Manchester, United Kingdom, 1994 When a young, gang leader is shot dead and killed in broad daylight, his brother strongly suspects opposing gang-leader, Storm Michaels, is responsible. Storm lives a double life, leader of the Grange Close gang, and his mother's, (Queenie) doting son, with a good job as jewellery sales representative, and can do no wrong. Just when he is about to give up the gang life to concentrate on his son and daughter, and conflicts with his women, he finds himself divided concerning his loyalties. In the midst of this is Queenie, who came to England and settled in Moss Side, in the early seventies, following her husband Vermont. After the marriage deteriorates. Queenie is forced to bring up two sons alone in the area with no idea that one of her sons is a notorious gang-leader and that her life is under threat. In the dark Winter that follows, the war between the two feuding gangs, Pier Mill Massive and the Grange Close crew steps up. Two Generals fighting for control of one army, for control of the streets, the clubs, and even the local black businesses, claiming a stake (taxing) of profits and of course vengeance. By the time Storm realises that his family is under threat it is almost too late. His younger brother, up-and-coming sound system engineer eighteen-year-old Zukie, becomes the main focus of the Piper Mill’s craving-for-revenge and unstable new leader, Jigsy and Jigsy’s message is simple: 'A brother for a brother, a life for a life.' "The side of Manchester people never get to see...wicked stuff" - Victor Headley, author of best-selling Jamaican gangster novel YARDIE. "A rare glimpse into a world in which the women are hopelessly patient and the men little more than demanding children obsessed with their toys is grimly exotic and extremely readable. " - Times Literary Supplement. "Karline Smith is an author that is certainly going places." - The Voice Newspaper. “This book is a jewel. A time-piece that captures an era, revisited through its pages. Pulsating with tension, Moss Side Massive is peppered with historical moments. Music, streets, clubs, street language, gang-grooming and culture, generational conflict, despondency and at that time, hopelessness. Fantastic.” - City Life Magazine.

Released from prison bad boy Easy-Love Brown is out ready to reclaim Manchester’s gangster crown after wasting time doing time, time has brought him new enemies but as grandma says, “if you want to swim in the river, first you have to kill the crocodiles.” Seventeen-year-old Danny Boy Ranks leader of the Worlders Crew has a vile mouth and a temper to match and he doesn’t believe no man riding on his grind. Ranks’ ambition is to “out Easy’s light” while avoiding clashing with Yardie godmother, leader of the Dodge Crew, Miss Small who wants to be reunited with the son she abandoned as a baby and give up the hustle. Easy figures that if he can manipulate Miss Small, he can take over her crew because as grandma always says, strength comes in numbers.Realising that he too, has to increase numbers, it doesn’t take long for Danny to work out that ex-gang leader, Storm Michaels is hiding the truth from his brother Zukie who is suffering from memory loss after a car crash and doesn’t remember that Storm caused the death of his best friend in a payback gone wrong. Storm has given up the gun for good, no longer in a gang, but Danny believes that once a street soldier always a street soldier, blackmailing Storm to get him to eradicate Easy. Storm, Zukie, Ranks and Easy-Love, find they have unresolved issues and challenges from the past and present to face in the sequel to the best-selling novel, Moss Side Massive, from the UK’s first first black female crime writer. “Rolling along at a terrific lick, a highly original take on the American crime novel is as claustrophobic as Pelecanos (acclaims writer of The hit TV series ‘The Wire’) and as soapy/dysfunctional as Franzen” Times Literary Supplement “Karline Smith captures both atmosphere and a pervading feel of evil. She's undoubtedly a writer to watch...." - Reviewing the Evidence

In this powerhouse first novel, Karline Smith graphically portrays the harsh realities of life on the mean streets of Manchester's Moss Side district where baby-faced drug dealers ply their trade on mountain bikes whilst gun shots shatter the night air. Written with compelling authenticity - much of it based on first-hand experience - Moss Side Massive takes the reader into the heart of a world where the gun is God and respect' means fast money or a quick death.'

The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English offers the ultimate record of modern American Slang. The 25,000 entries are accompanied by citations that authenticate the words as well as offer lively examples of usage from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, television shows, musical lyrics, and Internet user groups. Etymology, cultural context, country of origin and the date the word was first used are also provided. This informative, entertaining and sometimes shocking dictionary is an unbeatable resource for all language aficionados out there.

In this breathtaking memoir, acclaimed author Alex Wheatle details how reggae music became his salvation through a childhood marred by abuse, imprisonment, and police brutality. —Selected for the In the Margins Book Awards 2024 Top Ten Title List and 2024 Nonfiction Recommendation List "In this inspiring, often harrowing narrative, the author chronicles how, shortly after he turned 3, he was abandoned by his parents and placed in the care of the government. That led to a childhood of physical and sexual abuse on top of the racism and police brutality he experienced growing up in Brixton, England, in the 1970s and ’80s . . . As dark as his early memories are, Wheatle describes his reggae memories with glimmers of hope and appreciation . . . A striking tribute to reggae’s ability to protect a fragile soul when seemingly everything else had failed him." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review Abandoned as a baby to the British foster care system, Alex Wheatle grew up without any knowledge of his Jamaican parentage or family history. Preoccupied with his own roots, Alex grew inexorably drawn to reggae music, which became his primary solace through years of physical and mental abuse in a children’s home. Although riven by loneliness and depression, Alex found joy and empathy among his reggae heroes: Dennis Brown, Bob Marley, Marcia Griffiths, the Mighty Diamonds, Sister Nancy, Gregory Isaacs, Barrington Levy, King Yellowman, and so many others. These were friends and mentors who understood the enormous challenges facing a young Black man, gave purpose to despair, provided a sense of belonging when Alex had no one, and who educated him in ways no school ever could. From the abuse he suffered in foster care, to the challenges he faced on the streets of South London as a young man and his eventual imprisonment for participating in the legendary 1981 Brixton uprising against racial injustice, reggae music always provided a lifeline to Alex. Alex’s life story was portrayed in Oscar Award–winning director Steve McQueen’s 2020 Small Axe. In Sufferah, he vividly tells his own story, putting the reader in his shoes through the many challenges of his younger years, answering the question: how on earth did he make it? By his example we are reminded that words can be our sustenance, and music can be our heartbeat.

Entry includes attestations of the head word's or phrase's usage, usually in the form of a quotation. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Booklist Top of the List Reference Source The heir and successor to Eric Partridge's brilliant magnum opus, The Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, this two-volume New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is the definitive record of post WWII slang. Containing over 60,000 entries, this new edition of the authoritative work on slang details the slang and unconventional English of the English-speaking world since 1945, and through the first decade of the new millennium, with the same thorough, intense, and lively scholarship that characterized Partridge's own work. Unique, exciting and, at times, hilariously shocking, key features include: unprecedented coverage of World English, with equal prominence given to American and British English slang, and entries included from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, South Africa, Ireland, and the Caribbean emphasis on post-World War II slang and unconventional English published sources given for each entry, often including an early or significant example of the term’s use in print. hundreds of thousands of citations from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, and songs illustrating usage of the headwords dating information for each headword in the tradition of Partridge, commentary on the term’s origins and meaning New to this edition: A new preface noting slang trends of the last five years Over 1,000 new entries from the US, UK and Australia New terms from the language of social networking Many entries now revised to include new dating, new citations from written sources and new glosses The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is a spectacular resource infused with humour and learning – it’s rude, it’s delightful, and it’s a prize for anyone with a love of language.

What is Manchester? Moving far from the glitzy shopping districts and architectural showpieces, away from cool city-centre living and modish cultural centres, this book shows us the unheralded, under-appreciated and overlooked parts of Greater Manchester in which the majority of Mancunians live, work and play. It tells the story of the city thematically, using concepts such a ‘material’, ‘atmosphere’, ‘waste’, ‘movement’ and ‘underworld’ to challenge our understanding of the quintessential post-industrial metropolis. Bringing together contributions from twenty-five poets, academics, writers, novelists, historians, architects and artists from across the region alongside a range of captivating photographs, this book explores the history of Manchester through its chimneys, cobblestones, ginnels and graves. This wide-ranging and inclusive approach reveals a host of idiosyncrasies, hidden spaces and stories that have until now been neglected.

Working with Affect in Feminist Readings: Disturbing Differences explores the place and function of affect in feminist knowledge production, investigating what it means to work with and through affect, as well as the kinds of ethical and methodological challenges that this involves.

Entry includes attestations of the head word's or phrase's usage, usually in the form of a quotation. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).