Books published by publisher Eric Johns

"At least you once had a life - and perhaps one day I'll have one," Seb tells his great-grandmother, but only occasional words draw a response. Her bitterness at being placed in an old people's home is fading as her memory melts away. During Seb's visits she scatters hints of a life she has kept secret from her family. Did she once have another identity? What did she do in the war? Why does no one know? And what has she forgotten that torments her?Seb tries to unravel her past and reconstruct her life. At times she falls silent and drifts away clinging to a fragment of memory. Then Seb is left to soliloquise about the dissatisfactions of his own life. He describes attempts to begin a relationship with a girl - any girl - and in desperation hits on the idea of an arranged romance. But his efforts are being sabotaged.

THE BIG SNIFF Just suppose that when you sniffed you could smell things that weren't there. It would be very confusing. Then suppose that when you sniffed you saw things that weren't there. That would be even worse. You wouldn't know where you were. The best thing to do would be to stop breathing - not completely, of course - but just to take small sniffs not big ones. Which is exactly what Abby tried to do. Then one day she forgot she wasn't supposed to breathe deeply and she took the biggest sniff in the whole history of the world - and something terrible happened.THE LAST QUARRYMAN John had one ambition. He wanted to be a quarryman like his great-grandfather. But that wasn't possible because when his great-grandfather quarried stone he tunnelled underground. Today's quarrymen just blast big holes in the ground. But the underground tunnels are still there and John planned to go and explore them which he'd been told never to do because they were dangerous. Then his snobby cousin Elaine came to stay and threatened to mess up all his careful plans unless he took her with him which would spoil everything.COUNT DRACULA'S DAYMARE and THE GREAT HEY PRESTO'S FINAL TRICK are two poems which are really very short stories.

When Amanda and Timmy build a snowman called Mr Crystal they want him to live forever. But warm weather is coming and Mr Crystal begins to shrink. As he gets smaller he becomes sillier and sillier and puts himself in danger. How can they stop him melting? Can Father Christmas help?There are five stories about the never-melting snowman. Read them all and discover how he helps Father Christmas and gets into lots of warm difficulties.

What do you do about a guard dragon who wants to change his job? What happens to a Prince who thinks he is so clever he doesn't need to go to school? Is it a good idea to use a skateboard that turns into a time machine? Is it really helpful to drink bottles of ancient liquid that have mysterious powers? And can telling yourself scary stories at bedtime make them come true? The stories in this book answer these and other peculiar questions! There are also three poems in this book. Two happen in the dark and one might happen at school and will get you into trouble if you do what it says!

"Quernstone is our valley. It's a different world from what most people know. But Fay is different from everyone else in Quernstone - the valley seems to guard her. It's as though she's two people in one." That, at least, is how Gavin sees things.When someone threatens to kidnap Fay she turns to the Ooser to save her and orders Gavin to wear the ancient mask. What happens next means disaster if anyone finds out. As usual, Gavin feels that it is Fay or the Ooser in control of his life. He could do without more problems because he has enough of his own - like getting rid of a stepfather who is trying to destroy him.

"We solemnly swear to seek adventure, excitement and danger and to rescue anyone in peril." So proclaim the Freewheelers, Gina, Claire and Mandy as they set out on a new adventure - to stop the Greatest Robbery Ever in the seaside town of Coombe Bay. Can the Freewheelers stop the Carnival Charity collection from being stolen? Or will their plans go wrong as usual?

"All this happened to me last summer. I really lost it. It was like I'd blown every circuit in my head. Things were off the wall. That's why I want to write it all down, honestly, just as it happened."With a mother who gets through husbands like a monkey polishes off bananas and a dad whose new wife is a nymphomaniac, is it any wonder that Mike can't stop thinking about sex? In fact, his whole life is an emotional see-saw: he's a disaster waiting to happen. Then Mike meets a student nurse whose idea of a relationship is doling out pills like there's no tomorrow... Before he knows it, he's stolen a wad of money and is riding merrily through the countryside in a horse-drawn caravan. But is this really the trip of a lifetime or a journey to Hell?This powerful story describes one young man's turbulent and ultimately mind-shattering experiences with drugs.A review in The Independent on Sunday by Mary Meek (aged 15) said of Trip of a Lifetime: 'Incredibly imaginative, original and quite hysterical, this book is perceptive, showing deep understanding of the strange workings and spontaneity of the teenage mind.'