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Young Adolf: A Novel
by Beryl BainbridgeParanoid, wilful, lazy, the young Adolf Hitler turns up in Liverpool to stay with his brother Alois and sister-in-law Bridget. Hailed by Alois as a student and an artist, Adolf soon irritates his family beyond measure by his constant sponging and his tendency to get into serious trouble with the English. Surely this is a young man who will never amount to anything.
There Was a Young Zombie Who Swallowed a Worm
by Kaye BaillieEveryone's heard about the old lady who swallowed a fly, but now it’s time to meet a little zombie, who's swallowed . . . a worm. We don't know why he swallowed the worm, it made him squirm. A funny, cumulative rhyming story children will adore. Packed with toads, witches, bats, trolls and a VERY hungry little zombie. Watch Out! Brought to life by Diane Ewen, the bestselling illustrator of Floella Benjamin's critically acclaimed picture book, Coming to England.
In the Night Wood
by Dale BaileyA FOREST. A BOOK. A MISSING GIRL. NOMINATED FOR THE WORLD FANTASY AWARD AND THE SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR – TOR.COM
In the Night Wood
by Dale BaileyA FOREST. A BOOK. A MISSING GIRL. NOMINATED FOR THE WORLD FANTASY AWARD AND THE SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR – TOR.COM
Gothic Nostalgia: The Uses of Toxic Memory in 21st Century Popular Culture (Palgrave Gothic)
by Simon Bacon Katarzyna Bronk-BaconThis book is an original and innovative study of how Gothic nostalgia and toxic memory are used to underpin and promote the ongoing culture wars and populist politics in contemporary popular culture. The essays collected here cover topics from the spectral to the ecological, deep fakes to toxic ableism, Mary Poppins to John Wick to reveal how the use of an imaginary past to shape the present, creates truly Gothic times that we can never escape. These ‘hungry ghosts’ from the past find resonance with the Gothic which speaks equally of a past that often not only haunts the present but will not let it escape its grasp. This collection will look at the confluence between various kinds of toxic nostalgia and popular culture to suggest the ways in which contemporary populism has resurrected ideological monsters from the grave to gorge on the present and any possibility of change that the future might represent.
Contagion and the Vampire: The Vampiric Body as Locus of Disease and Global Epidemics in 21st Century
by Simon BaconThis book examines how the vampire has always been connected to ideas of infection, pollution and disease—even more so in the 21st century where it expresses the horrors of unseen and unstoppable disease and the foreboding and anxiety that accompany viral outbreaks and wider epidemics. Here the vampire gives physical form to the contagion and associated anxieties around the perceived causes and spread of disease, where it can take on many forms from animal to pestilential particulate matter, creeping shadows and even malignant weather systems. If blood is life, it is the body of the vampire that is death. This timely study looks at how and why the vampire continues to fulfil this function and posits that the true patient zero in the 21st century is no longer the dangerous, ancient, outsider from the East but is the undying monster that is Western culture itself.
Female Identity in Contemporary Fictional Purgatorial Worlds
by Simon BaconExamining fictional purgatorial worlds in contemporary literature, film and video games, this book examines the way in which the female characters trapped within them construct identity positions of resistance and change. With the rise of populism, the Alt. Right, and isolationism in world politics in the second decade of the 21st Century, parallel, purgatorial worlds seem to currently proliferate within popular culture across all media, including television shows and films such as The Handmaids Tale, Us, Watchmen, and Margaret Atwood's The Testaments among many others. These texts depict alternate worlds that express the darkness and violence of our own, arguably none more so than for women. Featuring essays from a broad range of international contributors on topics as wide-ranging as mental health in the Silent Hill franchise and liminal spaces in the work of David Mitchell, this book is an original, timely and hope-filled analysis about overcoming the confines of a patriarchal, fundamentalist world where the female imaginative might just be the last, best hope.
Adapting Frankenstein: The monster's eternal lives in popular culture
by Maria Bachman Paul PetersonMary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of the most popular novels in western literature. It has been adapted and re-assembled in countless forms, from Hammer Horror films to young-adult books and bandes dessinées. Beginning with the idea of the ‘Frankenstein Complex’, this edited collection provides a series of creative readings that explore the elaborate intertextual networks that make up the novel’s remarkable afterlife. It broadens the scope of research on Frankenstein while deepening our understanding of a text that, 200 years after its original publication, continues to intrigue and terrify us in new and unexpected ways.
One More Chance: A gripping page-turner set in a women's prison
by Lucy Ayrton'A stunning debut . . . I loved every page' CLARE MACKINTOSH'I loved this book. Its witchy, and sweaty and unputdownable. It takes a traditional thriller structure and turns it on it's head' DAISY JOHNSON'Refreshing, heartbreaking and magical . . . Every mother should read this' CATH WEEKS'A riveting and utterly convincing story, that shines a light on the shadows between right and wrong. A sensitive and thought-provoking into the lives of women' KAREN MILLWARD HARGRAVE'Fascinating. Enlightening. Sobering.' OXFORD TIMES'Hard to believe it's a debut . . . utterly compelling' JENNY BLACKHURST'Fiction that navigates issues not often showcased on the page with care and without judgement is something to savour. One More Chance does just that' SKINNY'Gritty . . . Brutally honest. Emotionally powerful' MY WEEKLY***THE BATTLE ON THE INSIDE IS JUST THE BEGINNINGDani hasn't had an easy life. She's made some bad choices and now she's paying the ultimate price; prison.With her young daughter Bethany, growing up in foster care, Dani is determined to be free and reunited with her. There's only one problem; Dani can't stay out of trouble.Dani's new cellmate Martha is quiet and unassuming. There's something about her that doesn't add up. When Martha offers Dani one last chance at freedom, she doesn't hesitate.Everything she wants is on the outside, but Dani is stuck on the inside. Is it possible to break out when everyone is trying to keep you in . . .***What readers are sayingA brilliant insight into the life of a prisoner told in such a clever and sympathetic way. . . that will have you gripped to the very end.A fantastic read. 5*****The story was . . . refreshingly different from anything l have read before. Well worth reading. A gritty, honest read. Really enjoyed it!Just couldn't put it downA brilliant engrossing story and I can't wait to read more by Lucy AyrtonI loved this book. I loved the plot and the story arc. I loved Danni.
A Vindication of the Redhead: The Typology of Red Hair Throughout the Literary and Visual Arts
by Brenda Ayres Sarah E. MaierA Vindication of the Redhead investigates red hair in literature, art, television, and film throughout Eastern and Western cultures. This study examines red hair as a signifier, perpetuated through stereotypes, myths, legends, and literary and visual representations. Brenda Ayres and Sarah E. Maier provide a history of attitudes held by hegemonic populations toward red-haired individuals, groups, and genders from antiquity to the present. Ayres and Maier explore such diverse topics as Judeo-Christian narratives of red hair, redheads in Pre-Raphaelite paintings, red hair and gender identity, famous literary redheads such as Anne of Green Gables and Pippi Longstocking, contemporary and Neo-Victorian representations of redheads from the Black Widow to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and more. This book illuminates the symbolic significance and related ideologies of red hair constructed in mythic, religious, literary, and visual cultural discourse.
The Lost
by Jonathan AycliffeBritish born Michael Feraru, scion of a long line of Romanian aristocrats, leaves his country of birth and his love, to reclaim his heritage - a Draculian castle deep in the heart of Transylvania. He plans to turn his inheritance into an orphanage in the new post-Ceausescu, post-communist country. There he enlists the help of a young local lawyer, Liliana Popescu, to search for the missing Feraru millions, and battle through the complex maze of old bureaucracy in the scam-rich, newly-born state.Feraru describes his journey into the heart of the Romanian countryside, wasted by years of neglect and caught in a time-warp, as though the twentieth century had never reached it. When he eventually arrives at his inheritance, he finds the castle of the Ferarus, in a sunless valley in the Carpathian Mountains, is home to much more than memories...Aycliffe conjures a feeling of dread that deepens with each unsettling incident.'TIME OUT'Aycliffe has a fine touch.'INDEPENDENT'Should ultimately be ranked among the greats.'INTERZONE'There are echoes of the great ghost writer of them all, Edgar Allan Poe, in the poised and elegant bookishness of the prose.'SCOTSMAN'Sends chills down the spine. Read him and you'll never forget him.'YORKSHIRE GAZETTE
Naomi's Room: Naomis Room
by Jonathan Aycliffe'A chilling story' -- IndependentCharles and Laura live a sheltered, gilded life in the the privileged world of Cambridge academia: young and in love, their marriage is blessed by a wonderful child - Naomi.On Christmas Eve morning, Charles sets off with Naomi on a shopping trip to London. By the end of the day, all Charles and his wife have left are cups of tea and police sympathy... Their beautiful, angelic only child, has disappeared. Days later her murdered body is discovered... but is she dead?
Shadow On The Wall: A Novel (Camden Ser.)
by Jonathan AycliffeIn the countryside of Victorian England, Edward Atherton, rector of Thornham St. Stephen, has taken on the arduous task of restoring the ancient church. But he should never have meddled with the tomb that lay beneath the church's crumbling walls. The moment the workman raised the tomb lid, an unspeakable horror escaped. At a loss to explain the unsettling noises and frightening visions that begin to plague the church, Atherton calls upon fellow antiquarian and Cambridge professor Richard Asquith to help investigate the strange events that began in the wake of the tomb's disturbance.The two discover tantalizing hints of whom and what may have been laid to rest in the tomb, but the unforeseen circumstances force Asquith to give up his inquiries and leave the small village of Thornham behind. Asquith tries to put the frightening experiences behind him and focus on his new wife and family. But death and disappearances abound, and Asquith soon has no choice but to confront the darkness that has followed him from that ancient church into his own home.Praise for Jonathan Aycliffe:'Aycliffe has a fine touch' Independent'Aycliffe conjures up a feeling of dread that deepens with each unsettling incident' Time Out'Naomi's Room must rank among the finest of English ghost stories . . . They certainly don't come more dark or fearsome.' Newcastle Evening Chronicle
The Silence of Ghosts: A Novel
by Jonathan AycliffeWhen the Blitz starts in London, Dominic Lancaster, injured out of service at the battle of Narvik, accompanies his 10 year old sister Octavia to the family house on the shores of Ullswater in the Lake District. Octavia is profoundly deaf but at night she can hear disturbing noises in the house. When questioned by Dominic as to what she can hear, she replies: 'voices'. Two nights later she comes into his bedroom to tell him that the dead children in the house want them to leave.And then Octavia falls mysteriously ill... during her sickness she tells Dominic he must go to the attic. There, he releases an older, darker evil that threatens the lives of Olivia and himself.Praise for Naomi's Roomt:'A chilling story which gives the lie to any notion that supernatural horror is remotely theraputic. Aycliffe has a fine touch.' The Independent.'Naomi's Room must rank among the finest of English ghost stories... They certainly don't come any more dark and fearsome.' Newcastle Evening Chronicle.
The Talisman
by Jonathan AycliffeA statue, unearthed in ancient Babylon during the course of an archaeological dig, is transported to London. Once there, it quickly exerts an evil influence over those with whom it comes into contact; an influence which threatens to spread throughout London and beyond, and which pits the living against the dead in a battle for all mankind . . . Praise for Jonathan Aycliffe:'Aycliffe has a fine touch' Independent'Aycliffe conjures up a feeling of dread that deepens with each unsettling incident' Time Out'Naomi's Room must rank among the finest of English ghost stories . . . They certainly don't come more dark or fearsome.' Newcastle Evening Chronicle
The Vanishment
by Jonathan AycliffePeter and Sarah’s marriage has reached an impasse; their holiday in beautiful Cornwall is chosen to mend old wounds and bandage past pain. The house they go to has space – space for their writing, their painting, and their reconciliation. It has space too for its own memories and its own unforgettable horrors… but they are not to know that.When the locals are less than friendly than they might be and when the house sighs with its secrets, the sands of their marriage shift… and then Sarah vanishes and Peter is left alone. Or is he?Praise for Jonathan Aycliffe:‘Aycliffe has a fine touch’ Independent‘Aycliffe conjures up a feeling of dread that deepens with each unsettling incident’ Time Out‘Naomi’s Room must rank among the finest of English ghost stories… They certainly don’t come more dark or fearsome.’ Newcastle Evening Chronicle
Whispers In The Dark
by Jonathan AycliffeAt the end of the nineteenth century Charlotte Metcalf is a child of good fortune: a prosperous father, a loving mother, a loved brother all cocoon her from the fears of the outside world. But then her father dies… and she is plunged into poverty and the workhouse becomes her miserable home.Yet Charlotte escapes, determined to find her lost brother, and her search brings her to Barras Hall, home of unknown relations where fine clothes, good food and wealth seem to promise her all she desires. But at night the horror begins – of sound and sense, surpassing all earthy terror. And Charlotte finds that daytime comfort comes at a price...and she must fulfil her terrible destiny.Praise for Jonathan Aycliffe:‘Aycliffe has a fine touch’ Independent‘Aycliffe conjures up a feeling of dread that deepens with each unsettling incident’ Time Out‘Naomi’s Room must rank among the finest of English ghost stories… They certainly don’t come more dark or fearsome.’ Newcastle Evening Chronicle
Arcadian's Asylum
by James AxlerThe brutality of post-nuclear America has spawned a dark frontier where the harsh and unforgiving new rules of existence cannot obliterate the decency and determination that drive the true human spirit. It's tested and tormented but never destroyed.
Baptism Of Rage
by James AxlerThe end of the world arrived in a nuclear rush, forging the agonized remains of past and present into a new reality known as Deathlands. Now life is a simple series of rules of survival, where having is better than not having–and anything is worth killing for.
Blood Harvest
by James AxlerThe cataclysm of nuclear winter transmuted the world into a place both torturous and unforgiving. But there are those with the courage and perseverance to seek out something beyond the merciless life-and-death struggle of Deathlands. In a treacherous frontier that plays for keeps, staying alive is the best victory….
Dark Resurrection
by James AxlerPostnuclear America has changed little since the primal leveling of the twenty-first century. Warrior survivalists Ryan Cawdor and his band live by a code that honors the kind of absolute freedom only a raw frontier can provide.
Haven's Blight
by James AxlerThe future rose from the ashes of nuke-scorched America with a vengeance. The unchecked wrath of Deathlands pits Ryan Cawdor and his companions against long odds.
Hell's Maw
by James AxlerHOPE'S BATTLEGROUND Earth's secret history of alien occupation is challenged by a powerful alliance of warriors driven to reclaim humanity's birthright. But when a cruel, vicious ruler spreads a new wave of terror, the Cerberus rebels must fight for their lives.
Infestation Cubed
by James AxlerOn post apocalyptic Earth, humanity fights for survival against alien oppressors. Orchestrating the resistance in an ever-shifting battle, the Cerberus rebels confront a new level of dark manipulation.