Books with author M Somerville

Dark things are massing from the remotest corners of the Immaterum, where the realm fractures and merges with other inhospitable regions. These are the lost and insane; demons, spirits and ancient gods without names or worshippers. Something is calling and uniting them with deadly purpose.Because of his close affinity with the Immaterium Professor Abbacus can hear the monsters coming. He has fought them before, back in 1895 when they were united by the Martians. But he can’t understand them or determine their new mission. At his wits’ end he is finally forced to seek help from an old enemy.Meanwhile another blast from his past finally reaches the Nocturnal Academy. This person has been hunting him for decades, following minute clues across the country, but for what purpose? To rekindle an old friendship? Or to kill him for leaving them behind?To fight the approaching evil everyone at the Nocturnal Academy must be on high alert for anything even slightly out of the ordinary. Because even the sweet old folks of the Appleton Seniors Meditation and Tai Chi Group might not be exactly who they appear.

Professor Icarus Abbacus returns to the Nocturnal University, in search of the late Victoria’s daughter, Vicky Hendrickson. Armed with a grainy, black-and-white photo, all he knows is that she is most definitely alive and now in possession of her mother’s cursed amulet.As he starts investigating, he uncovers sightings of strange creatures, unusual by even supernatural standards; a playful humanoid octopus, a half-wolf, half-bat being and a weird spider were. Could these be some of Vicky’s new forms?He also learns about a gruesome murder, in which a werewolf’s body was found dumped in an alley minus all of its internal organs. Could Vicky have committed the awful crime in an attempt to discover what had happened to her?Also looking into the crime is the Nocturnal University’s formidable chief of police, Captain Butterworth, and he absolutely will not tolerate any interference from dusty old academics.Can Icarus, with the help of his friends Nigel, Muriel, Malcolm and Kim, keep out of the police’s way while using all the skills at his disposal to track down Vicky and maybe catch a killer?Also available in this series:Nocturnal University 1 - Higher LearningNocturnal University 2 - Course of Destruction

An August Sunday afternoon in the north side of Dublin. Epitome of all that is hot, arid, and empty. Tall brick houses, browbeating each other in gloomy respectability across the white streets; broad pavements, promenaded mainly by the nomadic cat; stifling squares, wherein the infant of unfashionable parentage is taken for the daily baking that is its substitute for the breezes and the press of perambulators on the Bray Esplanade or the Kingstown pier. Few towns are duller out of the season than Dublin, but the dulness of its north side neither waxes nor wanes; it is immutable, unchangeable, fixed as the stars. So at least it appears to the observer whose VOL. i.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at

Nocturnal Academy Omnibus Books 1-3Nocturnal AcademyAlice Dibble, about to start high-school, is accepted into the prestigious Nocturnal Academy, a school for supernatural creatures. Alice is both overjoyed and horrified to discover that she is a vampire.To make things even more interesting, her worst enemy, Toby Thompson, has also been selected. He is a werewolf.But before Alice can even start at the Nocturnal Academy she must come to terms with her new identity, defeat Toby’s old bully friends who have discovered the truth about her, and expose a local coven that wants to raise the Demon-Lord Vladrakov.Nocturnal Academy 2 – Teacher’s PetAlice Dibble has finally made it to the Nocturnal Academy, and is ready to start lessons at the exclusive private school. She believes she is about to be trained to become a nocturnal defender of the Earth against the chaotic hordes of the Immaterium, and is ready to face up to this noble challenge.Unfortunately, when she arrives she discovers that the Nocturnal Academy isn’t that different from her old school. Lessons are tedious, equipment is old and broken, bats roosting in the rafters keep dropping presents on her notebook - and then there is scullery duty, which involves taking rubbish out to the epic compost heap, known to swallow children whole.Alice’s new friend Toby, once a popular kid at her primary school, has become an outcast; her old enemy Carla needs help to learn how to change into her new animal form, and a little omniwere boy who can only change into tiny creatures has developed a crush on her.Alice must also learn how to use her new vampire powers responsibly without succumbing to the lure of the darkness.To make matters worse, Professor Abbacus, a teacher Alice thought liked her, now seems to want to kill her. It is all Alice can do to keep one step ahead of him and all of his devious, convoluted plans to punish her for the destruction of the Holloway Grimoire.Nocturnal Academy 3 – Immaterial GirlWorn out after her first three terms at the Nocturnal Academy, Alice Dibble finds she needs help to sleep. At a low ebb, she accidentally allows some Immaterial imps to influence her thought patterns, and uses her superior mental powers to push her unhealthy father into exercising. When he collapses from a heart-attack, Alice is overcome with guilt.At the same time, Alice and her vampire friend Milly become involved with a Magick group at the Rainbow Tiger store in Appleton Mall. They are trying to open a portal to the Magick Earth. Although Alice has second thoughts, Milly travels through with them.When Milly’s distraught parents arrive at the school, Alice is forced to reveal everything. Professor Abbacus proclaims that he and Alice will easily bring Milly back as he knows his way around the Magick Earth. Toby and Carla volunteer to come as well. However, only Alice, Toby and Carla make it through; the portal at the Rainbow Tiger contains a failsafe that prevents the Professor from following. The three children must track their classmate down on their own. They receive help from a wererat named Skittles, but discover that Milly has been captured and sentenced to die the very next morning!Also available in this series:Nocturnal Academy 1-20Nocturnal University 1-3Also available by Ethan Somerville for younger readers:Lockout: an action-packed futuristic adventure about teenagers who discover they have psychic powers.Return to Atlantis; a teenage romance about a young girl who falls in love with a rock star.

The kitchen at Tally Ho generally looked its best at teno clock in the morning. I ts best is, in this case, a relative term, implying the temporary concealment of the plates, loaves of bread, dirty rubbers, and jampots full of congealed dripping that usually adorned the tables, and the sveeping of out-lying potato-skins and cinders into a chasm beneath the disused hot hearth. When these things had been done, and Bid Sal and her bare feet had been effaced into some outer purlieu, Norry felt that she was ready to receive the Queen of England if necessary, and awaited the ordering of dinner with her dress let down to its full length, a passably clean apron, and an expression of severe and exalted resignation. On the morning VOL. III.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at

Excerpt from The Real Charlotte, Vol. 2 of 3This courtesy-title, the expression of Norry's supremest contempt and triumph, was accompanied by a sudden onslaught with the hearth-brush, but long before it could reach them, the ladies referred to had left the room by the open window.The room was very quiet after Norry had gone away. Francie took the evicted holding of the cats, and fell speedily into a doze induced by the unwonted half glass of whisky. Her early dinner, an unappetising meal of boiled mutton and rice pudding, was but a short interlude in the dullness of the morning; and after it was eaten, a burning tract of afternoon extended itself between her and Mr. Dysart's promised visit. She looked out of the window at the sailing shreds of white cloud high up in the deep blue of the sky, at the fat bees swinging and droning in the purple blossoms of the columbine border, at two kittens playing furiously in the depths of the mignonette bed; and regardless of Charlotte's injunctions about the heat of the sun.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The killing of the lion which had been named Cecil by researchers, in Zimbabwe by an American dentist in July 2015 led to media coverage of an unprecedented nature. As David Macdonald of WildCRU, which was studying the lion and his pride, the media hits on the story were greater than for any previous conservation story in living memory. But the tone and content of the stories was also as important as the scale. The use of language was hyperbolic, the attention to detail poor and the use of sources fell outside what is normally considered good journalistic practice. This study analyses the coverage of the story in the British media and the likely effects for the understanding of lion conservation and wildlife in general. The study looks at the way that the coverage of the killing of the lion represented a media feeding frenzy generating a burst of moral outrage. The silver lining is that it may have sparked a useful debate on the relationship between conservation, hunting and lion survival which could have constructive consequences for the future of the African lion.

Seventeen year-old Carrie Garland wakes suddenly in her cabin aboard the famous cruise liner, the Queen of the Ocean. It is four thirty in the morning, and she is alone.As she searches for her family she starts to notice odd things, like new paintings in the gallery, an old-fashioned pub in the Atrium and for some reason all the decks are numbered “thirteen”.Why is the clock on her phone stuck? Why has the ship’s name suddenly changed to the Moon Princess? Why are so many passengers dressed in old-fashioned clothes? What are that battleship and pirate sloop doing, lurking on the horizon? When will the sun finally rise?And where are her family?Carrie soon finds herself at the centre of a mystery that is literally out of this world.

In the dystopian future of 2178, cyborg soldier Mission is sent to undertake a special job – a journey into the past to assassinate the source of a dangerous temporal anomaly threatening to disrupt all of time and space.Meanwhile, in the present day, Patrick Baker is starting year eleven and finally realising that he will never be as strong, handsome or smart as he thought he would be. His increasingly elaborate lies have made him a target for bullies and thugs. He believes there is no hope he meets a girl named Sam and a freak accident at the local skating rink unlocks his true mental potential.Paddy Baker discovers that he’s actually a genius.But before Paddy can start enjoying his new acuity, the cyborg Mission arrives to kill him.Paddy, his mother Emily, her strange cockney friend Linnet and Paddy’s girlfriend Sam find themselves drawn into the strangest adventure yet; spanning three different time-periods and journeying across the post-apocalyptic landscape of Australia 2178 to the Oasis, an artificial paradise on the shores of a new inland sea.They must confront the evil mad scientist responsible for the creation of time travel. But Dr Douglas Grayson runs "the Sire", a powerful scientific organisation, and knows they are coming for him. He is lying in wait with more soldiers, cybernetic assassins – and his fully functional time-machine.Also available by Ethan Somerville for younger readers:The Nocturnal Academy 1-16The Nocturnal University 1-2Lockout, an action-packed futuristic adventure about teenagers who discover they have psychic powers.By Ethan Somerville and Emma Daniels for teenagers:Return to Atlantis, an exciting sci-fi romance about a girl who falls in love with a rock star who is really an exiled Atlantean rebel.