In Book Two of Time Trance of the Gods, the past, with its mythical characters and events, is freed to influence the present and future.These stories re-iterate the power of myth created by man and explore its potential for disquieting parallels through the movement of time.In these twelve stories in Book Two of Time Trance of the Gods, the power of myth moves again through time,to manipulate man as he muddles along or takes misguided decisions."The White Shell" for instance, is inspired by the tale of Tereus, who acted as mediator for a king, married one of his sisters, then fell for one who was younger, confining his wife to slaves' quarters. Eventually both women turned into birds and escaped.In "The Catalyst" Jules' domestic drama echoes that of Cephalos, who resisted the temptation of Eos - the dawn. In retaliation she cast doubt on the fidelity of Pocris, his wife. As with Jules' wife Lise, it seems she was right Later, when hunting, Cephalos accidentally shot his wife, believing her to be a wild animal. And what of Lise?In "Monogamy" the enchantress Circe plays a bizarrely positive part in helping women defy the dictates of men, while "The Labyrinth" invests Pasiphae, the queen from Knossos and members of Egyptian royalty, with fantasy, as Pasiphae, guilt-ridden about her adultery with the bull, is convinced that only the Minotaur's death will redeem humanity. "The Second Season", set in a sterile future, echoes the tale of Demeter, whose daughter Persephone was snatched by Hades, god of the Underworld. Will Demeter be able to prevent the world withering or will the world's survival be the responsibility of man?There are vital analogies in such ancient tales that should be heeded by modern man. How sad he is destined to repeat the ruthlessness and superstitions of the past!

The Soul Shadow and Other Tales of Tomorrow are stories that fancifully defy the everyday. People are plunged into unpredictable events that amuse, amaze, terrify. They are sometimes the retaliation of man's ingenuity and sometimes the result of baffling outer influences. So don't take your reassuring routines for granted!The eleven stories in "The Soul Shadow and Other Tales of Tomorrow", are often rooted in reality. But they soon become improbably perturbing, droll or outlandish. However, in The Soul Shadow - the first story - we are already in a weird and wonderful future, whose equilibrium is threatened by former traits of dark ambition.In "Klein", a curious creature designed for a film set, begins to breathe, then takes off in a bid for freedom....And the ageing fortune teller in "Zizi's Last Wish", opts for her ashes to be launched in an urn into outer space where she hopes to discover, even after death, the secrets of the universe!People, who at first appear to be living an everyday life, are suddenly pitched into an unearthly element or terrified by events beyond their control.In "The Flood", why was a whole community borne away so rapidly by the rising water? And in "The Bell Flowers of Lymphos", how had malicious plants taken root so readily in humble homes and gardens?You won't find any answers but enjoy these deviations, even if they are the stuff of bad dreams. At least you can confront them while awake!

Toby is getting ready for school when he notices his feet have turned GREEN! Alarmed and thoroughly mystified, he pulls on his socks and sets off. But he is waylaid by a little man who is green from head to toe! As Toby turns even greener he is whirled away by other little green men, is finally arrested and charged in court with being green in a public place. What will become of him?Riley is a workaholic veterinarian. She's approaching her 30th birthday and her loneliness is becoming more apparent and painful. She wants to start dating, but doesn't have any free time or knowledge on how to start. The subjectGarrett is a 32 year old widower. Even though he's a pack oriented wolf shifter, he hasn't been involved with the pack since his mate died three years earlier. But when he meets Riley, he realizes they are meant to be together. The only thing standing in their way is the Wolf Shifter Elder Council. Garrett needs to receive their permission to break the first law and tell Riley, a human, about the existence of the supernatural. If not, it could mean both of their lives.Will the council grant his request?

A little girl is bewitched by the Fairy Queen - but in "Heidi's House and Other Rhymes", her house is worried enough to grow feet and set out to find her! Strange events surface throughout this collection for children - from a Fish called Fred who turns into a rainbow, to Solomon Tucket, who lives in a bucket. But other poems are simple observations, as in "The Camel" and "The Spider".A little girl is bewitched by the Fairy Queen - her eyes turn green, her face grows grey, her voice is stolen,"her long pigtails knotted and she'll have to eat toadstools until she turns spotted."This is Heidi's fate in this collection for children: Heidi's House and Other Rhymes. Luckily her house is worried enough to grow feet and set out to find her!Quirky events surface throughout this collection - from a fish called Fred who turns into a rainbow and a boy with luminous shoes, to Solomon Tucket who lives in a bucket and a teacher who turns into an apple.Other poems are simple observations - of animals, insects and aspects of nature.

Fantasies are spawned by the volcanic Greek island of Santorini in this collection "On the Island of Fire" - four fantasies for children - from the dream of Alizides, a donkey who thinks he is Pegasus fighting the Chimaera, to harpies swooping through as they move home - unlikely happenings emerging from the island's black sand and simmering core.The volcanic Greek island of Santorini evokes an eerie potential for fantasy. Chunks of solidified lava turn into a strange bestiary, the deep caldera might mask a multitude of monsters. "On the Island of Fire" comprises four improbable tales for children set on the island, and opens with "The White Wings" - in which Alizides, a donkey, dreams he is Pegasus, helping to defeat the Chimaera. Eruptions and earth tremors are endemic and In "The Earthquake" a bored boy tangles with Typhon, the monster trapped within the volcano. Mysterious waters lap the black sand and in "Falling Stars", two children meet Atlas, taking a break under the waves from holding up the world, while weird mythology is recalled in "The Harpies Move Home" with disgruntled harpies causing chaos on Santorini, on their way to a zoo.

Fifi and the Swiftifoots and how they found the Flowers of Paradise, tells of Fifi, a lost fairy, who lands in the forest of the Swiftifoots - small people resembling mushrooms - and their search for a new home and the flowers of immortality. They travel back in time, collecting colourful creatures en route, until finally finding the flowers and their extraordinary queen.Fifi and the Swiftifoots and how they found the Flowers of Paradise tells of Fifi, a fairy who accidentally flies into the forest of the Swiftifoots - mushroom people whose homes have been flooded and whom she joins in a search for new homes and the fabulous flowers of immortality. En route, travelling back through time, they meet and are joined by a string of creatures- improbable but biologically based on fact. They narrowly miss a disastrous clash with Man, before finally finding the flowers and their exotic queen.

In "The Bamboozling of Bazalob", Derry and Jude are carried in a giant travelling pot to rescue their cousin Katie, from Bazalob, a gross mix of beast, bird and fish.In "The Flying Shoes" Sissy and Sam find two giant shoes in a field, in which they fly to the horrible home of Slobsky, a child-eating giant. Will they be able to rescue Milly and Moll, the giant's daughters and prisoner, Wendy?In “The Bamboozling of Bazalob", Derry and Jude are carried in a giant travelling pot to rescue their cousin Katie, from Bazalob, a gross concoction of beast, bird and fish. The children are guided by Mikono, the spirit of the pot and en route they enlist the help of bouncing Blodder, weird Gingali and reluctant Sydney, before finding Katie, who luckily was not to Bazalob’s taste!In “The Flying Shoes” Sissy and Sam find two giant shoes in a field and when they climb in, fly to the horrible home of Slobsky, a child-eating giant. There they find Milly and Moll, his unhappy daughters and Wendy, trapped in a wheel. Will they escape with the girls before Slobsky seizes them for supper?

"In the Eye of the Storm" is a collection of verse in three sections, from "Demeter's Dance", where aspects of nature are sometimes threatened by neglect or interference and "Breakages" - emotional responses to love and life, to poems prompted by Greece in "Moonbirds and Wild Water." They are hopefully impressions and thoughts of more than merely personal relevance."In the Eye of the Storm" is a collection of verse in three sections. "Demeter's Dance" conveys mysterious or disquieting aspects of nature. In the poem "To Marcus by the Corn", the past one can feel locked beneath the earth of a Suffolk field, seems, momentarily, to uncannily possess the boy walking through the field with the poet.Demeter was the guardian goddess of the land which she let wither while searching for Persephone, her daughter, abducted by Hades and carried to the Underworld. The poem "Demeter" recalls her as a ghost, still wandering the fields and waiting to return. And in "Moon Hare" there is a recollection of the folk belief that a girl left by her lover turned into a white hare!In the section "Breakages", the experience of loss and regret is rife in such poems as "The Dream", conveying the unreachable, in "In Retrospect", comparing a lost love to "dark music in reluctant depths without expression", while turmoil and compassion surface in "The Final Piece", where the element that would complete a person's character, has gone astray.Youthful pessimism persists in "Drowned", bemoaning the loss of our universal soul and "The Butterflies" have but a fleeting beauty.The collection "Moonbirds and Wild Water" is inspired by Greece and her islands - from the birds that sang all night in Skiathos and thoughts on Santorini's volcano, to verse about Crete where I live - from the resilience of her mountain folk to the myth of the Minotaur in the Knossos labyrinth.

When a crocodile at the zoo snaps off one of Granny Pegg's legs she is not daunted. She simply gets a wooden one in "Granny Pegg's Great Chase."It proves invaluable in her pluckily offbeat capture of a thief...In "Granny Grinalot's Day in the Desert", a game granny - a keen keeper of pets, favours a camel and, while riding one at the zoo, has a disturbing dream about crossing the desert...When Granny Pegg loses a leg to a hungry crocodile at the zoo, she is undaunted and gets a wooden one,for which she finds many uses, from rolling pastry to beating time to the band in the park. But, in "Granny Pegg's Great Chase" the best use for it comes when she apprehends a thief in the corner shop and chases him through the market. And what better catapult than a wooden leg, knicker elastic and a potato?In "Granny Grinalot's Day in the Desert", a pet-loving granny grabs the chance to ride Snoots, a camel in the zoo. She takes with her Prattle, her pet parrot, and as she nods off, they are all soon plodding through the desert. But the day is hot, granny is thirsty and the nomads decide Prattle would make a tasty supper...

"Clumsilla's Flight Through Time" and "Taming of the Tokhashi" are two stories whisking children from their everyday lives to lands of unlikely dangers and delights.Clumsilla time travels with the help of Zigana, a celestial gipsy. In "Taming of the Tokhashi", Topsy and Turvy see the demise of a monster after adventures with exotic creatures and terrifying gods."Clumsilla's Flight Through Time" and "Taming of the Tokhashi" are two stories whisking children from their everyday lives to lands of compelling dangers and delights.Clumsilla meets Zigana, the celestial gipsy, who enables her to fly on a worn hearthrug (not a magic carpet), to the past inhabited by bad tempered giants, princesses, a witch and a dragon unable to breathe fire and then to a time of rocket science and menacing beings fashioned from flames.In "Taming of the Tokhashi", Topsy and Turvy emerge from the pot of Zazhak - a devilish being - and set out to seek the Tokashi - a fellow fiend. En route they encounter a magical phoenix, a prince and princess, a lost Indian elephant and a selection of unruly nature gods. But Viana, the kindly essence of the earth, helps them through.

Swot and Gemma - two unsuspecting schoolchildren - are chosen by enchantress Zophenas, to help her escape from the Underearth. They have to bring her three items that might do the trick; the soul of Waldo the warlock, the magic ointment that enables a witch to fly and a woman who has turned into a two-tailed cat. In return they will receive a starflash opal and six wishes.Zophenas is an enchantress but is trapped in the Underearth. How can she escape? She has heard of three possible ways; to find the soul of Waldo the warlock, to secure the magic ointment made by a witch, enabling her to fly and to capture a woman who has turned into a two-tailed cat.For these tasks she recruits two schoolchildren - Swot, with a gift for maths and his sister Gemma. They find Waldo, who recalls hiding his soul in a bird. But which one? They retrieve it but the ointment - guarded by giant toads - is still needed. Zophenas helps by turning the children briefly into black beetles. The ointment is secured and unbaptised babies, used to bind it - and now also black beetles - rescued from the home of Hagatha the witch. Swot and Gemma also capture the woman who turns into a two-tailed cat. But when Zophenas is freed and the children are offered the starflash opal and the wishes, they make a surprising and wise decision.

In "The Dipsy Dream House", Bobette, tired of her crumbling house, searches with her nephew Scrotty for a house that will look after itself. But, pitched into the past, they meet ghostly orphans and their pets instead. Later restored to life, they happily return home."The Fleeting Fame of Benjamin Sprockett" tells of Benjie, a boy with wings who joins the circus.Tired of repairing her old house, Bobette and her nephew Scrotty and Blimp, his ginger cat, go in search of a house that will look after itself. But in "The Dipsy Dream House" they are pitched by the estate agent into the past and instead of finding a house, are joined by three ghost children and their strange pets. On magically returning home, children and animals are restored to life and they all decide that living in the old house, is not such a bad idea after all.In "The Fleeting Fame of Benjamin Sprockett" Benjie is brought up in the hills by the grey fairies. He flies away, becomes Clown Number One in a circus and has several misadventures before being promoted to Star Turn, as he flies round the Big Top. But when claimed by his fairy mother and Mrs Sprockett, he chooses his real mum and becomes an ordinary boy again.

Earth has been ravaged by some catastrophe. But strange happenings and communities are emerging in these three tales - Gift of Green Fire, The Water Watchers and The Sun Steps of Shunai. People have fled, been overwhelmed or are reappearing bizarrely transformed. What future will unfold? These are ventures into fantasy, but also food for thought.Gift of Green Fire and Other Strange Encounters are futuristic fantasies after some cataclysm on Earth has caused chaos.In Gift of Green Fire, inspired by a notion of the late astronomer Carl Sagan, scientists settle on Khaeros, a comet with a city built in the ice and the seeds of extraordinary trees, engineered on earth planted in the snow!Simultaneously, on Khaeros, there is a megalomaniac scientist breeding a subservient yet telepathic race of beings who will help him dominate the comet and beyond. And there is another perverted scientist on Earth with similar aims and the idea of combining the qualities of man with those of trees!Meanwhile, how will Hal, the son of one of the scientists on Khaeros, who was accidentally left behind on Earth, survive?The trees on Khaeros, unable to control their roots through lack of gravity, run riot, while others, whose seeds escaped on Earth, prove more promising. With the rogue scientists overcome, can man's relationship with nature be restored?In The Water Watchers, Earth is magically transformed after some disaster affects the elements of water, fire, air and earth. The narrator is a bewildered survivor who wanders through the new world meeting the beings who have emerged from the upheaval and uncannily absorbed aspects of each element.The theme of the story is fear, from within and without. Why, for instance, are the people afraid to look at water? And there are refugees from earth attempting to live on another planet, who directly affect what happens on Earth. How can equilibrium be established?In The Sun Steps of Shunai, another world emerges from catastrophe - possibly a nuclear explosion. The people have uncanny intimations of what happened but wear masks for fear of what they will see in each other's eyes. They suffer the outlandishness of Shunai, an ardent worshipper of the sun as it reappears from within a pall of cloud. Balancing his delusions of grandeur is the newly sprung tree of regeneration, which some venerate and sense holds the key to survival. And there are centaurs!Man and beast are destined to merge. Will the tyranny of Shunai be averted?