Bøger af Chris Newton

Asked to name their ideal job, more people in the UK say they would like to be an author than anything else. Yet with over two million books published worldwide, the competition is fierce. As editor in chief of a successful self-publishing house, Chris Newton spends most of his waking hours editing and he knows all about how books can be put right

Never work with children or animals tells of John's early career as a child actor, when he appeared in various stage productions as well as playing parts in several dramas on BBC Television. It goes on to tell of adventures working with a host of entertainment stars of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, including Jimmy Edwards, Marti Caine, Billy Fury, Bob Monkhouse, Peter Goodwright, The Beatles, Dusty Springfield, Danny La Rue, Patricia Hayes, June Brown, Sacha Distel, Chris de Burgh, Lesley Garrett and Mark Knopfler. The later chapters tell how, with the help of a legion of household names from the entertainment industry, John and Annie set up the Michael Elliott Trust as a charity dedicated to rescuing abused donkeys and providing a sanctuary for them. The book features a foreword by June Brown and a personal message from Dame Judi Dench.

Love in the midst of grief is the story of a devastating double tragedy; the deaths of two much-loved young men within a short time of one another, one from a terrible virus, the other from unknown causes. Their loss devastated their family. Nine years on, their younger brother-in-law, Satenam Johal, who has a professional background in social care, has written a detailed account of the tragedy and its aftermath. In doing so he hopes not only to help his family in their continuing grief but to provide others who are mourning loved ones to understand and manage the grieving process. The book will also be of great help to professionals seeking to help the bereaved.

When Steve Phillips started as a 15-year-old apprentice with a Birmingham engineering company in 1961, the Beatles were still the Quarrymen and a pint of mild cost one shilling and threepence. Five years of dirt and grind, legpulls, laughter and sheer hard graft later, Steve was a skilled turner and fitter, schooled the old-fashioned way by senior craftsmen who knew how to turn a screw, mill a die or grind a component to half a thousandth of an inch using manually-controlled machine tools, a micrometer and the skill in their fingers. He had also found the time - and saved the money - to marry his teenage sweetheart and buy a house. Steve went on to a varied and successful career in the UK manufacturing industry. Half a century on, now retired and living in Cyprus, he looks back on an era before computers and CNC machines, when Birmingham and its factories were the backbone of industrial Britain and families and workmates stuck together. Ten bob an hour is a fascinating portrait of an era long gone.

Suzanne Haslam endured such oppression and psychological torture at the hands of her domineering, control-freak husband that it drove her to a full-scale nervous breakdown. When she turned to her family for help, they accused her of imagining her problems - and even sided with her husband. In despair, she eventually managed to pluck up the courage to walk away from the marital home with nothing but her dog and a suitcase full of clothes. In an attempt to heal her psychological scars, Suzanne sought sanctuary in a remote Spanish monastery, where she discovered an extraordinary gift for second sight and a talent for communicating with the spirit world. A series of increasingly intense spiritual experiences ultimately gave her the strength to recover from her ordeal and find new happiness, security and professional success. Now Suzanne's story is told in her book 'Journey towards the light', published by Memoirs Books.

A series of traumatic experiences in his youth drew Peter Howe to the spiritual side of life. After he developed a mental illness and became dependent on medication, he began to experience supernatural encounters. These episodes were so vivid and detailed that he has decided to record them in a book. The Goddess Virgo and Her Relationship with Christianity is a 'supernatural biography' which recounts Peter's spiritual experiences, from his encounters with the Goddess Virgo to visitations from alien spirits which subjected him to interrogation and contact with creatures he recognised as representatives of the Devil. A spiritual experience linked to the iconography of ancient Egypt led to his joining the Fellowship of Isis, an international spiritual organization devoted to promoting awareness of the Goddess Isis. Peter's experiences intensified after the death of his mother in 2003 and they still continue today. They have led him to some personal conclusions about the nature of the connection between Christianity and the Goddess Virgo, whom he believes is a merger between a woman from ancient times and a spiritual person of an alien race, and a reinterpretation of the Old Testament's Book of Revelations.

New York lawyer Paul Anfield can't take his eyes off the mysterious beauty who appears at his Uncle Lenny's funeral, complete with a bodyguard escort. Then Paul's new boss shows him a top-secret file Lenny left for his colleagues, and he begins to realise that there was more to his uncle, mentor and former boss than anyone realised. The file is pure dynamite. It reveals links at the highest level between big business, the international drugs trade and the US Government. But Paul's attempts to get to the bottom of the mystery quickly draw the attention of some very powerful and dangerous people, and soon his life and the lives of those close to him are hanging by a thread. H J van de Koppel's top-flight experience in big business and high finance lends an authenticity and complexity to the narrative that is startling in a work of fiction. The suspense never falters for a second as the story works its way to its terrifying, remorseless ending. Shocking and erotically charged, Grillos is a compelling read from start to finish.

In 1816 the author's great-great grandfather, Thomas Kearey, arrived in England to seek his fortune. He was the latest - but by no means the last - in a line of strong and resourceful men. This book is the story of the Keareys, and of their place in history through the centuries. It relates how the Ciardha ('Ciar's people') in the Ireland of the Dark Ages evolved into the modern Keareys, how holders of that name laboured, loved and fought through the centuries, and how in more recent times they were proud to fight with honour for their adopted country of Britain in two world wars. Terence Kearey has woven the carefully-researched story of what happened to his family over the centuries into the economic and social history of these islands, explaining how his ancestors coped with, and in some cases helped to change, the vicissitudes of poverty, war and economic and social change. The result is a detailed and vivid picture of a past that is quickly fading from memory.

This book is about the things the author has saved in her boxes over the years - precious memories of childhood adventures, seaside holidays, valued friendships, secret corners in summer gardens, playground battles, her beloved dogs and her children and grandchildren. Together they have given her an insight and a wisdom which are well worth sharing with others. Christine Cope sees all her special memories of life as occupying rows of white velvet boxes at the back of her mind. The boxes, each tied delicately with coloured ribbon, contain happiness and sadness, humour and conflict, pleasure and pain. When she wants to remember an episode from her past, she just pulls on the ribbon. Christine believes that it's how you deal with each memory, pleasant or painful, that determines how it will appear the next time you open it.

21st century, humans and androids work together to explore the solar system and then beyond. No serial numbers or models, everyone had a name. They work together to advance knowledge, but is there a twist in this relationship?

From Smuggling to Cotton Kings is the story of the Greg Family, who helped to shape the economic fortunes of Britain for more than two centuries. It tells of their rise to power and prominence in the fields of textiles, shipping, banking and marine insurance, their role in the industrial revolution and how their fortunes declined in the 20th century. In 1715 John Greg, a descendant of the McGregor clan, sailed from the family home in Ayrshire to seek his fortune in Ulster. He soon built a successful business as a merchant, his own sons becoming successful businessmen. Half a century later two of his grandsons, Thomas and Samuel, sailed back to Britain and founded businesses of their own at opposite ends of England, Thomas in banking and finance, Samuel in textiles. Helped by the patronage and finance of Robert Hyde, Samuel became a prominent figure in the development of the cloth industry. He helped to take the industry forward by investing heavily in the adoption of water power, and founded Quarry Bank Mill in north Cheshire, which today is open to visitors as a National Trust property. Meanwhile brother Thomas made a prudent entry into the marine insurance business, at a time when Britain's overseas trade was expanding at a prodigious rate. By the end of the 18th Century they had built up large fortunes. After a serious setback caused by the economic slump in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th Century, business recovered and by the time brothers died in the 1830s they were both, in today's terms, multi-millionaires. Their descendants kept the family businesses running successfully for several decades and diversified into agriculture, literature and politics, but the 1860s recession saw the end of the great wealth the Gregs and their associates had built up.