Search results for ""Author Weird"

A fascinating collection of bizarre but true stories from nearly 200 years of railway history. Right from the very start, when George Stephenson’s famous Rocket knocked over and killed a government minister at the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester line in 1830, the world’s railways have given rise to plenty of intriguing stories. In this fascinating book, revised and updated with a new selection of tales, railway buff Tom Quinn explores the more bizarre side of train travel, featuring weird weather conditions, audacious robberies, hair-raising accidents, vanishing passengers, an infestation of maggots and a mysterious missing mummy. From the dawn of rail travel, when speeds of 15mph were considered dangerous to health and people mistook engines for fire-breathing demons, through the Victorian heyday of royal trains and seaside specials to today’s more prosaic leaves on the line, this whistlestop tour through railways’ long and storied history is the perfect gift for armchair travellers, history fans and trainspotters. Word count: 60,000

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You've heard all about the brilliant men' of ancient myth, but what about the scheming and scandalous women who were so often lost in their shadow?Bad Girls of Ancient Greece contains profiles of wayward wives, mad mothers, scandalous sisters and damsels, that quite frankly, caused others A LOT of stress in the ancient world.With the ever-growing popularity of mythological retellings, Lizzy Tiffin has written THE guide to all of the baddies of ancient Greece. This book stands as a reminder that us women really have been bad in the best way possible from the start.Written with humour and sass, Lizzy profiles the women in Greek myth and legend covering: mortals, goddesses, titans, nymphs (you name it, she's done it). Here you'll find the weird and wonderful escapades of the women we're often lead to believe were minor characters.Bad Girls of Ancient Greece is an accessible, intelligent, hilarious (sometimes spicy) guide to the women we love and know Athena, Medusa, Aphrodite and also

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“Courageous...bold...disturbing...a timely and important new addition of original poems to the reputation of an established poetic voice.” Josie Di Sciascio-Andrews characterizes her new book of poems as follows, “Metaphorically carcinogenic, viral corruption threatens the world in an era of surveillance, monopolizing oligarchies and moral decay. From an unexpected diagnosis, to the loss of a precious mother, to greed endangering our ecosystem, Metastasis guides us poetically through a dark, heartless underworld of invisible machinations. Like Virgil leading Dante through the circles of Hell, it shines a light upon the rot of both the physical and spiritual disease spreading endemic aided by artificial intelligence’s net trap. As above, so below, there is a weird energy tearing everything asunder. Through the revelatory power of writing, philosophical ponderings and snippets of scientific data, this book illuminates us with emergent concepts never before tackled in a poetry collection, not in Canada and nowhere else.”

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Most people understand that what an emergency is and only call out the police, fire brigade or ambulance when they really need to. However, there is a weird minority who will dial 911 if they lose their keys, if their phone isn't working, if they need a lift home from a party or even if they have become hopelessly trapped in their own duvet!This hilarious collection of true stories brings together some of the world's most ridiculous emergency calls, including:- The woman who called the police because MacDonalds was out of Chicken Mcnuggets.- The priest who dialed 999 because WHSmiths at Manchester Airporte wouldn't let him use their toilet- The boy who called an ambulance because his poodle was looking sad.- The man whose watch read the same time for three hours who called the police to report that...wait for it...time was standing still- Then there was the man who had taken too much viagra...

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Mythical creatures are cultural artifacts—creations of the human imagination from all around the world. From terrifying monsters to sacred mystical beasts, weird-looking humanoids, magical birds, and many other fantastic beings, the mythological creatures in this book are sure to enchant and amaze! Discover myths and legends spanning from ancient times to modern day from every corner of the globe. Learn the cultural origins of 240 different mythical creatures, captured in ten chapters and 100 colorful illustrations. You will find terrifying bogey monsters as well as benevolent guardians. Meet creatures that symbolize obstacles to overcome, ones that explain the occurrence of disease, some that ward away evil, and others that were created simply for amusement. Explore mythology from the Middle East, Africa, India, Japan, Mexico, Europe, Polynesia, and beyond. This guide is a ticket to travel the world and discover its strangest magical beasts from the safety of your own home.

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Innovative and highly engaging... an inspiring example of what can be done to bring the past to life in all its weirdness and complexity. The Wall Street JournalThis work is a trifecta - the perfect book for fans of the Red Dead Redemption series, Westerns and history alike. It is a privilege and a joy to be trusted with Tore Olsson's words and to see audiences gain new academic insight into the creation of this iconic series. Roger Clark, actor of Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II, set in 1911 and 1899, are the most-played American history video games since The Oregon Trail. Beloved by millions, they've been widely acclaimed for their realism and attention to detail. But how do they fare as re-creations of history?In this engaging book, award-winning American history professor Tore Olsson takes up that question and more. Weaving the games' plots and chara

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WINNER OF BEST NOVEL IN 2016 NEBULA AWARDSFINALIST FOR BEST NOVEL IN THE 2017 HUGO AWARDSPatricia is a witch who can communicate with animals. Laurence is a mad scientist and inventor of the two-second time machine. As teenagers they gravitate towards one another, sharing in the horrors of growing up weird, but their lives take different paths...When they meet again as adults, Laurence is an engineering genius trying to save the world-and live up to his reputation-in near-future San Francisco. Meanwhile, Patricia is a graduate of Eltisley Maze, the hidden academy for the magically gifted, working hard to prove herself to her fellow magicians and secretly repair the earth's ever growing ailments.As they attempt to save our future, Laurence and Patricia's shared past pulls them back together. And though they come from different worlds, when they collide, the witch and the scientist will discover that maybe they understand each other better than anyone.

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A graphic novel style memoir about the weirdness and wonder of pregnancy and early motherhood, told with humor and frankness. The perfect gift for new parents, parents-to-be, or anyone interested in the experience of bringing a new human into today’s world. Emma Ahlqvist’s graphic memoir about the birth and early moments of raising her first child is a wry and resonant portrayal of both the challenges and excitement of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and embracing the experience of motherhood. Told with black-and-white drawings and short, frank captions, Ahlqvist considers everything from lactation woes, anxieties about late capitalism and global warming, the challenges of sharing labor equally as a couple—and the genuine rewards of bringing a human into the world. Unflinching, relatable, and funny, My Body Created a Human invites laughter, emphatic nods, and exclamations of “You too?” Organized into thematic chapters like “Postpartum” and “A Mother and an Artist,” her drawings can be enjoyed all at once, or browsed and savored during late-night and early-morning wake-ups.

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Land of the world’s largest prairie chicken, birthplace of Spam, and home of the world’s oldest rock, this is Minnesota, where summers are short, winters are long, and back-road wonders abound. This entertaining guide wastes no time with descriptions of scenic lakes, pristine bike trails, or quaint cafés. Instead it directs travelers (and residents) to the spot where Tiny Tim strummed his last notes on the ukulele; to the Cold Spring chapel where two grasshoppers bow down to the Virgin Mary; and to the McLeod County Museum, where the mummy on display could be from Peru or outer space. While ordinary tourists are fighting off mosquitoes in the Boundary Waters, oddball travelers can size up the world’s largest ear of corn and admire the fourth Zamboni ever built. And one last thing: there aren’t 10,000 lakes in Minnesota; there are 14,215. For travelers who are in search of the unusual, there is no better reason to park the bike and hiking boots in the garage, fill up the gas tank, and hit the road to Minnesota, where weirdness awaits.

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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!The absurdly outrageous, sarcastically satiric, and always entertaining New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore returns in finest madcap form with this zany noir set on the mean streets of post-World War II San Francisco, and featuring a diverse cast of characters, including a hapless bartender; his Chinese sidekick; a doll with sharp angles and dangerous curves; a tight-lipped Air Force general; a wisecracking waif; Petey, a black mamba; and many more.San Francisco. Summer, 1947. A dame walks into a saloon . . .It’s not every afternoon that an enigmatic, comely blonde named Stilton (like the cheese) walks into the scruffy gin joint where Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin tends bar. It’s love at first sight, but before Sammy can make his move, an Air Force general named Remy arrives with some urgent business. ’Cause when you need something done, Sammy is the guy to go to; he’s got the connections on the street.Meanwhile, a suspicious flying object has been spotted up the Pacific coast in Washington State near Mount Rainier, followed by a mysterious plane crash in a distant patch of desert in New Mexico that goes by the name Roswell. But the real weirdness is happening on the streets of the City by the Bay. When one of Sammy’s schemes goes south and the Cheese mysteriously vanishes, Sammy is forced to contend with his own dark secrets—and more than a few strange goings on—if he wants to find his girl. Think Raymond Chandler meets Damon Runyon with more than a dash of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes All Stars. It’s all very, very Noir. It’s all very, very Christopher Moore.

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Magic stops. Men vanish. Worlds end. Life goes on. The stories in The Last Vanishing Man start with the end of the world, as a narrator seeks to imagine how the actions of an American terrorist ripple through his family. American violence and masculinity are topics that weave through these stories, as characters of various genders and sexualities get scarred by the wounds of manhood. But though these stories bounce similar themes off each other, they are not narrow in focus or tone. Hard-edged realism lives alongside ghost stories and weird tales; the lyrical tragedy of “A Suicide Gun” sits beside the wild, filthy, absurdist romp that is “The Ballad of Jimmy and Myra”, a murder ballad that might be a lost Weird Al song for a John Waters movie. The collection winds down with an expatriot American living in the melting tundra of Siberia, seeking liberation from the forces that deranged his life, the same forces that shaped and warped the lives of all the other characters in the book.The Last Vanishing Man is organized in four sections. The first section tells tales of people seeking to make sense of history and their place in it, whether the history of a queer sanctuary in Canada or of the unfulfilled dreams of the Warhol star Candy Darling. The second section gives us characters who are each on a quest to understand someone who is gone, vanished into memory or worlds beyond, their stories closer to myth than history. In the third section, lonely men seek meaning in a world where they have lost their way. Their quests become philosophical, even spiritual, as they wander toward something greater than their own transient desires. The final section breaks the book open with extremes: extremes of feeling, extremes of strangeness, extremes of horror. The fiercely disturbing story “Patrimony” portrays a post-apocalypse where male power renders the procreation of humanity into torture. “On the Government of the Living” is also a post-apocalyptic story, also a story of children and humanity, but more haunting parable than horror, more Samuel Beckett than Clive Barker.The Last Vanishing Man is a book for readers seeking more than familiar genre conventions, readers seeking stories that challenge, unsettle, surprise, and sing. These are stories aware of the sufferings of the world, stories of characters tormented by unfulfilled desires and unfathomable violence, but also stories of compassion, of community, of humor, and of infinite possibilities beyond the prison of the self.

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Two 19th century stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working-class Alfred Borden, engage in a bitter and deadly feud; the effects are still being felt by their respective families a hundred years later.Working in the gaslight-and-velvet world of Victorian music halls, they prowl edgily in the background of each other's shadowy life, driven to the extremes by a deadly combination of obsessive secrecy and insatiable curiosity.At the heart of the row is an amazing illusion they both perform during their stage acts. The secret of the magic is simple, and the reader is in on it almost from the start, but to the antagonists the real mystery lies deeper. Both have something more to hide than the mere workings of a trick.******'I can't believe how far the two of them went to prolong their feud of pranks. It was great seeing two professionals unwilling to harm their craft still work around all the little niceties to get at one another.' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Duelling illusionists' ongoing battle in the late Victorian era has consequences for future generations. This is a masterpiece of epistolary style writing. The Prestige explores issues relating to social class and gender, artistry vs science. One of the best novels in a structural sense that I've read. Well worth the time.' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Gripping, eerie, hard to put down. Every time I thought I had a good sense of what was going on, Priest pulled the rug out of from under his plot and I'm still not sure what actually happened. Demands a re-read.' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'A suspenseful and gripping story, Christopher Priest demonstrates his storytelling skill in this compelling tale of two turn-of-the-century competing British stage magicians and their feud that trickles down through their descendants.' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'The setting is in present day, with descendants of two famous magicians trying to figure out what happened to their great-grandfathers. They do this by reading the journals/books of their forefathers. What they find out will really amaze you. This book will keep you guessing, and once the guessing stops, things get really weird. But it's a good kind of weird.' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

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Filmmaker, painter, anthropologist, musicologist and occultist--Harry Smith (1923-1991) was an incomparable polymath and seminal figure in the realms of beat culture and avant-garde art. Smith's kaleidoscopic experimental films have influenced generations of artists and cinephiles, while his landmark three-volume compilation, the Anthology of American Folk Music (1952), laid the foundation for the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to his ecstatic artwork, Smith is renowned for his vast collections of curious objects. The Collections of Harry Smith, Catalogue Raisonné series spotlights and indexes his eclectic research obsessions. Volume one features richly detailed photographic documentation of 251 paper airplanes gathered by Smith from the streets of New York City over an approximately 20-year period. Whimsical and weird, the paper airplanes rank among Smith's most mysterious collecting pursuits. This extensive compendium presents the fruits of his extraordinary aeronautic pursuit and highlights the tangled history and myths that accompany them.

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“I've always looked upon cartooning as comedy’s last frontier. I have done stand-up, sketches, movies, monologues, awards show introductions, sound bites, blurbs, talk show appearances, and tweets, but the idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me. I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny. You can understand that I was deeply suspicious of these people who are actually funny.” So writes the multitalented comedian Steve Martin in his introduction to A Wealth of Pigeons: A Cartoon Collection. In order to venture into this lauded territory of cartooning, he partnered with the heralded New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss. Steve shared caption and cartoon ideas, Harry provided impeccable artwork, and together they created this collection of humorous cartoons and comic strips, with amusing commentary about their collaboration throughout. The result: this gorgeous, funny, singular book, perfect to give as a gift or to buy for yourself.

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What if you woke up one morning, and everything changed?It's one week before Christmas Eve, and Haruhi and the S.O.S. Brigade (a club for her high school's strangest and most extraordinary students) are gearing up for holiday festivities. But just before the fun kicks off, Kyon, the only "normal" member, wakes up in a weird alternate dimension, one where Haruhi attends another school entirely, Nagato the time traveling robot is just an ordinary human, and Mikuru (the cute girl of Kyon's dreams) doesn't even recognize him-in other words, S.O.S. Brigade never existed.The only clue Kyon can find is a bookmark left by the robot version of Nagato, which leads him on a quest back in time, where he interacts with the storyline from "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", a short story from the previous Haruhi book, The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya. This fun and quirky holiday tale is reminiscent of A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life.

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In the world of Manfried the Man, the roles of cats and humans are reversed: humanoid cats are in charge, while tiny, dim-witted, lovable little people are kept as pets. Manfried, a stray man taken in by slacker Steve Catson, becomes the Garfield to his John Arbuckle: lazy, selfish, and sometimes maddening in his weird human behavior. But ultimately the pair depend on each other to get through life s troubles. In this book-length story, Steve find himself stuck with a dead-end job and nonexistent love-life, while all his friends are moving on, getting better jobs, getting married and having kittens. When Manfried runs away from home, Steve suddenly loses the one constant in his life, and has to muster all his meager resources to find his best friend and bring him home safe. By story s end both Steve and Manfried realize they re capable of so much more than they thought.

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It's a quirky sort of historical fiction set in the mid–19th century, during the Spanish-Peruvian/Chilean War. Told in the third person omniscient, it mostly follows an unambitious ship's recorder named Simón, who goes to Peru on what is called a scientific expedition, but is really an attempt (maybe) by Isabella II to reassert her power over her colonies. The language of the novel is extravagant; in contrast, Simón's records of the trip, and of the political machinations between Spain and Peru are the opposite. Throughout, the tone of the book is sometimes mocking, sometimes ironic, rarely the grandiose descriptions you get in a tale of war. It's a weird book — anything but your typical historical fiction, and unlike anything CH has ever published. Winner of the Prix des Collégiens (2014), whose jury is composed by 800 college students. Rhonda Mullins's translation of Jocelyne Saucier's And the Birds Rained Down was shortlisted for CBC Canada Reads (2015) and the Governor General's Literary Award for French-to-English Translation (2013).

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Follow the wildly imaginative adventures of Esme as she leaves behind her circus home for the first time to spend the summer with her cousins Magnus, Cosmo and Gus at Maclinkey Castle where it's easy to get lost and where you can discover all sorts of weird and wonderful animals in unlikely places - there are porcupines in beds, lizards in drawers and giraffes on the loo. It's all a little wonderful and a lot overwhelming and when her pet donkey, Donk, turns up in a parcel sent from her parents, the fun really begins.When hundreds of baby penguins hatch in Esme's top floor bedroom, the children have to figure out how to get them outside. Esme and her cousin have the ingenious idea of building a helter skelter around the castle turret, but this is just the start - soon Maclinkey Castle is turned into a full-on Fairground Circus with a big wheel, Bumper Bears, and the show stopping Flying Tigers starring Esme herself!

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"I should have realised that there was going to be something SERIOUSLY weird about a town called Little STRANGEhaven."Something BAD is happening at Little Strangehaven Primary.What are the peculiar SHIVERS that keep striking the school, bringing Strangeness in their wake -from uncontrollable ballroom dancing to an attack by military chickens?Spy-detective Agatha Topps is determined to find out. She's the only person who doesn't forget the Strangeness as soon as it's over. At least, until new boy Lenny Tuchus turns up and remembers too.Their spy-detectoring leads them to the Book of Chaos, an ancient text which has been hidden away in the Room of Forbidden and Dangerous Books. Can Agatha and Lenny fight off attacks from evil underpants and Transylvanian gargoyles to stop the SHIVERS before their town is sucked into oblivion?Because power lies in books - especially this one . . .The perfect story for 7 to 9-year-olds (or STRANGE adults) and fans of Ben Miller, David Walliams and Tom Fletcher. Packed with hilarious illustrations and easy-to-read text, discover the secrets of Little Strangehaven.

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A revolutionary exploration of the relationship between human energy and color, visualized through more than 200 photographs from the “the Annie Leibovitz of aura photography” (New York Times) and a “Dutch painter on acid” (Vogue).The prodigal daughter of a visionary painter mother and a two-time commune founding father, Christina Lonsdale was raised by her parents on a commune in Taos, New Mexico, at the dawn of the digital age in the 1990s—formative years when science (the advent of the worldwide web, the introduction of the cell phone) and spiritualism (New Age) occupied equal bandwidth. Having her aura photograph taken awoke a passion that combined her spiritual and technological interests (an aura is an energy field emanating around a living being comprised of mental, spiritual, and emotional levels; an aura camera captures the colors of the aura on Polaroid film). With her first aura camera—the Auracam 6000—she began photographing and analyzing family and friends, then in 2014, took her skills and equipment on the road.Radiant Human includes hundreds of Polaroids selected from the author’s vast archives of some 45,000 images she has taken over a six-year period. The book explores the nature of the human aura, and the notion that aura images may not only capture a person’s essence in that moment, but reveal characteristics of their overall disposition. As Lonsdale describes what all the colors suggest, considering their many variations and nuances, and in relationship to each other. To illuminate her discoveries, she shares her subjects’ stories throughout the book, sometimes accompanied by a single shot, other times by a series of images taken over a period of year. She also includes profiles of well-known people she has photographed including Chloë Sevigny, Joseph Altuzarra, Busy Philipps, and SZA. Lonsdale makes clear that we are not just physical bodies, but collections of energy as well—giving consideration to the relationship of how we present ourselves to the world and who we are as well as the potential reality of the space in between. Her aura work is a study of humanity, and the energy we radiate and receive—the good, the bad, and the weird vibes—helping us understand better who we are.

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'It's hard to think of a better living practitioner of hilarious honesty than David Sedaris' The Times'David Sedaris is funny - invariably. That's his gift' Los Angeles TimesBack when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask-or not-was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes. But then the pandemic hits, and like so many others, he's stuck in lockdown, unable to tour and read for audiences, the part of his work he loves most. To cope, he walks for miles through a nearly deserted city, smelling only his own breath. He vacuums his apartment twice a day, fails to hoard anything, and contemplates how sex workers and acupuncturists might be getting by during quarantine. As the world gradually settles into a new reality, Sedaris too finds himself changed. His offer to fix a stranger's teeth rebuffed, he straightens his own, and ventures into the world with new confidence. Newly orphaned, he considers what it means, in his seventh decade, no longer to be someone's son. And back on the road, he discovers a battle-scarred America: people weary, storefronts empty or festooned with Help Wanted signs, walls painted with graffiti reflecting the contradictory messages of our time: Eat the Rich. Trump 2024. Black Lives Matter. In Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris once again captures what is most unexpected, hilarious, and poignant about these recent upheavals, personal and public, and expresses in precise language both the misanthropy and desire for connection that drive us all. If we must live in interesting times, there is no one better to chronicle them than the incomparable David Sedaris.Praise for Calypso'Sedaris is the premier observer of our world and its weirdnesses' Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt'He's like an American Alan Bennett' Guardian'Unquestionably the king of comic writing . . . Calypso is both funnier and more heartbreaking than pretty much anything out there' Hadley Freeman, Guardian

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Brand new adventures for Barry Loser in this new series of full colour graphic novels – perfect for fans of DogMan, Bunny vs Monkey and Kitty Quest ‘RIDONKULOUSLY FUNNY, EVERY KID SHOULD GET THEIR HOOTER INTO THIS TOTAL WINNER OF A GRAPHIC NOVEL’– Jenny Pearson, bestselling author of The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates Celebrating Barry Loser’s 10th birthday with a new series of graphic novel adventures! The bestselling, award-winning Barry Loser series is ten years old and Barry, Bunky, Nancy and the gang are off on a series of new adventures – in full colour graphic novel format and with ‘how to draw’ sections to help you make your own comic books! Three amazekeel stories, including one where Barry’s dad turns into a vending machine, and all Barry has to do is ‘press his buttons’ to get exactly what he wants, and another where hearing the most boring story in the world has a disastrous effect of Barry’s mind and body… Jim Smith’s books have sold 840k copies in the English language, and sold in 17 territories. He won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, the Scholastic Lollies award, was shortlisted for the Waterstones prize, and had a World Book Day book. Have you got all of Jim Smith’s amazekeel books? Barry Loser: I am not a loser Barry Loser: I am still not a loser Barry Loser: I am so over being a loser Barry Loser: I am sort of a loser Barry Loser and the holiday of doom Barry Loser and the case of the crumpled carton Barry Loser hates half term Barry Loser and the birthday billions Barry Loser: worst school trip ever! Barry Loser is the best at football NOT Barry Loser and the trouble with pets My dad is a loser free ebook My mum is a loser free ebook Future Ratboy and the attack of the killer robot grannies Future Ratboy and the invasion of the nom-noms Future Ratboy and the quest for the missing thingy The Super Weird Mysteries Danger at Donut Diner Attack of the Haunted Lunchbox My Pencil Case is a Time Machine

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Brand new adventures for Barry Loser in this new series of full colour graphic novels – perfect for fans of DogMan, Bunny vs Monkey and Kitty Quest ‘RIDONKULOUSLY FUNNY, EVERY KID SHOULD GET THEIR HOOTER INTO THIS TOTAL WINNER OF A GRAPHIC NOVEL’– Jenny Pearson, bestselling author of The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates Celebrating Barry Loser’s 10th birthday with a new series of graphic novel adventures! The bestselling, award-winning Barry Loser series is ten years old and Barry, Bunky, Nancy and the gang are off on a series of new adventures – in full colour graphic novel format and with ‘how to draw’ sections to help you make your own comic books! Three amazekeel stories, including one where Barry’s dad turns into a vending machine, and all Barry has to do is ‘press his buttons’ to get exactly what he wants, and another where hearing the most boring story in the world has a disastrous effect of Barry’s mind and body… Jim Smith’s books have sold 840k copies in the English language, and sold in 17 territories. He won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, the Scholastic Lollies award, was shortlisted for the Waterstones prize, and had a World Book Day book. Have you got all of Jim Smith’s amazekeel books? Barry Loser: I am not a loser Barry Loser: I am still not a loser Barry Loser: I am so over being a loser Barry Loser: I am sort of a loser Barry Loser and the holiday of doom Barry Loser and the case of the crumpled carton Barry Loser hates half term Barry Loser and the birthday billions Barry Loser: worst school trip ever! Barry Loser is the best at football NOT Barry Loser and the trouble with pets My dad is a loser free ebook My mum is a loser free ebook Future Ratboy and the attack of the killer robot grannies Future Ratboy and the invasion of the nom-noms Future Ratboy and the quest for the missing thingy The Super Weird Mysteries Danger at Donut Diner Attack of the Haunted Lunchbox My Pencil Case is a Time Machine

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Award-winning Filipino comic, and soon to be Netflix anime series! 12 midnight at Metro Manila. Try to remain calm as you walk down the dimly-lit streets. If you are suddenly surrounded by a pack of dogs that appear from nowhere – these might be segben tracking down their prey. Avoid the butcher’s shop that’s open at this hour. It might be a front for a gang of vampiric aswang. Yet, there’s an even deadlier threat to the city tonight. An ancient being that thrives on violence and the thirsts for blood has found new disciples in this modern-day city. Sacrifice has been demand. Rituals must be executed. When crime takes a turn for the weird, the police call Trese. Trese Vol 3 "Mass Murders” contains five separate stories from the case files of Alexandra Trese: 1. A Private Retaliation 2. Patient 414 at Mandaluyong 3. The Fort Bonifacio Massacre 4. The Baptism of Alexandra Trese 5. An Act of War All the stories feature updated/re-mastered artwork and bonus material by creators Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo!

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Book Riot’s Best Comics of 2018YALSA’s 2018 Great Graphic Novels for TeensFrom the creator of SCOTT PILGRIM! Lottie Person is a glamorous fashion blogger living her best life in L.A. — at least that's what she wants you to think. CALIFORNIA SCREAMING finds Lottie putting the past behind her and trying to make the best of a bad situation — her life! Lottie's new bestie is an emotional roller coaster: first she died, and then she killed someone. Who will Caroline hurt next, and what is her brother Virgil doing here? What secret is Detective John Cho seeking in the desert? Why did Cutegirl ghost her sister? Is Normgirl really going to marry Ashley? And what in god's name did Sunny ever see in Charlene? These questions and many others may possibly be answered in SNOTGIRL, VOL. 2: CALIFORNIA SCREAMING! IGN calls SNOTGIRL "Fresh and different!" and says "its sheer weirdness, creativity and heart will appeal to fans of SCOTT PILGRIM and SECONDS!" Collects SNOTGIRL #6-10.

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The highly anticipated sequel to the must-read psychological thriller The Girls I''ve Been (soon to be a Netflix film).Nora O''Malley has survived . . . senior year, that is. School''s over, but her life isn''t, which is weird since last she checked, her murderous stepdad Raymond is finally free. Determined to enjoy summer before her (possibly) imminent demise, Nora plans a backpacking trip with Iris and Wes. And Wes''s girlfriend tags along. Amanda''s nice, so it''s not a huge issue. Until she gets taken. Or rather, mis-taken . . . for Nora, that is. Now they''re deep in the woods. Raymond has a hostage. Nora has no leverage. Iris is carving spears out of sticks. And Wes is building booby traps. It''ll take all of them to make it out alive. But someone is lying. Someone is keeping secrets. And someone has to die.Praise for THE GIRLS I''VE BEEN''Unlike anything I''ve read before...

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A gothic, lyrical evocation of a shipwreck, ghosts, and lost—and found—love in a North Shore town Jack Cooper, last in a long family line of fishermen, lives alone in the remote North Shore town of Greyshore, haunted by grief. But he will discover what it means to be truly haunted when a ghostly woman appears to lure him to land’s end, to the beckoning waves that have broken his heart. In a tale weird and whimsical, as familiar as folklore and as strange as life itself, musical artists Chan Poling and Lucy Michell create a world where even the most hardened soul has to see that grief may be tough, but life is tougher. As Jack’s childhood friend, the loyal and endlessly optimistic Red, tries to counter the ghost’s allure, the story exerts its own charm, guiding us through a landscape of prose and pictures at once irreverent and dead serious. Though the book’s surreal seduction might call to mind the likes of Wes Anderson, Edward Gorey, or the Decemberists, it is, finally, Poling and Michell’s singular accomplishment, an enchanting imaginative leap into life’s haunted depths.

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· When they mistime a beat drop in the car· When their toenail scrapes you in bed· When they sit at a bar stool and their feet hang awkwardly· When they run out of what they want to order in a restaurant and they say, 'I was really looking forward to that' ... You've been dating someone for a while and you notice something about them that turns your stomach. That's the 'ick' - it might be something weird or unremarkable, it might even be something you do yourself. Whatever it is, once you've got the ick there's no going back from it and, for better or worse, it's onto the next swipe. The Little Book of Ick is a celebration of the dating phenomenon that plagues millions. Split into chapters that chart all the stages of finding love, this book is a collection of 500 hilarious icks: some you'll have already encountered, all ready for you to use when you need to get over someone - qu-ick-ly!Cutting, relatable, witty, sharp - The Book of Ick will reassure you it's fine to be fussy, it might even soothe your future heartbreak ... or just make you laugh on the loo.

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A fascinating exploration into a little-known universe, one that exists right under our noses — if we knew where to look! This is a book about the weird and wonderful insects, worms, parasites, microbes, birds, and bees without whom life as we know it would not be possible. What if we got rid of all parasites? Why should we be worried about the Insect Apocalypse? How are spiders inspiring our latest technology? Which photograph spurred a global green movement? Documentary filmmaker Hoe Yeen Nie and historian/artist David Liew lead inquisitive young minds on a fun, fact-filled journey to meet Nature’s engineers, gardeners and recyclers. By learning about their role in the ecosystem, we begin to understand that life on our shared planet depends on the survival and health of these little big heroes. Are you ready to see our Earth with fresh eyes? The Change Makers series of books will build in children a strong sense of inquiry — to arm them with knowledge in S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) to tackle this brave new world of unknowns.

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With one ball left of the World Cup final, England needed five runs to win. Mo stood in the middle of the pitch as Jos Buttler whispered in his ear: “If anyone can do it, it’s you.” Mo shook his head modestly and wandered back to the stumps. He tapped his bat twice on the ground and watched as Pat Cummins sprinted in: it was going to be a bouncer, he knew it would be a bouncer… “Mo Akeel.” Mo snapped back to reality. “Are you listening?” Ah. School. He nodded his head at Miss Joseph and tried to look interested. He glanced at the board and narrowed his eyes. Trigonometry. On a Friday. Some teachers had a very weird sense of humour. Thus starts the story of an ordinary Birmingham schoolkid in modern Britain. The story focuses on many of the themes prevalent in today’s society – religion, racism, bullying, equality and diversity. Told with real passion and skill, it will be an inspiration for a generation of young schoolchildren as they make their way in the world.

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A wild girl with sand magic in her bones and a mad god who is trying to fix the world he broke come together in SANDYMANCER, a genre-warping mashup of weird fantasy and hard science fiction.All Caralee Vinnet has ever known is dust. Her whole world is made up of the stuff; water is the most precious thing in the cosmos. A privileged few control what elements remain. But the world was not always a dust bowl and the green is not all lost.Caralee has a secretshe has magic in her bones and can draw up power from the sand beneath her feet to do her bidding. But when she does she winds up summoning a monster: the former god-king who broke the world 800 years ago and has stolen the body of her best friend.Caralee will risk the whole world to take back what she's lost. If her new companion doesn't kill her first.

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‘Tennessee Williams's mordantly funny and deeply troubled meditation on the desperate dismay of ageing and the iniquities of racial bigotry.’ INDEPENDENT ‘It’s a wonderfully weird play, starting claustrophobic, losing intensity as it introduces the locals… then regrouping for a devastating second half… This unruly, unforgettable play takes its unpredictable course to something that makes you feel afresh our powerlessness against time.’ THE TIMES When Chance Wayne left the small town of St. Cloud, he did so with the ambition of being an actor: now, many years later, he returns as a gigolo and the companion of faded movie star Alexandra del Lago. But can Chance convince the town he did actually make it big and win over his childhood sweetheart? Or will the mistakes of his past punish him still? Sweet Bird of Youth is Tennessee Williams's 1959 Broadway hit that explores the social and political climate of 1950s America, at a time when sexual freedom was a critical issue. This edition includes an introduction by Alison Walls that explores the play's production history as well as the dramatic, thematic and academic debates that surround it.

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Rachel Gardner tackles head-on the issues facing teenage girls: self-image, the pull of the in-crowd, puberty, boys, sex, regrets and godly ambition. Credible yet shot through with biblical wisdom, parents and youthworkers can give this book to those they care for with confidence. To her readers, she writes: 'I realize that you don't know me so it might feel a bit weird me saying that. But it's true. I have written this book because I want to let you in on a bit of a secret; you are precious and your life is a gift to you. It's a secret because few of us know it and fewer actually believe it. I hope you will feel inspired to explore your abilities and dreams be encouraged to protect your heart and still keep it open to God and others appreciate your life and the mysteries in the world around you May these words of wisdom help you know that you are lovely, lovable, unique, full of potential and, above all, cherished. Rachel x'

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In the middle of the last century, in a small remote town lost in the foothills of the magnificent Caucasus Mountains, the local children raid their neighbours’ fruit orchards during the summer holidays. The best apples for Pasha, the nine-year old boy, are behind the impenetrable fence of the Glumins, a weird Old-Believer couple who live next door, and in the orchard of a wicked neighbour, Bullin. Bullin is a cruel man who inflicts suffering on animals and deserves to be punished. There are plenty of other orchards where the children of River End Street can satisfy their fruit hunger. The cherries of the old couple living by the riverbank can be reached by climbing up the fence, and it is possible to get away unnoticed. Or is it? Fruit adventures are risky and some end up in near disaster. There are scary stories about fruit thieves who are cruelly punished. Yet Pasha absolutely had to steal some of his neighbours’ tantalising apples. He tried and ended up being caught. But what would the punishment be?

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Essex is a place where you learn to expect the unexpected. If you know where to look, thereʼs history and mystery at every turn, and this book is here to help you find it all. It brings you stories of strange places with weird names, mystery buildings that make no sense until you know their history, bizarre legends, forgotten facts, lost villages, unknown islands, spirits and ghosts, witches and smugglers. Who knows, for example, the part played by Essex in the colonisation of America? Or that a town in Essex was once the capital of England? Did you know that Captain Cook was married in Essex prior to setting out on his voyages of discovery? Or that legend has it that the story of Saint George slaying a dragon might have begun on Essex soil? All this and more is described by writer and photographer John Wade in Illustrated Tales of Essex. In it he reveals that Essexʼs people and places of the past are a million miles away from the modern-day reality-TV view of the county.

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An extraordinary tale of madness, genius and obsession, discover the true story of the two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary - and literary history!The compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary, begun in 1857, was one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, discovered that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than ten thousand of those words. But when the committee insisted on honouring him, a shocking truth came to light: Dr. Minor, a millionaire and American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane . . . charged with murder!_____________________'A weird and wonderful story of an eccentric friendship, and a slice of history' Sunday Times'What a revelation. Beautifully told and awe-inspiring' Daily Mail'Simon Winchester could not have told it better . . . a splendid book' Economist 'Masterful . . . one of those rare stories that combine human drama and historical significance' Independent

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I WAS BORN, SEPTEMBER 1985, IN THE VORTEX OF THE LOWER EAST SIDE OF NEW YORK: THERE WERE FEW RULES OF LIFE AND ZERO CONTRAINTS ON BEHAVIOUR. IF YOU WERE NOT ECCENTRIC, YOU WERE WEIRD.It was a tenement building at the centre of the drug-addled, punk-edged, permanent riot that was iO''s corner of the Lower East Side of New York City in the ''80s and 90''s. There iO grew up - or rather scrabbled up - under the broken wing of a fiercely protective, yet wildly negligent mother.Rhonna was a showgirl, actress, dancer, poet. A widow by police murder, she was also an addict. She doted and obsessed over iO, yet lacked an understanding that a child needs food and sleep and safety.Unfolding in animated, crystalline prose, an emotionally raw, devastatingly powerful memoir of one young person''s extraordinary coming of age - a tale of gender and identity, freedom and addiction, rebellion and survival in the 1980s and 1990s, when punk poverty, heroin and art collided

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Part of a new six-volume series of the best in classic horror, selected by award-winning director Guillermo del Toro.American Supernatural Tales is the ultimate collection of weird and frightening American short fiction. As Stephen King will attest, the popularity of the occult in American literature has only grown since the days of Edgar Allan Poe. The book celebrates the richness of this tradition with chilling contributions from some of the nation's brightest literary lights, including Poe himself, H. P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and-of course-Stephen King. By turns phantasmagoric, spectral, and demonic, this is a frighteningly good collection of stories.S. T. Joshi is a freelance writer, scholar, and editor whose previous books include Documents of American Prejudice; In Her Place: A Documentary History of Prejudice against Women; God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong; Atheism: A Reader; H. L. Mencken on Religion; The Agnostic Reader; and What Is Man? And Other Irreverent Essays by Mark Twain.

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Meet Olga, the amazing child scientist who LOVES animals (because they are super-cute)! Olga and the Smelly Thing from Nowhere is jam-packed with fun: vibrant illustrations, word bubbles, quirky humor, olgamus facts, and plenty of excitement for readers who love making discoveries and meeting new friends. Olga is a charming combination of independent, curious, and smart-making her the coolest girl scientist around-perfect for fans of Dork Diaries and Captain Underpants. When Olga crosses paths with a weird creature and becomes the first kid to discover the species olgamus ridiculus, she is ecstatic! What does an olgamus eat? How does it poop? Why does its burp sound like the word rubber? With her trusty observation notebook and the help of a librarian, a shopkeeper, and some friends, Olga sets out to do science-learning the facts about her smelly, almost-furry pal and searching for him when he goes missing. The scientific method is the best way to discover anything!

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Lower Rhumbsford is a city far removed from its glory days. On the banks of the great River Rhumb, its founding fathers channelled the river's mighty flow into a subterranean labyrinth of pipes, valves and sluices, a feat of hydraulic prowess that would come to power an empire. But a thousand years have passed since then, and something is wrong: the pipes are leaking, the valves stuck, the sluices silted, and the once-torrential Rhumb has been reduced to a sluggish trickle. The fortunes of the Locke family, descendants of the city's most celebrated engineer, are similarly reduced. In a once-fashionable quarter of the once-great city, siblings Samuel and Briony Locke are about to be drawn into a web of ancestral secrets and imperial intrigues, as a ruthless new power arises... Reviews for A Clockwork River: 'Exuberant isn't often a word you'd apply to fantasy novels, but A Clockwork River rushes along at a pace to match the waterway at its heart' SFX 'Delightfully weird and clever' Grimdark Magazine 'Oh, just plunge into this "hydro-punk" fantasy novel, will you' The Times

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THE EPIC NEW THRILLER BEGINS. The creator of the number one bestselling SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series returns with the story of a girl on the run from everything she loves… and the monsters that await her. For anyone who ever thought their parents were monsters… Amber Lamont is a normal sixteen-year-old. Smart but insecure, she spends most of her time online, where she can avoid her beautiful, aloof parents and their weird friends. But when a shocking encounter reveals a horrifying secret, Amber is forced to go on the run. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers and red-skinned, horned demons – Amber hurtles from one threat to the next, revealing the terror woven into the very fabric of her life. As her parents close in behind her, Amber’s only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be… Witty, action-packed and heart-stoppingly thrilling, Demon Road will take you on an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America.

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One winter, Dervla Murphy, the four-footed Hallam (the mule) and her six-year-old daughter Rachel explored 'Little Tibet' high up in the Karakoram Mountains in the frozen heart of the Western Himalayas - on the Pakistan side of the disputed border with Kashmir. For three months they travelled along the perilous Indus Gorge and into nearby valleys. Even when beset by crumbling tracks over bottomless chasms, an assault by a lascivious dashniri, the unnerving melancholy of the Balts - the heroic highland farmers who inhabit the area - and Rachel's continual probing questions, this formidable traveller retained her enthusiasm for her surroundings and her sense of humour. First published in 1977, "Where the Indus is Young" is pure Murphy. 'The grandeur, weirdness, variety and ferocity of this region cannot be exaggerated,' she writes of the sub-zero temperatures, harsh winds and whipping sands that they faced. However much the region may have changed due to current day political situations her descriptions of the mountain splendour and cultures she explores are appropriately timeless.

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The wackiest road trip in history comes to an action-packed conclusion in book five of the New York Times bestselling Genius Files series. When we last left our heroes, twins Coke and Pepsi McDonald were in Roswell, New Mexico, and they had just seen a strange beam of light. Now their cross-country road trip is about to take a detour that's out of this world-literally! Once the twins get their feet back on the ground, they embark on the final leg of their trip, which will take them from the Hoover Dam all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Chased by nefarious villains, the twins will be trapped with a venomous snake, pushed through a deadly turbine, and thrown into a volcano. And craziest of all, their parents might finally believe them! With the real-kid humor that has earned him millions of readers around the world and featuring facts and photographs from the weird-but-true locations in the story, this fifth and final book in the Genius Files series is the most thrilling adventure yet.

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This is an action-packed book for children who love fish and sea animals, with over 100 sensational stickers. Simple child-friendly captions on interactive pages present informative facts about a wide variety of fish and sea life. With fun themes to explore, children will enjoy spotting the differences and similarities between them, as they decide which sticker belongs where. The 100 stickers are reusable so that children can repeat the process time and again, and even use them to make their own sticker books and games. Beautifully illustrated in great detail, children will jump at the chance to learn about these amazing creatures and how weird and wonderful the world under the sea truly is. • Explore some of the world’s most intriguing fish, from the spectacular Red Lionfish and the Giraffe Catfish to the Giant Oceanic Sunfish and the Pelagic Worm. • Have fun reading about all kinds of fish and marine life, such as the fastest swimming fish, the Pacific Sailfish, which can reach speeds of over 100km/62mph!

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How do honeybees find their way home? Why is Venus so hot? How can you measure the speed of the wind? What makes a sound loud or soft? Discover the awesome answers to these and other fascinating mysteries in biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, and astronomy. Just try these 201 fun, safe, low-cost experiments at home or in the classroom. You'll look through a drop of water to find out how a magnifying lens works. Using a Styrofoam ball, a pencil, and a lamp, you'll learn why the Moon appears and disappears. With just a jar and some ice cubes, you can demonstrate how rain is formed. Each experiment includes an illustration and easy to follow step-by-step instructions. This companion volume to the enormously popular 200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird, and Fun Experiments brings together magical projects from Janice VanCleave's Science for Every Kid and Spectacular Science Projects series--plus 40 all-new experiments that make science come to life. Children Ages 8-12

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'Clever, funny, authoritative and illuminating' - Times Literary Supplement 'Filled with passion, humour, and a little bit of welcome weirdness. A must-read for every die-hard wrestling fan' - Mick FoleyFor fans of books from Chris Jericho, Steve Austin, Daniel Bryan, Mick Foley and Jim Ross. 'We have all felt every emotion today. Remember today, the next time a family member or workmate tells you that wrestling is stupid. We've laughed, we've cried, we've screamed our lungs out. Professional wrestling is the greatest thing in the entire world.' - Jim Smallman, 2016 Comedian and PROGRESS Wrestling founder Jim Smallman takes us on a wild ride through the history of pro-wrestling, from its beginnings at the turn of the twentieth century to the pop-culture, pay-per-view juggernaut that it is today.Join Jim as he looks at the most defining and iconic moments in wrestling's history and attempts to nail down just why this ludicrous, over the top, compelling quasi-sport means so much to so many people.

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I'm Jen Brister: stand-up comedian, middle-aged adolescent, and mum. But not that mum - I'm the other one.'Hysterical, important, moving, wonderful' Sara PascoeConfused? Two years ago, my partner (a woman - we're not solicitors) gave birth to twins. (I know! Believe me, I'm still reeling myself.) Like every new parent, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. Add 'gay' and 'non-biological' to the mix and what do you get? Not a weird box of detergent, but a panicked beige lesbian desperately googling, 'Will my babies love me?' at 3 a.m.A very funny, very honest look at parenting life, from IVF awfulness to crying over the pages of sleep training manuals. A perfect gift for any parent who feels they don't fit the mould of a traditional family.*LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI PRIZE*'Damned funny. You'll find the pages of this book brimming with rich and wonderful proof' Hannah Gadsby'A side-splittingly honest look at the grim realities of same-sex parenting' Diva

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What happens when a horror movie becomes reality? Karen M. McManus meets Scream in this spine-tingling YA horror thriller that cleverly explores themes of race and class. Devon Harris doesn''t have much planned for the summer - until her sister, Drew, invites Devon to a very exclusive private school party.Out of her element, Devon commits to being game at everything. Even when the private school kids ask her if there are fights at her school. Even when they ask her if her box braids are her real hair. Even when those weird ass kids pull out a Ouija board.But this seemingly harmless bit of fun has terrible consequences. Something has been released, and only a week later it''s hunting Devon, Drew and their friends. Hunting them in an eerily familiar way . . .The real-life horror movie has begun. The blonde is up first, then the asshole - right up to the Final Girl. Unless the murderous cycle can be broken, they''re all going to be n

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