Publisher: Desire Blossom Books
Burning Passions – 35 Explicit Romance Stories for the Adventurous35 Stories. Daring. Sensual. Irresistibly Bold.Step into a world where romance blazes into raw desire. Each tale pushes boundaries, blending fiery passion with unforgettable encounters that will keep you hooked from start to finish.Intense. Provocative. Unforgettable.
*Nominated for Best Book at the 2025 Chortle Awards*'Outstanding, I want to press it into the hands of every newly diagnosed person' Fern Brady'Like a Martian's guide to living on Earth. Funny, enlightening and gobsmacking' Frank Skinner 'A hilarious, crystal-clear guide to autism' Phil Wang'An illuminating and joyously entertaining book' Daily ExpressWhy were the other kids at school obsessed with Britney Spears instead of The Goon Show? Why don't people ever say what they mean? And... Why is everyone chewing so loudly?Comedian Pierre Novellie was on stage when a heckler suggested he was autistic. Usually, this disruption would be water off a duck's back but two things made this heckler different: first, he was himself autistic. Second, he turned out to be absolutely right.This random encounter led to a diagnosis of autism at the age of 31 that unravelled his world, explained his struggles and answered questions that had bothered him for his entire life. At once a hilarious and insightful journey through autism and neurodivergence, an entertaining explainer for the uninitiated and observational comedy for the neurodiverse, this is the perfect read for anyone who has ever asked themselves: why can't I just enjoy things?The audiobook includes an exclusive Q&A with comedian and BudPod co-host, Phil Wang.Show book
This audiobook has been recorded using Text to speech (TTS). England in the 19th century. Victoria is on the throne. The nation is at its height. An Empire stretching around the globe. Industrial and scientific advancement. Literary and artistic excellence. And yet, behind the glow of this supposedly golden age, there lay hidden human misery and extremes of depravity. This was the age of Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper and the terrible poverty of millions living in slums. Drink, drugs, prostitution, murder. All these were the norm in the dark and dirty back alleys of the cities. In the small village of Pyle Marsh just outside of Bristol, lived a master shoemaker by the name of Samuel Hobley. He and his wife were comfortable and raised five children. The youngest of these was the girl who would later be known as Amelia Dyer. She would become one of the worlds most notorious serial killers. We know her today as the Angel Maker.Show book
Cambrian Tales appeared in serialised form in Ainsworth's Magazine from March 1849 to March 1850 and has not previously been published as a novel.Like the political pamphlet Artegall, also included in this volume, it constitutes part of Jane Williams' attempts to defend Wales against the notorious 'Blue Books', the 1847 government report which damned the Welsh as ignorant, immoral, and barbaric.A comedy of manners, set in and around a Welsh country house, it features characters clearly modelled on Ysgafell's patron, Lady Llanover, and her social circle.Also included are two representative poems, one from Celtic Fables (1862), a feminist reworking of ancient legend, and the previously unpublished 'A Petition' in which a night-cap maker protests against her dire exploitation.Ysgafell's social conscience, her patriotism, and her sardonic humour are evident throughout the volume.Show book
Anthony Trollope is among the best-loved novelists in the English language. His strongly drawn characters and skillful plots are compelling, while his moral judgements are often subtly challenging. He is an entertainer, but his power to make his readers think, and to feel, is unrivalled. This Very Short Introduction will place Trollope's work in the context of his life and times, drawing on recent scholarship to illuminate his central interests and literary strategies. The major series of novels (the six novels located in the fictional Barsetshire, and the six Palliser novels) are explored alongside the novels set in Ireland, his travel writing, and his less well-known fiction. Trollope's work is energized by the complexities of the Victorian Britain, with its political tensions, its troubled views of the relation between men and women, its expanding place in the wider world, and its growing discomfort with the contradictions created by a corrosive preoccupation with wealth and display. But Trollope's writing is of more than historical interest. His insight into the motives of human behavior and of the conflict between the need for reform and the wish to defend what might be destroyed by the pressure for change, feels surprisingly modern. Birch shows how his writing has retained its vivid appeal to new generations of readers.Show book
William Pett Ridge was born at Chartham, near Canterbury, Kent, on 22nd April 1859. His family’s resources were certainly limited. His father was a railway porter, and the young Pett Ridge, after schooling in Marden, Kent became a clerk in a railway clearing-house. The hours were long and arduous, but self-improvement was Pett Ridge’s goal. After working from nine until seven o’clock he would attend evening classes at Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institute and then to follow his passion; the ambition to write. He was heavily influenced by Dickens and several critics thought he had the capability to be his successor. From 1891 many of his humourous sketches were published in the St James's Gazette, the Idler, Windsor Magazine and other literary periodicals of the day. Pett Ridge published his first novel in 1895, A Clever Wife. By the advent of his fifth novel, Mord Em'ly, a mere three years later in 1898, his success was obvious. His writing was written from the perspective of those born with no privilege and relied on his great talent to find humour and sympathy in his portrayal of working class life. Today Pett Ridge and other East End novelists including Arthur Nevinson, Arthur Morrison and Edwin Pugh are being grouped together as the Cockney Novelists. In 1924, Pugh set out his recollections of Pett Ridge from the 1890s: “I see him most clearly, as he was in those days, through a blue haze of tobacco smoke. We used sometimes to travel together from Waterloo to Worcester Park on our way to spend a Saturday afternoon and evening with H. G. Wells. Pett Ridge does not know it, but it was through watching him fill his pipe, as he sat opposite me in a stuffy little railway compartment, that I completed my own education as a smoker... Pett Ridge had a small, dark, rather spiky moustache in those days, and thick, dark, sleek hair which is perhaps not quite so thick or dark, though hardly less sleek nowadays than it was then”. With his success, on the back of his prolific output and commercial success, Pett Ridge gave generously of both time and money to charity. In 1907 he founded the Babies Home at Hoxton. This was one of several organisations that he supported that had the welfare of children as their mission. His circle considered Pett Ridge to be one of life's natural bachelors. In 1909 they were rather surprised therefore when he married Olga Hentschel. As the 1920’s arrived Pett Ridge added to his popularity with the movies. Four of his books were adapted into films. Pett Ridge now found the peak of his fame had passed. Although he still managed to produce a book a year he was falling out of fashion and favour with the reading public and his popularity declined rapidly. His canon runs to over sixty novels and short-story collections as well as many pieces for magazines and periodicals. William Pett Ridge died, on 29th September 1930, at his home, Ampthill, Willow Grove, Chislehurst, at the age of 71. He was cremated at West Norwood on 2nd October 1930.Show book
The war on American democracy is at a fever pitch. Such a corrosive state of affairs did not arise spontaneously but instead was pushed, top-down, by six private sector special interest groups. In American Apocalypse Rena Steinzor argues that these groups are nothing more than well-financed armies fighting a battle of attrition against the national government. The book begins at the end of Lyndon Johnson's presidency, when the modern regulatory state was born. Agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration ensured that everything from our air to our medicine was safe. But efforts to thwart this "big government" agenda began swiftly. Business leaders built a multi-billion dollar presence in the Capitol, and the rest of the six interest groups followed. While the groups do not coordinate their attacks, their priorities fall within a tight bullseye. Over the long-term, as the prevalence of global pandemics and climate crises increase, an incapacitated national government will usher in unimaginable harm. This book is the first to conceptualize these groups together, as one deconstructive, awe-inspiring force. Steinzor delves into their histories, mapping strategies, tactics, and characteristics that make them so powerful. She offers a comprehensive story about the downfall of American democracy.Show book
