With compassionate wit and insight, Campbell McGrath transports us on a journey through contemporary society, transforming the commonplace into scenes of profound revelation. From late-night bars to early-morning diners, suburban malls to the Mojave Desert, McGrath's meticulously detailed vision defines singular moments of joy and melancholy.

    First US publication for the Scottish Spence.Neil McGraw is a lad in Glasgow, an only child, the son of a dour undertaker permanently embittered by his wife's death during childbirth. Whenever the boy misbehaves, he's locked in the basement among the coffins, so it's not surprising he asks every body: What happens when you die? Against his will, he finds himself learning the trade. This is less gloomy than it sounds. The story moves at a good clip as the resilient Neil experiments with drinking and dating.The crisis comes when his dad finds him and his girl making out in a coffin. Soon, it's Neil's turn to lock his old man, dead drunk, into the basement, before hightailing it to the London of the Swinging '60s. A friendly queer, Abe Morris, offers him a crash pad, no strings attached, where Neil finds drugs, straight sex, and Zen. The party ends when Abe, stoned, is killed in traffic and Spence abandons conventional narrative to send Neil hopscotching around the world before depositing him, 15 years later, beside the funeral pyres of the Ganges. Here, he gets very sick but is rescued by a vision in a sari: Lila, a Londoner, back home for her father's funeral. The two fall in love and marry, lickety-split, before Neil is summoned back to Glasgow. His father has died, leaving him the business, which Neil gives a hippie twist, producing brightly painted coffins in unusual shapes, with Lila a business partner.The mood is light and buoyant, but novelistic concerns (what makes Lila tick? why do the couple decide not to have kids?) are shelved in favor of a scrapbook of original last rites, seasoned with Eastern mysticism. There's an appealing freshness to Spence's writing; too bad he gives up on credible plotting and characterization.

    He has but one. Love. Tavia is the adopted child of an apothecary and former priest. Besides loving her, Tavia’s father passed on to her his medical skills and also taught her French and Latin, giving her a better education than most men of her time.Blair is the son of the Laird and a handsome man that every single woman in the village desires. He is respected by his tenants and he is a capable man, always wiling to help and protect them.When Blair has an accident close to Tavia’s house, she uses her medical skills to heal his wounds. Blair finds in her beautiful eyes a unique woman that can give meaning to his life.He can not accept that he won’t see her again after this meeting, so he asks Tavia to give him French lessons. Tavia accepts and that only makes the heat between them grow… They both know though, that Tavia is a peasant girl, and marrying her is forbidden by society’s rules. But Blair wants to defy all of them! Determined to find a solution he will start discovering clues about Tavia’s real parents and her past, making things take a turn none of them could ever imagine."Highlander’s Lost Daughter" is a story packed with romance, mystery, and salvation, set on the beautiful backdrop of the Scottish Highlands.

    In HWFG...Your fave Sammy gets a job and Angie goes to Craig Tara.Plans are made to kick the f*ck out of Kim Jong-Un. You’ll find answers to the big questions in life: What happens when we die?What does Brexit actually mean?Why are moths terrifying?What are ghosts like to live with?It’s just a load more short stories ‘n that.hwfg x

    This small collection of poems explores how time influences loving another, loving yourself and loving the life you own. This quick but fulfilling read, explores these topics in three sections: the head, the heart and the lungs.

    52 laws of love by Himanshu Goel (author of A Rational Boy in Love) is a journey of love in 52 poems through all its aspects, from the honeymoon, to the sacrifices, to the bitter end and forever after.

    

    “The collection of poems speaks like a journey through each formative moment we’d forgotten we had: the monster under the bed and the intricate rules about how to overcome its powers; the ability to talk to girls or boys we liked; the fear of being bullied; our first experience with real anguish.” – Litlive.ca Please note: This is not a young adult title. Some works include language not suitable for some readers.

     Dead Women A Ruthless Killer A Detective with something to prove Newly promoted DI Shona McKenzie struggles to cope with her new job, the respect of her colleagues, and the need to solve the hardest case of her life. Will she succeed? For lovers of books by Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Alex Gray, Stuart MacBride, Lin Anderson

     Gaby's recently split from her boyfriend of ten years and needs to escape fast. Where better than the Highlands of Scotland where she can lick her wounds and recover in peace and quiet? Fate has different ideas in mind. First, there's the rough and ready Jack McAllan who bears more than a passing resemblance to the fabled Jamie Fraser of Outlander fame. He's an important part of the local community, even if he's failed to impress Gaby so far. Who knew a guy could be so rude and taciturn? Then, there's the mystery of the woman whose home she now inhabits. Kirsty's left too many tantalising clues for Gaby to resist. Why did Kirsty run, and does it have anything to do with the red-haired Scot who keeps turning up in Gaby's daydreams much as she tries to resist… Featuring kilts, mist-cloaked hills, lochs where the water runs deep and a little too much whisky, Highland Fling is a sweet, fun-filled romp through Scottish village life, finding love, making a fool of yourself and discovering that an overactive imagination leads you into all kinds of trouble…

    There was a woman.There was a cross. But in factthey have hung him too high to be touched.—from "A Woman Wipes the Face of Jesus"

    "Mr. Tate is an elegant and anarchic clown. A lord of poetic misrule with a serious, subversive purpose."-John Ash, New York Times Book Review "Tate brings to his work an extravagantly surrealistic imagination and a willingness to let his words take him where they will. Nonchalant in the midst of radical uncertainty, he handles bizarre details as though they were commonplace facts. [Tate's poetry draws upon] so rich a fund of comic energy that is may well prove an antidote to the anxiety some readers feel with poems that refuse to lend themselves to instant analysis."-David Lehman, Washington Post Book World

    Two pillars made them and supported them through their lives; now one is gone and the other is near to collapse. Can he be renewed, or has he been conquered at last? Major James Andrew Skinner, AKA Jazz Morgan, takes up the story. Quintin Jardine's 6,000 word short story is a glance into the future that was born from a joke, when he used its title as a throwaway line to a friend. 'A great title for a children's book,' she observed. This isn't a children's book, but in a real sense it's a take about children and the power they have to help us overcome, and emerge from, the deepest despair.

    Avram Escovitz, a young Jew, arrives in Glasgow from Russia. He dreams of playing football until WWI intervenes and he begins work as a credit draper, peddling goods to Highlanders. A stranger in a strange land, Avram must set up a new business and capture the heart of a Highland lass. But how easy will it be to shake off his Jewish roots?