Stories by @ltathena

Get Smart

Maxwell Smart, a.k.a. Agent 86, works for CONTROL (Central Office for Neutralization of Terrorism and Reinforcement Of Law), a Washington, D.C.-based counterintelligence agency. Partly inept as a secret agent, Smart can barely use the gadgetry the agency provides him (including a smartphone embedded in his shoe). Nevertheless, he and his team of fellow agents always seem to thwart the operations of KAOS (Kremlin Anarchists' Operations Service) and other organized crime outfits dedicated to evil. Susan Hilton AKA Agent 99 is Smart's smarter second-in-command, a resourceful agent who may eventually marry her bumbling cohort. Smart and Agent 99's boss is a man known primarily as The Chief.

Oliver the Western Engine

Dear Margaret, We both wanted to call this book Little Western Engines, but Publishers are stern men. They did not approve. They, of course, don't know the trouble we've had with Oliver. We hope he has learnt sense, but goodness knows what will happen when he finds he has a volume all to himself... I know! If Oliver gets uppish, we'll set the higher-ups on to him. That'll teach him! Wilbert... Fans of ours may like to know that "Olivers" and "Ducks" still work on the Dart Valley Railway in Devonshire; and "Small Railway Engines" are at Ravenglass in Cumberland.

Dork Diaries 14: Tales from a Not-So-Best-Friend-Forever

Nikki Maxwell and her friends are looking forward to a stunning summer on tour with the world-wide popular band Bad Boyz. Nikki is a tiny bit anxious when her "frenemy" MacKenzie Hollister finds her way into being their social media intern on the tour. But then Nikki has a calamity when she hears that Mackenzie is her new roommate. Will Nikki survive her dream tour as it downgrades from awesome to awful?

Fixer-Uppers R'Us

Inspired by the exploits and tips of the public television institution This Old House, seven women form their own home building and renovation team with local volunteer construction crews to fix an old house in the Houston area as they bring their own flavors of humor and know-how to making it the best possible house it can be before turning it over to the surprised homeowners. All the while, they put out an internet documentary and podcast series detailing the work, trials and tribulations going into the project from sudden snags in budget or schedule to flashes of inspiration from members of the crew.

H2O: Battle for Mako Island

With the restoration of the Eastern merpeople pod and Nerissa, years have passed and things seem quiet for the merpeople and humans who have had experiences with Mako Island. That is until the full moon begins to restore Evie McLaren's mermaid powers and she takes Zac to Mako to heed a desperate call from Veridia, the Head of the Mako Pod's Mermaid Council. It appears that several merpeople have gone rogue to form a cult dedicated to summoning Dagon's Trident. It turns out that Erik has resurfaced and is looking to find an apprentice who will help the mermen take revenge on humans and mermaids for their ostracization - and that apprentice so happens to be Charlotte Watsford. To combat the Cult of Dagon, thirteen swords of power must be wielded to destroy the monsters of Dagon. Zac and Evie cannot battle the Cult alone, as they will need help from merpeople past and present to be able to save the Earth from a prehistoric menace to all.

Enterprising Engines

Dear Richard, Do you remember the photographs you took of what happened to your train on the way to Waterloo in April 1967? Your Mother, very kindly, gave me a set and they helped our artist to draw at least two of the pictures for "Super Rescue". Anyway, "Super Rescue" is the story which your pictures told me. I hope you will enjoy it and the other three stories as well. The Author

Dork Diaries 13: Tales from a Not-So-Happy Birthday

Nikki Maxwell has to plan her 15th birthday party on a budget. She wants to have a fun tropical beach-themed luau party at a pool for a lot of money, but her mom wants to have a $100 party. Will Nikki get her dream birthday, or will she have to go with the birthday on a budget?

Back to the Future (Coed Edition)

Marty McFly's life is a dump. His father, George, is constantly bullied by his supervisor Biff Tannen and his mother, Lorraine, is an overweight alcoholic. One day, Marty gets a call from his scientist friend Dr. "Doc" Emmett Lathrop Brown telling Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer Parker to meet him at Twin Pines Mall at 1:15 AM where Doc unveils a time machine that runs off of plutonium built into a DeLorean and demonstrates it to Marty. Marty accidentally activates the time machine, sending him back to 1955 where he and Jennifer accidentally get in the way of their teenage parents' first meetings. Marty and Jennifer both must find a way to convince Doc that they are from the future, reunite both of their parents, and ultimately with the help of Marty's parents helping Doc get him and Jennifer back to the future to save Doc from the heretical Libyan nationalists whom Doc helped sabotage by ripping off their plutonium.

Lifeforce

The space shuttle Churchill is assigned to observe Olbers' Comet under the command of Colonel Tom Carlsen. They see a strange form attached to the comet and Carlsen goes with a team to investigate. They find nine humanoid life (five males, four females) forms in caskets and they bring them to the Churchill. However, Earth loses contact with the shuttle and the United Nations' Space Research Center sends the restored space shuttle Atlantis to search the Churchill. They find the crew dead and the shuttle burnt with her rescue pod missing. They bring the humanoids to Earth and soon Dr. Hans Fallada and his team discover that the lead Space Girl is a sort of vampire and drains the life force from the most evil of people, transforming them into dying zombies whilst transferring the stolen life force energy to the innocent, helpless and powerless as secret benefactors. When the authorities find that Colonel Tom Carlsen has survived, they summon him to explain what happened in the Churchill. Carlsen tells an incredible story about the nine aliens; and he teams up with Colonel Colin Caine to study the vampires and the effects they are having in destroying the legacies of evil while bringing hope to the hopeless and reaching the unreachable.

Small Railway Engines

Dear Friends, Some lead mines up in the hills have long been closed, but their waste-heaps still spoil a lovely valley. Sir Topham Hatt (our Fat Controller) has now found that this waste is good weed-killing railway ballast. He talked to the Owner and Mr. Peter Sam of the Skarloey Railway, and other important people. They "went shares" and built a Small Railway to fetch it away. The Small Engines are managed by a Controller named Mr. Fergus Duncan. They call him the Small Controller, but that is only in fun. He is bigger than either of the others! The Author

Dork Diaries 12: Tales from a Not-So-Secret Crush Catastrophe

It’s now in the countdown to the end of the school year, and Nikki Maxwell is juggling some big questions about how she’ll spend her summer. She’s also facing an unexpected crush catastrophe - for there is a new kid from North Hampton Hills International Academy interested in Nikki, but the last thing she wants to do is accidentally hurt Brandon! It all comes down to a big decision Nikki has to make, and drama like she’s never faced before!

Peach Creek

Peach Creek, Pennsylvania is a city where the parents are barely around, and the kids have started to roam the city like an open-world video game. Everyone who lives in the Cul-de-Sac of Rethink Avenue seeks to gain the most expensive piece of candy since 2nd grade: the Jawbreaker. But the more one knows, the deeper the city's dark secrets are. Over the last few years, tidbits of secrets have started to unravel and the trio of Edwin "Ed", Edward "Double D" and Eduardo "Eddy" have set out to bring all to light surrounding what draws weirdness and bad luck to their forsaken town.

The Voltron Trinity I: The Omega Comet

An urgent message from the Galaxy Alliance Headquarters on Earth summons the Lion and Gladiator Voltron forces to rendezvous with Vehicle Voltron Force and the G.A.S. Explorer/Rugger Guard on the next course of action in the war against the might of the Drule Empire and its member worlds of Drule (Galveston), Doom (Galra) and Deram. Zarkon has sent his son Prince Lotor Sincline and his retainer Captain Mogor Gobra to assemble an army of robeasts to pilot the Omega Comet: an immense rogue planetoid capable of generating a gravitational field strong enough to rip every planet and star in the Galaxy Alliance apart in minutes, and maybe cause the destruction of the Voltrons as well.

Main Line Engines

Dear Friends, Bill and Ben are a shameless pair. I meant to write about Main Line Engines, and give the twins a treat by letting them into the first story. But I couldn't keep them in order! Before I knew it, they had crept into the others. They even wanted me to change the book and make it about them! But I have been very firm. I am still calling it Main Line Engines. That will serve Bill and Ben right for ragging poor Gordon so disgracefully. He hasn't got over it yet! The Author

Dork Diaries 11: Tales from a Not-So-Friendly Frenemy

Nikki Maxwell has the worst luck. Of all the schools she could have been assigned to for the student exchange program, she's stuck at North Hampton Hills International Academy, her arch-nemesis Mackenzie Hollister's new school. Even worse, there might just be someone at NHH that can out-Mackenzie Mackenzie! At least Nikki can write about every moment of drama in her diary, so we won't miss a moment of it. Can the Queen of the Dorks survive a week at the head CCP's new school or will it be a dorky disaster?

Flash Gordon and the Renegade Dominion Planet

It is the contemporary time and the rogue planet of Mongo - capital of the dreaded Cosmo Dominion - is careening through the galaxies for Earth. Launching a missile into our atmosphere, its gases begin seeding the clouds to create storms that strike lightning to reanimated the dead as a potential army. Having feared such a day would come, Dr. Hans Zarkov of NASA launches himself along with passengers Flash Gordon and Dale Arden in an interplanetary rocket towards Mongo to stop the carnage. Sentenced to die by the hand of Emperor Ming the Merciless, they are rescued by his daughter Princess Aura who helps them escape. In order to overthrow the evil Ming, they will need the help of other planets Ming's tyrannical Dominion has conquered to save Earth. Flash, Dale, Aura and Zarkov travel to rally several planets and their rulers together for a revolution against Ming's forces. Among the most prominent allies are Queens Desira, Fria and Undina along with the Princes Barin, Kala, Thun and Vultan. Planets like Arboria, Frigia, Leonia and Tropica will be crucial to driving Ming from power and saving Earth.

Jason Reborn: Friday the 13th

Graduating from Wayne Valley High School, nine of the "Volts" invite their friends to join them as the camp counselors for reopening Camp Crystal Lake. Having heard the legends and tales of the terror Jason Vorhees and his mother Pamela have wrought upon their town in the past, these nine swore a blood oath to end the curse forever. Whatever the spirit of Pamela Vorhees has planned for the Volts in terms of murders is going to have to adapt as she and Jason begin to trigger traps. But it appears now that there is a violent conservative cult that worships Pamela and Jason as the messiahs against degeneracy that has infiltrated even the Crystal Lake Police Department. As the Volts prepare for the summertime fun and frolics, a sudden Atlantic hurricane traps them with the killers on the loose. It's time to gird their loins for the battle. The question now is how many and which of the attendees of Camp Crystal Lake will survive to end the Vorhees' curse and their cult.

Very Old Engines

Dear Friends, Over one hundred years ago, when Skarloey and Rheneas first arrived on their Railway, they were young and silly. Skarloey was sulky and bouncy. He and Rheneas quarreled… But they learned sense, and the Owner has just given them a lovely 100th birthday. Talyllyn and Dolgoch, at Towyn, are over 100 too. How about going to wish them "Many Happy Returns" the next time you are in the area? The Author

Dork Diaries 10: Tales from a Not-So-Perfect Pet Sitter

Nikki Maxwell has to hide 7 adorkable puppies from 2 parents, an entire middle school, and... one mean girl out for revenge, MacKenzie Hollister. If anyone can do it, it's Nikki... but not without some hilarious challenges along the way! Nikki and Brandon find 7 puppies in front of the pet center and Nikki is forced to care for them.

Solar Knights Zyuraijin

On the surface, this would look to be a reworking of Hideaki Anno’s groundbreaking anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion with elements of other anime such as Yoshiyuki Tomino’s own Mobile Suit Gundam and Toei’s Lightspeed Electroid Albegas. But in essence, Solar Knights Zyuraijin as a four-quadrant five-act live-action epic dramedy of high school, military science fiction with robots and spaceships, cosmic horror of an invading alien force and a shadowy government conspiracy. Think the Power Rangers meets Stranger Things, The Breakfast Club versus The X-Files, and Star Wars meets Game of Thrones. The human race builds outposts across our Solar System, and they come under attack from within and without. To pilot the Galaxy Knights to defend Earth, seven children chosen from their seventh year of life are summoned to train and practice for inevitable duty when they reach 13 years of age. There is Commander Yoshiko Iwata’s lonely and anxious son Saburo, the gung-ho but dependable ally Ayume Lexington Shōkaku, quite troubled but strong class jock Takeru Shimamoto, the mysterious and withdrawn Rika Akamine, the intelligent and sociable Kentaro Araki, the beautiful but insecure Miyoki Ingraham Murayama, and the philosophical but fatherly Koichi Noguchi. Together serving aboard the Paladin as teammates, they may find fighting forces of Vyrus and NACHT to be just as difficult as but later on less so than confronting their own demons and psychological issues on adulthood.