The Dropout offers a sly, edgy new twist on themes from The Graduate and American Pie and is a 21st-century ‘coming-of-age’ drama.19-year-old Paul Barrett is having a tough time at university. His American girlfriend Meredith is a Silver Ring virgin who won’t put out. Their best friend Neil has a worrying crush on Paul. When Meredith dumps Paul and Neil commits suicide, Paul drops out of uni and retreats to the south-coast hometown he calls ‘Boredom-on-Sea’, where he goes to work for his uncle Jack, selling furniture to continental buyers. Two more women enter his life: Jenny, his uncle’s foxy stepdaughter; and Christine, Jack’s gold-digging mistress, the office receptionist. And Paul attracts another gay admirer. His life is heading to the brink – and taking other lives with him.Paul’s is the young voice of today – always hoping to get laid, it takes him a while to realise that what he’s really looking for is love.

Jenna’s life is perfect . . . perfect chaos! One lousy Monday, Jenna loses her gorgeous job, her even more gorgeous boyfriend, and her home. In an attempt to put aside her personal woes, Jenna goes to catalogue books for an elderly cousin, Kitty Everest, at her country mansion. Horrified to discover that Kitty may be forced to sell Holtby House, Jenna throws herself into a scheme to save it. But when an attempt is made on her life, Jenna finds herself in a race to save Holtby, Kitty – and herself.

Drawing on two centuries of important literary and historical writings, Rebecca Shannonhouse has shaped a remarkable collection of works that are, in turn, tragic, compelling, hilarious, and enlightening. Together, these selections comprise a profound and truthful portrait of the life experience known as addiction. Under the Influence offers classic selections from fiction, memoirs, and essays by authors such as Tolstoy, Cheever, Parker, and Poe. Also included are topical gems by writers who illuminate the causes, dangers, pleasures, and public perceptions surrounding people consumed by excessive use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Recent provocative works by Abraham Verghese, the Barthelme brothers, Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, and others expand and modernize the definition of addiction to include sex, gambling, and food. Together, these incomparable writings give shape and meaning to the raw experience of uncontrollable urges. Shannonhouse’s recent anthology, Out of Her Mind: Women Writing on Madness, is also available as a Modern Library Paperback.

A blues musician is blasted into a parallel world in a novel that’s “a houserockin’ good time” cowritten by the New York Times–bestselling author (Booklist). Slim’s a Texas bluesman of a certain age, down on his luck and just about broke—but hey, that’s what the blues are all about. He loves his music: “Not the popular blues, homogenized, synthesized, and zombilized; but the real down-home gut-bucket blues.” Then one day the music loves him back. In a single hot burst of lightning that comes straight up out of the ground, Slim finds himself in Tejas. It’s a little bit magic and a whole lot different, but the blues are the same. And the blues—manifest here in the form of a maple-necked, pearl-gray Fender Stratocaster with blue-chrome pickups, aka the Gutbucket—need him and need him bad. The Strat’s fallen into the hands of T-Bone Pickens and his Vipers, who want to suck up all its power and turn it to evil. Slim’s off and running on the Gutbucket Quest, with the help of his new mentor, rhythm guitarist Progress T. Hornsby, and a purely unstoppable blues singer named Nadine.

The stories in Alternative Medicine can be broadly defined as black comedy with a twist of surrealism. This collection features two Bridport finalists (2004, 2005) and one Willesden Herald finalist (2007). In the story 'Sprout' a woman starts sprouting feathers after purchasing a demonic duvet. The narrator of 'The Most Ordinary Man in the World' glimpses a life free from his sister's tyranny only to end back firmly under her thumb. In 'The Killing Jar' a boy's spider spies on his adulterous father and reports back to its owner. In 'The New Heart' a man experiences somebody else's memories after receiving a heart transplant. The story 'Mandy' features a strangely obsessed protagonist. Everyday sadness at a refugee going blind is sketched out in 'Blindness'. Childhood relationships are depicted in the short story 'Pets' and in 'Piano Lessons/War Stories' the narrator reflects upon her grandfather's time fighting in World War 2. A girl's disappointing relationships with her parents are portrayed in 'The Eternal Disappointment of the Much Anticipated Event.' The stories show human life in various forms and endeavours.

Straight from the horses mouth? Sullivan tells it like it isor wasback in the days when the highways and by-ways of Ireland were home to a new wave of horse-drawn travelers enjoying the twilight years of the long acre and the open road. Between overheard conversations and communication with the other animals he encounters, Sullivan recounts and recalls the misadventures and mishaps, along with the new experiences of his first year as a working horse.