A sequel to the very popular Stones, Fanatics is a thrilling story in which the past and present collide in terrifying, riveting ways. Garnet Havelock has just finished his apprenticeship in furniture-making, and has found a workshop for his new business in an old coach house on the isolated estate of recently deceased Professor Eduardo Corbizzi. Garnet signs a contract with the late professor's long-time companion, the eccentric and inscrutable Mrs. Valentina Stoppini, who presides over the mansion and is its only occupant. The terms of the deal are excellent, but there's a catch: Garnet has to repair the library's fire damage and keep all details about the estate confidential. Only after he agrees does Mrs. Stoppini inform him that the professor died of a seizure in the library under mysterious circumstances involving "an accident" and "a small fire." It isn't long before a distressing collision of past and present drags Garnet towards a horrifying truth he could never have imagined.

Garnet Havelock was always a bit different from other guys. He never quite fit in and he was okay with that. Now, in his final year of high school, he’s just marking time, waiting to get out into the real world. When a mysterious girl transfers to his school Garnet thinks he might have found the girl of his dreams, if only he could get her to talk to him.As Garnet struggles to win over one girl, another girl is trying to get his attention – unfortunately she lived over 150 years ago. Garnet becomes fascinated by her history and that of the black community she belonged to. As he draws closer to the truth, he uncovers a horrifying chapter in his town’s history, and discovers the ways in which deep-seated prejudices and persecution from the past can still reverberate in the present.From the Trade Paperback edition.

"EVERYTHING'S CHANGED...EVERYTHING'S GONE BAD."Fifteen-year-old Bryan Troupe is at first indifferent to the bitter dispute between loggers and "tree-huggers" that splits the community of Nootka harbour on Vancouver Island. But when a similar rift divides his own family and affects his relationship with his girlfriend, Bryan becomes relentlessly drawn into the centre of an environmental conflict that shatters his entire way of life.From the Paperback edition.

Poking around a sacred Indian burial ground in the middle of the night with her brother, John, isn't Karen Stone's idea of a great way to start off the summer. But she lets John talk her into it, and the two are plunged into a world they never imagined existed - a world where past and present blend, where the spirits of the dead communicate with the living. With the help of John's classmate, Weird Noah Webster, an expert on all things supernatural, Karen and John try to unravel the mystery that surrounds them. At times amused and fascinated, at times terrified, Karen is forced to confront something she has been running from for far too long.

The award-winning author of Stones and Zack brings us a collection of original stories that will captivate teens as completely as his bestselling novels.With these eight absorbing tales, acclaimed storyteller William Bell explores the highs and lows of characters struggling to belong.In "Chumley," a high school boy's comical eccentricities mask his true, more complicated self.Fourteen-year-old Albert's sudden sense of shame at the grandfather he adores leads to a surprising realization in "Beer Can Man."In "The Staircase," the aftermath of a horrible incident exposes an ugly reality at the heart of a high school.In "Window Tree," a girl grapples with her shattered expectations over a crush she felt certain was requited.Bell's protagonists are individuals and outsiders, often on the margin of their peers or their family. Finding their own place in the world takes them on journeys that are by turns funny, fantastical,...

An unusual mystery, a heartrending love story, this is an exciting plot-driven new book from leading Canadian YA author William Bell. Fifteen-year-old Aidan has had more foster parents than he cares to remember. Careful to always keep his distance from those around him, and aided by a deep well of self-reliance and tenacity, he longs for the day that he's old enough to strike out on his own. That day comes sooner than he could ever have imagined. On a miserable March afternoon, Aidan's life is changed so radically as to become unrecognizable. Through a near-tragic event in which he saves the life of a young boy, Aidan earns the gratitude and unqualified support of the child's grandfather, Mr. Bai, a man of wealth, great resources and shadowy influence. When asked how this man can help repay him, Aidan replies, "Can you make me disappear?" With a new identity, an apartment, a job and finally a sense that he's crafting his own destiny, Aidan--now...

"But I don't look like a Jewish Negro or a black Jew. I look like a black. I am of average height, of average build, with wavy hair that I wear very short, and very dark skin. Talk about an identity crisis."Ten years after Crabbe, Bell returns to the theme of a young man wrestling with his identity. Zack Lane is uncomfortable with his mixed racial origins. He knows much about his father's side, the descendants of Romanian Jews, but his mother broke all ties with her family before Zack was born. Why she did so is the "family mystery."Zack has recently been uprooted when his parents moved from the largest city in Canada to the outskirts of a small town. Friendless, unsuccessful at school and at the lowest point in his life, he undertakes a research project into the life of Richard Pierpoint, former African slave, soldier in the War of 1812, and the pioneer farmer who cleared the land on which Zack's house now stands. Pierpoint's story inspires Zack to go to...

Seventeen-year-old Alex Jackson comes home from school to find that his father, a CBC news cameraman, wants to take him to China's capital, Beijing. Once there, Alex finds himself on his own in Tian An Men Square as desperate students fight the Chinese army for their freedom. Separated from his father and carrying illegal videotapes, Alex must trust the students to help him escape.Closely based on eyewitness accounts of the massacre in Beijing, Forbidden City is a powerful and frightening story.From the Paperback edition.

Allie's life has just taken a turn for the worse. Not only do her parents fight all the time, but now she thinks she might be pregnant. She hooks up with her old friend Razz, a professional skateboarder, and goes on the road. Razz is ranked number one but his rivalry with Slammer is heating up, and Razz and Allie head for home—right into the path of a fierce tornado. To survive in the horror and destruction that follow the storm, Allie has to call on an inner strength she didn't know she had.

NOTHING'S WORSE THAN NOT KNOWING."Wick" Chandler is obsessed with the past. When he sets out to find the father who abandoned him when he was seven years old, Wick begins a quest that brings revelations he never would have imagined--revelations that shatter the world he thought he knew. Award-winning author William Bell's sixth novel is an inspiring and unforgettable story of the value of human relationships.From the Paperback edition.

The night before his final exams, a semi-alcoholic teenager packs up his gear and disappears into the woods. Totally unprepared for bush life, he nearly dies until he meets someone else who has her own reasons to hide.