Galley Beggar Press - Paperbacks

Tinderbox

jordison — Mon, 08 May 2017 18:26:34 +0000

Price:

£9.99

This book is out in November - but available to pre-order right now!

Megan Dunn was in a hole. Her attempt to write a fictional tribute to Fahrenheit 451 wasn't going well. Borders, the bookseller she worked, for was going bust. Her marriage was failing. Her prospects were narrowing. The world wasn’t quite against her – but it wasn’t exactly helping either.

Riffing on Ray Bradbury's classic novel about the end of reading, Tinderbox is one of the most interesting books in decades about literary culture and its place in the world. More than that, it's about how every one of us fits into that bigger picture – and the struggle to make sense of life in the twenty-first century.

Ironically enough for a book about failures in art, Tinderbox itself is a fantastic achievement; a wonderfully crafted and beautifully written work of non-fiction that is by turns brilliantly funny and achingly sad. … It will help ensure that you will never ever again be rude to anyone working in retail.

Tinderbox is one of the most successful books about failure you will ever read.

Author:

Megan Dunn

Pages:

150

Published:

November 2017

Enemies Of The People

jordison — Mon, 08 May 2017 18:06:29 +0000

Price:

£9.99

This one is published by Harper Collins. But written by Galley Beggar co-director Sam Jordison. Released on June 1!

Something has gone wrong. We're living in an age of celebratory racism, extreme inequality, uncertainty and fear. We're governed by people who claim to be populist but who seem to hate everyone. There are idiots at the wheel and we're heading for a cliff in a big red bus and no one knows how to save us.

Enemies Of The People reveals who has taken us to this dizzying precipice. It provides the actual, non-alternative facts about Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Vladimir Putin and their charming friends - and also explains where they got their crazy ideas. Why did people turn so mean? How did so-called social networks like Facebook become so very anti-social? Why did anyone think it would be a good idea to privatise railways? Just how much should we fear the robots? Why is no one doing anything about Global Warming? Why is no one doing anything about Boris Johnson either?

This book explains all those vital questions and more.

Remember, though – they say history is written by the victors and fortunately, many of those currently winning can’t seem to write more than 140 characters at a time. This gives us the golden opportunity to set the record straight and snatch back the narrative. But if we’ve any chance of victory, we first need to know our enemy.

Author:

Sam Jordison

Pages:

224

Published:

May 2017

We Are The End (paperback edition)

jordison — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 14:47:30 +0000

Price:

£9.99

Available for pre-order now. This wonderful, heartbreaking new novel is out in the Autumn.

Tomás' girlfriend has left him. She has, in fact, fled to Antarctica, leaving him alone in Santiago, where life is rapidly passing him by.

Tomás is a game designer – but he can't see his ideas through.

Tomás also works in a university – where he spends most of his time hiding under a desk.

Tomás’ flat is falling apart. The band he used to play in is doing annoyingly well. He drinks coffee though a straw straight from the pot because he can't find a clean cup....

We Are The End is the smart and funny debut from Gonzalo G. Garcia. It’s a novel which gives a new voice to the Millennial Generation – exploring the difficulties of finding your place in the world, and having to navigate it, too, with few guides beyond computer game narratives and the useless advice of the older generation...

With its Chilean setting, fresh themes and perspectives – and its willingness to play with form – We Are The End is unique. But it is also universal. Tomás' loss and longing resonate deeply, as do his jokes. There is something of Tomás in all of us – even if he’s someone who ends up sleeping in a tent in his own living room...

Praise for Gonzalo:

A unique and breathtaking talent - Scarlett Thomas

Author:

Gonzalo C. Garcia

Pages:

360

Published:

October 2017

We Are The End (exclusive limited edition)

jordison — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 14:27:00 +0000

Price:

£14.00

Available for pre-order now. Our exclusive blackflap beauty of this wonderful, heartbreaking new novel. Only 500 copies will be printed in this format.

Tomás' girlfriend has left him. She has, in fact, fled to Antarctica, leaving him alone in Santiago, where life is rapidly passing him by.

Tomás is a game designer – but he can't see his ideas through.

Tomás also works in a university – where he spends most of his time hiding under a desk.

Tomás’ flat is falling apart. The band he used to play in is doing annoyingly well. He drinks coffee though a straw straight from the pot because he can't find a clean cup....

Praise for Gonzalo:

A unique and breathtaking talent - Scarlett Thomas

Author:

Gonzalo C. Garcia

Pages:

350

Published:

October 2017

We That Are Young (exclusive limited edition)

jordison — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 15:55:11 +0000

Price:

£14.00

This is our special limited edition out in July. Only 500 will be printed. It will be beautiful. (NB Current cover image is rough... Full glory to follow.)

The story of a billionaire family dynasty, led by a gold-plated madman, stewed in corruption, mired in violence, riven by infighting, deception and lies… The resonances will be there for anyone who knows King Lear - not to mention anyone struggling to come to terms with the new world order - from the rise of the religious right wing in India to the Trump dynasty in the United States. This is not just Shakespeare repurposed for our times – it’s a novel that urgently matters in 2017, and which will resonate for years to come.

Jivan Singh, the bastard scion of the Devraj family, returns to his childhood home after a long absence – only to witness the unexpected resignation of the ageing patriarch from the vast corporation he founded, the Devraj Company. On the same day, Sita, Devraj’s youngest daughter, absconds – refusing to submit to the marriage her father wants for her. Meanwhile, Radha and Gargi, Sita’s older sisters, must deal with the fallout… And so begins a brutal, deathly struggle for power, ranging over the luxury hotels and spas of New Delhi and Amritsar, the Palaces and slums of Napurthala, to Srinagar, Kashmir.

Told in astonishing prose – a great torrent of words and imagery – We that are young is a modern-day King Lear that bursts with energy and fierce, beautifully measured rage. Set against the backdrop of the anti-corruption protests in 2011–2012, it provides startling insights into modern India, the clash of youth and age, the hectic pace of life in one of the world’s fastest growing economies – and the ever-present spectre of death. More than that, this is a novel about the human heart. And its breaking point.

Here's what people are saying about Preti:

Utterly engrossing, very smart, very moving… We That Are Young is subtle, ambitious and highly original.’

Andrew Motion

‘Preti Taneja is a writer to watch, no doubt about it.’

Deborah Levy

‘Taneja writes in light bright prose that echoes Katherine Mansfield, only to surpass her.’

Maureen Freely

‘Her characters are sensuously, tangibly, present; her prose draws you in with the sureness of poetry.’

John Cornwell

Author:

Preti Taneja

Pages:

500

Published:

July 2017

We That Are Young (paperback edition)

jordison — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 15:52:16 +0000

Price:

£9.99

Out in July! Available to pre-order now!

Here's what people are saying about Preti:

Utterly engrossing, very smart, very moving… We That Are Young is subtle, ambitious and highly original.’

Andrew Motion

‘Preti Taneja is a writer to watch, no doubt about it.’

Deborah Levy

‘Taneja writes in light bright prose that echoes Katherine Mansfield, only to surpass her.’

Maureen Freely

‘Her characters are sensuously, tangibly, present; her prose draws you in with the sureness of poetry.’

John Cornwell

Author:

Preti Taneja

Pages:

350

Published:

July 2017

Forbidden Line (mass market paperback edition)

jordison — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 14:49:55 +0000

Price:

£9.99

Out now!

“What grips at once is Stanbridge's beautiful, stately, eccentric and richly rewarding prose. He never lets up, never falters…breathtaking, magisterial, uniquely demented and hilarious - a lavish comic masterpiece."
David Collard

“Everyone needs to sit up and take notice of this, which is Don Quixote on acid. It leaves the doughy train of contemporary realist fiction following way behind.”
Giles Foden

“Forbidden Line is a work of enormous scope and ambition from a writer who combines style, wit… and a rare sense of the ridiculousness of the human condition. Incomparable.”

Alex Pheby, Wellcome Book Prize-shortlisted author of Playthings

Forbidden Line is a challenging, dazzling intellectual achievement. It’s also a book about love and companionship; a novel simultaneously touching and hilarious. Above everything else, it’s a pleasure to read – even if it makes you feel like you’re on a careering train, with all the stops and destinations rubbed off, and no idea where you’re heading...

Forbidden Line is fat, uncompromising and gloriously eccentric. Which is as it should be – since it’s a retelling of Don Quixote combined with a recreation of the Peasant’s Revolt, a gleeful hybrid of science, pseudo-science, absurd theory and profound, ingenious philosophy.

Don and Is career around Essex and London, tilting at windmills, abusing petrol station assistants, fighting with each other and everyone around them. They are on a quest – as far as Don is concerned – to reveal the truth about history (he says there's no such thing) and to uncover the secrets of the hyperfine transition of hydrogen... But Is – like most of us – isn’t really sure what Don is talking about. And all he really wants to do is get through to the next day – and back to his family. Both of which turn into extremely tricky propositions. Don takes Is ever deeper into danger and the very structure of reality begins to turn against them both - as does the narrative of Forbidden Line itself.

There’s never been a book quite like Forbidden Line. Never been anything close.

Author:

Paul Stanbridge

Pages:

474

Published:

December 2016

I Spy Pets: When Human Friendship Is Not Enough

jordison — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 09:05:55 +0000

Price:

£5.00

From Sam Jordison, co-director of this here Galley Beggar Press and author of the bestselling Crap Towns series, comes I-SPY for Grown-ups.

The I-SPY concept is very simple: it's like the 'I spy with my little eye' game, only instead of all the tedious stuff about 'something beginning with', there are pictures and descriptions and genuine opportunities to use your sleuthing skills to discover interesting things. This can be alarming - but when turned into a sport, it's also fun. At the school gates, everyone is childish. You'll see over-excitement, sexual tension, poor discipline, bad language, bullying, and temper tantrums. Especially among the parents. It really is a world unto itself - with unique fauna and its own complex set of social patterns which generally revolve around impenetrable cliques and complicated competitions. They also involve interesting displays of status and costume. All of which provide a simply topping challenge for good I-SPYers.

This book is about funny things you see at school. It made me laugh writing it. I hope you enjoy it!

Author:

Sam Jordison

Pages:

Published:

November 2016

I Spy Signs And Instructions: You Must Obey

jordison — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 09:03:49 +0000

Price:

£5.00

From Sam Jordison, co-director of this here Galley Beggar Press and author of the bestselling Crap Towns series, comes I-SPY for Grown-ups.

This book is about Signs. OBEY! OBEY! SHEEPLE MUST OBEY! It made me laugh writing it. I hope you enjoy it!

Author:

Sam Jordison

Pages:

Published:

November 2016

I Spy The UK: While It Lasts

jordison — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 09:02:07 +0000

Price:

£5.00

From Sam Jordison, co-director of this here Galley Beggar Press and author of the bestselling Crap Towns series, comes I-SPY for Grown-ups.

This book is about the UK just before Brexit completely destroys us all. It made me laugh writing it. I hope you enjoy it!

Author:

Sam Jordison

Pages:

Published:

November 2016