Ken Catran's Books

Red Leader Down

By: Ken Catran

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YA thriller about a teen discovering the truth of his grandfather's terrible past as a World War Two fighter pilot. When 17-year-old Matt dreams that he is a World War Two pilot in a dogfight against the Germans, something strange happens. Was it a dream? Because later that morning, the family gets news that Grandad died at exactly that time, 3.15 a.m. This is the beginning of a bewildering set of adventures, into which Matt is plunged. At Grandad's funeral, two of his old squadron mates turn up and he becomes aware that something that happened in the last days of the war, to do with the death of his Squadron Leader, Jingo Brook. After the funeral, Grandad's house is trashed. With the help of a local 'bad boy' Matt discovers who did it and what was taken — his grandad's log books and journal from World War Two. The second part of the novel is Grandad's story, told in the first person, when he was a little older than Matt. He joins a Tempest ground-attack fighter squadron, operating in Germany, in the last months of the war. Matt, financed by his grandad's estate, goes to Europe and, on the banks of a northern Holland canal finds the evidence that clears his grandfather's name. Now the skies above are blue and quiet but he has won his Grandad's last victory.

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Page Count

152

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530752

ISBN 13

9781775530756

Seal Boy

By: Ken Catran

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Seal Boy

By: Ken Catran

A thrilling young adult historical adventure novel about a boy on a ship forced to survive the elements as well as the ruthless crew. Set in the 1840s, Seal Boy tells the story of Emmet Tyler, a 14-year-old from the US port of Boston whose privileged upbringing has brought him a life of education and fine manners. So imagine his surprise and horror when he is attacked by thugs while on a visit to the wharves with his grandfather, and wakes up on board a whaling vessel bound for the South Pacific – on a voyage that could last three years! Emmet’s journey of discovery begins as he learns the ways of the whaling ship and earns the respect of the crew. Upon arrival in Kororareka (Russell) in the Bay of Islands, he is ready to transfer to a home-bound ship, but the sacking of the town by local Maori forces him to make a hasty escape – into yet deeper trouble. He finds himself aboard a disreputable sealing ship, headed for the deep south. When its crew discover Emmet’s identity and the reward offered for his return home – dead or alive – he finds himself among the hunted, stranded on a desolate island with only a family of seals for company. He must not only survive the winter but also outwit the ruthless men who think nothing of killing for money.

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Page Count

137

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530868

ISBN 13

9781775530862

Letters from the Coffin-Trenches

By: Ken Catran

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Letters from the Coffin-Trenches

By: Ken Catran

Poignant YA historical romance between a teen who runs away to fight in World War One, and his sweetheart back at home. Harry Wainwright is 17, not quite 18, but he can't wait to enlist for the Great War - so instead of going back to boarding school he runs away to war. He does this with the help of his sweetheart, Jessica. They are a wholesome Edwardian couple, steeped in all the respectable morality of their age. Both are in love with romance. Their letters begin idealistically and enthusiastically but gradually both young people learn of the horror of war and its associated cynicism. Rather than a depressing read, this is an interesting chronicle of the times and a charming portrayal of innocent love. Finalist in the Senior fiction category of the NZ Post Children's Book Awards 2003.

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Page Count

109

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530736

ISBN 13

9781775530732

Monsters of Blood and Honour

By: Ken Catran

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Monsters of Blood and Honour

By: Ken Catran

A powerful YA fictional examination of war told through three interlocking stories. Monsters of Blood & Honour contains three stand-alone stories, each with a related theme. In each story a teenager of 17 or 18 interacts with an elderly person who was their age during World War II. Each of these now-elderly people has undergone a traumatic and violent experience, which the modern teen, living in a different world and lifestyle, cannot relate to. However, they are in turn affected to the point of having their perspectives altered. The older characters are: Jooney who was a nurse during the fall of Singapore in 1942; Fred a co-pilot on a Lancaster during the thousand-bomber raids over German cities; and Mr Goodman, 'Old Goodey', an SS man who fought at the great tank battle of Kursk, was wounded and then sent to be a camp guard in Belsen. This book is gripping and suspenseful storytelling by an award-winning master of excellent plot. lines.

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Page Count

179

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530744

ISBN 13

9781775530749

Lin and the Red Stranger

By: Ken Catran

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Lin and the Red Stranger

By: Ken Catran

A poignant young adult novel set in the goldfields of Otago during the 1860s goldrush. The story by an award-wining YA writer follows the lives of two young people, both very different, drawn to the goldfields for the same reason - they all hope to strike it rich. One of the main characters is a young Chinese girl, and the other a European boy. As well as being a plot-driven story, this book examines the cultural differences between these two. This provides interesting discussion points for New Zealand society today, where we still grapple with many of these same cultural problems. It shows how people are shaped by struggle and adversity and how the goldfields shaped our society in the nineteenth century, changing people who then went on to change their world.

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Page Count

124

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775532070

ISBN 13

9781775532071

Sea of Mutiny

By: Ken Catran

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Sea of Mutiny

By: Ken Catran

An exciting young adult historical novel based on the true story of Captain Bligh leading his sailors to safety after the mutiny on the Bounty. Sixteen-year-old John Hallet was on board the ill-fated Bounty when Fletcher Christian and others of the crew staged the mutiny against Captain Bligh. Cast adrift in a small boat in wild and dangerous seas, Hallet tells the remarkable story of how Bligh led the sailors who were loyal to him to safety. This story is interspersed with a fictionalised account of the events that led up to the mutiny on the Bounty. Historically accurate and well-researched, Sea of Mutiny is a revisionist look at Bligh. He has gone down in history as sadistic and cruel. But award-wining writer Ken Catran portrays Bligh as a victim of the British class system and his own flawed decison making. At the same time as being a fascinating historical read, this is an exciting plot-driven novel about massive sea voyages in treacherous conditions in overcrowded, overladen ships. It's classic Ken Catran fare - ideal for male readers.

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Page Count

127

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530876

ISBN 13

9781775530879

Monsters of Blood and Honour

By: Ken Catran

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Monsters of Blood and Honour

By: Ken Catran

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Page Count

179

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530744

ISBN 13

9781775530749

Lin and the Red Stranger

By: Ken Catran

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Lin and the Red Stranger

By: Ken Catran

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Page Count

124

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775532070

ISBN 13

9781775532071

Sea of Mutiny

By: Ken Catran

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Sea of Mutiny

By: Ken Catran

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127

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530876

ISBN 13

9781775530879

Bloody Liggie

By: Ken Catran

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Bloody Liggie

By: Ken Catran

Liggie Tanner, with an axe, Gave her step-mum forty whacks. When she saw what she had done . . . "Bloody" Liggie, the media labelled her. She was locked away but broke out and drowned crossing a river. So . . . was this the end of Liggie?Two years on, there's a new girl in class. Cool and closed . . . somehow like Liggie. I just had to know because I would die for her.And finding out would be murder.

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Page Count

132

Publisher

Univ. of Queensland Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0702233803

ISBN 13

9780702233807

Red Leader Down

By: Ken Catran

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Red Leader Down

By: Ken Catran

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Page Count

152

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530752

ISBN 13

9781775530756

Protus Rising

By: Ken Catran

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Protus Rising

By: Ken Catran

In Protus Rising, award-winning author Ken Catran has written a story of startling originality and suspense, which will leave readers with no choice but to keep turning the pages. The mission of the Copernicus to Jupiter was going to be the most significant event in human history, but when Co-pilot Declan Tulropper wakes from cryo-sleep to begin his work, he discovers that the mission has already been completed, and he's caught in a web of murder, ambition, greed and terror.And he can't remember anything about it.

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Page Count

168

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0702234427

ISBN 13

9780702234422

Seal Boy

By: Ken Catran

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Seal Boy

By: Ken Catran

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Page Count

137

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530868

ISBN 13

9781775530862

Letters from the Coffin-Trenches

By: Ken Catran

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Letters from the Coffin-Trenches

By: Ken Catran

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Page Count

109

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1775530736

ISBN 13

9781775530732

Smiling Jack

By: Ken Catran

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Smiling Jack

By: Ken Catran

Robert lives in a small, prosperous rural town where his father is a respected and trusted pillar of the local community and financial advisor to the eccentric but essentially harmless community of Atenists who live nearby. When Robert's father and uncle are killed in road accident his comfortable world rapidly begins to unravel.

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Page Count

274

Publisher

Harper Collins Publishers Australia Pty Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1869508122

ISBN 13

9781869508128

Nina of the Dark

By: Ken Catran

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Nina of the Dark

By: Ken Catran

Against the forces of evil and night, who will stand true? Slave-born, fated to seek a terrible truth from lost centuries, her only allies are a thief, a giant and an ancient prophecy. A sweeping epic fantasy adventure from a master of the genre, Nina of the dark tells the story of a slave girl in a medieval world where humans battle for existence in fortified towns scattered through a fertile lowlands, dominated by the grim mountains of Backbone. Beyond backbone is a land of demons, flying dragons, witchers, ogres and goblins. Born to fulfill the prophecy of a young woman with hair the colour of sunlight on snow, Nina the foundling is suspected of witchcraft when she starts to experience sharp pain in her thumbs, and has to flee for her life. A classical fantasy adventure for YA readers, Nina of the dark marks a new beginning for Ken Catran, back once again in the HarperCollins list.

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Page Count

224

Publisher

HarperCollins Australia

Published Date

ISBN 10

0730400190

ISBN 13

9780730400196

Dawn Hawk

By: Ken Catran

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Dawn Hawk

By: Ken Catran

When Focus's great-aunt Petronel dies, aged 86, Bryce and Focus find a poem which provides the clues to a long-forgotten mystery. One of the floatplanes made by the Wright Brothers was sold in New Zealand and later disappeared from official records. Had Petronel discovered it?

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Page Count

100

Publisher

Lothian Children's Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0734404689

ISBN 13

9780734404688

Nina Questor

By: Ken Catran

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Nina Questor

By: Ken Catran

Nina has fulfilled the first part of her destiny - but her battle has just begun. the legendary Nina of the Dark has come into her power and won a mighty kingdom - but her battle has just begun. the witchers, those dark lords of evil, still plague the land ... and seek Nina's death.Forsaking both daughter and kingdom, and armed only with her fabled sword Brightsong, Nina is flown across the mountains by Illyugi the dragon, at best an uncertain ally. She must quest the Broken Lands for the secrets of her destiny as Nina the Chosen. to discover what it is she has been chosen for. However, each step of the journey takes her further into the morass of confusion and uncertainty that plagues her world - and her dreams. Ahead lies a bloody and treacherous path, filled with pain and horror. that her thumbs ache with prescience fills her with foreboding when she links up with Fell, the young, black-amoured mercenary. Can she trust him - anyone - as she seeks the witchers' hidden stronghold to destroy their power?Or will the witchers destroy Nina, the last hope of her world? Age: 10 years +

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Page Count

290

Publisher

HarperCollins Australia

Published Date

ISBN 10

0730494160

ISBN 13

9780730494164

Nina of the Dark

By: Ken Catran

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Nina of the Dark

By: Ken Catran

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Page Count

224

Publisher

HarperCollins Australia

Published Date

ISBN 10

0730400190

ISBN 13

9780730400196

Taken at the Flood

By: Ken Catran

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Taken at the Flood

By: Ken Catran

Comet GABRIEL has sideswiped the Earth, triggering earthquakes . . . volcanoes . . . and a monster tidal wave. Bruce and Karen are among the few left alive - struggling to survive in the bleak, hostile aftermath of disaster. They are strangers but must unite. Because everything they know has been taken at the flood. And only the strongest will live.

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Page Count

175

Published Date

ISBN 10

1869414845

ISBN 13

9781869414849

Golden Prince

By: Ken Catran

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Golden Prince

By: Ken Catran

Dramatic novel for teenagers. Based on the Greek siege of Troy, where Pyrrhus, son of the legendary Achilles, led his troops against the Trojans. Pyrrhus' thoughts are haunted by the Trojan priestess Polyxena, who reportedly caused the death of his father. Author is a television scriptwriter.

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Page Count

224

Publisher

Lothian Children's Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0734400373

ISBN 13

9780734400376

Focus and the Death-ride

By: Ken Catran

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Focus and the Death-ride

By: Ken Catran

Mad old Perce McAllister, who flew Lancaster bombers during the war, has recreated his nightmares with electronic hi-tech reality and drawn Bryce and Focus into a dangerous adventure. Suggested level: intermediate, secondary.

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Page Count

140

Published Date

ISBN 10

1869501179

ISBN 13

9781869501174

Bloody Liggie

By: Ken Catran

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Bloody Liggie

By: Ken Catran

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Page Count

132

Publisher

Univ. of Queensland Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0702233803

ISBN 13

9780702233807

Running Dogs

By: Ken Catran

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Running Dogs

By: Ken Catran

Games aren't always made for playing, for the kids of the twenty-first century they have a much deadlier function. Two players are learning just how real virtual reality can be.

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Page Count

217

Published Date

ISBN 10

0732259754

ISBN 13

9780732259754

Protus Rising

By: Ken Catran

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Protus Rising

By: Ken Catran

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Page Count

168

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0702234427

ISBN 13

9780702234422

The Ghosts of Triton

The Solar Colonies Book 2

By: Ken Catran

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The Ghosts of Triton

The Solar Colonies Book 2

By: Ken Catran

Following "Doomfire on Venus," this book tells of danger and intrigue on Neptune's icy moon, Triton.

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Page Count

147

Published Date

ISBN 10

1869501144

ISBN 13

9781869501143

Jacko Moran

Sniper

By: Ken Catran

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Jacko Moran

Sniper

By: Ken Catran

Jacko Moran joins the army at seventeen. He tells the story of the war, from his first days in the Flanders trenches to the last great German offensive in 1918. His soldier mates become his 'band of brothers'. When the war ends, the feeling of security it provided ends too, there is nothing in peacetime to replace it. Ages 14+.

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Page Count

235

Publisher

Lothian Children's Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0734405510

ISBN 13

9780734405517

Doomfire on Venus

By: Ken Catran

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Doomfire on Venus

By: Ken Catran

From the author of the gripping Deepwater trilogy, three stunning stories set in the same fascinating world, the solar colonies.

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Page Count

197

Published Date

ISBN 10

0340634847

ISBN 13

9780340634844

Fire Gods

By: Ken Catran

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Fire Gods

By: Ken Catran

A science fiction novel in 16 chapters with Prologue and Afterword; alien explorers come across yet another planet of strange and primitive life forms, but the inhabitants of Earth look to the aliens for help with fire and weapons. The effects of the new technology are far-reaching.

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Page Count

141

Published Date

ISBN 10

1869585801

ISBN 13

9781869585808

The Ghosts of Triton

By: K. Catran

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The Ghosts of Triton

By: K. Catran

Set at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Earth is decimated by plague and pollution. Mankind's only hope is to colonise the solar planets

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Page Count

180

Published Date

ISBN 10

0340634855

ISBN 13

9780340634851

Shadow of Phobos

By: Ken Catran

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Shadow of Phobos

By: Ken Catran

Set at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Earth is decimated by plague and pollution. Mankind's only hope is to colonise the solar planets

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Page Count

164

Published Date

ISBN 10

0340634863

ISBN 13

9780340634868

Black Ships Ablaze

By: Ken Catran

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Black Ships Ablaze

By: Ken Catran

In the great siege of Troy, a slave boy of the hero Achilles & a slave girl of the famous Helen fight for their lives as battle rages & the black-sailed Greek ships burn in the harbour. When the treacherous wooden horse enters the city, slave girl & boy join forces on this last night of blood and fire.

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Age

Page Count

160

Publisher

Lothian Children's Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0734408315

ISBN 13

9780734408310

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