SON OF STEVE
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WHITEHAWK
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KLUMBERT’S CHAIR
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VIRTUAL ASSASSIN
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SO SHALL YE REAP
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DOGSEND – THE STORY OF SIMBA
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Sean is a young film-maker from Yorkshire whose fantastically crazy debut novella sits somewhere between prose and poetry, has no characters except for Jesus and Elvis and talks about nothing in particular except for thoughts on pop culture and sex, creating a sense of suspension in time and space.This is a book about bringing us back to something primal, beyond categories and labels. It isn’t surprising Sean is a film-maker: the pages read like scenes, snap shots taken from nowhere special, but which are highly evocative for this very reason. If we could bring literature back to its deepest roots, it would probably look a lot like Son of Steve.
Mel Banff is hired by the shadowy ‘Rationality Unit’ created by the Blair govt to induce people to make rational decisions in their lives so they won’t waste public money. She begins to interact with a family in Brighton (Whitehawk estates) that is made up of strange eccentric pink-kneed Kenneth, his overweight, turkey-necked wife June, a pair of twins one of whom is always wrapped up in a sheet, and a mildly hysterical, precocious teenage girl, Kelly. There’s also Dane, a young hotshot cousin, and a host of other deranged characters. Mel soon gets caught up in the family’s outrageous madness: she hears dog ghosts, finds wedding dresses with tracksuit trimmings, witnesses sex between Dane and (underage) Kelly who are (also incidentally) related. In the end, although Mel tries her best to impose rationality and prevent an incestuous and pedophiliac wedding, she unwittingly becomes part of an extremely bizarre ritual in a narrative twist that challenges all rational explanation…. Not only Mel but members of the family risk death if she doesn’t figure out what to do.
Klumbert’s Chair features lead character Humbert Klumbert, millionaire designer of the first ‘infinitely pileupable’ plastic bucket chair. HK is a weird, solitary obsessive-compulsive whose days follow bizarre, pre-established rituals (such as eating at a different junk food place everyday, then throwing up once the meal is done). The novel is told in first person, is highly evocative of the worlds of Samuel Beckett and David Lynch, and is set in LA during the Rodney King riots. As the book proceeds, Klumbert’s days begin to deviate from the strict order he has maintained so far, and he starts to run into amnesiacs, psychotics and finally the police … as it turns out the young girl he’s been watching at the bus-stop everyday has told them about the ‘strange old man who stares at her and creeps her out’ just before she is found chopped up into pieces in a garbage can…. The story chronicles Klumbert’s increasing collapse as his phantom love-affair with extreme order collides violently with the wild chaos raging in the city (and in his psyche).
Lee Coller is a successful young graphic designer with a strong political conscience. He is sickened with the politics of the Iraq war and by the no-regrets position of Tony Blair, but feels impotent. His boss happens to be a millionaire friend of Blair’s and has successfully created an online company: anything@all.com in which Lee manages to work in exchange for a good salary with which he rents a nice flat and leads a comfortable lifestyle. One night when he and his colleagues are out in a bar, he hears that Tony Blair might be visiting to the company soon in an official capacity. Immediately, an obsession takes hold in Lee’s mind about what he could say or do to the PM during that visit. As the obsession builds, fuelled by sleepless nights, drugs and alcohol, Lee unexpectedly meets and falls in love with Rosa, an attractive Spanish temp at his office. He also realizes how much he stands to lose now if he goes through with his unavowable plan: to assault the PM using a sharp, knifelike letter-opener he has in his desk. He is prepared to lose everything for the sake of his beliefs, but as the day approaches an unexpected twist occurs. Is it Blair who’s visiting after all? And if it is, will Lee be able to do what he’s planned? Scenes of him in a prison cell make us believe he does. But can one act of pointless violence make up for another? Does it? Should it? This page-turner helps us find out…
This is a chilling story about Dave, an increasingly violent pedophile truckdriver (with violent antecedents of childhood rape) and Jessica Balans, a successful partner in an accounting firm. Both Dave and Jessica begin their journeys in England, but find themselves en route to France and an unexpected destiny…. Jessica who has fallen passionately in love with the suave James McGhinty wants to leave her husband and children. Dave who at first is dimly aware of his taste for child pornography, realizes he can no longer ignore his violent urges. The two stories intersect in France where Jessica’s family is vacationing and the trucker has enacted his worst fantasy. Winding through a network of minor characters who come alive with Mat’s intimate, highly visual style, the story reaches a shocking climax where it seems as if the only man able to take care of Jessica’s under-age daughter is her uncle Dave… the pedophile.
Simba is a Labrador puppy that Gauri buys for her husband Chait, a man of few words but a quiet dedication to his wife, his family, his rugby pals, his personal space and above all, his dogs. Having grown up with pets, Chait wants a dog so Gauri finally relents, learning to make room for Simba who has a clear preference for Chait over her. As the months and years go by, Simba nuzzles his soft furry way into her heart, even as he insists on sharing the bed with his ‘parents,’ pokes a pregnant Gauri in the eye, never obeys anyone but Chait, and shows a rather perilous affection for violent strays. When Gauri and Chait realize they are expecting a baby, Gauri’s concern becomes, will Simba be jealous of the little girl or will he show her the love he shows everyone so naturally? A harrowing skirmish with death later, Gauri and Chait discover that no concerns (this or any other) can ever come in the way of their lasting love for Simba. A wonderful story of life and love in Mumbai, of friendships built around pets, of moving visits with pet psychics, of family ties, a narrative that creates a profound and genuinely enlivening picture of life as it is actually lived in India: heartfelt, passionate, warm and deeply human.
UGLY DUCKLINGISBN 978-0-9558078-1-7
Naive young Indian-American Mia Makarand is in Paris trying to start a career in translation and interpretation. But finding work is hard and she’s feeling lonely and isolated. Worse yet, her dream of becoming a writer looks like it’s dead in the water. But Mia is tougher than she thinks. And her sharp eye and caustic wit are helping her to see that success and happiness are important, but nowhere near as valuable as self-respect and that little thing called dignity. Price: £12.99. See below for P&P costs.
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THE ARMAGEDDON MANDALAISBN 978-0-9558078-0-0
Self-declared private eye Allen Ginsberg is a pleasure-loving slacker with nothing resembling drive or ambition. But that’s about to change. There’s a stranger in town, a clownish and vaguely sinister Indian named Gyani, with a tantalizing PI gig on offer. The gig is just what the doctor ordered, except it isn’t. Ginsberg soon finds himself trapped in a vortex of bizarre rituals and life-threatening ordeals that defy explanation. When all is finally revealed, Ginsberg must accept his new identity and prevent a planetary holocaust with the help of his cat Little Boy, a carrier pigeon named Kierkegaard and a wrasslin alligator named Deklus Potreem. Price: £12.99. See below for P&P costs. |
CLUB STUDISBN 978-0-9558078-3-1
He’s young, he’s gorgeous, he’s working in a perfect holiday club with all the perfect women he could want. But is Club Perfect for perfect suckers like him? Or is it for perfect vacationers cynically resigned to buying happiness? And what is happiness anyway? A sweet idealistic young man discovers it might not necessarily be found at the other end of a perfect credit card transaction. A story about sun, sea, sex and sand. And an innocent club stud who wants it all. Price: £6.99. See below for P&P costs. |
CHILD’S PLAYISBN 978-0-9558078-5-5
From young Muslim authoress, Kia Abdullah, comes a sharp and edgy thriller of daring provocativeness. Her protagonist, Allegra Ashe, becomes entangled in a strange, covert organization that tests the limits of morality and legality in trying to catch society’s worst offenders: paedophiles. But can a policy of ‘ends justify the means’ really be used to bring about justice? A tale of twisted sexuality, tortured morality and an unpleasant blurring of crime and law that asks the question with chilling precision. Price: £7.99. See below for P&P costs. |
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THE REVENGE INK ANTHOLOGY OF REAL INDIAN WRITING(FOR SALE IN INDIA ONLY) ISBN 978-0-9558078-4-8
Indian writing has been tragically typecast for years. In 2008, Revenge Ink set out to prove that REAL Indians were writing REAL contemporary stories which were as modern and diverse as the writers themselves. This anthology is proof of that. Writers from all of India’s cities and backgrounds wrote in to a competition held by Revenge Ink in 2008. This book is its outcome. |
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POSTAGE & PACKING
Packing and postage is calculated according to the weight of the book and where you live. Our charges are as follows:
For Ugly Duckling and The Armageddon Mandala
UK 2nd Class – £3.00
UK First Class – £3.50
EU Airmail – £5.00
Rest of World Airmail – £9.50
For Club Stud and Child’s Play
UK 2nd Class – £2.50
UK First class – £3.00
EU Airmail – £4.00
Rest of World Airmail - £7.00
Our charges for the other titles listed above are as follows:
UK 2nd Class – £2.50
UK First class – £3.00
EU Airmail – £4.00
Rest of World Airmail – £7.00
Please remember some books aren’t out yet, so you’ll have to wait for a wee while to receive them!
Click here to read about our new titles for 2010.