Valley Press – förlag

McCarthyite witchhunts, the Rosenberg trial, the Korean War. This is the backdrop to the combative friendship between two creatives; Morton Feldman and Philip Guston. Feldman, musical pioneer with a genius often derided in his lifetime, left a remarkable sonic legacy when he died in 1987. The Lower East Side of New York in the 1950s bristles with the electricity of music, poetry and art, and lives, where everything is risked to secure the next breakthrough; wives, friends, health, reputation and self. 'Feldman in Love' is an elegy and a lovesong, an untold story that speaks to the intensity and emotion at the heart of a profound and enduring friendship.

Three spies. One Mission. Three agendas – and everything to lose.

On the eve of war, Anna takes a post in London as a nanny to a family with Nazi ties, hiding her desperate search for the baby she was forced to give up. Karl plays both sides of the Secret Service, hunting a double agent while haunted by a past he cannot forget. Elise is drawn back into the shadows she once escaped. Set across Britain, Germany and Austria, What Will Save Us is a thrilling, intimate tale of ordinary men and women, whose messy, broken lives end up changing the course of history.

One of Hull’s most important modern-day poets, Norah Hanson has been delighting readers for decades with her honest, entertaining and inventive writing. Whether reflecting on the past, through derelict landmarks and absent friends, confronting present-day ‘domestic dilemmas’ with wit and good-humour, or looking to the future through the eyes (and extraordinary energies) of her grandchildren, Love Letters & Children's Drawings is poetry at its very best – insightful, compelling, and essential.

Second EditionDeath for the bomber crew limping back over the estuary? Life after death for the young woman buried under the trees, beneath the city? A lunch break after death - as decades, centuries break their moorings and collide with each other?Felix Hodcroft is one of the most talented poets writing in Britain today, and Life After Life After Death, originally published in 2010, is his first full-length collection.

Driven by an impressive control of narrative and character, his poems shine a light into every corner of society - including yours - and consider familiar subjects as they've never been considered before. The poems are separated into two halves - fifteen under 'life', fifteen under 'death' - though the lines are never as clear as we might like, and of course the 'Life' section comes after 'Death'. "It is impossible to remain unmoved."Kate Evans"Full of wonder, beauty and humanity."James NashManchester-born, Oxford-bred, Felix Hodcroft gained degrees in English Literature and Applied Social Sciences. He has worked as a probation officer in Birmingham, Hull and East Yorkshire, but retired from full-time work in 2010 to pursue more poetry.

Form is a beautifully produced, fiercely ambitious debut pamphlet from a completely new voice in British poetry. These fourteen poems document the emergence of a keen literary mind; unafraid to switch between piercing social commentary (often in the form of extended natural metaphors), tender reports on inter-family interactions (as in opening poem 'Explaining to Joshua Why Snowmen Have to Melt'), and what can best be described as sheer revelry in the joy of language.'Golden'Hole of gold, apart from timeheld open by exotic matter.No matter that the patterof tiny feetclosed the circle.Love you, Au,I do.Eternally old hardened hoop.A cheer, a whoop then given back.Refuge in a toolbox.Visits copper cousinsin a dirty, dusty corner.Strange coldy coldness;since furnace forged, soon forgotten.Buried beneath an apple tree,plumps the second season's fruit.Superhero shiny ting!In summer sunlight,swells the bosom of reflected pride.Blinded worms within.Goaded by fashioninto empty reluctance,and limping on forever,to melt beforea million birthday candles. Carl Potter was born in Beverley, East Yorkshire, in 1984, and remained there until starting a degree in English and Creative Writing at Leeds Trinity University College. He has had a variety of jobs, including landscape gardener and chef, but has always written poetry and fiction.

Front Lines is a new anthology of short stories on the theme of 'anti-conventionalism, anti-society, and young people's anger at the world that has been left by the generations before us.' Its six contributors are all under 25, the young people living on the front lines of Austerity Britain. The selected stories are uncompromising and gripping, offering a fascinating insight into the minds of our creative, socially-engaged young people. They include tales of lost society and global warfare, as well as the moral instability and unscaleable summits that today's young people must face.Dan Formby was born in Southport in 1990, and is studying English & Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. Felice Howden graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2009, and now works in central London. James Mcloughlin was born in Merseyside in 1990, and is currently studying at Leeds Trinity University College. His first collection of poetry, Encore, was published by Valley Press in May 2011. Nathan Ouriach was born in Northampton. He has written for the magazines Shortlist and GQ, and lives in Herne Bay, Kent. David Whelan lives in London, and currently blogs about literature, film and TV for the Huffington Post. His journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the Times, the Independent and the Sunday Times. Ryan Whittaker is currently completing a degree in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Lives of Lilo is the story of Lilo – a blue-and-red seaside accessory – blown from its beach-holidaying family towards the open sea, the wider world, on an adventure like no other. Lilo's voyage is at the heart of a narrative which extends across hundreds of years, past and future, in an epic modern fable for children. Lilo's direction (and survival) are decided purely by chance, along with the unprovoked kindness – or brutality – of humans and animals alike... yet Lilo cannot help but have an effect on the lives of all those it encounters.Felix Hodcroft's first children's novel (aimed at 11+ readers) is a work of extraordinary imagination, grounded in reality that will appeal to young readers and their parents alike.Felix Hodcroft has worked as a probation officer in Birmingham, Hull and East Yorkshire, and now lives in Scarborough. He is well-known in Yorkshire as one half of the spoken-word performance double-act 'The Hull to Scarborough Line', with fellow Valley Press author Sue Wilsea. His debut poetry collection, Life After Life After Death, was first published by Valley Press in 2010, since reprinted in a second edition.

Wingbeats - Words & Music for Two Operas Inspired by the East Riding of Yorkshire: Flight Paths & Amy's Last DiveWingbeats is the result of a two-year cultural project, inspired by the wonder of flight, which brought together international and UK artists, school children, students and residents of Yorkshire's East Riding to create two ambitious operas, performed in Leeds and Bridlington. Flight Paths (2011) is the story of a Leeds girl's rollercoaster journey from Bempton Cliffs to Flamborough on a midsummer's day, and how it turns her life around. Amy's Last Dive (2012) was inspired by aviatrix Amy Johnson, the girl from Hull who flew around the world, took huge risks and made history.For this publication, Adam Strickson, lead artist for Wingbeats, has compiled a fascinating selection of material from the project: including seabird poems, excerpts from creative diaries and blogs, and the full texts for both operas. Each copy will come with a DVD, containing film and sound recordings for a complete multimedia experience.Adam Strickson is a poet, theatre writer and director. For thirteen years (until 2002), he was director of Chol Theatre in Huddersfield, and led projects throughout the north of England and in Bangladesh. He recently won the Yorkshire Prize in the Yorkshire Open Poetry Competition. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Leeds.

Matthew Hedley Stoppard's poetry has been compared to both Edward and Dylan Thomas, along with Simon Armitage and Paul Farley. A Family Behind Glass is set in a zone not unlike Farley's Edgelands, sharply defining elements of both the urban and the pastoral.The collection acts like a scrapbook of a 90s childhood: the rusting swing-sets, the Ladybird waistcoats. Stoppard's attention then shifts to the here and now, and the realities of life as a father – "a double helix / that twists in both our blood" – presenting them, like the family behind glass, almost within touching distance.

"He weaves the everyday into wonderfully unravelling works of art."James NashMatthew Hedley Stoppard was born in Derbyshire in 1985. Widely published in magazines and anthologies, a recording of his poetry, Insect Eucharist and Other Poems, was released on vinyl in 2012. He now works as a journalist, and lives in Leeds.

All Over the Place: A Life is the autobiography of Ron Southerton – a life both ordinary and remarkable. Ron joined the army in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, and served in Tripoli, Libya and Aden. Leaving the army as a Major, he became editor of an academic journal, before being head-hunted by a Swedish company responsible for industrial gas turbines, which eventually led him to a spell in Baghdad, Iraq. Ron then returned to the UK, finding success as a freelance translator in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.Ron's story is a mixture of laughter and sorrow, quiet days and more adventurous moments – including the day he confronted Robert Maxwell in his Oxford office for overdue translation fees, the day he rode on the footplate of the Mallard at 99mph from Doncaster to King's Cross, and the day he found himself on the east side of the Berlin Wall during the Cold War.Ron Southerton is a retired Chartered Engineer, living in Scarborough. His recent translations include works by the Swedish humorist Albert Engström.

A Sixty-Watt Las Vegas is the first full-length poetry collection from Mike Di Placido. The title, and much of the collection, is an affectionate dig at the expense of his home-town of Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

As well as observations on the town and its culture, past and present, the collection features cameos from various literary figures of note (Dickens faces up to Pizza Hut, TS Eliot shows up at a coffee bar), and gentle, affecting observations on life as a poet and a new uncle.

"An outstanding first collection."Peter Sansom"I can't remember when I enjoyed a book of poems so much – possibly [Ted Hughes's] Season Songs."Keith Sagar on Theatre of DreamsMike Di Placido lives in Seamer, near Scarborough. An ex-professional footballer and England Youth International, Mike played across the globe, from York City to Australia and New Zealand, before turning to the literary life. His debut poetry pamphlet, Theatre of Dreams, was published by Smith/Doorstop in 2009, taking its title from his magical trial with Manchester United in the early 1970s.

Travel back to 18th century Florence, where the Museum of Physics and Natural History is creating its most famous waxwork, the anatomical Venus: a life-sized female figure who comes apart to reveal a foetus in the womb.Opera di Cera combines Pygmalion myth and historical research to create a macabre romance that ends in triumph and tragedy. Immerse yourself in a sensual underworld of bodysnatching, dissection, bondage and greed, following the deformed porter, Cintio, on his rounds, while he collects body parts from the local orphanage and hospital for the wax workshop.If there is a niche for verse dramas aimed at those interested in medical history, this book is probably the only contender...

Kelley Swain was born in Rhode Island, 1985. She is the author of Darwin's Microscope (Flambard Press, 2009, ISBN: 9781906601034), Atlantic (Cinnamon Press, April 2014), editor of The Rules of Form: Sonnets and Slide Rules (Whipple Museum, 2012, ISBN: 9780906271278) and Pocket Horizon (with Don Paterson: Valley Press, 2013, ISBN: 9781908853295). She is a freelance writer and educator in poetry, science, and the Medical Humanities. She lives in London. Find her on Twitter @thenakedmuse.

Our dictionaries tell us that love, the infamous noun, can be defined precisely as 'a strong feeling of affection'. But that's not Missy's experience of love. For her, affection and passion play second fiddle to commitment and pledges. It's not Elizabeth's sense of the word, either; she's got it pegged as intimacy and confidences. Then there's Claire, for whom love is bed, and Bea, who has spent a lifetime pondering the true meaning of love – right up until the fateful October morning on which this story starts. But is it ever possible to pick genuine, 'true' love out in an identity parade? Or is love more like the Sami Eskimo concept of snow: summed up only in two hundred different words, and never falling the same way twice? Sarah Holt's debut novel is chick-lit with a twist, romantic fiction taken to its post-modern conclusion: ingenious, imaginative, surprisingly informative, and above all, a terrific read.

Sarah Holt was born in Wythenshawe, 1984, and grew up in Manchester. A former journalist for the Lincolnshire Echo, she now lives in Hertfordshire, concentrating on fiction and travel writing – the latter has taken her to more than thirty countries, and led to articles published in The Observer and the Guardian.

These 'requested poems' have been brought together for Here's Looking at You Kid, the long-awaited follow-up to Helen's much-loved first volume The Ruby Slippers. Readers will discover the secrets of 'hospital lingo', find out why dogs are so especially kind, learn how to handle mothers who are at 'that difficult age between 81 and 81-and-a-half', and the lurid details of 'what they found in the poet's stomach'. The collection also features the return of Helen's charming notes on each poem, and an introduction by the author – 'why I (still) write'.

Hardwick's world closely resembles our own until we look close and see a retired Elvis gardening in suburbia, Charlie Chaplin weaving between the stalled cars on the M25, and dragons' grandchildren whispering under the bed.

It's a world where the ghosts of Bacchantes stir the sleep of cats, a mysterious woman struggles with her umbrella on every street corner, and flowers fall unexpectedly from a clear sky. Above all, it is a world of illumination, in which satori of sorts may be glimpsed in the most unlikely of places as you move almost imperceptibly across divides you didn't notice, all the while watched over by the kaleidoscope eyes of The Ringmaster's Apprentice.

"In Robert Powell's wonderful new collection we have poems of wisdom and insight, poems which combine lambent descriptions of time and place, of a natural and a spiritual world, all haunted by a younger self. Powell's ability to understand and convey the messiness, tragedies and beauties of life, demonstrate what a very fine poet he is. Full of startling observations, these are the thoughts and perceptions of a mature writer, gloriously mining free verse and more formal poetic forms to brilliant effect. I read in a kind of hushed awe." - James Nash

Robert Powell was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1954, and now lives in York. He is the Director of Beam, an arts, architecture and education charity based in Wakefield. His first collection Harvest of Light was published in 2007 by Canada's Stone Flower Press, and was adapted into a live performance for Ilkley Literature Festival in 2009. He was the winner of the 2012 Elmet Prize, and his poems have appeared in Orbis and The Rialto, as well as numerous Canadian journals.

For Humfrey Coningsby - lord of the manor of Neen Sollars in South Shropshire - the world was a place of wonders and despair, of love found and then forsaken. He was a cantankerous, sentimental, petulant traveler; a gentleman soldier; a sly linguist; a confidant of Princes and Emperors; a receiver of such delights, and a doomed versifier. He walked out of this world on 10th October, 1610 - and now he walks back in, with barely a word of explanation.

This series of poems, complaints, explanations and demands for satisfaction forms the narrative of a life still being lived over four hundred years later. The Siege of Strigonium in 1594 was wretched; life in Aleppo in 2014 is worse.

Johnathan Davidson was born in 1964 in Didcot, South Oxfordshire, and now lives in Coventry. He won an Eric Gregory award in 1990, and is the author of Moving the Stereo (Jackson's Arm, 1993), The Living Room (Arc, 1994), A Horse Called House (Smith/Doorstop, 1997) and Early Train (Smith/Doorstop, 2011). He has had eight radio plays broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4, along with radio adaptations of Geoffrey Hill's Mercian Hymns and W.S. Graham's The Nightfishing.

Five years ago, 20-year-old literature student Jamie McGarry took his first faltering steps towards setting up a publishing house in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. He called it Valley Press, and the rest is history – a history untold until now.

For VP's 50th book (published on the fifth anniversary of the first book), Jamie has collected the finest extracts from all 49 previous titles into this wide-ranging anthology of poetry, fiction, biography and trivia. Each chapter comes with its own brief introduction: anecdotes explaining how each publication on the eclectic list came into existence. A literary journey, a business lesson and a cautionary tale rolled into one, this is an utterly unique publication, offering a fascinating insight into today's publishing landscape.

Jamie McGarry was born in Norwich in 1988, and grew up in North Wales and Yorkshire. Now based in Scarborough, he runs the independent publisher Valley Press. His own poetry collection, The Dead Snail Diaries, was published in 2011 (ISBN 9780956251992).

One of the great 'undiscovered' post-war British poets, Nigel Gerrans' sixty-year creative journey was marked by personal reflection, piercing observation and eclectic spirituality. This generous selection, made in 2014 by the author's long-time friend and collaborator Felix Hodcroft, offers readers new and old the best possible overview of this remarkable body of work.From the call to action of 'Night Express' to the modern-day tragedy of 'Patient X', from the small triumphs of 'At Her Own Pace' to the biting satire of the previously-unpublished 'Ballad of Ted and Joan', Gerrans meets the world's gaze squarely, never failing to ask the 'necessary question' or skilfully articulate its answer. Finally, and in full, there is 'Song Sequence', a unique blend of passion and philosophy that has been a lifetime in the making; arguably the poet's crowning achievement.It Is I Who Speak is a book filled with energy; a fascinating and vital record of a wonderful writer; a collection of poems that will not fail to move and astonish all those who engage with them."Energetic and image-laden ... this is a vivid and engaging collection of poems that deserve to live long in the memory."- Poetry Book Society Bulletin

“When you turn on the bathroom light your reflection stares numbly back at you, gormless and vacant. You blink. Your eyes are yellow, as is your skin. You’ve lost weight: your pyjamas hang off your arms like the wilting leaves of a dying plant.

You stare at yourself in the mirror for several surreal minutes. The thing before you is not you. But it is.”

In January 2011, aged 21, Tom Preston was diagnosed with stage 4 advanced aggressive lymphoma. His chances of survival were optimistically placed at around 40%. This short, autobiographical work tells the story of the fight in the months that followed – but this is no ordinary cancer memoir.

The Boy in the Mirror is written in the second person – so the events in this book are happening to you, the reader, living through the hope, love, suffering, death and black comedy encountered by Tom during the battle to save himself.

"A raw account of his months of excrutiating pioneering treatment." - The Sunday Times

"This is ultimately a book about love, trust, and overcoming death-defying odds." - The Sun

Parlour songs were the pop hits of the Victorian era – and some of the biggest hit-makers of the day were women. Barred from positions in universities, cathedrals and orchestras, this intimate, home-based musical genre was their only outlet. Sadly, their extraordinary contribution has largely been forgotten, overlooked by historians and marginalised in the timeline of music.Now, however, singer Patricia Hammond is putting the record – or, rather, the sheet music – straight, telling tuneful tales of political reform, personal empowerment and the unique role women played in a fascinating period of British musical history.

A tragic yet humorous coming-of-age story, The Negligents plots the flailing friendship between Polina and Grace and their troubled families. The fascinating intricacies of their lives are seen from multiple viewpoints as an interwoven series of scenes unfold, but who is telling the truth and who has secrets yet to reveal?

As a former lawyer, author Kate Smith is fascinated by legal constructs, turning them upside down and inside out to shed light on the messy business of being alive. In this, her debut novel, she uses the framework of a legal negligence claim to explore the nature of friendship, of family loyalty and how a simple act of carelessness can have deeply toxic consequences.

Mr Jolly is the first collection of short stories by Michael Stewart, and contains some of the award-winning novelist’s most extraordinary writing to date. Each tale offers a unique, utterly compelling insight into the human condition, framed by a mind-bendingly original concept that no other writer working today could – or indeed would – have concocted.

Readers will meet a conformity-obsessed league of bald men, breaking into homes for an extended debate about the nature of freedom; discuss the nomenclature of the marshmallow with a man whose single goal in life is to witness them accidentally skewered on stiletto heels; and meet God, in perhaps the most frustrating (yet believable) depiction of the divine being in modern literature.

Last phone calls, alien abductions, murders and more are grounded in stories of struggling parents, baffled lovers and lost children (some of who may live permanently onthe number 606 bus). However long you live, and however much you read, you’ll never come across another book quite like this.