The House is on Fire and the Kids Are Eating Ice Cream

The House is on Fire and the Kids Are Eating Ice Cream is a collection of poems which is for those who like their coffee black and their poetry even blacker.

There are poems about death, disaster and hangovers.

About buses that are filled with a whole panoply of weird creatures and characters, the poet's very own Cleopatra, or Morticia (of both types).

Of rabbits that panicked and rabbits that didn't. And why this might be the case.

There's a house fire, sleep, or lack of it and almost everything else, besides.

Thomas R. Langton has what can only be described as a mordant sense of humour and the ability to craft some excellent poems from premises that are at once mundane but also ethereal in their nature.

It's published by Matador at £8.99 on 28th August.

The Most Beautiful Thing in the World

The Most Beautiful Thing in the World is a book of poems by Micheal D. Winterburn, with illustrations by Dave Hill.

But! It's a very special book of poems, for they are all utterly hilarious and aimed at a younger audience.

However, that's not to say that parents, grandparents and older siblings will not enjoy the humorous poems in this book. In fact, I feel that the kids might need to hide their copy of the book!

You'll read about great grandma and her very flashy, very special double decker of a mobility scooter, the many and varied adventures of a humble and rather ordinary Pound coin, what happens on the summer holidays, read what might by the shortest example of poetry in the entire world, learn what happens when a seacher caught the tlass about spoonerisms, what it's like to live in a castle.

Read about a greedy black hole in outer space, why you should eat your greens, why you should keep an eye out for cats, there's a goat who considers grass to be gross and there's everything else from a ballerina to The Strid. What's a Strid? Read the book and learn!

It's published on 28th August by Matador at £6.99.

Aya and Papaya Find Happiness

In Aya and Papaya Find Happiness We follow the pair as they set out on a journey to find all about the meaning of what true happiness is all about.

It's created by MQ and written by Andy Abey, Anne Blecker and the Qs and is superbly illustrated by Leo Antolini.

When Aya woke up one day, something felt different, not quite right. But what was it?

When she was cleaning her teeth, Aya realised that she had lot something very precious and dear to her. She had lost her happiness!

She took Papaya with her on a quest to find her happiness. They searched high, they searched low.

They searched indoors and outdoors. 

Eventually, with the help of her mummy and daddy, Aya was able to find her happiness, again.

It's a lovely book for children and parents.

It's published by Matador at £8.99.

The Forgotten Past

In his new book, The Forgotten Past, Andrew Vinken takes a very interesting look at history.

The vast majority of history is what is called top down history, or history from above, as it is also known.

But Andrew Vinken's book on history is so much more than that.

On the first page I said to myself: "I did not know that!"

And some time later, when I noticed that I'd reached page 96 without so much as a break, I thought: "I'm hooked!"

Andrew's style is chatty, witty and urbane, yet he writes with just enough academic rigour to add a little something else to this book.

It's filled, really filled, with a very mixed stew of facts that are more than a little bit interesting, perhaps bizarre, inspirational and down right fun!

Find out who was the real first person to achieve powered flight. And the answer you are thinking? Sorry! That's not the Wright answer! And even the right answer is open to debate. Read the relevant section in the book to learn all about the pioneers of powered aviation.

Also, find out which TV presenter helped (inadvertently, perhaps) to solve a foul murder that was committed 131 years previously. And learn how they could tell the killer had mutilated the corpse after death!

Learn about how an unknown Titanic victim was finally identified in 2007, read the story of the Conscientious Objector who earned many medals for bravery, including the Victoria Cross, read about Knightly murders, about Regicide, the loin cloth wearing war hero, the origins of mineral waters as being of medicinal purposes, learn of the Cock Lane ghost, of the canine haunting of a Scottish estate, find out about the nice Goering brother, of parachute pioneers and much, much more besides. Including who really gave their name to America.

It will be published by Matador on 28th August for the bargain price of £8.99.

I must confess that I am looking forward to the next book by Andrew Vinken.

A "must buy" book for holidaymakers who want a good read to take with them on their summer holiday.

Running Home

Running Home is a debut novel from Brenda Shaw that examines the themes of identity and discrimination.

After her mother dies, Denise finds it a struggle to adapt to her situation. Even more so when he father later remarries and Denise starts to feel like something of a misfit.

Tensions flair in their home ion London when Denise attempts to rival her stepmother for the love of her father

She even attempts to sabotage her stepmother's strict religious Jewish observance.

When she hits sixteen, Denise makes a shocking discovery about the death of her mother that will eventually change the course of her life.

Denise finds a measure of escape when she is in the loving company of her grandmother, Vera, who dotes on Denise.

Vera had fled to England as a child refugee from Nazi persecution. Vera assists Denise to enrol in a Sixth Form boarding college in northern England. However, vile antisemitism mars her idyllic life.

After Denise finishes at university she visits Israel and is enchanted by the modern state of Israel, but concerned at the fact it has to be continually at war with its neighbours.

After her boyfriend is wounded, seriously, she returns to England, in a state of deep distress and confusion. Interestingly moral support and sympathy from a compassionate and caring British Pakistani helps to inculcate in her a desire to continue with her life.

It's a moving and thoughtful book that is published by Matador at a cost of £8.99.

A Spot of Vengeance

A Spot of Vengeance is a new novel from author C. J.Anthony It's his exciting spy thriller debut.

Danny Swift is a former Army Intelligence operative. But he's now put all his intelligence work behind him as he is an aspiring artist.

He meets an art dealer, Hafiz De Mercurio who gives him promises of assistance to launch his fledgling career as an artist.

But there's more to De Mercurio than is apparent. It seems that behind the veneer of an art dealer, lurks something sinister.

And so it is that the British Secret Service reaches out to Danny to recruit him to covertly keep track of De Mercurio.

The Secret Service believe that a major terrorist outrage is being planned, something worse than ever before and they want to stop this from happening. As does Danny, who reluctantly re-enters the world of subterfuge, secrecy and deception that he thought he'd left behind.

They are aware that the key to the whole matter lies within a cypher that is hidden somewhere within works of art. And it's Danny's task to find out what this cypher is and why it is hidden within artworks that are on display in eleven art galleries all over the world.

As corpses mount up all over the world, including a murdered wealthy London stockbroker and the smouldering remains of a Miami art critic, Can Danny crack the code? And can he help prevent an appalling crime against the elite of the art world? And why are the elite of the art world under threat from an awakeed sleeper cell?

It's a thriller of a book from the first page right to the last.

It's published on 28thy July by Matador at £9.99.

Spangles, Glam, Gaywaves & Tubes

Spangles, Glam, Gaywaves & Tubes is the autobiography of actor, writer and the co-presenter of one of Britain's most popular T.V. shows of the 1980s, The Tube, Gary James.

Gary grew up in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Inspired and excited by the Glam Rock of the 1970s, to go to London at the forefront of the new wave cultures of both Disco and Punk.

Gary was involved in pioneering theatre productions, was part of what's claimed to be the world's first gay pirate radio broadcasts and was the first openly gay TV presenter on what's arguably still one of the best roc TV shows ever, The Tube.

His book covers his school life, which sounded like a lot of fun, to celebrate the life and work of the late Phil Cox, with whom he started the first ever shows for gay people on pirate radio in London.

Plus as he points out, his time as the world's first openly gay TV presenter on The Tube.

The show has never been rebroadcast since it was first transmitted back in 1982.

Ter's the great pop icons of the day, Bolan, Bowie, Frankie Goes to Holywood, Duran Duran, Grandmaster Flash, Soft Cell and many more besides.

This is a very important look at the pop world of the day and should be on the bookshelf of any fan of the times.

It's published by The book Guild at £12.99.