Bøger udgivet af Valley Press

Quick is the first collection of poems by Peter Spafford; a professional writer for more than twenty years, appearing in print here for the first time.By day, Spafford writes scripts for theatre, radio, musical theatre and opera. His poems are, out of necessity, creatures of the night; all the pieces in this collection dodged the searchlights and crept under the wire in the last five years.They are drawn from family relationships, friendships, a love of language and from the varied settings of his work: in prisons, schools, museums, hospitals and on the streets. Most of them have a story at their heart; stories which can now be told.

Bold, beautiful and spiky, Angela Readman's stories are both magical and real. Following her acclaimed debut Don't Try This at Home, in this new collection, she approaches the fairy tale with a scalpel. The Girls are Pretty Crocodiles reads like a love letter to girlhood and a ransom note to all the fairy tales we have been told. In her prize-winning work 'The Story Never Told', an illiterate woman sells fairy tales for a book she knows will never have her name on the cover. In 'What's Inside a Girl', a class takes lessons on dating invisible girls.Dark, funny and surreal, these stories explore, challenge and ultimately transform the traditional fairy tale narrative. Women learn to be origami, climb into swan skins, feed wolves, flip burgers and snog kelpies. In dazzling prose that remains matter-of-fact, these tales take to task the happy endings we have been sold.Otherworldly, yet down to earth, The Girls are Pretty Crocodiles discovers the hidden voice in the stories we know and reveals the magic of working-class lives. These stories have teeth."Angela Readman's stories have a compelling intimacy and gorgeous imagery, and are often deeply moving - highly recommended reading." Alison Moore, author of Booker-shortlisted The Lighthouse"Angela Readman's subtly dark stories rip the covers from the everyday. She turns its innocents and introverts inside-out before us, meanwhile exposing secret rituals and Chinese-whispery legends from all our suffocating and self-contained neighbourhoods. Throughout this new collection, the other Angela - Carter - hangs on Readman's shoulder as she creates an eerie new folklore for fraught times. These are the stories we always knew existed but were never brave enough to tell, even to ourselves." Ashley Stokes, author of Gigantic, Unsung Stories, 2021"A poetic recontextualising of fairy tales and folklore, The Girls Are Pretty Crocodiles manages to be both playful and dangerous, often in the same sentence. Readman deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Kirsty Logan and Marina Warner, as one of the natural successors to Angela Carter." Dan Coxon, author of Only The Broken Remain and editor of This Dreaming Isle

Put a barrier in the way of a writer and they will always find a way to tunnel under it, vault over it or blast through it. Beyond the Walls 2022 gives a new generation of talented writers the opportunity to do just that.York St John University''s Creative Writing students exemplify the talent that has arisen from the pioneering ''York Centre for Writing'', a beacon for independent Northern publishing. With an impressive blend of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, the latest edition of this much-loved anthology will showcase the power of new writing. Are you ready to have your expectations demolished and your hopes restored?

A meticulous, loving tribute to the language, structure and themes of the Brontës¿ own works, as de la Motte at times weaves the very words of their correspondence, novels and poems seamlessly into his lively narrative.Oblivion traces Branwell¿s meandering journey across the north of England, from the Fells of the Lake District to the ocean cliffs of Scarborough, from the smoky streets of industrial Halifax to the windswept moors above Haworth, encountering such notables as Hartley Coleridge and Franz Liszt. Through him we meet poets, sculptors, booksellers, prostitutes, publicans, railway workers, farmers, manufacturers and clergymen; through his experiences we contemplate the ineffable but fleeting ecstasy of sex, the existence of God, the effects of drugs and alcohol and the nature of addiction itself, the desire for fame, and the bitter resentment of artists and intellectuals who feel unappreciated by an increasingly materialistic, mechanised society.This sprawling story is a moving, thought-provoking page-turner that seeks not only to understand the roots of Branwell Brontë¿s tragic end but also to unearth the striking similarities of character between him and his now-famous sisters.

In Caroline Hardaker's first full-length collection of poetry, readers will find tales of human evolution and natural laws, of technology, of the world's problems and the twisted inventions we create. Each encounter takes a host of characters to the brink of epiphany ¿ sometimes they¿ll burn bright, and sometimes they¿ll fall apart.Step into a world of explorers, philosophers, automatons, wild things, and the ghosts that dwell deep in the heart of the earth itself.From the author: "The poems in this collection have been developed over a three year period, in which I wanted to explore the nature of discoveries, and how they impact our every day lives. One of the main topics I write about is memory and cultural memory, and I wanted to explore how folklore and history is repeated throughout time. Humanity is currently at a turning point in environmental terms ¿ and I think it¿s important to understand mistakes of the past so we can try to not repeat them. I¿ve balanced these larger questions with everyday ¿kitchen sink¿ encounters, to demonstrate that both have a huge impact on our lives.""Hardaker is a rising talent, she hunts for what it means to be human. This first collection looks at the world and the creations we make to keep moving through the little quakes that shake every day. Clear, concise, inventive and sharp, these poems burn like shooting stars." ¿ Angela Readman

Produced by members of the Northern Short Story Festival Academy, this new anthology showcasing the range of talent in the North of England features work by Litro fiction editor Barney Walsh, author & critic Richard Smyth, and poet and academic Haleemah Alaydi. Twelve of the authors featured in this new work are graduates of the Northern Short Story Festival Academy programme, which developed the voices of twelve brand new short story writers based in the region. Features a foreword by Anna Chilvers.

Poetry of kindness, gratitude and compassion for a healing world.

Hidden Music is a collection of poems that listens and responds to Ralph Dartford''s lifetime obsession with song, and which subsequently allows his singular poetic vision to take flight. From Nick Cave to Lee Morgan, and Ella Fitzgerald to Radiohead, these poems search and reveal the untold stories within a dyslexic and melodious imagination, and like the most intoxicating music, gifts ownership to both the listener and the reader.