Bill Allerton – författare

Chain O''Lakes State Park

Spring Grove County

Illinois

Drop a rock into a still lake

and sit back to watch the ripples grow...

Set in contemporary America, this novel tracks the ripple effect of the arrival of a young couple in hiding from a religious cult on the quiet lives of the local people of ''Chain O''Lakes'' Illinois, exposing their pasts. Character driven and mainly set in dialogue, the story encompasses repression, humour, action, fatality and violence in somewhat equal measure.

78 years of age and at last finding a version of peace in an acerbic relationship with her neighbors, Maggie Gray is shaken awake by the arrival of a night-time opportunist thief.

Determined to expose them, whatever the danger, Maggie embarks on a vodka-fueled journey that takes her back through her work at Homeland Security to the very dangerous foundations of her lonely life.

''Kowalski he say... not all souls catch fire.

God made me not strong for to blow

spark... but you are strong woman...''

Foxes, Frogs & Rice Pudding contains a series of compelling stories and poems initially imagined by children themselves and written to fullness based on their ideas by the author Bill Allerton. The content encompasses a compendu=ium of characters such as Dragons, Magic, Unicorns, Dinosaurs, Giants, Lions, Tigers, Foxes, Frogs, Fish, Girls, Boys, Moths, Rockets, Dentists, Pirates, Vampires, Dogs, School, Trees; Birds, Cats, Witches, Wizards, and Rice Pudding.

The stories contain real people interacting with imaginary, mythical or other animals and introducing a great element of humour and fun into the texts.

The characters and scenes in the book were imagined and invented some years ago between myself and the children of Y2, Sharrow Nursery & Infant School, Sheffield.

Bill Allerton was given the task of completing each of these stories and returning them to the class within one week. On occasion, the list of basic story elements that he was required to include seemed impossible. In the event, none were impossible, some just a little harder to achieve than others. I will let you decide which those were.

The children who had specific involvement are each named within their story, but without the enthusiasm of the whole of the school, affording me inspiration and encouragement, I could not have completed this book.