A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo...

His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a glass: he had a hairy face.

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Kidnapped By Robert Louis Stevenson

Published in 1886, the same year as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped is one of Stevenson’s most enduringly popular novels. At its centre is a historical event: the murder of Colin Campbell, the ‘Red Fox’ of Glenure in Scotland. The fiction that is developed around this event involves the child David Balfour whose father dies leaving his son with nothing to live on. David goes to live with his uncle Ebenezer. Ebenezer is a cruel and miserly individual. As a result of the illegality of his acquisition of the Balfour estate he instigates a series of malicious manoeuvres against David. Firstly he attempts to have the boy killed and then has him kidnapped. So David finds himself on a ship to the Carolinas accompanied by Alan Breck, an ‘honest gentleman’ and Jacobite. As fate would have it, the ship is wrecked on the rocks at Mull. The novel then follows David and Alan as they journey across the Highlands through numerous dangers and after witnessing and becoming suspects in the murder of Colin Campbell. The novel concludes with resolution, but the continuing Colin Campbell murder case and the later actions and romance of David are the subjects of Kidnapped’s sequel, Catriona (1893).

City of Masks by Mike Reeves-McMillan

City of Masks is a swashbuckling adventure in a setting reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Italy (complete with twins). In the city-state of Bonvidaeo, by custom and law everyone must wear a mask and act in character with it, or face civil, social and religious penalties. Gregorius Bass is sent to Bonvidaeo as the Envoy of Calaria, primarily to get him out from underfoot. Masked as the Innocent Man, and in the company of his radical young Bonvidaoan servant, Bass stumbles into mystery, intrigue, heresy and murder.

Hack by Peter Wrenshall

In his gripping new Young Adult novel, Hack, Peter Wrenshall gets at the heart and soul of the teenage computer criminal. Karl Ripley is lonely and isolated. His mother works the late shift at the local casino, and to while away the time, he begins to hack into other people’s computers. At first it’s fun and exciting, and by the time he’s sixteen, he breaks into the Pentagon computers, an act that the FBI calls the biggest military hack ever. But then Karl’s friend turns him in, an act of betrayal that has Karl obsessed with revenge.

Two days before his release from prison, Karl is offered a job by the FBI. They want him to be bait for a terrorist who is recruiting young hackers to steal important state secrets. Karl begins to juggle his FBI undercover work, and his plot to get even with his friend, and all seems to be working until he meets and falls for a young woman. But is she what she seems to be? As Karl wrestles with his old life of crime and his desire for happiness with this woman, he discovers that his life is in danger.

Cold Hillside by Martin Cooper

Giles, my sibling, my Mephistophilis. You lie whenever it suits you, but when you lie to me surely you can take the trouble to make it convincing?

Simon Coltraine is a professional songwriter and musician. His brother Giles – trader, rogue and amiable bully – is a crook. When Giles is killed in a car accident Simon returns to their childhood home to confront his memories and his own tacit complicity in his brother’s schemes.

The Devil has all the best tunes.

Five Stories by Martin Cooper

The Hidden Realm by Adrian Kyte

Gerrid Lytum believes he has found a new way of finding freedom, a place of endless expanse – and fantasy – that can be entered with a single command.

A secret cabal known as the Group of Nine are manipulating world events, controlling governments, planning their final solution. But the Nine rely on their key players – those with the power of persuasion, the innovators, the technologists.

Not all can be persuaded; not all can be fooled. A covert resistance movement, led by the son of a murdered tycoon, attempt to defeat the conspirators. And with some powerful allies, this may not seem such an impossible mission.However, the Nine are not without their own powerful support working behind the scenes.

Breathless(Episode 1-7) by V. J. Chambers

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7

Jason races into Azazel’s life–sweaty, tortured, and hunted by covert forces. Even though her football-player boyfriend doesn’t like it, Azazel is drawn to Jason. He’s so complicated. He gets in fistfights, but always wins them–efficiently and thoroughly. He reads Plato and argues with their AP teacher. But he’s also quiet and serious, haunted by a past he won’t talk about. Azazel feels obsessed. She can’t let anything get in the way of finding out Jason’s secrets, not even her boyfriend, her friends, or her parents. Most importantly, no matter how dangerous Jason claims it is for her to be near him, she can’t let him leave.

As menace begins to surface from even the most trusted and familiar places, Azazel finds herself flung into a whirlwind of sinister motives and clandestine proceedings. Though Azazel evades each escalating danger, her feelings for Jason may prove to be the greatest danger of all.

Breathless, a young adult romance-thriller, is updated Mondays and Thursdays.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

The vampire Victoria (James's mate from Twilight) has created an army of "newborn" vampires to battle the Cullen family and murder Bella for revenge. Meanwhile, Bella is impelled to choose between her relationship with Edward and her friendship with Jacob. Edward's vampire family and Jacob's werewolf pack join forces to successfully destroy Victoria and her vampire army. In the end, Bella chooses Edward's love over Jacob's and agrees to marry him.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Edward and his family leave Forks because he believes he is endangering Bella's life. Bella falls into a deep depression, until she develops a strong friendship with werewolf Jacob Black. Jacob and the other werewolves in his tribe must protect her from Victoria, a vampire seeking to avenge her mate James' death, by killing Bella. A misunderstanding occurs, and Edward believes Bella is dead. Edward decides to commit suicide in Volterra, Italy, but he is stopped by Bella, who is accompanied by Edward's sister, Alice. They meet with the Volturi, a powerful coven of vampires, and are released on the condition that Bella be turned into a vampire in the near future. Bella and Edward are reunited, and she and the Cullens return to Forks.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Bella Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to live with her father in Forks, Washington to allow her mother to travel with her new husband, a minor league baseball player. After moving to Forks, Bella finds herself involuntarily drawn to a mysterious, handsome boy, Edward Cullen. She eventually learns that he is a member of a vampire family who drinks animal blood rather than human. Edward and Bella fall in love, but James, a sadistic vampire from another coven, is drawn to hunt down Bella. Edward and the other Cullens defend Bella. She escapes to Phoenix, Arizona, where she is tricked into confronting James, who tries to kill her. She is seriously wounded, but Edward rescues her and they return to Forks, having killed James.