Showing results by author "Kingsley Amis" in All Categories

In this hilarious, inspiring and provocative series of essays, Kingsley Amis introduces every listener to the wonders and value of science fiction writing. From the extraordinary ideas, but sexless science, of Jules Verne to the power of H. G. Wells's terrifying storytelling; from the brilliance of bad science fiction writing to the potency of their important ideas; from a portrait of the average SF listener to Amis's sad prediction that this genre will never make it in film or television, New Maps of Hell is a warm and witty exploration of a world many may be yet to discover.

Competition is stiff for the position of sub-librarian in Aberdarcy Library. For John Lewis, the situation is complicated by the attentions of daunting and desirable village socialite Elizabeth Gruffyd-Williams, who is married to a member of the local Council. Pursuing an affair with her whilst keeping his job prospects alive is John's predicament, as he finds himself running down Welsh country lanes at midnight in a wig and dress, resisting the advances of local drunks and suffering the long speeches of a 'nut-faced' clergyman.

Jake Richardson, an Oxford don nearing 60 with a lifetime's lechery behind him, is in pursuit of his lost libido and heads off to the consulting room of a miniature sex therapist. Not one to disobey a doctor's orders, he runs the full humiliating gamut of sex labs and trendy 'workshops', where more than souls are bared. He decks himself with cunning gadgetry, dreams up a weekly fantasy, pets diligently with his overweight wife and browses listlessly through porn magazines behind locked doors.

Like all good coaching inns, The Green Man is said to boast a resident ghost: Dr Thomas Underhill, a notorious 17th-century practitioner of black arts and sexual deviancy. However, the landlord, Maurice Allington, is the sole witness to the renaissance of the malevolent Underhill. Led by an anxious desire to vindicate his sanity, Allington strives to uncover the key to Underhill's satanic powers. All while the skeletons in Allington's own cupboard rattle to get out.

Kingsley Amis' authoritative and witty guide to the use and abuse of the English language. A scourge of illiteracy and a thorn in the side of pretension, Amis provides indispensable advice about the linguistic blunders and barbarities that lie in wait for us, from danglers, four-letter words to jargon and even Welsh rarebit. By turns reflective, acerbic and provocative, The King's English is for anyone who cares about how the English language is used.

Douglas Yandell, a young-ish music critic, is enlisted by Kitty Vandervane to keep an eye on her roving husband - the eminent conductor and would-be radical Sir Roy - as he embarks on yet another affair. Roy, meanwhile, wants Douglas as an alibi for his growing involvement with Sylvia, an unsuitably young woman who loves nothing more than to shock and provoke. Life soon becomes extremely complicated as Douglas finds himself caught up in a frantic, farcical tangle of relationships, rivalry and scandal.

Jenny Bunn and Patrick Standish have settled into London life with their troubled courtship long behind them. Patrick works in publishing and Jenny teaches sick children in a hospital. They have reached a certain level of maturity, or so they think. It is not long before they realise their respectability will be severely tested by seductive neighbours with a taste for whisky, the sexually confused Ted Valentine and the literary set of Hampstead.

Besinnungslose Texte zum Fest. Was Sie schon immer zum Thema Weihnachten hören wollten, aber nicht zu hören bekamen - hier kommt es, das ultimative Hörbuch zum Fest: Bissig, urkomisch und garantiert nicht mehr feierlich! Mit Texten von Kingsley Amis, David Lodge, Dan Kavanagh und David Sedaris.

Just when Stanley Duke thinks it safe to sink into middle age, his son goes insane. As if that wasn't terrible enough, Stanley finds himself beset on all sides by women - neurotic, cantankerous, half-baked or just plain capricious. As one by one they gnaw away at his composure, Stanley wonders whether insanity is not something with which all women are intimately acquainted.

A mummy is stolen from a small-town museum along with some Roman coins and a soaking wet man collapses in 14-year-old Peter Furneaux's living room bleeding from the head. What was a suspected student prank is followed by murder. At first it is impossible to see the connection, but the eccentric Colonel Manton does.

The quickest way to get rich is to marry someone rich, but how do you do this if you aren't yet rich? TV chat-show host Ronnie Appleyard is preoccupied with this question as he pursues wealthy heiress Simona Quick over two continents in the company of braying aristocrats, Greek shipping magnates, American dandies and the dreaded mother-in-law-to-be.

Harry Caldecote is the most charming man you'll ever meet, a convivial academic who devotes his life to others. He is on call when his alcoholic niece falls into strange hands, when his brother threatens to emulate Wordsworth, when his son's lesbian lodger is beaten up by her girlfriend. He endures misplaced seductions, swindles and aggressive dogs just to keep the peace at the King's pub in Shepherd's Hill.

In this surreal comedy of soldiers and spies, Lieutenant James Churchill and his colleagues find themselves questioning their purpose. These men of action will travel between the barracks, the lunatic asylum and the house of an aristocratic nymphomaniac in search of answers. For while few know the awful truth about Operation Apollo, the mission they are being trained for, fewer still understand the motives of the powerful psychiatrist Dr Best, who thinks he is surrounded by repressed homosexuals, and none know the identity of the secret agent among them.

Prvotina slavného britského prozaika Kingsleyho Amise se okamžitě po svém uveřejnění v roce 1954 zařadila mezi nejoblíbenější a nejčtenější romány. Jen během prvních čtyř let se dočkala dvaceti vydání. Čtenáře od počátku až do dnešní doby baví neodolatelným vtipem a sžíravou ironií, s nimiž Amis zaznamenal, jak mladý James Dixon přišel o iluze ve zkostnatělém prostředí malé anglické univerzity v provinčním městě.

Prvotina slavného britského prozaika Kingsleyho Amise se okamžitě po svém uveřejnění v roce 1954 zařadila mezi nejoblíbenější a nejčtenější romány. Jen během prvních čtyř let se dočkala dvaceti vydání. Čtenáře od počátku až do dnešní doby baví neodolatelným vtipem a sžíravou ironií, s nimiž Amis zaznamenal, jak mladý James Dixon přišel o iluze ve zkostnatělém prostředí malé anglické univerzity v provinčním městě.