Books published by publisher Wordybug

WHAT IF SOMEONE ELSE WAS LIVING YOUR LIFE? SOMEONE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX...Naia has a double in another version of her reality. A male double. His name is Alaric. For almost seventeen years their lives have been identical but for one thing. Alaric's mother died following a train derailment two years ago - the same derailment that Naia’s mother survived. Now Naia and Alaric meet for the first time, with disastrous consequences for one of them. Consequences that will change a great many lives without anyone even suspecting it. Suddenly, nothing can be predicted or counted on - for anyone, anywhere.A CRACK IN THE LINE is the first of a much-praised three-novel sequence called The Aldous Lexicon. Volume two is SMALL ETERNITIES, volume three THE UNDERWOOD SEE. While the trilogy was written with teenagers in mind, in 2020 the author created an alternative version, in a single volume, for adults. This is called MOORHENS, and it is also available as a Kindle ebook. In MOORHENS all the character names and place names are different - as is the house name. It is no longer Withern Rise but, as the title suggests, Moorhens – and the two young leads are a more mature 20-21. There is some additional material in Moorhens, a great deal of revised writing, and a heightening of the profiles of the two main female characters.Set in England - primarily in 2005 but ranging back and forth over many years - the Aldous Lexicon trilogy was originally published in the US by Greenwillow and HarperTeen as The Withern Rise Trilogy. A Crack in the Line was shortlisted for: The Michael L. Printz Award (US)The Georgia Peach Book Award (US)The Lancashire Children's Book of the Year AwardThe North-East of England Book AwardRecommended by The American Library Association as one of the year's most imaginative works of fiction.'The book's conclusion, with its shocking metamorphosis, is sure to spark passionate discussion' (Booklist Starred Review, US)'A spine-tingling thriller about parallel worlds. These are brilliant, thought-provoking novels about grief, responsibility and choice.' (The Times, London)'A thought-provoking tale packed with mystery and suspense' (The Bookseller)‘At once incisive and insightful, this criminally under-rated sequence represents some the strongest and most influential contributions to teenage fiction in recent years.’ (Jake Hope, Achuka)'Emotionally wrenching yet satisfying' (Locus Magazine, US)

‘The decision to become a writer was one of the three or four biggest mistakes of my life.’So begins this oddest of entertainments by an English author who, over a period of twenty years, published more than forty books for children and teenagers. In those years books of his were translated into many languages, he won awards, appeared at literary festivals and on television, was interviewed on radio, in magazines and online, and yet… … he couldn’t always sell other books that he’d written or most wanted to write. Anyone who has written a book and sent it to agents or publishers and received only negative responses (or no response at all) might be surprised to learn that even someone with a considerable list of published books to his name has had many other ideas and concepts rejected by all and sundry. To this day, the author remains mystified as to why some of these were not heartily welcomed. On receipt of one series proposal, a top London agent declared herself unable to sleep at night for excitement about it, believing that it would be a ‘major international series’. She was wrong. It was shown to twenty or more publishers and every one of them resisted it. Such background information is sandwiched between each of the sixteen pieces shown in part or in full in this volume. Here, the reader will find chapters, extracts and stories from proposed books or series which will never be published or reproduced elsewhere. But UNWANTED! isn’t a ‘dry’ book by any means. The writer, while occasionally tetchy, is known for his humour, which is evident in many of the notes and extracts.