Alma Books Jack Fortune and the Search for the Hidden Valley Purkiss Sue

First published in 1963 and representing Burroughs’s literary breakthrough in the UK, Dead Fingers Talk is, in the words of Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris, “a prophetic work of haunting power,” a unique experiment in writing that has for too long been overlooked. Combining new material with rearranged selections from Naked Lunch and his cut-up novels The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded, the book is a fascinating precursor to remix and mash-up forms in art and music, which owe much to Burroughs’s influence • This newly restored edition of Dead Fingers Talk, based on the novel’s archival manuscripts, will delight all Burroughs fans and lovers of experimental literature, and offer a new insight into the artistic process of one of the most original and influential writers of the twentieth century

When Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane and their baby brother start exploring a gravel pit not far from their new countryside home, they make an unexpected and very curious discovery. The gravel pit is home to a Psammead, a sand fairy. This ugly creature has eyes like a snail, ears like a bat and the body of a spider, and is very grumpy indeed. He grants the children one wish every day, and though they are excited to have all their desires fulfilled, they soon realize that having one's wishes come true can have unexpected consequences • E. Nesbit's much loved children's tale has enchanted generations of readers, and has been adapted for the screen numerous times - most notably by the BBC in a hugely popular 1990s series. It remains one of the most cherished children's classics ever written, and an indispensable part of every young reader's library

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the author of one of the most poignant and enduringly popular novels of the twentieth century, left only a few other pieces of fiction when he died prematurely at the age of sixty. Childhood Memories and Other Stories, here presented in a new translation by Stephen Parkin and including previously deleted passages and the unpublished fragment ‘Torretta’, collects all of Lampedusa’s extant shorter fiction and provides a revealing glimpse into the writer’s workshop and the background to the composition of his masterpiece • From the atmospheric recollections of the Palazzo Lampedusa and the Palazzo Filangeri Cuto at the turn of the twentieth century in ‘Childhood Memories’ to the delightful fable ‘The Siren’, from the gently humorous, bitter­sweet tones of ‘Joy and the Law’ to ‘The Blind Kittens’ – the first chapter of what was intended to be a sequel to The Leopard – this volume showcases Lampedusa’s unparalleled ob­ser­vational powers and narrative skills

The most extensively annotated edition available with almost 1,000 notes by Marc A. Mamigonian and John Turner • This text is based on the Egoist Press second edition of 1918 • James Joyce’s first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a Kunstlerroman which chronicles the emotional and intellectual development of Stephen Dedalus – a character partly based on the author himself – from his early childhood and his school and university days all the way to his first forays as a young artist. Dedalus’s thoughts and epiphanies reveal the tensions, insecurities and feelings of guilt that are the product of living in a country and period so deeply divided along religious and political lines • Pioneering an innovative stream-of-consciousness technique characteristic of early Modernism, and often resorting to mythical, historical and literary allusion which would find fuller expression in Ulysses, Joyce’s groundbreaking work shocked the readers of its day and continues to challenge analysis and interpretation

Few writers have known Italy better than Stendhal: he was only seventeen when he first rode south across the Alps in the wake of Napoleon’s armies, and he continued to travel and to live in Italy until a few months before his death. Some of his visits lasted only a few weeks, others continued for years, and he spent the last decade of his life as French Consul in Civitavecchia – yet he was never a tourist in the ordinary sense of the word • Italy, for Stendhal, was never a mere treasure trove of ruins, museums and galleries: it was the life of the country which fascinated him, its spirit, the inner workings of its heart and mind. This picture – or rather this living dream – of Italy he created is as fresh and tantalizing today as it was almost two centuries ago

Set in the year after the 1929 crash and incorporating many autobiographical elements, 'Babylon Revisited' tells the story of the widower Charlie Wales, a reformed alcoholic and successful businessman returning to Paris to convince his in-laws to give him back the daughter he abandoned. As the old haunts of the city he used to carouse in seem more and more alien to him, he finds himself assailed by feelings of guilt and regret • Considered one of Fitzgerald's finest and most poignant pieces of short fiction, 'Babylon Revisited' is presented here with a selection of other tales published in the same period, such as 'Crazy Sunday' - an account of alcoholism and infidelity in Hollywood - which showcase the author at his creative best

Coming back to the “nest” of his family home in Russia after years of fruitless endeavours away from his roots, Lavretsky decides to turn his back on the vacuous salons of Paris and his frivolous and unfaithful wife Varvara Pavlovna. On his return he meets Liza, the daughter of one of his cousins, whom he had known when they were children and who rekindles in him long-smothered feelings of love. News of Varvara's death arrive from France, offering Lavretsky the prospect of a new life, but a cruel twist threatens to shatter his dreams and forces him to re-evaluate his plans • Hailed as a masterpiece of Russian literature, A Nest of the Gentry – Turgenev's most successful and widely read novel, here presented in a new translation by Michael Pursglove – deals with the personal struggles of the individual in a period of turbulent social change

In A Voyage to the Moon, the narrator, after an attempt to reach the moon using vials of dewdrops, finally finds himself in what appears to be the Garden of Eden, surrounded by Biblical patriarchs. After falling foul of the prophet Elijah, he soon meets a race who walk on all fours and whose nourishment comes in the form of vapour • Published posthumously and intended mainly as a satire of its age, this imaginative and entertaining tale – here presented in a lively translation by Andrew Brown – is now considered one of the pioneering works of science fiction

Ван Чиль встречает очень странного юношу, загорающего возле пруда. Эта встреча заставляет его задуматься, не связан ли диковатого вида паренек с недавними исчезновениями кур, зайцев, ягнят и даже младенца. К своему удивлению, на следующий день он узнает, что мальчика приютила его тетя. Она накупила ему одежды и дала имя Габриэль-Эрнест. Ван Чиль узнает, что новый обитатель их дома связан с чем-то сверхъестественным, и все больше подозревает, что он и есть похититель… • «Габриэль-Эрнест» – это жуткая и пугающая история о темной стороне взросления, написанная с характерным для Саки остроумием и оригинальностью. Сборник также содержит рассказы «Открытое окно», «Боров», «Ожерелье», «Чулан», «Метод Шварца-Меттерклюма», «Средни Ваштар», «Рассказчик» и «Волчица», а также иллюстрации Квентина Блейка

In 1974 a message was beamed towards the stars by the giant Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, a brief blast of radio waves designed to alert extraterrestrial civilisations to our existence. Of course, we don't know if such civilisations really exist. For the past six decades a small cadre of researchers have been on a quest to find out, as part of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. So far, SETI has found no evidence of extraterrestrial life, but with more than a hundred billion stars in our Galaxy alone to search, the odds of quick success are stacked against us • The silence from the stars is prompting some researchers to transmit more messages into space, in an effort to provoke a response from any civilisations out there that might otherwise be staying quiet

The Time Lords have a mission for the Doctor. Together with Sarah and Harry, he finds himself stranded on the war-torn planet Skaro where the conflict between the Thals and the Kaleds has been raging for a thousand years. Chemical and biological weapons have started a cycle of mutation among the planet’s inhabitants that cannot be stopped. But Kaled scientist Davros has perfected a life support system and travel machine for the creature he knows his race will ultimately evolve into – the Dalek • The Doctor must stop the creation of the Daleks, or perhaps affect their development so they evolve into less aggressive creatures. But with Davros’s plans to destroy the Thals and to wipe out any dissenters among his own ranks in progress, is the Doctor already too late? • This novel is based on a Doctor Who story which was originally broadcast from 8 March–12 April 1975