Abracadabra Street


Book Description

What do you do if the family business is magic and you’re all fingers and thumbs? If your family are magicians and builders of tricks and illusions for other magicians and you can’t even pull a rabbit from a hat, do you turn your back on magic and walk away as far away from Abracadabra St as you can...or do you try and overcome the hand you’re dealt?




Will & The Wardrobe Of Wonders


Book Description

Will is a young boy who loves museums, ancient artifacts and memorabilia, especially memorabilia of a magical nature. He buys a wardrobe at auction on behalf of his father, who says that it belonged to an old-time magician. Will discovers the the wardrobe is a time machine, a portal to another world, an Aladdin’s Cave, a magician’s trunk, a theatre and much more besides. Will travels in time using the wardrobe or is it a portal to another universe – a ‘wardrobe of wonders’ in another time. There then follow an adventure in time, magic and wonders of both the ancient world and the solar system.




Animal Alchemy


Book Description

Jag, short for Jaguar, was orphaned when her environmentalist parents died in the jungle saving animals’ lives. Although she was put into a care home, she ran away two years to live on the streets where she was adopted into a street gang who have now become her family. Danny, the trickster and street magician and Tiger, whose animal instincts run close to the surface, and a few others are all animal activists at heart. Although they go one night to an animal sanctuary in the country to tag the walls with graffiti, Jag gets caught in an enclosure. However, it ends up for the best as the keeper takes a shine to her and offers a part time job when she hears Jag’s affinity with the Jaguar spirit. With Jag working at the sanctuary, her gang start spending more time there to see the great Cat Man Do perform his animal magic – until one day when a tiger is let out its cage. And that is only the beginning as a villainous Cat Man begins to stalk the streets with two pet panthers out for blood, seemingly appearing and disappearing at will. With newspapers reporting maulings and deaths and Sergeant Dickins not sure what’s going on, the kids are intrigued by the reports. After witnessing an attack, the kids get sucked into this mysterious Cat Man’s idea of a theatrical villain performance – but even if they have animal instincts and spirits with them and even if the big cats are swaying to their side, should they run before they too turn prey?







The Supernaturalist


Book Description

In the future, in a place called Satelite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill enters the world, unwanted by his parents. He's sent to the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Boys, Freight class. At Clarissa Frayne, the boys are put to work by the state, testing highly dangerous products. At the end of most days, they are covered with burns, bruises, and sores. Cosmo realizes that if he doesn't escape, he will die at this so-called orphanage. When the moment finally comes, Cosmo seizes his chance and breaks out with the help of the Supernaturalists, a motley crew of kids who all have the same special ability as Cosmo-they can see supernatural Parasites, creatures that feed on the life force of humans.




The Rough Guide to New Zealand


Book Description

The Rough Guide to New Zealand is the essential guide to this spectacular country, with lively coverage of its coolest cafés, most vibrant nightlife, best sights and hotels and tastiest restaurants and bars. Everyone from the country rambler to the fearless adventurer, wine buffs to Lord of the Rings fanatics are catered for in this comprehensive guide; with colour sections providing a guide to New Zealand's highlights - whether exploring Maori culture, getting stuck into adventure sports or keying into the country's unique ecology. There's thorough coverage of New Zealand's magnificent scenery: craggy coastlines, sweeping beaches, primeval forests, snow-capped mountains and bubbling volcanic mud pools. You'll also find historical and cultural information - even teaching you how to do the world-famous haka. The Rough Guide to New Zealand is rounded off with detailed town maps to help you get around and stunning photography that brings this extraordinary country to life. Make the most of your time on earth with The Rough Guide to New Zealand.




Abracadabra


Book Description

A magician never reveals his secrets . . . but HP Newquist does, in this illustrated history of magic and famous magicians! Magic is a word we use to describe something amazing, awe-inspiring, or spectacular. Truly great magic makes us believe in things we know can't be real. In the hands of the greatest magicians, even a simple card trick can become truly wondrous. Now, in this nonfiction narrative of magic through the ages, HP Newquist explains how the world's most famous tricks were created. From the oracles of ancient Egypt and the wizards of medieval Europe on to the exploits of Houdini and modern practitioners like Criss Angel, this book unlocks the secrets behind centuries of magic and illusion. Fully illustrated and including step-by-step instructions for eight classic magic tricks, this book will have middle-grade readers spellbound.




Magic Words


Book Description

Magic Words: A Dictionary is a oneofakind resource for armchair linguists, popculture enthusiasts, Pagans, Wiccans, magicians, and trivia nuts alike. Brimming with the most intriguing magic words and phrases from around the world and illustrated throughout with magical symbols and icons, Magic Words is a dictionary like no other. More than sevenhundred essay style entries describe the origins of magical words as well as historical and popular variations and fascinating trivia. With sources ranging from ancient Medieval alchemists to modern stage magicians, necromancers, and wizards of legend to miracle workers throughout time, Magic Words is a must have for any scholar of magic, language, history, and culture.




The Supernaturalist: The Graphic Novel


Book Description

Unwanted by his parents, Cosmo Hill is put to work by the state, testing highly dangerous products. Cosmo realizes he must get away, and escapes with the help of the Supernaturalists, a group of kids who have the same special abilities as Cosmo--they can see supernatural Parasites, creatures that feed on the life force of humans. The Supernaturalists patrol the city at night, hunting the Parasites in hopes of saving what is left of humanity in Satellite City. But soon they find themselves caught in a web far more complicated than they''d imagined, and they discover a horrifying secret that will force them to question everything they believe in. With stunning art and nonstop thrills, The Supernaturalist: The Graphic Novel will delight fans already familiar with the story and dazzle readers discovering it for the first time.




My Dining Hell


Book Description

I have been a restaurant critic for over a decade, written reviews of well over 700 establishments, and if there is one thing I have learned it is that people like reviews of bad restaurants. No, scratch that. They adore them, feast upon them like starving vultures who have spotted fly-blown carrion out in the bush. They claim otherwise, of course. Readers like to present themselves as private arbiters of taste; as people interested in the good stuff. I'm sure they are. I'm sure they really do care whether the steak was served au point as requested or whether the souffle had achieved a certain ineffable lightness. And yet, when I compare dinner to bodily fluids, the room to an S & M chamber (only without the glamor or class), and the bill to an act of grand larceny, why, then the baying crowd is truly happy. Don't believe me? Then why, presented with the chance to buy this ebook filled with accounts of twenty restaurants - their chefs, their owners, their poor benighted front of house staff - getting a complete stiffing courtesy of the sort of vitriolic bloody-curdling review which would make the victims call for their mothers, did you seize it with both hands?