Books published by publisher Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

Flora, an Ameraucana chicken, goes on an adventure with Marge, the farmer’s wife, while the rest of the flock waits anxiously at Featherfield Farm. They wonder why Flora was taken away and imagine where she is going. While the hens ponder her fate, Flora has the time of her life. Marge learns something new about Flora, and the children in Essex are amazed at Flora’s ability. After all, isn’t Flora just a chicken? Colorful illustrations highlight the diversity of the hens, as well as the children, who take part in this adventure.

Little Norah is an endearing portrait timeline of a baby, young child, teenager, and then as an adult coming to terms with a unique trait she has inherited. Her hair grows very swiftly and is impossible to manage. As a child, she feels troubled that her head of hair keeps her from enjoying things as other children do. But even in a mangled head of hair, Little Norah learns to accept her unique, big, hard-to-manage locks as a part of who she is.

Hopping, skipping, and running with three purple frogs is a lot of fun.Along the way, I laugh and giggle a lot. Eventually, the three purple frogs hop faster than me and are soon out of sight.With the help of a little brown puppy, I go on a vibrant adventure to find the three purple frogs.We come upon colorful farm animals and objects that make our journey to find the three purple frogs very exciting.Won’t you come along?

The author’s grandfather (born 1832) was a farm worker and jobbing gardener who, unusually for the time, was a committed atheist. An autodidact, his education ended when he was eleven, but he became well enough read to be, from his soap box, a socialist scourge of Ayrshire aristocracy and to correspond regularly with Keir Hardie and George Bernard Shaw. His son, the author’s father (born 1882), worked his way from poverty to Glasgow University and subsequent Training College to become a schoolteacher, but later decided to take a BD degree at Edinburgh University and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. That did not find favour with his father, who told him never to darken the door of the family home in Girvan till he gave up “that daft dog collar”. That he never did, but the author, his son (born 1930), eventually followed his grandfather’s ways, rejecting his father’s. In due course he came to write this “apologia pro vita sua” as an atheist humanist. The book presents the view that all human experience, behaviour, thought, understanding and productive activity are the products of or depend on healthy human brains, educated and trained, to some extent, in the arts, sciences and the scientific method.The book proposes that the concept of “god” is unnecessary and differences in understanding or using it are a source of conflict or even wars which continue to threaten human progress and indeed the species as a whole. There is no need to invoke gods as the creators of man, the cosmos and systems of morality. Evolution and history demonstrate that such systems would emerge naturally and progressively without any “divine tutorials or interventions”.Rationality and the scientific method offer insightful and effective understanding and ameliorations of the human condition rather than dependence on supernatural and superstitious principles demanded by gods and their prophets. Humanists may sometimes adopt moral principles from religious precepts, but only if they can be validated by present human knowledge and experience.

In her first autobiography, Pants Optional, Carol Steingreaber offers a hilarious, unrestricted insight into her life thus far in Iowa, USA. The reader is a privileged passenger on the journey, invited to buckle up for the ride as Carol shares her stories from the sibling squabbles of childhood, to cringeworthy dating moments, marriage and various stages of motherhood. Her witty, "tell-it-straight" writing style conjures up images you can't help but laugh at, often accompanied by photos that speak a thousand (usually comical) words.Carol provides the reader with "UNconventional tips" on a whole range of themes such as housework and hospitals, illness and injury, Nerf guns and nudity, safety concerns and sex, friendship, faith and a great many more. Moments of eternal embarrassment are interspersed with flashes of comic/parenting genius, and every reader will find a nugget or three (or twenty!) to inspire them. A cracking read, and highly recommended.

An epidemic is running rampant in Pyke’s Cove. Dakken, a member of the Hunt, has the power to stop the disease from taking lives, but regulations about the use of essence are clear. Only those who are initiated into the Order of the Hunt are allowed to enjoy its powerful properties. Will the Lords of the Hunt allow the sick to be healed through the use of essence? The risk may be too high. The sick could become addicted to the powerful liquid and leave the supply of essence needed for the protection of the rest of Jaecar Island dangerously low.

Get yourself ready to hear the most wonderful story about an extraordinary, yet peculiar, bug! Spittle is his name and Spattle is soon to be his fame. One day very soon, he will have to save the day using his unique gift. At first, Spittle has a hard time making friends because all the other bugs think he is weird. Little do they realize the importance of Spittle's special ability. Watch and see as spittle gains the courage to rescue his soon-to-be friends. Some large creatures have decided to raid the quiet meadow that these bugs call home, and Spittle is the only one who can help them all to come out safe from harm. Adventure awaits as the reader feels more alive with the turn of each page. Sit back and explore this colorful book, and get a chance to discover your very own courage and understanding that it is okay to be different.

Peter Tryon's Confessions of a Piano Tuner is a charming, autobiographical tale of life spent travelling around rural East Anglia tuning pianos. But this is also a personal account from boyhood of how music and more specifically the mechanics of that wonderful instrument, fired early imagination and gave rise to a lifelong fascination and involvement with the piano.As much a social commentary on people, the anecdotes about different characters are filled with humour and the text is light and easy to read. The unspoiled beauty and charm of East Anglia provides a perfect backdrop to Peter Tryon's account, all combining together to make this a book that you won't want to put down.

In Doorways into Dying: Innovative Teaching for End of Life, Ingrid Rose and Kay Ryan present techniques and tools for communicating with those in out-of-ordinary states of consciousness such as those found in dementia, coma or the dying experience. Methods are presented that are useful to medical staff, caregivers, relatives and friends in making links between the outside world and the inner worlds of those who are ostensibly unable to communicate. The slight movement of a finger, the flicker of an eyelid, and other signals, are the building blocks of communication, useful in gaining understanding of the needs of the patient.This book describes how we can approach those who are ill, near death, or dying, in a way that values all experience as holding potential meaning for the person. How to connect with others in order to support them on their journeys is laid out here through the introduction of theoretical concepts, case studies and examples, as well as exercises for reader to practise.

If the Japanese enter the war on Hitler's side...our cause is hopeless.Maj. General Arkady Kozakovtsev, Chief of Operations, Soviet Far East ArmyWhat if? What if the Japanese had decided to fight with the Germans? What if Hitler had continued towards Moscow instead of turning south towards Kiev? With thorough research and knowledge, McDonald takes the reader through Japanese military history showing how their ancestry and modern history impacted decisions made by military leaders preceding the Second World War. Drawing well informed conclusions, connecting the Russians, Japanese and Germans through detailed analysis, McDonald presents an alternative outcome...