Longlisted for The Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2024The countryside – what is it for? A paradise on earth where you can relax and get creative? Or an outdoor wool factory where every other house is an Airbnb and there are fewer trees than Camden. In his new collection of short stories David Gaffney explores the theme of town versus country through a number of different lenses, including his own experience of being brought up in west Cumbria then moving to Manchester...

This two-volume anthology brings much of the rich heritage conveniently together for your reading. In this first volume, prepare yourself to sit at the feet of the main representatives of the Chen Village, including Chen Xiaowang, Chen Xiaoxing, and Wang Xi’an. Perhaps of greater importance are the clear explanations outlining each step in the learning process toward mastering Chen-style t’ai chi. Chapters included here clarify what proper training entails and why much tim...

This book represents an international gathering of friends who happen to be highly qualified martial art scholars and practitioners. We have come together in celebration of the more than twenty years the Journal of Asian Martial Arts inspired scholarship in this field to higher academic standards while encouraging all aspects of responsible practice. Each article was written specifically for this banquet, with topics representing the rich variety found in the Asian martial traditi...

The nation's favourite annual guide to the short story, now in its sixth year.Best British Short Stories invites you to judge a book by its cover – or more accurately, by its title. This new series aims to reprint the best short stories published in the previous calendar year by British writers, whether based in the UK or elsewhere. The editor's brief is wide ranging, covering anthologies, collections, magazines, newspapers and web sites, looking for the b...

Aromabingo builds on the critical success of David Gaffney's 2006 collection Sawn-off Tales, offering yet more of Gaffney's weird and edgy ultra-shorts, plus several longer works, so you can spend even more time inside the baffling, hilarious and sometimes moving world of a David Gaffney story. Think Magnus Mills mashed with the League of Gentlemen with a jolt of Mark E. Smithery for grit, and you're nearly there. Though many of his stories are shorter than a Napalm Death snarl, these prec...

Three ordinary weirdos, one recurring dream. The acclaimed minds behind The Three Rooms in Valerie’s Head return with a whimsical and ambitious portrait of human connection in the age of digital fragmentation. You meet the strangest people on the internet. Gideon is a lonely I.T. developer, obsessed by a comic book from childhood called Revenge of the Ghoulors, and secretly in love with his co-worker Lisa. Heidi works at home in her pyjamas, makes a lot of soup, and wishes she had time for...

The dazzlingly funny second volume of Danny Baker's memoirs: the television years.Since my first book was published I have had countless friends and family members get in touch to say how come I hadn't included this story or that tale. Was I ashamed of being shot twice, once up the arse, in Jamaica Road? How long should a man live with such a secret? If by retrospectively dropping my trousers every few pages I can reveal a fuller picture of myself during these year...

Detective Superintendent Roy Grace has to solve a disturbing murder whilst protecting an innocent eye witness, in this TV tie-in edition of Looking Good Dead, by award winning crime author Peter James.Now a major ITV series, Grace, adapted for television by screenwriter Russell Lewis and starring John Simm.When a young woman’s body is found butchered in Brighton, Roy Grace cannot help but think of his own missing wife and ...

'Walters's book . . . has moments of Alan Bennett warmth' SUNDAY TIMES'Humorous and . . . moving' WOMAN AND HOME'I was enthralled by her memoirs' A. N. Wilson, READER'S DIGESTHer mum wanted her to be a nurse so that is what Julie did.But in her heart she had always wanted to be an actress and soon she was on stage at the local theatre in Liverpool. Her career snowballed with highli...

'One of the best British crime writers' – Lee ChildWhen unsolved crimes resurface, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace faces a possible copycat killing in Dead Like You, by award winning crime author Peter James.The Metropole Hotel, Brighton. After a heady New Year's Eve ball, a woman is attacked as she returns to her room. A week later, another woman is assaulted. Both victims' shoes are taken by the offender . . .Roy Gra...

THE ENTERTAINING, UPLIFTING STORY OF CELEBRITY TRAITORS STAR CELIA IMRIE'S ACTING LIFE: A MUST-READ FOR AUTUMN 2025Readers LOVE The Happy Hoofer:'Very interesting book from the beginning to the end, witty, funny, entertaining' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Full of pieces that make you giggle out loud . . . hard to put down' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A highly interesting read' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐-------'I've always been wilful... I've always been stubborn and always determined'

The first hilarious volume of comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter Danny Baker's memoir, and now the inspiration for the major BBC series CRADLE TO GRAVE, starring Peter Kay.'And what was our life like in this noisy, dangerous and polluted industrial pock-mark wedged into one of the capital's toughest neighbourhoods? It was, of course, utterly magnificent and I'd give anything to climb inside it again for just one day.'...