Battle for Earth (45 page)

The End

A significant portion of
Johnny Mackintosh: Battle for Earth
was written while a Fellow at the Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers. I'm grateful to Mrs. Drue Heinz for her generous creation and maintenance of the Fellowships, everyone at Hawthornden Castle and my fellow Fellows for their support and fine company while on retreat together.

Once finished, Anna Faherty did her usual superb preedit of an early draft, giving great feedback and advice on improving the writing and elements of the story. Neither this nor the previous Johnny Mackintosh books would have been possible without the ongoing support of Quercus Books, especially editor Roisin Heycock and Nicci Praca and Niamh Mulvey, and founders Wayne Davies and Mark Smith. And, of course, both Suzy Jenvey and Parul Bavishi, whose publishing careers have since taken them on elsewhere.

Margaret Histed gave both encouragement and some fine final advice on the structure, while Talya Baker worked brilliantly to turn it into whatever version, print or electronic, you're now reading.

Writing books is a solitary affair that takes a huge amount of time and effort. I want to apologize to all my friends and family for the hermit-style existence I've had to adopt to complete
Battle for Earth
and thank them for their understanding, support and love throughout the process. Finally, if any readers have made it as far as the end of these acknowledgments, I'd like to thank them and say I hope they've enjoyed reading Johnny and Clara's adventures as much as I enjoy writing them.

JOHNNY MACKINTOSH

AND THE
S
PIRIT OF
L
ONDON

An extraordinarily imaginative adventure across
space and time with the Ultimate Hero

When thirteen-year-old Johnny's talking computer Kovac detects an extraterrestrial signal, his life is set to change forever. Until then, stuck in his children's home in Castle Dudbury New Town, with the nasty cook Mr. Wilkins watching his every move, soccer had been his only escape.

But soon things start happening around him that Johnny doesn't understand. Why is his mother, who is on life support in a hospital for the criminally insane, being guarded by sinister-looking men? And why was a journalist murdered shortly after Johnny talked to him? When Johnny finds out he has a sister, he decides to run away to find her.

His search for answers takes him further from home than he could ever have imagined, on a spectacular journey through time and space. Along the way he visits new worlds, prehistoric Earth and the lost city of Atlantis, before finally discovering the truth about his parents and who he really is.

JOHNNY MACKINTOSH

S
TAR
B
LAZE

Johnny Mackintosh. Hero of our galaxy.
Protector of planet Earth.

Alien invaders have exploded a nearby star, turning it into a supernova, and only Johnny Mackintosh knows the Sun is next in line. Abandoning school and his soccer team, he and sister Clara travel to the galactic capital seeking help. Their mission stalls. After a decade missing, Johnny's mysterious brother reappears, but what was he doing all those years away and whose side is he on?

So begins an epic adventure full of devious aliens intent on ruling the galaxy and killing Johnny along the way. Can he survive to save his brother, and planet Earth, in time?

Keith Mansfield's explosive space adventure will wow fans of action stories and Star Wars.