Jacey’s Kingdom is an enthralling tale that revolves around a startlingly desperate reality: Jacey Jackson, a talented student destined for Cambridge, collapses with a brain tumour while sitting her final history exam at school. In her mind she struggles through a quasi-historical sixth century dreamscape whilst the surgeons fight to save her life. Jacey is helped by a stranger called George, who finds himself trapped in her nightmare after a terrible car accident. There are quests, battles, and a love story ahead of them, before we find out if Jacey will awake from her coma or perish on the operating table. And who, or what, is George? In this book, Dave Weaver questions our perception of reality and the redemptive power of dreams; are our experiences of fear, conflict, friendship and love any less real or meaningful when they take place in the mind rather than the ‘real’ physical world? Dave Weaver has been writing for ten years, with short stories published in anthologies, magazines and online in the UK and USA. Jacey's Kingdom is his first published novel. He cleverly weaves a tale that takes the almost unimaginable drama of an eighteen year-old girl whose life is in the balance, relying on modern surgery to bring her back from the brink, and conceives the world that she has constructed in her mind to deal with the trauma happening to her body. Developing the friendship between Jacey and George in a natural and witty style, despite their unlikely situation and the difference in their ages, Dave has produced a story that is both exciting and thought-provoking. This book will be a must-read story for adults and young adults alike.

September Weekes is accustomed to teasing and bullying because of her white hair, tubby figure and silly name, but the discovery of a clear, smooth stone at her home casts her into a struggle between good and evil that will present her with sterner challenges. The stone takes her to Gwlad, the Land, where the people hail her as the Cludydd o Maengolauseren, the bearer of the starstone, with the power to defend them against the evil known as the Malevolence. September meets the leader of the people and the bearers of the seven metals linked to the seven ‘planets’. Each metal gives the bearer specialised powers to resist the manifestations of the Malevolence; manifestations such as the comets known as Draig tân, fire dragons. She returns to her home, but is drawn back to the Land a fortnight later to find that two years have passed and the villagers have experienced more destructive attacks by manifestations. September must now help defend Gwlad against the Malevolence. Seventh Child is the first volume in a thrilling new fantasy series, Evil Above the Stars, by Peter R. Ellis, that will appeal to anyone who likes fantasy, especially fans of JRR Tolkien and Stephen Donaldson. If old theories are correct until a new idea comes along, does the universe change with our perception of it? Were the ideas embodied in alchemy ever right? What was the basis of Celtic mythology? Although ostensibly a fantasy for young adults, it is can just as easily be seen as science fiction, and will appeal to readers of all ages.

A new Emperor has arisen ... and the Empire is collapsing into chaos. Having escaped from the Golden City, Elaine, Johan and their friends – including some strange allies with goals of their own – race desperately towards Ida, hiding place of the ancient Witch-King. Behind them, the armies of the new Emperor – a man permanently poised on the verge of madness – give chase, unleashing monsters and spells from the long-buried past on everyone who stands in their way. Ahead of them, the Witch-King waits, biding his time as he prepares for his ascension. As they endure terrible dangers – and figures from the past – Elaine and Johan come to realise that Elaine’s knowledge of magic and the bond between them may be the only thing standing between the Witch-King and godhood. But if they cannot prepare a defence in time, the entire world will die when the Witch-King rises from his tomb ... The fourth and final instalment in the Bookworm series, Full Circle follows on from the events in The Best Laid Plans, with Elaine and her friends heading for Ida to confront the Witch-King.

Racing against time, Jade and her friends must hide evidence of Life on Mars to stop the probes from Earth finding them Jade is on her way to meet up with her dad, Elvis, for her sixteen-millionth birthday (tortles live a long time in spite of the harsh conditions on Mars), when she gets side-tracked by a strange object that appears to have fallen from the sky. Elvis’ travelling companion Starkwood, an electrostatic plant, is hearing voices, claiming that “The Vikings Are Coming”, while their football-pitch-sized flying friend Fionix confirms the rumour: the Earth has sent two craft to look for life on Mars. It then becomes a race against time to hide any evidence of such life before Earth destroys it for good. Can Jade and her friends succeed, with help from a Lung Whale, a liquid horse, some flying cats, the Hellas Angels, the Pyrites and a couple of House Martins from the South of France? Oh, and a quantum tunnelling worm – all while avoiding Zombie Vegetables and trouble with a Gravity Artist and the Physics Police?! A gentle and lightly humorous science fantasy adventure. Cover artwork and illustrations: Natascha Booth “Life on Mars is fantasy on steroids. Instead of swords and magic potions, we have the ‘magic’ science of quantum physics and relativity theory, channeled through what feels like a hallucinogenic dream. My favourite character is a quantum-tunneling worm, but the author’s fevered imagination provides us with a menagerie of almost equally bizarre creatures, on a mission to save the world — their world, that is, not ours. Suspend disbelief, strap in for the ride, and enjoy.” – John Gribbin, Scientist, science writer and author of In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality

September is back home and it is still the night of her birthday, despite her having spent over three months in Gwlad battling the Malevolence at the seventh conjunction of the planets. She no longer has the Maengolauseren nor the powers it gave her. It is back to facing the bullies at school and her struggles with her weight and studies, but she worries about how well the people of Gwlad have recovered from the terror of the Malevolence. She is also unsure what happened to Malice/Mairwen as the Cemegwr said that Toddfa penbaladr, the universal solvent, would join the twins together. Is Malice inside her? Could she turn to evil? She must discover a way to return to the universe of Gwlad and the answer seems to lie in her family history. The five Cludydds before September and her mother were her ancestors. The clues take her on a journey in time and space which reveals that while in great danger she is also the key to the survival of all the universes. September must overcome her own fears, accept an extraordinary future and, once again, face the evil above the stars. Unity of Seven is the third volume in the thrilling fantasy series, Evil Above the Stars, by Peter R. Ellis, that appeals to readers, of all ages, of fantasy or science fiction, especially fans of JRR Tolkien and Stephen Donaldson. If old theories are correct until a new idea comes along, does the universe change with our perception of it? Were the ideas embodied in alchemy ever right? What realities were the basis of Celtic mythology?

The Curlew Chronicles series opens with The Magician in the Attic, a story about Alexander Roebuck, a young magician coached by a mysterious recluse called Francis Curlew. Just before his fourteenth birthday, Alex first comes to the attention of the legendary Curlew and is taken under his wing. Like any other fourteen year-old, Alex has to contend with all that family, friends, school and the local busy-bodies throw at him. If he is to realise his dream of being a renowned illusionist, he must respect the older man’s seemingly strange obsession with privacy and seclusion. He wants to learn from his mentor more than anything else, but that means hours of practice, keeping secrets from his mum and his best friend, and gaining experience in (mis)directing the attention of an audience. Alex soon persuades his form tutor to let him perform some illusions as part of the forthcoming school play. Is he ready for the audience… and are they ready for him?

The title, Existence is Elsewhen, paraphrases the last sentence of André Breton’s 1924 Manifesto of Surrealism, perfectly summing up the intent behind this anthology of stories from a wonderful collection of authors. Different worlds… different times. It’s what Elsewhen Press has been about since we launched our first title in 2011. Here, we present twenty science fiction stories for you to enjoy. We are delighted that headlining this collection is the fantastic John Gribbin, with a worrying vision of medical research in the near future. Future global healthcare is the theme of J A Christy’s story; while the ultimate in spare part surgery is where Dave Weaver takes us. Edwin Hayward’s search for a renewable protein source turns out to be digital; and Tanya Reimer’s story with characters we think we know, gives us pause for thought about another food we take for granted. Evolution is examined too, with Andy McKell’s chilling tale of what states could become if genetics are used to drive policy. Similarly, Robin Moran’s story explores the societal impact of an undesirable evolutionary trend; while Douglas Thompson provides a truly surreal warning of an impending disaster that will reverse evolution, with dire consequences. On a lighter note, we have satire from Steve Harrison discovering who really owns the Earth (and why); and Ira Nayman, who uses the surreal alternative realities of his Transdimensional Authority series as the setting for a detective story mash-up of Agatha Christie and Dashiel Hammett. Pursuing the crime-solving theme, Peter Wolfe explores life, and death, on a space station; while Stefan Jackson follows a police investigation into some bizarre cold-blooded murders in a cyberpunk future. Going into the past, albeit an 1831 set in the alternate Britain of his Royal Sorceress series, Christopher G. Nuttall reports on an investigation into a girl with strange powers. Strange powers in the present-day is the theme for Tej Turner, who tells a poignant tale of how extra-sensory perception makes it easier for a husband to bear his dying wife’s last few days. Difficult decisions are the theme of Chloe Skye’s heart-rending story exploring personal sacrifice. Relationships aren’t always so close, as Susan Oke’s tale demonstrates, when sibling rivalry is taken to the limit. Relationships are the backdrop to Peter R. Ellis’s story where a spectacular mid-winter event on a newly-colonised distant planet involves a Madonna and Child. Coming right back to Earth and in what feels like an almost imminent future, Siobhan McVeigh tells a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of using technology to deflect the blame for their actions. Building on the remarkable setting of Pera from her LiGa series, and developing Pera’s legendary Book of Shadow, Sanem Ozdural spins the creation myth of the first light tree in a lyrical and poetic song. Also exploring language, the master of fantastika and absurdism, Rhys Hughes, extrapolates the way in which language changes over time, with an entertaining result.