You Can't, You Won't A Life of Unarmed Combat

You Can't, You Won't, a Life of Unarmed Combat is a stunning memoir from Liverpudlian comedian Gary Skyner. Written with the assistance of Carol Fenlon, Gary tells his life story as one of the Thalidomide children.

Born in 1959 with a range of severe physical disabilities after his mother was prescribed the drug Thalidomide to calm her morning sickness when she was pregnant with Gary.

As one of the first Thalidomide children born within the UK, his life was both challenging and difficult because the drug also impaired his physical development. Indeed medical opinion varied from: "He'll not live, long" to "He'll never amount to much."

However, Gary is living proof that belies both of those medical opinions and Gary just goes to prove that there's nothing a person cannot achieve if they set their mind to it.

In his autobiography Gary shows how he was able to defy all the odds to become a successful and very popular comedian and motivational speaker.

It reveals the traumas caused by the breakdown of the marriage of his parents and of his somewhat difficult relationship with his father. Gary remains convinced that this was as the result of the strains and tribulations of raising a disabled child in 1960s Toxteth.

Gary became a passionate campaigner for the rights of Thalidomide victims to receive proper recompense and recognition for the problems that Thalidomide had caused them and their families.

This is a truly heartwarming book and it is published by Matador at £8.99 and will make a great Christmas gift for lovers of biographies.

You can order it here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

Red Sky Over Dartmoor

Red Sky Over Dartmoor is a novel from debut author Tony Rea.

It takes the reader back to A september morning in 1920. The sky above the small Devonshire village is a vivid red and three former soldiers are meeting together.

The story slips back to 1918 and moves forward with a train of linked events, including examples of bravery, rivalry, cowardice and even homicide.

Canadian artillery captain Marc Bergeron can't keep himself out of strife. Bombardier Ryan is his sidekick, an Irishman who is handy with his fists and a dead shot with a Mauser pistol.

Whilst participating in the fighting in France, Captain Bergeron meets the utterly useless and incompetent Major Cross and the reprehensible Captain Wadham. Cross and Wadham both seem for some reason, to have an axe to grind with one of their own NCOs.

When two suspicious deaths take place which are not connected to the military actions of war, Captain Bergeron is hell bent on finding out who was responsible and to making sure that the two murder victims get justice.

Which is why one of the three old soldiers will soon meet his death, belated though it might have been.

This is an extremely well-researched and very well-written book which is an ideal Chirstmas gift for those who like a well-crafted novel.

It's published by Matador at £8.99 and can be ordered at https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

AspergerWorld: My Fairy Jam Jar

Aspergerworld: My Fairy Jam Jar is a new book from Autism activist Joely Colmer through which she shares her own inspirational life story.

The book takes us through the life journey of Joely. From her childhood challenges, to to her successful completion of her education to her current position as a passionate and crusading autism activist and a campaigner working tirelessly to raise awareness amongst the public.

However, there's a good deal more to this book than that. It's also a highly useful resources for people who are living on the Autistic Spectrum, offering them useful tips and hints for coping with their daily lives.

There is also useful information for their family members and for professional health personnel on how they can best offer support and appropriate assistance to the person on the Autistic Spectrum.

It is an extremely thought-provoking and very honest and moving book.

If you have an Autistic Spectrum Disorder, have a family member or a friend who is ASD, if you are a teacher, a Doctor, a nurse, a psychologist or a school counsellor, you must buy this book.

Seriously, you must buy this book. There should be copies in every hospital resource library, every school, every doctor's surgery, every university and every FE college throughout the UK.

It is published by Matador at £12.99 and will make a wonderful Christmas gift for anyone who needs to learn more about Autism.

You can purchase it here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

Jan

Jan is a fictional thriller from former military officer Peter Haden. But it is based on the true life story of his Uncle Jan.

Jan was a young Polish boy who, due to the depression of the 1920s, was forced to seek employment in Germany, just over the border.

During the invasion of Poland by Nazi germany his sister and father brutally lose their lives and Jan's brother remains on the family farm to work with the Polish partisans.

As Nazi persecution increased, Jan was asked to help by assisting his employer's Jewish daughter to flee to a farm on the Belgian border where she could seek refuge.

After making a motor journey across Germany Jan manages to reach England.

He is given intensive specialist military training to enable him to undertake missions for the Allies.

He undertakes two missions, the first with the Polish partisan forces. He then meets up with the Jewish girl, Renate, with whom he must make reports to the Allies on the German build-up behind the Western front.

Renate and Jan are captured by the Gestapo and they must make good their escape to flee across the border into Belgium and then on to England.

It's a riveting and thrilling book, and is the third military thriller from Peter Haden.

It's published by Matador at £9.99 and really should be in the Christmas stocking of any fan of military thrillers.

You can purchase it here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

Storyteller

Storyteller, On the Journey of Poetry, is the third collection of poems from David Hamilton.

It is like no other collection of poems that I have ever read before. And I mean that in a very good and very positive light.

David Hamilton is a poet for the modern age, yet he is able to drawn upon the poetic traditions of Homer, Chaucer, Pope and Tennyson.

It's not just a collection of poems, it contains the distilled wisdom of the author, plus a collection of extremely high quality photographs (all taken by David Hamilton) that really add to the vitality of this anthology. 

There are poems, sonnets and stories told from the perspective of a variety of historical characters, all smartly linked together by the weaving prose of David Hamilton who acts in the guise of a literary master of ceremonies. And what splendid ceremonies they are!

The book is published by Matador and costs £12.99 and will make an excellent Christmas gift for the poetry reader in your life. And for the non-poetry reader too, for that matter.

Will also be a useful purpose for poetry lecturers, too.

It can be purchased here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

Blackhart

Blackhart is a novel from D L Millan.

In the year 1822 Lord Blackhart is thrilling his young grandsons with the stories of a mystical curse that has been placed upon their family. It is the story of the Black Dove.

But the threat will only come good should the Blackhart line die out.

The story then moves to the present day when a teenage girl by the name of Callie follows a mysterious stranger and finds herself in a totally different world.

A battle, using the powers of magic, breaks out between the mysterious stranger (who is called Alex) and James Blackhart and his cohorts.

In the nick of time reinforcements arrive in the form of the Doves, who are Alexis' previously estranged sisters.

The Blackharts flee to their home in the early 19th century.

It becomes clear that the two time streams have become linked due a a Blackhart portal, which is an ability unique to the family, which gives them the ability to travel backward and forward in time.

James Blackhart's niece lives with the sisters and sahe discovers evidence that Callie's late father was a creator of portals.

Callie and Alexis meet, once again, under extremely trying circumstances and a secret from Callie's life is revealed. A secret that has haunted her for years.

Callie is drawn into a dangerous world of time travel and magic, where she learns about ancient secrets and the curse of the Black Dove.

This book is published by The Book Guild at £9.49 and can be purchased here
https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

Aaron's Rod

In 1938, during archaeological digs at Lachish, James Starkey discovered a copper scroll that had been buried in a clay cylinder, hidden beneath a pyramid of skulls. 

It is believed to date back to the 7th century and the Assyrian conquest. The contents of the scroll are so shocking that Starkey decides to hide them in a cave where his body is found the next day.

Some 70 years later Professor Joshua Black, professor of surgery at London University, is discovered hanging from a tree on Hampstead Heath. It's theorised that he committed suicide.

But not everyone is convinced of this, including an elderly and somewhat genteel older lady called Olive Hathaway. Dr Sanjay Manchanda also doubts that it was a suicide and the Indian born doctor and the elderly widow team up as a somewhat unlikely detective team.

The duo follow a trail from London to the Holy Land and discover the mysterious scroll that had been hidden  decades previously.

Deep beneath the site of the temple of the ancient Samarian Kingdom, near to the modern day borders of Syria and the Golan Heights they discover an amazing treasure trove hidden in a secret vault.

But why were ISIL interested in their search? And what, exactly, would they find?

This is a compelling adventure novel and at £7.99 will make a spiffing Christmas gift.

It's published by Matador at £7.99 and can be bought here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.