The greatest mob story ever told has a prequel

Another pulp epic by Madoc Paine

First published November 2018 (first Kindle edition)

Nobody ever knew the full story – until now. And it didn’t all happen quite how it’s always been told.

            Yes, there was a goddess who reacted badly when she wasn’t invited to a party. An impromptu divine beauty contest. Some weird sex involving a swan. A couple of political marriages and a controversial love affair. All these played their part in starting the Trojan war. But ultimately this is a story about who controls destiny – is it gods, ambitious kings, or the three vicious sisters called the fates?

            Zeus just wants to enjoy his quiet, comfortable life as god-father of the Olympian family, the deities who dominate the Greek world from their home atop Mount Olympos.

            His wife Herë mostly wants greater power as queen of heaven. And to put an end to her husband’s philandering.

            And Apollon, god of light, prophecy, healing and the arts, wants to make himself a father-god in his own right, to expand his worship and his power to the east of the East. To make himself the Trojan god-father.

            Meanwhile an extremely ambitious mortal prince called Agamemnon struggles to overcome his family curse. Can Agamemnon regain the kingdom which was stolen from him when he was sixteen? Can he learn how to manipulate the favour of gods and goddesses, to control his own destiny the way no mortal man ever did, and make himself the most powerful king in the world?

            Based on his unrivalled access both to the underworld and to the bronze palace on Mount Olympos, Titanic narrator Argos Panoptës weaves together an epic story of love and war, intrigue and power-play on earth and in heaven; of the rivalry of cities, the rise and fall of dynasties, the fortunes of families both mortal and divine.

            The story of the Trojan god-father.

Buy Trojan Godfather for Kindle.

The greatest mob story ever told

A pulp epic by Madoc Paine

First published July 2014 (first Kindle edition)

One day, for the first time in a thousand years, a new god arrives at the bronze palace. His name is Gaius Julius Caesar.

Most Olympians assume it was the god-father who has deified Caesar. Only Zeus himself knows the truth. So the god-father must covertly find out who made Julius Caesar a god – and why.

Round about the same time, Zeus has a dream in which a gang of hooded rivals overthrow him. And in the dream the rivals are led by one of Zeus’s many sons. But which son?

Of course Zeus became god-father by overthrowing his own father, Kronos, who in turn had become god-father by overthrowing his father Ouranos. So does this dream signal an impending rebellion amongst the Olympian family?

But how did Zeus come to have a dream anyway? Everyone knows the dreams are non-corporeal minor deities employed by Zeus himself to send messages to mortals. The dreams very rarely get sent to gods, and they never get sent to the god-father. So what’s going on? Is this a rogue dream? Is one of the Olympians trying to warn Zeus of an impending rebellion? Or is this some kind of trick played by a rival family of gods?

As the mystery unfolds, and the shocking events of two thousand years ago play themselves out, we finally learn the truth about what became of Zeus and the other Greek gods and goddesses.

And in the process, we discover one of the most closely-guarded secrets of all divinity everywhere: where do deities get their power?

More about Olympian Godfather.

Buy Olympian Godfather for Kindle.

By Laurence Watkinson

First published November 2012 (first Kindle edition)

Minority Rapport is the latest novel in Laurence Watkinson's crime series set in Britain's favourite seaside resort.

When a reggae singer is brutally murdered in a quiet flat in Blackpool, local police come to suspect that the murderer may have been Henry Middleton-Smith - a local councillor and leader of the British National Party.

Then when a member of the BNP is gunned down in a street not far from Blackpool Metropolitan Police headquarters, it appears the city might be witnessing the onset of a spate of racially-motivated murders.

Unfortunately it turns out it's worse than that...

Buy Minority Rapport for Kindle.

More about Minority Rapport.

By Stuart Moston

First published November 2012 (first Kindle edition)

Set in the relatively sedate and differently-unpredictable pre-Trump era, Stars is a film within a film within a novel, with two love triangles and a Republican presidential nomination thrown in.

David Molteno, world number one box office draw, has started dreaming in screenplay and thinks he must be entering a pre-mid-life crisis. Is he growing tired of playing a formulaic True American Hero in Hollywood blockbusters? Should he move onto the Shakespearian stage and be paid in peanuts but be more fulfilled? Should he turn his hand to writing and directing? Or should he do something completely different, like quit Hollywood and go into politics? Clearly he feels he needs a change of direction. But maybe he'll find his answer if he looks more closely at his love life.

Stars is an epic story of actors, their adventures, their aspirations, their addictions, their crises and opportunities, their agents and their analysts, their loves and their laughter, the journalists who write about them and the politicians who cosy up to them in a bid to make politics more entertaining.

Buy Stars for Kindle.

More information on Stars.

By Laurence Watkinson

First published September 2012 (first Kindle edition)

The second of Laurence Watkinson's crime stories featuring DCI Bill Ramsbottom and DS Lucy Brown is now available for Kindle.

The story begins where Rock and a Hard Place ended, and charts the efforts of Blackpool's leading criminal gang to consolidate its position following the warfare described in the previous story.

The story also follows the fortunes of the city's great cannabis mogul and one of his loyal lieutenants, and their dealings with two of the lesser gangs who are dissatisfied with the terms of trade in Blackpool's illegal cannabis market.

The plot thickens with a new spate of attacks on Arab women staying in Blackpool hotels.

Buy The Fireworks Start at Midnight for Kindle.

More information on The Fireworks Start at Midnight.

By Laurence Watkinson

First published: March 2012 (first Kindle edition)

The first of Laurence Watkinson's crime stories is now available from Amazon for Kindle.

When there’s a bomb alert at Blackpool Tower, DCI Bill Ramsbottom thinks it’s further evidence of a new wave of extortion that’s sweeping the city. The national Counter-Terrorism Unit and the Home Office, on the other hand, seem keen to prove it’s the work of Al-Qaeda. The plot thickens when a leading figure in the leisure industry is murdered in an especially tasteless manner on the Golden Mile, and an Arab dissident with an explosive background appears to have joined one of Blackpool’s violent gangs. What will happen when battle is joined for control of the city’s extortion, prostitution and boiled-sugar confectionery interests?

Rock and a Hard Place begins a series of crime-fighting comedies set in Britain's favourite seaside resort.

The second in the series, The Fireworks Start at Midnight, and the third, Minority Rapport, are also available now from Spiky Books.

Buy Rock and a Hard Place for Kindle.

More information about Rock and a Hard Place.

By Stuart Moston

First published: March 2012 (first Kindle edition)

Three months after firing her lovable but penniless upper-class English boyfriend, American heiress Saffron Alexander decides she has made a mistake.

But as she heads for England to tell Julian Penvellyn-FitzNorbert he must propose to her, Saffron is unaware that in the meantime he’s got engaged to someone else.

As it happens, Julian has now realised he’s still in love with Saffron. But, being a man of honour and sometimes of considerable stupidity, he’s determined not to let down his old friend and new fiancée Melanie Bird. Although perhaps he might, if only he knew Melanie was secretly seeing another woman.

The Happy News is a hilarious tale of overlapping love triangles, failures of communication, personal crises, and how the timely intervention of a friend in need can make a bad situation horribly worse.

Buy The Happy News for Kindle.

More information about The Happy News.

By Wilfred Southall

First published: March 2012 (first Kindle edition)

Joseph Spike was discharged from the British army years ago on the grounds that he was mentally subnormal and also profoundly mentally subnormal. Now a series of wartime cock-ups results in Spike's return to the Parachute Regiment in time to intervene in the Falklands Crisis.

Buy The Good Soldier Spike and his Fortunes in the Falklands War for Kindle.

More information about The Good Soldier Spike and his Fortunes in the Falklands War.