"With the birth of information theory and cybernetics in the late 1940s and early 1950s," writes John Johnston, "a decisive step was taken toward the immense techno-scientific transformation of the world into coded bits of 'information' and machinic assemblages." Beginning with Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, the novels that have reflected this transformation have similarly assembled disparate bits of information and narrative into fictions saturated with data and transcrib...

If you asked her parents, teachers and psychiatrists, they would all say that Francis Kelly is a deeply troubled young lady. However, as far as Francis can see, this is unfair, as they are not that well-adjusted, either. But even she can recognise that things are not going well at home and school, and with friends like Billy Rowley, she could do without her numerous enemies. Thankfully for Francis, when you can manipulate time, your problems have solutions.

Drinking in the Lincolnshire Fens is not Matt Crowther’s idea of a good stag night. But when you include the whims of a capricious child, the wrath of an American General, and mysterious games in a far-flung Indian restaurant, this promises to be an evening like no other. Throw in belligerent clowns, mutated tree frogs, hallucinogenic insects, pan-dimensional jellyfish, and an errant goat, and even Crowther might agree that he has taken a few too many drugs. But this is what you get on a n...

A lifetime of restraint and placid affection erupts when a retired bank manager falls for a youngh girl. Set in Cumbria, this is an intensely moving evocation of an overwhelming passion and its destructive kernel of jealousy.

Isabel is a young Catalan woman from a conventional family. She makes her living cleaning - in a pizza factory at night, and in the home of a middle-aged writer during the day. But she's hiding a secret life: one filled with multiple sexual partners and dangerous erotic encounters. When she goes to clean the writer's house, she gradually begins to tell him more about this side of her, until he becomes the confidant to her very darkest secrets. She trusts him - he is the only man she knows ...

Fixed Ideas is a restless and effective tale of desire, gender and longing, about fundamental loneliness and the constant, gnawing awareness that threatens our ability to encounter one another as the person we really are.The story of a young woman and a slightly older man, both working at a newspaper in Oslo, who have a one night stand. Fixed Ideas explores how their relationship and perception of each other develops in the aftermath.

When faced with any member of the medical profession, your author does not demonstrate that British ideal of a stiff upper lip. Oh no, as recounted here he becomes a big gibbering coward, afraid of needles. He's been sliced open, several times, stitched back up again and had those stitches taken out – and discovered how horribly painful that is. He's been subjected to all manner of indignities, some lunatic treatments and linguistic confusion. To top it all, he's still got his bad knee, a ...

What is real and what is fantasy? Is happiness real, or simply a fragmented dream, half forgotten in the mire of consciousness? For some, happiness exists in the form of that one impossible person standing just beyond their grasp...

We'll leave it up to Mr Donwood to tell you about his excellent collection of 'Extremely Miserable Stories'.This is the first book I did, now republished in a new edition. This is rather an elegant publication, and if enough of them sell then the publishers might print my next book. Ha! 'The most troubling explorations of thought and situation are described with clarity and minimalism like that of haiku genetically spliced with propaganda leaflets and air-sickness-bag instructions'...

Frank can't believe his ears when he hears the voice of a little child calling out in the darkness. That's not the sort of thing one expects to hear in the middle of the night from the depths of the local coal mine.As a constable he is duty bound to help. He switches on his torch and enters the long, dark, filthy shaft. But there's much more to this night than he could ever have imagined.

In this second collection Kizzy Lee brings the reader more spine tingling and often outright horror, tales of weird fiction, all with an element of suspense and often with a twist that you dont expect, aiming to entertain and take the reader away from the mundane Kizzy Lee never fails to bring a little fear and excitment in the life of the reader.

Unbuttoned McLuhan! An intimate exploration of Marshall McLuhan’s ideas in his own wordsIn the last twenty years of his life, Marshall McLuhan published – often in collaboration with others – a series of books that established his reputation as the pre-eminent seer of the modern age. It was McLuhan who made the distinction between “hot” and “cool” media. It was he who observed that “the medium is the message” and who tossed off dozens of other equally memorable phr...