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Please Do Not Ask for Mercy as a Refusal Often Offends
A darkly comic dystopian crime novel Detective Kilroy is assigned to investigate a horrible murder. He's a fine cop, from the brim of his hat to the soles of his brogues, but his inquiries, far from solving the mystery, lead him into a deeper one – and to Cynthia, an enigmatic woman with a secret that could overturn Kilroy's entire world. But where is this world? It seems both familiar and uncanny, with electric cars, but no digital devices, and the audience for a public execution arriving by tram. Meanwhile, the seas are retreating, and the Church exerts an iron grip on society – and history. Power belongs to those who control the narrative. Kilroy is forced to take sides between the Kafkaesque state that pays his wages, and the truth-seekers striving to destroy it, all the while becoming increasingly besotted with a woman who may only love him for his mind – in an alarmingly literal way. Please Do Not Ask for Mercy as a Refusal Often Offends is a dystopian satire that manages to be funny and frightening in equal measure.
Six Scary Stories
SIX SCARY STORIES SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY STEPHEN KING Winning stories from The Bazaar of Bad Dreams Hodder-Guardian competition The Number 1 bestselling writer Stephen King introduces and presents six gripping and chilling stories in this captivating anthology: WILD SWIMMING by Elodie Harper EAU-DE-ERIC by Manuela Saragosa THE SPOTS by Paul Bassett Davies THE UNPICKING by Michael Button LA MORT DE L'AMANT by Stuart Johnstone THE BEAR TRAP by Neil Hudson Stephen King discovered these stories when he judged a competition run by Hodder & Stoughton and the Guardian to celebrate publication of his own collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. He was so impressed with the entries that he recommended they were published together in one book. Reader beware: the stories will make you think twice before cuddling up to your old soft toy, dipping your toe into the water or counting the spots on a leopard...
Dead Writers in Rehab
The only thing worse than waking up with the hangover from hell is waking up with a hangover in hell When literary reprobate Foster James wakes up in a strange country house, he assumes he's been consigned to rehab (yet again). But when he gets punched in the face by Ernest Hemingway, he realises there's something different about this place... Is Foster dead? Has his less-than-saintly existence finally caught up with him? After a hostile group therapy session with Hunter S. Thompson, William Burroughs and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, it seems likely. But he still feels alive, especially after he gets laid by Dorothy Parker. When he discovers that the two enigmatic doctors who run the institution are being torn apart by a thwarted love affair, he and the other writers must work together to save something bigger than their own gigantic egos. Set in a place that's part Priory, part Purgatory, Dead Writers in Rehab is a darkly funny tale about the strange and terrible entanglement of creativity and addiction, told by a charming, selfish bastard.
Stone Heart Deep
Stone Heart Deep is a compelling and claustrophobic thriller with a remarkable twist, as if Iain Banks had rewritten The Wicker Man. When burned-out investigative journalist Adam Budd's estranged mother dies, he inherits her estate. This includes Stone Heart House, a huge, ramshackle mansion on a remote Scottish island. He visits the island to sort out her tangled affairs, and at first it seems like a charming haven of tranquillity. But after he witnesses a strange accident, he begins to develop suspicions about the inhabitants. Why does everyone seem so eerily calm, even under stress? What is stopping Harriet, the lawyer helping him with his affairs, from leaving the island when she so clearly wants to? Is he making a big mistake by falling for her? And why have so many children gone missing?
Stone Heart Deep
A COMPELLING AND CLAUSTROPHOBIC THRILLER 'Once I'd started reading I could not put it down' IAIN MAITLAND When burned-out investigative journalist Adam Budd's estranged mother dies, he inherits her estate. This includes Stone Heart House, a huge, ramshackle mansion on a remote Scottish island. He visits the island to sort out her tangled affairs, and at first it seems like a charming haven of tranquillity. But after he witnesses a strange accident, he begins to develop suspicions about the inhabitants. Why does everyone seem so eerily calm, even under stress? What is stopping Harriet, the lawyer helping him with his affairs, from leaving the island when she so clearly wants to? Is he making a big mistake by falling for her? And why have so many children gone missing? Stone Heart Deep is a compelling and claustrophobic thriller with a remarkable twist, as if Iain Banks had rewritten The Wicker Man.
The Glade and Other Stories
The debut story collection from the acclaimed author of Dead Writers in Rehab.These eleven stories range from a brief encounter on a train that uncovers a startling history of S&M, to a bizarre tale apparently written by a shipwrecked mariner, describing his journey into madness - or perhaps ecstasy. There's also a drug-fuelled adventure in Rotterdam that leads to an encounter with a werewolf, and a chilling retelling of a classic fairy-tale. Oh, and a story narrated by a man who, literally, isn't there. The stories are highly diverse in subject matter but they each share an undercurrent of the uncanny, a rich vein of dark humour, and the seductive pleasure of transformation. Paul Bassett Davies' stories have won or been shortlisted for many awards. One was selected by Stephen King to appear in his collection, Six Scary Stories...Praise for Paul Bassett Davies:"Mordantly funny... Poe would have enjoyed it" Stephen King"Dark, dirty, warm and funny" Jeremy Hardy"Very funny" Jack Dee
The Breaking of Liam Glass: A Gripping Satirical Tale of Tabloid Scoops and Betrayal
When ambitious local crime reporter Jason Crowthorne comes across a young stab-victim, he sets out to revive his flagging journalistic career by launching an investigative campaign against knife-crime, but to get his scoop onto the front pages he first has to draw on his darker skills... Teenage footballer Liam Glass has been mugged and left for dead. Jason sees that the boy's story could splash big in the tabloids, not least because he suspects Liam is the love-child of a celebrity Premiership player. But unable to prove it, he tells a small lie, and that lie leads to another... Soon he is sucked unwittingly into a whirlpool of dirty tricks, fake-news, gutter press, ethnic tension and political intrigue - trying to escape the police, with the inner city Bengali community threatening to riot and the very life of young Liam Glass hanging in the balance. A fast-paced, suspenseful, blackly humorous and topical ride through London's modern urban society, led by an engaging and unlikely anti-hero caught in his own moral catch-22.
Worrying about China
What can we do about China? This question, couched in pessimism, is often raised in the West but it is nothing new to the Chinese, who have long worried about themselves. In the last two decades since the “opening” of China, Chinese intellectuals have been carrying on in their own ancient tradition of “patriotic worrying.”As an intellectual mandate, “worrying about China” carries with it the moral obligation of identifying and solving perceived “Chinese problems”—social, political, cultural, historical, or economic—in order to achieve national perfection. In Worrying about China, Gloria Davies pursues this inquiry through a wide range of contemporary topics, including the...
Lu Xun's Revolution
Recognized as modern China’s preeminent man of letters, Lu Xun (1881–1936) is revered as the nation’s conscience, a writer comparable to Shakespeare or Tolstoy. Gloria Davies’s vivid portrait gives readers a better sense of this influential author by situating the man Mao Zedong hailed as “the sage of modern China” in his turbulent time and place.
Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes
The best of the best from the Comedians' Comedian 2020 'If you loved Jeremy Hardy, or if you know anyone who did, this is the most brilliant present because it's got every part of his voice in it' DAWN FRENCH 'Well good evening, my name is Jeremy Hardy and I'm a comedian who likes to make wry witty satirical observations about the society we live in -- but I prefer to keep them to myself, thank you very much.' Edited by his wife, Katie Barlow and his long-time producer David Tyler, this comprehensive celebration of Jeremy Hardy's work is introduced by Jack Dee and Mark Steel. Further reflections on Jeremy come from Rory Bremner, Paul Bassett Davies, Jon Naismith, Francesca Martinez, Sandi To...
