An impoverished Anglo-Irish lady negotiates with the Sidhe, an 18th century playwright is ensnared by a succubus, a visitor to famine-stricken Ireland learns all is not what it seems, while a ventriloquist's dummy lives in terror of its owner and a young man discovers that - sometimes - going over the gate means never coming back. Just some of the stories in this volume, all set in Ireland, all dealing with the strange and the uncanny.

Fiachra and Alastair were never exactly friends. Fiachra does feel sorry for Alistair, though. Enough to visit him. Only how do you help a man who says he's being haunted by a demonic monkey?

Penny finds the magic door to Tir-na-nog while staying in her uncle's big old house - a wild, beautiful country where it never stops raining, thanks to the spell cast over it by some wicked witch. Then she and the others learn about the prophesy: how four children are supposed to bring about the witch's downfall. Who knows? Maybe (with Saint Patrick's help) they might do just that…..

As a small boy growing up in Dublin in the Seventies, the one bright spot in Odran's otherwise dreary existence is the local library. Until the day he visits the house of his recently deceased grandmother and his life changes forever. He's still Odran Feeney, the class bookworm, but now he's also Nardo, the ruthless, despotic Emperor of the Crimson Planet…..A book about the good and bad in all of us and the delicate equilibrium between the two.

Reilly claims the crack is a portal to the promised land. The others aren't so sure.....

Summoned by a mysterious harp, Penny, Melvin, Donald and Beverly find themselves back in Tir-na-Nog, only now it's ruled by the practical, unimaginative Puritanians and all the country's magical creatures are in hiding. Saint Patrick is leading the fight against the occupiers, and a boy called Algernon (once the future steward of Tir-na-Nog) has joined him. Only neither Saint Patrick nor Algernon can do anything without their help.A sequel to 'The Witch, the Saint & the Shoemaker'....

As a young man, Conaire was best friends with the Sons of Don Dessa. Then he became High-King of Ireland. Where do his loyalties lie? With the kingship? Or his erstwhile - but lawless - companions? A short story about difficult choices and the inscrutable workings of fate.

1954 Ireland, and transubstantiation is no longer the province of the church. Or so it seems, for up in the Wicklow Hills, somebody has turned a tea-cosy into a hen. The archbishop sends his most trusted servant, the Jesuit Novitiate Ignatius Flood, to investigate. Arriving at the farm where the miracle took place, Flood is so smitten by the young woman living there, he wonders if she was conjured into existence as a trap for the unwary - if she might be a simulacrum too.

Short story. Murdering him wasn't stupid. Going back to check I hadn't messed up - that was stupid. The Wicklow Mountains can be pretty dangerous at dusk, and not just because of the terrain....

Who is the Meat in the basement? That's the question on police SWAT Lt. Boulder Johnson's mind. The basement is in his brother-in-law Harley Earle's house and the question is important; Harley's wife Becca, Boulder's sister, was never found after the uprising that saw the dead awaken. They were known as Meats when they were preying on the living. Now that they're supposedly gone, could it really be a Meat in the basement? And if so, who? And if it's who Boulder is afraid it is, for the lov...

From the author of Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror & the Light, comes the true story of the 18th Century Irish giant, Charles O’Brien, who was exhibited in London and eventually dissected by the surgeon John Hunter.Charles O’Brien, bard and giant. The cynical are moved by his flights of romance; the craven stirred by his tales of epic deeds. But what of his own story as he is led from Ireland to seek his fortune beyond the s...

This is crammed with Tom's stories and doodles. "It's BOOK WEEK in Oakfield school and EVERYONE is very excited. Including all the teachers, who are making costumes of their own. Mr Keen says there's an EXCELLENT prize on offer for BEST costumes worn on BOOK DAY. So suddenly making a good costume is VITALLY important, but tricky and Delia's not much help (as usual). Then Marcus decides that HE is a super hero and can't understand why 'Super Marcus' isn't the best name."