Part memoir, part social history, Revolutionary Spirit is the poignant, often hilarious story of a cult Liverpool musician’s scenic route to fame and artistic validation. If Morrissey was the Oscar Wilde of the 1980s indie scene, Simpson was its William Blake, a self destructive genius so lost in mystical visions of a new Arcadia that he couldn’t meet the rent.Simpson’s career begins alongside fellow Liverpool luminaries Julian Cope, Ian McCulloch, Bill Dr...

Winner of the 1997 International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts Best Non-fiction BookIn 1897, Archibald Constable & Company published a novel by the unheralded Bram Stoker. That novel, Dracula, has gone on to become perhaps the most influential novel of all time. To commemorate the centennial of that great novel, Carol Margaret Davison has brought together this collection of essays by some of the world’s leading scholars. The essays analyze Stoker’s orig...

A selection from the McElroy meditations for wisdom and understanding the problems of life, for help in conquering troubles, for serenity and facing forward with new confidence. Lovely, simple illustrations by Stanley Clough."For many thousands who have been in pain or trouble, doubt or grief, the calm wise "Meditations" of Dr. McElroy have been like a helping hand, held out to guide them over rough stretches on the road of life. To reach Dr. McElroy and his healing words, people in...

An analysis of twenty-nine of the most famous theories, featuring assassinations, military operations, aliens, secret societies, and government conspiracies.Conspiracies. They happen every day. All it takes is a couple of people and a secret, nefarious plan. But then there are big conspiracy theories—the assassinations, cover-ups, and shadow governments that are endlessly debated on talk radio and the Internet. Are they real? Are they even possible? Or are they just...

Published in time for the 2014 World Cup, the ultimate collection of soccer's greatest lore and legends, illustrated with 100 black-and-white photos, by two of the world's most knowledgeable soccer journalists.Who Invented the Bicycle Kick? is a rollicking ride through soccer history that will surprise and delight fans old and new. Veteran soccer journalists Uli Hesse and editor Paul Simpson bring together the sublime feats, legendary personalities, neglected heroes, bizar...

2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the publication of Stephen King’s first novel Carrie in April 1974. Rescued from the rubbish by his wife Tabitha, the novel launched the Maine schoolteacher on a prolific and extraordinarily successful career. His name has become synonymous with horror and suspense through over fifty works, including The Dark Tower, a retelling of Byron’s Childe Harold to the Dark Tower Came.Simpson traces the writer’s life from his diff...

How is The Colour Code different to other books on colour? Well, the short answer is that it is a whole lot more fun - not least because it is extensively illustrated. We don't just get a story about Mummy Brown (the pigment made from Egyptian mummies), we see a painting created with pigments from the remains of French kings. We are reminded of the blue/gold dress that swept Twitter, view paintings by Mondrian (red ones sell for higher prices) and Van Eyck (he invented an enduring...

With the thought of treasure, Isle of Wight islander, Derek Williams researched ancient local wreck records. Top of his extensive wreck list was the 40-gun frigate Assurance lost in 1753 while returning from Jamaica with Governor Trelawny on board, whose story possibly inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Treasure Island. Derek’s first dive at the western point of the Isle of Wight called “The Needles” put him on top of cannons, various wreckage and Spanish-American “Pieces of Eight”, ...

What if Dorothy Gale wasn't the only person who went to see the Wizard of Oz?MGM's landmark 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, did not mark the beginning of adventures in Oz. Both before and since, dozens of tales have been told of the Marvellous Land of Oz, and its inhabitants such as the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger and Jack Pumpkinhead.In this fascinating and wide-ranging book, Paul Simpson looks back a...

Building on the work of the previous volumes in the Sex and Intimacy in Later Life series, this book explores how resexualisation may take place in later life.Drawing on transdisciplinary and international content, it provides a theoretically and experientially informed overview and discussion of resexualisation, highlighting important areas of research in a nascent area of study.This volume covers a range of sexual identities and ageing populations, blending cultural repre...

Literature on sex, intimacy and sexuality in later life has been heavily influenced by perspectives from more affluent regions, perpetuating the belief that the West is more sexually progressive and liberal than other cultures.This book challenges this belief by exploring diverse cultures and perspectives from the majority world, which are often overlooked. It highlights the importance of learning from cultures in the global South and East, dismantling stereotypes that frame them a...

An incredible 30,000 flights – at least – arrive safely at their destinations every day. But a handful don’t, while some come terrifyingly close to crashing. When even the smallest thing does go wrong at 35,000 feet, the result is nearly always a fast-unfolding tragedy.This extensive collection of compelling real-life accounts of air disasters and near-disasters provides a sobering, alternative history of the just over 105 years that passengers have been travelling by air, from the...