The Snake Ring returns to help an innocent family triumph over an evil wizard... With strong moral messages threaded throughout, readers of 9+ will enjoy this charming world of wizards and magic. Snake Ring in Flight takes the young reader back in time to when magic was everywhere and wizardry was a serious business. Important people had their own private wizards: the king’s wizard was Frederic, and the queen’s sorceress was Friedabel. There was even a trade union of sorts called the ‘Wizardry Ladder’. The top twenty members of which are responsible for the rules and making sure they are kept. Breaking the rules can bring punishment - as one wicked wizard called Fruminax discovers as he breaks three important rules and is sentenced to live quietly in the village, only to use magic to entertain children. Our story begins 15 years later, with Friedabel’s family little suspecting that Fruminax is about to play out his master plan. Its purpose is to punish the family and leave him in possession of the magic Snake Ring. He bewitches the granddaughter Belle and takes her away, laying a false trail for her brother to follow to the prince’s castle. Belle and Tom must find the courage and faith to triumph over their trials, enlisting the power of the Snake Ring. Will Fruminax’s plan be foiled? Will Belle and Tom make it home? And when challenged to a magical contest by Fruminax, will the hero win - or the villain...? Praise for John Holroyd’s previous books: “These are appealing stories.” - British Fantasy Society “Each story in Snake Ring at Risk and Other Stories features a strong moral message and young characters, so it’s easy for 9+ readers to relate to them and understand actions and consequences.” - Lovereading4kids

This ring has great magical powers. It’s said it can even alter the way events happen. The Snake Ring’s magic is unique, unseen yet powerful. It can change the way events happen, warn good people of danger and lead villains into failure and disgrace. It belongs to young Thomas, who is preparing to set off to seek his fortune. He leaves the ring in the care of his sweetheart, Gerda, but she is careless and allows the ring to fall into a river nearby… Thomas arrives at the Shining Kingdom, where he finds work in the king’s kitchen. To his surprise, one day the king gives the boy a knighthood and a bag of gold, even suggesting he might marry a princess. But Thomas is true to his love and asks to return home. The king equips him with a horse, a sword, a badge to prove his importance and… the Snake Ring! It has appeared to protect him once again. Feeling pleased with himself, Thomas ignores the ring’s warning not to take the path through the forest on his journey home. He is captured by robbers, who lock him in a cave and take his ring to the next town to sell it. Meanwhile Gerda is beginning to think Thomas will never return and is being urged to marry another man. Is the ring’s magic strong enough to make a miracle happen and bring Thomas and Gerda back together? The Strange Tale of the Snake Ring is a folk tale full of magic and danger. It is an ideal read for boys and girls aged nine to thirteen, as well as parents who enjoy reading with their children.

Snake Ring at Risk & Other Stories is a heartwarming collection of fantasy short stories that will appeal to readers age 9 and above. Continuing on from John Holroyd’s previous book, The Strange Tale of the Snake Ring, this collection centres on the story Snake Ring at Risk which sees Thomas and Gerda’s most treasured possession, the magic snake ring, being the centre of a feud with Gruninax, a mighty wizard. After making a promise that the ring would never leave his family, Thomas is put under immense pressure when Gruninax goes to extreme lengths to secure ownership of the ring. Plagues of locusts and beetles are unleashed, livestock is killed and houses demolished. What happens will surprise you..! Other stories include Pie and the Witch, Like Nothing on Earth and Jack’s Revenge. Each story includes strong moral messages for children, whether it’s to think about the consequences of their actions or to not judge a book by its cover. The stories are focussed on younger children allowing a direct comparison between reader and character and will appeal to children aged 9 and over, as well as parents who enjoy reading with their children.

During World War II, Allied casualty rates in the air were high. Of the roughly 125,000 who served as aircrew with Bomber Command, 59,423 were killed or missing and presumed killed—a fatality rate of 45.5%. With odds like that, it would be no surprise if there were as few atheists in cockpits as there were in foxholes; and indeed, many airmen faced their dangerous missions with beliefs and rituals ranging from the traditional to the outlandish. Military historian S. P. MacKenzie considers this phenomenon in Flying against Fate, a pioneering study of the important role that superstition played in combat flier morale among the Allies in World War II. Mining a wealth of documents as well as a trove of published and unpublished memoirs and diaries, MacKenzie examines the myriad forms combat fliers' superstitions assumed, from jinxes to premonitions. Most commonly, airmen carried amulets or talismans—lucky boots or a stuffed toy; a coin whose year numbers added up to thirteen; counterintuitively, a boomerang. Some performed rituals or avoided other acts, e.g., having a photo taken before a flight. Whatever seemed to work was worth sticking with, and a heightened risk often meant an upsurge in superstitious thought and behavior. MacKenzie delves into behavior analysis studies to help explain the psychology behind much of the behavior he documents—not slighting the large cohort of crew members and commanders who demurred. He also looks into the ways in which superstitious behavior was tolerated or even encouraged by those in command who saw it as a means of buttressing morale. The first in-depth exploration of just how varied and deeply felt superstitious beliefs were to tens of thousands of combat fliers, Flying against Fate expands our understanding of a major aspect of the psychology of war in the air and of World War II.

As scientific analysis of testable hypotheses has replaced the speculative approach to study of bone disease in recent and fossil amphibians and reptiles, the field has advanced from simply reporting observations to analyzing their implications. This process is predicated upon a reproducible data base which explains/diagnoses the nature of bony alterations and a secure review of the literature. Thereby hangs the rub. The herpetological literature are difficult to access (let alone read) and are scattered through many prominent and eclectic journals and in the lay literature. While older diagnoses often have not stood the test of time, the clarity of report descriptions usually allows confident identification of the underlying pathology.

This study reexamines the invention of the emblem book and discusses the novel textual and pictorial means that applied to the task of transmitting knowledge. It offers a fresh analysis of Alciato’s Emblematum liber, focusing on his poetics of the emblem, and on how he actually construed emblems. It demonstrates that the “father of emblematics” had vernacular forebears, most importantly Johann von Schwarzenberg who composed two illustrated emblem books between 1510 and 1520. The study sheds light on the early development of the Latin emblem book 1531–1610, with special emphasis on the invention of the emblematic commentary, on natural history, and on advanced methods of conveying emblematic knowledge, from Junius to Vaenius.