I Was Douglas Adams's Flatmate


Book Description

Beginning life as a series on Radio 4, I Was Douglas Adams's Flatmate is a series of interviews that examine a great artist, politician or innovator from the perspective of an assistant, lover, muse, flatmate or editor who was indispensable to them at a key moment in their career. We hear from Douglas Adams's flatmate who reveals how the writer got hooked on listening to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights while writing Hitchhikers' Guide; Ernest Hemingway's La Secretaria, Sam Peckinpah's Girl Friday, Les Dawson's Gag-writer, Billie Holliday's Stand in, Will Carling's Physiotherapist, Johnny Cash's Tailor and David Beckham's Stylist, among others. McGibbon, who was Morrissey's drummer, engages the reader with the human behind the artist, providing a revealing insight into well known personalities.




Afterliff


Book Description

A liff is a familiar object or experience that English has no word for. Afterliff, its long-awaited sequel, corrects this disgraceful oversight by recycling the names found on signposts. This brilliant successor to Douglas Adams' and John Lloyd's 1983 classic The Meaning of Liff features over 900 essential new definitions, including: Anglesey n. Hypothetical object at which a lazy eye is looking. Badlesmeare n. One who dishonestly ticks the 'I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions' box. Caterham n. An overwhelming desire to use the Pope's hat as an oven glove. Clavering ptcpl v. Pretending to text when alone and feeling vulnerable in public. Eworthy adj. Of a person: worth emailing but not worth phoning or meeting. Kanumbra n. The sense that someone is standing behind you. Ljubljana interj. What people say to the dentist on the way out. Loughborough n. The false gusto with which children eat vegetables in adverts. Sorrento n. The thing that goes round and round as a YouTube video loads. Uralla n. A towel used as a bathmat. In 1983, John Lloyd and Douglas Adams authored The Meaning of Liff, a bestselling humour classic which went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies. John Lloyd's other books include 1,411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways and The Book of General Ignorance.




The Manual of Detection


Book Description

In this tightly plotted debut novel, an unlikely detective, armed only with an umbrella and a singular handbook, must untangle a string of crimes committed in and through people's dreams.




The Meaning of Liff


Book Description

The Meaning of Liff has sold hundreds of thousands of copies since it was first published in 1983, and remains a much-loved humour classic. This edition has been revised and updated, and includes The Deeper Meaning of Liff, giving fresh appeal to Douglas Adams and John Lloyd's entertaining and witty dictionary. In life, there are hundreds of familiar experiences, feelings and objects for which no words exist, yet hundreds of strange words are idly loafing around on signposts, pointing at places. The Meaning of Liff connects the two. BERRIWILLOCK (n.) - An unknown workmate who writes 'All the best' on your leaving card. ELY (n.) - The first, tiniest inkling that something, somewhere has gone terribly wrong. GRIMBISTER (n.) - Large body of cars on a motorway all travelling at exactly the speed limit because one of them is a police car. KETTERING (n.) - The marks left on your bottom or thighs after sunbathing on a wickerwork chair. OCKLE (n.) - An electrical switch which appears to be off in both positions. WOKING (ptcpl.vb.) - Standing in the kitchen wondering what you came in here for.




Roommate's Virgin


Book Description

When Devlin’s parents cut him off for choosing to pursue his dream of becoming an artist, that only made him more determined to prove them wrong. His only goal is to keep his head down, work on his art and make enough money on the side to try and keep that dream alive. But when he is arrested for pushing drugs, Devlin’s seemingly perfect life is turned upside down and he realizes that he might have to choose… his art or his freedom. It is an impossible choice, made even harder by the complicated feelings Devlin feels for the beautiful stranger he meets along the way. Zoey has worked hard for everything she’s ever got in her life. Then she meets a gorgeous man at the fire station where her brother works and she starts realizing what she’s missing. He’s beautiful, funny and interesting but he has secrets and Zoey must decide if she loves him enough to accept that or walk away once and for all.




The Quanderhorn Xperimentations


Book Description

ADAPTED BACKWARDS VIA THE FUTURE FROM THE RADIO 4 SERIES BEFORE IT WAS MADE A richer, deeper, more comprehensive exploration of the Quanderhorn phenomenon. With added secrets. England, 1952. A time of peace, regeneration and hope. A Golden Age. Unfortunately, it's been 1952 for the past 65 years. Meet Professor Quanderhorn: a brilliant, maverick scientific genius with absolutely no moral compass. Assisted by a rag-tag crew - his part-insect "son" (reputedly 'a major breakthrough in Artificial Stupidity'), a recovering amnesiac, a brilliant scientist with a half-clockwork brain, and a captured Martian hostage - he'll save the world. Even if he has to destroy it in the process. With his Dangerous Giant Space Laser, Utterly Untested Matter Transfuser Booth and Fleets of Monkey-driven Lorries, he's not afraid to push the boundaries of science to their very limit. And far, far beyond ...




Metzger's Dog


Book Description

The much-loved comic thriller by the author of the Edgar Award–winning The Butcher’s Boy is now, by popular demand, back in print, featuring a new Introduction by bestselling author Carl Hiaasen. When Leroy “Chinese” Gordon breaks into a professor’s lab at the University of Los Angeles, he’s after some pharmaceutical cocaine, worth plenty of money. Instead, he finds the papers the professor has compiled for the CIA, which include a blueprint for throwing a large city into chaos. But how is the CIA to be persuaded to pay a suitable ransom, unless of course someone actually uses the plan to throw a large city into chaos—Los Angeles, for instance? Assigned to cope with the crisis and restore the peace, veteran agent Ben Porterfield steps onto the scene to remind us that the CIA’s middle name is, after all, Intelligence. Enlivening the mix are Gordon’s beautiful girlfriend, Margaret, his temperamental cat, Dr. Henry Metzger, and Metzger’s friend, an enormous half-wild dog with huge teeth.




A Short Gentleman


Book Description

How did Robert Purcell, distinguished barrister and perfect specimen of the British Establishment, end up in prison? An intellectual giant but an emotional pygmy, Robert is a man struggling to come to terms with the forces that have brought him down, from the wife who wanted him to change, to the ex-girlfriend who came back to haunt him and the childhood bully who turned into an adult bully. Despite everything, Robert remains the same magnificently self-righteous man he always was, utterly resistant to therapy, change and the emotional demands of the opposite sex.




Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #1


Book Description

This is a story about two friends who've known each other for a while. At least Arthur Dent thinks so until Ford Prefect reaveals that he's actually an alien and that the world is about to end! Not long after their conversation, a Vogon spaceship appears and announces that earth will be destroyed shortly because it is in the way of a new intergalactic highway bypass that is being built through our galaxy. Ford and Arthur manage to board the ship before the earth is demolished, and they are quickly discovered - ejected into space by the Vogon captain! Douglas Adams' wildly funny, wickedly clever sci-fi novel is collected here in a three-installment, comic ebook series. So grab your towel, stick a babel fish in your ear, and get set to join Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian and Marvin the Paranoid Android on the ultimate adventure of several lifetimes.




Let's Communicate


Book Description

Let’s Communicate is everything you want in a human communication text—substantive, engaging, and fun. Created by communication scholars Douglas Fraleigh, Joseph Tuman, and Katherine Adams, Let’s Communicate takes their combined 100 years’ worth of research and teaching experience to present all the basic human communication concepts with unique attention paid to technology, culture, gender, and social justice. The authors provides provocative, real-life examples and a special focus on skills that together make communication meaningful for students both in and out of the classroom—all at an affordable price. Let’s Communicate is also the first human communication text to use hundreds of hand-drawn illustrations that help students understand and retain important concepts. These unique and often humorous illustrations present concepts in graphic form (especially helpful for visual learners), make complex ideas easier to understand, provide hooks to help students remember material, extend concepts, and generate discussion.