Each of the tiny tales in this collection takes its title headline from the BBC News Website. But this isn't reportage by any stretch of the imagination. The choice of headline provided a catalyst for a daily act of invention. They are stories of fleeting moments, high drama and pop culture mash ups, prose, lists and confessionals. Read individually or collectively the effect is similar to channel surfing - fuzzy logic and blurred connections appear and through this the collection finds it...

'ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY' INDEPENDENTWinner of the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize'Astonishingly accomplished'THE TIMES'Remarkable'OBSERVER'Gripping'NEW YORK TIMES'Fabulously atmospheric'GUARDIAN'Engros...

Brace yourself for Frankie’s novel, he’s more outspoken and brilliantly inappropriate than ever.There are fears that this year could see the start of a double-dip recession, or worse still a double-dip-with-misery-sprinkles and f**k-where’s-my-job?-sauce. Why not chuckle into the howling void as taloned fingers reach up to consume you with Frankie Boyle’s book, Work! Consume! Die!In Work! Consume! Die! stand-up comedy's favourite pessimist, Frankie Boyle, offers his outrage...

As seen on This Time with Alan Partridge on BBC One.THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERPraise for Nomad:'Funniest book of the year' Sunday Telegraph'Alan Partridge's Nomad is almost certainly the funniest book ever written' Caitlin Moran'Sensationally funny. What brilliant writing' Richard Osman'Sensational' Jenny Colgan'Hilarious' Jon Ronson'Brilliantly...

Would you like to eat whatever you want and still lose weight?Who wouldn't? Keep dreaming, imbecile.In the meantime, if you'd like to read something that alternates between laugh-out-loud-funny and apocalyptically angry, keep holding this book. Steal it if necessary.In his latest collection of rants, raves, hastily spluttered articles and scarcely literate scrawl, Charlie Brooker proves that there is almost nothing in this universe, big or small, that can't reduce a...

Rupert Everett's first memoir - Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins - was an international bestseller and an instant classic on publication in 2006. Reviewers compared him to Evelyn Waugh, David Niven, Noel Coward and Lord Byron. But Rupert Everett is - of course - one of a kind.Mischievous, touching and nothing less than brilliant, this new memoir is filled with stories, from childhood to the present. Astonishing encounters; tragedy and comedy; vivid portraits of friends a...

Polite, pensive, mature, reserved ...Charlie Brooker is none of these things and less. Picking up where his hilarious Screen Burn left off, Dawn of the Dumb collects the best of Charlie Brooker's recent TV writing, together with uproarious spleen-venting diatribes on a range of non-televisual subjects - tackling everything from David Cameron to human hair.Rude, unhinged, outrageous, and above all funny, Dawn of the Dumb is essential reading for anyone wit...

The cat sat comfortably on the wall.Are you sitting comfortably?Then I will continue.As you know cats like to sit. Sometimes they like to sit and think, and sometimes they just like to sit. But on this occasion the cat was sitting and thinking,'What a lovely day'.But little did the cat know that it was all going to go horribly wrong.

The idea for this book came when Stephanie began making a list of things that annoy her about her husband, and found how hard it was, once she had started, to stop. Here are the first Ten Things, just to give you an idea. He:(1) Leaves the bread unwrapped after making toast so it goes stale.(2) Writes illegible names and addresses on things like Christmas cards then tells her off when she try to amend them.(3) Breathes really loudly when he's asleep - 'I wasn't SNOR...

Featuring:Sarah Hall, Lucy Wood, Lisa Blower, Lavinia Greenlaw and Lionel Shriver.Edgar Allan Poe once claimed the greatest literary works were those that could be read ’in one sitting’. ‘Brevity must be in direct ratio of the intensity of the intended effect,’ he argued, once the effect has been established, of course.The stories shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2013 all use brevity with striking results, whether presenting a comp...

William McInnes, one of Australia's best-known storytellers and actors, has turned to a subject that is close to his heart. Fatherhood is about family, about memories of his father and the memories he's creating as a dad himself, with his own son and daughter.Warm, witty and nostalgic, these tales are just like a friendly chat over the back fence, or the banter of a backyard BBQ. They will stir your own memories: of hot summer days and cooling off under the sprinkler while Dad work...