7 May: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

This date in 1840 saw the birth of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, celebrated for his ballets, including Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. 

1. He was born in Kamsko-Votkinsk, Vyatka, Russia. His father was a mine inspector and metal works manager.
2. He started Piano lessons when he was five years old, but his parents wanted him to enter the civil service as a career. His mother died of cholera when he was 14, and he decided at that point to honour his parents' wishes and became a bureau clerk with the Ministry of Justice.
3. Music was his passion even then. Soon after his mother died, he wrote a Waltz in her memory.
4. At 21 he decided to change careers and concentrate on music. He enrolled at the newly founded St. Petersburg Conservatory, becoming one of the school's first composition students. While he was there, he gave music lessons to other students to earn money, although he wasn't particularly keen on teaching.
5. He was eventually able to give up teaching and become a composer full time thanks to a rich widow and businesswoman named Nadezhda von Meck. Impressed by Tchaikovsky's The Tempest she had made enquiries about him and eventually wrote to him, declaring herself a “fervent admirer.” They went on to exchange over 1200 letters and Nadezhda paid Tchaikovsky a monthly allowance for 14 years, until she claimed she was close to ruin and abruptly cut off payments and communication. She had never shown any desire to meet Tchaikovsky and even stipulated that they should never meet. They met once, by chance in 1879. In case you're wondering, her patronage continued until 1890, so their meeting wasn't the reason she stopped supporting him. While the claim of bankruptcy was not untrue, the suddenness of the break might have been due to the fact that she had become gravely ill and unable to write. Being extremely reclusive and private, never even attending her relatives' weddings, she probably didn't want to have to dictate her letters to anyone else.
6. Tchaikovsky was gay, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in Russia. He claimed to have loved one woman, Belgian soprano Desiree Artot. They became engaged but broke up over a disagreement about her career.
7. In 1877, Tchaikovsky married Antonina Milyukova, one of his music students, who'd fallen in love with him. She wrote to him declaring her love for him. Tchaikovsky went to see her, to explain that he could never love her in return. However, somewhere along the line, he worked out that if he married, it would put an end to the gossip and speculation about him being gay. The marriage lasted just six weeks. Tchaikovsky wrote to his brother “Only now, especially after the tale of my marriage, have I finally begun to understand that there is nothing more fruitless than not wanting to be that which I am by nature.”
8. He wasn't a fan of some of his most popular works, such as the Nutcracker Suite and the 1812 Overture. He was commissioned to write the latter to commemorate completion of the the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the coronation of Alexander II and the Moscow Arts and Industry Exhibition. He described the work as “very loud and noisy,” and said he'd written it “with no warm feeling of love, and therefore there will probably be no artistic merits in it.”
9. He was a conductor as well as a composer, although he did suffer from debilitating stage fright. He visited America in 1891, where he conducted his Festival Coronation March at the inaugural concert of Carnegie Hall.
10. He suffered from depression for the last 15 years of his life, but it was during this time that he composed his greatest and best known works. He died in 1893. The official cause of death was cholera, contracted through drinking contaminated water. Some biographers believe he might have committed suicide by drinking the contaminated water on purpose but there is no actual proof of that.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

6 May: Epping Forest

On this date in 1882 Queen Victoria dedicated Epping Forest to the use of the people for all time. 10 things you might not know about Epping Forest, an area of woodland, on the border of Essex and Greater London.

1. The forest covers an area of 2,476 hectares, or just under 6,000 acres, making it the largest open space in the London area. It is 18 kilometres (11 miles) long, but at no point is it wider than 4 kilometres (2.5 miles). 60% of it has been designated an area of special scientific interest.
2. Epping Forest lies on a ridge between the valleys of the rivers Lea and Roding. Its elevation and thin gravelly soil (the result of glaciation) made it unsuitable for agriculture.
3. We know from the pollen found in bog samples that the area has been covered in trees for over 3,000 years, although not necessarily the same kinds of trees found there now. Flint tools have been found, and there are a couple of Iron Age forts dating to around 500 BC at Ambresbury Banks and Loughton Camp.
4. In medieval times, Forest Law was introduced to safeguard the King’s right to hunt game in the Forest. While commoners could collect firewood and graze their animals, only the king could hunt there. The commoners' rights are still in operation today - cattle still graze around the area and although it is rarely practised now, residents of the local area have the right to collect "one faggot of dead or driftwood" per day per adult resident. Queen Elizabeth I had a hunting lodge in the forest.
5. Epping Forest is well known for its huge, thick trees which are unique to the area. Many of the trees were pollarded at one time or another to aid growth, but since the Epping Forest Act was passed at the end of the 19th century they have been allowed to grow naturally.
6. Many of the pools and ponds in the forest are bomb craters dating from the Second World War. The forest was also the site of anti-aircraft guns, air raid shelters and anti-tank trenches.
7. The forest has inspired many artists and writers. Charles Dickens begins his novel Barnaby Rudge with a description of it; horror writer James Herbert used Epping Forest as the setting for his novel Lair in which a horde of giant black rats establish a colony there. Mary Wollstonecraft, T E Lawrence, Alfred Lord Tennyson and sculptor Jacob Epstein all lived there at some time in their lives. More recently, the rock band Genesis included a track called The Battle of Epping Forest on their album, Selling England by the Pound. The track is about an East End gang-fight which actually happened.
8. The forest has been a filming location for at least 13 films including Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
9. Highwayman Dick Turpin had a hideout in the forest, which is said to be haunted by his ghost to this day. Ghost hunters Yvette Fielding and Derek Acorah went looking for Turpin's ghost in the Most Haunted Live New Year Special in 2003/2004. The team got lost in the forest and had to be rescued by a ranger.
10. There are several spots in the forest which are believed to be haunted. On certain nights, groaning and drumming can be heard near the Iron Age hill fort at Loughton Camp; the Wake Arms roundabout is an accident blackspot where numerous ghosts have been seen including headless bikers and a girl who drowned near the King's Oak pub who runs out in front of cars and then disappears; on Hangman's Hill there is said to be an ancient tree where three innocent men were once hung, and there's a ghost of a man which is sometimes seen there. The hill has an eerie property in which the road at the bottom appear to be going upwards when in fact it goes downwards, so cars can appear to roll up the hill if the brakes are off. According to legend, they are being pulled up the hill towards the hangman's tree. Hooded figures carrying lanterns have been seen near the Church of the Holy Innocents; there's a secret pond somewhere in the forest known as the Suicide Pool where two lovers used to meet - the girl was murdered by her father and her lover killed himself. Since then the pool is believed to have dark powers which can induce people to kill themselves. It may be merely a legend, but the authorities are taking no chances. The exact whereabouts of the pool have never been revealed.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

5 May: Quotes from Michael Palin

Michael Palin, member of the Monty Python team and more recently known for his travel documentaries, was born on this date in 1943. Here are 10 quotes from him.

1. Contrary to what the politicians and religious leaders would like us to believe, the world won't be made safer by creating barriers between people.
2. I always wanted to be an explorer, but - it seemed I was doomed to be nothing more than a very silly person.
3. The human race should just slow down and think about what it is doing.
4. I mistrust total competence. I've always felt life is a series of small disasters we try to get through.
5. I am very cautious of people who are absolutely right, especially when they are vehemently so.
6. You can't get a suit of armour and a rubber chicken just like that. You have to plan ahead.
7. The trouble with travelling back later on is that you can never repeat the same experience.
8. In the absence of fear there is little faith.
9. One of the difficult things of so much travelling is to say goodbye.
10. Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

4 May: Pianos

Bartolomeo Cristofori di Francesco was born on this date in 1655. He was a musical instrument maker who is best known for inventing the piano. So here are some facts about pianos.

1. We don't know exactly when Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano, but it's generally thought to have been around 1698. However, it wasn't widely known about until 1711, when a writer called Scipione Maffei wrote an article about pianos, including diagrams. This article was translated into German and the word spread about the new instrument.
2. The word piano is actually short for pianoforte, and this name derives from the fact that unlike its predecessors like the harpsichord, it could be played softly (piano) or loudly (forte).
3. Most pianos have 88 keys, 52 white ones and 36 black ones. There are a few, however, which have 97 or even 108 keys, extending the range of notes which can be played. Sometimes the extra keys are under a hinged lid so those not used to the extra keys don't get confused by them.
4. The first pianos had white keys made from sugar pine, covered with strips of ivory (hence the phrase "tickling the ivories", meaning to play the piano) and the black keys were made from ebony. Today, they are usually made of spruce or basswood and covered with strips of plastic.
5. A piano has somewhere in the region of 12,000 parts, 10,000 which are moving parts.
6. Because a piano's sound is made by a hammer hitting a string, it is technically a percussion instrument. A piano usually has 230 steel strings strung very tight. Each string usually holds around 168 pounds of tension, so the average piano is holding around 18-20 tons of tension.
7. In the the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force, a common part of a ceremony to honour a lost pilot is to set a piano alight. No-one really knows how this tradition began, but one likely story is that there was once a pilot who would play the piano as part of the ceremony each time one of his comrades was lost. When he himself was killed, the rest of his company decided that if he couldn't play the piano any more, nobody would, so they dragged it outside and set Fire to it. Another legend says that when pilots began to be recruited from lower class families, they were forced to take piano lessons to improve their culture and dexterity. Burning the piano was a way to avoid the lessons.
8. Piano music has been found to be calming for anxious Dogs. If a solo piano tune at 50-60 bpm was played to dogs during Firework displays, thunderstorms, or when they were separated from their humans, 85% of them calmed down.
9. In 2006, climbers working on a project to clean up Ben Nevis found an old piano buried near the summit. Nobody knows how it got there, or why it was there.
10. The most expensive piano ever was built by Canadian manufacturer Heintzman Pianos for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. It is transparent and became known as the "crystal piano". It was sold at auction after the games for $3.22 million.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

3 May: Machiavelli

On this date in 1469, Niccolo di Bernardo de Machiavelli was born. Here are 10 things you might not know about Machiavelli.

1. He was born in Florence, Italy, into an old family believed to be descended from the old marquesses of Tuscany. His parents were called Bernado and Bartolomea.
2. His family believed in education, and so the young Machiavelli was taught languages and classics in preparation for a career in public service.
3. As a young man, he worked for a banker and then as a diplomat. He was just 29 when appointed head of the Second Chancery, which controlled the city's foreign relations. Machiavelli held the post for 14 years, during which time he travelled extensively on diplomatic missions to places such as France, Switzerland, and Germany.
4. Machiavelli oversaw the recruitment and training of an official militia to prevent the Medici family from returning to power. However, the Medicis had the support of the Pope and were able to muster a bigger army. When they retook Florence in 1512, Machiavelli was imprisoned, tortured and banished from Florence for 13 years. In 1525, the Medici family called him back and gave him a job, but it only lasted two years before the Medicis were overthrown and Machiavelli was fired again.
5. It was during his time of exile and imprisonment that he started writing. His most famous work, influenced by ancient Roman political philosophers was The Prince, basically a handbook for power-hungry politicians giving advice on how to seize power and hang on to it, including being underhand and devious. Hence the term “Machiavellian”. His advice included killing innocent people if necessary and became known for “evil recommendations to tyrants to help them maintain their power.” The Pope banned it.
6. He didn't just write about politics. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. One such work was Mandragola (The Mandrake) a five act comedy play which was made into a film in 1965.
7. Machiavelli married Marietta Corsini in 1502. The couple had six children. It was one of his grandsons, Giovanni Ricci, who preserved his letters.
8. He was a close friend of Leonardo da Vinci, helping the artist get commissions, and in due course giving him the post of military engineer for Florence in 1502. Machiavelli hoped Leonardo's ideas would help him capture the city of Pisa. Leonardo's idea was a system of dams to block off Pisa's water supply but the plan failed as Florence's own farms were affected. Leonardo left the post after eight months. However, Leonardo left Machiavelli with the belief that technological innovation could be the deciding factor in a war. Also, Machiavelli's writing uses expressions that Leonardo also used in his notebooks.
9. In his writing, Machiavelli portrays religion as man made, and a useful tool for controlling the masses. He compared Christianity unfavourably with previous pagan religions. He criticised popes for their scandalous lives and political activities, for being a greedy minority subjugating ordinary people. Perhaps that was the real reason his writings were banned by the pope! That said, it may well have been the activities of the church, rather than Christianity itself which he despised. He called for a return to some kind of original creed, and before he died, aged 58, he received the last rites.
10. Machiavelli's influence spread quickly and endures to this day. Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare used the term Machiavill or Machiavel to describe greedy, ambitious people. Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII and later Joseph Stalin were all fans of The Prince. More recently, American rapper Tupac Shakur studied Machiavelli while in prison and was impressed enough to change his rap name from 2Pac to Makaveli. In a 2013 revival of the TV series Dallas, the infamous J.R. Ewing wills his copy of The Prince to his adopted nephew Christopher Ewing, saying, "use it, because being smart and sneaky is an unbeatable combination."

New!

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

2 May: The Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2)

Today is the 50th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the cruise liner Queen Elizabeth 2 or QE2. 10 facts about this ship:

1. It is not actually named after Queen Elizabeth II, but after the wife of King George VI. This is why the ship is called Queen Elizabeth 2 and not Queen Elizabeth II.
2. The ship's vital statistics: length: 963 feet, weight: 70,327 (the rudder alone weighs 80 tons, equivalent to 10 double-decker Buses, and a draught of 32 feet, seven feet less than her predecessors, which would allow her to visit ports they couldn't, and compete with a new generation of cruise ships. She could accommodate 1,892 passengers and 1,040 crew.
3. Her top speed was 32.5 knots and she could also sail backwards faster than most cruise ships could sail forwards, at 19 knots. In June 1970, the QE2 crossed the Atlantic in a record time of three days, 20 hours and 42 minutes.
4. Other notable voyages included a transit of the Panama Canal in 1975, when QE2 became the biggest ship to go through, with less than a foot to spare. The QE2 was also the last oil-fired passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic in scheduled liner service until she was refitted with a modern diesel powerplant in 1986/1987. In 1995, she set sail on her 1,000th voyage, a crossing from New York to Southampton. On her 40th anniversary she sailed around Britain, a kind of lap of honour.
5. During the 40 years of regular service, the ship circumnavigated the globe 25 times and crossed the Atlantic 801 times. Altogether that was 175,290 hours, or 20 years, at sea. Around 2.5 million passengers travelled on her, the equivalent of a city the size of Budapest. One notable passenger was Queen Elizabeth II, who in 1990 became the first reigning monarch to go on a voyage on a commercial liner with passengers.
6. What was on board? A shopping arcade with 11 boutiques, including a branch of Harrods, five restaurants, two cafes, three swimming pools, a 481-seat cinema, a hospital, a casino, the largest library on the seas, with over 6,000 titles, and the only synagogue at sea.
7. She cost £29 million to build, well above the original budget, possibly because, allegedly, shipworkers were allegedly stealing from the ship faster than the yard could build her.
8. In May 1982, the QE2 was requisitioned for the Falklands War as a troop transport. This was said to have given then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sleepless nights, possibly because the large amounts of aluminium used in the cladding to save weight had a relatively low melting point which would have caused catastrophe had the ship been hit by a missile. Thankfully she wasn't and returned safely to Southampton in September 1982.
9. A woman named Beatrice Muller, from New Jersey, lived on board the ship for 14 years, going on every voyage and using it as a £3,500 a month retirement home where she could dance, play bridge and have every meal cooked for her.
10. The QE2 retired from service in 2008. A company in Dubai bought her with plans to turn her into a floating hotel, but the plans were scuppered by the 2008 financial crisis. She languished in dry dock until a Dubai-based construction company announced it had been contracted to refurbish the ship in 2017. The restored QE2 opened to visitors on 18 April 2018.

New!

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two

              

May 1: Staffordshire Day

Today is Staffordshire Day, celebrating the English county of Staffordshire. Here are 10 things you might not know about Staffordshire.

1. Staffordshire Day has been celebrated on May 1 since 2016, 2016 being the 1,000th anniversary of the first mention of the county of Staffordshire. May 1 was chosen by a popular vote and is the anniversary of the founding of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons. South Staffordshire MP, Gavin Williamson proposed the event in 2015 to promote the county and its traditions.
2. It is a landlocked county in the West Midlands of England, bordering Cheshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and Shropshire.
3. The largest city is Stoke-on-Trent. Lichfield is also a city. Other major towns include Stafford (the county town), Burton upon Trent, Cannock, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leek, and Tamworth. Wolverhampton, Walsall, West Bromwich, and Smethwick were historic Staffordshire towns until local government reorganisation created the West Midlands county in 1974.
4. Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is situated in Staffordshire. Cannock Chase is a mixture of natural deciduous woodland, coniferous plantations, open heathland and the remains of early industry, such as coal mining. Much of the area is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Living in the area is a herd of around 800 fallow deer.
5. Other things to see and do in Staffordshire include theme parks Alton Towers and Drayton Manor, Lichfield's unusual three-spired cathedral, Shugborough Estate, ancestral home of the fifth Earl of Lichfield, Patrick Lichfield who was known a leading photographer, Stafford Castle and the Cannock Chase Museum with exhibits showing the social and industrial heritage of the area.
6. Staffordshire oatcake is a traditional food in the area. It consists of oatmeal, flour and yeast cooked on a griddle. Oatcakes were traditionally sold to people on the street through "holes in the wall" or windows. It was possible to buy them in this way as recently as 2012. They are usually served with fillings such as Cheese, Tomato, Onion, bacon, sausage, and Egg. Sweet fillings are also available but tend to be frowned upon by traditionalists.
7. Famous people from Staffordshire include Dr. Samuel Johnson, author of the first English dictionary, pottery entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood, Anthea Turner, poet Carol Ann Duffy, comedian Dave Gorman and actor Neil Morrissey.
8. The area was rich in clay and coal, which is why it became a centre for pottery production. Companies such as Royal Doulton, Dudson Ltd, Spode, Wedgwood, Minton and Baker & Co. were established and based there. The construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1777 helped the industry even more as they could now import clay from other parts of the UK as well.
9. Another thing Staffordshire is famous for is Britain's most popular Dog breed, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. These dogs were originally bred for fighting bulls, bears and other dogs for public entertainment. However, today they are known to be affectionate, loyal and intelligent. They are adaptable and eager to please - most aggression problems with these dogs nowadays occur when bad owners train them to be aggressive.
10. In July 2009 the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon Gold ever found in Britain was discovered in a field near Lichfield. The Staffordshire Hoard dates back to the 7th or 8th century and consists of more than 1,500 items, made of gold and Silver, embedded with precious stones and jewels valued at £3.285m.

New!

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two