On his thirteenth birthday, Alcatraz
- a foster child
- gets a bag of sand in the mail which purports to be his 'inheritance'

...

Who knew that libraries were centres for all evil? Alcatraz Smedry, practically the world champion of breaking things, never thought his most boring birthday present
- a bag of sand
- would get him into this much trouble. Yet now he's fleeing from evil Librarians, releasing dinosaurs to create a diversion in the Fiction section, & learning that clumsiness can be a powerful talent!

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Monty Bannerman's father is a leading genetic scientist, & Nobel Prize winner, whose company has just been taken over by what will soon be the world's biggest pharmaceutical giant. He had some misgivings about their company ethics
- but ultimately, he needs their money, & they need his mind. Then a journalist comes to Monty's door, with a far-fetched story about the pharmaceutical company. She doesn't believe what she's being told for a moment
- but within a few short weeks, events are making the apparently fantastic claims look horrifyingly like the truth. Behind the respectable facade of the multi-national company which calls itself the ' World's Most Caring Company' lies an outrage against the whole human race...

...

Monty Bannerman's father is a leading genetic scientist, & Nobel Prize winner, whose company has just been taken over by what will soon be the world's biggest pharmaceutical giant. He had some misgivings about their company ethics
- but ultimately, he needs their money, & they need his mind. Then a journalist comes to Monty's door, with a far-fetched story about the pharmaceutical company. She doesn't believe what she's being told for a moment
- but within a few short weeks, events are making the apparently fantastic claims look horrifyingly like the truth. Behind the respectable facade of the multi-national company which calls itself the ' World's Most Caring Company' lies an outrage against the whole human race...

...

The second gripping instalment of The Mercian Trilogy by paranormal sensation K J Wignall.



‘ Run!’ Will

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Reality versus fiction is at the heart of the current literary debate. We live in a world of docu-drama, the 'real life' story. Works of art, novels, films, are frequently bolstered by reference to the autobiography of the creator, or to underlying 'fact.' Where does that leave the imagination? & who gets to define the parameters of 'reality' & 'fiction' anyway? Five writers debate the limits of materialism & realism, in art & literature
- & offer a passionate defence of the alchemical imagination in a fact-based world.
...

This new & completely redesigned edition creates a colourful & vibrant guide to the secret art. Klossowski de Rola elucidates the mysterious language & polyvalent symbolism from a variety of perspectives practical, spiritual, elemental & historical & explains how the true alchemist differs from the modern chemist & the false practitioner. Gold is only a by-product & emblem of the Great Work of the alchemist. The latter part of the book comprises the full text of a seventeenth-century exposition upon an alchemists dream-poem, & five richly illustrated Themes sections, reproducing full sequences of alchemical thought, art & paraphernalia. ...

Alchemy has traditionally been viewed as ‘the history of an error’, an example of mediaeval gullibility & greed, in which alchemists tried to turn lead into gold, create fabulous wealth & find the elixir of life. But alchemy has also been described as ‘the mightiest secret that a man can possess’, & it obsessed the likes of Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle & many of the founders of modern science. This book explores the history of the so-called Royal Art, from its mysterious beginnings in Egypt & China, through the Hellenistic world & the early years of Islam & into mediaeval Europe ...

' Packed with strange stories & shiny nuggets of information, Alchemy: the Great Work is erudite but reads very clearly. But what I admire about it most is how enlightening & enlivening it is.'
- Jonathan Black Alchemy is the art of transformation. At its simplest, the alchemist turns base metals into gold. However this is only one dimension of alchemy
- at a more sophisticated level the alchemist's 'base metal' is symbolic of himself that needs to be worked upon & the 'gold' produced is the alchemist himself in his or her quest to perfect his own nature. In short, true alchemy is a discipline involving physical, physiological & spiritual work aimed at producing wholeness & enlightenment. From the origins of alchemy, both reputed & documented, Cherry Gilchrist's lively & sympathetic narrative takes the reader from the alchemical interests of the ancient Egyptians to the flowering of alchemy in the seventeenth century. She also elucidates the complexities of alchemical symbolism & examines the ways in which alchemy has developed in the twentieth century. With an introduction by Jonathan Black

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The Node has failed, rendering humanity's battle clankers & the Aachim's constructs useless. With the battle lost, hordes of alien Lyrinx are swarming from the tar pits of Snizort, intending to fall upon the survivors & destroy them to the last man. Tiaan, crippled & unable to walk, is held prisoner by the vengeful Vithis, who is determined to extract her geomantic secrets at any cost. For his failings, Nish has been cast out & branded a traitor, while Irisis, accused of high treason, is forced to flee for her life. The fate of humanity is dependent on the survival of one wily old man, the Scrutator Xervish Flydd. But Flydd has been blamed for the defeat at Snizort & is condemned to die a brutish death as a slave
- hauling ironclad clankers out of the battlefield mire until his heart bursts under the strain.
...