scepticscribe
the future is not a closed answer; it’s an open question
The Murray River, Australia’s longest river, in Mildura, Victoria.
We respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live and work. We honour the rich cultural heritage of all First Nations peoples and pay our respects to their past and present elders.
PUBLISHED IN 2024
Boohoos on the Blackboard
a novel
Enter in trepidation, only if you are sixteen or older, in a boys’ technical school in a small town in Australia. You will meet a teacher struggling to walk out of the dark shadows of her abused childhood, another seeking revenge for the cold-blooded murder of her parents in a Nazi concentration camp, and the principal known as Mr Ten Per Cent in some circles.
Spend a week in this fictitious school and surrounding vineyards hiding a chronic child abuser with a muddled mind, a constant psychopath impersonating a teacher he had killed, and a reluctant mafia don, and join students who wondered what scribbles—invariably in red, which started appearing on blackboards in classrooms—were endeavouring to reveal.
A sixteen-year-old schoolgirl with dyslexia would welcome your help to solve the mystery of two murders in the school when her father was a student, which, half a century on, is now her reputable, co-educational high school.
You may chuckle or cry while in the school, but no cuddling or kissing.
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The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball Revisited
Updated 2024 edition of the most popular book on the riddle of the incredible Siberian explosion of 1908, The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball, first published by Icon Books, UK, in 2005.
At about 7:15 a.m. on June 30, 1908, a massive fireball exploded in the skies over Siberia. With force a thousand times greater than the Hiroshima atomic bomb, it levelled over 2,000 square kilometres of the remote Tunguska forest—an area larger than metropolitan London—sending a mushroom cloud towering into the stratosphere.
What was it? A wayward black hole, a crashing comet, a rogue asteroid, an exotic rock of antimatter or mirror matter, a methane gas blast from below, an alien spacecraft, a laser beam fired by extraterrestrials, or an early experiment in nuclear physics that got out of hand?
Nearly a century and a quarter on, this grand dame of science mysteries still fascinates scientists and charlatans alike.
Whichever way you look, the Tunguska event is a captivating journey in serious science, speculative science and science fiction. This informative and engaging book invites you to explore that journey and perhaps glimpse the truth behind this enigmatic explosion.
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PUBLISHED 2021-23
This book presents a collection of a wide variety of ideas that may help you to live sensibly, serenely and successfully. The ideas are not personal, spiritual or speculative; they all are relevant to everyday life. Most ideas have been proven by scientific studies (theories), and a few are based on age-old wisdom (things). The stories are sharp, simple, spirited and require no knowledge of science, only a curious mind.
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THE FIRST EDITION PUBLISHED IN 2007 BY ICON BOOKS, UK, AS “WHY ARE NOT THERE? THE QUESTION OF LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS”
Is there anybody out there? Are other life forms lurking in outer space – or are they already here?
This calm, intelligent and witty survey of the history of humankind’s search for extraterrestrial life brilliantly outlines the historical, fictional, speculative and emerging scientific opinions on what alien life might be like.
The fast-moving narrative examines facts, dispels myths and focuses on the possibilities lurking in space. In a popular and easy-to-read style, the author uses current research to speculate what life is like on exoplanets (or extra-solar planets), how we might communicate with it, and what Earth might seem like to visitors.
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A murderous Nazi on the run now masquerading as a holy man, a crazy woman and her bewitched plants, a lonely and sad actress struggling to walk out of the ghastly shadows of her tormented past as a teenage girl, an artful master of misinformation dodging the officialdom with fake news, a mischievous Tibetan refugee girl and her pranks, depravity disguised as tantric sex, and buff envelopes stuffed with cash which make greedy officials run.
In this weird world, when a young woman starts on a journey to seek justice for the cold murder of her benefactor and the brutal rape of two destitute children, she comes to a head with pure evil. The anguish of a child’s trauma penetrates deep into every human heart. But evil has no heart. A murderous Nazi on the run now masquerading as a holy man, a crazy woman and her bewitched plants, a lonely and sad actress struggling to walk out of the ghastly shadows of her tormented past as a teenage girl, an artful master of misinformation dodging the officialdom with fake news, a mischievous Tibetan refugee girl and her pranks, depravity disguised as tantric sex, and buff envelopes stuffed with cash which make greedy officials run.
In this weird world, when a young woman starts on a journey to seek justice for the cold murder of her benefactor and the brutal rape of two destitute children, she comes to a head with pure evil. The anguish of a child’s trauma penetrates deep into every human heart. But evil has no heart.
Fifty years later, the devil’s disciple appears again, and this time, she strikes into the heart of darkness with ferocious intensity.
A touching tale of empathy and compassion of a woman as strong as the mountains surrounding her small, scenic hometown in the foothills of the Himalayas. When you put it down, you will feel you have been to a different world, a grim but real world that sadly still exists with a new cast of characters.
A touching tale of empathy and compassion of a woman as strong as the mountains surrounding her small, scenic hometown in the foothills of the Himalayas in 1969 and earlier. When you put it down, you will feel you have been to a different world, a grim but real world that sadly still exists with a new cast of characters.
HARDCOVER, PAPERBACK AND KINDLE EDITIONS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
