Books with author Susan Price

A twenty-first-century corporation invades the domain of a warlike sixteenth-century Scottish clan in this “brilliantly imagined” time-travel adventure (Philip Pullman). The miraculous invention of a Time Tube has given Great Britain’s mighty FUP corporation unprecedented power, granting it unlimited access to the rich natural resources of the past. Opening a portal into sixteenth-century Scotland, the company has sent representatives back five hundred years to deal with the Sterkarms, a lawless barbarian clan that has plundered both sides of the English-Scottish border for generations. Among the first of the company’s representatives to arrive from the future, young anthropologist Andrea Mitchell finds herself strangely drawn to this primitive tribe of raiders and pillagers who, not surprisingly, view her as magical. As translator and liaison, she becomes enmeshed in the personal lives of these proud, savage folk, developing an especially strong emotional bond with Per, the handsome son of the ruthless Sterkarm chieftain, Toorkild. But the Sterkarms’ welcome does not extend to the FUP corporate despoilers from the future—and soon a fragile agreement between the untamable Scots and the interloping “Elves” begins to crumble. Suddenly war looms on the horizon, and when treachery on both sides ignites a firestorm of violence, Andrea will have to choose where her loyalties truly lie: with her coldhearted employers or with the barbarous kinfolk of the man she has come to love. A winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize and a finalist for the Carnegie Medal, called “enthralling” by Philip Pullman, the author of the His Dark Materials novels, Susan Price’s Sterkarm Handshake is a masterful blend of historical and science fiction critics have called “dazzling,” “exciting,” “memorable,” “thought provoking,” and “a thumping good page-turner.”

Elfgift's father is the king but his mother was not the queen. She was a beautiful elf-woman: pagan and not even human.And then the king, on his death-bed, leaves his kingdom to Elfgift, the 'elf's-get.' From that moment, Elfgift's three royal half-brothers want him dead.Armed warriors arrive at Elfgift's farm while he is away, hunting.He returns to find his home burned and his people slaughtered.Alone, he faces enemies who want his head.His only ally comes from the wood: Jarnseaxa, the Battle-woman, as elvish as his mother.Can she help him gain revenge and a crown? Or is she as great a threat as his royal brothers?A Gothic, Dark-Age fantasy.Originally published by Scholastic.

The Carnegie Medal winning modern classic. On a Midwinter night, a shaman demands a new-born baby girl from her slave-mother - and carries the child away in a hut that stalks across the snow on chicken legs. The new-born son of the Czar is imprisoned, for life, in a tiny room at the top of a tall tower because the Czar is afraid his son will outdo him. The slave’s daughter, and the princeling, both long for freedom but their search for it earns them vicious enemies - the ruthless Princess Margaretta, and Kuzma, the shape-shifting bear-shaman. Can the slave's-daughter and the prince survive? This classic novel, winner of the prestigious Carnegie Medal, is now available again as a large 'trade' paperback. Suitable for readers of 9 to teenage./p> "Whenever you poke your nose round the door, pack courage, and leave fear at home." The Ghost Drum is an original fairy-tale of shamans, shape-shifters, magic-battles, slaves and kings, set against darkness, Arctic cold, starlight and the brilliant jewel colours of folk-art. REVIEWS A find for lovers of folklore and fantasy. The Kirkus Review Price provides an icy, intense setting for her fantasy, which haunts almost as much as her unique characters. When she describes how, “the sky stars glitter in their darkness, and the snow-stars glisten in their whiteness, and between the two there hangs a shivering curtain of cold twilight,” readers will know they are in the palm of a writer whose magical eye for detail matches her ability to draw a story sweeping in scope. - Booklist A spell is indeed cast over the reader: ‘Words can alter sight and hearing, taste, touch and smell. Used with a higher skill they can make our senses clearer.’ Susan Price is happily blessed with this higher skill; it is the clarity of her prose which particularly impresses. It is difficult for an individual to attempt a form sharpened and clarified by generations of story tellers – a folk tale brightens with use and all the extraneous material wears away over the years. There is nothing out of place in THE GHOST DRUM: as in a spell every word counts: ‘The alphabet in the book spells out words you can say, but the alphabet in the drum spells out things that can never be said.’ The reverberations of this new-minted myth continue to echo after the story’s finished. - Mary Cutler Susan Price is an acclaimed author of over 60 books, which have been translated into many languages, including Japanese, Chinese and Russian. She has won several awards, including the Carnegie and the Guardian, and has been short-listed for the Whitbread. She is a founder member of the Authors Electric Collective (Find them on-line.) Visit her Amazon Author Page to find out more about her books, and links to her website and blogs.

The follow-up to the award-winning The Sterkarm Handshake: A woman’s return to Scotland’s barbaric past ensnares her in a web of intrigue, danger, and love. Andrea Mitchell once found acceptance and love among the Sterkarm clan in lawless 1500s Scotland when she gained access to Great Britain’s past via the FUP Corporation’s “Time Tube.” Since her return to the present, she has been unable to readjust to twenty-first century life. So when the company’s CEO, James Windsor, offers to send her back to the violent, colorful era—and her beloved Per Sterkarm—Andrea eagerly agrees. The past she reenters, however, is not the one she remembers. To avoid potential catastrophic effects on the future, FUP has sent her to a different dimension and an alternate sixteenth century. Here, she is a stranger to her former friends, including her onetime lover Per, who is preparing to marry a daughter of the hated Grannams, the Sterkarms’ sworn enemies. But the union is part of FUP’s insidious plan to plunder the past of its natural wealth. When the wedding goes brutally, tragically awry, Andrea finds herself caught in the middle, a pawn in a violent endgame devised by Windsor and his greedy cronies. And this time there may not be sanctuary for her among the proud, primitive folk she once admired—or even an escape forward to the future where she truly belongs. Susan Price’s The Sterkarm Handshake was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize. In A Sterkarm Kiss, the Carnegie Medal–winning author once again ingeniously blends historical and science fiction in a masterful time-travel adventure as thrilling and unforgettable as its acclaimed predecessor.

"Whenever you poke your nose round the door, pack courage, and leave fear at home."The Ghost Drum is a cruel fairy-tale of shamans, shape-shifters, magic-battles, slaves and kings, set against darkness, Arctic cold, starlight and the brilliant jewel colours of folk-art.On a Midwinter night, a shaman demands a new-born baby girl from her slave-mother - and carries the child away in a hut that stalks across the snow on chicken legs.The new-born son of the Czar is imprisoned, for life, in a tiny room at the top of a tall tower - because the Czar is afraid his son might outdo him.The slave’s daughter, and the princeling, both long for the freedom to live in their own way, but their search for freedom earns them vicious enemies - the ruthless Princess Margaretta, and Kuzma, the bear-shaman.Can the slave's-daughter and the prince survive?A classic children's novel, winner of the prestigious Carnegie Medal, now available again in paperback.REVIEWS>A find for lovers of folklore and fantasy.The Kirkus ReviewPrice provides an icy, intense setting for her fantasy, which haunts almost as much as her unique characters. When she describes how, “the sky stars glitter in their darkness, and the snow-stars glisten in their whiteness, and between the two there hangs a shivering curtain of cold twilight,” readers will know they are in the palm of a writer whose magical eye for detail matches her ability to draw a story sweeping in scope.Booklist A spell is indeed cast over the reader: ‘Words can alter sight and hearing, taste, touch and smell. Used with a higher skill they can make our senses clearer.’ Susan Price is happily blessed with this higher skill; it is the clarity of her prose which particularly impresses. It is difficult for an individual to attempt a form sharpened and clarified by generations of story tellers – a folk tale brightens with use and all the extraneous material wears away over the years. There is nothing out of place in THE GHOST DRUM: as in a spell every word counts: ‘The alphabet in the book spells out words you can say, but the alphabet in the drum spells out things that can never be said.’ The reverberations of this new-minted myth continue to echo after the story’s finished.Mary CutlerDownload a free sample, or click on ‘Look Inside’ to try the book.Susan Price is an acclaimed author of over 60 books, which have been translated into many languages, including Japanese, Chinese and Russian. She has won several awards, including the Carnegie and the Guardian, and has been short-listed for the Whitbread.She is a founder member of the Authors Electric Collective (Find them on-line.)Visit her Amazon Author Page to find out more about her books, and links to her website and blogs.

Time traveling corporate raiders target 16th-century Scotland—and face the legendary Sterkarm warriors—in this “enthralling . . . brilliantly imagined” series (Philip Pullman on The Sterkarm Handshake). James Windsor—leader of FUP, the twenty-first-century megacorporation that created a tunnel back to the past called the Time Tube—has no intention of giving up his plan to pillage resources from pristine sixteenth-century Scotland. Unfortunately for Windsor, the Sterkarm clan, who will do anything to protect their lands from invaders, continues to stand in his way. But if Windsor’s modern-day mercenaries, with their technology, rifles, and rocket launchers, can’t beat the primitive Sterkarm warriors, who can? And who could possibly understand the wild Scottish moors and the clan’s brutal ways better than the Sterkarms themselves? When FUP opens up a new portal, two universes of Sterkarms are pitted against each other, but anthropologist Andrea Mitchell—originally sent back in time by FUP to study the clan—will risk her life to save Per, the warrior she loves, and the community she has grown to call home. And when both sets of Sterkarms become wary of the twenty-first-century “Elves,” who shake on promises of friendship with one hand and commit murder with the other, they know there is only one way to protect their futures: join with the Grannams, and with each other, to destroy the tunnel, preventing the Elves from returning ever again. Perfect for fans of Outlander and Vikings, A Sterkarm Tryst is the epic conclusion to Susan Price’s award-winning Sterkarm Trilogy.

Create a fond memory of parent and child, cuddling together and giggling as they turn the pages of ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff.’Susan Price, who wrote the words, is a well-known writer for children and young people, who won the prestigious Carnegie medal for her work. Andrew Price is an accomplished graphic artist who provides illustrations full of humour, colour and character.This well-known, traditional story of ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’ tells how the goats outwit a troll and live to feast on the greener grass at the other side of the bridge.Each page is packed with detail. It’s told in a vivid, comic-book style, with sound-effects arching across pages and the words in many speech-bubbles begging to be shouted aloud. Plenty of opportunity to enjoy making a noise together!The text is short, but full of repeated phrases and rhymes. Children will soon be able to join in the telling, as well as learning to recognise many of the printed words.Early prowess in reading pays dividends throughout a child’s education: and learning to listen to and follow a story is a valuable skill in itself. Encouraging a love of stories and reading is perhaps the greatest boost a parent can give to their child’s education — as well as the opportunity to be close and enjoy the tale.If you and your child love reading funny, exciting, page-turning picture-books together, then you’ll both love Susan and Andrew Price’s fresh retelling of ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff.’Buy ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’ by Susan and Andrew Price for cuddles and giggles today!There’s also a Three Billy Goats’ Activity Book where children can colour in the pictures and help Little Goat fill in words and letters missing from the story. Very good for reading and writing practice!This book is by a UK author, but the wording of this book complies with US spelling.

"I choose the slain!"A pagan king lies dying. With his last words, he leaves his kingdom to his son, Elfgift.But Elfgift is a bastard and a half-thing: the king's son by a beautiful elf-woman.The king has other sons, legitimate sons by his saintly Christian queen. Those sons have no intention of seeing their kingdom ruled by a pagan elf's get.They send armed men to murder Elfgift and burn his farmstead. They think themselves rid of their troublesome half-brother.But Elfgift is not alone. He has a powerful ally: the Battle-woman, Jarnseaxa. She fetches Elfgift out of this world and teaches him to fight for his life and his crown.

'Are you cold, my children? Are you cold?'The Northlands are dying… The trees are cut down to build ships and cities, the animals and people slaughtered.The young witch, Shingebiss, pleads with the ancient shaman, her grandmother to save the land. But the shaman refuses because, 'All things must change. All things must die.'After her Grandmother’s death, Shingebiss travels to the Imperial City, to ‘spell the Czar,’ and save the NorthlandsBut the Czar is mad – his mind ‘like a broken mirror, reflecting many things and all crookedly.’The only advice he heeds is that of the English wizard, Master Jenkins. He has promised to make the Czar a potion which will make him immortal. But Jenkins is a fraud.When Shingebiss arrives at court, with her true magic, the Czar takes her for an angel, sent to him by God. With her dark colouring, she becomes 'The Czar's Black Angel.'The English wizard is jealous of Shingebiss. He tells the Czar that the most important ingredient for the Elixir of Immortality is the blood of an angel.The Czar fears death even more than he loves his angel.Can Shingebiss survive the fear, jealousy and hatred at the Czar's court?This is the third book in the Ghost World Sequence, which begins with the Carnegie winning 'The Ghost Drum' and continues with 'Ghost Song.'REVIEWSIn Ghost Dance, Price transports us to the palace of a Czar whose avarice and suspicion are destroying the beautiful Northlands... Here again, the complete seriousness and integrity of the writing makes for a quietly terrifying read. Highly recommended.Guinevere VaughanThis third book of the sequence is still rich and deeply powerful. It’s full of the physical awfulness of human existence and human fears and the magic of storytelling which veers between the safe and the dangerous, the fascinating and the uncomfortable.Books For KeepsDownload a free sample, or click on ‘Look Inside’ to try the bookSusan Price is an acclaimed author of over 60 books, which have been translated into many languages, including Japanese, Chinese and Russian. She has written for almost every age-group, and has won several awards, including the Carnegie and the Guardian, and has been short-listed for the Whitbread.She is a founder member of the Authors Electric Collective (Find them on-line.)Vist her Amazon Author Page to find out more about her books, and links to her website and blogs.

It’s midsummer and midnight: the endless white night of the far north. Malyuta, a slave and hunter, feels richer than the Czar because he holds his first new-born, a son. He names the baby ‘Ambrosi’ which means immortal.Then comes Kuzma, the shape-shifting bear-shaman, who demands the baby from him. The child was born to Kuzma’s apprentice in witchcraft. “Give him to me,” says Kuzma. In return for the baby, he will make Malyuta rich or even return his youth.Malyuta refuses. All through the long summer night, he refuses. The hour of midnight passes and the shaman leaves but as he goes, he tells Malyuta that the baby he holds is a world-walker, a child of the Iron Ash, born to be a shaman. “Keep him, little man, and he will bring you misery!”Ambrosi grows into a beautiful, bright little boy, adored by his father. When Malyuta’s beloved wife dies, he finds comfort in his child.Every winter, Malyuta has to leave the village on hunting trips. He leaves Ambrosi behind in the care of his grandparents. At the end of each trip he hurries home, eager to see his son again but on each return finds the villagers fear Ambrosi more and more. The child is uncanny, they say. Malyuta must take him away.Malyuta leaves the village forever, taking Ambrosi with him. From then on, Ambrosi shares his father’s life and learns to be a hunter. In their small tent, in the vast frozen darkness of the arctic, Ambrosi dreams that a white bear comes to him. It is the bear-shaman, calling on him to follow his true nature.Ambrosi learns that there can be no peace for him until he accepts that he is a child of the Iron Ash and a world-walker. But he cannot bear to abandon the ageing Malyuta, whom he loves. He promises to become Kuzma’s apprentice after his father is dead.But the cruel bear-shaman is not prepared to wait. If Malyuta’s life is all that prevents Ambrosi becoming his apprentice, then Malyuta’s death will come soon.Is there any way that Ambrosi can protect his father and escape from the bear-shaman?If you like mythic tales with fascinating villains and vivid imagery, then you’ll love Susan Price’s stark classic.Buy Ghost Song to dream of the northlands today.