Cathi Unsworth

Twenty years after 15-year-old Corinne Woodrow was convicted of murdering one of her classmates, P.I. Sean Ward, stumbling upon new evidence that suggests she didn't act alone, reopens the case in a town full of secrets and a community that has always protected its own. Original.

Weirdo

April 1943: four boys playing in Hagley Woods, Worcestershire make a gruesome discovery. Inside an enormous elm tree, there is the body of a woman, her mouth stuffed with a length of cloth. As the case goes cold, mysterious graffiti starts going up across the Midlands: 'Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?' To Ross Spooner, a police officer working undercover for spiritualist magazine Two Worlds, the messages hold a sinister meaning. He's been on the track of a German spy ring who have left a trail of black magic and mayhem across England, and this latest murder bears all the hallmarks of an ancient ritual. At the same time, Spooner is investigating the case of Helen Duncan, a medium whose messages from the spirit world contain highly classified information. As the establishment joins ranks against Duncan, Spooner must face demons from his own past, uncover the spies hiding beneath the fabric of wartime society - and confront those who suspect that he, too, may not be all he seems ...

That Old Black Magic

London Noir

A tender ode to London in the 1960's - a novel with a twisted mystery at its heart.

Bad Penny Blues

Jordan Mooney

The image of Jordan with her white shards of beehive and Mondrian make-up is one of the most iconic in pop culture. From the counter of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's taboo-busting shop on 240 King's Road, she helped shape a revolution.But who was the woman behind it all? How did a ballet-mad girl from Sussex make her way, via the clandestine gay clubs of Brighton and London, to the eye of punk's storm? What happened after she shared so many hair-raising adventures with the Sex Pistols, Adam and his Ants, Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol - and then just disappeared?With commentary from key players and close friends including Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook, Marco Pirroni, Holly Johnson, and her partner behind the SEX counter, Michael Collins - plus a wealth of never-before-seen images - Jordan reveals her outrageous life story.Buckle up for a masterclass in true punk spirit.

Jordan's Story

Defying Gravity

1979. Months of industrial action throughout the winter have left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish piling up in the streets. After ten brutal homicides and the biggest police hunt in history, the Yorkshire Ripper is still at large and preparing to strike again. Punk has reached its bleak climax with the fatal heroin overdose of Sid Vicious while awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend. Unlikely alliances of outsiders prepare to seize power, set the political agenda and write the soundtrack for the years to come. Their figureheads are two very different kinds of dominatrices... As Margaret Thatcher enters 10 Downing Street, four bands born of punk - Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, the Cure, and Magazine - find a way to distil the dissonance and darkness of the shifting decade into a new form of music. Pushing at the taboos the Sex Pistols had unlocked and dancing with the fetishistic, all will become global stars of goth. By the time Thatcher is cast out of office in 1990, the arrival of goth will have imprinted on the cultural landscape as much as the Iron Lady herself. Now, forty years since its inception, author Cathi Unsworth provides the first comprehensive overview of the music, context and lasting legacy of goth. This is the story of how goth was shaped by the politics of the era - from the miners' strikes and privatisation to the Troubles and AIDS - as well as how its rock 'n' roll outlaw imagery and innovative, atmospheric music cross-pollinated throughout Britain and internationally, speaking to a generation of alienated youths. A fascinating social history, Season of the Witch tells the tale of an enduring counter-culture, one that steadfastly refuses to give up the ghost.

The Book of Goth

Season of the Witch

The image of Jordan in her white shards of beehive and Mondrian make-up is one of the most iconic in pop history. But nobody knows what was really going on behind those watchful eyes when Anarchy hit the UK. How did a ballet-mad girl from sleepy Sussex make her way, via the clandestine gay clubs of Brighton and London, to 430 King s Road and the eye of punk s storm? Help shape a revolution and deal with the consequences of being in the spotlight so young? Share hair-raising adventures with McLaren and Westwood; The Sex Pistols; Adam and his Ants; Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol and then just disappear? With commentary from key players including Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook, Marco Pirroni, Holly Johnson and her partner behind the SEX/Seditionaries counter Michael Collins plus a wealth of never-before-seen images from Simon Barker, Sheila Rock and Harri Peccinotti Jordan finally reveals her outrageous life story.

Defying Gravity: Jordan's Story

Jordan

The image of Jordan in her white shards of beehive and Mondrian make-up is one of the most iconic in pop history. But nobody knows what was really going on behind those watchful eyes when Anarchy hit the UK. How did a ballet-mad girl from sleepy Sussex make her way, via the clandestine gay clubs of Brighton and London, to 430 King's Road and the eye of punk's storm? Help shape a revolution and deal with the consequences of being in the spotlight so young? Share hair-raising adventures with McLaren and Westwood; the Sex Pistols; Adam and his Ants; Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol--and then just disappear? With commentary from key players including Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook, Marco Pirroni, Holly Johnson and her partner behind the SEX/Seditionaries counter Michael Collins--plus a wealth of never-before-seen images from Simon Barker, Sheila Rock and Harri Peccinotti--Jordan finally reveals her outrageous life story.

The Singer

Jon Jackson, the famous film director, is found savagely murdered under the railway arches of Camden Town in a gruesome re-creation of a scene from his hit gangster film Bent. His death strikes a chord with many, including the staff at Lux magazine in possession of the last-ever interview with Jackson. Journalists Barry Hudson and Diana Kemp knew Jackson in the old days before he was a celebrity--Diana having known Jackson a little more intimately than most. As Diana is drawn ever closer to the killer, The Not Knowing vividly captures the seamy side of London life. Cathi Unsworth began her journalistic career at 19 on the music paper Sounds. A music journalist for many years, she lives in West London.

The Not Knowing

Without the Moon

Named one of the Best Crime Books of the Year by the Guardian , Weirdo is an atmospheric thriller about a teenage girl convicted of murder in a 1980s seaside town and the private investigator who reopens the case to discover that she may not have acted alone ... Corinne Woodrow was fifteen when she was convicted of the ritualistic murder of her classmate in a quaint seaside town. It was 1984, a year when teenagers ran wild, dressed in black, stayed out all night, and listened to music that terrified their parents. Rumours of Satanism surrounded Corinne and she was locked up indefinitely, a chilling reminder to the parents of Ernemouth to keep a watchful eye on their children. Twenty years later, private investigator Sean Ward — whose promising career as a detective with the Metropolitan Police was cut short by a teenager with a gun — reopens the case after new forensic evidence suggests that Corinne didn’t act alone. His investigation uncovers a town full of secrets, and a community that has always looked after its own.

The legend goes like this: Vincent Smith met bandmates Stevie Mullin and Lynton Powell at a Sex Pistols concert, where he tried to kiss Sid Vicious? guitar and got a bloody nose. Together they formed Blood Simple, and for a while they made a lot of noise, a bit of money and caused a sensation wherever they went. Then Vincent eloped with Sylvana, singer for the ethereal Mood Violet, and it all went wrong. Six months later Sylvana committed suicide, the band fell apart, and Vincent disappeared. That was 1981 and twenty years on, journalist Eddie Bracknell hopes the story of Blood Simple will be the making of him. He?s got a book contract and the right contacts, it?s just that he can?t get the different stories he?s heard to fit together, never mind trying to work out what happened to Vincent. A compelling crime novel and a very modern fable, The Singer brings the intoxicating days of punk back onstage, with all its noisy creativity and explosive violence.

Avec les dix-sept nouvelles de Londres Noir, dévalez les ruelles malfamées de la ville, poussez les portes des pubs qui poussent au vice, croisez la route des Londoniens blasés par la rudesse de la capitale, et celle de nouveaux arrivants se frottant aux clubs privés et au ciel spleenéique, revivez la révolution punk, descendez dans les entrailles de la ville pour une remontée dans le temps, pistez les trafiquants vaudous et les nouveaux Jack l’Éventreur... Un guide urbain punk et alternatif, entre déviance et noirceur. Avec des textes de Desmond Barry, Ken Bruen, Stewart Home, Barry Adamson, Michael Ward, Sylvie Simmons, Dan Bennett, Cathi Unsworth, Max Décharné, Martyn Waites, Joolz Denby, John Williams, Jerry Sykes, Mark Pilkington, Joe McNally, Patrick McCabe et Ken Hollings.

Londres noir

Avec les dix-sept nouvelles de Londres Noir, dévalez les ruelles malfamées de la ville, poussez les portes des pubs qui poussent au vice, croisez la route des Londoniens blasés par la rudesse de la capitale, et celle de nouveaux arrivants se frottant aux clubs privés et au ciel spleenéique, revivez la révolution punk, descendez dans les entrailles de la ville pour une remontée dans le temps, pistez les trafiquants vaudous et les nouveaux Jack l’Eventreur... Un guide urbain punk et alternatif, entre déviance et noirceur. Avec la participation de Desmond Barry, Ken Bruen, Stewart Home, Barry Adamson, Michael Ward, Sylvie Simmons, Dan Bennett, Cathi Unsworth, Max Décharné, Martyn Waites, Joolz Denby, John Williams, Jerry Sykes, Mark Pilkington, Joe McNally, Patrick McCabe et Ken Hollings.

Londres Noir

Police Constable Pete Bradley has one year in the force and dreams of moving up the ladder. He's assigned as an aid to CID and working a routine nightshift with his partner when they stumble across a young woman's body. She was working as a prostitute when she was strangled, her body dumped by a riverbank. His search for her killer brings him deep into Soho's underbelly. Meanwhile Stella, a young fashion designer with a promising career ahead of her, is woken by terrifying nightmares that echo the last hours of the dead women. Sixties London explodes in all its ferocious colour, with fascists and Teds, migrants and hippies living in close proximity. Bad Penny Blues is a tender paean to the city, a novel with a twisted mystery at its heart.

Steve Hussy

David Noone

You wait three years for a new SAVAGE KICK and then three come along in a few months. Each issue full of exclusive stories that foreground the dark and fascinating underbelly of literature. SK#8 is the first of them... CONFESSIONS deals with people revealing their darkest - or sweetest - secrets. That concept has been at the core of every issue of THE SAVAGE KICK. Previous writers Robert McGowan and Steve Hussy return; along with folks like Cathi Unworth and MSP's latest member, David Noone. SK#8 Contents: --- Savage Kick's Exclusive Interview with Cathi Unsworth --- Intoxicated Man by Cathi Unsworth --- Fourth Degree Burn by Amy Yolanda Castillo --- The Fix by R.C. Rogers --- Exclusive Interview with David Noone--- Confessions of a Tennessee Lowlife by Anthony Tinsman --- Secretary by Robert McGowan --- Harvest by Steve Hussy --- Mara by Grant Flint

The Savage Kick #8: Confessions

London, March 1992. Nearly a year after the release of Brit noir sensation, Bent, the capital is still in the grip of its cultural and stylistic impact. Diana Kemp, journalist on the alternative arts magazine Lux, is dismissive of the film's cult following but admires the technique of its debut director, Jon Jackson. In fact, some of her admiration has a more personal nature and when Jon disappears following a triumphant Guardian lecture, she feels the loss, acutely. Two weeks later, Jackson's body is found in a condemned lock-up in the arches behind Camden market. A victim of his own success, perhaps - the murder site resembles the particularly bloody final scene of Bent. But why would anyone want to destroy the golden boy in such a way? Attempting to put a lid on the past, Diana buries herself in work. But an assignment at the ICA's Crimewave festival leads her on a voyage of discovery where not knowing might be the only thing that saves her.

Cathi Unsworth

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