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The self-styled Station Philosophers meet when it suits them in the brasserie in Gare Bordeaux Saint-Jean.There's William the translator whose head is almost in the ether and whose feet are not quite on the ground. He's in love with Clara, a student at the Conservatoire. And there are Otto the ex-train-driver, Alice the yoga teacher, Gwen who worked on a sheep-farm, Steph the scientist, Sean the Irish priest turned army veteran, and now, the waiter, Alex.They all have stories up their sleeves, mostly about random events in their lives. One day William buys the wrong hat...

Disaffected, broke, cynical, 44-year-old Kendal Tudge has just received a call from the warden of the old people's home, Jurassic Court: her sole relative Uncle Clem has died.She filches some of her housemate's clothes and dashes to the funeral in sleepy Dorset with all her prejudices against the provincial and elderly stacked in her scruffy backpack. Only to find out that Bingo! - she's hit the jackpot and inherited Clem's flat where she temporarily installs herself.Within days she's rather enjoying the free clean air, free food and the views from her free accommodation of coast, country, and... Gary, the handsome warden. Why not stay? Trouble is, you have to be over 60. And not mind oldies for neighbours.So begins Kendal's quixotic, complicated, funny seaside odyssey of self-discovery and... subterfuge (yes, she pretends to be older!) with the trusty aid of her newly devised Tudge Transformation Toolkit.A comedy, a romance, about growing up, honesty, friendship and... what it is to age.

This is an epic story about two men in love. And food. Set in China in 1924, Hong Kong in 1945, London in 1947, France in 1948 and Rome in the early 1950s. Food, love and Victorian poetry. And indissoluble friendships. About seeing life as a newsreel and dissecting it in a doctoral thesis. A multi-sensory experience that includes eating leftover rice with warm milk and sugar for breakfast, the music of Ray Ventura, Italian Nuovo Realismo cinema, Baroque gardens, an evening at a gay pub in London's Soho, facing up to AIDS, Cucina Povera in Rome, the songs of Noel Coward, one hour in the Antico Caffè Greco, two hours in a prisoner of-war camp in Hong Kong, a scene from Virgil's Aeneid, and the poetry of Catullus. Who can be both male and female, a steadfast coward, a knight with no quest, a doubting evangelist, a cook who doesn't want to eat and a poet who doesn't write a line? Meet Manette not for answers but for what it means to be all these things and alive.

This is an epic story about two men in love. And food. Set in China in 1924, Hong Kong in 1945, London in 1947, France in 1948 and Rome in the early 1950s Food, love and Victorian poetry. And indissoluble friendships. About seeing life as a newsreel and dissecting it in a doctoral thesis. A multi-sensory experience that includes eating leftover rice with warm milk and sugar for breakfast, the music of Ray Ventura, Italian Nuovo Realismo cinema, Baroque gardens, an evening at a gay pub in London's Soho, facing up to AIDS, Cucina Povera in Rome, the songs of Noel Coward, one hour in the Antico Caffe Greco, two hours in a prisoner of-war camp in Hong Kong, a scene from Virgil's Aeneid, and the poetry of Catullus. Who can be both male and female, a steadfast coward, a knight with no quest, a doubting evangelist, a cook who doesn't want to eat and a poet who doesn't write a line? Meet Manette not for answers but for what it means to be all these things and alive.

This is a story about the future of football. A new star emerges in a game that attracts, and demands, ever greater extremes of wealth, fame, and physical prowess. Ardro Holst, in his pursuit of glory, has to work out what is real and what is false, in sport, in life, and in love, in a new world in which the virtual has become almost indistinguishable from the real. He finds himself apparently abandoned by the people who have admired him, supported him, controlled him, and exploited him. Can Ardro rediscover who, and what, he is and work out who he can depend on in his darkest hour? This is a story about the future of football - and the future of love...

This is a story about the future of football. A new star emerges in a game that attracts, and demands, ever greater extremes of wealth, fame, and physical prowess. Ardro Holst, in his pursuit of glory, has to work out what is real and what is false, in sport, in life, and in love, in a new world in which the virtual has become almost indistinguishable from the real. He finds himself apparently abandoned by the people who have admired him, supported him, controlled him, and exploited him. Can Ardro rediscover who, and what, he is and work out who he can depend on in his darkest hour? This is a story about the future of football - and the future of love...

Sasha, Mike and shy young Jacob have a new home with a garden. Mike plants a rose, Times Past. Sasha meets Magda and Stan, and Jacob is soon fast friends with their sons, especially Marcin. The boys delight in playing planet and alien games. There's another apparently welcoming neighbour, Debra, who makes cakes, offers help to the frazzled young parents and talks, sometimes strangely. All is well, and Times Past and new flourish. Until shortly after 23 June 2016, when paradise is interrupted by Debra's alien behaviour, and Times Past withers. A disarmingly simply and honestly told tale about two young families brought together by their children, then bound by a borderless loyalty and limitless optimism.

Roughly Oddbins O’Reilly is a Detective Inspector with the Colwyn Bay force. Dr Heinz Pumpernickel is his mysterious writing professor. Roughly produces stories for his writing course that include a description of life on a Cornish lighthouse, the truth about President Obama’s dog and an alternative history of the world. The Wonderful World of Jane and Oliver Bloke is a cabinet of curiosities and a Russian doll of a novel.

When BOAC Flight 480 disappears from the radar screens over the Mediterranean, passengers and crew are soon posted missing. Three months later what seems to be the same aircraft reappears and lands on an Ionian holiday island. Gathered there are the world's media, agog to discover what has happened to the Boeing.There are, though, more questions than answers from the captain and crew of the vanished flight; and the passengers are more interested in getting their money back from BOAC than explaining where they have been.Join Mrs Tugendhat, SiSi, Mr Tulkinghorn, 'Senator' Welles, Boris, Mr Mao and Alexa the ginger cat to find out what really did happen to Flight 480, where the missing passengers have been, how they unearthed the low door in the wall that leads to the undiscovered country - and how they found their way back again.If any man thinks he can build and lead a world and resolves its problems he has yet to meet the stupendous force that is Mrs Tugendhat. A comedy, a beach read, a shiningly clever game of a book, a satire, an exuberant piece of magic realism, all deliciously illustrated by breakout artist Decca Faire - take your pick. But strap in for the ride.

Sometime around now an unnamed virus has laid London and its people to waste. No one knows what the government is doing or where they are. 'Cleaners' raid homes; neighbours spy, animals are feral, old people are saying goodbye on the ends of phones about to go dead. The internet is down.Liz's husband has gone missing. But that's not new. She decides to flee the city and head for safer ground - Wales, her childhood home.She packs her infant daughter and some rudimentary supplies into a car that has a tank of petrol she knows not if she can refill, and dashes to collect her teenage son, the redoubtable Ben from school. But Ben is cloistered, locked down. She cannot reach him.So begins the remarkable journey of a naive mother, an unwitting refugee and mistrusted incomer, and the odyssey of her son, Ben, who walks to be reunited with her, his sister and he hopes, his father.Written by the author a few years ago - how could it happen today?

In 1935, in sleepy Cannero on Lake Maggiore, Paola and her daughter Eva - Little Spark - ply a discreet living embroidering for rich tourists. Eva pines for the glamour of the Milan they abruptly left. She dreams of escape - to Hollywood to become a make-up artist, and from the inevitability of being married to a suitable local boy. Instead she is obliged to help the padre; slathering face paint on bodies from the lake. When an Englishman appears on her slab a sole strange mourner lurks in the shadows.Eva turns for help to her charismatic new acquaintance, the globetrotting Agatha Christie-toting, puzzle-solving independent-spirited Amelia, and finds herself launched on a perilous journey that begins with her first trip across a lake she has hitherto feared and takes her into the dark heart of Mussolini's brutal regime.Little Spark will find that she is an extraordinary woman in extraordinary times

In 1935, in sleepy Cannero on Lake Maggiore, Paola and her daughter Eva - Little Spark - ply a discreet living embroidering for rich tourists. Eva pines for the glamour of the Milan they abruptly left. She dreams of escape - to Hollywood to become a make-up artist, and from the inevitability of being married to a suitable local boy. Instead she is obliged to help the padre; slathering face paint on bodies from the lake. When an Englishman appears on her slab a sole strange mourner lurks in the shadows. Eva turns for help to her charismatic new acquaintance, the globetrotting Agatha Christie-toting, puzzle-solving independent-spirited Amelia, and finds herself launched on a perilous journey that begins with her first trip across a lake she has hitherto feared and takes her into the dark heart of Mussolini's brutal regime. Little Spark will find that she is an extraordinary woman in extraordinary times.

One curious young boy observes the courtship of spiders as he contemplates life without a father. Another delivers tracts for Lord’s Assembly and stumbles into something awkward to do with adults. Yet another gathers stones to a shroud dead dog. A young man visits his disreputable, unwelcoming uncle to hear a curious tale. A medium finds herself rumbled when a spirit she conjures kisses and tells all. A wannabe Bonnie and Clyde go on a spree round the commuter belt. A former sex worker collides with her past. A singer performs to soldiers at a turning point in history.There are inexplicable mysterious things out there in the cloud forest - concrete or lush - small moments of discovery, enlightenment and recognition.Permeated with dark ironic humour and a melancholic sense of the absurd, these thirteen stories are fragments of the lives of their characters, who in being ordinary - honest or decidedly not - are exceptional.

Tender, nostalgic, romantic, funny, absurd, magically real, speculative, ironic, nightmarish, entertaining and elegantly rendered...these stories span a century of Man's consciousness.Once, a man might be a Gatsby chasing his girl half-way around the world, the captain of a football World Cup winning side, a raging Picasso bull in a mythical maze refusing to yield lover or art till his last mortality-defiant egotistic gasp. Straightforward enough choices, dreams, behaviour.Suddenly he is man interrupted, underwhelmed, overworked, ridiculed, young, rock-solid or unreliable family man, father, husband, friend; his freedom evaporates: he's globe-trotting inbox-fatigued nonsense-hearing corporate, military civil-serving quiet ministry of Everyman. He's so exasperated he might just run away and prop up a bar, or contemplate mild treachery just to get by, and he's put-upon, as he zigzags across #TimesUp, political correctness, game theory, oh... and... the women in his life. Now here he stands staring down the barrel of the 21st Century - he's superman, he's transhuman, he's disassembling, he's nearly done for...or is he?

Breaking Glass Beata Duncan on her extraordinary journey from the closing poems of Berlin Blues (Green Bottle Press) to her emigration from Nazi Germany and her arrival and resettlement as a twelve-year-old refugee in England. These beguilingly arch and lyrical poems sing of the challenge of relocation, as she stakes a claim to and stamps her authority on a new language, makes new friends, and experiences teenage love and student life during the London Blitz while she fears for the safety of a mother she might never again see. Characterised throughout by the irony and mischievous humour of their spirited, optimistic and gifted author these important, remarkable and vivid poems are absolutely `emotion recollected in tranquility.’

We've all been there: you leave the cinema, you're buzzing, you were there...in that film with those characters. But what if you see those characters, relive those scenes, not in your head, but in reality?When a mysterious cult horror movie from the 1970s pops up on YouTube, Ben simply has to see it. He has to see it, partly because it's a horror film but mostly, because it stars Margot Kidder. Ben asks his girlfriend, Lena, to watch it with him. She does. Driveshaft, however, is no ordinary film and before they know it, Ben and Lena are trapped within its murky and disturbing world. Luckily, they meet fellow Driveshaft victims, Frank and Katherine. The foursome decide that the only way to rid themselves of the Driveshaft curse is through exorcism. Part film-script, part novel, Driveshaft is a wry tribute to the wackier side of 70s cinema. It's a bumpy ride where the real, and the not so real, collide. So, if you like the 70s, horror movies, cars with a mind of their own, and Margot Kidder then jump in by all means, but make sure you don't belt up.

Tender, nostalgic, romantic, funny, absurd, magically real, speculative, ironic, nightmarish, entertaining and elegantly rendered...these stories span a century of Man's consciousness.Once, a man might be a Gatsby chasing his girl half-way around the world, the captain of a football World Cup winning side, a raging Picasso bull in a mythical maze refusing to yield lover or art till his last mortality-defiant egotistic gasp. Straightforward enough choices, dreams, behaviour.Suddenly he is man interrupted, underwhelmed, overworked, ridiculed, young, rock-solid or unreliable family man, father, husband, friend; his freedom evaporates: he's globe-trotting inbox-fatigued nonsense-hearing corporate, military civil-serving quiet ministry of Everyman. He's so exasperated he might just run away and prop up a bar, or contemplate mild treachery just to get by, and he's put-upon, as he zigzags across #TimesUp, political correctness, game theory, oh... and... the women in his life. Now here he stands staring down the barrel of the 21st Century - he's superman, he's transhuman, he's disassembling, he's nearly done for...or is he?

Poor George has just about had it with the publishing world, lunches, infidelities and a lifetime of a right bunch of comedian wannabes whose utter tosh (think sports biogs by 'celebrities') he's practically (OMG, 'practically' is as bad as 'literally'' and 'like'... and 'totally') had to rewrite. What if he's bothered to sit down and produce his own oeuvre. A proper book! And what if it is a kiss 'n' tell? If it's true?How would he get it published? While he's looking for a way, one of his stocking-fillers gets caught up in a bidding war, which ought to be good news for him. But really isn't. Move over Spitting Image, Private Eye and... Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. Any character who pitches from Mr Grylls's pen across his pages is at risk of being skewered. In the nicest possible way. An exquisitely written, erudite and hilarious satire in the finest vintage tradition.

Poor George has just about had it with the publishing world, lunches, infidelities and a lifetime of a right bunch of comedian wannabes whose utter tosh (think sports biogs by 'celebrities') he's practically (OMG, 'practically' is as bad as 'literally'' and 'like'... and 'totally') had to rewrite. What if he's bothered to sit down and produce his own oeuvre. A proper book! And what if it is a kiss 'n' tell? If it's true?How would he get it published? While he's looking for a way, one of his stocking-fillers gets caught up in a bidding war, which ought to be good news for him. But really isn't. Move over Spitting Image, Private Eye and... Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. Any character who pitches from Mr Grylls's pen across his pages is at risk of being skewered. In the nicest possible way. An exquisitely written, erudite and hilarious satire in the finest vintage tradition.

Interregnum offers an alternative history of the country’s—and Winston Churchill’s—finest hour.1946. Britain is occupied by Nazi Germany. All seems lost—until the February Rising sees off Hitler. The Fuhrer’s death triggers a struggle for power among the Nazis, revolt across the Occupied Continent, and schism in the Oval Office in Washington.Caught in this maelstrom are the teenage princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. For Churchill, what price the lives of the two women, first and second in line to the throne, weighed against the threat of an atom bomb poised to destroy New York?There’s a Tolstoyan cast including the princesses themselves, their uncle Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, President Roosevelt, the Kennedy family and sundry Air Chief Marshals, Field Marshals and First Sea Lords.As to the plot, this triple-decked thriller, detective story and literary Ludo keeps its readers guessing until the very last word.

Interregnum offers an alternative history of the country's-and Winston Churchill's-finest hour.1946. Britain is occupied by Nazi Germany. All seems lost-until the February Rising sees off Hitler. The Fuhrer's death triggers a struggle for power among the Nazis, revolt across the Occupied Continent, and schism in the Oval Office in Washington.Caught in this maelstrom are the teenage princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. For Churchill, what price the lives of the two women, first and second in line to the throne, weighed against the threat of an atom bomb poised to destroy New York?There's a Tolstoyan cast including the princesses themselves, their uncle Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, President Roosevelt, the Kennedy family and sundry Air Chief Marshals, Field Marshals and First Sea Lords.As to the plot, this triple-decked thriller, detective story and literary Ludo keeps its readers guessing until the very last word.

When BOAC Flight 480 disappears from the radar screens over the Mediterranean, passengers and crew are soon posted missing. Three months later what seems to be the same aircraft reappears and lands on an Ionian holiday island. Gathered there are the world's media, agog to discover what has happened to the Boeing.There are, though, more questions than answers from the captain and crew of the vanished flight; and the passengers are more interested in getting their money back from BOAC than explaining where they have been.Join Mrs Tugendhat, SiSi, Mr Tulkinghorn, 'Senator' Welles, Boris, Mr Mao and Alexa the ginger cat to find out what really did happen to Flight 480, where the missing passengers have been, how they unearthed the low door in the wall that leads to the undiscovered country - and how they found their way back again.If any man thinks he can build and lead a world and resolves its problems he has yet to meet the stupendous force that is Mrs Tugendhat. A comedy, a beach read, a shiningly clever game of a book, a satire, an exuberant piece of magic realism, all deliciously illustrated by breakout artist Decca Faire - take your pick. But strap in for the ride.

In AD 180 Quintus Suetonius and his stepson Manius are frumentarii, the Roman Empire's secret police. Dispatched to Britannia on a mission whose purpose is kept veiled from them, they they join forces with the formidable female spy Tita Amatia and find themselves embroiled in plot, counter-plot and assassination, unsure of either their allies or their enemies.They journey from bustling, cosmopolitan, civilised Londinium to the wild North - a hostile, snowbound land.Besieged by an alliance of rebellious local tribes, surrounded by intrigue, assailed by matters of the heart and personal ambition, they become reluctant players in a struggle between a ruthless imperial government and others seeking control of the Empire.

AD180: Quintus Suetonius and his stepson Manius are frumentarii, the Roman Empire's secretpolice. Dispatched to Britannia on a mission whose purpose is kept veiled from them, theyjoin forces with the formidable female spy Tita Amatia and find themselves embroiled in plot, counter-plot and assassination, unsure of either their allies or theirenemies.They journey from bustling, cosmopolitan, civilised Londinium tothe wild North - a hostile snowbound land.Besieged by an alliance of rebellious local tribes, surrounded byintrigue, assailed by matters of the heart and personal ambition,they become reluctant players in a struggle between a ruthlessimperial government and others seeking control of the Empire.

A sometimes dark, but mostly compassionate humorous tale for our times: In London, during the never-ending decade after the financial crash, a short time before Brexit, it rains a lot, mostly on the young as they try to shift for themselves.

Recently widowed Derek is directing The Merchant of Venice with his class in the stifling atmosphere of a private school on the South coast. He takes Max, an unhappy new boy under his wing, but a treacherous act during the play's performance separates them and he is both forced from his post and to rethink his life. A chance meeting leads him to Glasgow where he joins forces with Ken, the plain speaking and charismatic leader of an inner-city boys' club. Derek has made a fresh start: he befriends fourteen-year-old Billy and his gang. Before long, he finds himself once again embroiled in some complicated young lives. Meanwhile, his recent past is on his tail.A contemporary story of contrasts, of friendship, grief, danger... but above all of hope.

Millennial snowflakes clash with baby-boomers: 19 tales of human connection & disconnection that collide & subvert the romantic contemporary, the recent rosy past, our dodgy looking promised cyberpunk utopia and our post-apocalyptic dystopian future. Provocative, wistful, & darkly funny satire, these episodes must surely play out logically. Or not.