Showing results by narrator "William Zappa" in All Categories

What does it mean to earn the Silver Oakleaf? So few men have done so. For Will, a mere boy, that symbol of honour has long felt out of reach. Now, in the wake of Araluen's uneasy truce with the raiding Skandians comes word that the Skandian leader has been captured by a dangerous desert tribe. The Rangers are sent to free him. But the desert is like nothing these warriors have seen before.

Will is small for his age, but agile and energetic. All his life, he has dreamed of becoming a great knight like the father he never knew, so he is devastated when he is rejected as an apprentice to Castle Redmont's Battleschool. Instead he is apprenticed to Halt, the mysterious Ranger whose uncanny ability to move unseen is thought to be the result of black magic. Reluctantly, Will learns to use a Ranger's secret weapons: a bow and arrow, a mottled cloak and a stubborn little pony. It may not be what he longs for, but when he and Halt are sent out to prevention the assassination of the King....

Can sworn enemies fight side by side to save their lives and their kingdoms? Just as spring approaches and Will and Evanlyn can finally escape Skandia, Evanlyn is carried off by mysterious horsemen. Will sets out after them, but one boy against six fierce Temujai warriors is impossible odds - even for a Ranger apprentice. Halt and Horace arrive just in time. But the happiness of their reunion is cut short when Halt realizes these Temujai are only scouts for a massive invasion force.

For years, the Kingdom of Araluen has prospered, with the evil Lord Morgarath safely behind the impassable mountains. But the scheming hand of the dark lord has not been idle… When Will and his friend Horace, an apprentice knight, travel to a neighbouring village, they discover the unsettling truth. Could it be that Morgarath has finally devised a plan to bring his legions over the mountains? If so, the king’s army is in imminent danger of being crushed – and Will and Horace are the only ones who can save them.

Horace is missing. Months have passed since he was sent on a military mission to Nihon-Ja. Evanlyn is worried, and in company with Will, Alyss, and Halt, she sets out to discover what has become of their old friend. They find that Horace has become embroiled in Nihon-Ja politics. The arrogant Senshi Sect has rebelled against the rightful Emperor, who Horace supports. Now he and Will must turn farm and forest workers into a fighting force that can face the highly trained Senshi warriors.

Will and Evanlyn are bound for Skandia as the captives of the fearsome Skandian wolfship captain, Erak. Halt has sworn to rescue Will, and he will do anything to keep his promise – even defy his King. Expelled from the Rangers, Halt is joined by Horace as he travels through Gallica towards Skandia. On their way, they are constantly challenged by freelance knights – otherwise known as thieving thugs.

The renegade outlaw group known as the Outsiders may have been chased from Clonmel, but not before killing Halt's only brother. Now Rangers Halt and Will, along with the young warrior Horace, are in pursuit. The Outsiders have done an effective job of dividing the kingdom into factions and are looking to overtake Araluen. It will take every bit of skill and cunning for the Rangers to survive. Some may not be so lucky.

Five years have passed since the Skandians and the Araluans made their treaty, and Will has finally become a Ranger, with his own fief to look after. He soon learns that even sleepy little islands have problems to keep him on his toes. Then he and his old friend Alyss are thrown into a terrifying new adventure, investigating the truth behind rumours of sorcery in a remote northern fief.

Will is determined to rescue Alyss - even if it means laying siege to an enemy castle. In this desolate northern fief, where can Will find the fighting men he needs to overcome the traitorous Sir Keren and his band of criminals? Across the border, the fierce Scotti tribesmen are waiting for the signal that Castle Macindaw is in friendly hands and the way is clear to mount a full-scale attack.

Will is at the annual Ranger Gathering but Halt is investigating mysterious happenings in the west. When he does finally return, it’s with bad news: Hibernia is in turmoil. A false religious cult calling themselves the Outsiders are sowing confusion and sedition, and five of the six Hibernian kingdoms have been undermined. Now the sixth, Clonmel, is in danger. Halt, Will and Horace set out to restore order. Can the secrets of Halt’s past help them in their mission?

After a senseless tragedy destroys his life, Will is obsessed with punishing those responsible - even if it means leaving the Ranger Corps. His worried friends must find a way to stop him taking such a dark path.It is Halt who suggests the solution: Will must take an apprentice. The candidate Halt has in mind will surprise everyone - and it will be a request Will cannot refuse. Training a rebellious, unwilling apprentice is hard enough.

Excitement, drama and action - and the answers to all your burning questions about the Rangers of Araluen! Everyone knows the legends of the Rangers of Araluen. But no one has heard the whole story - until now. Has Halt told Will the truth about how Will became an orphan? Did Gilan track down Morgarath's lieutenant after the battle of Three Step Pass? Is there to be a royal wedding - or will tragedy strike first?

At the tender age of eight, chimney sweep Tom Appleby is convicted of stealing and sentenced to deportation to Botany Bay. As he sails out with the First Fleet, Tom sadly realises that he will never set foot on English ground again. Luckily, not long after Tom’s arrival in the colony, the fair and kind Sergeant Stanley decides to take on Tom as a servant. Together, Tom, Sergeant Stanley and his son, Rob, build a house, set up an orchard and a vegetable garden for themselves - and thrive, unlike many others in the new colony.

Blistering, brilliant, corrosively sharp and blackly comic, Underground goes straight to the heart of the country's future - and it isn't pretty. Think ahead five or so years from now, to an Australia transformed by the never-ending war on terror. Canberra has been wiped out in a nuclear attack. There is a permanent state of emergency. Security checkpoints, citizenship tests, identity cards and detention without trial have all become the norm. Suspect minorities have been locked away into ghettos. And worse - no one wants to play cricket with us anymore.

It's a decade since the infamous Inquiry into corruption tore the state of Queensland apart. But for George Verney, disgraced journalist and bit player in the great scandals of his day, the Inquiry has never quite finished. After 10 years of self-imposed exile, drawn by the terrible death of a man who was his friend, he reluctantly returns to Brisbane, the city of his downfall. In a town he no longer recognises, and through an underworld that has forgotten him, George must seek out the other hidden survivors of his times, to confront the truth about their common past.