Gareth Roberts – författare

2014 JERWOOD FICTION UNCOVERED PRIZE WINNERLONGLISTED FOR THE 2014 GORDON BURN PRIZEOctober 17th 1973: the greatest disaster in the history of English football.All England had to do was beat Poland to qualify for the World Cup.They didn’t.They could only draw.Left on the bench that night was a now forgotten genius, West Ham’s Billy Parks: beautiful, gifted and totally flawed.Fast-forward forty years, Billy’s life is a testament to wasted talent. His liver is failing and he earns his money selling football memories on the after-dinner circuit to anyone who’ll listen and buy him a drink. His family has deserted him and his friends are tired of his lies and excuses.But what if he could be given a second chance? What if he could go back in time and win the game for England? What if he was able to undo the pain he’d caused his loved ones?The Council of Football Immortals can give him that chance, just as long as he can justify himself, and his life, to them.This is the story of Billy Parks: a man who bore his genius like a dead weight and who now craves that most precious of things – the chance to put things right.

This important collection brings together both established figures and new researchers to offer fresh perspectives on the ever-controversial subject of the history of witchcraft. Using Keith Thomas's Religion and the Decline of Magic as a starting point, the contributors explore the changes of the last twenty-five years in the understanding of early modern witchcraft, and suggest new approaches, especially concerning the cultural dimensions of the subject. Witchcraft cases must be understood as power struggles, over gender and ideology as well as social relationships, with a crucial role played by alternative representations. Witchcraft was always a contested idea, never fully established in early modern culture but much harder to dislodge than has usually been assumed. The essays are European in scope, with examples from Germany, France, and the Spanish expansion into the New World, as well as a strong core of English material.

This important collection brings together both established figures and new researchers to offer fresh perspectives on the ever-controversial subject of the history of witchcraft. Using Keith Thomas's Religion and the Decline of Magic as a starting point, the contributors explore the changes of the last twenty-five years in the understanding of early modern witchcraft, and suggest new approaches, especially concerning the cultural dimensions of the subject. Witchcraft cases must be understood as power struggles, over gender and ideology as well as social relationships, with a crucial role played by alternative representations. Witchcraft was always a contested idea, never fully established in early modern culture but much harder to dislodge than has usually been assumed. The essays are European in scope, with examples from Germany, France, and the Spanish expansion into the New World, as well as a strong core of English material.

This volume provides a valuable introduction to the key concepts of witchcraft and demonology through a detailed study of one of the best known and most notorious episodes of Scottish history, the North Berwick witch hunt, in which King James was involved as alleged victim, interrogator, judge and demonologist. It provides hitherto unpublished and inaccessible material from the legal documentation of the trials in a way that makes the material fully comprehensible, as well as full texts of the pamphlet News from Scotland and James' Demonology, all in a readable, modernised, scholarly form. Full introductory sections and supporting notes provide information about the contexts needed to understand the texts: court politics, social history and culture, religious changes, law and the workings of the court, and the history of witchcraft prosecutions in Scotland before 1590. The book also brings to bear on this material current scholarship on the history of European witchcraft.

This volume provides a valuable introduction to the key concepts of witchcraft and demonology through a detailed study of one of the best known and most notorious episodes of Scottish history, the North Berwick witch hunt, in which King James was involved as alleged victim, interrogator, judge and demonologist. It provides hitherto unpublished and inaccessible material from the legal documentation of the trials in a way that makes the material fully comprehensible, as well as full texts of the pamphlet News from Scotland and James' Demonology, all in a readable, modernised, scholarly form. Full introductory sections and supporting notes provide information about the contexts needed to understand the texts: court politics, social history and culture, religious changes, law and the workings of the court, and the history of witchcraft prosecutions in Scotland before 1590. The book also brings to bear on this material current scholarship on the history of European witchcraft.

The edges of space, the far distant future, an era even the Time Lords are not supposed to visit. Laid claim to by disputing factions of humans and Chelonians, the planet Barclow has become the catalyst for an unusual war. In two hundred years of hostilities not a shot has been fired, and the opposing combatants are the best of friends. But when the Doctor, Romana and K9 arrive, they discover the peace is not going to last. Something dangerous is happening behind the scenes. An election loom. Bodies are piling up. Tensions are growing. Someone, somewhere is trying to make this well-mannered war very angry indeed. Only the Time-travellers can save the day. But that might be their biggest mistake. One of two releases this month adapting popular Doctor Who novels from the 1990's. The Well-Mannered War was originally written by Gareth Roberts - now a TV writer on shows including Doctor Who itself. Tim McInnerny is a familiar face from TV and film, though to British audiences is probably best know as Captain Darling from Blackadder Goes Forth. John Leeson, the voice of robot dog K9 is now a regarded writer on the subject of food and wine.

Mae Cyfri’n Cewri yn dathlu bywyd a gwaith mathemategwyr a gysylltir â Chymru. Pan gyfansoddwyd yr anthem genedlaethol ym 1856, roedd Cymru ym merw y Chwyldro Diwydiannol, gyda chymdeithasau gwyddonol yn codi fel madarch ar hyd a lled y wlad. Erbyn diwedd y ganrif, roedd ein dehongliad o’n diwylliant fel un sy’n cynnwys y gwyddorau yn ogystal â’r celfyddydau wedi culhau i gynnwys barddoniaeth, cerddoriaeth a chrefydd ar draul bron i bopeth arall. Yn dilyn poblogrwydd ei gyfrol Mae Pawb yn Cyfrif, mae’r awdur yma’n defnyddio’r un arddull i’n gwahodd i ymfalchïo yn ein mathemategwyr ac i ddangos sut y mae’r rhod wedi troi.

'Boisterous and uncompromising ... An important argument' The Times'Witty, wicked and wise' Julie BurchillHomophobia is making a major comeback under the guise of the ideology of ‘gender identity’. The enforcers of this new creed insist that attraction to people of the same sex is ‘hateful’. They argue that effeminate men and butch women can’t just be gay, but must ‘really’ be trans.How and why was the older gay-rights activism, which gifted such progress to homosexual people, hijacked? In this passionate, witty polemic, Gareth Roberts answers these questions and argues that we need a new gay-liberation movement.

By popular demand! An outstanding volume of comic strips collecting the complete adventures of the Ninth Doctor as played on TV by Christopher Eccleston, alongside his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), all from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine. The volume includes a wealth of exclusive, brand new material revealing how the strips were created, featuring contributions and commentary from the writers and artists. With five stories from the show's acclaimed writers, Gareth Robers and Robert Shearman, and by Dr Who Magazine writer Scott Gray.

The legendary lost Doctor Who story from the unique mind of Douglas AdamsInside this book is another book – the strangest, most important and most dangerous book in the entire universe.The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey is one of the Artefacts, dating from dark days of Rassilon. It wields enormous power, and it must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.Skagra – who believes he should be God and permits himself only two smiles per day – most definitely has the wrong hands.Beware Skagra. Beware the Sphere. Beware Shada.

Reports of a time disturbance lead the Ninth Doctor to modern-day London, where he discovers a Neanderthal Man, twenty-eight thousand years after his race became extinct. A trip back to the dawn of humanity only deepens the mystery: who are these strange humans from the far future now living in the distant past? The Doctor must learn the truth about the Osterberg experiment before history is changed forever.An adventure featuring the Ninth Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston and his companion Rose

The Doctor, Romana and K-9 are hoping for a holiday in London in the sweltering summer of 1930. But the TARDIS is warning of time pollution. And that’s not the only problem. What connects the isolated Sussex resort of Nutchurch with the secret society run by the eccentric Percy Closed? Why has millionaire Hepworth Stackhouse dismissed his staff and hired assassin Julia Orlostro? And what is the truth behind the infernal vapour known only as Zodaal?With the heat building, the Doctor and his friends set out to solve the mysteries. An adventure set in 1930s London, featuring the Fourth Doctor as played by Tom Baker and his companions Romana and K-9.

The first volume of comics collecting the 10th Doctor's complete strip adventures from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine and the Doctor Who Storybook. The famous Timelord and his companion Rose Tyler battle Sontarians, meet mythical monsters and face a terrifying encounter with the new Lords of Time'! Features original colour strips digitally remastered and collected for the first time ever.'