Satirical fiction and parodies
Gwasg Carreg Gwalch Bloody Eisteddfod
Book SynopsisA light-hearted satirical novel set at the National Eisteddfod Maes at Meifod.
£11.06
Imprint Academic The Orchard
Book SynopsisWritten in the form of a novel, this work offers a satirical critique of modern life. The art scene is where it all begins but Tony Veale''s story soon reaches out to embrace the madness of media, politics and celebrity-inspired hysteria. The book chronicles the rise and fall of Matt Flight, an idealistic young artist who believes he can change the world. With a cast of characters like a page from the Theatre of the Absurd, The Orchard rattles along at an unremitting pace. Here you may read of the pitifully washed-out nostalgist Cyril Pout; the camp and outrageous couturier Willie Fitz; the sex-crazed janitor Gittins; the devious art-market-fixers Bernie Feltz and Sylvester Rich; the singing Police Chief Buller and his agony-aunt friend Dame Bridget Bradstock; the American tycoon Hiram Grouper and his English butler Sir Harvey Haugh. Only Matt''s girlfriend Holly Tree is with him for more than the ride. Knowing and worldly-wise, she believes she can steer him through the madness he has unleashed.
£12.79
Alma Books Ltd The Mudfog Papers: Annotated Edition
Book SynopsisThe Mudfog Papers, a collection of sketches by Dickens published in Bentley’s Miscellany between 1837 and 1838, describes the local politics of the fictional town of Mudfog – such as the delusions of grandeur of its mayor Nicholas Tulrumble and his disastrous attempts at putting on a public show – and the meetings of its Society for the Advancement of Everything, during which the town is overrun by illustrious scientists and professors conducting ostensibly pointless research. Written at the same time as Oliver Twist – indeed the serialized version of the novel referred to Mudfog as the protagonist’s home town – The Mudfog Papers lampoons all manner of journalistic and scientific writing of the time and showcases the young Dickens at his satirical best.Trade ReviewThe power of [Dickens] is so amazing that the reader at once becomes his captive. -- William Makepeace Thackeray
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd Black Snow
Book SynopsisAfter being saved from a suicide attempt by the appearance of a literary editor, the journalist and failed novelist Sergei Maxudov has a book suddenly accepted for stage adaptation at a prestigious venue and finds himself propelled into Moscow's theatrical world. In a cut-throat environment tainted by Soviet politics, censorship and egomania - epitomized by the arrogant and tyrannical director Ivan Vasilyevich - mayhem gradually gives way to absurdity. Unpublished in Bulgakov's own lifetime, Black Snow is peppered with darkly comic set pieces and draws on its author's own bitter experience as a playwright with the Moscow Arts Theatre, showcasing his inimitable gift for shrewd observation and razor-sharp satire.Trade ReviewCockrell's light touch often lifts the text on to a playful plane. * Russia Beyond the Headlines * High quality, attractively produced and moderately priced. * East-West Review *
£8.54
Alma Books Ltd The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,
Book SynopsisPurporting to be an autobiography of the antihero Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne's novel is a comic masterpiece of digression, egoism and sensationalism, as its hilarious asides, explanations and host of memorable secondary characters - such as Uncle Toby, Dr Slop, Parson Yorick and Widow Wadman - take centre stage, at the expense of the actual life events the book sets out to depict. A humorous compendium of European thought and literature - pastiching the likes of Locke and Bacon and referencing Pope, Swift, Cervantes and Rabelais - emerges amid the convoluted accounts of Tristram's conception, misnaming and accidental circumcision by a sash window, in a shrewd narrative that examines the role and nature of language itself.Trade ReviewSterne was the greatest impressionist of his time. -- Joseph Conrad
£6.93
Alma Books Ltd Hard Times: Annotated Edition (Alma Classics
Book SynopsisIn Hard Times, Dickens illustrates the condition of England through the fictional city of Coketown. Among its inhabitants are Thomas Gradgrind, the utilitarian headmaster who attempts to impose his rigid worldview on his family circle, and the uncaring businessman Mr Bounderby. Their materialist philosophies, as opposed to the world of fancy or imagination, are tested throughout the novel, which also explores workers’ conditions, trade unions and the spurious use of statistics. Perhaps the most polemical of his novels – in which hard-biting satire, moving drama and exuberant comedy find a very succinct and powerful expression – Hard Times is the ideal introduction to the world of Dickens.Trade ReviewHe belongs to that brilliant school of English novelists whose finely sketched and eloquent portrayal of the world have revealed more political and social truths than all the professional politicians, journalists and moralists put together. -- Karl Marx
£8.20
Alma Books Ltd Sketches of Young Ladies, Young Gentlemen and
Book SynopsisWhen the publishers of the Pickwick Papers, Chapman & Hall, brought out the anonymous ‘Sketches of Young Ladies’ in 1837, their resounding success prompted the twenty-six-year old Dickens to write, the following year, a companion piece, the ‘Sketches of Young Gentlemen’, followed two years later – to coincide with the engagement of Princess Victoria and Prince Albert – by the ‘Sketches of Young Couples’. First published in a single volume in 1843, and including the iconic original engravings by Phiz, these satirical portraits not only reveal the dazzling brilliance of young Dickens’s genius, but also offer a humorous glimpse into Victorian mores and attitudes.
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd Devils
Book SynopsisAs ideological ferment grips Russia, a small group of revolutionaries, led by Pyotr Verkhovensky and inspired by Nikolai Stavrogin, plan to spread destruction and anarchy throughout the country. Morally bankrupt, they are prepared to use whatever means necessary to achieve their goal, including murder and incitement to suicide. But when they are forced to test the limits of their doctrine and kill one of their own to secure the secrecy of their mission, the ragtag group breaks up in mutual recrimination.Devils is at once a compelling political statement and a study of atheism and its calamitous effect on a country that is teetering on the edge of an abyss. Seen as Dostoevsky's most powerful indictment of man's propensity to violence, this darkly humorous work, shot through with grotesque comedy, is presented here in Roger Cockrell's masterful new translation.Trade Review"It is a merciless expose of certain aspects of the Russian revolutionary movements of the mid-19th century, and of the various kinds of revolutionary and terrorist psychology." - Dr Rowan Williams
£9.49
Alma Books Ltd Directions to Servants
Book SynopsisA tongue-in-cheek manual on how servants should cope with the demands of their masters and perform their tasks in ways that will best satisfy their indolence, wastefulness and greed, Directions to Servants takes a caustic and irreverent look at master-servant relations. Written towards the end of his writing career and published posthumously, this pamphlet shows Swift – who was himself known to be strict but fair to his own servants, as illustrated in the Appendix to this volume – at his witty and mischievous best.Trade ReviewA central document in the long, comic and sly history of Irish disrespect. -- Colm Tóibín
£9.93
Alma Books Ltd Babbitt
Book SynopsisIn the Midwestern city of Zenith, the middle-aged estate agent George F. Babbitt appears to have achieved the American dream to its fullest: he is successful at work, comfortably off, exceedingly well fed, has a wife and children, a motor car and a neat house with a neat yard, and is a proud member of all the right clubs - in short, he lacks nothing to be happy. Or does he? As we follow his humdrum daily routine and startling events begin to unfold around him, we discover that all is not well in Babbitt's world: his moral foundations are shaking, and he can't help harbouring rebellious dreams of escape and romance. A trenchant satire on consumeristic society and an indictment of the fatuous ideals of middle America in the Roaring Twenties, Babbitt - the crowning achievement of Sinclair Lewis, winner of the 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature - questions the attractions of materialistic fulfilment, at the same time laying bare the hollowness of social respectability and blind conformism.
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd The Voyage Out
Book SynopsisHelen and Ridley Ambrose are preparing to set off for an exotic resort off the coast of South America on the Euphrosyne, a ship belonging to Helen’s brother-in-law Willoughby Vinrace. Travelling with them is his daughter Rachel – a quiet, unremarkable girl raised in the London suburbs by her spinster aunts after the death of her mother. Along the way other people come aboard, such as the upper-class Clarissa and Richard Dalloway. As Rachel interacts with the passengers, intrigued by their different personalities, it becomes clear that what started for her as a mere sea voyage is turning into a journey of self-discovery and a rite of passage that will change her for ever. Published in 1915 after a long period of gestation and several drafts, The Voyage Out marks Virginia Woolf’s debut as a novelist. Perhaps the most accessible of her major works, it is essential both for understanding the early development of her style and for the light it sheds on her own biography and artistic vision.
£8.54
Alma Books Ltd Main Street: Fully annotated edition with over
Book SynopsisYoung college graduate Carol Kennicott moves from a big city to Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, the small town from which her new husband hails. Imbued with ideals of urban improvement, she dreams of redesigning her adopted village, but her efforts are thwarted by the narrow-mindedness, pettiness and conventionality of the locals, who conspire against her and deride all her endeavours. An enormous commercial and critical success on its first publication in 1920, Main Street – regarded by many as Sinclair Lewis’s best novel – delivers a scathing satire on the American dream, and is invaluable as a document of pre-Prohibition Middle America.Trade ReviewA novel, yes, but so unusual as not to fall easily into a class. There is practically no plot, yet the book is absorbing. It is so much like life itself, so extraordinarily real ~ 1920's review of Main Street by the New York Times.
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants
Book SynopsisPresented in a new translation by Roger Cockrell, The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants was originally conceived as a play and first published in 1859, shortly after the author's release from forced military service. Gogolian in style and tone, and waspish in its description of the villainous Opiskin, it is a sustained exercise in caricatural cruelty and a comedic tour de force. The young Sergei is summoned from St Petersburg by his uncle, the retired colonel Yegor Rostanev, to the remote country estate of Stepanchikovo. Rostanev's household, populated by a medley of remarkable characters, is dominated by the figure of Foma Opiskin, a devious, manipulative hanger-on who has everyone in thrall and plots to marry the colonel to the woman of his choice, Tatyana Ivanova. When Opiskin finds that his plans are being thwarted, a confrontation with Rostanev ensues, and all hell is let loose.
£8.54
New Island Books The Late Night Writers Club: A Graphic Novel by
Book SynopsisIn rich and abundant illustrations, Annie West tells a rowdy story of artistic struggle, ego and unexpected kindness. You will never look at the Irish Literary Canon in the same way again.
£17.99
Everyman Catch 22
Book SynopsisA burlesque epic in the tradition of THE GOOD SOLDIER SCHWEIK, CATCH-22 exposes the absurdity of war by applying its own demented logic to America's involvement in Korea. The 'catch' is that soldiers have to claim to be mad in order to get out of fighting - but being capable of making such a claim automatically proves them sane. With a cast of magnificently larger-than-life characters who are rushed along at a breathless pace, for once this really is a novel it's hard to put down. CATCH-22 was made into a film.
£14.39
Bridge Works Publishing Co ,U.S. The Trouble with Mental Wellness: A Novel
Book SynopsisWith a nod to Kurt Vonnegut's audacious sense of humor, the author demonstrates the humanity of his odd-ball characters. His portrayal of a city neighborhood in transition also gives the story a distinctive sense of place.
£17.09
Pighog A Man Against a Background of Flames
Book SynopsisIdeas are dangerous . . . James Appleby’s career as a social historian is drifting into mediocrity until the phone call that changes his life forever. Appleby uncovers a dangerous secret hidden deep in a chest of 400-year-old documents. To his horror, its discovery ignites a global firestorm that threatens to engulf all that he loves. Expertise in Elizabethan country life wasn’t supposed to be controversial. But when Appleby and his Dutch colleague Van Stumpe find evidence about the suppression of a heretical cult, they arouse the ire not just of Machiavellian academics, but a worldwide swathe of religious fundamentalists. As the discoveries inspire thousands of followers, their enemies begin a murderous hunt from Amsterdam, to Washington, New York, and all over England. And Appleby discovers just how dangerous ideas can be . . .
£13.49
Pan Macmillan Mansfield Park
Book SynopsisWith psychological insight and sparkling wit, Jane Austen paints an irresistibly lifelike portrait of shifting values and split loyalties in Mansfield Park.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. Gorgeously illustrated by the celebrated Hugh Thomson, this edition also includes an afterword by historian and author Nigel Cliff.Aged ten, Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthier relations, the Bertrams, at Mansfield Park. However, life there is not as she imagined. Treated with disdain by three of her cousins, she finds her only comfort in the kindness of the fourth, Edmund. As they grow, their friendship develops into romantic love - until the arrival of Henry Crawford and his charming sister Mary causes an emotional upheaval that no one in the family expects.Trade ReviewI can’t leave Mansfield Park alone. When driving or washing dishes or folding laundry, I turn on an audio version and listen, and I keep the little speckled copy of the text near me at all times. -- Anna Keesey * LA Review of Books *Mansfield Park highlights, as no other Austen novel does, the role that class and class privilege play in determining the popular qualities for a heroine’s charm and wit. -- Tara Isabella Burton * The Paris Review *
£10.44
Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd Radio Sunrise
Book SynopsisWinner of the McKitterick Prize 2018."Never cover an assignment without collecting a brown envelope," Boniface had said. "It is a real life saver for all journalists in this country."Ifiok, a young journalist working for the government radio station in Lagos, Nigeria, always aspires to do the right thing, but the odds seem to be stacked against him. Government pressures cause the funding to his radio drama to get cut off, his girlfriend leaves him when she discovers he is having an affair with an intern, and kidnappings and militancy are on the rise in the country. When Ifiok travels to his hometown to do a documentary on some ex-militants' apparent redemption, a tragi-comic series of events will make him realise he is unable to swim against the tide of corruption.Building on the legacy of the great African satirist tradition of Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Ayi Kwei Armah, Radio Sunrise paints a sharp-tongued portrait of (post) post-colonial Nigeria.Trade ReviewIsong is a rare talent indeed. * SJ Bradley *Isong weaves a profoundly personal story of contemporary Nigeria even while dealing with broader societal and cultural issues. * Chika Unigwe, Man Booker International 2017 judge *Anietie Isong is a keen observer of his society, with an exceptional gift of narration. * Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukraine *
£8.99
Aesop Publications Private Schulz
£22.99
Vintage Publishing Grandville Force Majeure
Book SynopsisIn the middle of a gang war, wanted for murder, truly alone and outside the law, Detective Inspector LeBrock is on the run from both the police and gangster assassins, the victim of a diabolical scheme to annihilate himself and everyone he holds dear, engineered by mastermind crime lord Tiberius Koenig, one of the most despicable villains in the history of detective fiction.A fiendishly ingenious story of love, tenacity, treachery and tragedy, this fifth, final and longest stand-alone volume of the Eisner and Hugo Award-nominated Grandville series by master storyteller and graphic novel pioneer Bryan Talbot is a veritable rollercoaster of a detective thriller, featuring Grandville’s trademark high-octane excitement, humour and deduction on a Holmesian scale as we finally meet LeBrock’s mentor, Stamford Hawksmoor, and discover LeBrock’s untold backstory. Fan-favourite characters Detective Sergeant Roderick Ratzi and LeBrock’s vivacious fiancée, Parisian prostitute Billie are joined by a new badger in town! Enter Tasso, an Italian badger who’s bigger, meaner and uglier than LeBrock – but is he a force for good or evil? A battle royale ensues as LeBrock fights against truly outrageous odds. How can he possibly survive?Prepare to be royally badgered!Trade ReviewI have greatly enjoyed the Grandville books. I think they’re superbly designed, beautifully conceived, admirably written – everything about them is terrific. They really show what the form can do. A graphic novel built on the solid foundation of a strong story. -- Philip PullmanThe latest and last in the sequence Grandville Force Majeure is an epic of anthropomorphised sex and violence featuring a huge cast of badgers (including our hero Detective Inspector LeBrock), lizards, rats and even a Dalmation. It’s a heady mix of Holmesian ratiocination and SF steampunk technology straight out of a Jules Verne novel, lashed to a story that takes in gang violence, freemasons and secret identities. And it’s so slick. Talbot’s great facility as a comic artist gives his narrative extra oomph. The result is fast-moving and hugely entertaining. -- Teddy Jamieson * Herald Scotland *Exceeds the standards… Of all in its league. * Blouin Artinfo *
£17.09
Camphor Press Ltd Party Members
Book Synopsis
£14.14
Luath Press Ltd Naw First Minister
Book Synopsis'Years have passed since the Scottish Independence Referendum was held and the political landscape has changed. Big Nellie Nellis has been voted First Minister, and things are about to get interesting as all the political parties are given the benefit of her very unparliamentary sound bites!'Trade Review.Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgements 6 Preface 7 Scottish Parliament Characters in Naw First Minister 8 Introduction 11 Chapter 1 In the Beginning was the Word 17 Chapter 2 Big Nellie’s Inaugural Speech as First Minister 37 Chapter 3 Squeaky Bum Time! 43 Chapter 4 Go Ahead, Make My Day! 69 Chapter 5 The Investigation 81Chapter 6 On Desert Island Discs 91 Chapter 7 A Working Majority 115 Chapter 8 Dirty Pool 129 Chapter 9 Love and the Royals 139 Chapter 10 Intrigue 149Chapter 11 Exposed! 157 Chapter 12 Hold the Front Page! 173 BBC News Bulletin 179Chapter 13 How the Scottish Parliament Actually Operates 181 Further Big Nellie ‘Whollyrude’ observations 187
£7.59
Scotland Street Press Fox
Book SynopsisA virulent disease carried by foxes is spreading across Europe. In London an urgent cull is underway, spearheaded by Frank Smith, the young master of the Hyde Park Hunt. But for Britain's paranoid Prime Minister, fox flu is a chance to foist the ultimate in surveillance technology on an unsuspecting population: the Mulberry Tree system, secretly bought from the Chinese. When biochemist Christophe Hardy discovers the conspiracy, he finds himself caught up in a chase which starts in Beijing and ends in Northumbria involving animal rights activists, a beautiful female missionary, high-society Chinese assassins, and the world most innovative catering venture, the Pu Dong Pudding Company.
£9.49
Atlantic Books Sarong Party Girls
Book SynopsisJust before her twenty-seventh birthday, Jazzy hatches a plan. Before the year is out, she and her best girlfriends will all have spectacular weddings to rich ang moh - Western expat - husbands, with Chanel babies to follow. As Jazzy - razor-sharp and vulgar, yet vulnerable - fervently pursues her quest to find a white husband, the contentious gender politics and class tensions thrumming beneath the shiny exterior of Singapore's glamorous nightclubs are revealed. Desperate to move up in Asia's financial and international capital, will Jazzy and her friends succeed?Vividly told in Singlish - colourful Singaporean English with its distinctive cadence and slang - Sarong Party Girls brilliantly captures the unique voice of a young, striving woman caught between worlds. With remarkable vibrancy and empathy, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan brings not only Jazzy, but her city of Singapore, to dazzling, dizzying life.Trade Review[A] powerful, occasionally astonishing story about materialism, status and manipulation...fascinating. * Daily Mail *Delectably vulgar, it perfectly captures Jazzy's world and is joyous to read . . . The book's brilliance lies in its reflection of the racism, sexism and classism in Jazzy's society, and her growing awareness and ability to handle it...Lu-Lien Tan has done a fantastic job of bringing Jazzy to life and of balancing the juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary values in Singapore. An absolute summer must-read. * The Skinny *a subversive critique of Singapore's gender and racial hierarchy * gal-dem *[A] very funny, irreverent, sharp-eyed debut . . . Jazzy's voice is the heart and soul of the book: tart, spirited, brazen, naïve, knowing. * Slate *Utterly irresistible....I fell in love with Jazzy's fresh, exuberant voice and trenchant wit. In her debut novel, Tan is saying something profound and insightful about the place of women in our globalized, capitalized, interconnected world. -- Ruth OzekiIn Singapore, this satirical novel of predatory beauties would be regarded as deeply subversive - for the rest of us, and anyone familiar with life in that little island city-state, it is hilarious and original. -- Paul TherouxScarlett O'Hara would have met her match in Jazeline Lim, the brazen, striving, yet ultimately vulnerable heroine of this bold debut novel. -- Julia Glass, National Book Award-winning author of THREE JUNESDarkly funny, Sarong Party Girls is one very determined woman's journey through modern Singapore, an intoxicating crossroads of culture, money and ambition. Her voice is utterly new and engaging, bringing her world to vivid life from the first sentence. -- Ayelet Waldman
£9.49
ERIS A Modest Proposal
Book Synopsis
£7.01
Handheld Press The Voluble Topsy: 1928-1947
Book SynopsisIn the late 1920s Topsy is a girl about town, a society deb, a dashing flapper. She writes breathless, exuberant letters to her best friend Trix about her life, her parties, her intrigues, and the men in her life. One particular man draws her into politics, and to Topsy’s amazement, she is elected as a member of Parliament.Table of ContentsIntroduction, by Kate Macdonald The Trials of Topsy 1 A Brush with the Highbrows 2 The Simple Life 3 Nature 4 Don Juan 5 Good Works 6 Hymen 7 Literature 8 Reducing 9 Going to the Dogs 10 Ideals 11 The Origin of Nieces 12 The Superfluous Baronet 13 The Noble Animal 14 The Fresh Mind 15 A Run with the Yaffle 16 Case for the Defence 17 Good Women and True 18 Charity 19 A Real Christmas 20 The Ephemeral Triangle 21 Engaged 22 The Untrained Nurse 23 Politics 24 Scandal at Burbleton 25 End of Act One Topsy, MP 1 Becomes a Member 2 Goes Shooting 3 Flies Half the Atlantic 4 At the Prunery 5 Makes a Film 6 Goes Hunting 7 Passes Poxton 8 Is All for Al 9 Takes her Seat 10 Hauls Down the Gold Standard 11 Has Words with the Whips 12 Knows Too Much 13 Wins Bread 14 Behaves Badly 15 Plays Golf with Nancy 16 Solves Everything 17 Converts a Whip 18 Is Unlucky 19 Converts the Councillor 20 Starts a Salon 21 Trouble in the Home 22 Asks Questions 23 Loses the Whip 24 Trouble in the House 25 Does Needlework 26 Becomes a Mother Topsy Turvy 1 Peace! 2 Consolations 3 The Suffrage Episode 4 The Moon Party 5 Frustration 6 Iodine Dale 7 Saving at the Races 8 The Danes 9 Force 5 10 The New House 11 The Prime Meridian 12 Good Resolutions 13 Heroic Act 14 Timothy Brine 15 The Dogs 16 Jack and Jill 17 Keeping Fit 18 The Canaanites 19 Stiff Lips 20 Movements 21 Ulcerous World 22 Haddock in Trouble 23 The Speech Sweep 24 The Dogs Again 25 Radiant Day
£13.99
Sandstone Press Ltd The Zoo
Book Synopsis‘Of course it’s a bloody lie. It’s an advertising campaign.’ James Marlowe has a gift for selling people things they don’t need. As he strives to meet the demands of rival colleagues, amoral clients and his young family, James has to raise his game. A cocktail of cocaine and alcohol fuels his ambition, but when body and mind can’t take any more, he plunges into a surreal world darker than the one he’s fallen from. ‘Grippingly dark and ultimately moving.’ Alison Moore ‘A little Mad Men and a lot American Psycho.’ The SkinnyTrade Review ‘The Zoo intrigued me from the very first page. Jamie Mollart’s debut novel is a grippingly dark and ultimately moving story about exploitation, destruction and the possibility of redemption.’‘This was a book I read quickly and avidly.’ * New Books Magazine *‘The Zoo is dark and relentless in its bleak portrayal of modern day consumerism and the effects we all ignore.’ * We Love This Book *‘The journey may be somewhat exhausting, but it feels worthwhile, and we don’t lose hope that there will be a happy ending to this human and psychological thriller.’ * Book Oxygen *‘One of those rare books that you have to read a second time the moment you reach the end – no small feat for a debut novel. This could well be the next Bret Easton Ellis.’ * Staff recommendation, Waterstones Leicester *‘A little Mad Men and a lot American Psycho.’ * The Skinny *
£9.49
Watkins Media Limited Swan Songs
Book Synopsis"Unfortunately making the greatest rap album of all time was to be put on hold as the insidious Job Centre advisors had finally had enough of my shit. I would be forced to sign up to one of the town's two recruitment agencies, or I would be starved of weed money." Leonard Swanson lives in an obscure north-western town — the kind that "has a knack for swallowing you whole". He is supposed to be making the greatest rap album of all time, Swan Songs, but instead is forced to work in one of the town's factories, "picking things up and putting them down for twelve hours in a giant white room". Swan Songs follows Leonard as he works, quits, signs on, and travels the country, playing in small capacity venues for even smaller capacity audiences, for which he gets "paid in booze, drugs and a night on a bed bug-ridden mattress somebody dragged in from the street", all the while making the album he thinks will change hip-hop forever. Part Alan Sillitoe and part William Burroughs, UK rapper Lee Scott's debut novel, partially based on his own experiences of becoming a rapper in Runcorn, is an experimental and humorous modern satire about the perils of being a hip-hop visionary far from the beaten track...
£10.44
Gallic Books She's A Killer
Book Synopsis'Satire at its best' ELEANOR CATTON'Outrageous, comic, disturbingly timely' THE GUARDIANBold, darkly funny and brilliantly bizarre, She’s a Killer is the story of what happens when a stubborn slacker is forced to confront a very weird world.Thirty-something Alice has an IQ of 159 (almost a genius) and lives at home with her mother, with whom she communicates only by Morse code. Meanwhile, the climate is in crisis. Wealthy immigrants are flocking to New Zealand for shelter, stealing land, driving up food prices and taking over. When Alice meets attractive wealthugee Pablo, she thinks she has found a way out of her dull existence. But then in walks his teenage daughter, Erika, an actual genius with impeccable eye makeup, and Alice finds herself drawn into action of the most radical – and dangerous – kind. Just what is a slacker to do?Trade Review'A wild ride . . . made me think about similarities between NZ and Ireland as we face climate change, housing crises and the righteous anger of the young' Sarah Moss, Best Books of 2023, Irish Times'Savagely funny . . . An outrageous, comic, disturbingly timely novel' The Guardian'Funny, thought-provoking, bold and unusual . . . McDougall’s humour, pointed social observations and shocking plot twists combine with moving insights on self-knowledge, family and friendship' The Independent'Satirical thrills' New Scientist, Best New Science Fiction Books of October ‘Darkly funny, scarily prescient’ Red Magazine, 10 Best Books of October'Alarmingly prescient . . . tightly-written . . . [She's a Killer] comes into its own as the pace of the action increases, and makes for a propelling finale' The Telegraph'Savagely witty and oddly moving, this is a dark and timely satire to savour' Editor's Choice, The Bookseller'Kirsten McDougall’s brisk speculative novel takes a clifi premise and moulds it into a bizarre and bracing thought experiment, twisting the psychology of disempowerment into fast-paced action' Sydney Morning Herald'Smart, assured, and extremely funny, She's A Killer is a marvellously eccentric book that both skews and skewers the anxieties of our age . . . This is satire at its best' Eleanor Catton, Booker Prize Winner, author of Birnam Wood'A fabulously dark pleasure, delivered in prose of singing tautness' Luke Jennings, author of Killing Eve'McDougall’s dystopian future is no distant vision: it’s disturbingly familiar, urgently relevant. Narrator Alice is a brilliant creation – complex, prickly, often hilarious – and I was utterly in her thrall as she swept me along to the book’s astonishing finale. Unputdownable' Catherine Chidgey, author of Remote Sympathy 'Darkly funny, utterly terrifying . . . A powerful, pre-apocalyptic book that’s an inspired scream at our fingers-in-ears approach to the climate crisis. I couldn’t stop thinking about it’ Fran Littlewood, author of Amazing Grace Adams ‘Deeply weird, compulsively readable, and a relevant allegory of a very possible future. I loved it’ Julie Mae Cohen, author of Bad Men'Original, unputdownable, darkly funny . . . I don't think I'll ever forget it' Becky Hunter, author of One Moment 'Pitch black, wildly compelling, enormous fun' Heather Parry, author of Orpheus Builds a Girl'A gem . . . there is a surprise on every page, as Alice’s behavior is never routine, and Simp is a wild card. Not quite a misanthrope, not quite a sociopath, Alice is compelling, hilarious, and dangerous all at once' Booklist (Starred Review)'Quirky, utterly original, and also very funny' Meath Chronicle‘A thumping good story’ New Zealand Herald‘Damn funny . . . a dextrous and talented writer who has really hit her stride’ STUFF Magazine'Brilliant' Greg Fleming, NZ Listener‘Lively, engaging and often hilarious . . . McDougall has created a world that slips easily between the entirely recognisable and the slightly strange’ Academy of New Zealand Literature‘Equipped with an exhilaratingly badly-behaved protagonist, She’s a Killer builds from a slice of very strange life into a thriller by way of a succession of stunning comic set pieces. You’ll laugh – a lot. And then you’ll cry and be really surprised about it since you were laughing so much’ Elizabeth Knox, author of The Absolute Book‘The novel’s sense of humour – it’s full of sharp one-liners and witty writing – doesn’t detract from the seriousness of the subject underpinning the narrative, making She’s a Killer a great read for those who like a bit of edge to their literary fiction’ Books & Publishing
£16.14
Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd Radio Sunrise
Book SynopsisWinner of the McKitterick Prize 2018."Never cover an assignment without collecting a brown envelope," Boniface had said. "It is a real life saver for all journalists in this country."Ifiok, a young journalist working for the government radio station in Lagos, Nigeria, always aspires to do the right thing, but the odds seem to be stacked against him. Government pressures cause the funding to his radio drama to get cut off, his girlfriend leaves him when she discovers he is having an affair with an intern, and kidnappings and militancy are on the rise in the country. When Ifiok travels to his hometown to do a documentary on some ex-militants' apparent redemption, a tragi-comic series of events will make him realise he is unable to swim against the tide of corruption.Building on the legacy of the great African satirist tradition of Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Ayi Kwei Armah, Radio Sunrise paints a sharp-tongued portrait of (post) post-colonial Nigeria.Trade ReviewIsong is a rare talent indeed. * SJ Bradley *Isong weaves a profoundly personal story of contemporary Nigeria even while dealing with broader societal and cultural issues. * Chika Unigwe, Man Booker International 2017 judge *Anietie Isong is a keen observer of his society, with an exceptional gift of narration. * Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukraine *
£10.44
Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd Glass
Book SynopsisA writer in self-imposed exile in London receives a call from the Prime Minister of his former country, inviting him to return to write the Prime Minister's biography. As he embarks from his small flat in west London to the modern Caribbean island he once called home, he immediately finds himself thrust into a world of exceptional wealth, power, and corruption.In the midst of this turmoil the writer falls deeply in love. As the love affair advances, the writer's passion for the island resurfaces, until the loss of a close friend propels him to make one final, potentially cataclysmic decision that will change everything.
£10.44
The Book Guild Ltd The Shocking Price of a Pair of Shoes
Book SynopsisLiam is breezing through life. Not even a national lockdown can phase him and why would it? He can simply sit it out; watch the world go by from the safety of his apartment balcony. It’s a good plan and it would have worked too had it not been for the bearded homeless guy hanging out on the park bench below. When Liam mistakenly crosses him, there is no stopping the series of darkly comic events that follow and that will change Liam’s life forever. Praise for Andy Tilley’s previous novel, Recycling Jimmy: “Recycling Jimmy is energetic, imaginative, relentlessly and unabashedly vulgar, and at times, funny enough to make a cranky reviewer laugh out loud. This belongs on every eccentric fiction fan’s short list of oddball black comedies...” Booklist
£8.54
Headline Publishing Group The Competent Authority
Book Synopsis'Great is the Soviet Union, vast its territories, warm its entrails...' 1959. Whispers of dissidence are spreading in the U.S.S.R. Texts published in the West are circulating in samizdat, tormenting the secret police. Lieutenant Ivanov of the K.G.B, under pressure from his enraged superiors, is handed the case.Leads emerge, flare up, vanish. Years pass. 'Abram Tertz' publishes another short story, a new novel, mocking the competent authority. Shielded by his fierce wife Maria Vasilyevna Rozanova, Andrei Sinyavsky, one of the Soviet Union's most renowned and brilliant figures of resistance, waits in his wired apartment, drinking, sure his days as a free man are numbered.But as Rozanova continues to taunt Ivanov with her cheerful intransigence, a crisis of confidence opens up within the regime's resolve, causing the young lieutenant to wonder, 'are we actually as competent as we claim to be?''With the unique insight afforded by his mother, Rozanova, Gran pays remarkable homage to Andrei Sinyavsky, his father, reimagining the six long years leading up to his infamous arrest, trial and conviction. Framed within a riveting cat-and-mouse dynamic; irreverent and darkly comic, Gran balances a satirical lightness with deeper meditations on dogma and freedom of expression, state control and creative resistance, the ghosts of which, at a time when political criticism is being crushed once again, are as present today as ever before.Trade Review'A masterpiece' * Le Monde *'A funny and touching novel' * Temps *'Iegor Gran recounts this paper chase with a sarcastic tone, ridiculing the actions and words of a regime that promises happiness, but offers terror ... A remarkable portrait of the Soviet Union' * Elle *
£19.80
Eyewear Publishing Mike's Trip To Utopia: A Very Funny Book
Book Synopsis The Plastic Garden shows us a new world with no suffering and only the body''s activities to sustain us: a farcical parallel to modern life. When Mike falls in love, he doesn''t know how to handle his emotions. Can the guru Mume Bibstripe save the day and put Mike back in to the real world and save him from his fall from this crazy Eden?
£12.59
The Book Guild Ltd Cat Society
Book SynopsisCat Society is a witty and bonkers story of life and politics in Westminster – reimagining the debates, events and headlines of recent years had the world been run by cats. A lot changes. A lot doesn’t. The country is on the brink of bankruptcy, and backbencher Douglas Schnitty is disappointed with the thousands of homeless cats sleeping by the bins. He gets frustrated with higher powers who only seem to care about their own interests and preserving the country’s finances. He schmoozes and sabotages his way through the political elite, from assisting the bombastic Hector Perp Pahpousson to disrupting the plans of the Prime Minister. Can his conscience save him, and the slum cats, as events spiral out of control?Trade ReviewI’m sure most cat owners have looked over at their sometimes mysterious, scheming- looking furry friend and at some point quietly wondered whether they’re planning on taking over the world. This 'claws out' paw-litical drama takes that idea and runs with it. From how the Government spends its British Mews and interacts with journalists at The Meowington Times, to its rocky relationship with the Global Cats Alliance, it’s a hilarious and somewhat realistic insight into what life could look like if our beloved felines did take the reins. -- Bridie Williams, Rehoming and Welfare Manager for the London Cattery at Battersea
£9.49
Connor Court Publishing Pty Ltd Those Annoying Christmas Letters and Other
Book Synopsis
£14.25
IFWG Publishing Australia Year of the Fruit Cake
Book Synopsis
£17.09
Arp Books Dumb-Show
Book Synopsis
£18.70
Raw Dog Screaming Press Freud: The Penultimate Biography
£11.63
Garrett County Press In the Weeds
Book Synopsis
£14.36
Contra Mundum Press The Transformation Book
£19.71
Three Rooms Press The Greenfather: A Novel
Book SynopsisSimon, New York’s top organic grocery store owner has a secret: his dad is the head of one of New York’s biggest mob families. When his dad dies, Simon agrees to head the Family, provided that instead of murder, numbers and other rackets, the mob uses its muscle to enforce green regulations and promote healthy eating habits. At first the mob’s hit men and extortionists resent being pressed into green service, but they soon become Simon’s biggest supporters. Seemingly overnight, the city becomes literally cleaned up. Simon, who had planned on succeeding his dad temporarily, now finds he likes his new position as the head of the Family. However, the green world doesn’t accept him because he’s running a crime family, and the crime world doesn’t trust him because he’s run afoul of the Feds. Simon takes his wife, Marla, to his ancestral homeland in Italy, for a much-needed sabbatical and gets even further into trouble.Loosely based on Mario Puzo's runaway hit The Godfather, THE GREENFATHER showcases Marshall’s comic dialogue, honed year after year in late night television, in the grand tradition of classic mob comedy, like Analyze This and Analyze That. Packed with larger than life goons, right-hand men, Feds and green fanatics, THE GREENFATHER satirizes the environmental movement, crime, families, and crime families.THE GREENFATHER is sharp, hilarious, and takes no prisoners, except the ones who are supposed to go there. It goes well with a light salad of radicchio and cherry plum tomatoes.Trade Review“Emmy-nominated TV writer Marshall’s debut novel is a hilarious satire, delightfully poking fun at the Godfather movies, organized crime, organic food, health food stores, vegans and society’s goofy fascinations with gangsters and granola. . . . Even Don Corleone would laugh at this clever, funny story.” —Publishers Weekly “The name of the game is entertainment here, and Marshall wields petty bickering, wordplay, and exaggeration like razor-sharp weapons, slicing and dicing the reader.” —Manhattan Book Review “Original, entertainingly laugh out loud funny, and a simply fascinating read from cover to cover, "The Greenfather" is truly exceptional and highly recommended.” —Midwest Book Review “Terribly clever . . . a lightning-fast read.” —Washington Independent Review of Books “When it comes to getting people to recycle, should we simply make them an offer they can't refuse?” —Tarrytown Daily Voice “At The Final Edition Radio Hour we know John as one of our most uncompromising political satirists, but The Greenfather has him in far more genial mode as he explores the delicious comic premise of a mob capo with a social conscience. Every chapter is crammed with fall-on-the-floor funny dialogue as he pursues this premise to its absurd—though logical—conclusion. The Greenfather is a gloriously silly work in the grand tradition of mob comedy that goes all the way back to Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot.” —Tony Hendra, Co-Editor-in-Chief, National Lampoon; Co-Producer, The Final Edition Radio Hour “The amazing John Marshall hilariously captures `family’ dynamics with something I thought impossible—a brilliant new twist.” —Lizz Winstead, Co-Creator, The Daily Show; Co-Founder, Lady Parts Justice “I’ve been a long time fan of John Marshall and his brilliant, comedic mind. His debut novel, The Greenfather, is an absolute gem! I just finished it and can’t wait to read it again and again!” —Adam Wade, 20-Time Moth Champion
£11.39
Deep Vellum Publishing Honey, I Killed the Cats
Book SynopsisFrom bestselling, internationally acclaimed author Dorota Masłowska comes a hilarious and devastating satire of consumer culture. Set in a bizarro, all-too-real imaginarium of American pop culture, Honey, I Killed the Cats introduces us to two independent young women struggling to live the lives that television and glossy magazines have promised them. In a collision of street slang and mass-media sloganeering, Masłowska's electrifying prose drives a propulsive story about spiritual longing in a dispirited world. Masłowska’s novel examines the ways we attempt to exist and find meaning in lives defined by what we buy. In this warped world saturated by advertising and materialism, where everything can be bought, from personality and physical traits to religion and self-fulfillment, Joanne and Farah, two very different women form a friendship both bonded in and ultimately destroyed by the manipulations of consumer culture. Joanne has everything the commercials say you should want—confidence, a carefree life, happiness to excess. Farah is a self-loathing, envious, germophobic malcontent. Through a shared metaphysical dream experience that spills over into their increasingly troubled day-to-day lives, these best friends find themselves consumed by their equal-and-opposite obsessions. Widely regarded as Polish literary sensation Masłowska’s best novel yet, Honey, I Killed the Cats is a powerfully emotional, hilariously grotesque satire of Western consumer culture and the trends that go along with it.Trade Review"Masłowska here describes a terrifying funhouse abounding with toxic friendships, ominous takes on consumerism, and grotesque moments of violence and general discomfort...The tone is broadly satirical throughout, but it’s the variety with fangs — sometimes literally." — Tobias Carroll, Mystery Tribune "Dorota Masłowska is a mistress of the startling metaphor and her heroine is certainly not the stuff of chick lit. She appears in dreams (her own and those of her friends and neighbours) pyjama bottoms dripping with blood – yes honey, she has killed the cats. And she hardly need a hero to come and save her from drowning, does she? If this gloriously strange book sounds like your sort of thing, give Benjamin Paloff’s translation a go..." — Kate Sotejeff-Wilson "Dorota Masłowska’s Honey, I Killed the Cats doesn’t read like a novel, but rather a sequence of tabs on an internet browser, each one a minor digression into a deeper chaos. Written in 2012 by one of Poland’s leading young authors, Benjamin Paloff’s lively translation is distinctly 2019, as if constructed solely from a digital-era dictionary." — Matt Janney, The Calvert Journal "Paloff is able to preserve Maslowska’s energy and surprising wordplay in this translation, and the prose brings life to the setting in a way that energizes the story..."— Ambrose Mary Gallagher, Michigan Quarterly Review "Masłowska's latest is a sucrose-loaded simulacrum for the American monoculture, recklessly scrambling barbed sarcasm with irreverent sight gags to stupendous effect. A knives-out dissection of aesthetic vulgarity that refuses to be calmed, corralled, or otherwise contained. Honey, I Killed the Cats is delightfully demented fun." — Justin Walls, Powell's Books at Cedar Hill Crossing "A wild, technicolor send up of culture and consumerism." — Caitlin Luce Baker, Island Books "A grossly all-too-accurate satire of American consumer culture and those frantically swiping their plastic (in hopes of some kind of meaning) inside of it. Hilarious and biting. A scream." — Traci Thiebaud, Brazos Bookstore "Slim and ferocious, Masłowska’s novel is a wild trip from beginning to end." — Publisher's Weekly "So absurdly extended—and so deranged in its detail—that it’s genuinely funny." — Kirkus Reviews "She is the hope of Polish literature.” — Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung “Paloff deserves to be commended. His translation is as transparent as possible, literal without being wooden, lively yet not artificially so. Maslowska’s linguistic vigor communicates itself to English-language readers so readily that we are caught up in the quick current of her prose before we even know what the book is about.” — Reading in Translation, Magdalena Kay
£13.30
Bower House The Antichrist of Kokomo County: A Satire
Book Synopsis
£10.79
Stanford Court Press Welcome to Groove House
£19.99
Sagging Meniscus Press Magic Even You Can Do: By Blast
Book SynopsisCharles Holdefer, author of Dick Cheney in Shorts, The Contractor and Back in the Game, has here uncovered, with abundant aplomb and loads of literary-archaeological legerdemain, a crucial long-lost manuscript by legendary magician Blast. For years Blast has been an ongoing source of wonder on five continents, for crowned heads, international celebrities and ordinary folk alike. His record for the world''s longest card trick still stands. Now this famous manipulator offers you a choice selection of his most delightful magic tricks, all carefully explained and simplified with the beginner in mind. You need not practice for hours. This is magic even you can do, laid out in an easy-to-carry pocket edition for convenient reference no matter where you find yourself, and sumptuously illustrated in full colour.
£12.74
Unnamed Press The Cuban Comedy
Book Synopsis
£14.44
