Great review for Warrior Stone

A recent great Amazon reviews for Warrior Stone.

C Horner (thank you C) says 'Stone Rocks', and adds:

“Warrior Stone : Underland” is reminiscent of Neverwhere, and if you liked that you’re likely to enjoy this. Harkess has put a lot of thought into the world he’s created, with the different races; the bureaucratic, cunning Grenlix, the Hrund who provide the muscle, the dangerous, scarcely-seen Angels, who are in no way angelic. He has also done a very good job of getting inside the head of an awkward teenage girl – Claire might be flitting between the Real and Underland, but the problems she encounters in both realms will be familiar to all, from school bullying to embarrassing encounters with attractive boys."

Review: 'Graham's Charlotte' by Drew Farnsworth

Well that was refreshing. Bumped into this entirely by accident, and so glad I did. Now, I dont do summaries of the story (too much chance of spoilers and others have already told the tale), but let me tell you what I thought about the book.

Its a spy adventure/techno-thriller. Whilst its set in a school environment, it neatly avoids most of the cliches and stereotypes of the location (unlike ‘I am Number 4’), and actually turns several of them on their heads. The strong female lead is not so unusual in YA, but Mads is believable and appealing in her uncertainty.

The style reminds me strongly of Malorie Blackman (especially her collection ‘Deadly Dare Mysteries’), or Kimberly Pauley’s ‘Sucks to be Me’ books. The action is tight paced, the secondary characters dense enough not to feel like cardboard cut-outs, and whilst the book touches on schoolyard politics, it doesn’t dwell on them or get bogged down in unnecessary romance.

My only gripe with the book is the title. It does make sense within the context of the book, but its not descriptive or indicative of the content. Dont let it put you off.

Quite my most enjoyable YA read since ‘Shift’ by Kim Curran. Recommended

Warrior Stone: Underland Available Now

I am absolutely delighted to announce that my latest novel, Warrior Stone: Underland is now available as an ebook from Amazon. Paperback to follow soon.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Underland is a twisted copy of The Real that uses industrialised magic to power a weird mix of stolen technology. It’s just enough like The Real to make travellers over-confident and get them into trouble. Which is just what happened when Claire Stone accidentally falls through rushing home one night. Claire is offered a job as a Warrior, hunting down and destroying shape shifting monsters.What adventure-hungry lover of fantasy could refuse? Everything seems great, until a friend goes missing and the Warrior has to turn Hunter.

Cover Art by Linzi Goldstone

First Review for "Warrior Stone: Underland"

A big thank you to Tony Lane for my first review of "Warrior Stone: Underland". I've copied the text for this post, but you can see the original here

The cover art for this book is by Linzi Goldstone. It is quite simple at first glance but it really does put you inside the story. The subtle steampunk hints are in the art and similarly woven in to the story. Except things are not steam powered. There is a magical field in the Underland.

I’d much rather teenagers read books like this rather than ones about sparkly vampires. Underland is a place between worlds. A magical yet industrialized realm tantalizingly close to this one. Only children can jump between realms and they act as guardians against the encroachment from the other side of the Underland.

I usually have a pretty good idea what’s going to happen when I read a book but this one keeps you guessing until the end. Don’t expect everything to be resolved though. The ending closes off the story nicely but it certainly feels like the first in a series. I still have plenty of questions that I’d like answering.

The characters in this book are believable and real (as much as magic using dimension shifting teenagers can be). I found this book to be a refreshing change of pace from my usual reads. It is bright and positive in a way that left me feeling better about life.

Oh and Evie is every bit the kick-ass heroine without the need for overt sexuality or reliance on a male. 

Cover Reveal! Warrior Stone

Cover art by Linzi Goldstone.

Published by Fox Spirit 30th April 2014

Inexpressibly excited about this one. Fox Spirit are a bright and vibrant publishers, and a great fit for this book. I hope to publish many more with them.

Warrior Stone Underland is a steampunk/urban fantasy adventure for all ages, but especially the 12-years-and-over reader.

Amsterdam's Silent Menace

Their Nest

Amsterdam. Quiet, apart from the scaffolding-clang bells of the trams and the gentle chuckling of dope-heads in the cafes. So quiet you would think you would hear them coming. But no, they make no more than a whirr, a whisper, or sometimes a soft tinkle as the buggers come out of nowhere and try to knock you over as you cross the road.

Bloody cyclists!




Everybody knows Amsterdam is the cycling capital of Europe. The picture is of a multi-storey bike park adjacent to Central Station. A multi-storey bike park. Just think how many bikes must be in their. They are chained to every bridge, every railing. They have bike parks under the canal bridges. They are everywhere.

Thing is, Amsterdam is held up as being a paragon of 'the bike'. And it is. Bike have their own lane almost everywhere, although they do have to share it with uncouth mopeds. Super safe. Their accident rate must be next to nothing. For the cyclists.

For the pedestrians, its a different matter. Roads are six lanes wide; bike/car/tram/tram/car/bike. In fairness they have many light controlled crossings, which sounds good until you realise that cyclists in Amsterdam ignore them with even more enthusiasm than our home-grown breed do.

It is almost as though the extra authority given to cyclists in Amsterdam has gone to their heads. When the cycle lane is busy, they happily ride on what little pavement there is left for foot traffic. Zebra crossings they don't even acknowledge.

In all seriousness, I found it quite intimidating. I injured my neck trying to figure out which way I should be looking for threats each time I crossed the road - because they seem to go both ways along each cycle lane.

I'm all for making things safer on the roads, but surely it needs to be safer for everybody, not just for the single-interest group shouting loudest at the moment. Amsterdam is a living example that solving the bike problem is not just about giving cyclists somewhere safe to ride, but also in the still-unaddressed arena of forcing them to be responsible for their own safety and that of others.

Sadly, seems that wherever you are, that is still something being ignored.

Individual Cases

I am so fed up with hearing those two words, and knowing that they are being used as a cop-out by someone in a position of authority.

Immigration department ministers who wont discuss a family they are persecuting, or why they wont eject a murderer from another country.

The (so called) justice system being caught out in another miscarriage, or the police afraid to acknowledge they let another vulnerable person die in custody.

Hospitals killing patients through neglect.

Admittedly, it's not all the time, but its often enough to announce that somebody has done something embarrassing and they are trying to get out of talking about it.

The latest one is facebook. A Facebook group (unnamed) abused 14 year old Izzy Dix, who hung herself last year. Now trolls from the same group are targeting the child's mother. The police are being their usual (in)efficient selves when it comes to technology crimes and - although facebook have removed the group - their line is that they dont comment on individual pages.

Wouldn't it be nice if all the weasley evaders and liars were forced to talk about the individual stuff. After all, that's what we are - individuals. Policies dont matter, nobody ever sticks to them. Surely what matters to us is how we are treated.

Us

Individuals