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The Sea in Birmingham
An anthology of 22 stories set in the West Midlands and written by past and present members of the influential Tindal Street Fiction Group. Some authors ( e.g. Annie Murray, Amanda Smyth, Alan Beard, Gaynor Arnold, Joel Lane, Mick Scully, Mez Packer, Jackie Gay) are published novelists or story-writers. Others like Sibyl Ruth, Charles Wilkinson, Roz Goddard and Polly Wright are better-known as poets or dramatists. Fiona Joseph has written biography, Julia Bell writes teenage fiction and Luke Brown and Kavita Bhanot have both been editors as well as writers. New names included are Kit de Waal, Natalie White, James B Goodwin, Anthony Ferner, Georgina Bruce and Ryan Davis. Thje title story by Mick Scully has been chosen by Nicholas Royle for 'Best Short Stories of 2013'.
How I Killed Margaret Thatcher
'Judas Iscariot's here, look. Here comes Judas Iscariot...' Nine-year old Sean has never seen anything like what happens on the day Margaret Thatcher takes power and his grandad discovers his uncle voted for her. So begins the start of a family secret and the end of Sean's idyllic childhood in the industrial Midlands-until, one day, deciding that someone's got to stop the train of destruction, he sets out for revenge. A heartbreaking and timely story of a moment of national crisis as felt by one family, How I Killed Margaret Thatcher delivers a devastating English twist on the dictator novel.
Too Asian, Not Asian Enough
A foodie revenge for a broken marriage; a nosy grandmother takes spying on her neighbours too far; a woman teacher is groomed by an artistic man and his clever son; a brutally short haircut makes a woman reassess her life; a gang-related attack comes back to haunt the perpetrator; a woman revisits the grave of her sister-in-law in Kenya . . . But also: a Roman soldier's lover; a frightened traveller in Jerusalem; a collector of hair in a European country; a teacher in New York is drawn to a girl and her East Asian composer boyfriend; a gay man is swindled during a whirlwind affair; an argument at a coke-fuelled party; three men disappointed at an upmarket sex club; an artist unwittingly precipitates the downfall of David Beckham . . .
You Don't Have to Say
A boy watches the sinister goings on of an urban estate. A computer specialist in a hospital witnesses a disturbing incident on the roof. The crime career for 'Hot Little Danny' - a teenage tearaway with a teacher girlfriend - is inexorably upward. Infidelity, old friendships and passions haunt the drifting lives of Beard's characters, fuelled by drugs and alcohol, dogged by uncertain employment. You Don't Have to Say is downhearted but finds warmth in people on the edges of the urban landscape, skewering adversity with uncanny empathy and insight .
Swear Down
A young gang leader is found stabbed on a Hackney estate, but two people confess to the murder. Ndekwe, an ambitious, newly promoted Detective Sergeant within a subtly racist police force, believes the more obvious of the two confessions: from McKenzie, a teenager from the estate with a police record of juvenile crime. But why does Jack Shepherdson, an ex-merchant seaman in his sixties, come forward with his own confession? Is he covering for McKenzie, his colleague in the bar they worked at? Or is there more truth in his statement than Ndekwe at first believes? As we listen, with Ndekwe, to their stories, to the lives of the segregated and unheard, a heart-breaking and suspenseful story emerges.
Girl in a Blue Dress
Beloved writer Alfred Gibson's funeral is taking place at Westminster Abbey, and Dorothea, his wife of twenty years has not been invited. Gibson's will favours his many children and secret mistress over Dorothea - who was sent away from the family home when their youngest was still an infant. Dorothea has not left her apartment in years, but when she receives a surprise invitation to a private audience with Queen Victoria, she is shocked to find she has much in common with Her Highness. With renewed confidence Dorothea is spurred to examine her past and confront not only her family but the pretty young actress Miss Ricketts.
Jakarta Shadows
Graham Young lives a comfortable, gin-soaked existence in Jakarta, even after violent riots overthrow Soeharto's regime. But a meeting with a reptilian ex-pat hurls him into a nightmare from which there seems no escape. Hounded by the police, courted by shadowy figures of political resistance, and visited in the night by military ghouls, he sees no choice but to flee. Can he get out of the country before these forces move in for the kill?
Shawnie
"It's Shawnie Brewer's 13th birthday and her Ma Lisa is on the White Lightning; her psychopath of a dad behind bars. It's left to Jason, her ruffneck brother to tell her, 'I loves you Shawnay.' She loves him too, with a love that's badly messed up. That summer Cockney wide-boy Steve settles into the household on Lurgan Walk and their lives get nastier still. It's not long before Lisa's too far gone with drink and despair to hold any appeal and Jason is on the rampage - bloodthirsty, cunning, wild. Shawnie's doing her best to keep the family in order, but they have other plans for their 'little superstar'."--BOOK JACKET.
The Danger Game
Alice and Louise are sisters united by a distant tragedy - the house fire fourteen years ago which their brother lit and burned to death in. Alice teaches dirt-poor students at a state high school that the government wants to close, while pursuing a relationship with a married man. Louise, a habitual liar and recovering heroin addict, has been playing a game of dares - 'the danger game' - with herself since she was a child, and she now can't stop. When they reunite in Melbourne to unravel the truth about their twin brother's death, and seek out the mother who abandoned them as children, they're forced to face the danger of their family's past.
Birmingham Noir
Steeped in the spirit of James M. Cain and Jim Thomspon, this new anthology of Birmingham-based thrillers combine graphic realism with emotional poignancy to offer taut, gripping stories that will unsettle and unnerve. Featured authors include: John Harvey, author of the best-selling Resnick novels; acclaimed novelist Nicholas Royle and feminist crime writer Judith Cutler, as well as a gang of rising noir talents. The book will be previewed at the Birmingham ArtFest in September, and review coverage is targeted throughout the local and national media.
