Sport 35 SCIENCE FICTION


The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.


- Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe


69301 THE LAST MAN by Mary Shelley


From the author of Frankenstein comes this apocalyptic tale of a world devastated by plague. Mary Shelley’s 1826 roman à clef takes place in the late 21st century, as England’s last king abdicates and a charmed circle of idealistic political reformers plunger into a maelstrom of war, pestilence and anarchy. Shelley wrote this gripping novel after the untimely death of her


husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and their comrade Lord Byron. She models a pair of characters on the charismatic poets and based the narrator, the sole survivor of a pandemic, on her own persona. This parable of humanity’s destruction by plague is widely regarded as repudiation of Romanticism due to its failure to solve the world’s problems through art and philosophy. It reflects the ways utopian ideals, unchecked by moral and ethical standards, can shatter society. Misunderstood, the novel disappeared for over a century, only to re-emerge as a precursor of science fiction. Novelist Muriel Spark hailed it as a Gothic extravaganza. Unabridged facsimile reprint of the 1826 original, in budget priced 342 page softback. £10.99 NOW £4


68996 WIZARD KNIGHT by Gene Wolfe


The Knight Sir Able of the High Heart is writing to his brother Ben, trying to explain how he ran further than ever before into the American wilderness and entered a new world, finding himself in the role of a knight on a quest through the lands of Niflheim, Muspel, Aelfrice, Mythgarthr, Skai, Kleos and finally Elysion, the world of the Most High God. Able encounters Disiri, queen


of the Moss Aelf clan, who becomes his lover, but he cannot accept the swords that are offered to complete his knighthood because the sword of swords is the object of his quest. Finally he receives a mace from the hands of the blacksmith Mori and sets out on a sea voyage with his seafaring companion Pouk and dog Gylf. The journey leads him to the shapeshifting dragon Garsecg, the Aelfmaidens, the Knight Michael who tells him what are the right questions to ask and the Valfather of Skai where no-one gets old. A highly praised and well- written fantasy read. 920pp, paperback. £14.99 NOW £5


10989 LOST WORLD AND OTHER STORIES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


The science fiction stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stand alongside those of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. The protagonist, the ‘cave-man in a lounge suit’, is the maddening, irascible and fascinating Professor George Edward Challenger. In these collected tales he faces adventures such as that high above the Amazon rain forest in The Lost World and the challenges of The Land of Mist. 480pp Paperback ONLY £2


65537 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON &


AROUND THE MOON by Jules Verne In From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, Jules Verne turned the ancient fantasy of space flight into a believable technological possibility - an engineering dream for the industrial age. Directly inspired by Verne’s story, enthusiasts worked successfully at overcoming the practical difficulties, and within a century, human beings did indeed fly to the Moon. Verne had used the science of the day to construct a literary conjuring trick, a hoax, one of the most successful in all history. By skilful misdirection he drew the attention of readers away from weaknesses in the project. 424 page paperback. ONLY £2


66806 BRAVE NEW WORDS: The Oxford


Dictionary of Science Fiction edited by Jeff Prucher


Comprising both the meaning and history of over 1,000 imaginative words and phrases like blast off, spacesuit, and robot. For each entry we are provided with a succinct definition followed by, in chronological order, milestones in that entry’s usage. Words that for most of us are essentially Star Trek in origin, such as “warp speed”, “phaser”, “klingon” and “beam me up Scotty”, have considerably more complex roots and usages than one might think. Add to this Ray Bradbury to Neil Gaiman and Arthur C. Clarke. Plus pseudonyms and several bibliographies. 342pp paperback. £9.99 NOW £2.50


67517 LASHER: Lives of the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice


Why did Rowan Mayfair, leader of the coven, leave her new husband Michael Curry on Christmas Day? 13 year old Mona desperately wants Michael, and after daring her cousin David to have sex with her in the cemetery at Mardi Gras, she is psyched up to seduce Michael with all the arts she can employ. Plus she can spare from playing the stock market with her uncanny computer skills. Meanwhile at San Francisco’s Keplinger institute, Dr Samuel Larkin penetrates the top-secret genetic research area to formulate a way forward following Mitch Flanagan’s work. 578pp. $28.50 NOW £4.50


67533 QUEEN OF THE DAMNED: The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice


The blood-drinking rock star mesmerises groupies at a concert in San Francisco but following his moment of glory under the hot lights, basking in the adoration of 15,000 fans and two paramours, Gabrielle and Louis, Lestat realises with a frisson that the concert has aroused from slumber an older, primeval force. Deep in the past Enkil and Akasha ruled the Nile before it was called


Egypt and all vampires are descended from them, but if they should walk the earth again they could lead the whole of humanity into extinction. Lestat has made a vampire of his own mother Gabrielle and there are forces who are willing his destruction. 448pp. $18.95 NOW £3.50


67538 TALTOS: Lives of the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice


A hypnotic saga of the occult that began with the books The Witching Hour and Lasher. Meet Mr Ash, a tall, quietly spoken sole survivor of an ancient species, the Taltos, thriving among humankind and now the head of a great corporate empire. He is stunned to learn from an old and mysterious friend that another Taltos has been seen, in the very same Scottish glen where centuries ago, long before the coming of the Romans, Ash ruled his clan. At once he is propelled into the world of Rowan Mayfair and into the mysteries of the Mayfair family. The story moves from London to Scotland to New Orleans and back. 467pp with roughtcut edges. $25 NOW £5


SCOTTISH INTEREST


Every man dies. Not every man really lives. - William Wallace


69231 SCOTTISH HOUSES AND GARDENS: From the


Archives of Country Life by Ian Gow


This outstanding volume was first published in 1997 as part of Country Life magazine’s celebration of their centenary, and we are delighted to offer our readers the 2007 softback reprint. Scotland’s architectural heritage was an early enthusiasm of


the magazine. At first drawn by the photographic possibilities of romantic medieval castles in misty glens, the editors’ interest very quickly broadened into all types of Scottish architecture, from the classical splendours of Adam’s houses to the Arts and Crafts period, the Georgian revival and the first Modern Movement houses. The magazine’s predominantly southern English based readership were often unaware of these splendours, and as a result during the early 20th century the magazine swiftly built up an unrivalled archive of glass plate negatives which capture most of Scotland’s finest houses, many in their final golden age before the destructive forces of the 20th century swept many away and emptied more of their contents. Here are the famous castles and palaces such as Holyroodhouse, Glamis, Culzean and Inveraray, recorded in photographs of timeless authority. Here too are the great 18th century houses like Arniston, Drum and Newhailes, and the Jacobean delights of Pinkie House and Kellie Castle. But perhaps the most outstanding of all is the magazine’s coverage of Hamilton House in Lanarkshire, some 133 negatives taken in 1919 just before Scotland’s largest, most magnificent country house was levelled and its contents scattered. 23 of the best images are reproduced here. 192pp, 9¾”×12" with superb b/w photography on every page.


£18.99 NOW £9.50 67735 INVERNESS: Highland Town to


Millennium City by Norman S. Newton Inverness came to prominence during the Middle Ages, although its position as main trading port and administrative centre of the Highland region was still in dispute with Cromarty, Dingwall and Elgin right up until 1863, when the Highland Railway reached the town. Much of old medieval Inverness was swept away and replaced with archetypal Victorian municipal and domestic building stock, which was itself recently swept away by the town planners of the 1960s and ’70s. The city retains a very real and tangible sense of its history. Photos, plans and maps. 160pp, 8½”×12". £16.99 NOW £5.50


SPORT


The game of golf would lose a great deal if croquet mallets and billiard cues were allowed on the putting green.


- Ernest Hemingway


69114 WHAT I LOVE ABOUT CRICKET: One Man’s Vain Attempt to Explain Cricket to a Teenager Who Couldn’t Give


a Toss by Sandy Balfour Described by reviewers as ‘delightful stuff - funny and poignant’ and ‘the perfect hors d’oeuvre to the cricket season’, this is the story of a summer when a cricket-obsessive teaches his novice pupil the wisdom of the game. The author is cast as


the supposed master and his 16-year-old daughter’s new boyfriend - the skateboarding boy wonder - is the reluctant pupil. This beginner’s guide to the infuriatingly perverse game of cricket is actually a love letter addressed both to those who utterly fail to understand it and to those who need reminding why they fell in love in the first place. What unfolds is wonderfully observed, very funny and as much about fathers and daughters, love and life, as it is about cricket. 273 paperback pages. £10.99 NOW £4


69053 PULLED OFF AT


HALF-TIME by Stuart Reeves ‘I’ll be watching you for the first 45 minutes and if you don’t work harder I’ll pull you off at half-time.’ - Sir Alf Ramsey. Inspired by England maverick Rodney Marsh’s famous exchange with Ramsey, here are some of the funniest quotes (intentionally or not) in the history of football. The Beautiful Game has produced speakers with the gift of the gab whether in training, in


victory or in defeat, and here are the great players, Bibliophile Books Unit 5 Datapoint, 6 South Crescent, London E16 4TL TEL: 020 74 74 24 74


managers, referees, chairmen and directors, fans, terrace songs and chants, fashion and haircuts, antics, socialising, WAGs, commentators and international duty from the top teams in 750 amusing quips and witty one-liners. ‘Glenn is putting his head in the frying pan.’ - Ossie Ardiles. ‘England now has three fresh men, with three fresh legs.’ - Jimmy Hill. ‘Ardiles strokes the ball like it was part of his anatomy.’ - Jimmy Magee. 256pp. £9.99 NOW £3.50


69104 DAILY TELEGRAPH


BOOK OF GOLF edited by Nick Hoult Well known as the paper of choice for golfers, the Daily Telegraph has an unrivalled pool of contributors and for this anthology draws on veteran columnists such as Martin Johnson and Michael Williams, together with guest appearances from golfers as diverse as Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Michael Parkinson and


W.F. Deedes. Deedes’s 1997 piece, “What we all owe to Tiger”, describes the fellow-feeling every golfer felt with Woods as he approached the 8th hole at Troon at five under and left, with a ruinous six, at two under. Michael Parkinson celebrates the laid-back Laura Davies in 1994, who claimed that she “never had a golf lesson in her life”. In July 2000 Faldo writes about his hopes of winning the millennium Open, under the title “How I learnt to relax with Slammin’ Sam” - taking a few lessons from the veteran swinger Sam Snead - his hopes were not realised. In 2004 Lewine Mair wrote about Montgomerie’s struggles to maintain his game after the break-up of his marriage, and in 1995 Paul Hayward celebrated Arnold Palmer’s last appearance at St. Andrews. The same year Jack Nicklaus celebrates the honour of being chosen for the Ryder Cup in the section “It’s a Team Game”, with insights also from Leonard Crowley on Britain’s win in 1957. Hours of pleasure for the golfing enthusiast. 242pp. £18.99 NOW £6


66230 ASK BEARDERS Answers to the


World’s Most Challenging Cricket Questions by Bill Frindall


No one knew and loved cricket quite like Bill Frindall. In 2001, he began to offer his cricket expertise for a column on the Test Match Special website. Fans would write in with the most difficult and arcane questions possible, hoping to stump ‘the Bearded Wonder’. They never did. This book, which will delight the hearts of cricket fans everywhere, collects the best of the Qs and As from Bill’s popular column, offering cricket aficionados a one- step compendium of the most challenging bits of history and statistics the game has to offer. 224 pages. £9.99 NOW £2.50


68271 WHITE KING AND RED QUEEN: How


the Cold War was Fought on the Chessboard by Daniel Johnson


The author, chess player, Cold War correspondent and historian, is the ideal guide to a remarkable period when chess matches, for a brief, golden time, were front-page news. He recounts in dramatic detail the history of the game and its players from its very beginnings but particularly during the 20th century, culminating with the emergence of Garry Kasparov, the last Soviet world champion. It was Nikolai Krylenko, creator of the Red Army, who persuaded the Kremlin to adopt chess as a symbol of Soviet power. From then on, competitors were obliged to play for the state, or risk imprisonment and exile. Three decades of Soviet chess hegemony were finally shattered in 1972 with the match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. The years between 1974 and 1981 saw the equally thrilling struggle between Viktor Korchnoi, anti-Communist dissident and Anatoly Karpov, loyal representative of the Kremlin - exciting stuff. 383 pages with b/w archive photos. £22 NOW £6


68313 MY CRICKET COMPANION by Alec Stewart


Before his retirement in 2009 Alec Stewart OBE had represented England more times than Botham, Boycott, Gooch Gower and every other great of the English game, and gained a reputation for unflinching and uncompromising honesty in his assessment of players, officials, the game of cricket and modern-day sport as a whole. Writing his Cricket Companion provided him with the opportunity to take a wider look at cricket. Full of anecdotes, facts and figures from a sport he clearly loves, he also explores the state of world cricket with some typically forthright opinions, before assessing how best the sport should plan for the future. Football in particular also comes in for some close attention, especially his beloved Chelsea FC. 303pp. £16.99 NOW £6


68318 BEST VIEWS FROM THE BOUNDARY: Test Match Special’s Greatest Interviews edited by Peter Baxter


Views from the Boundary, the Saturday lunchtime interview has always been a highlight of BBC’s Test Match Special. Over a glass of champagne and the immersed in the convivial atmosphere of the TMS commentary box at the height of a Test, for over 30 years Johnners, Aggers and Bloers plus a few others from the team have gently prodded and probed their illustrious guests, with often memorable results. Peter Baxter has chosen 25 of the best partly based on personal preference and partly on listeners’ feedback in this unmissable collection of cricketing conversations. Relive 30 years of heady summer days of leather on willow in this true cricketing treat. 312pp. £14.99 NOW £6.50


68396 OFFICIAL ECB GUIDE TO CRICKET GROUNDS by William Powell


Starting with the Marylebone Cricket Club Ground at Lord’s, founded in 1787 when the rules of cricket had not yet been developed, this comprehensive guide covers all the 82 grounds now used for county cricket, from stadia accommodating 30,000 spectators to simple local recreation grounds. The first recorded match in Oxford was the Bullingdon Club versus the MCC in 1795. At the other end of the scale, one of the most venerable of test cricket grounds is the Yorkshire county ground at Headingley, which held on to its status in the 90s in spite of a bid to create a new ground in nearby Wakefield. Trent Bridge, Nottingham, saw its first test match in 1899 when England met Australia and is the third oldest test venue after Lord’s and Eden Gardens in Calcutta. Each ground’s history is described with specifications, colours and scores, including highest wicket partnerships and other records, rules such as ground behaviour and dress, access information, where to stay and where to eat. 539pp, photos, ground plans. £14.99 NOW £5


e-mail: orders@bibliophilebooks.com


67720 CRICKET GROUNDS FROM THE AIR


by Zaki Cooper, Daniel Lightman and Ian Hay Covers 18 cricketing counties of England and Wales, including all the Test venue plus fascinating facts, stats, anecdotes and players’ reminiscences. Arranged alphabetically by county, for each we get a stunning double page


spread of that county’s main home ground and the history of the ground, stats such as leading scorers and wicket-takers, average innings, runs per wicket and runs per over, most-capped players and remarkable events. From the magnificence of Lord’s to the tiny Dean’s Park in Bournemouth, and from Clive Lloyd at Old Trafford to Sir Geoff Hurst. 128pp, colour photos, 10½”×11½”. £20 NOW £6


68336 MANCHESTER UNITED: The Biography,


Revised and Updated by Jim White With a rapidly growing worldwide Manchester fanbase of some 80 million and an annual income well in excess of £300 million, United is, in terms of income, comfortably the biggest club in England. From the solid yeomanry of Lancelot Holliday Richardson, the gilded days of Law, Best and Charlton, the previously unthinkable disaster of relegation in 1974 to the rise and rise under the Sir Alex Ferguson, White’s passionate story of this remarkable club is an utter joy to read, even if you are not a red. 450pp paperback with 16 pages of colour and b/w photos including such classics as Cantona’s kung-fu kick and George Best at his best and worst. £10.99 NOW £4


68370 ENGLISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE AND FA


PREMIER LEAGUE TABLES: 1888-2010 by Michael Robinson


The most recent and updated edition which comprises all the Football League and Premier League final tables since 1888, all the FA Cup and Final statistics since the competitions began. There is also a full chronology of notable events for their respective leagues, such as the adding of teams in a league or extra divisions. 96 page paperback. £8.99 NOW £2.50


68380 HOLDING COURT: Inside the Gates of


the Wimbledon Championships by Chris Gorringe and Tim Phillips Wimbledon is a national institution. For them, and for anyone who has ever been captivated by McEnroe v Borg, soaked up the atmosphere in Aorangi Park or been intrigued by what goes on behind the scenes at SW19, this book is a must-read. The author - fondly known as Clockwork Gorringe - has dealt with everything from players’ boycotts, tantrums and Middle Sunday to demands for equal prize money and the Olympic bid. During his tenure, revenue increased from £58,000 in his first year to £27,000,000 in his last. In this fascinating volume, he charts the unique history of one of England’s most venerable establishments. 264 pp, colour photos. £18.99 NOW £5.50


68393 MOTORCYCLE WORLD CHAMPIONS: The Inside Story of History’s Heroes by Michael Scott


In motorcycle racing there is one prize that is treasured above all others, the crown of crowns that is World GP Champion, or MotoGP Champion as it is called these days. Modern Grand Prix (the equivalent of Formula One for cars) motorcycling began in 1949, and since then just one man each year earns the right to call himself World Champion - so far there have been just 24. But then who would lay money against “the Doctor”, the incredible Valentino Rossi, even against Sheene, Roberts and Lawson in their prime? Together with a wealth of thrilling colour and b/w photos Scott’s impeccably researched pen portraits bring to life the early giants like Hailwood, Duke, Agostini and Surtees, and those who have become half-forgotten, like the first ever Champion, bomber pilot Les Graham and tragic genius Gary Hocking and the modern masters like Rossi and Casey Stoner. 224pp, 9¼”×11¼”. £25 NOW £7


TRANSPORT


The trains roared by like projectiles level on the darkness, fuming and burning, making the valley clang with their passage. They were gone, and the lights of the towns and villages glittered in silence.


- D. H. Lawrence 69123 REGIONAL STEAM:


Around Britain in the 1950s by Brian Morrison The author, a lifelong steam enthusiast, says in his introduction that one of the greatest regrets of his trainspotting career is that on account of National Service he missed much of the post-war flurry of steam activity before old engines, retained for use during the war years, were finally sent to the


scrapyard. In 1951, with his demob gratuity he bought an Agfa Isolette camera, revolutionary for him as its lightning (for those days, anyway) 1/500 second shutter speed allowed him to freeze moving trains for the first time. Here presents a favourite steam selection from almost 60 years at the lineside, some 240 b/w images which will stir the blood of any transport historian. Morrison travelled extensively in pursuit of his quarry, and the book is arranged by region: Western, Southern, Midland, Eastern, North Eastern and Scottish, with each represented in roughly equal measure. For each region there is a map showing all the main lines and an introduction giving a brief history of the region and other points of note. Then follow the photos, each fully captioned with name, number, date, location and lots of other interesting information. We see the record breaking 60022 “Mallard” and various other Pacific A4s tearing up and down the country, right down to the lowliest tank engines shunting trucks around the yard. Outstanding photography of times sadly now past. 128pp softback, 8¼”×11¾”.


£14.95 NOW £6 www.bibliophilebooks.com


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