William McGonagall

William McGonagall
Author: Chris Hunt
Publisher: Birlinn
Total Pages: 618
Release: 2011-06-14
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 0857900730

William McGonagall was born in Edinburgh in 1830. His father was a poor hand-loom weaver, and his work took his family to Glasgow, then to Dundee. William attended school for eighteen months before the age of seven, and received no further formal education. Later, as a mill worker, he used to read books in the evening, taking great interest in Shakespeare's plays. In 1877, McGonagall suddenly discovered himself 'to be a poet'. Since then, thousands of people the world over have enjoyed the verse of Scotland's alternative national poet. This volume brings together the three famous collections – Poetic Gems, More Poetic Gems and Last Poetic Gems, and also includes an introduction by Chris Hunt, the webmaster of the McGonagall website www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk, indexes of poem titles and first lines, and features the first publication of McGonagall's only play, Jack o' the Cudgel, written in 1886 but not performed publicly until 2002.

Penny Dreadfuls and Boys' Adventures

Penny Dreadfuls and Boys' Adventures
Author: Elizabeth James
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 154
Release: 1998
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN:

Penny dreadfuls - sensational stories published in weekly parts - were an important feature of Victorian popular literature. They were often anonymous, and inspired by the melodramas of the day. This is the catalogue of a comprehensive collection bequeathed by music-hall performer Barry Ono.

Shillelagh

Shillelagh
Author: John W. Hurley
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2007
Genre: History
ISBN: 1430325704

For centuries the Irish have been associated with a stick weapon called the Shillelagh. And for generations of Irishmen, the Shillelagh was a badge of honor - a symbol of their courage, their martial prowess and their willingness to fight for their rights and their honor. In modern popular culture, the Shillelagh has acquired a less appealing image, one that attempts to declaw the Irish through negative racial stereotypes of the Victorian era, which depict the Irish as harmless club-weilding Leprecauns or drunken, half-witted brawlers. John Hurley's illuminating study forever alters our view of this much maligned and misunderstood cultural icon by revealing the true martial arts culture of the Irish people, its history, evolution and decline and the resulting effects on the Shillelagh - the most powerful and controversial of Irish icons.

The Thousand Names

The Thousand Names
Author: Django Wexler
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 541
Release: 2013-07-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101609516

Set in an alternate nineteenth century, muskets and magic are weapons to be feared in the first “spectacular epic” (Fantasy Book Critic) in Django Wexler’s Shadow Campaigns series. Captain Marcus d’Ivoire, commander of one of the Vordanai empire’s colonial garrisons, was serving out his days in a sleepy, remote outpost—until a rebellion left him in charge of a demoralized force clinging to a small fortress at the edge of the desert. To flee from her past, Winter Ihernglass masqueraded as a man and enlisted as a ranker in the Vordanai Colonials, hoping only to avoid notice. But when chance sees her promoted to command, she must lead her men into battle against impossible odds. Their fate depends on Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich. Under his command, Marcus and Winter feel the tide turning and their allegiance being tested. For Janus’s ambitions extend beyond the battlefield and into the realm of the supernatural—a realm with the power to reshape the known world and change the lives of everyone in its path.