M. Gallagher

Two housing scheme boys dream up a plan to steal priceless antiques from a nearby stately mansion - antiques that have been stored in packing crates for decades, and are just asking to be nicked. It's a plan that grows with them through their adolescent scrapes and battles. But one of the boys is really after the masterpiece portrait that hangs in the mansion house library. It obsesses him because it reminds him of his mother, like she was before his brother died. PROCEEDS FROM THE ROYALTIES WILL GO TO CANCER RESEARCH CHARITIES.

What accounts for the massive global popularity of action films and adventure literature? How do men and women respond to iconic screen stars such as Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve McQueen, and Charlton Heston? Action genres have been Hollywood's most profitable global exports for most of its history, their male heroes the subject of much fascination and derision. Bestselling literary thrillers, from The Hunt for Red October to Into Thin Air , have also contributed markedly to popular understandings of male activity. Action Figures takes stock of action narratives' many appeals and recognizes how contemporary crises of gender identity manifest themselves in popular commercial texts.

What accounts for the massive global popularity of action films and adventure literature? How do men and women respond to iconic screen stars such as Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve McQueen, and Charlton Heston? Action genres have been Hollywood's most profitable global exports for most of its history, their male heroes the subject of much fascination and derision. Bestselling literary thrillers, from The Hunt for Red October to Into Thin Air , have also contributed markedly to popular understandings of male activity. Action Figures takes stock of action narratives' many appeals and recognizes how contemporary crises of gender identity manifest themselves in popular commercial texts.