Beast

Elusive online journalist Scott King examines the chilling case of a young vlogger found frozen to death in the legendary local ‘vampire tower’, in another explosive episode of Six Stories… ***Winner of the Capital Crime Award for Best Independent Voice*** ‘Matt Wesolowski brilliantly depicts a desperate and disturbed corner of north-east England in which paranoia reigns and goodness is thwarted … an exceptional storyteller' Andrew Michael Hurley ‘Endlessly inventive and with literary thrills a-plenty, Matt Wesolowski is boldly carving his own uniquely dark niche in fiction’ Benjamin Myers ‘Beautifully written, smart, compassionate – and scary as hell. Matt Wesolowski is one of the most exciting and original voices in crime fiction’ Alex North ____________________ A frozen girl A haunted town A deadly challenge Six Stories Which one is true? In the wake of the 'Beast from the East' cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast. Twenty-four-year-old Vlogger, Elizabeth Barton, had been barricaded inside what locals refer to as 'The Vampire Tower', where she was later found frozen to death. Three young men, part of an alleged 'cult', were convicted of this terrible crime, which they described as a 'prank gone wrong'. However, in the small town of Ergarth, questions have been raised about the nature of Elizabeth Barton's death and whether the three convicted youths were even responsible. Elusive online journalist Scott King speaks to six witnesses – people who knew both the victim and the three killers – to peer beneath the surface of the case. He uncovers whispers of a shocking online craze that held the young of Ergarth in its thrall and drove them to escalate a series of pranks in the name of internet fame. He hears of an abattoir on the edge of town, which held more than simple slaughter behind its walls, the tragic and chilling legend of the ‘Ergarth Vampire… Both a compulsive, taut and terrifying thriller, and a bleak and distressing look at modern society's desperation for attention, Beast will unveil a darkness from which you may never return… ____________________ Praise for the Six Stories series ‘Frighteningly wonderful … one of the best books I’ve read in years’ Khurrum Rahman ‘Disturbing, compelling and atmospheric, it will terrify and enthral you in equal measure’ M W Craven ‘First-class plotting’ S Magazine ‘A dazzling fictional mystery’ Foreword Reviews ‘Readers of Kathleen Barber’s Are You Sleeping and fans of Ruth Ware will enjoy this slim but compelling novel’ Booklist ‘Insidiously terrifying, with possibly the creepiest woods since The Blair Witch Project … a genuine chiller with a whammy of an ending’ C J Tudor ‘Bold, clever and genuinely chilling’ Deidre O’Brien, Sunday Mirror ‘A genuine genre-bending debut’ Carla McKay, Daily Mail 'Impeccably crafted and gripping from start to finish’ Doug Johnstone, The Big Issue ‘The very epitome of a must-read’ Heat ‘Wonderfully horrifying … the suspense crackles’ James Oswald ‘Original, inventive and dazzlingly clever’ Fiona Cummins ‘A complex and subtle mystery, unfolding like dark origami to reveal the black heart inside’ Michael Marshall Smith ‘Haunting, horrifying, and heartrending. Fans of Arthur Machen, whose unsettling tale The White People provides an epigraph, will want to check this one out’ Publishers Weekly

Elusive online journalist Scott King examines the chilling case of a young vlogger found frozen to death in the legendary local ‘vampire tower’, in another explosive episode of Six Stories… ***Winner of the Capital Crime Award for Best Independent Voice*** ‘Matt Wesolowski brilliantly depicts a desperate and disturbed corner of north-east England in which paranoia reigns and goodness is thwarted … an exceptional storyteller' Andrew Michael Hurley ‘Endlessly inventive and with literary thrills a-plenty, Matt Wesolowski is boldly carving his own uniquely dark niche in fiction’ Benjamin Myers ‘Beautifully written, smart, compassionate – and scary as hell. Matt Wesolowski is one of the most exciting and original voices in crime fiction’ Alex North ____________________ A frozen girl A haunted town A deadly challenge Six Stories Which one is true? In the wake of the 'Beast from the East' cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast. Twenty-four-year-old Vlogger, Elizabeth Barton, had been barricaded inside what locals refer to as 'The Vampire Tower', where she was later found frozen to death. Three young men, part of an alleged 'cult', were convicted of this terrible crime, which they described as a 'prank gone wrong'. However, in the small town of Ergarth, questions have been raised about the nature of Elizabeth Barton's death and whether the three convicted youths were even responsible. Elusive online journalist Scott King speaks to six witnesses – people who knew both the victim and the three killers – to peer beneath the surface of the case. He uncovers whispers of a shocking online craze that held the young of Ergarth in its thrall and drove them to escalate a series of pranks in the name of internet fame. He hears of an abattoir on the edge of town, which held more than simple slaughter behind its walls, the tragic and chilling legend of the ‘Ergarth Vampire… Both a compulsive, taut and terrifying thriller, and a bleak and distressing look at modern society's desperation for attention, Beast will unveil a darkness from which you may never return… ____________________ Praise for the Six Stories series ‘Frighteningly wonderful … one of the best books I’ve read in years’ Khurrum Rahman ‘Disturbing, compelling and atmospheric, it will terrify and enthral you in equal measure’ M W Craven ‘First-class plotting’ S Magazine ‘A dazzling fictional mystery’ Foreword Reviews ‘Readers of Kathleen Barber’s Are You Sleeping and fans of Ruth Ware will enjoy this slim but compelling novel’ Booklist ‘Insidiously terrifying, with possibly the creepiest woods since The Blair Witch Project … a genuine chiller with a whammy of an ending’ C J Tudor ‘Bold, clever and genuinely chilling’ Deidre O’Brien, Sunday Mirror ‘A genuine genre-bending debut’ Carla McKay, Daily Mail 'Impeccably crafted and gripping from start to finish’ Doug Johnstone, The Big Issue ‘The very epitome of a must-read’ Heat ‘Wonderfully horrifying … the suspense crackles’ James Oswald ‘Original, inventive and dazzlingly clever’ Fiona Cummins ‘A complex and subtle mystery, unfolding like dark origami to reveal the black heart inside’ Michael Marshall Smith ‘Haunting, horrifying, and heartrending. Fans of Arthur Machen, whose unsettling tale The White People provides an epigraph, will want to check this one out’ Publishers Weekly

If you go down to the woods today… Former con artist Jean-Marc Charming Arundel—Prince Charming, to his friends—has an appointment to keep with a demon. Travelling through an ancient woodland haunted by wolves and bears, he flees a sudden storm into a beautiful mansion. There, he finds himself an unwilling guest of a fearsome beast: a noblewoman transformed by a fairy curse, as much a prisoner in the house as he. Charming and his two fellow “guests,” Johannes and Wilhelm, must attend on the Beast in strangely romantic settings—reading books by the fire, picnicking in a menagerie, a formal dinner—for which they are rewarded with mysterious gifts of red roses. But to what end? And when will they be freed? The clock is ticking, and more than just his own life depends on it…

If you go down to the woods today… Former con artist Jean-Marc Charming Arundel—Prince Charming, to his friends—has an appointment to keep with a demon. Travelling through an ancient woodland haunted by wolves and bears, he flees a sudden storm into a beautiful mansion. There, he finds himself an unwilling guest of a fearsome beast: a noblewoman transformed by a fairy curse, as much a prisoner in the house as he. Charming and his two fellow “guests,” Johannes and Wilhelm, must attend on the Beast in strangely romantic settings—reading books by the fire, picnicking in a menagerie, a formal dinner—for which they are rewarded with mysterious gifts of red roses. But to what end? And when will they be freed? The clock is ticking, and more than just his own life depends on it…

Beast is the first collection in English from award-winning Catalan poet Irene SolA, a darkly imaged, startling and lyrically precise exploration of gender, identity, sexuality and multiple forms of desire. " Beast enters incisively, like claws. It arrives with gleaming fur and stinking. It's a creature that spills its guts and impels the same from others--peoples, animals, limbs, foodstuffs, logical thinking, familial and sexual relations. In Irene SolA's scenes, there's nothing that isn't jammed together and insecure but what's constant is temperament. Beast comes swiftly, with a brazen laugh and cocked ears. Watch out when the lines pause for weird and possibly lethal detours. As SolA jolts, pulses and pushes off, she might leave the paths littered with bouquets or corpses." --Heather Phillipson "Sensuous, precise, and profoundly generous in their glimpses of strikingly private narratives, Sola's poems feel perfectly placed for the strange heat of our times..." --Ben Rivers "After drinking orange blossom water until she vomited everything that she had inside her, the writer and artist Leonora Carrington wrote that her stomach was 'the mirror of the earth'. SolA's Beast has a duckling in the belly; the words it makes her sick up are evil, brittle, full of feeling. I'm excited to see this translation from the Catalan unleashed on UK poetry." --Sophie Collins

Beast is the first collection in English from award-winning Catalan poet Irene SolA, a darkly imaged, startling and lyrically precise exploration of gender, identity, sexuality and multiple forms of desire. " Beast enters incisively, like claws. It arrives with gleaming fur and stinking. It's a creature that spills its guts and impels the same from others--peoples, animals, limbs, foodstuffs, logical thinking, familial and sexual relations. In Irene SolA's scenes, there's nothing that isn't jammed together and insecure but what's constant is temperament. Beast comes swiftly, with a brazen laugh and cocked ears. Watch out when the lines pause for weird and possibly lethal detours. As SolA jolts, pulses and pushes off, she might leave the paths littered with bouquets or corpses." --Heather Phillipson "Sensuous, precise, and profoundly generous in their glimpses of strikingly private narratives, Sola's poems feel perfectly placed for the strange heat of our times..." --Ben Rivers "After drinking orange blossom water until she vomited everything that she had inside her, the writer and artist Leonora Carrington wrote that her stomach was 'the mirror of the earth'. SolA's Beast has a duckling in the belly; the words it makes her sick up are evil, brittle, full of feeling. I'm excited to see this translation from the Catalan unleashed on UK poetry." --Sophie Collins

I'm just a pawn in a game for Mexico's wealthiest, cruelest man. Following my abduction, I find myself in the opulent home of Gaston Marques, Mexico's most feared billionaire. He's dark, he's dangerous, and he's obsessed with possessing me. I detest him and resist him, but he doesn't care. He takes what he wants, and he wants me. But then, something shifts. In this gilded cage, I see glimpses of a different side of Gaston amidst the darkness. And against all my better judgment, I find myself drawn to him, pulled in by his magnetism. Even as I push back, I can't deny his strange and powerful attraction. When my friends devise a daring plan to rescue me, Gaston lets me go. But there's a twist. He follows me. He's determined to win me over in my world, a place where he's the outsider, not me. I tell him it's impossible, that we could never be. But love, especially one as twisted and intoxicating as ours, doesn't play by the rules. Beast is the fifth book in the Once Upon a Villain Series by Bianca Cole. This dark, billionaire mafia romance explores themes that may be disturbing to some readers. No cliffhanger and a happily-ever-after ending means this book can be read as a standalone.

The first full-length narrative biography of Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, considered by many to be one of the greatest drummers in rock history, and a genuine wild man of epic (and sadly fatal) proportions. Beast: John Bonham and the Rise of Led Zeppelin is the first-ever biography of the iconic John Bonham, considered by many to be one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) rock drummer of all time. Bonham first learned to play the drums at the age of five, and despite never taking formal lessons, began drumming for local bands immediately upon graduating from secondary school. By the late 1960s, Bonham was looking for a more solid gig in order to provide his growing family with a more regular income. Meanwhile, following the dissolution of the popular blues rock band The Yardbirds, lead guitarist Jimmy Page sought the company of new bandmates to help him record an album and tour Scandinavia as the New Yardbirds. A few months later, Bonham was recruited to join the band who would eventually become known as Led Zeppelin-and before the year was out, Bonham and his three bandmates would become the richest rock band in the world. In their first year, Led Zeppelin released two albums and completed four US and four UK concert tours. As their popularity exploded, they moved from ballrooms and smaller clubs to larger auditoriums, and eventually started selling out full arenas. Throughout the 1970s, Led Zeppelin reached new heights of commercial and critical success, making them one of the most influential groups of the era, both in musical style and in their approach towards the workings of the entertainment industry. They added extravagant lasers, light shows, and mirror balls to their performances; wore flamboyant and often glittering outfits; traveled in a private jet airliner and rented out entire sections of hotels; and soon become the subject of frequently repeated stories of debauchery and destruction while on tour. In 1977, the group performed what would be their final live appearance in the US, following months of rising fervor and rioting from their fandom. And in September of 1980, Bonham-plagued by alcoholism, anxiety, and the after-effects of years of excess-was found dead by his bandmates. To this day, Bonham is posthumously described as one of the most important, well-known, and influential drummers in rock, topping best of lists describing him as an inimitable, all-time great. As Adam Budofsky, managing editor of Modern Drummer , explained, "If the king of rock 'n' roll was Elvis Presley, then the king of rock drumming was certainly John Bonham."

The first full-length narrative biography of Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, considered by many to be one of the greatest drummers in rock history, and a genuine wild man of epic (and sadly fatal) proportions. Beast: John Bonham and the Rise of Led Zeppelin is the first-ever biography of the iconic John Bonham, considered by many to be one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) rock drummer of all time. Bonham first learned to play the drums at the age of five, and despite never taking formal lessons, began drumming for local bands immediately upon graduating from secondary school. By the late 1960s, Bonham was looking for a more solid gig in order to provide his growing family with a more regular income. Meanwhile, following the dissolution of the popular blues rock band The Yardbirds, lead guitarist Jimmy Page sought the company of new bandmates to help him record an album and tour Scandinavia as the New Yardbirds. A few months later, Bonham was recruited to join the band who would eventually become known as Led Zeppelin-and before the year was out, Bonham and his three bandmates would become the richest rock band in the world. In their first year, Led Zeppelin released two albums and completed four US and four UK concert tours. As their popularity exploded, they moved from ballrooms and smaller clubs to larger auditoriums, and eventually started selling out full arenas. Throughout the 1970s, Led Zeppelin reached new heights of commercial and critical success, making them one of the most influential groups of the era, both in musical style and in their approach towards the workings of the entertainment industry. They added extravagant lasers, light shows, and mirror balls to their performances; wore flamboyant and often glittering outfits; traveled in a private jet airliner and rented out entire sections of hotels; and soon become the subject of frequently repeated stories of debauchery and destruction while on tour. In 1977, the group performed what would be their final live appearance in the US, following months of rising fervor and rioting from their fandom. And in September of 1980, Bonham-plagued by alcoholism, anxiety, and the after-effects of years of excess-was found dead by his bandmates. To this day, Bonham is posthumously described as one of the most important, well-known, and influential drummers in rock, topping best of lists describing him as an inimitable, all-time great. As Adam Budofsky, managing editor of Modern Drummer , explained, "If the king of rock 'n' roll was Elvis Presley, then the king of rock drumming was certainly John Bonham."