Scratching Shed Publishing

Pre-order now: Published 1 August – Yorkshire Day

Edited by Paul Thompson

“I would rather make people laugh, than make them do anything else…”

Hilarious, irreverent, poignant, fanciful, quirky, imaginative, original, musical. Jake Thackray was a storytelling genius who loved using words to entertain, move, surprise and provoke. While his extraordinary songs are rightly celebrated, they were not the beginning of his life as a wordsmith, nor the end. Jake Thackray – The Unsung Writer is a chance to explore Jake’s other writings: love poetry; an experimental short story; his charming script for a school musical; amusing pen portraits; his first published work; tall tales crafted for his concerts; and his acclaimed, colourful columns for the ‘Yorkshire Post’ and ‘Catholic Herald’. This entertaining collection provides fresh insights into Jake’s creativity and the development of his distinctive voice.

Paul Thompson is also the co-author of critically-acclaimed biography Beware of the Bull – The Enigmatic Genius of Jake Thackray

Prepare to scream… with horror and mirth!

By Steve Nallon  – with illustrations by Scott Brooker

Comedy writer, actor and founding Spitting Image cast member Steve Nallon presents twelve Spooky Tales of Supernatural Strangeness …and Weirdly Wonderful Goings On.

‘These ghost tales are vivid, grotesque, funny and curiously believable. Compelling reading for the young, old and in-betweens… The Oath of Aesculapius is a lovely, twisty, gothic horror story about a dining club – think Bullingdon – where rich men eat rich food and – hallelujah! – get their just desserts.’ Jonny Maitland, Tonight television presenter and author of the play The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson

‘These are absolute GENIUS! Perfectly formed, individually wrapped treats, to be consumed by the fireside, a large sherry in hand, the fingers of long branches scraping across a window. A mixture of Wodehouse, Conan Doyle and fresh Nallon, these spooky tales chill and thrill in equal amounts.’ James Dreyfus, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme and The Thin Blue Line

‘With a fine grasp of character and idiolect, Steve Nallon conjures up worlds with a great sense of authenticity and an even greater sense of imagination… Steve has an uncanny ability to find fresh and disturbing images – of life and death – in what we think are familiar worlds.’ Alistair McGowan, BAFTA winning comedian and actor

By Mick Martin

Lewy Jenkins is a young Welsh rugby player, lured north by the promise of money and sporting glory; the David Beckham of his day. Lewy’s sweetheart, Bessie Butterworth, is a rising star of the music hall. Beautiful and flirtacious, life has taught her harsh lessons.

These are the protagonists at the centre of Broken Time, a critically-acclaimed play by award-winning playwright Mick Martin. Set in Victorian Yorkshire, where fictional West Broughton Rugby Club are enduring a torrid run of defeats, it is a story of Corinthian idealism and class struggle amid the Industrial Revolution and tumultuous events that led to the historic rugby league – rugby union split of 1895.

After an eye-catching tour across the North of England, the complete script of Broken Time is published here for the first time. This edition also contains a foreword by Mick Martin himself and a specially commissioned introduction by respected rugby historian Professor Tony Collins.