"Oscar and the Magi" is a children's book that I've written largely as a present for someone, but which I'm also making available online for everyone else.
It's the story of a small boy who is sent a textbook for student wizards as a birthday present and who, as a result, finds himself caught up in a secret London, where a magical police force hunts evil spirits unseen among the Christmas shoppers and a desperate band of wizards dream of rebellion and freedom... ...and that's just the first four chapters...

It's a rip-roaring pulp adventure (I hope), full of magic, sword fights, terrifying monsters, extraordinary visions, rebellion, oppression, dragons, steam trains, rooftop chases, enchanted tea sets and a blink and you'll miss appearance from the Prime Minister. Now I wish I'd mentioned the kitchen sink somewhere in it so I could complete that list properly.

There is a pdf of the book attached to this post, which can be downloaded for free. The pdf is formatted for A4 for printing. There is also a Rich Text Format file for those who would prefer just the text.

The book will also be available here, on this site, chapter by chapter, although I'm not entirely convinced that that's the best way to read it - if you agree, you might want to try it on Scribd, the online writing community, which has a very nice interface for reading online. Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2516647/Oscar-and-the-Magi.

I'm releasing the book under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial license (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/), so please feel free to pass on any copies and I would be absolutely delighted to know if anyone wants to create anything inspired by or playing with the book, drop me a line here if you do.

Or, if you wanted an actual book, you can buy a copy, paperback sized, from lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/content/1198864.

I've priced the lulu edition at £6.00, which, I must admit, includes a few pence royalties for myself, which means you will be giving me money, if you buy it, so you have been warned. I'd also like to point out that delivery from lulu.com can come in at over £2, and can take a while, so its worth bearing that in mind if you want to order one (on the other hand, of course, you do get a book out of it, which would be exciting for me, at any rate).

You can also download a pdf from lulu.com for free, but its formatted for print at paperback size, so you might be better off with the file here.