Chrys Chime, a postgraduate student at Southampton, writes a book: The Wacky World of Dark Dictators. Many Publishers were not impressed, but Pete Alott, an upstart publisher and son of a British publishing mogul decides to gamble on it. The book stirs up the Rastamuffins, an obscure group of fundamentalist Rastafarians, who considered it heretical and a collective insult that Haile Selassie should be maligned as a dictator. The media take up the story, and cowboy publishing triumphs. Chrys's wife, Amanda, is shot in Lagos, Nigeria. Chrys is abducted in London, England. The arrows point to the controversial book. But investigations also reveal a shocking web of intrigues, cultism, family lies, and scams.

Once, Heroes walked this land. Larger-than-life warriors from another world, the Heroes kept people safe. After they vanished, however, monsters ran rampant, steadily overtaking cities and making the roads impassable. Now, the village of Toriath is slowly dying. Castor would do anything to save his family and neighbours, but as the smallest and youngest townsperson, he simply isn't strong enough to do much other than run errands. When he hears a rumour that could mean the town's salvation, his chance has finally come to save Toriath and to prove his worth. However, it means venturing, alone, into the monster-infested wilds. Castor may be the town's last hope--but only if he can survive the forest.