Publication date Thursday, February 29, 2024 Price £20.00 EAN\ISBN-13 9781914240829
Description “This is a heart-breaking story, beautifully told. I hope it finds a million readers”. – Andrew O’Hagan
John MacDonald must find his mother.
Born into the slums of Glasgow in the late ’70s, a 4-year-old John’s life is filled with the debris of alcoholism and poverty. Soon after witnessing a drowning, his mother’s addictions take over their lives, leaving him starving in their flat, awaiting her return.
A concerned neighbour reports her, and he is forcibly taken away from his mother and placed into the care system. There, he dreams of being reunited with her. His mind is consumed with images and memories he can’t process or understand, which his eventual adoptive parents silence out of fear as he grows into a young man within a strict Catholic and Romany Gypsy community.
This memoir is about how John found his way to his true identity, Juano Diaz, and how, against all odds, his unstoppable love for his mother sets him free.
The epic environmental coming of age fantasy continues. An ideal series for YA and MG readers who love fantasy, the magic of nature and want a stellar female cast of characters.
After one of the bloodline Elementals is snatched, Hannah and her guardian – a magical silverback fox called Alpha – must journey into the unknown to save a future still under threat.
But is it a trap?
As old enemies emerge and darkness spreads across the worlds, Hannah discovers that her own mother has mysteriously gone missing. With Gaia, the Mother of all Nature, hellbent on seeking revenge against those that are trying to destroy her, Hannah realises she’s running out of time and that to save the future, might just mean the mother of all sacrifices.
Published by Monoray in February 2024 at £10.99 in Paperback.
Description
Error of Judgment lit a fire under the political and legal establishment when it was first published, shattering the prosecution case against six Irishmen wrongly convicted of with the Birmingham bombings and going on to change the course of British legal history. It also resulted in significant reforms to the legal system and the quashing of many other wrongful convictions.
Now 50 years on from the bombings and with a new preface and several new chapters covering the aftermath of the case, this new edition of Error of Judgement tells the complete story of one of Britain’s most significant miscarriages of justice.
On the evening of 21st November 1974, bombs planted by the IRA in two crowded Birmingham pubs exploded, killing 21 people and injuring at least 170. Within a day of the explosion, six men – Paddy Hill, Gerry Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, Billy Power, Johnny Walker and Hughie Callaghan – were arrested and charged. All were found guilty.
Methodically, with total clarity and a tone that is both gripping and impassioned, investigative journalist Mullin unpicked every detail of the case, revealing gaping holes in the prosecution case and an establishment determined to close ranks. Error of Judgement is a graphic illustration of what can go wrong when our police and criminal justice system is under pressure to get results and how difficult it is to persuade those responsible to own up once mistakes become obvious.
Awoken in the middle of the night by an alarming phone call, Hannah and her mum, Caroline rush to the bedside of Eleanor, Hannah’s estranged Grandmother. One of them has been lying to Hannah and one has been keeping a magical, but dangerous secret.
With deadly forces aligning to destroy the Mother of All Nature’s bloodline, Hannah is rushed to the safety of the Hollow Tree. But will she make it in time. And can a mysterious silverback fox keep her alive long enough to save not just the world we know…
Publication Date: 28th January 2024 £12.99 ISBN: 9781805142256 Thema subject category: DNC – Memoirs paperback 216 x 138 mm 320 pp Portrait Author location: Hastings
Have you ever struggled with your mental health, your terrible relatives or a dysfunctional relationship? Or simply wondered what the hell is wrong with you? This story is for you.
Finley recounts their chaotic life with deadpan humour and honesty, wryly embracing their colourful lovers and a series of futile attempts to fix them. When a catastrophic encounter in France sends them into meltdown, they wind up receiving daily psychoanalysis on the NHS with a cast of unsettling characters – mainly the therapists.
On leaving hospital, Finley stitches their life back together, living for a short time with a Bristol theologian before finding domestic bliss with a transgender civil servant. A cutting-edge approach to mental illness eventually leads them to a key revelation about their past, and they finally understands themself through the lens of their history. Aware at last of what they had survived, they face an agonising decision about their future.
Publication date Thursday, January 18, 2024 Price £16.99 EAN\ISBN-13 9781804191354
Description
Every good hero needs a villain! Explore the hidden world of magnetic and mysterious villains, often cast aside and misunderstood in tales of mythology and folklore. Through the pages of Queer Villains of Myth and Legend, discover a diverse community of fascinating characters, ranging from seductive and cunning to powerful and awe-inspiring.
Experience the dark allure of Circe and Medusa through to David Bowie’s Jareth in Labyrinth and delve into their complex and multifaceted personalities and motivations. Take a deep dive into the intersection of queerness and villainy, re-examine some of our favourite characters, and discover why so many ‘bad’ characters are queer-coded.
From ancient mythology to contemporary pop culture, Queer Villains of Myth and Legend celebrates the fascinating stories of these often-overlooked characters. Join Dan Jones on a journey of discovery, as he explores the hidden depths of queer villainy and sheds light on the queer identities of these compelling figures. It’s a powerful celebration of queerness through the ages in all its legendary complexity.
Format: 208 pages, Paperback Published: September 20, 2023 by Pluto Press ISBN:9780745349015 (ISBN10: 0745349013)
Blurb
For decades, conservative evangelicals and Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs) have worked hand-in-hand to oppose trans liberation. But how did this alliance come about? What makes it tick? And how can trans people and allies respond?
This book, written by a transfeminist who is also an evangelical Christian, is a history and genealogy of reactionary ideas. Gender Heretics traces how a shared belief in the essential unity of the mind and the body, together with a common fear of ‘dualist’ or ‘Gnostic’ philosophies, first brought these groups into contact in the 1970s.
Morgan explores how theological arguments snaked their way from anti-trans feminist tracts into the everyday practices of evangelical churches today. She offers a hopeful way forward, advocating for a full recalibration of evangelical thought on gender identity and trans activism.
My Review
I bought my copy of this book from Lighthouse Bookshop In Edinburgh in September and I’ve finally got around to reading it. I was intrigued by the title. Over the years I’ve had some run-ins with evangelicals and TER’F’s. Sorry, they ARE NOT FEMINISTS. There’s nothing feminist about hating people because they’re different from you and seeking to prevent people from living authentically, with bodily autonomy. Anyway, one of the things that really confused me was that evangelicals, especially the American ones, hate feminism, but they will align with people who are nominally feminists to spread trans fear, hate and misinformation, and to take away the bodily autonomy of others. They all seem to think the ‘born in the wrong body’ analogy is a universal trans experience and don’t realise it’s an analogy for those who can never understand what it means to have a gender that doesn’t match one’s assigned sex.
Quite often the answer to the puzzle is a simple: well they’re using each other. Possibly, but it’s deeper than that. The evangelicals are hung up on what they perceive as ‘gnostic’ tendencies, and the TERFs are struggling with what they perceive as a body/mind binary. These are essentially the same thing in different words and conceptual frameworks, if I’m reading this book correctly. The author is both an Evangelical Christian and a trans woman feminist academic. She has just the right background to explore the strange relationship between people who hate trans people for nominally feminist reasons, and people who hat trans people for nominally religious reasons. Her lived experience informs the academic exploration, and the quotes from other trans Christians that inform the text are often heart-breaking to read. I just want to hug them and turn into a dragon to breath fire at their attackers.
I’ve been asked if there’s some ‘gendered soul’ before, and been utterly confused, because I don’t believe in souls (I’m agnostic, mostly). So why would I think I have a differently gendered soul in a female body? Apart from anything else I’m genderfluid/agender. I don’t have a gender that I can discern, and what I can discern fluctuates regularly. My body is nominally female in that I have a vulva and uterus, but I’ve never had hormone levels checked, not my chromosomes. For all I know I might have an intersex condition, most people don’t know they’re intersex until they reach puberty or want children and find they have a fertility issue. I couldn’t get a clear answer from that person when I asked how they reached their conclusion about ‘gendered souls’ being a ‘belief of gender ideology’ (and honestly, I think they were repeating TERF talking points). I blocked them not long after because they constantly insulted and misgendered me. Should have barbecued Cassandra (yes, the delusional twit called herself Cassandra because she reckoned Autistic girls were being ‘transed’ and she was the only one warning about it *insert eye-roll here*).
Anyway.
I found this book really interesting and useful, even to those of us who are atheists or agnostics, or are deists of a different religion to the author, because it explains the complex interplay between the two groups leading the anti-trans campaigns that are infecting political, social and religious life in the UK and US at the moment. There is a certain level of knowledge of both evangelical and transphobe beliefs needed, but the author does her best to make things clear. The references to Biblical verses went over my head (I haven’t read the Bible for 25 years, at least) and while I have copies of the Bible floating around the library, I don’t have the energy to look up particular passages so I’m just taking Morgan’s word for it. This is quite niche specialism, but an important one, so I recommend this book to everyone interested in religion and transgender issues.
Fiction: FICTION / Science Fiction / Space Opera ISBN: 978-1-78758-886-8 Pages: 288 pp Imprint: FLAME TREE PRESS
It was meant to be an in and out mission…
Jubilee is a lawless, artificial world existing within its own parallel universe; a seething cesspool of vice ruled by an eccentric AI.
So they say.
Detectives Col and Danee are sent to Jubilee on a hastily organised mission to recover the body of a leading conservative politician (someone it seems, has been a naughty boy). But the corpse has been switched and the imperilled partners are drawn together. They might be falling in love, or they might be saving the galaxy– either way the authorities will not be pleased.
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction and fantasy. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at http://www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress
Format: 237 pages, Paperback Published: May 21, 2019 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers ISBN: 9781785924798 (ISBN10: 1785924796) Language: English
Description
Challenging society’s rigid and binary ways of thinking, this original work shows the limitations that binary thinking has regarding our relationships, wellbeing, sense of identity, and more. Explaining how we can think and act in a less rigid manner, this fascinating book shows how life isn’t binary.
My Review
This book starts with the obvious understanding of ‘non-binary’ in discussing sexuality and gender, and then goes on to discuss non-binary approaches to relationships, bodies, emotions, and thinking. What this really means is that people tend to think in either/or ways, yes/no, black/white, etc. but the authors recommend more and/both thinking about life.
For someone who is non-binary it is an interesting, yet obvious concept. Although I’m autistic and we’re often accused of black and white thinking, I’ve always wanted to ask why? and my conception of conflict as the stories people tell themselves not meshing completely, already allows me to view reality in a way that includes what the authors refer to as ‘multiversal’. The authors use a therapist and Buddhist way of putting it, but it’s the same thing. Our stories are always changing, we’re always in the process of becoming, not completed, not finalised. And we have many stories, depending on who we’re interacting with.
I found this book fairly interesting. I got through the first four chapters in record time, but the last two chapters seemed to drag a bit. It was mostly the last chapter. I found it a bit woo heavy, especially the ‘make an alter to yourself’ reflection point. I understand the authors are interested in Buddhism, and work as therapists, so it’s understandable. It just doesn’t work for me.
It’s a good introduction to non-binary genders and unconventional relationships.
Format: 392 pages, Hardcover Published: December 15, 2023 by Harper Voyager ISBN: 9780008596965 Goldsboro Books Exclusive Edition
Two elven sisters become imprisoned in the hidden world of the fae where danger, and love, lies in wait. Faebound is the first book in an enchanting new trilogy from the internationally bestselling author of The Final Strife.
A thousand years ago, the world held three fae, elves, and humans. But now the fae and humans exist only in myth and legend, survived by the elves who are trapped in an endless war over the remaining lands.
Yeeran is a colonel in the elven army and has known nothing but a life of violence and hardship. Her sister, Lettle, is a diviner whose magic promises a different future for her and her sister, but the prophecies have yet come to pass.
When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven Lands, Lettle, fearful for her sister’s life, follows her into the uncharted territory beyond their borders. In the wilderness the sisters encounter the largest obeah they have ever seen. Part leopard, part stag, the obeah’s magic is harnessed to make weapons for the elven war. It is during this hunt that they are confronted with the a group of fae who take them captive. Imprisoned in a new land, they must navigate the politics of the fae court all while planning their escape.
Now Yeeran and Lettle are fighting a different kind of between their loyalty to their elven homeland and the intoxicating world of the fae, between what duty decrees is right, and what their hearts tell them they need.
My Review
Alright, one last review for the day and then I’m off to bed. I’ve just read about 300 hundred of the 395 pages this evening. I read the rest last month. I’ve been busy. Now I have to wait for the next one! And it promises to be so good!
I don’t normally like romantic fantasy, even though it seems to be a really popular genre at the moment. I prefer fantasy with a romantic sub-sub-sub plot. Fantasy that could stand without the romantic elements. There should be more that just lust and romantic love moving the plot forward. Nor should sex be substituted for actual character development.
But.
I like this one. The characters are fun, there’s battles, murder, prophesy, finding and losing family, betrayal, talking animals…all the fun stuff. The plot does rely a bit on the enemies to lovers trope, but that’s a romantasy staple and in the context it actually works. El-Arifi doesn’t use sex as a substitute for character development, although there is some in there. On the beach, of all places.
The main characters are Yeeran and Lettle, a colonel in the Waning army and a Seer. They are sisters in their late thirties and twenties, respectively. That makes a nice change. Main characters that aren’t children. They’ve had a hard life. Yeeran chose to join the army and fight in the Forever War, while Lettle was too young to leave, and had to stay with their father. After poisoning him as dementia took control, Lettle seeks solace in an old temple, and meets her mentor, a Seer, who takes her to their capital and trains her in divination. Yeeran rises to become the youngest general in the Waning army, while Lettle becomes a powerful diviner, although divination, the gift to elves from the moon god is increasingly ignored and disparaged.
Then Yeeran makes a battlefield mistake that costs hundreds of lives. Sent into exile, Yeeran seeks out a way to win back favour with her chieftain/lover. Lettle, and Yeeran’s Captain, Rayan, follow her into exile, through the neighbouring Crescent and meet up as Yeeran is hunting an obeah.
Then things turn nasty. Because the obeah is faebound to a fae prince, who will die when the obeah does, and a fae princess witnesses the death. There is a nasty fight and Yeeran is condemned to death. But first the three elves must be marched through the wasteland to the underground home/prison of the fae.
Just when it looks like everyone is going to die, Yeeran bonds with an obeah herself. This changes everything. The fae won’t kill an obeah, and killing Yeeran would kill an obeah. This gives Yeeran, Lettle and Rayan a few months respite to find a way to escape. Something is happening outside the fae lands, and inside there is dissension in the ranks. The arrival of three elves changes the balance and they will all learn something about themselves and the world.
I’ll admit, my favourite character is Pila, the obeah bonded to Yeeran. She’s a sarcastic bint and I love her. The elves and fae are okay, I suppose, but I want more obeah adventures! I’m joking, although Pila is my favourite, I like the way the characters are developing and the push-pull of duty and attraction. Lettle sees most things more clearly than her sister, but Yeeran is too bound up in her training to accept that Lettle might be right. The tension between the two sister, and the tension between Yeeran and Furi, drive the story forward. These tensions represent the tension between two elvish worldviews and the competing elvish and fae worldviews, that need to be reconciled for them the move forward.
Furi is furious most of the time, be as the reader gets to know her through Yeeran’s eyes, we discover that the anger is a cover for grief, pain and fear. She’s trapped in Mosima, trapped in her duty to people and family, her future is determined for her by a curse, and she has no way out. She turns this outward towards elves in general and Yeeran in particular. Yet, it’s the arrival of Yeeran, Lettle, and Rayan that will eventually free her.
Also, it’s very, very queer. As in the societies are queer normative. And I love to see it.
That’s the big reveal at the end. Which I’m not going to spoil. You all need to go out and get this book. The standard edition will be published in a week or so, and I think I have a copy on order with Waterstones. (Look, we all know I’m a completist, I can’t help myself. I just found out there’s a FairyLoot exclusive edition and I can’t get it! It’s very frustrating!)
Everything Is Better With Dragons 