This two-volume anthology brings much of the rich heritage conveniently together for your reading. In this first volume, prepare yourself to sit at the feet of the main representatives of the Chen Village, including Chen Xiaowang, Chen Xiaoxing, and Wang Xi’an. Perhaps of greater importance are the clear explanations outlining each step in the learning process toward mastering Chen-style t’ai chi. Chapters included here clarify what proper training entails and why much tim...

The nation's favourite annual guide to the short story, now in its sixth year.Best British Short Stories invites you to judge a book by its cover – or more accurately, by its title. This new series aims to reprint the best short stories published in the previous calendar year by British writers, whether based in the UK or elsewhere. The editor's brief is wide ranging, covering anthologies, collections, magazines, newspapers and web sites, looking for the b...

Longlisted for The Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2024The countryside – what is it for? A paradise on earth where you can relax and get creative? Or an outdoor wool factory where every other house is an Airbnb and there are fewer trees than Camden. In his new collection of short stories David Gaffney explores the theme of town versus country through a number of different lenses, including his own experience of being brought up in west Cumbria then moving to Manchester...

Aromabingo builds on the critical success of David Gaffney's 2006 collection Sawn-off Tales, offering yet more of Gaffney's weird and edgy ultra-shorts, plus several longer works, so you can spend even more time inside the baffling, hilarious and sometimes moving world of a David Gaffney story. Think Magnus Mills mashed with the League of Gentlemen with a jolt of Mark E. Smithery for grit, and you're nearly there. Though many of his stories are shorter than a Napalm Death snarl, these prec...

This book represents an international gathering of friends who happen to be highly qualified martial art scholars and practitioners. We have come together in celebration of the more than twenty years the Journal of Asian Martial Arts inspired scholarship in this field to higher academic standards while encouraging all aspects of responsible practice. Each article was written specifically for this banquet, with topics representing the rich variety found in the Asian martial traditi...

Three ordinary weirdos, one recurring dream. The acclaimed minds behind The Three Rooms in Valerie’s Head return with a whimsical and ambitious portrait of human connection in the age of digital fragmentation. You meet the strangest people on the internet. Gideon is a lonely I.T. developer, obsessed by a comic book from childhood called Revenge of the Ghoulors, and secretly in love with his co-worker Lisa. Heidi works at home in her pyjamas, makes a lot of soup, and wishes she had time for...

Thick with owls and badgers, oak trees and wood piles, scarecrows and ghosts, and Tom Cox's loud and excitable dad, this book is full of the folklore of several counties the ancient kind and the everyday variety as well as wild places, mystical spots and curious objects. Emerging from this focus on the detail are themes that are broader and bigger and more important than ever.Tom's writing treads a new path, one that has a lot in common with a rambling country walk; it's bewitched ...

Life the Lipman way is always unexpected, and the hilarious and witty way in which she recalls her adventures and misadventures has made her a bestselling author and national treasure. Past-it Notes is the ultimate Maureen Lipman collection, drawing on choice material from her six previous books (re-visited and re-worked) laced with a heady dose of extremely funny new autobiographical material.Past-it Notes is packed with beguiling showbiz anecdotes, wonderful stories, eccentric cha...

From the critically acclaimed, award-winning author comes a collection of uniquely inventive stories that thread the labyrinth of coincidence, chance, and connections missed and made.What happens when you run into Death in a busy train station? (You know he’s Death because when he smiles, your cell phone goes dead.) What if your lover falls in love with a tree? Should you be jealous? From the woman pursued by a band of bagpipers in full regalia to the artist who’s ...

The third in a series of annual anthologies, The Best British Short Stories 2013 reprints the cream of short fiction, by British writers, first published in 2012. These stories appeared in magazines from the Edinburgh Review to Granta, in anthologies from various publishers, and in authors' own short story collections. They appeared online at 3:AM Magazine, Fleeting and elsewhere.This new anthology includes stories by: Charles Boyle, Reg...

According to the World Taekwondo Federation, there are over 90,000,000 taekwondo practitioners worldwide. Every level 1 black belt student is required to learn Poomsae Koryo. Yet, few are familiar with the ancestral form known as the 'Original Koryo'.Prearranged forms known as poomsae in taekwondo, are a primary method of transmitting martial arts skills from teacher to student. As sport preference supplanted fighting preference in taekwondo's reason for existence, the Original Kor...

'Walters's book . . . has moments of Alan Bennett warmth' SUNDAY TIMES'Humorous and . . . moving' WOMAN AND HOME'I was enthralled by her memoirs' A. N. Wilson, READER'S DIGESTHer mum wanted her to be a nurse so that is what Julie did.But in her heart she had always wanted to be an actress and soon she was on stage at the local theatre in Liverpool. Her career snowballed with highli...