Alan's Archives's Blog

 

Prepare yourself for a book series that takes you 'out of this world' - all you have to do is open up a book or a kindle! 


We have lift off! Those of you who have been following my site for the past few years may know about my scifi-romance-action-comedy-philosophy series 'Kindred Spirits'. It's a book series that will (eventually) cover the next thousand years of intergalactic contact, with twelve very different (and very alien) alien species trying to get along and the flashpoints in history when things go awry. Some of you have even been kind enough to read it. Well if you haven't (or if you have read your old copies so many times you've worn them out!) then fear not because they've never looked so good. The first seven volumes are being re-issued in Kindle and paperback formats with brand new illustrations bringing the aliens to life properly for the first time (not forgetting that the kindle editions are free to Kindle Unlimited readers, while books 1 and 5 are available in special 'colour' paperback editions!) 
There are 8 books in the series so far: Book 1 'Endurance'


 Romeo and Juliet. With Clandusprods. Only she’salready dead – and he’s dying.

A match quiteliterally made in Heaven? Divine intervention? The last great exploration ofhumanity? Or characteristic bad luck? Lizzie ends her life, only to find it hasonly just begun, stuck in the mind of a species she has never met before. Butis the person she was put with the one she was always born to be with or justanother of many mistakes in her life? Will the discovery of each other’splanets be good or catastrophic in the future of their two species? Will theyendure and go on and win? Is cooperation and collaboration the answer? Or are they both doomed to a life of failure afterall? More than just another novel, ‘Endurance’ is a mad house, a love song tothe act of writing and a hope that one day it might just save us all.

                            Buy it by clickinghere

Book 2 'Insurgence'

War and Peace. With Mrasianarts. Only she’s on an alien planet – and someone wants her and her fellow off-worlders dead.

A hundred years after the events of ‘Endurance’ and the ten intelligent species in the known galaxy all outwardly respect each other – but some of those in charge on those ten planets are having a hard time accepting this brave new world and are still caught up in their petty global affairs. When just existing is enough to start an act of rebellion, being an off-worlder playing in a peace orchestra seems to be enough to start a revolution. That’s what worries the Mrasianart authorities who turn the deep-thinking world of Mras on its head with petty fears and injustices through their glorified telepathical internet, ‘the universal’. Earth girl Eleanor’s long journey across the galaxy from Earth to her new home is far more exciting than she ever expected, full as it is with love for a local named Auberon, violence, cultural tests, exams, knitting Clandusprods, corruptible Belobrat peace delegates and giving birth to the universe’s first ever humrasian. Together the Peace band find themselves socking it to the man – or in this case one particular alien – in a desperate fight to avoid deportation or worse. It’s all quite an adventure; one Eleanor isn’t sure she wants to take after what happened to her back home but which leaves her never quite the same simple Human again. ‘Insurgence’ is, like prequel ‘Endurance’, another mad house, a love song to the art of music this time and a hope that one day it might just save us all.

    Buy it by clicking here

Book 3 'Province'

The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire. With ten sets of friendly aliens and one ferocious enemy from outside the known universe
A hundred years on from ‘Insurgence’ and Humrasianart Eleron is the new president of The Intergalactic Peace Organisation. He should be happy – he has the perfect wife, the perfect job and lives in a near-perfect universe where nothing has gone wrong for years. However, the newly terraformed planet Decreeta is more likely to induce war in Eleron and his colleagues. That’s especially true when a new breed of species named Agrosians from the unknown side of the universe come across an Earth shuttle with a mysterious disc full of music and quickly turns his plans for peace and diplomacy upside down. Only a race against time around the ten existing planets and enlisting their co-operation stands between the newly formed peace organisation and the Agrosians ruled by their merciless Queen Calixta enslaving our half of the universe. Will everyone learn to work together in time? Just what is the mysterious Belobrat ex-head of the IPO up to? Will Eleron get to rescue his Mrasianbrat wife? Will his military general stop squeaking and come out from under his desk? Will vice-president Horace ever wake up and do some work?!? And if Eleron gets back home will things ever be the same for him again? More than just another novel, ‘Province’ is a mad house, a love song to the act of, erm, politics (what?!?) and a hope that one day it might just save us all.
Buy it by clicking here

Book 4 'Ensconce'

Swallows and Amazons. With eleven species unsupervised in interstellar space.

A hundred years on from ‘Province’ and peace feels much easier. Even The Agrosians have become less aggressive. Well, slightly. The discovery of red weed, a new substance mined from all eleven inhabited planets, by unscrupulous adults spells bad news though – for the universe in general but specifically for the group of eleven children who have been sent to a new international school on Orpheus. They all seem to have something wrong with them, but not everything was meant to be cured and some things can never be, certainly not with red weed. New girl Robin fears her dyspraxia will stop her getting any friends, but when her friends are an introvert invertebrate Camalosian who never speaks, an insecure Belobrat, a cynical Habridat, a Glabdiharbit with multiple phobias, a Doosbury Giant with an eating disorder, a polite Agrosian, a co-dependent Clandusprod, an unbeliever Mrasianart, a Maggrumph bully and a Mekkion who keeps blowing emotional fuses she feels less out of place than she did on Earth. Though their teachers want to keep them enclosed in their Great Hall the children want to explore the universe, starting with the first ever International Games that’s just taking place on Decreeta. Will the children learn to get along? Can they trust any of the adults who seem to get stranger every day? Who will listen to them if they can find out what’s going on? Will they survive corruption, shuttle-flights, ice planets, burning buildings, bombs, pyramid sellers, Doosbury Operas, their own teachers and the scariness of approaching adulthood in one piece? More than just another novel, ‘Ensconce’ is yet another mad house, a love song to childhood and the hope that one day if adults actually stopped moaning and listened to their off-spring then it might just save us all.

Buy it by clicking here

Book 5 'Abundance'

Space comes in fifty shades of black. Twelve aliens, six couples, one dating service and one reality TV series both in desperate trouble.

Buster the Belobrat thinks he knows about true love so can’t understand why viewers are leaving his new reality TV show ‘Love Planet’ in droves. Nova the head of the Human branch of the Intergalactic Dating agency knows exactly where he’s been going wrong and sets out to teach him using six examples from her company’s history; six couples made up of the twelve species that exist in the known universe: An argibraffe pet who falls in love with a Spice Girls tribute singer in a tale of treachery, deceit and sleeping Habridats. A Camalosian actor in a long running science fiction series who falls in love for his maggrumph colleague while both run up and down corridors with everyone’s favourite Time Rodent. An Agrosian and a Belobrat who are meant to be signing their divorce papers but who end up with several second chances instead. A clumsy Clandusprod and a faulty Mekkion who start long distance and end up as close as any couple can be. The voyages of ensigns Yoko Glabdihardit and Hamish Habridat, new trainees on the Well Fed-eration’s mission to boldly track down recipes where nobody has tracked them before. A Mrasianart ‘Medium’ who deals in futures and his ‘Extra Large’ Doosbury Giant friend who lives for the present, where neither of them want to remember their past. But is Buster all that he seems? For that matter is Nova? And why are there two pages of sponsorship advertisements?!? This collection of six short stories makes a date with twelve of these beings and how love changed all their lives – and in the Doosbury Giants’ case their lunches - forever. For what could be more universal in such a varied universe than love? More than just another collection of short stories, ‘Abundance’ is yet another mad house, a love song to love and the lengths that the universe goes to in order to put the right people together at the right time and that might yet save us all.

Buy it by clicking here or the slightly pricier but way more colourful edition here 

 

Book 6 'Obedience'

Are we doomed to repeat our past? Or will Dotty find the reset button, despite being ‘only’ a pet?

Dotty the spotty pet argibraffe thinks she knows what the future holds: walking round the park, a bit of digging in the flower-beds, doing what she’s told (mostly) and living in the moment. However she has a secret obsession when her Human owners aren’t looking: the history broadcasts on the holovision. Soon Dotty finds that her life has changed, that she’s been enrolled as the first argibraffe student at Clandusprod Community College under the dotty Mrasianart Professor Edulearn, that the park is on an alien world and the dig is on an abandoned planet full of mysterious remains. A combination of events involving a crazed Human tyrant with a device that can turn whole worlds upside down, a talking crystal skull that only Dotty can hear and the attempted murder of her and her new friends means that soon Dotty isn’t just studying history but making it. In an era when even humanity has stopped taking humanities can a sentient pet really obtain a degree – especially when other species are kicking up such a fuss about it? Can Dotty trust her new and often, well, alien flatmates and be truly independent without her owners? How will Dotty’s team fare in the intergalactically-admired TV Quiz Universally Challenged with Maggrumph host Jeremy Paxgrumph? Can Dotty ascend just when the rest of the universe is descending into chaos? Will the twelve intergalactic species ever break free from a cycle of destruction and rebuilding, learning the lessons of the past so as not to repeat them in the future? Can someone who wasn’t even allowed on the furniture a week ago really save the entire known universe? And just where do a lost civilisation of cosmic dinosaurs fit into all this? The sixth volume in the ‘Kindred Spirits’ series, ‘Obedience’ is another mad house, a love song to history and how our ever present past can lead us to answers in our future, even when asking questions we never thought to ask.  

Buy it by clicking here 

Book 7 'Experience'

It is never too late for true love - even if takes a few centuries!

Moana was still a baby when the ITGang television show decided to use him in a series commemorating the first children born into an intergalactic world after the shock of interstellar contact, throwing him into a whirlwind of yearly television appearances meant to promote intergalactic brotherhood and friendship, with nine readymade pals to call his own. But, being a Maggrumph, Moana doesn’t make friends easily and feels the odd one out and the viewers don’t really take to him either. While the other children of all the other species are doing really well with their lives Moana feels stuck: he has no family, no career, no exciting prospects – just a life of drudgery on the restrictive world of Maggrumphus. Moana doesn’t think he’s anything special and maybe he isn’t, but that doesn’t mean his life is empty. He’s right at the heart of all four flashpoints in the universe’s connected intergalactic history: by an accident of birth forever linked with the time Enwin and Lizzie revealed to the universe the presence of life on other planets, the riots led by the Intergalactic Peace orchestra on Mras that led to the death of Auberon, the Agrosian wars fought by President Eleron and the discovery of the poisonous red weed created by unscrupulous companies by the children of Orpheneous. And he’s far from the grump everyone thinks he is: he’s a poet, a romantic, in something there’s not a lot of call for in a world of grumpy Maggrumphs. But things change when he meets a Clandu-hybrid. Will they change quick enough to make up for all those years of solitude though? Will Moana’s other dreams ever come true? Will he get the life he craves and find the fulfilment he always dreamed of, with the love of his life and their nine very different adopted children and pet argibraffe on a whole new planet, or will life just get in the way? More than just another novel, ‘Experience’ is yet another mad house, a love song to ordinary life and the hope that one day we can all manifest what we’re looking for.

Buy it by clicking here

Plus, even if you've read the whole bang lot, there's a new volume in town never begore published. Book 8: 'Experience'

Can Sparky the Mekkion face her fears, dry her deadly tears and re-programme her peers?

Sparky can see the whole of her life laid out before her for the next millennia – that’s how Mekkions like it after all, with a really good job overseeing update ‘patches’ on the intergalactic translation service the Universal, a routine to keep her safe from surprises and a universe that a thousand years on from interstellar contact seems at last to be settling down. She’s as grounded as they come, not least because her wheels cause her to sink lower to the floor than most Mekkions and more interested in profits than prophets. But when her new Boss, an uncaring uncouth Doosbrat named Melon Rusk, takes over her precious ‘Universal’ that’s brought such peace and community and starts using it to attack the new-oldcomers in the universe, the Space Dinosaurs, Sparky discovers her new calling and it’s one that lies in an unseen dimension of faith rather than her reliable logic. Will she be able to save her new friends from persecution? Can she work out what Melon’s plan really is? can she stop Maggrumph Ronald Grump from taking power? Will she ever work out that her pterodactyl boyfriend has feelings for her? Will she ever discover the memory she had removed and feel the feelings she’s suppressed for so long? And will she ever find her life’s porpoise? (Not a typo!) More than just another novel, ‘Maintenance’ is absolutely another mad house, a love song to spirituality and how we are all more than just cogs in a machine, offering hope that one day if we listen to what’s in our hearts and souls rather than seeing the world that’s right in front of us it might just save us all.

Buy it by clicking here

Or if you prefer things in Doosbury Giant XXXL size why not buy the lot in two handy omnibus editions 'Convergence One' (available here) and 'Convergence Two' (available here) - in Kindle only I'm afraid (that would be a forest in terms of paperback pages!) 



So why not find yourself a nice cosy beverage (Clandusprod tea?) and some nice playlists (Jefferson Starship's 'Blows Against The Empire' is a good start or why not check the heck out the Kindred Spirits playlist at the Alan's Album Archives channel on Youtube? https://www.youtube.com/@AlansArchives) and escape into a series of new worlds (Because this one really isn't much fun at present!) The future starts here...Again! 

To stay updated visit the Universal intergalactic translator service...Whoops no that hasn't been invented yet...For now just visit our sister site www.kindrespiritbooks.blogspot.com  

 

 'Experience', the 7th (standalone) volume in the 'Kindred Spirits' series is now for sale! 
A thousand years of war, peace, love and hiccups through the eyes of the first ten children born after intergalactic contact - Maggrumph edition. It's a whole new way of looking at the universe we thought we knew...


Moana was the first Maggrumph to be born in the age of interstellar contact, when the ten great civilisations first made contact with each other. Soon he’s rubbing shoulders with other children from other planets as part of a new holovision series ‘The ITGang’ designed to commemorate this new bold and brilliant future and teach the rest of the universe how such very different and very alien aliens (sorry, ‘off-worlders’) can get along. Soon he’s thrown into a whirlwind of television broadcasts and publicity that he hopes will promote intergalactic brotherhood and friendship but mostly seems to be promoting themselves. Moana doesn’t make friends easily and soon finds himself the odd one out, with a very different vision of what the programme should be to his new friends, Belobrat presenter and HS20 sponsors. For while Moana’s need for honesty and his heart is in the right place his antlers aren’t and a mysterious illness keeps him apart from everyone too, seeing him stuck at home while all his friends go off to enjoy the fruits of the universe. Moana thinks his life is over before it’s begun, but soon he finds he’s right at the heart of all five flashpoints in the universe’s connected intergalactic history: his accident of birth forever linked with the time Enwin and Lizzie revealed to the universe the presence of life on other planets, an onlooker to the riots led by the Intergalactic Peace orchestra on Mras that led to the overthrow of tyrant Almathea, a participant in the Agrosian wars fought by President Eleron, a supporter of the discovery of the poisonous red weed created by unscrupulous companies by the children of Orpheneous and involved the day Earth tyrant Chyren turned the universe upside down. But will the universe listen to a washed-up Maggrumph when he’s needed? Will Moana get the life he craves and find the fulfilment he always dreamed of, with the love of his life and their eleven very different adopted children and pet argibraffe on a whole new planet way out in the countryside, or will life just get in the way again? And what is the mysterious object discovered in the moat next to his house? More than just another novel, ‘Experience’ is yet another mad house, a love song to the ups and downs of life and the hope that one day we can all find our equilibrium and lead a life to look back on and be proud of.
Available to buy on all planets as a paperback or as an e-book

View the trailer here:  
Missed the first six volumes? You can buy five of them all together in one handy guide to all the flash-points of saving the universe over the next 500 years with 'Convergence' and read about many of the events in this book from a very different perspective


Plus volume six 'Obedience' -  An Argibraffe? At university?!? A space war?!?!? Crystal Skulls?!?!?!? Space Dinosaurs?!?!?!?!?!? 500 Years on from intergalactic contact and it feels like the universe has gone mad. What it really needs is a re-set button...

Get spending your moolah here! (Most intergalactic currencies accepted - Euros, Dollars, Pounds, Belalira and Universos. sadly not available with Doosbury food vouchers at this time)


Plus which alien are you? Agrosian, Belobrat, Camalosian, Clandusprod, Doosbury Giant, Habridat, Magrumph, Mekkion or Mrasianart?Take our quiz here

 

 'Obedience', the 6th (standalone) volume in the 'Kindred Spirits' series is now for sale!  An Argibraffe? At university?!? A space war?!?!? Crystal Skulls?!?!?!? Space Dinosaurs?!?!?!?!?!? 500 Years on from intergalactic contact and it feels like the universe has gone mad. What it really needs is a re-set button...

Dotty the spotty pet argibraffe thinks she knows what the future holds: walking round the park, a bit of digging in the flower-beds, doing what she’s told (mostly) and living in the moment. However she has a secret obsession when her Human owners aren’t looking: the history broadcasts on the holovision. Soon Dotty finds that her life has changed, that she’s been enrolled as the first argibraffe student at Clandusprod Community College under the dotty Mrasianart Professor Edulearn, that the park is on an alien world and the dig is on an abandoned planet full of mysterious remains. A combination of events involving a crazed Human tyrant with a device that can turn whole worlds upside down, a talking crystal skull that only Dotty can hear and the attempted murder of her and her new friends means that soon Dotty isn’t just studying history but making it. In an era when even humanity has stopped taking humanities can a sentient pet really obtain a degree – especially when other species are kicking up such a fuss about it? Can Dotty trust her new and often, well, alien flatmates and be truly independent without her owners? How will Dotty’s team fare in the intergalactically-admired TV Quiz Universally Challenged with Maggrumph host Jeremy Paxgrumph? Can Dotty ascend just when the rest of the universe is descending into chaos? Will the twelve intergalactic species ever break free from a cycle of destruction and rebuilding, learning the lessons of the past so as not to repeat them in the future? Can someone who wasn’t even allowed on the furniture a week ago really save the entire known universe? And just where do a lost civilisation of cosmic dinosaurs fit into all this? The sixth volume in the ‘Kindred Spirits’ series, ‘Obedience’ is another mad house, a love song to history and how our ever present past can lead us to answers in our future, even when asking questions we never thought to ask.
Available to buy on all planets as a paperback or an e-book
Missed the first five volumes? Then why not buy them all together in one handy guide to all the flash-points of saving the universe over the next 500 years with 'Convergence' 

A collection of the first five volumes of the 'Kindred Spriits' series, covering 500 years of a future where the Human race has made intergalactic contact with eleven types of very different alien: the aggressive Agrosians, the pet-like Argibraffes, the bossy Belobrats, the erudite Camalosians, the friendly Clandusprods, the hungry Doosbury Giants, the scared Glabdihardits, the relaxed Habridats, the brusque Maggrumphs, the technology driven Mekkions  and the spiritual Mrasianarts. In a universe this complicated how can peace ever be simple?

The stories include:
Endurance - Romeo and Juliet with Clandusprods. Only she's already dead - and he's dying. How can the universe survive the first brush of intergalactic catastrophe when the couple who were fated to save it can never be together?

Insurgence - Earthling Eleanor moves to Mras to start a new life and finds a new love and a new purpose, especially when she has a son. But when just existing is enough to start an act of rebellion, being an off-worlder playing in an intergalactic peace orchestra is enough to start a revolution and soon her life and those that she loves are in danger.  

Province - A hundred years on and Eleron is all grown up and the leader of the Intergalactic Peace Organisation. He's found happiness at last: he has the perfect wife, the perfect job and lives in a near-perfect universe. Until some furry red aliens from the other side of the universe arrive and turn his world upside down, testing his belief in diplomacy and trust to the limit. Can a rush around a fragmenting universe stop the invaders in time?

Ensconce - Life isn't easy when you're ten and transported to an alien orphanage. It's even harder when your teacher's a Maggrumph with a short fuse, your headmaster has three heads and the adults are using you as a test subject for their new invention: red weed. Will the eleven alien children and their pet argibraffe survive to adulthood in one piece?

Abundance - Twelve aliens, six couples, an intergalactic dating service and a reality TV series in desperate trouble lead to half a dozen very different stories that are all about the one thing in the universe that's truly universal: love.

Available to buy on all planets as an e-book (it's too big for a paperback!) 

Plus which alien are you? Agrosian, Belobrat, Camalosian, Clandusprod, Doosbury Giant, Habridat, Magrumph, Mekkion or Mrasianart?Take our quiz here
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about music - there's our biggest AAA review of the year so far all ready to go circa December 10th (just waiting on a new Neil Young and its all ready!)

 

 'Abundance', the 4th (standalone) volume in the 'Kindred Spirits' series is now for sale!  Space comes in fifty shades of black. Twelve aliens, six couples, one dating service and one reality TV series both in desperate trouble.

Buster the Belobrat thinks he knows about true love so can’t understand why viewers are leaving his new reality TV show ‘Love Planet’ in droves. Nova the head of the Human branch of the Intergalactic Dating agency knows exactly where he’s been going wrong and sets out to teach him using six examples from her company’s history; six couples made up of the twelve species that exist in the known universe: An argibraffe pet who falls in love with a Spice Girls tribute singer in a tale of treachery, deceit and sleeping Habridats. A Camalosian actor in a long running science fiction series who falls in love for his maggrumph colleague while both run up and down corridors with everyone’s favourite Time Rodent. An Agrosian and a Belobrat who are meant to be signing their divorce papers but who end up with several second chances instead. A clumsy Clandusprod and a faulty Mekkion who start long distance and end up as close as any couple can be. The voyages of ensigns Yoko Glabdihardit and Hamish Habridat, new trainees on the Well Fed-eration’s mission to boldly track down recipes where nobody has tracked them before. A Mrasianart ‘Medium’ who deals in futures and his ‘Extra Large’ Doosbury Giant friend who lives for the present, where neither of them want to remember their past. But is Buster all that he seems? For that matter is Nova? And why are there two pages of sponsorship advertisements?!? This collection of six short stories makes a date with twelve of these beings and how love changed all their lives – and in the Doosbury Giants’ case their lunches - forever. For what could be more universal in such a varied universe than love? More than just another collection of short stories, ‘Abundance’ is yet another mad house, a love song to love and the lengths that the universe goes to in order to put the right people together at the right time and that might yet save us all.

Available to buy on all planets as a paperback or an ebook

Missed the first four volumes? then why not buy them all together in one handy guide to all the flash-points of saving the universe over the next 500 years with 'Convergence' 

A collection of the first five volumes of the 'Kindred Spriits' series, covering 500 years of a future where the Human race has made intergalactic contact with eleven types of very different alien: the aggressive Agrosians, the pet-like Argibraffes, the bossy Belobrats, the erudite Camalosians, the friendly Clandusprods, the hungry Doosbury Giants, the scared Glabdihardits, the relaxed Habridats, the brusque Maggrumphs, the technology driven Mekkions  and the spiritual Mrasianarts. In a universe this complicated how can peace ever be simple?

The stories include:
Endurance - Romeo and Juliet with Clandusprods. Only she's already dead - and he's dying. How can the universe survive the first brush of intergalactic catastrophe when the couple who were fated to save it can never be together?

Insurgence - Earthling Eleanor moves to Mras to start a new life and finds a new love and a new purpose, especially when she has a son. But when just existing is enough to start an act of rebellion, being an off-worlder playing in an intergalactic peace orchestra is enough to start a revolution and soon her life and those that she loves are in danger.  

Province - A hundred years on and Eleron is all grown up and the leader of the Intergalactic Peace Organisation. He's found happiness at last: he has the perfect wife, the perfect job and lives in a near-perfect universe. Until some furry red aliens from the other side of the universe arrive and turn his world upside down, testing his belief in diplomacy and trust to the limit. Can a rush around a fragmenting universe stop the invaders in time?

Ensconce - Life isn't easy when you're ten and transported to an alien orphanage. It's even harder when your teacher's a Maggrumph with a short fuse, your headmaster has three heads and the adults are using you as a test subject for their new invention: red weed. Will the eleven alien children and their pet argibraffe survive to adulthood in one piece?

Abundance - Twelve aliens, six couples, an intergalactic dating service and a reality TV series in desperate trouble lead to half a dozen very different stories that are all about the one thing in the universe that's truly universal: love.

Available to buy on all planets as an e-book (it's too big for a paperback!) 

Plus which alien are you? Agrosian, Belobrat, Camalosian, Clandusprod, Doosbury Giant, Habridat, Magrumph, Mekkion or Mrasianart?Take our quiz here

 The fourth (stand-alone) volume of Kindred Spirits is now available!

Life isn't easy when you're 10. Especially when you're an orphan on a new planet with alien classmates, a psychopathic teacher, the intergalactic space olympics is taking place for the first time and the universe is addicted to the red weed that killed your family.

Swallows and Amazons. With eleven species unsupervised in interstellar space.
A hundred years on from ‘Province’ and peace feels much easier. Even The Agrosians have become less aggressive. Well, slightly. The discovery of red weed, a new substance mined from all eleven inhabited planets, by unscrupulous adults spells bad news though – for the universe in general but specifically for the group of eleven children who have been sent to a new international school on Orpheus. They all seem to have something wrong with them, but not everything was meant to be cured and some things can never be, certainly not with red weed. New girl Robin fears her dyspraxia will stop her getting any friends, but when her friends are an introvert invertebrate Camalosian who never speaks, an insecure Belobrat, a cynical Habridat, a Glabdiharbit with multiple phobias, a Doosbury Giant with an eating disorder, a polite Agrosian, a co-dependent Clandusprod, an unbeliever Mrasianart, a Maggrumph bully and a Mekkion who keeps blowing emotional fuses she feels less out of place than she did on Earth. Though their teachers want to keep them enclosed in their Great Hall the children want to explore the universe, starting with the first ever International Games that’s just taking place on Decreeta. Will the children learn to get along? Can they trust any of the adults who seem to get stranger every day? Who will listen to them if they can find out what’s going on? Will they survive corruption, shuttle-flights, ice planets, burning buildings, bombs, pyramid sellers, Doosbury Operas, their own teachers and the scariness of approaching adulthood in one piece? More than just another novel, ‘Ensconce’ is yet another mad house, a love song to childhood and the hope that one day if adults actually stopped moaning and listened to their off-spring then it might just save us all.
Available to buy on all planets as a paperback or an e-book
Plus which alien are you? Agrosian, Belobrat, Camalosian, Clandusprod, Doosbury Giant, Habridat, Magrumph, Mekkion or Mrasianart?Take our quiz here

 The third volume of 'Kindred Spirits' 'Province' is now for sale!

The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire. With ten sets of friendly aliens and one ferocious enemy from outside the known universe

A hundred years on from ‘Insurgence’ and Humrasianart Eleron is the new president of The Intergalactic Peace Organisation. He should be happy – he has the perfect wife, the perfect job and lives in a near-perfect universe where nothing has gone wrong for years. However, the newly terraformed planet Decreeta is more likely to induce war in Eleron and his colleagues. That’s especially true when a new breed of species named Agrosians from the unknown side of the universe come across an Earth shuttle with a mysterious disc full of music and quickly turns his plans for peace and diplomacy upside down. Only a race against time around the ten existing planets and enlisting their co-operation stands between the newly formed peace organisation and the Agrosians ruled by their merciless Queen Calixta enslaving our half of the universe. Will everyone learn to work together in time? Just what is the mysterious Belobrat ex-head of the IPO up to? Will Eleron get to rescue his Mrasianbrat wife? Will his military general stop squeaking and come out from under his desk? Will Eleron be able to file his copy of Kinks album 'Preservation' in the Intergalactic Peace Library? Will vice-president Horace ever wake up and do some work?!? And if Eleron gets back home will things ever be the same for him again? More than just another novel, ‘Province’ is a mad house, a love song to the act of, erm, politics (what?!?) and a hope that one day it might just save us all.

Available to buy on all planets as a paperback or an e-book

Plus which alien are you? Agrosian, Belobrat, Camalosian, Clandusprod, Doosbury Giant, Habridat, Magrumph, Mekkion or Mrasianart?Take our quiz here

 

Dear readers, 'Insurgence' - the second instalment of 'Kindred Spirits' - is now out in paperback and e-book format. A hundred years after the events of ‘Endurance’ (still available folks!) and the ten intelligent species in the known galaxy all know and respect each other – but some of those in charge on those ten planets are having a hard time accepting this brave new world and are still caught up in their petty global affairs. When just existing is enough to start an act of rebellion, being an off-worlder playing in a peace orchestra seems to be enough to start a revolution. That’s what worries the Mrasianart authorities, who turn the deep-thinking world of Mras on its head with petty fears and injustices through their glorified telepathical internet, ‘the universal’. Eleanor’s long journey across the galaxy from Earth to her new home is far more exciting than she ever expected, full as it is with love for a local, violence, cultural tests, exams, knitting Clandusprods, corruptible Belobrat peace delegates and giving birth to the universe’s first Humrasian. Together the Peace Orchestra find themselves socking it to the man – or in this case one particular alien – in a desperate fight to avoid deportation or worse. It’s all quite an adventure – one she isn’t sure she wants to take after what happened to her back home but which leaves her never quite the same simple human again. ‘Insurgence’ is, like prequel ‘Endurance’, another mad house, a love song to the art of music this time and a hope that one day it might just save us all. Includes extracts from the Intergalactic Song Contest and the 23rd century hit 'We Are All One Universe And We're Only Several Billion Light Years Apart'. A big thankyou to all of you who got in touch to say how much you enjoyed the first volume. Oh and if you haven't done it yet then check out our sister site at  Kindred Spirits (kindredspiritbooks.blogspot.com) where you can take part in our quiz to find out which alien is most like you. Watch out for Volume Three ('Province') sometime in 2022, time machines permitting. If you're just here for the music then don't worry - the annual AAA review of the year will be here as usual sometime in December. See you then!

Available now in paperback or e-book formats by clicking here

Dear readers, as you all know by now Alan's Album Archives was put to bed last year after 12 years, 32 e-books and nearly 14000 blog posts. After all that lot its probably fair to say I am about written out when it comes to music. So I have been busy with a new task, writing a series of novels (possibly a quintet if I get that far!) 

This series isn't strictly related to my music books at all, but it might interest some of you given that there is quite a lot of crossover. After all, this book is about what it means to be human, something touched on somewhere in almost every album covered on this site The first volume is now up and might be of interest to anyone who wants to see what happens to the human race in the future and might be of particular interest to those of you who have enjoyed our April Fool's Day posts, as many of the same alien races from the future appear again (Camalosians, Clandusprods, Belobrats, Doosbury Giants, Glabdihardits, Habridats, Maggrumphs, Mekkions, Mrasianarts). There are naturally more than a few musical references in there too (though far more in the second book 'Insurgence' - we'll keep you posted when that one's out). For once I've even bee able to publish it as a physical copy in paperback in edition to an e-book, after years of struggling to get Amazon Kindle KDP to accept any of my music books in that format (I'm still trying folks, honest!) I've also entered it into the #kindlestorytelingcontest2021 if anyone enjoys it enough to give me a bit of a boost there. More to come later in the year!

Anyway for anyone whose interested you can take our 'which alien race are you quiz?' at the AAA sister site here or buy the book in paperback here or in kindle format here  Thankyou dear readers, always! 

Oh and remember to go your way as explorers, not pirates...

 

Blimey...That's it folks. All 32 Alan's Album Archives E-books are now published and available from Amazon (and hopefully in some new places this coming year - we'll add the new links as we go!) Don't be too sad though - there will always be new albums to review, other things to write, I still plan to add a 'review of the year' here each year as long as I am able and there are still plenty of new Spice Girls jokes to crack. Plus it's not like we didn't leave enough for you to read - by my reckoning there's 17.500 odd pages here and surely you can't have read them all (I'm not even sure if I did and I wrote them!!!) However, that's it for now. To make it easier for you to find our books here they all are again. Thankyou so much for your custom and readership over the years! 
All our books feature every band or artist's studio albums reviewed in-depth (7-10,000 words) with mini-reviews of live, solo, compilation, rarities and spin-off albums plus non-album recordings, plus an essay, biographies and 'thematic threads'. Each book also contains a 'B-Sides' section featuring the run-down on surviving TV clips, outtakes, key cover versions, landmark concerts, extracts from the Alan's Album Archives 'top ten' columns and plenty more besides. 1) 'Music Arcade - An Alan's Album Archives Selection Box'(Includes Extracts From 31 Books, Endless Quantities Of Songs, 646 Pages)

$2.99/£1.77/Eur 2.69 Available From Amazon     
Looking for a new band to discover? Try our 'Music Arcade' playlist - three recommended tracks by all thirty AAA acts (plus a few extras!) in chronological order!
2) 'Add Some Music To Your Day - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Beach Boys' (29 In-Depth Reviews, 419 Songs, 918 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.99 Available From Amazon


New to The Beach Boys? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips3) 'Every Little Thing - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Beatles'(13 In-Depth Reviews, 300 Songs, 799 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.99 Available From Amazon
New to The Beatles? Are you serious? Have you been living under a rock? Were you looking for a Spice Girls website and ended up here by accident? If so then it was your lucky day, try our playlist and have your mind blown- ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best outtakes and TV clips
4) 'Rollercoaster Ride - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Belle and Sebastian' (10 In-Depth Reviews, 178 Songs, 398 Pages)

$5.25/£3.99/Eur 4.49 Available from Amazon
New to Belle and Sebastian? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips

5) 'Flying On The Ground Is Wrong - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To...Buffalo Springfield' 

(4 In-Depth Reviews, 61 Songs, 289 Pages)

$3.99/£2.99/Eur 3.33 Available From Amazon
New to Buffalo Springfield? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips (plus the full unedited 'Bluebird'!)

6) 'All The Things - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Byrds'(12 In-Depth Reviews, 194 Songs, 627 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.77 Available From Amazon
New to The Byrds? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips


7) 'Change Partners - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young' (37 In-Depth Reviews, 489 Songs, 978 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.70 Available From Amazon
New to CSN/Y? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips


8) 'Solid Rock - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Dire Straits' (6 In-Depth Reviews, 60 Songs, 342 Pages)

$4.99/£3.99/Eur 4.50 Available From Amazon
New to Dire Straits? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips


9) 'High Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Grateful Dead' (16 In-Depth Reviews, 200 Archive sets, 279 Songs, 815 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.65 Available From Amazon 
New to The Grateful Dead? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and of course live performances

10) 'Unknown Delight - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...George Harrison' (11 In-Depth Reviews, 155 Songs, 383 Pages)

$5.25/£3.99/Eur 4.50 Available From Amazon
New to George's solo stuff? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs 

11) 'Reflections Of A Time Long Past - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Hollies' (21 In-Depth Reviews, 360 Songs, 743 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.80 Available From Amazon
New to The Hollies? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs 
12) 'Wild Thyme - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Jefferson Airplane/Starship' (21 In-Depth Reviews, 360 Songs, 743 Pages)


$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.99 Available From Amazon  

New to The Jefferson family? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips 
13) 'Little Girl Blue - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Janis Joplin' 

(4 In-Depth Reviews, 104 Songs, 262 Pages)

£3.90/£2.99/Eur 3.49 Available From Amazon
New to Janis? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best spin-off songs and TV clips 

14) 'Maximum Consumption - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Kinks'(23 In-Depth Reviews, 370 Songs, 860 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.79 Available From Amazon
New to The Kinks? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo and spin-off songs and TV clips
15) 'Remember - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...John Lennon' (7 In-Depth Reviews, 116 Songs, 173 Pages)

$5.85/£4.50/Eur 5.29 Available From Amazon

New to John's solo stuff? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best of Yoko and TV clips

16) 'Passing Ghosts - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Lindisfarne' (19 In-Depth Reviews, 279 Songs, 540 Pages)

$5.99/£4.99/Eur 5.45 Available From Amazon

New to Lindisfarne? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best of Jack The Lad and solo songs and TV clips

17) 'Smile Away - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Paul McCartney'

(22 In-Depth Reviews, 408 Songs, 932 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.70 Available From Amazon
New to Macca? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best of Denny Laine and TV clips
18) 'Every Step Of The Way - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Monkees' (13 In-Depth Reviews, 266 Songs, 60 TV Episodes, Film+Specials, 1014 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.70 Available From Amazon

New to The Monkees? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus one solo single each


19) 'New Horizons - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Moody Blues' (18 In-Depth Reviews, 228 Songs, 659 Pages)

$6.40/£4.99/Eur 5.80 Available From Amazon
New to The Moody Blues? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs




20) 'Little By Little - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Oasis' (14 In-Depth Reviews, 240 Songs, 570 Pages)

$6.40/£4.99/Eur 5.86 Available From Amazon
New to Oasis? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and spin-off songs and TV clips


21) 'Watch The Stars - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Pentangle' (11 In-Depth Reviews, 131 Songs, 472 Pages)

$5.90/£4.50/Eur 5.29 Available From Amazon
New to Pentangle? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips


22) 'Remember A Day - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Pink Floyd' (14 In-Depth Reviews, 176 Songs, 690 Pages)

$7.85/£5.99/Eur 7.10 Available From Amazon
New to Pink Floyd? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips 

23) 'Change Is Gonna Come - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Otis Redding' (6 In-Depth Reviews, 141 Songs, 296 Pages)
$3.85/£2.99/Eur 3.50 Available From Amazon

New to Otis Redding? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best from backing band Booker T and the MGs and TV clips 

24) 'Yesterday's Papers - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Rolling Stones' (22 In-Depth Reviews, 389 Songs, 836 Pages)

$7.45/£5.99/Eur 6.70 Available From Amazon
New to  the Stones? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips

25) 'Once Upon A Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Searchers' (8 In-Depth Reviews, 179 Songs, 355 Pages)

$5.30/£3.99/Eur 4.52 Available From Amazon
New to The Searchers? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, one famous and one not so well known singles plus the best solo songs and TV clips

26) 'Patterns - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Simon and Garfunkel'(26 In-Depth Reviews, 389 Songs, 715 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.65 Available From Amazon
New to Simon and Garfunkel? Then try our playlist - ten of the best together and three each of the best apart, plus our book title track, pre-fame songs and TV clips

27) 'All Our Yesterdays - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of The Small Faces' (6 In-Depth Reviews, 101 Songs, 462 Pages)

$5.45/£4.50/Eur 4.95 Available From Amazon
New to The Small Faces? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, three each for Humble Pie and The Faces, plus solo songs and TV clips

28) 'One Day At A Time - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of Cat Stevens' (15 In-Depth Reviews, 135 Songs, 434 Pages)

$5.90/£4.50/Eur 4.97 Available From Amazon

New to Cat Stevens? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track and TV clips
29) 'Memories - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of 10cc'(12 In-Depth Reviews, 145 Songs, 516 Pages)

$5.99/£4.50/Eur 5.05 Available From Amazon
New to 10cc? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, pre-fame recordings and TV clips


30) 'Gettin' In Tune - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...The Who' (12 In-Depth Reviews, 249 Songs, 830 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.30 Available From Amazon
New to The Who? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, best of the solo songs and TV clips

31) 'Here We Are In The Years - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Music Of...Neil Young' (40 In-Depth Reviews, 438 Songs, 1036 Pages)

$7.99/£5.99/Eur 6.30 Available From Amazon
New to Neil? Then try our playlist - ten of the best, plus our book title track, the best of Crazy Horse and TV clips

32) 'A Scrapbook Of Madness - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To The Madness Of...Alan's Album Archives'(11 Time-Travelling April Fool’s Day Issues, 250 News, Views and Music Newsletters, 1600 Pages)

$1.99/£1.49/Eur 1.79 Available From Amazon

Feeling Monkeynuts? Then try our playlist - four increasingly insane adverts



Or, if you're mad/rich enough, you could buy the whole lot in one go (!): Amazon

'A Scrapbook Of Madness - The Alan's Album Archives Guide To...Alan's Album Archives' Is Available To Buy Now As An E-Book By Clicking Here!