Paperbacks

Contemporary Drama

• Astrid's Coast - 7
• Behind the Fire - 10
• Blemished Jewel - 11
• Eagle's Claw Lake - 4
• Catalyst - 12
• Jana Adrift - 16
• Long Valley Road - 17
• Shadows Behind - 2
• Stretched Horizons - 6

1. Time Portal - Science Fiction

When Rhett finds a stranger, Shelley in his holiday home it becomes apparent that she is not just an intruder caught in the act of illegall trespassing.

Rhett and Shelley travel through a space-time portal where they are met by Dee, their twelve-year old daughter that they never knew existed. Dee is desperate for her brother, Corwin to be rescued. He has been caught in a trap set by the girifa, the reptilian equivalent of humanity. In this world, humans are the aliens.

As they continue their journey they befriend fellow travellers, who help them in a seemingly haphazard quest. However, their lives appear to have been predetermined with a destiny that will affect not only present day Earth but also the future.

Evil forces are also out there with sinister objectives of their own. Rhett and Shelley learn that the enemy are not the girifa but humans living a parallel world from their ancestors' time.

But who is really in control? Journey through the time portal where time, space and parallel worlds intertwine with an ultimate disaster that only Rhett and Shelley can halt.

2. Shadows Behind - Drama

It is 1999 and Kosovo refugee Niana Bolsa is abandoned by the Serbs to fend for herself in the mountains. In freezing temperatures, the distraught woman staggers along an empty road through virgin snow. At the point of near collapse she comes across a tractor and trailer by the roadside with two terrified children hiding there. Their grandparents have been shot and mother taken away. Determined to save the children, Niana takes them and heads for Albania. With all records destroyed, nobody queries her right to the children and they emigrate to New Zealand.

Matt Coleman is attracted to the new tenant of his New Zealand shop, Niana Bolsa, when she opens a food bar adjacent to his antique and furniture factory. Niana is reluctant to commit herself beyond friendship and says little about her life. Eventually, friendship between Niana and Matt blossoms into passionate love as they and Niana's foster children become a family.

But the terror so prevalent in Niana's past surfaces again--with a vengeance.

 

3. Omega Seed - Science Fiction

The search of a millennium is over. Computers aboard Inter-galactic Starship Omega find a planet with water and oxygen in usable quantities to sustain humanoid life. It is over populated, polluted and has one social problem; forty eight percent of the human population are males, well beyond the one in a thousand necessary on Planet Delta to maintain the sperm banks.

However, the humanoids aboard cannot be kept alive for the estimated two hundred years required to find another solar system so the journey must end. Minor alterations are needed in the humanoids' metabolism. The women need to understand English for a landing in Australia, the most unpolluted continent the computers can find. Sensations and emotions are changed back to natural; after all, a bearer needs emotions more than the neuter that these females were on the home planet. It is time to arouse Pazz and prepare her for life on Earth while cloned younger sister Kylina , now 22 not 12 as remembered by Pazz, can be kept in reserve. There is also Lunol, from a primitive preindustrial planet and Kylina's partner but he is male and doesn't count..

Alone, with only an armlet computer for company, Pazz lands in the West Australian desert.

 

4. Eagle's Claw Lake - Drama

Doctor Reid Tucker's intention to spend the summer at a remote cabin at Eagle's Claw Lake in northeast Washington State with only his dog, Cinders, never eventuates. On the trip there, pilot Kate Meltz calls in with the amphibian to a commune at the other end of the lake. While waiting on board, Reid pulls a desperate and distressed teenage girl, Lorie Somerville, from the water.

This begins a frightening chain of events as fanatical commune leader, Peter Littlejohn, tries to find Lorie and prevent her from leaving. Though he doesn't find her on the aircraft, he sabotages it so the trio are left stranded at Reid's cabin.

It soon becomes obvious that the place is more than just a remote religious commune. The girl is terrified of being caught and begs Reid to look for Jennifer and Sassy, two of her friends who have also escaped.

Though pursued by Littlejohn, Lorie leads Reid and Kate to a cave where the girls are waiting. But why has Erika Somerville, Lorie's elder sister, returned to Eagle's Claw Lake and found savagely beaten in the commune's cabin cruiser?

Soon

5. Fir, Oak & Fern - Family Saga

From Canadian fir forests, oaks of England and onto the fern bush in New Zealand, this family saga centres around four forthright, liberal women, spans five generations, three continents, two world wars, and one hundred years.

It begins in 1898 with Amanda's struggle to survive and prosper away from her domineering father. Each period in time is filled with drama, joy and illustrates the determination of each woman to enrich her life through love of partners and families and a liberal outlook on life.

6. Stretched Horizons - Drama

When Sunset Grove Primary's Headteacher, Bree Ashworth goes to help teacher Jenny Dench in her classroom she is attacked by an intruder. The attacker escapes and Bree is taken to hospital. Her husband Colin arrives and tells her he is leaving to move from London with his mistress Linda Rouke.
Bree has bookings to attend a reading conference in New Zealand over that country's summer vacation. With double tickets bought and Colin gone, she invites Jenny to come with her.

In New Zealand the small commuter aeroplane they fly in crashes in thick bush country. The pilot is killed and Jenny and Bree try to survive by themselves. However, all is not lost, for a tramper in the bush, Ray Barnett and his dog, Pattie find them.

Police in England tell Colin, Bree has been involved in an air crash and is missing. Colin abandons his partner and flies out to New Zealand but his intentions are not those one would expect from a worried husband....

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7. Astrid's Coast - Drama

After her mother dies, Astrid moves to the small Oregon coastal town of Hook Bay to live with her grandfather, Steve Barton. She has to cope with life in a new environment with old friends’ help and betrayal, a new school to attend for her senior year and an early encounter with the forces of nature.

Steve’s love and guidance, as well as Astrid’s ability as an artist helps her through difficult times. New friends enter her life, old ones return and her talent is encouraged by the local school principal. Her life now has a future.

That is until the tsunami builds up in the northern Pacific Ocean and heads east... Directly towards Hook Bay.

8. Azure Sea Gold - Saga

It is April 1945 when U-boat U-2072 heads out of Hamburg for the last time. In its hold, the torpedoes have been replaced by gold and Nazi loot. The destination is Argentina. On board, ruthless Kapitanleutnant Falk Friedrich has brought his fiancée, Kristin Dassmer.

The U-boat is attacked by American torpedo bombers off the Bahamas and sunk. Kristin finds herself in a lifeboat with three others including Bern Munkelt, the man she is to spend the rest of her life with. They are rescued by Danardo Rolle and taken to Little Toe Cay, a remote island where Kristin's adventures begin.

"Azure Sea Gold" is an adventure, a love story and the story of greed, jealousy and ruthless people as well as a family story centered around three generations of women and their loved ones. It will make the reader enthralled and enraptured by the sheer pace and excitement, common in a Ross Richdale novel.

9. Arising Magic - Fantasy

If magic arises unchecked to breed upon itself, it is unstoppable and the balance of good and evil will be compromised for ever.
Quotes from "The Great Book of Everything That Will Be."

In the days of old when knights ruled the land of Castle Rockshade, Kyla Kiro does not want to be forced into marrying the evil Sir Edwin O'Hane. She persuades Shane Wynex, the man she really loves to escape with her to the surrounding forest. She has friends there who can help, from Slither a transman, half human and half tree to the forest dwarfs and talking birds.
Edwin uses his own magic to trace her. After his attempts initially fail he returns to select another bride, this time Jaythen Gardan. She suffers badly and cries out for help. The forest animals hear her call, she is rescued and teams up with Kyla and Shane.

The prophecies from The Great Book of Everything That Will Be are about to be played out.

10. Behind the Fire - Drama

Teenagers Abbey and Cooper in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia run away together. They head north towards Queensland over a remote interior highway in Cooper's van. Their problems, though turn to horror when they are chased by another car. In panic they turn off the highway and attempt to use their vehicle's four wheel drive capabilities to lose it.

Both the vehicles are cut off from the highway by an encircling bushfire. An Aboriginal man, Darel Hadfield helps the pair escape from their pursuers and leads them into a cave and safety. This is a cave of his ancestors that goes right through the hills into a valley completely encircled by cliffs. Under the thick undergrowth is an aboriginal village that serves as a retreat filled for elderly Aborigines and children. But why has it been kept hidden for generations?

Back in Sydney, Abbey's father and his partner Megan are advised by the police that the vehicle Abbey was known to be in has been found as a burnt out hulk and she is probably dead. The pair are devastated but set out to find her, How do the two teenagers survive in this remote land and what new problems do they need to face? You will be gripped by Abbey's plight and will want to remain with her until the very last page is turned.

11. Blemished Jewel - Drama

Gail Fernhill, newly appointed of principal of Queen Anne's Girls' School in Dunedin, New Zealand is haunted by her past but befriends Neil Goodall. Neil pierces her reserve to support and help her when he discovers that as a teenager, she killed her abusive father in self-defence.

However, the case is reopened after the discovery of her father's rifle. Inspector Peter Carrington attempts, by fair means or foul, to build up a murder case against Gail and directs Tania Brogan, an undercover police officer employed by the school as a teacher, to find evidence. However, Tania switches her allegiance to help Gail but unwittingly plays into Carrington's hand.

Is Gail's successful life as a principal about to be cut short by her past? And what of her abduction? Is Neil's love enough to help the blemished jewel through these trying times?

12. Catalyst - Drama

There is an a cave-in at Misty Depths Catacombs, Wyoming and Renee Bonnet finds herself stranded with a broken leg and two strangers, Lem, a business man and a runaway teenager, Courtney. The cave is the catalyst but the events depend on the new catalyst, Renee, who finds herself drawn into the lives of her companions.

Catalyst is a gripping action story of three people trapped in a cave together. They learn to trust and depend on each other not knowing whether they will survive the ordeal or not. It is a romantic drama that combines the sheer force of nature with the frailty of human emotions, greed, jealousy, passion, companionship and love.

This is a rescue story that does not stop when the victims are rescued but continues, as real life does, to mould new lives for the lonely characters.

13. Claire - Historical Drama

The liberated 60s have not reached the shores of New Zealand when Claire, a single pregnant girl is sent up-country to have her child, which is to be adopted out. The Sloane family are strangers who offer to board her through this time.

But are they?

Claire is thrust into the unknown when Alan and Hazel Sloane are involved in a truck accident on the farm. It is up to Claire to help. She does but is now alone on the farm. Initial fears at being alone reach a climax when an elderly man arrives to look after the animals. He is Bob Hodge, Hazel's father. Claire and Bob feed out in the snow and gradually an affinity develops between the pair. In this conservative rural area, the tranquillity of the surface hides a darker background that goes back a generation to before Claire was born. And she is directly involved.

This is a story of how scars of the past are opened and conquered by the love of the present for and by Claire, a girl who becomes a woman in the months that make up 1961.

14. Crystal Souls - Science Fiction

When Jasmin is caught in the terrorist attack on the London underground in 2005, her terrified thoughts help her. As does similar terror for identical women Katherine in the year 1310, Trudie in 1874, Giselle in 1945 and Zarine in 2374.They are are awoken on the planet Cerowain as electrical charges contained within crystal balls in 2341. With Zarine's knowledge and the base's computer they are given new physical bodies and find they are like identical sisters.

They must find out about themselves and also ward off the spunoids, a spider like intelligent species who are at war with humanoids in this time.

Why are they there and why did they all suffer a terrorizing attack before arriving? And is their own future being controlled by something else in the vast universe that transcends time and space?

15 Countess in Exile - Family Saga

Countess in Exile reaches across the world from war torn Europe in World War Two to New Zealand through the second half of the twentieth century and into the new millennium.

In their escape from the invading German Wehrmacht, Countess Vladisciuszko, gives her daughter a Swiss numbered bank account card. Moments later the train is bombed and the countess is killed. Jozef Wishnowsky, an airforce officer on the train, rescues Anna and manages to get her to England.

With a British identity as Anna Green, the youngster is placed in an orphanage. She helps Sally and Johnny, two other orphans who are victims of the sadistic supervisor Vera Johnston but, in doing so is badly beaten herself and turns to Jozef, now a squadron leader flying in The Battle of Britain for help.

Later, Johnny, Sally and Anna are given new identities and are sent as refugees to Canada. Their ship is sunk by German U-boats. After being rescued they are sent to New Zealand with new identities as brother and sisters. This leads to complications in later years when Anna and Johnny have to prove their real identities. Anna's aristocratic background is discovered. Polish communists seek her out for assassination.

16. Jana Adrift - Drama

When terrorists attack and sink a container ship, five passengers survive and land on a Pacific Ocean atoll. Jana and her four companions must live together and survive. This romantic thriller is covers the Pacific Ocean and onto New Zealand.

Jana and Kelsie are passengers on the container ship Konstellation on a Pacific Ocean cruise, along with artist Rowan Clardy and an elderly couple, Hank and Denise Thorpe. The Konstellation is attacked, terrorists seize the ship and strip it of all communication and electronic equipment. The five passengers hide in an empty container and later make it to a Pacific atoll.

Problems arise when they attempt to live together. Jana and Rowan begin a romance. Hank is not the pleasant old guy Jana at first thought but a predator who begins a relationship with Kelsie. Other problems include a storm, a fever that Jana catches and the complete absence of any shipping in the area.

After a month, the castaways attract the attention of the first boat going by but is it a case of getting into worse danger? The fishing boat that comes into the lagoon to rescue them is flying the North Korean flag. How do Jana and her friends cope?

17. Long Valley Road - Drama

This fast paced novel combines human emotions of love, empathy, revenge and greed with the sheer force of Mother Nature.

The inhabitants of Long Valley Road have their lives changed forever by the events happening around them. Join them and see, through their eyes, how one family grows and blossoms through the good times and bad. Julie tries to cope with a new country, Fiona discovers she is not just a mother-in-law and a young schoolteacher and lonely widower fall in love.

But is this love strong enough to surmount the problems about to descend upon them all?

18. Into the Wormhole - Science Fiction

When Talya is sucked into a wormhole she arrives in a new world where humans are primitive villagers pursued by hexalimbs, six limbed creatures, for food. Along with Gavin, also stranded from Earth, she helps the local humans. They rescue and befriend Kysum, a tailed humanoid who can metamorphose into other beings, from a hexalimb spaceship.

In an ongoing fight against the aliens they search for a way home. In doing so, they transverse time-space and change the course of history in this far off universe.

But who is really in control? Will it be possible to ever reach home?
But does Earth even exist?

19. Transmigration - Science Fiction

Transmigration: (of the soul) pass into a different body- Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Four humans find themselves in a small village of Betaham without knowledge of where they come from or who they are. It is a pleasant little town but disturbing memories of a brutal war and a different life flash spasmodically into their minds.

Their dreams seem so real but are quite unrelated to their present lives ... that is until they meet a strange farmer and a violent sandstorm arrives at Betaham. They find the farmer isn't even human.

Furthermore, they may not even be human themselves. A bombed out city is on the other side of the hills and can be reached though a railway tunnel. The trouble is that the city was destroyed a millennium before and is an archaelogical site visited by the farmer's race who arrived from another planet. Only then do the four learn the truth about themselves...

20. Wind Across the Playground - Saga

Neil Johnston a young school teacher arrives to take charge of a two teacher rural school at Ashleyvale in the South Island of New Zealand with his partner, liberated Lisa. She is just one of the five women who has a profound affect on his life through the next quarter a century.

Margaret, a promiscuous farmer's wife engulfs Neil like a spider and almost tears his relationship with Lisa apart. Afterwards there is a tragedy, Kelly, the assistant teacher in the junior room at Ashleyvale and decisions to be made. Neil matures quickly and when faced with an ultimatum by the woman who loves him, makes a decision that involves shifting back home to the North Island with one woman and away from the other.

Two girls also affect his life,Wendy a pupil at Ashleyvale and his daughter Alexia who, as a baby, unknowingly provides the comfort and love. There are always changes as society moves through the decades.

This is a story of a naive young man who is influenced by the women around him, who matures, lives life to the fullest and becomes a leader in his chosen profession. There are tragedies along the way, changing attitudes and the profound love that keeps him going through good times and bad.