckles as spiritual and religious stains.

8. In Medieval times they were considered evidence that a person was a Witch.

9. In the late 20^th century, however, they were considered fashionable.

10. If you don’t have freckles, it’s possible to get some tattooed on. Or if you don’t want to go that far, there are freckle filters on Snapchat and TikTok, freckle henna kits and freckle pens.

Latest

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 November: Sojourner Truth Day

Today is Sojourner Truth Day, which Commemorates the death of Sojourner Truth in 1883. 10 things you might not know about her.

1. Sojourner Truth wasn’t her real name. Her birth name was Isabella Baumfree and she was known as Belle. She changed her name from Isabella Baumfree to Sojourner Truth in 1843, because the Holy Spirit called upon her to speak the truth.

2. She had at least 10 siblings but hardly got a chance to get to know them before they were sold. She herself was sold at the age of nine, at an auction with a flock of Sheep for $100. She would be sold twice more over the next two years.

3. The community where she was born was Dutch speaking, but she was sold to English speaking people who would beat her for not doing as she was told, when in fact she couldn’t understand what she was being told to do. However, she was intelligent enough to pick up English by listening to others talking.

4. Truth fell in love with an enslaved person named Robert, but since he lived on a neighbouring farm, Robert wasn’t allowed to marry her, even though they had a child together. This was because any children they had would be the property of Truth’s owner. Robert and Truth never saw each other again, and she was forced to marry someone else. She had a son called Peter and two daughters with her husband.

5. In 1825, the owner of the farm told Sojourner that he was going to free her in a year because she was a good worker. He didn’t keep his promise, however, and so Sojourner ran away with her baby daughter. She went to stay with some neighbours, the Van Wageners, who were against slavery. They bought her for $20 and set her free.

6. However, she’d been forced to leave her other children behind and feared they might be sold. In fact, her son Peter was sold at the age of 5, even though the New York Anti-Slavery Law had passed by then. Sojourner made history by taking her former owner to court for selling her son illegally, and winning the case.

7. She became a Christian and worked for a time as a housekeeper for a minister. She became a powerful speaker herself, preaching about faith, women's rights, and the abolition of slavery. Her most famous speech is known as "Ain't I a Woman?" an improvised speech at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron in 1851. However, since her first language was Dutch, historians believe she probably never uttered that exact phrase because it was a southern idiom.

8. Her memoirs were published in 1850 under the title The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. She had never been given the opportunity to learn to read and write, so she dictated her story to a friend, Olive Gilbert.

9. Women’s rights and slavery weren’t the only things she was passionate about. She opposed capital punishment and was a champion of prison reform.

10. She died on 26 November 1883 in Battle Creek, Michigan, which is why today is the day on which she is commemorated. Her precise date of birth was never recorded. The Asteroid 249521 Truth was named for her, as was the Mars rover Sojourner.

Latest

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 November: Catherine Name Day

Today is the name day for people called Catherine.

Catherine is a feminine given name meaning 'pure'. 10 (or more) famous Catherines:

1. Catherine the Great: reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III.

2. Catherine of Alexandria: Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early fourth century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. The Catherine wheel Firework was named for her.

3. Three of the six wives of Henry VIII: Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

4. Catherine, Princess of Wales: member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne.

5. Dame Catherine Cookson: British writer. Her books were inspired by her deprived youth in South Shields, North East England.

6. Catherine Deneuve: French actress, producer, and model.

7. Catherine Earnshaw: female protagonist of the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights written by Emily Brontë.

8. Catherine Oxenberg: American actress best known for her role as Amanda Carrington on the 1980s prime-time soap opera Dynasty.

9. Catherine Tate: English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show.

10. Catherine Zeta-Jones: Welsh actress, a regular in the British television series The Darling Buds of May and star of many films.

Latest

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 November: Dale Carnegie Quotes

This date in 1888 was the birthdate of Dale Carnegie, so here are 10 Quotes:

1. Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

2. It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.

3. Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.

4. Any fool can criticise, condemn, and complain – and most fools do.

5. If you do something for someone else, never remember. If someone does something for you, never forget.

6. When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.

7. Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied.

8. You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing.

9. One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.

10. If you must make a mistake, make a new one each time.

Latest

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.

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