Beautiful Traitor Books

Selected books ... for inquiring readers

Treat your words as if they were your children

Sophie is an eleven year old girl who’s on a mission – to find No-Thing at No-Where. Yet to reach it she must enter the Imaginal World; the world of our dreams where she must first learn the power to dream harder, dream faster. Our world – the Regular World – is in need of help.

Once inside, Sophie embarks upon a fantastical journey where she encounters such characters as the energetic Eddie the Gangly, the slobbering Borik the Harkone, the one-eyed Huffalots, Jimbob the Oldest Sproggit, the enigmatic Snifflegruffs, the elegant Lady Drakona, the cruel Blackheart Jake, the odd pair Sergeant Spittlespat and PC Wobblekirk, grumpy Gabby, jolly Ralph – and Ruu Eddin, the mysterious multi-colored mystic trickster.

Sophie’s Search for No-Where shows us that the Imaginal World can be both a curious and an unsettling place – it is not for everyone. Yet for those who dare to step inside they will find the fantastical, the magical…where everything is exactly not what it seems.

Sophie’s Search for No-Where is a tale for young and old readers that will entertain, delight, and enchant.

Amazon UK

Reader’s Reviews of the book:

For thoughtful dreamy 12-year-olds?

I needed a book for a thoughtful 12-year-old girl ─ this nicely produced book seemed sufficiently unlike any other to be stimulating by its very strangeness. It starts gently enough and then, from about a third of the way through, the book picks up speed with lots of interesting characters and bits of philosophy sprinkled in. By the ending, the reader should be hooked and will hopefully persevere through the denser philosophical bits. If I was asked to criticize, I would suggest that the proof-reading left something to be desired, sometimes even obscuring the sense ─ but if I remember my own early reading, I always skated over what was obscure, and I daresay my young friend will do the same.

A delightful book for all ages

This is a delightful book for all ages. Kingsley Dennis takes us on a journey from surprise to surprise through a magical world. There seems to be no limits to his imagination. David Miller’s beautiful illustrations capture the essence of the story perfectly well. This book can be read for its entertainment value alone. It also provides many technical details and valuable insights to anyone on a quest for inner knowledge.

Sophie and Michael listened to the whispering as it rose like a chant from the lips of the growing crowd – ‘Ruu Eddin is going to speak…Ruu Eddin is going to speak.’
‘Who do you think this Eddin person is?’ asked Michael, somewhat bemused.

‘That’s what we’re going to find out. Follow me.’

Sophie slipped through the crowds and tried to get further ahead. Michael followed closely, not wanting to lose her out of his sight. The throng of people, all moving slowly and almost in rhythm together, did not appear to notice Sophie and Michael pushing through. Or if they did, they didn’t seem to mind, or care. Soon enough the street opened out onto a square, surrounded by high stone buildings that were equally as non-descriptive as the people. If this was the town square, thought Sophie, then the town itself had to be extremely dull – as well as being colorless. Not only was everything in monochrome, but even the appearance of everything in the town was of the most basic, and boring, design. The buildings were flat, expressionless blocks of stone with only a few small windows dotted here or there. The people that flocked around them all wore dark, non-distinctive clothes that hung shapeless off their bodies.
‘If this is the so-called Land of Potentials, then the people here are way-lost!’ whispered Michael into Sophie’s ear. She nodded, knowing she had been thinking the very same thing. Talk about a contrast…

Sophie thought the old man looked so thin and fragile beneath his rags, and yet he walked with a strong healthy pace that was difficult for her to keep up with. The old man Gabby appeared full of vigor despite his appearance. Sophie now paid more attention to her surroundings, not really sure how far she had walked since first arriving. She noticed that the sunlight was a lesser brightness, and that there was no wind or breeze. The valley rose up high on either side of her and stretched as far into the distance as she could see. Looking more closely at the trees in the valley she noticed that they varied in so many different shades of green. This was surely not like the trees back home. Here the different shades were so noticeable, like on a painter’s palette.

‘Gabby, you’re walking so fast. Can we not slow down a little?’ ‘What do you want to slow down for – do you wish to delay your destiny?’ replied the old man with a critical tone in his voice.
‘How can I delay my destiny when I don’t know what it is? Besides, I don’t have a Scroll of Destiny like you.’

‘Mm…yes, so true. Okay then, a little slower for Lucy the Regular.’ Gabby then turned around and began to walk backwards. ‘How’s this?’ he said with a grin.
Sophie shook her head.
‘Why are the trees so many different colors of green?’ Sophie was now walking almost face-to-face with the old man.
‘Why shouldn’t they be? Don’t you like green or something? Or would you prefer to change the color?’
‘No, I like green. It’s how trees should be. It’s just that back home I don’t see as many greens.’
‘Look, see here Lucy… it’s all about looking.’ Gabby began to sway his arms by his side as if he was doing a little dance as he walked backward. Not once did he turn his head to see where he was going. He seemed to be following the curve of the path perfectly as if he had eyes in the back of his head.
‘I don’t see what you mean?’
‘Exactly – you don’t see! Or rather, you only see according to how you look…..

‘She’s coming! She’s coming!’ Eddie hopped and leapt through the corridors and halls of the monastery until he found Sophie and Michael, who were by now sitting quietly in the Hall of Empathy. ‘She’s coming – gotta get ready!’

‘Sssh, this is a sacred place of connection.’ Sophie gave Eddie a frown. ‘Uh, er, well, not to mind, you can connect another time. You’ve got to prepare yourself for Her!’
‘Who exactly is “Her”?’ asked Michael in a hushed voice.

‘Her, of course! The one who’s going to take you to the Land of Potentials – the Drakona. She’s gorgeous…and ever so golden cool. Quick, quick, come, come – we have to meet Ralph and get ready.

She’ll be here soon.’ Eddie leapt away, all feathers flapping.

Before long all four of them were waiting in the outside yard of the monastery when she arrived. Everyone gasped as the enormous golden creature flew in and landed. She was indeed gorgeous, just as Eddie had said. A golden dragon that landed with such delicacy, grace, and gentleness that Sophie and Michael were both in awe. The creature turned her head to face them and bowed.

‘I am the Lady Drakona. It is my pleasure to be of service.’ A soft, soothing voice floated out of the creature’s mouth, more like a song than speech.

‘My name is Ralph, and this is my home. This used to be a beautiful place. This building was a monastery, and I’ve served here almost all my life. Now it is in ruins, and a dark energy has entered this land. This dark energy rules over everything.’

‘What happened?’
‘I know from where you have come,’ said Ralph. ‘You are another visitor from the Regular World, like the one before you. And your world is responsible for what is happening here. Something entered this part of our world from your Regular World. There were some terrible dark thought-forms that erupted suddenly in your world. They must have originated in one particular spot – a place that corresponds with our land here. We felt the burst of these thought-forms as screams of pain, anger, confusion, and worst of all – hatred. The energy of hatred and revenge ripped into our world, shaking the very foundations. Our monastery here collapsed in ruins, and many of us here were injured. We suspect it probably reflected a similar collapse of one of your great buildings in the Regular World. You see, everything is connected. Just because you don’t see something, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.’
Ralph sighed and touched his face.

‘Sophie, come here.’ The voice seemed to ring out in a chime. Sophie stepped even closer until she could almost touch the flowing fabric of the lady’s robe. The lady bent down a little to put her face closer to Sophie’s. Her long golden hair smelled of the essence of crushed springtime flowers.

‘Sophie, you must enter…you have to dream harder.’ The soft musical voice of the lady flowed into Sophie’s ears like a river of warm honey. Sophie was stunned into silence.
‘Sophie,’ the lady said again, this time with a more urgent tone, ‘there is little time…’ Suddenly Sophie’s concentration shattered into tiny fragments. Everything snapped as if a catapult had been sprung.

‘NO!…’ Sophie screamed as she bolted upright in her bed. Not again… not again, she whimpered as her small hands clenched into whitened balls of angst. She had been so close, so close…and yet. Yet that is sometimes how things are. Maybe in the world of always-on television and shopping we are used to getting what we want. But there are other places, other realms, where a little something extra is required…something that is beyond the push of a button.

Admittedly it was a drawback for Sophie. But Sophie being Sophie – a quiet determined young girl (and we should never underestimate the power of a quiet, determined young person), the disappointment only made her more resolute to reach her goal.

We’re on the lookout for Blackheart Jake. We know he came this way. Did you happen to see him?’ As the sergeant spoke, little spittles of saliva jumped from his mouth.

‘Erhh,’ stammered Sophie, who was caught off-guard watching the man’s saliva-lava.
‘No erring, young lady. This is important police business. Blackheart Jake is the blackest heart in the entire realm. Hence the name, you see.’ ‘Hence the name,’ repeated the taller man.

‘Yes, thank you PC Wobblekirk. Well, he is wanted for a list of misdemeanours longer than all your arms put together, plus one…’ ‘Plus one,’ repeated PC Wobblekirk.

 

‘And maybe more that we are not aware of. That’s always a possibility, of course.’
‘Of course.’
‘Yes, thank you, PC Wobblekirk. And well, you see, we need to speak with this fellow, Blackheart Jake, as soon as, or even before, possible. He’s such a mean fellow. You know what I mean – he’s kinda real mean like.’

‘Real mean like.’
‘Ahem. So, well, don’t just stand there speechless. Speak up!’ ‘Speak up!’
‘Have you, or did you – or have you not or did you not – see this Blackheart Jake pass this way?’