Ensconce: (Illustrated Edition)

By Alan's Archives

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.

Now available in a special illustrated re-issue with illustrations by artist 'Under A Dreamer's Moon' that bring the twelve colourful alien species of the 'Kindred Spirits' universe to life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F1TQY5M7
• ISBN13: 9798310507029
• Release Date: November 2022
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 692 Pages
• Weight: 2.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"