Porcelain A Gothic Fairy Tale

Set within a world that’s a magical echo of our own, Porcelain is the story of Child, an urchin, who leaves behind the cold streets of a snowy city when she climbs the high wall into the Porcelain Maker’s garden. The Porcelain Maker discovers Child trespassing but, amused by her audacity, he offers her the chance to stay. He’s a lonely man, kept company only by his alchemically-powered automata, and he and Child form an unlikely friendship. Shut off from the world beyond the wall, Child wants or needs for nothing as the Porcelain Maker heaps affection and luxury upon her, indulging her like a daughter. In return, she can do as she pleases, except for one command, one rule that must never be broken, she must not look behind the workshop door.

A Brother and Sister leave our world and its rules behind, journeying into legend through the Butterfly Gate, where every step they take will come at a price. Butterfly Gate follows the story of two siblings who, after throwing themselves headlong into another world, must face the brutal reality that lies beyond and find their place amidst an empire built after a revolution against the Gods. An ongoing, episodic, SF odyssey, Butterfly Gate is also a silent comic, conveying the story purely through its imagery.

More than a decade has passed since the events of Porcelain: A Gothic Fairy Tale, and Child has become Lady. Inheritor of all of Uncle’s secrets and wealth, she has continued his work, becoming equally as isolated in her quest to refine the Porcelain and put right past mistakes. With the Porcelain more sought after than ever, Lady comes to the attention of a ruthlessly ambitious General who desires inhuman soldiers for the war effort and won’t take no for an answer. Other, more human, problems rear their head when a handsome young Captain discovers a secret part of Lady’s life. Faced with impossible choices, Lady must forge her own path through the complexities of love and war.

At Midnight, when all good folk should be abed, the Night Post rides forth to serve the dead.’ – Victorian Children’s Verse Written by Benjamin Read and illustrated by Laura Trinder, Night Post is the story of the other mail service; the one you haven’t heard of, the one that starts work at midnight and delivers to all the creatures of the night. Whether ghost or ghoul, witch or werewolf, or just downright odd things with tentacles, they all have post and someone has to deliver it, no matter how terrifying it might be to do so. Night Post follows a very special type of postman on his round, as he delivers macabre mail to a spooky set of customers. From graveyard, to cave, tower to lair, the post must get through, even if the postman is sometimes mistaken for supper. Offering a fascinating glimpse into a midnight world, Night Post is a picture book suitable for Children of All Ages.

'A masterful debut' - Ellen Alpsten, author of TsarinaIn a faraway kingdom, in a long-ago land .... Rosie's only inheritance from her reclusive mother is a notebook full of handwritten fairy tales. But another story is lurking between the lines.Desperate for answers to questions that have tormented her for years, Rosie travels to Moscow and uncovers a devastating family history spanning the 1917 Revolution, Stalin's bloody purgesand beyond. At the heart of those answers stands a young noblewoman, as pretty as a porcelain doll, whose actions reverberate across the century .

Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984: the year a heat wave scorched Breathed, Ohio. The year he became friends with the devil. Sal seems to appear out of nowhere - a bruised and tattered thirteen-year-old boy claiming to be the devil himself answering an invitation. Fielding Bliss, the son of a local prosecutor, brings him home where he's welcomed into the Bliss family, assuming he's a runaway from a nearby farm town. When word spreads that the devil has come to Breathed, not everyone is happy to welcome this self-proclaimed fallen angel. Murmurs follow him and tensions rise, along with the temperatures as an unbearable heat wave rolls into town right along with him. As strange accidents start to occur, riled by the feverish heat, some in the town start to believe that Sal is exactly who he claims to be. While the Bliss family wrestles with their own personal demons, a fanatic drives the town to the brink of a catastrophe that will change this sleepy Ohio backwater forever.

Set within a time of myth and fairy tale, Briar follows the story of Princess Layka, who seeks an end to the curse that keeps her shut off from the world. Trapped for years behind the enchanted barrier of the briar, she awaits her one true knight, who has been tasked with the quest to break the curse and set her free. By Benjamin Read & Chris Wildgoose, creators of the acclaimed Porcelain: A Gothic Fairy Tale, Briar is inspired by European myth and folklore. It subverts the fairy tale tradition of the princess imprisoned behind a hedge of thorns, turning it into something dark, bittersweet, and original.