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Vicious and funny...
a compelling and harrowing ride into the cheap thrills and high costs of car crime.

Spider by Linda Strachan

Spider

Paperback
Isbn: 978-1-905537-06-8
£6.99

A hard-hitting and provocative novel about teenage love, loyalty and fast cars.

Spider is on his last warning. If he’s caught joyriding again he’ll be sent down, no questions asked. He’s trying to stick to the straight and narrow but his girlfriend Deanna and mate Andy reckon he should risk one last run.

Spider is an adrenaline-fuelled ride – a compelling glimpse into a life spinning out of control.

Read more about Gillian Philip

Read Reviews of Bad Faith

Catherine Czerkawska for Vulpes Libris Website

"By any standards whatsoever, this is a mature piece of work and whatever your age, you will not be able to put it down. From the first astonishing lines: Before I slipped on the mud and fell over the Bishop, our family didn't have a lot to do with murder. A little, but not much', to the unbearably poignant ending, the story fairly gallops along, polished, satisfying, all the time making the reader think...

Bad Faith is a murder mystery, but much, much more. Philip paints a vivid picture of three absolutely real young people: Cass (who narrates the tale) her boyfriend Ming and her brother Griff, all living in a dystopian future. It is realised with such a deft touch, with such self consistency that the reader is transported instantly into the completely credible world of the story Philip manages to combine lyrical writing about adult themes, absolutely believable characters and real dialogue, with a breathtaking switchback of a plot, by turns funny, moving and terrifying, that will have you reading on the edge of your seat. I was torn between envy of such style, and total involvement in the world of the story

But when you start it, remember to schedule in a good chunk of your time. Bad Faith will sweep you along and have you hoping for a sequel. I finished it in the early hours and spent the following day bleary eyed, and wondering exactly what had hit me."

M.M. for crimesquad.com

"This book is a little different for CRIMESQUAD.COM given that it was originally intended for young adults. However, this is a mystery novel and its publishers are confident the story will cross over to the adult market. In the fantasy genre there are many examples of such a crossover; JK Rowling, Phillip Pullman and Stephanie Meyer to name but three. Perhaps Ms Philip will perform the same service for crime writing?

This is, dare we say it, an important book Bad Faith is a very clever satire, written with pace and humour and wholly deserving of a wider audience. My initial concern was that I would be able to identify with a narrator who was a teenage girl. But this notion was quickly dispelled as I was quickly caught up in the sinister dystopia that is Cass's world.

Given the weight of her topic, Ms Philip wields her 'pen' with a deft and surprisingly light touch. Never preaching, allowing her characters to perform their roles within her themes and bound by the confines of a tightly constructed plot. All of life is here; family secrets and delusions, a state-sanctioned serial killer called Holy Joe and a disconcerting demonstration of what might happen if fundamentalism were ever to overtake these shores."

A captivating and original fantasy for children which announces DA Nelson's debut as an exciting new storyteller

Darkisle by D A Nelson

DarkIsle

by D A Nelson

Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-905537-04-4
Published April 30th 2008 £6.99

Also available in Hardback 288 pp
ISBN: 978-1-905537-05-1
Published September 2007 £12.99

Strident Publishing are proud to announce that DarkIsle by D A Nelson has been shortlisted for the 2008 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books in the category for 8-11 year olds.

It's a magical world if you know where to look.

For 10-year-old Morag, there's nothing magical about the cellar of her cruel foster parents' home. But that's where she meets Aldiss, a talking rat, and his resourceful companion, Bertie the dodo. She jumps at the chance to run away and join them on their race against time to save their homeland from an evil warlock named Devlish, who is intent on destroying it. But first, Bertie and Aldiss will need to stock bickering long enough to free the only guide who knows where to find Devlish: Shona, a dragon who's been turned to stone.
Together, these four friends begin their journey to a mysterious dark island beyond the horizon, where danger and glory await - along with clues to the disappearance of Morag's parents, whose destiny seems somehow linked to her own...

Terrifying, touching and funny, DarkIsle is a vivid and fast-paced novel of captivating originality.