Why would criminals kidnap a cuddly teddy bear? Or monsters attack a kid for picking his nose? 'Cause Nice is overrated

Extremely nasty things happen when a rich divorcée, an ambitious music mogul, and an extremely horny high school virgin all cross paths in a delicious web of insatiable lust, obsession, and revenge. Nicola is beautiful, wealthy -- and newly divorced. Angry and bitter with the world over her life's failures, she goes on a sexual rampage and destroys everything in her path. She begins to slowly move in on one unsuspecting family with her sexual charms. She starts up a hot-and-heavy relationship with Carlos, a young music executive with big dreams and an even larger sexual appetite. Then she deflowers Carlos's wholesome brother, Jonathan, an up-and-coming basketball star. She's definitely on fire, but the summer is already hot for so many other reasons. Things get even more complicated when Carlos's mother is reunited with the love of her life. Eli is a recovering substance abuser and the father of her eldest child, Tarik, a talented neo-soul artist on the cusp of greatness. Thanks to Carlos's expert music management, Tarik was only seconds away from signing a major record deal -- but Eli's unexpected arrival disrupts everything. Now that the family's core strength is completely weakened, Nicola can finally be her truly ruthless self. The summer continues to sizzle for this family as Nicola's grip tightens around the men who would sacrifice everything for her.

Mr Nasty charts the rise, fall and ultimate redemption of a wannabe player in the global narcotics business. From humble beginnings on the streets of London's East End, Cameron White rapidly ascended the drug ladder of London's club scene before notorious local criminals forced him to move to the US. There, he soon found himself aboard a cocaine-fuelled roller-coaster ride, transporting him from encounters with psychotic, crack-dealing Jamaicans in New York to luncheons with Hollywood's glitterati. The American adventure was to reach its inevitable conclusion in a drive-by shooting in the barrios of LA.Back in London, a dull nine-to-five existence did nothing to quell White's narco-inclinations. Cue a chemical vacation in Thailand and an effortless metamorphosis from recreational drug user to fully fledged smack addict in Berlin. White's eventual wake-up call came after he robbed some innocent tourists to feed his heroin habit. Stunned to realise how low he had sunk, he was determined to get clean and his gold-star efforts at rehabilitation were rewarded with an opportunity to start again in Australia. Faced with temptation once more, White's good intentions were to prove short-lived and he slid into the murky world of substance abuse in Sydney. But this time things were different and a gradual but life-defining epiphany rescued White from the edge. Mr Nasty is a thrilling yet cautionary tale of a decade lived within the narcotics underworld. Illuminating both the exciting and destructive sides of such an existence, it is ultimately a testament to how a strong will can sometimes overcome the lure of vice and break the chains of addiction.

Following the success of ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ and ‘The Post-Birthday World’, ‘Game Control’ is coming back into print after being unavailable for years.

This debut story collection “masterfully navigates adverse conditions of migrant life while . . . managing to find joy and amusement, love and triumph” (San Francisco Chronicle). Gordo brings readers inside a migrant workers camp near Watsonville, California in the 1970s. At the heart of these interrelated stories is a young, probably gay, boy named Gordo, who must find a way to contend with the notions of manhood imposed on him by his father. As he comes of age, Gordo learns about sex, watches his father’s drunken fights, and discovers even his own documented Mexican-American parents are wary of illegal migrants. We also meet Fat Cookie, high schooler and resident artist who runs away from home one day with her mother’s boyfriend, Manny. And then there are Los Tigres, the twins who show up every season and whose drunken brawl ends with one of them rushed to the emergency room in an upholstered chair tied to the back of a pick-up truck. These scenes from Steinbeck Country are full of humor, family drama, and a sweet frankness about serious questions: Who belongs to America and how are they treated? How does one learn decency when grown adults must fear for their lives and livelihoods? Gordo “announces a vibrant new voice on the literary scene, at once wise and authentic and supremely gifted” (Booklist, starred review). Finalist for the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

In the second installment of the Syras Scribbles series, Syra makes her New Years resolution to be thankful in all circumstances, little knowing how difficult it will be to keep. She immediately gets caught up in the daily drama of taking care of three small children and her ailing mother and suddenly finds her family moving across the country. These intimate letters chronicle everything from perfect days of complete contentedness to months of sickness, sorrow, and an unanswered prayer. Syra shares her struggles and triumphs with an honesty and humor that inspires.

The “fresh, provocative, engrossing” literary journal explores the nature of power in its various forms with new stories, essays, and poetry (BBC.com). Spouse to spouse, soldier to citizen, looker to gazed upon, power is never static: it is either demonstrated or deployed. This thought-provoking issue of the acclaimed literary anthology Freeman’s explores who gets to say what matters in a time of social upheaval. Margaret Atwood posits it is time to update the gender of werewolf narratives. Aminatta Forna shatters the silences which supposedly ensured her safety as a woman of color walking in public spaces. The narrator of Lan Samantha Chang’s short story finally wrenches control of the family’s finances from her husband only to make a fatal mistake. Meanwhile the hero of Tahmima Anam’s story achieves freedom by selling bull semen. Booker Prize winner Ben Okri watches power stripped from the residents of Grenfell Tower by ferocious neglect. Meanwhile, Barry Lopez remembers fourteen glimpses of power, from the moment he hitched a ride on a cargo plane in Korea to the glare he received from a bear traveling with her cubs in the woods, asking—do you intend me harm? Featuring work from brand new writers Nicole Im, Jaime Cortez, and Nimmi Gowrinathan, as well as from some of the world’s best storytellers, including US poet laureate Tracy K. Smith, Franco-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, and Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, Freeman’s: Power escapes from the headlines of today and burrows into the heart of the issue.

Jonny Meets Mr Nasty is about the further adventures of our hero. He meets some new aliens, and some want him dead while some are a little nicer, albeit a little stoned. He also meets some very affectionate goddesses and has a bit of fun with them.