Claire Mason got a diary for Christmas. It should be filled with entries about her life at college as she prepares to sit exams.Instead, Claire's diary tells of a family illness, and the difficult decisions it forces her to make.Last Year is the story of Claire's hardest year.
An extraordinary discovery in the Valley of the Kings leaves historians bemused and asking the question; Who was Erimem?
The Beano is Britain's longest-running and best-loved comic. Since 1938 it has brought thrills and laughter to generation after generation of children, seeing the young and young-at-heart through World War 2, the social changes of the 1950s and 60s and on into a new millennium. How has the comic evolved since its early days? How many of the classic characters and their stories do you remember? What are the important changes that have happened through the years, why have they happened and why has The Beano survived when all the other comics have folded? Every child in the UK since the 1950s has known Dennis the Menace, the Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx and Roger the Dodger, but how many know the writers and artists who created these iconic comic characters? How do they write the scripts week after week? Where did the inspiration come from? How did the artists come to work for this Great British institution? This is the story of the Beano Comic, told in the words of the people who made it, going back to the dark, harsh days of the 1930s and continuing through to the present day. A unique insight into the country's most beloved comic.
Fifteen-year-old Cal Deane has a chance to make it as a professional footballer. To get there, he'll have to cope with the loss of his mum and a group of racists. For Cal, the battles off the pitch are far more challenging than any game of football.
Another adventure for Erimem, former companion of the fifth Doctor Who.To escape the miseries of 2020, Erimem and her friends return to 1940, but are soon caught up with a movie director who has made a bad deal with the Mob...Three hundred years earlier, a deal has been done which requires Erimem to go into battle...And three thousand years before that, Erimem must return home to visit an old friend...Erimem and her friends are sent through time and space on a quest for the Jewels of Cleopatra.
DifferentAnyone who has ever felt like an outsider will really understand and appreciate Iain McLaughlin’s new title, The First Martian.Lucas Wilson is the only person in his class, the only person in his school, the only person in the world, to have been born on Mars. His parents were astronauts sent on the first extended mission to Mars. Lucas was born there. His family had to wait ten years before they could come home as he wasn’t strong enough to make the journey.Even after a couple of years back on Earth, he is clearly different to everyone else, he stands out. He has to wear a special suit in order to get around under Earth’s gravity. His two best friends are the only people who don’t treat him like an outsider.
'You will be taken from this court and remanded in custody until your trial.’ Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart has been remanded to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, and his team have no idea why. Secrecy surrounds his case, but his team barely have a chance to process anything before they are sent on a mission to Egypt. Why does it seem like Lethbridge-Stewart is going out of his way to court trouble from the prison’s most notorious inmates?And what does it have to do with well-known gangster Hugh Godfrey? In the Ptolemaic Museum of Cairo, Anne Travers and her team are trying to uncover the mystery surrounding some very unusual stone statues.Statues that resemble those held in a secure military facility in Berkshire. One thing connects these events; the mysterious cargo transported by Colonel Pemberton and Captain Knight in August 1968.
A trip into the near future takes Erimem, Andy and Helena to a newly built city in England where the rule of law has been set aside for the twin rules of gangs and ratings. Everything in the city is observed by TV cameras, including the struggle by a woman named Angela, the city’s Angel of Mercy, to protect and feed the most vulnerable. Erimem and her friends find themselves caught in the deadly ongoing conflict between Angela and a gang led by a man named Razor, a gang that is ready to kill anyone in their path... including the time travellers. A novella made available originally as a subscriber exclusive ebook.
Another adventure for Erimem, former companion of the Fifth DOCTOR WHO. She is a pharaoh, an adventurer, a time traveller and a bit of a chocaholic on the side. Her travels take Erimem to the furthest reaches of time and space, usually dropping her (along with her friends) into terrible danger.
Not every script or story idea makes it into production. There are far more reasons for a story not to be made than for it to actually see production. Iain McLaughlin, who has written for, amongst others, James Bond, Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes and Blake's 7 revisits more than half a dozen scripts and proposals, giving background to the creation of the stories, explaining why the stories were ultimately rejected or abandoned, and revisiting them with fresh eyes some years later to give an honest opinion of his earlier work and to offer some suggestions and amendments to improve the stories. His essays on the stories are full of valuable information, advice and hints for aspiring writers Stories include The Point of No Return The Last Chance A Stitch in Time (a Doctor Who proposal for Big Finish) Time Heals All Things (BBV) The Celestial Toymakers (a Doctor Who proposal for Big Finish) Cold Comfort (a Doctor Who proposal for Big Finish) Kill or Cure (BBV)