The Sims 3 - Stephen Gordon

The Sims 3
Format: PC/MAC
Price: £39.99

The Sims 3 is the brilliant sequel to the previous Sims 2. The reason why I say it is brilliant is that you get so much freedom. Compared to The Sims 2 where you can only stay in one household. In the Sims 3 you can roam around the neighbourhood. Take over shops, do anything!

The graphics (compared to the sims 2) are also much better. Every little thing down to the tiniest speck of dust is detailed. The actual Sims themselves look better too. You can change more things like skin colour (you can change it to blue, red and many more colours) face shape and even nose length!

The interfaces are more simpler as well. You can choose which room you want to make and it will have it there for you, so example for a bathroom it will sort out the toilets, showers,sinks etc. If you dont like those screen you can just get the items you want e.g. electronics, appliances, miscellaneous etc.

There is also new things that weren't in the old Sims 2 . For example traits where you can decide if your Sim is lucky or unlucky, ambitious or a failure, you can even choose if they are popular or a loner.

To be honest The Sims 3 is the best God game I have ever played. If I had to sum it up in one word. The Sims 3 would be freedom. For everything in The Sims 3 is up to you.

Naruto vol 1 - Jack Chinnery

Naruto is a Japanese comic book that has sold more than 3.6 million books in the U.S.A. The story and art are by Masashi Kishimoto who works for the most popular Manga, Shonen Jump Manga.
What is the story about?
Naruto is about a boy that is in training to be the world’s best ninja. He has a sense for mischief that amuses his teammates, but also surprises people at how dedicated he is to become a ninja.
What Naruto doesn’t know that trapped inside him is a deadly spirit? 12 years before his birth the village hidden in the leaves (where he lives) was attacked by a nine tailed fox spirit who murdered Naruto’s parents. He has to go through four different stages to become a ninja. He has to fight whatever monster gets in his way, train hard, and protect his friends and himself, whatever it takes.
Because Naruto is a trouble maker nobody thinks he will get far in life, but when they see him fight they will always respect him. His friends Sasuke and Sakura are in his group to pass the rounds. He meets friends along the way, and keeps saying to everyone who offends him, I will become the next Lord Hockage. The Lord Hockage is the strongest Ninja in the world.
I think this is a great book, for everyone to enjoy and I give it a ten out of ten rating.
Jack Chinnery

The Unknown - Elliott Phillips

Deep in the water, where nobody dares go,
Live certain creatures which never seem to show,
They stick to the shadows to keep out of sight,
Searching for their meals, day and night.

There are many different colours, shades of blue and green,
This endless abyss is a whole world unseen,
Who knows what lurks in those endangered reefs,
Not above the surface, but far underneath.

All these things yearn for there is their next meal,
Some eat plants, but most must kill,
Just the swish of a tail and a drop of blood,
Alerts other species and in the predators flood.

The carnivore gives chase to catch its prey,
Bearing its splinter-like teeth in that threatening way,
Soon it takes hold, devours both flesh and bone,
Before swiftly returning to skulk down in the unknown.

Dark Awaiting Chapter Two - Christopher Hewitt

Dark Awaiting
Chapter 2
Drip...drip...drip... The noises I hear. My eyes open to the dark room. All I see is darkness, that’s all, darkness. So I just wait there not knowing what to do except listen. Drip...drip...drip...The thought of hearing that noise for the rest of my life feels disturbing. The drips echo through my mind as if it were a tunnel bouncing back the sound to all known places. It obliterates all feelings to the point where you feel nothing and are nothing. But yet it continues. Drip by drip I still stay there doing nothing. Not even breathing as I just had realised. And so I do nothing as I am hooked onto the drip.
Some time later the drips become a faster pace. Dripping and dripping nonstop driving all those of a weak mind to breaking point. I am beginning to struggle to keep myself together as the drips circulate through my head. I feel my head bulging and my ears stinging. I grit my teeth and grab my ears to try and stop the drips entering my ear. But no good, sound still finds its way in and I feel as if I am about to explode. Veins rise out of my head, jutting out all over. Then after all that I finally could not take any more so I screamed. My screams cloaked the drips making them disappear from existence. I screamed for at least a minute until I finally was out of breath and so stopped. The drips had subsided and something else had subsided as well. The darkness turns to light of which was almost blinding.
I finally saw what was here. Trees of all shapes and sizes cover the landscape, with flowers and plants sprouting at their roots. A river flowed gently down to the left of me. It twinkled within the light it was exposed of. The sky was a dark purple colour that was filled with shooting stars and planets of which loop around each other. To the right of me was a bed, but not just any bed. It was my bed. It was my bedroom. Everything was there that was in my bedroom except there was no walls. I see on a table leather bound book. It was quite a tatty book that was curled up on the edges and had ripped up pages sticking out of it. It was darker than the blackness I was in a few minutes ago. There was something bad about this book and part of me believed the book was evil. I then saw it had an engraving in it. It said Blunt’s diary . This diary was mine (My name is quite odd I know).
I was intrigued by it seeing as I have never seen it before. I pick it up and feel a surge of power rush through me, but afterwards I did not feel any different. I opened it slowly. It smelt horrible. It was like really smelly cheese that’s gone off and made it smell even worse. I looked at page one. I read out to myself what it said in quotations “This book shows of the darkness that arrives to the name of which is inscribed onto the front of this book. To that who reads it shall only be the owner of it and when that person chooses to read it, that person’s life will have it taken away for it to fulfil its destiny.” I was deeply shocked to read that and was also terrified of reading any further. I was still alive even though I read that first bit so no harm done...yet. I look at page 2. This page is illustrated. It had three skulls placed in a triangle all separated by three lines. And in the centre was text of a language I do not understand it was all in numbers. 1a7kne55 await5 you young one. I read further being very wary. I was now very scared. The diary detailed every single aspect of my life from the day I was born. Everything I have said and done was in here. Word for word it described my story. I turn to the end and see the words “...and darkness claimed this person’s life.” I was about to shout but something grabbed me. Something that is indescribable for it is non-existent in your world. But it blocked off my lungs and I struggled to be free. The worlds light disintegrated into darkness once more and at that it happened...I departed from this world.

Fantastic Ferrari - Alex Risely

Recently Ferrari has announced that they are unveiling a brand new F142 V8 sports car this year to replace the old F430. It now has a 5.0 litre 32valve V8 engine and with its new seven speed gear box can go from 0-60 in just 3.5 seconds and has an estimated top speed of about 200mph! It has been stripped down and is much lighter than the F430 so can achieve greater speeds. But with a price tag of $225,000 I don’t think that anyone can afford to go that fast!
Ferrari is one of the most successful car manufacturers and I hope that this car will go down well with all of the critics. I think that it looks really good and it is an excellent car.

In 2004 Ferrari brought out the Enzo. The Enzo has a six speed gearbox and a 6.0l V12. It can go from 0-60 in just 3.14 seconds and its top speed is 221mph. It holds a hefty price tag of $643,330 and is much more expensive than the new F142 which is surprising. Only 400 Enzo’s have been produced in 4 years. After celebrating its first world championship of the new millennium Ferrari built the Enzo and named it after Ferrari’s founder Enzo Ferrari who died in 1988.

The Ferrari F430 is the base model for the new F142 and doesn’t have many differences. It has a 4.3l V8 with a six speed gearbox, this engine has been used in many other Ferraris that have been made in the past and present. It began sales in 2004 just like the Enzo. It costs about $227,000 and can produce about 483bhp. The F430 can reach a top speed of 196mph which is quite slow compared to the other models. In 3.5 seconds it can reach 60mph. On Top Gear on the 17 July 2005, The Stig achieved a Power Lap time of 1:22.9 which was only 0.89 seconds less than a Lamborghini Murciélago!

Wicked the Musical - BY OLIVER SHARLAND-HARRIS

The story on Wicked is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire and the hit film wizard of oz and Screen play by Winnie Holzman, It tells the story of a green girl and a very popular blonde girl and how before Dorothy changed the history of Oz, how the wizard isn’t wonderful as he says he is, how Elphaba became wicked and how Galinda became good.
I went to see Wicked in the West End on the 20th of December 2008, it was honestly the best West End show I have seen. I made a BIG fuss over having to see a particular person playing Elphaba, she is called Kerry Ellis, I made a fuss because my friends that have seen it both in Broadway and the West End think that Kerry Ellis is the best Elphaba they have seen. At the stage door I saw the actor of Boq (that is not a typo he’s a munchkin) and Oliver Tompsett as Fiyero (also not a typo he’s the boy that both Elphaba and Galinda fall in love with) I didn’t talk to them - just saw them.
The story is set before, in and after the Wizard of Oz and as some of the people that made Wicked say “it’s like while filming the Wizard of Oz and the camera man has turned the camera around to show you what is really happening”
WICKED FACT FILE!
Did you know ? Elphaba sister was called Nessarose (the wicked witch of east)
Did you know? Nessarose’s death was a trap to capture Elphaba
Did you know? Elphaba does not die it’s just a trick
Did you know? Elphaba turns Fiyero into the scarecrow
Did you know? Elphaba turned Boq into the tin man
Did you know ? The lion is cowardly because Elphaba wouldn’t let his own battles when he was young
Did you know? The Wizard was never wonderful as he said he was
Did you know? Nessarose was cripple but Elphaba put a spell on her to make her walk
Did you know? That Fiyero knows that Elphaba still lives
Did you know? That the story has two follow ups in book form called: Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men
BY OLIVER SHARLAND-HARRIS 7/2

The Ring - Darren Hodge

THE RING BOOK REVIEW

I finished reading The Ring about a week ago. I highly recommend it because it is an exciting and enjoyable book to read. You get so into the plot that you can’t help yourself from reading, it is highly addictive. It was written by Koji Suzuki, he is Japan’s answer to Stephen King.
Koji Suzuki was born on May 13th 1957 in Hamamatsu in Japan. The one I read was published by Harper Collins on March 7th 2005. He lives in Japan where the book sold 2.8million copies which continue to Spiral and Loop, the Ring was then made into a Japanese film called Ringu and a Hollywood film called the Ring.
Now onto the book itself, I will give you a brief version of the actual plot. Asakawa is a newspaper reporter and his niece has recently died of sudden heart failure, he also gets a cab on the way back home and his taxi driver says that another person died of sudden heart failure at exactly the same time. He thinks this is a bit weird and looks into it a bit more, he then visits his friend and he mentions a young couple dying of sudden heart failure in a car at the same time.
He realises that the two girls went to the same school and the boys went to the same school so that must be important, he learns that they all spent some time in a villa log cabin, so he investigated to see what they might have done. All he finds is a book with comments and one of them from the people said “don’t watch it,” and he finds a tape. Asakawa watches it and all it contains are abstract and real images for example a real one is a volcano erupting and an abstract one is an old woman predicting someone would have a baby. At the end it says these words “those who have watched these images are fated to die exactly a week from now, if you don’t want to die follow these instructions,” then the tape cuts to static and has been taped over by something else.
After he shows it to his friend they set out to find out how to live. It really is a good book, it is advisable from year 7 up, all ages will enjoy. The tension rises rapidly which has been done excellently. It sends shivers down your spine; the plot is laid out excellently. There is also a major twist at the end, just when you think you know it all and changes it completely. It ends with a cliff hanger ready for the second book Spiral.
I hope you are interested in this book as much as I am, it is truly a stunning read!!

Silverstone - a Few Thoughts from Year Seven

Thomas Bigden writes:

Silverstone is where the British Grand Prix is held and has done so for many years. Many grate cars and drivers have been round this circuit some of the more resent drivers are Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton, Rubens Barrichello and the 2009 Silverstone champion Sebastian Vetteli who won with a grate victory and was only 7 seconds behind last place.

I was so lucky to have gone to Silverstone 2009. most people think that Silverstone is just a Grand Prix racing that just goes on over the weekend but those people are wrong. Whilst we were there it was exhorting but it was worth what we saw. We saw many races such as old fashion race cars, Porsches and Rally cars as I said it wasn’t just cars they had the Red Arrows and one of the most amazing planes on this planet known as a Typhoon (Euro Fighter). This plane reaches the same amount of G’s as an Formula 1 car witch is around 6 G’s witch is 60 times as fast as we go in a normal ordinary day car.

At the Grand Prix people think that it is all cars and planes but they have much more for example merchandizing, the army with weapons and a huge concert but the most spectacular thing was the amount of crowd whilst we were there, there were over 300,000 spectators filling every seat thought the entire circuit.

This was my review on Silverstone so if it is there next year I advise you to try you’re best to get tickets because it is amazing.

Severed - Ruble Francis

Brilliant, great, magnificent, no other words can describe this book. This is certainly a Simon Kernick thriller, one of his best and probably better than his bestselling book relentless which is also a fantastic, fascinating book. The blurb attracts you towards the book. “you wake up in a strange room on a bed covered in blood. You have no idea how you got there. Beside you is a dead girl, your girlfriend. The phone rings, and a voice tells you to press play on the rooms DVD machine. The film shows you killing your girlfriend. Then you’re told to go to an address in east London where you’re to deliver a briefcase and await further instructions. Theres no way out. If you’re to survive the next 24 hours, you must find out who killed your girlfriend, and why. Before they come for you……..
So it’s a bout a man who doesn’t know what happened to him the night before, the only thing he does know is that his girl friend “Leah Torness” is dead, and that her killers have set you up, or is Leah not real. After all her name if you fiddle about it makes “she’s not real.” With a lot of trouble heading his way he has to find out who killed Leah and why.
Other books like relentless will also capture your mind because of the way Simon Kernick has written, the newly written book “Target” is also said to be great, well that’s what Mr Robinson said, anyway I would think the same since Simon Kernicks the one who wrote it, so I would guarantee to anyone that that is a great book.
See doesn’t that just lurk you into the path to buy it, certainly, if you don’t like this book then seriously you are totally mad. This is the kind of books which will live up to its standards and will not disappoint you. When you start its like you can’t stop, this is the kind of book you’d like, trust me.
AUTHOR: Simon Kernick
PUBLISHER: Transworld publishers
ISBN: 978-0-552-15313-3
Price: £6.99

Gordon Brown loses votes - Matthew Scott

Gordon Brown outvoted?
Gordon losing votes!!!

Prime minister Gordon Brown is currently losing his popularity and is losing people’s votes, people are asking themselves “Should we vote for a losing Prime Minister?” Gordon Brown quoted, “ Many are turning against me, but I am confident that I will gain back the favour of many others.” An insider in parliament, who asked for no name to be printed, though said he was for labour party, had quoted. “Gordon is going down, and will lose the general election. This is a sad time for us in the labour party, but will allow others in the labour party to govern as Prime Minister later on.” A reminder that the next general election is on Thursday 3rd of June 2010, so then you can vote who suits you. And that the one’s you can elect are, for the labour party, Gordon Brown, for the conservative party, David Cameron, and for the Liberal Democrat party, Nick Clegg.

The Recruit by Robert Muchamore - Matthew Brown

Recently, I read The Recruit by Robert Muchamore, and I thought it was fantastic. It is the first book in the CHERUB series and shows how a boy in care ends up being a secret agent.

James Choke was a normal teenager: he hated school and slumped around playing the Playstation. One day he found his mum, who ran a shoplifting business, dead on the sofa in his flat. James was soon rushed into care with his sister Lauren. James was sharing a room with a lad named Kyle. After a few days James was taken away in a van, drugged up and found himself awake in a strange building. He managed to find the place he needed to go to, and it was the head of CHERUB. CHERUB is an organsiation that trains children from the age of 10 to become secret agents. James was totally bemused when he was told this, but took the induction test. He passed with flying colours, and was soon undergoing basic training. But first, he had to change his surname, so he went for James Adams. Basic training at CHERUB was said to be the toughest experience of your life, and James was about to find out. It certainly was tough, and didn’t James know it. There were bruises all over his body, and every limb in his body was aching. After 1100 grueling days, James and his training teammates finally completed the basic training regime. They were now allowed to go on missions, and were given a grey shirt. The shirts were a sign of progress, so if you did well in many missions you would get a black one. James then spent life in and out of the CHERUB campus, either on missions or practicing his Karate.

Overall, this is a really good book for any boy. If you are starting to get bored with Alex Rider, you should try this as it is as realistic as any fiction book you can get.

Couriers of the Void continued...

Chapter 1

On the other side of town, a man sat watching the storm from the study window. This man was no older than seventeen, so in theory, he was still a young adult. However, as you will soon realise, age and time are meaningless in this story. They are merely figments of life. This mans name was Leonardo Vigil, or Leon for short. His parents were extremely wealthy people and so he lived in the biggest house the entire city. Whilst he sat in his fathers study watching the rain fall from the heavens, he daydreamed. He dreamed of playing football at university with his friends. He dreamed of life after education, and what he would do with his life. He had passed all of his GCSE’s. Astonishingly he had literally mastered the exams with A* for everything. He had amazed the teachers and had received many rewards from the Mayor and the Prime Minister for highest marks in the country. Leonardo was an extremely talented artist too. He had painted for the National Art Gallery in London, and had recently been in contact with the world-renowned Louvre in Paris. They had previewed his painting and were considering buying it. Now before the story goes any further all readers must understand. You may think,
‘Yeah’ right, as if that guy has had all of those things happen to him. His life is perfect!’
You are wrong. Leonardo was obviously a very clever young man. He was talented in all subjects and was additionally gifted in the Musical and Painting Arts. However, his life if far from perfect. Nothing is perfect, His life will soon be altered and damaged beyond repair. He will be a completely new person. He will still have the same skills, but he, as a human being, will be different. He will see life in a completely different way. Only once he has been ‘transformed’, for want of a better word, then, and only then, will you see the true meaning of perfection.
He dreamed of girls and money, and all the things he would do when he was ‘older’. He was thinking ahead, thinking of the future. He snapped out of his daydream and was still for a while whilst his eyes re-focused into this world. He then stood and moved to the study door and opened it. He walked through to the Piano Room and shut the door behind him. Leonardo played the Piano five times a day, for about three hours at a time. At this particular time, he sat down and rolled his knuckles thinking of all the possible pieces of music that he could play. He settled on ‘Claire de Lune’ by Debussy.
He began to play. His fingers were so adept at pressing the keys that it looked as though his fingers just floated across them. As the song progressed, he began to play more fiercely and more beautiful than ever. Due to the fact that he was playing so loudly, he did not notice his mother enter the room behind him. She closed the door softly and stood in the corner to watch him play. As the music progressed even further his mother began the get tears in her eyes. The music was so beautiful that it was astounding. Little did he know that one day, he would be playing this same piece of music, but in very different company. After the three hours of playing had ceased, he stood and cracked his knuckles. His mother had left shortly after she had entered, but he was oblivious to this as he was unaware she had even been in the room. From there he went to the library and sat in his favourite armchair with his favourite book. He got himself comfy and then began to read. There was nothing compared to reading in Leonardo’s opinion. The concept of reading something that someone else had written and creating a mental image of this persons story was amazing. What he was unaware of was that he would read this book again in the near future, but he would read it in a way that he had never read it before. He would be looking for something different. He would be creating a different mental image, one that may save his life.

Approximately twenty-eight miles south of his house, the vampires had made their second kill. This time a young woman, not long turned twenty-one. She had had so much life ahead of her. But the vampires were not interested in that. They thirsted for her blood and would not stop at anything to get it. The had now embedded two souls into the Void. Into the void from which they could never return. Little did Leonardo know, but his destiny and those of the vampires were very soon to be entwined. They had guided another spirit into the darkness. The night was soon going to come to an end, when the creatures of night would vanish, where no one could ever find them. But before that time, the hunters of darkness had one more victim, one more spirit to escort into darkness. One more mortal to banish into the Void.

Coming up next week - Couriers of the Void, Chapter 2

Don’t miss it!

The creature of the night will be watching, waiting in the shadows, until they are satisfied that no one can see you.
That is when they strike.
You couldn’t’t possibly outrun or fight them.
They are they ultimate predators…
And guess what… you’ll be next!

Charlie Hine - Chapter One

Michael winced, he had been on the coach for hours and his teachers kept on passing by telling all the screaming rabble of his classmates to calm down but that wasn’t the problem.
He had been experiencing sharp pains in his head all over half term and had not thought to tell anyone but he didn’t want to think about it he was now going to the aquarium for a school trip and wanted to enjoy it, even though he was surrounded by a screaming babble of hormone crazed baboons.
Michael was one of those children that every body ignored not in a bad way but just ignored, he was an average height, age, speed, and looked rather normal that’s why he was ignored sucked into the crowd if you will. The coach pulled up next to the blue towering structure Michael thought about how all the sea creatures were alone.
No maths, no annoying classmates, no school,
Michael was jealous of their lives and would (he thought) be very happy to switch places, but that was impossible.
As the teachers tried to sort out the sorry excuse for his classmates Michael sat and thought and he did the same on the way in and at the reception desk.
Michael found the aquarium slightly boring and decided to sneak away, so as the maths teacher he waited until one of the teachers was chosen to look after Michaels group, it was the maths teacher Michael got very bored in maths so when the teacher turned away to pick his nose Michael sneaked away, away from the boring barnacles to where the cool fish were kept, Michael’s teachers wouldn’t miss him,that’s what comes of being ignored. Michael gazed at the sharks and jellyfish and all the cool fish and after a while wandered into a different room.
The octopus room there there was all manor of different species of octopus, colourful ones, plain ones, small ones and… the biggest of them all the main attraction of the aquarium, Gigantor the worlds biggest octopus spanning over a whopping 200 meters of rubbery tangled tentacles. But Michael couldn’t see him but there was some scaffolding from a new exhibit being kept next to the overly large octopuses cage. Michael was in his teens and was good at sport so he easily climbed the large sheets of scaffolding; now Michael could make out the gigantic deep red eyes staring right at him.
This was odd; in the picture Gigantors eyes were yellow…
Suddenly Michael lost his balance and plunged head first into the freezing cold-water filling Gigantors cage Michael was terrified and started to flail around in the freezing mass of liquid but not after a gigantic tentacle started to snake its way towards him…

Hoodlums - James Pettit

Chapter 1
The three grey hoodies jumped over the wall silently and with ease, their leader in front. They ran across the yellow and green clean cut grass to the back window of the small house; running along the patio towards the French doors they stopped out of sight of the other gardens on one side of the doors.
The leader nodded to another, “Go.” He said silently.
Straight away a hoodie was picking the lock with a coat hanger, in seconds there was a resounding click, and the door gave way.
“We’re in!” Said one hoodie with a huge grin on him.
They could breath, they had nothing to worry about for a while; their nerves had gone.
Almost.
Because a growl from inside inset the curtains gave them something else to worry about.
A dog. And not just any dog but a massive Rottweiler baring its teeth, growling and giving a hard stare.
Not taking his eyes off the dog the leader whispered to a smaller hoodie, “You staked out the house! You didn’t tell us there was a dog!”
Also not taking his eyes off the dog, the smaller hoodie whispered, “I did; there was no sign of any stupid dog.”
As if it knew he was being insulted the dog gave a sharp bark. This was bad; if the neighbours heard this they may call the police before they got the chance to do what they were here to do.
The third hoodie put his hands in his pockets and took out a small medicine bottle; he opened the orange translucent bottle with his black gloved hands. He used these gloves, the gloves that he would soon have to burn, in case of evidence, to tip three small pink pills.
Another grin spreading across his face he threw the pills in front of the dog on the carpet flooring. The dog momentarily stopped staring as it sniffed the pills. The dog stopped, as in mid thought, then lapped up the pills.
Now the distraction was over, the dog returned its attention to its intruders, he gave one heavy growl, and ran at them.
Only the hoodie that threw the pills stayed; the other two fled.
“What are you doing? Run!”
But before he could run the dog jumped up, teeth bared… and…. and…
Nothing.
The dog stopped there and just slumped, asleep on the floor.
The two that fled breathed a sigh of relief. But the pill hoodie turned his head towards them and gave a big grin. “Sleeping pills. They work wonders.”

To Be Continued

Christopher Hewett - Dark Awaiting

Chapter 1
Flames flickered around me. Back and forth they waved as if moving to a rhythm. They were mesmerizing as my eyes were fixed upon them. My fingers tingling as the flames were licking them. My mind bulging as it tells me “No more! Run!” but I couldn’t. My body motionless as if a statue just standing there. The sky filled with sorrow and hatred stared down upon me and it was disturbing. The ground was dust as if it was a centre of inheritance but has been destroyed to the point where it has become baron. Nothing living was here but me. The flames intensify around my body to the point where I was no longer visible from the outside world. My mind roaring at me to run, run anywhere, anywhere that’s away from here because this place is not right. My body burning slowly, turning to dark black ash. But despite the flames everywhere this place had something else here. It was observing me. I could feel it, passing around me. It turned cold. The flames died down and I was free. I fall to my knees in disbelief.
My eyes sharply pain me, feeling as though they are still burning. They were closed for those few moments and I was at peace. I lift the lids of my eyes so that I am able to see the ground before me. A puddle of a dark silvery liquid that was so still it was as good as a mirror. I saw my face through its reflection; it was dark, very dark. My face, it was corrupt, it was evil. My pupils, wide and round as well as being a pure colour of scarlet red. I smelt a most dark and alluring smell within the air. It was the smell of death. The smell disintegrates into a sound of terror and fright. The sound was whispering, words that I could not make sense off. It was coming from my left I could just sense it. The world around me morphed from one thing to another. The sky changes from black openness to a ferocious flame. The ground darkens and softens to a horrible gunk. The ground shimmers and eventually roars in a shake. I then saw ruins of ancient civilised buildings rise around me, forming a curved path into the distance. The sound rise in temper and are now at a talking level of noise. But yet still I still had no understanding of what it says.
I got myself up on to my feet. I could hardly keep my head up as I had become extremely drowsy. I tried to walk forward, I went everywhere. Side to side back and forth, I was only just able to keep myself up. My sight was blurry. But I did make out something... A burst of light up ahead along the path. I followed it, even if it was a struggle to move. The sounds were becoming more and more impatient as I moved closer to my objective. The sounds are screaming now, but were now becoming clearer, but not clear enough. The light was now only about 10 yards away. Light now dominates my surroundings and I cannot see a thing. I reach the source, an orb of some strange and mystic power. I am tempted to touch it but what could be the consequences of it. Despite this my arm moves up with no thought and touches it. The orb sinks into the ground as if it were a water droplet falling into a puddle. The ground ripples and then cracks. It falls to form an endless hole. The sound for once I can make sense of it. It said... darkness... awaits you .I was then drawn to the dark oblivion and well... I jumped. It was as if I was in nightmare. Nightmare... Indeed, it was a nightmare.
I awaken.

By Christopher Hewett

E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo - Christopher Hewitt

What is E3
E3 Stands for electronic entertainment expo and was held in many different places until a few years back it was just held in Los Angeles. This is mainly were gaming developers can demonstrate upcoming games to others. This expo is held every year from 1995 and is still going on.
E3 2009
This year’s E3 conference ran from June 2nd to June 4th in Los Angeles Convention Centre. This year about 216 products were demonstrated in E3. Through this article I will talk about some of the things that were shown there.

Xbox 360
Project Natal
Project Natal is a motion sensing device for the Xbox 360. Project natal monitors your movements around your whole body so it can be incorporated into the gamming environment. As you are using your body to control the game there is no need for any controller. Project natal also includes a built in microphone through which you are able to speak commands or speak to in game characters. This seen in game built for the Natal called Milo or Kate, which is made by Lion head studios. Within the game you are able to interact and talk to a person named Milo or Kate (At the E3 only Milo was demonstrated).
Project Natal is to come on sale late 2010 only for the Xbox 360.

Playstation 3
Playstation Motion controller
The Playstation Motion Controller is an upcoming motion sensing device that you hold in your hand. A Playstation eye is needed as this tracks the movement of the controllers. The finished version may not look like the controller in the picture as it is still in development. But the controller does have a very high accuracy rate but it does not track the whole body as the Natal does. The Motion controller has a ball of light on the top of which the playstation eye follows. It is not yet known when it will be released as it is still in development.
Wii
Wii vitality sensor
The wii vitality sensor is a pulse oximeter that will read your pulse and other things on your body. It was revealed at E3 but not a lot of information was given nor was any product shown.
PSP
PSPgo
The PSPgo is the next instalment in the PSP series. Unlike other PSP’s the Go has no UMD drive at all instead it features a 16 GB internal flash drive for storing games, movies ect. Games will now have to be downloaded of the internet off the playstation store. It was also said that future games may come with a disk and a digital copy depending on which PSP you have. The Go is now 45% lighter than the original PSP and is 56% smaller than the original PSP. The Go also features Bluetooth so you are now able to tether your phone to it or use a Bluetooth headset with it.
The Go is not going to replace the PSP 3000 as both PSP’s are going to be on sale together. The Go is going to be released October 1st 2009.

Ds
No big announcements were made for the Ds apart from a few games to be released.

Its over for a year
What I have just gone through were some of the bigger announcements. There were many over things but so many I could not fit them all in. E3 may be over for this year but it will return next year in 2010 with much, much more.

Final Fantasy XIII - Jean-Marc Ah-Kye

Final Fantasy XIII
Profile:
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: RPG
Release Date: 2010

“One of the most anticipated RPG ever!”
First announced at E3 2006 final fantasy XIII is a game with high standards.

What’s it about?
The plot focuses on the fal'Cie, beings created from the crystals residing inside them. The people marked by the fal'Cie for a greater purpose are named the l'Cie.Some thirteen centuries ago, a fal'Cie constructed a paradise for humanity. The shell-like city of Cocoon was created to float high above the surface of the world now known as Pulse, both maintained by their own fal'Cie. Cocoon's fal'Cie created life forms and machines for its inhabitants to use, and humanity flourished. Over time, the people of Cocoon began to fear for the safety of their world, and were worried that it would be cast down from the sky.
In present day, the wilderness of Pulse has strange effects on people, and the theocratic Cocoon Sanctum quarantines and exiles anyone who has been influenced by Pulse from the city with the help of its mighty army, PSICOM. A former soldier of that army, a woman codenamed Lightning is chosen by the fal'Cie against her will to become a l'Cie among others, and with that to be an enemy of humanity and bring about the downfall of Cocoon.

What I think of it and info about it
I think this game is going to be execellent because of the mind-thrilling graphics and touching storyline. I have played final fantasy 12 and final fantasy 7 :crisis core which were both execellent. The game is going to have a new battle system which apparently makes the flow of a battle very smooth. The game will be released for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. It was originally announced as a Playstation 3 exclusive but in 2008 this was changed. All in all this game seems like it will go down as a classic in RPG gaming or even in general gaming .

Review: Eagle Day - Elliot Phillips

Review: Eagle Day By Robert Muchamore

I recently read the Eagle Day, a book by Robert Muchamore. It is the second in the Henderson’s Boys series by this author. Robert Muchamore also writes a series called CHERUB and The Henderson’s Boys books are set in World War 2. They show the lead up to the formation of CHERUB. I am going to explain briefly the plot and say what I thought of the book.

CHERUB:
CHERUB is a secret services branch. This organisation is based at a campus somewhere in the English countryside. All of the agents working there are aged between 11 and 16 years of age and are normally orphans. The name CHERUB stands for Charles Henderson Espionage Research Unit B and was originally formed during WW2 by Charles Henderson. This division is designed to give an edge over the enemy because you wouldn’t suspect children and teenagers. The CHERUB series is going to be twelve books in total and Henderson’s Boys will be three.

The Plot:
The Henderson’s Boys series goes back to the early days of CHERUB back in WW2 and follows Charles Henderson, the last British agent in German-occupied France. Along with him, he has, Marc Kilgour, Rosie and Paul Clarke and Philippe Tomas Bivott (shortened to PT). Paul is 11, Marc is 12, Rosie is 13 and PT is 15 and they‘re all orphans. In this book, the boat PT and the Clarke’s had used to try and get back to England was destroyed. Henderson soon reunited with them along with Marc too. PT is new in this book and tagged along with Henderson. They then went with another new character named Maxine, going to different places in France. They moved north and Henderson got a job as a translator. In the book, they had been choosing whether to travel to Spain or go north to sabotage invasion plans of Britain. They stayed in France, went north and lived on a farm. Henderson’s translating job was for a high-ranked German, so he became friendly with lots of Nazis. They sent Morse Code messages to England and had explosives dropped in. They targeted all the main harbours. Along with some other help, the harbours were all destroyed. They then got back to England where Henderson got permission to use children as agents and formed CHERUB.

My Opinion:
In my opinion, this book had a lot to live up to after the first, but in my eyes, it was much better than I thought it would be. There wasn’t too many new characters and the storyline was accurate. It was full of action and kept you wanting more. I thought it was a great book and would definitely recommend it. It was miles better than the first and showed you what life could’ve been like back in WW2. It not for everyone, but I think most people would really enjoy it.

Alex Riseley - The Earth

The earth is like a giant bowl
With leaves like crispy cornflakes on a cool morning

The grass is like a miniature forest for tiny creatures
That crawl around in search of food

The sea is like a giant puddle waiting to dry up
The tide going in and out every day

The sun is like a burning lamp
That is turned off by the dark, blue moon

Lightning is like tongues reaching out
It is almost as if God is speaking with us

The clouds are like balls of fluff floating in the sky
When it rains they are being squeezed like a sponge

Review - Thomas Schofield

At the moment the charts have some of the greatest music on it we’ve heard in a while. I am doing my review on one of the songs that is top of the charts at the moment. The song is “Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas. This song has rocked the charts and I don’t know about you but as soon as I hear this title I can’t help but start singing the song. It has even been used by the Britain’s Got Talent winners Diversity in their performance in the final of the show.

The hip/hop song really makes you wants to get up on your feet and dance to it. I think this is because of the great beat and catchy rhythm. The lyrics fit excellently with the beat of the song and this is one of those songs that you can imagine being played in clubs and discos a lot.

This is one of these songs that you either love or you hate. Those of you that like dance music and hip/hop then you’ll probably like this song. Others of you may well completely disagree with the first part of my review and hate the song. I think that you have to hear this song more than once to really start to like it. I will have to admit the first time I heard this song I wasn’t to keen on it. Although after the second or third time I heard it I really started to like it.

So maybe this song isn’t some people’s cup of tea but I think that most people that are into dancing, going clubbing or just generally like listening to dance and hip/hop music then you’ll thoroughly enjoy listening to this song.

FIRE AND ICE - Michael O’Hara

FIRE AND ICE

CHAPTER ONE

‘Ouch’ said stew. Tyre squeals. Four men got out the car. ‘Where the bleeding Nora have you been?’ said head of terror division for MI5, Dale Harrow. ‘Sorry chief, three crack dealers beat me up and left me here.’ ‘Right’ said Dale ‘stop kissing the ground and get in the BMeer’ Jeremy Livingstone, head of suspect interaction helped him and they drove off in a cloud of tyre smoke.
‘You better get those cuts looked at stew’ the head of criminal evidence Tom Howard mentioned as he helped him out the car. ‘Yes lap it up, and while you’re at make claim that you tripped over a grape’ Dale sarcastically said. ‘Sorry chief, I’ll stop being such a girl.’ ‘Damn right, now when we get this freaking elevator working, we’ll get to work on finding out what druggies beat the snot out of you.’
‘OH FOR THE LOVE OF SPANNERS’ Dale cried out, ‘you’d think that even a Pole could fit a lock!’ ‘Err, chief you’ve got to turn the key round.’ Stated Rick the deputy of Terror Division. ‘Well I knew that num nut’ Dale shouted in frustration, ‘every time’ he muttered after. ‘Hey Stew what did the crack dealers look like?’ asked Ben Morris, head of criminal forensics. ‘HIGH’ shouted Dale.
‘They had balaclavas on, I couldn’t see their faces.’ replied Stew. ‘Why didn’t use your x-ray vision.’ Rick joked. ‘Well whoever it was, they probably have a connection with Osama Bin Bag.’ Dale said. ‘Doubt it’ replied Stew, ‘they are probably just your regular east London drug dealers’
‘Whoever they are they won’t escape the full treatment’ said Dale.
They all started to bang away on the computer keyboards, trying to find a match for local and international drug dealers. On Rick’s computer he found that a certain drug dealing gang were getting there drugs from Afghanistan. ‘Chief’ shouted Rick ‘I’ve got a match on the drug dealing division’ ‘well are you going to tell me or am I going to have to mind read again?!’ said Dale.
‘Sorry, they are an international drugs gang who also fund terrorism and are ruthless.’
‘Right sounds like a case for the treatment after all, right let’s get going.’
‘Can I drive’ asked Tom. ‘Yes I’m a car hiring company, of course you can’t drive now lets get going!’

Couriers of the Void - Danny Whitelaw

The pain was excruciating. I wanted it to end… I wanted to die. There was nothing compared to it, I could feel the venom seeping from the wound in my neck through my body. It was like a hand… grasping my life and breaking it into a thousand pieces. I wanted to run, far away, where the pain couldn’t follow. Then I saw no more. And So… the darkness engulfed me.

1 Year Ago

Prologue

It was dusk, on a stormy, winter evening. The thunder rolled and the lightning cracked. The torrential rain poured down upon all those unfortunate enough to be caught outside when it started. A man was running down a street during the relentless storm. He veered off the main street, turning into an alleyway. Unlike most people he was not running because of the rain. On the contrary this man quite enjoyed the rain. But he had no time to stop to admire the sheets of falling water… the reason he was running is because he was being chased. He was being chased by someone… or to put it better, something. Three something’s in fact, and, to be brutally honest with you, they could have caught him miles ago, but they chose to let him believe that he actually stood a chance. They were about 75 metres behind him and were planning the best way for them to “ go in for the kill!”
They decided that they would split up and take him from all sides. So, one, as planned, one went left, one went right, and one went straight down the centre. The man, surprisingly had not tired for the entire chase, but his speed was slowly deteriorating, until it was no faster than a jog. The plan worked flawlessly and they were on top of him before you could say ‘ Uh Oh’. The man was on his back, looking into the creatures faces, his face showing an emotion, way past being scared. His face showed pure terror. He glared into the faces of his captors, and they glared back, with their blood, red eyes. The one in the middle raised his arm as if to strike. The man raised his arms as if in self - defence, then he screamed over the colossal roar of thunder,
“ WHAT ARE YOU?”
The things turned to each other and laughed, apparently finding his hopelessness hilarious.
“ We? We are vampires, creatures of the night, drinkers of blood. We are your worst nightmare, and it looks like that nightmare just came true…
And with that, they tore into the man, mutilating his body, drinking every tiny last iota of blood. They had made their kill, and the night was still young. They had taken the first life of the evening, and it wasn’t going to be their last. The vampire’s ran from the area with the utmost grace, almost gliding if you like. The creatures of the night, vanished into the darkness, to make their next kill, to take the next soul, and banish it, into the void.

Coming up next week - Couriers of the Void, Chapter 1

Don’t miss it!

The creature of the night will be watching, waiting in the shadows, until they are satisfied that no one can see you.
That is when they strike.
You couldn’t possibly outrun or fight them.
They are they ultimate predators…
And guess what… you’ll be next!

Death - Michael Dear

Everyone has fears but everyone’s fears are different to each other’s. One fear everyone has in common is death - afraid of dying leaving this world.Death comes in many shapes and forms but one man out of millions battles death every day he tries to live a normal life but he cant he took a path of no return.

James sat down to eat his breakfast, James had dark black hair it looked like coal, bright blue eyes that shone in the day and he was 25. Like every day after breakfast he headed out the door of his 5 bedroom house which was painted white so clean you couldn’t find a trace of dirt. James owned a car a Porsche boxstar S he got in it and let the engine come to life with a roar. James pulled out and started to drive well over the speed limit James enjoyed the feel of danger of excitement. Weaving in out of the other cars on the road he drove as fast as a bullet he had never crashed and this is how he enjoyed his life before work. Sometimes James would get caught but as he was so rich and famous he could get out of a jam with the police easily. James was now driving through the countryside to a lonely island where he worked.

Suddenly the road in front of him swirled and twisted and turned and James was thrown forward, for a minute he was in mid air sailing slowly then bam! He awoke he wasn’t on the road, he was somewhere else in a different world. The world was dead, the grass was grey, the trees were dead and black as coal. James picked up some grass and it turned into dust in his hand. A ghostly wind blew and the dust flew in the air. James watched the dust too.

Only the grim hooded skeleton with skull chest plate stood there holding its scythe the grim white hand pointing at James, a shiver ran down his spine. Death drew closer to James. James instincts kicked in and he started to run faster and faster but Death just glided nearer and nearer. James ran to an edge of a cliff where the drop was great he looked down and saw lava splashing flowing and bubbling at the bottom. To Death this was a game, which it kept losing, so many times since James was 13 years old, Death had from then on kept on coming back again and again.

Death never stopped, never slept only to feed on the dead souls, pain and anger it gives to people by taking away loved ones. James had to do something quick Death was nearly upon him “What’s the point James” a voice said “you can run but not hide, Death will always be there you can win only for a certain amount of time and then you’ll be too old and you’ll lose - just give up” the voice screamed into a terrible laugh which echoed in James' head.

James looked round the voice was right there’s nowhere to run. James was trapped he could do nothing. Death was now in front of James with its deep red eyes looking into at him as if it was looking into James' soul. Death grabbed James by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up. “Too long you have run, far too long, now this is over and I will finally have won this long game” said Death in a ghastly voice so quiet it was like a whisper.

Death pulled out a smaller scythe on a chain and put it in his belt. James punched Death hard on his chest plate to see Death laugh which no one has heard it made the dead world shake. The lava got violent and jumped up the cliff in waves melting the rock below the silence. Like a dead still silence the whole world started to crack and spill out lava. Death was hanging James over the cliff edge and let go of James' collar but James hung onto Death's hands attempting to bring him down with him. They dropped through the air going into the pit of lava the wind grew stronger suddenly with a burst of power and Death fell too next to James then the voice said something. “Time to say good night James you're finally going to die,at last you have been beaten and now you will burn until there's nothing left” whispered the voice. James grabbed for the cliff face hopping to grab hold of something. James hand got caught between two rocks breaking James arm but saving him for now. James looked down to see death fall but in horror to see death hanging onto James leg then it bit into James sending pure darkness into James. A scream came out of James, pain shaking the world, everything turned black, violent lava shot out of the ground again to send molten rocks in the air also filling the air with black ash. James' leg started to turn to bone under the power of darkness, the voice laughed again and it echoed around James but soon James the muscle holding the bone leg ripped, Death dropped with the bone into the fire pit SPLASH! Lava flew into the air burning James lower body. Death shouted and screamed until it was drowned under the lava. In horror James looked at his body where his legs should be and turned white and screamed,his lower body was burned and pouring out blood. The world started to spin and twist and turn. James awoke in the road he dragged himself up and saw his broken leg.

He had cheated Death again once more.

Charlie Hines - Prologue

The human ran along the Smokey dark corridors his eyes where sore from the smoke and his legs were in pain from all the running, his clothes (or what was left of them) when sticking to his skin held there with beads of sweat dripping down from his face covered by his already winded expression.
But this was no time to stop, the eternal struggle had gone on for long enough and he needed to get to the centre, the centre of all that once was and will be, the centre of all life and death love and hate…
Suddenly there was a loud tearing noise like the fabric of all time and reality had been ripped a tearing painful sensation pulled itself down the humans already beaten neck and into his heart the scream was unimaginably loud now tearing into his head and through has brain it was like his head was about to explode, he felt like it would never end the scream, the never ending scream.
And then he was gone…
Vanished from the face of the earth with not but a small pile of dust to show that he had ever existed.
But the scream never stops and right now it was travelling to another life there to suck its soul dry off all its the first though it needed to find the right person first though it needed the unhappy mind,
of a troubled child…

Hugh Kirby - A Book Review

The book that I have chosen to review is 'Being' by Kevin Brooks. It
is about a sixteen year old boy called Robert Smith. Robert has been
complaining of stomach pains and so is taken in to hospital for the routine
procedure. He is anaesthetized but, in the middle of the procedure, he
wakes up. He can feel every bit of the procedure, he can hear the doctors
and surgeons talking. From what he can hear, something has just gone
horribly wrong.
Robert gets up and tells the surgeons to close up the hole, which they
duly do. He then takes one of the surgeons with him and goes on the run.
He ditches the surgeon at the train station and gets a train to London. He
goes to a friend in London and as she is an expert in counterfeiting. He
asks her to help him so she gives him a new identity and says that he can
come with her and hide away in her holiday home in Spain.
They get to Spain and start to fit into life there as they know that they
will be staying there for a while. The friend, Eddi, gets a job as a waitress
and Robert gets a job as a labourer on a building site nearby. They survive
on this money and settle into life in Spain well. They become closer and
closer to each other until it is clear that they are an item. They are then
tracked down by the organisation chasing Robert and, in a bloody
confrontation, Robert and Eddi kill the organisation's henchmen before
Eddi is killed herself. Robert takes Eddi's motorbike and rides away into
the night.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. It is a good
thriller with a great storyline. You can really get into this book and once
you do, you won't put it down.

Alex Riseley - T.V Review – Britain’s Got Talent

The grand final of Britain’s Got Talent was held on 30th May 2009 with millions of viewers watching. There had been many shows in the lead up to this final – several auditions and five semi-finals to determine the acts in with a chance of winning. There were ten acts in the final which were mostly made up of singers and dancers. They were Diversity, Flawless, Shaun Smith, Susan Boyle, Holly Steel, Aiden Davis, Julian Smith, Stavros Flatly, Shaheen Jafagholi and 2 Grand. There were three judges that made dreams come true, they were Simon Cowell, Amanda Holdem and Piers Morgan.

The final was really entertaining and funny. Ant and Dec hosted all of the shows throughout the series providing plenty of jokes and humour along the way. I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the final result to be announced, who would win Susan Boyle or Diversity? The audience erupted when Ant and Dec announced the winner which was Diversity the dance group from Essex. Susan Boyle was second and Julian Smith, the saxophone player, came third. Diversity got the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Show and was rewarded with £100,000. I enjoyed the lead up to the final and especially the auditions which really made me laugh. I think Diversity deserved to win because of their phenomenal performance in the final.

BRANDON FLOWERS by CONOR O'HART

Brandon was born in Las Vegas on June 21, 1981. He was the youngest of six children. (He had one brother and four sisters.) The family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1986. They lived in Henderson until Brandon was eight, and then in 1989, they moved to Nephi in Utah. Brandon lived in Nephi until his junior year in Juab High School, when he moved back to Las Vegas to live with his aunt. His only brother – Shane – often showed Brandon U2 and Smiths videos. He became alienated with his obsessions; by the likes of The Smiths, Pet Shop Boys, Oasis and Depeche Mode. He was inspired!
A few years had passed and after dropping out of college, he became a bellhop for some time at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in his hometown of Las Vegas. He was abandoned by his first synth-pop band called Blush Response. Shortly after, Brandon attended an Oasis concert, and it was this that made him realize that he wanted to be in a true rock band and not a keyboard band. So, he began searching for a guitarist. He responded to an ad that Dave Keuning had placed in the paper that listed, among other bands, The Cure and Oasis as influences.
Brandon and Dave were joined by a bassist called Mark Stoermer and a drummer called Ronnie Vannucci and this act formed The Killers in August 2002!
Brandon Flowers married his girlfriend, Tana Brooke Munblowsky, in a small and private ceremony on August 2, 2005 in Hawaii. Brandon and his wife had a son, Ammon Flowers, born July 14, 2007. Also, Brandon announced that he and Tana were having yet another child on The Jonathan Ross Show on May 29th 2009.
“Hot Fuss” was the first album to kick off The Killers’ reign in the charts. Released in June 2004, the album managed three top ten positions. “Sam’s Town” followed in October 2006 and had sold well over a million copies by January 2007. The next, “Sawdust” was released in November 2007 and was nineteen tracks of complications and B-sides. The most recent and most successful album so far, “Day and Age” was released in November 2008 and since then; Brandon Flowers has collaborated with some of the biggest names in music such as, Bono, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Chris Martin, Pet Shop Boys, Kanye West and Lady Gaga.
Some of the band’s most famous songs include “Human”, “Mr Brightside”, “Spaceman” and “Somebody Told Me.”

A Snowy Sunset A LEIGH McGONAGLE CREATION

Snow Snow on the ground

Sun is sinking down down down

Trees trees covered in Wight

People gasp at the sight

Snow Snow on the ground

Animals scurry all around

Snow Snow in your hair

Stiffness and cold in the air

Snow Snow on the ground

People sledding down down down

Hot Coco and coffee inside

Why not go for another sled ride

Snow Snow on the ground

The sun has set past the ground

Lights light up the city bright

People every where say what a sight

THE BOY AND THE BEAST - By Kieron Whitehead

CHAPTER ONE
A long, long time ago in a forgotten mythical land known only as The Old Country there lived a young boy by the name of Mariah. When Mariah was aged only three months both his parents died at the hands of Count Nylad, an evil man who terrorized The Old Country in an age of evil spanning from the time the first people inhabited The Old Country. Despite this Mariah was like any other boy his age, young, playful and not a care in the world... except the Initiation Ceremony which would allow him to become a member of his village and is the only way to become a man in The Old Country.
Mariah was age twelve and was a lively lad, if a bit small for his age, compared to the other boys of the village he was tiny but he had something that they didn’t, young Mariah was in possession of an ability not known among men for thousands of years before or after him, it was such a rare ability all memory of it had died out years before. Mariah was the only person in The Old Country to be able to speak to the Mythical animal which is the Caberaria.
The Caberaria was an ancient creature thought to be extinct for hundreds of years, they prowled the Earth with ferocious claws and fangs the size of knives, they had the bite force of hundreds of tons and could rip apart almost any animal in a matter of seconds. This would scare any man into no more than a blubbering mess in the corner, but what made the Caberaria the most feared animal was not its size, its strength or its un-paralleled hunting ability but the fact that it could not only rip you limb from limb, but it was able to get inside your head. It could take away your memories, make your nightmares come true and take away your will to live. This meant that if you weren’t destroyed by the awesome killing power of the beast itself, then you would slowly be driven insane by the constant whispering inside your head, day in and day out you would hear the Caberaria Saying “go on, do it. Give yourself up to me, let me end your suffering and replace it with the peaceful silence of death...”
“Only a week till initiation ey’ bud.” Said Ranto, Mariah best (and only) friend. “Yeah” replied Mariah in a sullen tone “I only wish I had a chance of passing.” “What do you mean?” said Ranto “of course you have a chance of passing, it’s not a hard test!” “What do you mean not hard” said Mariah, almost yelling with his impatience at his friend. Ranto was the biggest and fastest boy in the whole village, but because he had a very poor family he had never been popular with the other boys in the village. “it’s a full on brawl against two armed men and all the other boys in initiation, and to pass you have to score at least a 8.5 with the judges! And in case you haven’t noticed I am not exactly what you would call ‘strong’!” With that the conversation ended and Mariah began the long journey back home.
To get back home he had to cross the plateau, wade the river, trek through the jungle and walk back to the village. Easy, on any other day, but today Mariah just felt a little uneasy on the entire trip, he couldn’t explain it but he felt as if he was being followed...

Welcome to our blog

Welcome one and all to our first ever St Thomas More blog.

The idea is really simple - we want to publish any work that you, the pupils of St Thomas More, produce which you consider to be creative, imaginative, entertaining and downright exciting.

We don't want your essays on Macbeth, we don't want classwork. What we want is work that you taken the time to do yourself, work that you care about, work that shows your passion and interest in all things English.

All you have to is email me at school with your masterpiece and I will make sure it is suitable and then post it here. If you have an idea of a suitable picture or image to go with the work, even better.

In the meantime - enjoy the posts, get involved and tell your friends and family... Utopia has arrived!!!