Cirrus@Austlit

'It's tough being a thirteen-year old schoolboy, especially when you're an accident-prone coward and the big brother who stuck up for you is dead. Oh, and you've been thrust into a magical realm you're expected to save single-handedly. Sebastian Duffy has an awful lot of skills to learn in a hurry if he is to defeat Phobitor by stealing the Spear of Lugh from the peace-loving Tuath.

'"Sebastian woke with terror in his heart. His dream was a prophecy and he read it in a second. They intended to kill him, imminently."

'He's been given some help of course-a mercurial sorceress, an orphaned druidess, a taciturn warrior, a snuff-sniffing leprechaun and a lovelorn poet- an outfit known as the Hibernauts, but can he really overcome a psychopathic warmongering god when half the realm is bent on his destruction?

'"There was a searing flash and Sebastian found himself sailing through the air. As he span upward, multiple colors appeared, resolving into broad bands. He watched the rainbow arc up into the air, up, up, up, higher and higher, disappearing into the thick black clouds."

'If he is to have the remotest chance he will have to outsmart hordes of aiia, cluricaun, brigands, woodwose, undead warriors, speckled bats, spies, hunkypunks, traitors, skeletons, gobbleratches and battle-swine first. And are those Tuath really so peaceable? If only he could find his courage.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It is Easter, 1973 and twelve year old Sebastian Duffy has some serious self-esteem issues. He is beaten by his parents, bullied at school, steals from his friends and still mourning the death of his brother. To cap it all, strange things have begun happening around him and he is finding it hard to distinguish dreams from reality. After a nightmarish assault, he wakes in the Gloaming, a shadow world inhabited by ghosts. There to greet him is Porrig, a creature from Hibercadia, a magical realm crafted from Celtic dreams. Inhabited by Fir Bolg, Tuath and Milesians, it has been overthrown by brother gods from another dreamworld. One brother, Phobitor, is a tyrant and even the Tuath, who took to their underground sidhe millennia ago, are concerned. Sebastian discovers that he alone can save Hibercadia by finding an enchanted spear. Teaming up with the Hibernauts-a mercurial sorceress, an orphaned druidess, a taciturn warrior, a snuff-sniffing leprechaun and a lovelorn poet-he embarks on a fantastical quest, but can he succeed when he is yet to find his magical potential or even his courage, and half the realm is bent on his destruction?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.