Nocturnal Academy Series

While Alice and her father are visiting the newly reopened Appleton Museum, Alice notices a dedication plaque on the wall from something called the Lonely House Foundation. She remembers the Lonely House from her run with Andre and the Nocturnal Academy teachers through the Astral Plane, where they helped to close a rift to the Immaterium. But what is the Lonely House Foundation doing in Appleton? What are its intentions? Is it a good or evil organisation? Alice and her friends are now in year 9, and apart from the occasional fight between Toby and Carla, and Professor Longenfang’s drunkenness, things have been uneasily quiet at the Nocturnal Academy. Then Longenfang realises he needs help because he has lost his Beast, and is sent on a spirit quest into the depths of the Sub-Astral Plane. He is accompanied by Toby and Carla, who each had their own issues to deal with. Alice stays behind, overjoyed that she is not the centre of attention for once. But then she receives a call from a near-hysterical Janice Cooper, who claims she saw demons roaming the grounds at a party hosted by the Lonely House Foundation. Now Janice possesses the ability to see through glamours and Magick, Alice believes her and goes with her to see what’s going on. They discover that the Lonely House is actually a conduit to a realm even darker than the Immaterium, containing a trapped demon-god from before the dawn of time itself, a monstrous creature who wants to destroy the entire universe. Also available: Nocturnal Academy Nocturnal Academy 2 – Teacher’s Pet Nocturnal Academy 3 – Immaterial Girl Nocturnal Academy 4 – the Supernatural Circus Nocturnal Academy 5 - Mage Against the Machine Nocturnal Academy 6 – The Da Vinci Codex Nocturnal Academy 7 – School of Thought Nocturnal Academy 9 - Mirror Mirror

A supposedly routine visit to the Nocturnal Academy by a Department of Education public servant was actually instigated by the mysterious Church of the Stigmata, who have set up in Appleton. They are actively recruiting new followers, including the mother of Alice Dibble's friend Nick and her own father's girlfriend Janice Cooper. They appear to want to close the Academy down, but are really after something else, an extremely powerful tome of Magick hidden within the school. When Alice returns to school for term 2, Professor Abbacus devises a plan to sneak her into the church by disguising her beneath a magically enhanced holographic projector. She sits through a bizarre sermon, but at the end a strange monk appears and she realises he can detect her. It seems he is a technomage who shares Abbacus's affinity for machines. An old schoolmate of Alice's returns to Appleton and claims he can help. Believing he can redeem himself, this boy tries to sneak into the Church of the Stigmata but is captured by the priest Father Donelli and the monk, a formidable Jesuit half-elf known as Marco the Hunter. When her friend fails to return, Alice tries to tell Professor Abbacus the truth. Unfortunately he loses his temper with her, and she decides to save the boy on her own. She runs into the church - and discovers the true, horrible secret behind the Church of the Stigmata. Also available: Nocturnal Academy Nocturnal Academy 2 - Teacher's Pet Nocturnal Academy 3 - Immaterial Girl Nocturnal Academy 4 - The Supernatural Circus Nocturnal Academy 5 - Mage Against the Machine Nocturnal Academy 7 - School of Thought Nocturnal Academy 8 - The Lonely House Nocturnal Academy 9 - Mirror Mirror

Alice Dibble returns to the Nocturnal Academy for her second year to find that the ghost Baron Falkenstein has been made Vice Principal. He has all sorts of nasty plans lined up the school, which he believes is suffering such a bad reputation because of a serious decline in discipline. A new boy named Harley joins the Academy. He was told he was an earth elemental, but he doesn’t feel any connection with the Earth at all. A genius and a misfit who was home-schooled until recently, he has no people skills and immediately rubs Professor Abbacus – and half his classmates – up the wrong way. Only Alice dares to become his friend. Alice hopes her year 8 will be slightly less eventful than her year 7, but almost immediately things start to go wrong. Her brand new computer has sticky keys, other kids are starting to call her “unlucky Alice” and Baron Falkenstein catches her in the corridor after hours and puts her on detention cleaning fungus off dungeon walls. Then she discovers something dark and evil hiding deep in the bowels of the school. Alice, Harley and Professor Abbacus must journey into an entirely different realm to face this new danger, a collusion of threats from both outside the school and within. The entire Nocturnal Academy itself is at risk, and if these beings succeed in their vile plan, the entire school will be wiped off the face of the Earth. Also available: Nocturnal Academy Nocturnal Academy 2 - Teacher's Pet Nocturnal Academy 3 - Immaterial Girl Nocturnal Academy 4 - The Supernatural Circus Nocturnal Academy 6 - The Da Vinci Codex Nocturnal Academy 7 - School of Thought Nocturnal Academy 8 - The Lonely House Nocturnal Academy 9 - Mirror Mirror

In the sequel to Nocturnal Academy 6, two groups are in a desperate race against time to stop the evil demon lord Oradhur from reaching the Nocturnal Academy’s echo on the Astral Plane and stealing the Da Vinci Codex. Alice, Madam Nocturna, Lord Eldritch, Marco the Hunter and Andre make up one team, and they are closely followed by Abbacus, Longenfang, Toby and Carla. Both parties contain some of the Nocturnal Academy’s most powerful individuals and are confident they can defeat one possessed human. But Oradhur is a formidable mage with his own powerful spells as well as his victim’s abilities, and manages to elude both groups. He reaches the Astral Academy and breaks inside, leading his pursuers through the echo school’s convoluted defence mechanisms. Alice, Toby, Carla and Andre find themselves face to face with the monster that once tried to invade their school through its computer system. Can they defeat this evil being before he gets his talons on one of the most powerful spellbooks in existence? Also available: Nocturnal Academy Nocturnal Academy 2 – Teacher’s Pet Nocturnal Academy 3 – Immaterial Girl Nocturnal Academy 4 – the Supernatural Circus Nocturnal Academy 5 - Mage Against the Machine Nocturnal Academy 6 – The Da Vinci Codex NOcturnal Academy 7 - School of Thought Nocturnal Academy 8 - The Lonely House Nocturnal Academy 9 - Mirror Mirror

Worn out after her first three terms at the Nocturnal Academy, Alice Dibble finds she needs help to sleep and concentrate. At a low ebb, she accidentally allows some Immaterial imps to influence her thought patterns, and uses her superior mental powers to push her unhealthy father into exercising. When he collapses from a heart-attack, Alice is immediately overcome with guilt. At the same time, Alice and her vampire friend Milly become involved with a Magick group at the Rainbow Tiger store in Appleton Mall. They are trying to open a portal to the Magick Earth. Although Alice has second thoughts, Milly travels through with them. When Milly’s distraught parents arrive at the school, Alice is forced to reveal everything. Professor Abbacus proclaims that he and Alice will easily bring Milly back as he knows his way around the Magick Earth. Toby and Carla volunteer to come as well. However, only Alice, Toby and Carla make it through; the portal at the Rainbow Tiger contains a failsafe that prevents the Professor from following. The three children must track their classmate down on their own. They receive help from a wererat named Skittles, but discover that Milly has been captured and sentenced to die the very next morning! Also available: Nocturnal Academy Nocturnal Academy 2 - Teacher's Pet Nocturnal Academy 4 - The Supernatural Circus Nocturnal Academy 5 - Mage Against the Machine Nocturnal Academy 6 - The Da Vinci Codex Nocturnal Academy 7 - School of Thought Nocturnal Academy 8 - The Lonely House Nocturnal Academy 9 - Mirror Mirror

Alice Dibble has finally made it to the Nocturnal Academy, and is ready to start lessons at the exclusive private school. She believes she is about to be trained to become a nocturnal defender of the Earth against the chaotic hordes of the Immaterium, and is ready to face up to this noble challenge. Unfortunately, when she arrives she discovers that the Nocturnal Academy isn’t that different from her old school. Lessons are tedious, equipment is old and broken, bats roosting in the rafters keep dropping presents on her notebook - and then there is scullery duty, which involves taking rubbish out to the epic compost heap, known to swallow children whole. Alice’s new friend Toby, once a popular kid at her primary school, has become an outcast; her old enemy Carla needs help to learn how to change into her new animal form, and a little omniwere boy who can only change into tiny creatures has developed a crush on her. Alice must also learn how to use her new vampire powers responsibly without succumbing to the lure of the darkness. To make matters worse, Professor Abbacus, a teacher Alice thought liked her, now seems to want to kill her. It is all Alice can do to keep one step ahead of him and all of his devious, convoluted plans to punish her for the destruction of the Holloway Grimoire. Also available: Nocturnal Academy Nocturnal Academy 3 - Immaterial Girl Nocturnal Academy 4 - The Supernatural Circus Nocturnal Academy 5 - Mage Against the Machine Nocturnal Academy 6 - The Da Vinci Codex Nocturnal Academy 7 - School of Thought Nocturnal Academy 8 - The Lonely House Nocturnal Academy 9 - Mirror Mirror

Alice Dibble is about to finish primary school and wants to attend the Nocturnal Academy, located near her home. She has no idea that it is actually a school for supernatural youngsters until she is accepted and attends a meeting with the principal, Madam Elliana Nocturna. At enrolment she finds out that she is a vampire – and her worst enemy, Toby Thompson, is a werewolf! The Nocturnal Academy trains young vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, tree-spirits and elementals to fight threats from the Immaterium, a dimension of evil spirits who want to escape and take over the world during the night-time hours. It has been around for hundreds of years, and the principal is herself a vampire who has been in charge for over a century. Other teachers include the werewolf Professor Longenfang, and Professor Icarus Abbacus, a cyborg in charge of Immaterial Geography and Demon Lore. Now Alice can’t wait to start high school. But before she can join the illustrious academy, she must come to terms with her new identity as a vampire, defeat Toby’s old bully friends who have discovered the truth about her, and expose a coven that wants to raise the powerful Immaterial Demon lord Vladrakov! Luckily Toby realises how bad his old mates are and reaches into his own werewolf heritage to help Alice. She also receives support from vampires at the school, and the spooky Professor Abbacus, who keeps an open portal to the Immaterium in his office! Also available: Nocturnal Academy 2 - Teacher's Pet Nocturnal Academy 3 - Immaterial Girl Nocturnal Academy 4 - The Supernatural Circus Nocturnal Academy 5 - Mage Against the Machine Nocturnal Academy 6 - The Da Vinci Codex Nocturnal Academy 7 - School of Thought Nocturnal Academy 8 - The Lonely House Nocturnal Academy 9 - Mirror Mirror

Finally, the Australian Nocturnal Academy has won the rights to host the 312th Nightmare Games – a gruelling series of contests designed to pit supernaturals against each other and test their abilities to the ultimate limit. Alice, Toby, Carla and Milly are competitors in the games, along with six other students from their school, and ten from each of the other Nocturnal Academies. They must work together as well as compete against each other to get through each event. But there’s a threat. According to the Professor Abbacus, the new technical assistant to the Nightmare Games Organising Committee, there’s always a threat. Every Nightmare Games in recorded history has been attacked, in some way or another, by demons from the Immaterium. Thus it’s only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose once more. Professor Abbacus warns everyone to be on their toes, to notify him the moment something unusual occurs. Unfortunately everything about the competition is unusual, from flying races, were triathlons and elemental displays to the bizarre medieval ball-game known as Kranquoix Thus a mysterious increase in plant-growth across the area goes almost unnoticed. Can Alice, her friends, Professor Abbacus and his new assistant from Scotland, figure out what is going on before its too late? Also available: Nocturnal Academy Nocturnal Academy 2 – Teacher’s Pet Nocturnal Academy 3 – Immaterial Girl Nocturnal Academy 4 – the Supernatural Circus Nocturnal Academy 5 - Mage Against the Machine Nocturnal Academy 6 – The Da Vinci Codex Nocturnal Academy 7 – School of Thought Nocturnal Academy 8 – The Lonely House Nocturnal Academy 9 – Mirror Mirror Nocturnal University 1 - School of Thought

Nocturnal Academy students Alice, Toby and Carla have just finished their first hectic year at the exclusive school for Supernaturals, and just want to enjoy their summer holidays like normal thirteen year-olds. They decide to visit an exciting new circus that has just set up in their home town of Appleton. However, they soon discover that this circus is not the ordinary travelling carnival they expected. The ringmaster, a mysterious character named Darmin Gallis, is actually a powerful mage who has managed to capture and hypnotise numerous shape-shifters so he can use them his bizarre acts. He coerces Toby into joining him, and Alice and Carla must turn to the Nocturnal Academy for help to rescue him from the ringmaster’s evil clutches. They return the next day with the werewolf professor Albrecht Longenfang, but Darmin Gallis proves a far more formidable opponent than any of them expected. Alice finds herself riding a bus home alone, her memory wiped and replaced by an irrational fear of circuses. How can Alice save Toby, Carla and Professor Longenfang when she doesn’t even remember what happened to them? Also available: Nocturnal Academy Nocturnal Academy 2 - Teacher's Pet Nocturnal Academy 3 - Immaterial Girl Nocturnal Academy 5 - Mage Against the Machine Nocturnal Academy 6 - The Da Vinci Codex Nocturnal Academy 7 - School of Thought Nocturnal Academy 8 - The Lonely House Nocturnal Academy 9 - Mirror Mirror

Nocturnal Academy principal Madam Nocturna has tasked Quincy Darkchilde, the new Professor of Magick, and Marco Cazadora the half-elf Jesuit, to figure out how the mysterious Mirror of Albiroth really works. Meanwhile, Millicent Jorgenson sees something disturbing in the school library. Unfortunately she can’t bring herself to report it to Madam Nocturna. More strange events follow, breaking up the relationship between Toby and Carla and setting them against each other. The Mirror has been exhibiting some strange behaviour lately, and Marco concludes that someone has been tampering with it. He believes that someone - or something - might even have come through it into the Nocturnal Academy. But who - or what – can possibly be creeping around the school, without anyone noticing? It is Milly who finally figures out the awful truth – just before she is abducted in the middle of the new Oval Jungle. Can Professor Darkchilde and Marco get the Mirror working in time to rescue Milly? And more importantly, can Toby and Carla overcome their differences enough to help?

Necronis the Unmaker is now only days away from tearing open the Wall of Fire. The hordes of imps and demons surrounding the breach are glorying in his imminent arrival. But the mysterious newcomer to the Nocturnal Academy, the eccentric Rhys Kelly, has an insane plan to close the breach that he believes just might work. It will require the school’s most powerful mages and fighters to join forces with Appleton’s priests and shamans. The timely arrival of the Nocturnal University provides more help in the form of Lord Eldritch, Dr Ashe, Dr Primus, Malcolm and Kim. However, even with such a diverse group of multi-talented people, they will still be facing off against a truly formidable opponent. The Dark God has millions of monsters at his beck and call, ranging from the tiniest imps and larger demons, to massive lords, devoted Necronites and even his own chosen son. Necronis is hell-bent on claiming the universe that he believes rightfully belongs to him, and will do anything to thwart his foes. To succeed Rhys and his small army will require nothing short of a miracle, and help from an extremely unexpected quarter.

Necronis the Unmaker is coming. He is clawing open the Wall of Fire and influencing the entire Immaterium. Thousands of celestials have formed a barrier in front of him, but despite their combined wills the Dark God will soon rip the hole large enough to step through. When he breaks free, he will tear the universe apart. He is gaining followers and a large group of Necronites have set up camp in front of Appleton’s Old Cider Factory, preparing to welcome their evil master with open arms. Just when everyone is at a complete loss at how to combat him a mysterious stranger appears at the Nocturnal Academy who just might have a solution. Unfortunately Rhys Kelly has lost parts of his memory and has no idea how he arrived at the school. Before he can help to combat Necronis he needs to rediscover exactly what he can do. It is up to the teachers, and Alice and her friends, to shape this middle-aged computer programmer into a lean, mean fighting machine. But not everyone believes Rhys to be the answer to their prayers and Professor Abbacus even sees him as a threat. And to make matters worse, the delinquents at the Old Cider Factory have gained some powerful new leaders and are planning a bloody takeover of their own.

All contact with the newest Nocturnal Academy, located on the moon, has been lost. A rescue team was sent in to find out what happened, but it disappeared as well. Nocturnal Councillor, Lord Harmon Eldritch, is at his wits’ end and calls the one person he genuinely believes can help. Unfortunately, Professor Abbacus has also vanished without trace. As a good friend of the Professor, Alice Dibble is recalled from her much-needed summer holiday to help locate him. But this time even she can’t bring him back. That is until she has what is quite possibly the craziest idea of her young life. An idea so utterly insane it just might work, and the dour Lord Eldritch actually agrees to let her try. And so Alice and her boyfriend Andre embark on a roller-coaster journey through time and space and the astral plane to track down the missing Professor. But Professor Abbacus doesn’t want to be found, and is not going to make it easy for them.

For many years the old Siberian Nocturnal Academy was thought to have been destroyed during the great Tunguska explosion of 1908. However, recently the principal of the new Russian Academy, Professor Bukarev, discovered it was actually dragged into the Immaterium by the dark realm’s self-styled king, the Demon Lord Abraxas, and languishes there still. Bukarev wishes to undertake a mission to recover the school, its resources, and most importantly, the supernaturals who were taken with it. But in order to complete this mission, the Demon King must be confronted and destroyed. Professor Abbacus believes Bukarev’s mission is doomed to fail unless he accompanies him and his crew. He also decides to bring along his best students; Alice Dibble, Toby Thompson and Carla Hightower. The Siberian Academy lies in the grimmest depths of the Immaterium, and the journey to reach it is long and fraught with dangers. The school is very old and run-down, filled with defeated survivors who have grown old before their time, and one enormous, completely delusional Demon Lord lording over the squalor like it’s the grandest empire in the world. Defeating Abraxas will not be easy, even for experienced mages like Professor Bukarev and Professor Abbacus, and the dedicated students accompanying them. The Demon Lord has scores of followers, including one very familiar supernatural who will do anything to stop his master from being destroyed. For he alone has discovered the deadly secret that Abraxas is protecting.

All communication with the Nocturnal Moonbase has been lost, and the rescue party sent to investigate has not returned. A second party is collected and includes Professor Abbacus, Alice and Andre. They travel to the Moonbase to find it airless but not abandoned. A nasty surprise within leads them down into a grim realm not even the genius Abbacus realised existed. But from this dark place the party travels to a world the Professor knows all too well. It is a world within a world of strange, prehistoric creatures, beastmen, ancient temples and shining cities inhabited by godlike beings. It is also a world of dark secrets, abandoned friends and old enemies. One being in particular has been waiting over a century for Professor Abbacus to return so he can have his final revenge upon him.

Warning: this story finishes on a cliff-hanger. Visitors are coming to the Nocturnal Academy. Some good, some bad, some old and some new. All are seeking something to make their lives complete; food, solace, their only offspring and bloody revenge. Which one will succeed? Alice Dibble is spending her entire summer break at the school. Professor Abbacus sees that she is depressed and alone, and presents her with a gift to keep her mind off her personal situation. A bizarre and unique gift she soon discovers that will occupy much of her time and effort. But it is a present she will grow to love. While Professor Abbacus reveals a story from his past, the history behind his gift to Alice, Father Lost from the Church of the Stigmata is ousted from his position and forced to approach the school for help. As he is now a supernatural, the school is obligated to take him in. Professor Abbacus agrees to teach him how to use his powers to their full potential. Because soon everyone’s help will be needed when the visitor seeking vengeance arrives and invades the school.

Alice Dibble and her friends have finally made it to the Nocturnal University, the only Nocturnal Academy that flies high above the Earth and can travel from place to place. They discover that life at the university isn’t that different, with lessons, new students to meet, and adventures in underground dungeons. But Alice is particularly annoyed that a dark aspect of her past has followed her. Will she ever escape the legacy of Unlucky Alice? Then Mt Takameetu, a nearby Pacific island volcano located at a nexus of leylines, erupts with explosive force. A deadly Magickal effect spreads across the entire planet. Only the Nocturnal University is spared. Once again it falls to Alice and her friends to find out what happened, and travel to Mt Takameetu to save the supernaturals still trapped there. But something else is brewing in that volcano, something dark and evil and more powerful than anything that has ever set foot on Earth before.

Professor Albrecht Longenfang steps through the Great Cosmic Mirror to the Magick Earth, his mission to track down the alternate version of his lost love, Vulpina Vixen. He knows it’s a one-way trip and a silly idea as Vulpina is currently with Tobias, the alternate version of Toby Thompson, but he has to try. Finding Vulpina is easy. She is a disciple of High Priest Ruthan, at the Church of the Great Cosmic Mirror. Albrecht even gets the chance to tell her about the death of her Science Earth counterpart. But then he gets into a fight with Tobias and is banished from the church. He finds himself back out on the street, unsure what to do next. Then Millicent Jorgensen, meditating in front of a mirror, decides to cross over and join him. Unfortunately she has no way to return – save through the giant mirror at the church. Realising he has an obligation to look after his former student, Albrecht takes her back to the church. But High Priest Ruthan and his disciples have tired of simply lurking in the shadows, hiding from the authorities while trying to recruit new followers. The time has come to act, to finally bring Magick and Science together. And Caroline “Karuna” Collins believes she has figured out the way.

Dark things are massing from the remotest corners of the Immaterum, where the realm fractures and merges with other inhospitable regions. These are the lost and insane; demons, spirits and ancient gods without names or worshippers. Something is calling and uniting them with deadly purpose. Because of his close affinity with the Immaterium Professor Abbacus can hear the monsters coming. He has fought them before, back in 1895 when they were united by the Martians. But he can’t understand them or determine their new mission. At his wits’ end he is finally forced to seek help from an old enemy. Meanwhile another blast from his past finally reaches the Nocturnal Academy. This person has been hunting him for decades, following minute clues across the country, but for what purpose? To rekindle an old friendship? Or to kill him for leaving them behind? To fight the approaching evil everyone at the Nocturnal Academy must be on high alert for anything even slightly out of the ordinary. Because even the sweet old folks of the Appleton Seniors Meditation and Tai Chi Group might not be exactly who they appear.

Bethelrath is dead, the church knight has been banished and the Australian Nocturnal Academy is without a principal or a vice principal. The school is also exposed to the public. The Nocturnal Council has to step in and take control before too much damage is caused. Sir Hernan Vargas may have been disarmed, but he is determined not to go down in disgrace. When he informs the Magick Earth’s Pope of what happened at the Australian Academy, the Pontiff immediately sends him on a new mission. Sir Hernan and his chapter, one hundred knights of the Golden Cross, are to march upon that accursed demon school, kill every vile supernatural inside and then burn it to the ground.