The Jack Burnside Adventures
|
A Dangerous Game of Football |
 |
‘How can a game of football be dangerous? Jack Burnside is about to find out … ‘ Jack, who shares his name with the soccer superstar, Jack Burnside, is a keen footballer. When his best mate, Saleem, fails to return after a visit home, there is little Jack can do about it, until he receives a mysterious parcel in the post. It takes him on a journey to a land ruled by sun and peopled with tyrants, sorcerers and giant crows. Now he must find Saleem, coach a team of boys for a football match – and stay alive! … which just might prove rather difficult if your only ally is a cantankerous camel. |
The Bird Children |
|
Two sorcerers: one good, one bad: Jacob the merchant, who uses his power to safeguard the Prince and inhabitants of the Kingdom of Sudana; Mendorun, the evil one, surrounded by a black aura that no sorcerer can penetrate. Mendorun has already learned the secret of positive energy and wields an army of giant crows. Now he is snatching away children, to steal their souls and create birds that can think. His plan – to become the most powerful sorcerer on earth and he will destroy anyone or anything that gets in his way. The only person standing in his way is a football-mad teenager from Birmingham, Jack Burnside, whose best friend – a camel called Bud – can walk through time and space. Jack is in Morocco, with an Under-14 team, when Jacob appears with the alarming news that Bud has fallen into Mendorun's hands. Only Jack can reach him but he must hurry before Mendorun can unlock the camel's magical powers. Unwilling to get involved in another scary adventure, Jack refuses. He couldn't help even if he wanted to. He's on an organised tour with fourteen other boys and every minute of their time is accounted for. He couldn't possibly get away … or could he? |
I was brought up in Birmingham and one of my earliest memories is being taken by my father, a keen footballer, to watch Aston Villa play. Of course, I don't remember anything about it except there was a lot of noise and men kicking a ball about! But, in writing stories, memories often float up to the surface and, when writing about Jack Burnside playing football with his friends, the word – Aston Villa – just popped off the end of my pen. My primary school was Church Road in Yardley and, later on, my sisters and I attended, King Edwards VI School, Camp Hill, which was located in Bordesley before moving to Kings Heath in 1957. (At that time it was a separate school for boys and girls and we were always getting detentions for chatting to the boys on the other side of the wall). At that time Bordesley was a big industrial area, full of smoke black factories. One of my earliest memories is riding with my father, somewhere in the backstreets of Birmingham, and seeing barefooted children waiting outside the pubs for their parents. I suppose no one had much money in those days. And nothing cost much either; the pictures (as we called the movies in those days) cost 1s 9d for the best seats in the circle, (which is less than 10p today). Near where I lived was a Smiths Crisps factory. They used to sell off the broken crisps at a penny a bag. Inside was a blue twist of paper for the salt. And the fish and chips were wrapped in newspaper. And no, the print never came off – not in those days. I haven't been back to Birmingham since I was eighteen. I guess I need a magic camel to whisk me off, so I can see all the changes that have taken place since I left. |
All books have to start somewhere. This one began a few years back, when David Beckham was captain of the England football team. Dare I admit it? I’m a huge fan. |
 |
