Ben Graham

What is Counterculture? – It’s an alternative lifestyle... – The ideas that spark a revolution... – A movement that changes the world... This new collection of essays celebrates the incredible originality of British post-war culture. British art, film, theatre, dance, literature and music have attracted international recognition, from the Angry Young Men to the Sex Pistols to Grayson Perry. Now gaming, the internet and social media enable creative communities to flourish and either fight for social justice – or just be entertained. Can we find the creative inspiration to succeed in a postcapitalist future?

It's 50 years or so into the future, and there's a spot of bother on the astral plane. The Hove Space Program and the last Bunnyman set out on a vision quest across a broken Britain to sort it all out. Attacked on all sides by The Big Society, The Order and The Blackpool Illuminati, they recruit allies from the amorphous freak franchise- chaos magicians, rappers, a Sufi psychic- seek sanctuary in The Pool of Life, call on Eris and enter The White Room for the final battle on the Isle of Jura. Tackling the myths and realities of post-Brexit Britain, Amorphous Albion is a psychedelic, satirical, sci-fi adventure story that weaves together disparate threads of neo-Discordian counter-culture into an original work of meta-modern pulp fiction.

Emily Neuburger, Parents Magazine (online)"Shirley Link is a new girl detective series that my daughter is crazy about. This is an amazing series, my friends Your kids will be hooked and you'll feel really good about it."Shirley Link is a 14-year old detective, but she doesn't want anyone to know about her sleuthing skills. Whenever she uses her powers of observation she gets into trouble. An example? She wrote a school paper about a tough case she'd solved over summer vacation. "It's not a creative writing assignment, Shirley," the teacher scolded. "You were supposed to write about what actually happened.""I did," she said, louder than she meant to. But he gave her a D anyway.So when the school principal needs Shirley's help to catch a thief she tries to do it quietly. Can she track down a criminal who's clever enough to steal $35,000 and the one-ton safe it was kept in? Can she do it without the whole world finding out about her detective skills?Hint: the answer to one of those questions is, no.A great read for kids (and their adults).

A Gathering of Promises is a history of acid rock and psychedelic music in and from the state of Texas, focusing largely on its mid-1960s origins with the 13th Floor Elevators and contemporaries such as the Golden Dawn, the Red Crayola and Bubble Puppy, and following its development to the present day and the popularity of the annual Austin Psych Fest. Grounded in a strong social, cultural and historical context, the book asks how Texas produced some of the most extreme and influential psych of any era despite a prevailing social ethos of Christian conservatism and the strictest drug laws of any American state. It looks at how this environment shaped and affected the music, alongside the Texan frontier spirit and its championing of expansion, freedom and individualism.

Three people have shaped David Grant's life. Now one is on the other side of the country, one is on the other side of the world, and one may be gone forever. Dave's Dad is always there for him. But everything changed in Niagara Falls, where Dave learned that fathers are not superheroes. They are flawed and fallible and invaluable models of the men that boys become. Dave's best friend is Ollie. And you can always count on "The Big Man" to carry Dave, his wheelchair, or both during hard times. They joked and fought their way through the adolescent purgatory that was Slauson Junior High School, and together they can survive anything. But can Dave survive alone? His first day at Slauson, Dave met Annie, and she was perfect in a twelve-year-old boy's eyes. Over the years, their adventures in Toronto and the Bahamas brought them closer, but now the distance between them may be insurmountable. And so Dave's journey to find them begins. The question is: where will his journey end?