Galley Beggar Press

Meet Elliott.Elliott is hugely intelligent. He’s an incredible observer. He has a beautiful and unusual imagination. To know him is to adore him.But Elliott is also stuck. He lives in an orphanage in 1979. He spends his days in a wheelchair, in an empty corridor, or wherever the Catholic Sisters who run the ward have decided to park him.So when Jim, blind and mute but also headstrong, arrives on the ward and begins to defy the Sisters’ restrictive rules, Elliott finally sees a chance for escape. Together, they could achieve a magnificent freedom — if only for a few hours.But how can Elliott, unable to move or speak clearly, communicate all this to Jim? How can he even get Jim to know he exists?Patience is a remarkable story of love and friendship, courage and adventure. It is also about finding joy in the most unlikely of settings. Elliott and Jim are going to have fun.

FRANCIS PLUG is back. The lovable misfit is now adjusting to life as a newly published author. Interviews and publicity are coming his way, not to mention considerable acclaim. But Francis can’t understand why people think he was writing fiction… He also has plenty of other problems — and very little money. Fortunately, he’s handed a lifeline when he lands a job as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Greenwich. Unfortunately, this involves interacting with more new people, which isn’t exactly Francis’s strong suit. Try as he might, the staff and students at the university seem to have great difficulty knowing what to make of Francis. (Not to mention the trouble that he has making sense of himself…). Oh — and now he also needs to hook in some big-name authors for the Greenwich Book Festival, and has to write his own campus novel. The urgent questions build and build — and Francis is in no state to answer them Will he keep his job? Will he be able to secretly sleep inside a university office? Will anyone find out that he did a wee in the corridor?… Find out as Francis embarks on a new adventure, more intoxicating and hilarious than ever.

Toby Litt's father wanted him to find about their ancestor: William Litt, a champion Cumberland Wrestler.William was one of the greatest ever 'kings of the green' — a man who reigned undefeated in one of the nineteenth century's most popular sports, taking home over 200 prize belts. William had other talents, as well. He was almost certainly a smuggler — and definitely published poet and novelist.But Toby knew that coming to terms with him would be hard. A huge and fascinating man, William was also troubling. He ended his life in poverty and exile. And as well as having to measure himself up against this apparent paragon of masculinity, Toby would have to uncover uncomfortable memories and hard truths.Would Toby like what he found out about himself along the way? As a novelist, as a son, and as a father in turn? Would he have to get in the wrestling ring?… Would he even want to?Using the nineteenth century as a guide, Wrestliana asks vital questions about modern-day masculinity, competition, and success. It is a beautiful portrait of two men and their different worlds, full of surprises and sympathy, and a wonderful evocation of a lost place and time.

«A work of enormous scope and ambition from a writer who combines style, wit… and a rare sense of the ridiculousness of the human condition. Incomparable.» (Alex Pheby, Wellcome Book Prize-shortlisted author of Playthings)
Forbidden Line, the debut novel by Paul Stanbridge, is a monster. A unique retelling of Don Quixote and the fourteenth century Peasants' Revolt – it's also a gleeful hybrid of science, pseudo-science, absurd theory and ingenious philosophy. Above all, it's a story about love, companionship, and two friends: Don and Is.
This profoundly odd couple career around Essex and London, insulting drinkers, abusing drivers, curing plague, and fighting each other and everyone around them. They are on a quest (as far as Don is concerned) to reveal the truth about history and to uncover the secrets of the hyperfine transition of hydrogen. But Is, like the rest of us, isn't really sure what Don is talking about. All he wants to do is get through to the next day — and back to his family. Both of which turn into extremely tricky propositions, as Don takes him ever deeper into danger, and the very structure of reality begins to turn against them both…
Forbidden Line is a fiercely clever novel; it will make you question everything, and it will make you glad to be human. It is a dazzling achievement.

Chosen by The Observer as a Fiction Pick for 2016 and described as a 'scintillating novel of ideas', Feeding Time is a debut like no other: a blast of rage against the dying of the light.
Dot is losing the will to live. Tristan is sick of emptying bedpans. Cornish spends entire days barricaded in his office. And Ruggles… well. Ruggles is damn well going to escape those Nazi villains and get back to active duty.
The mix is all the more combustible since Dot, Tristan, Cornish and Ruggles are all under the same roof — that of a rapidly declining old people's home called Green Oaks. There's going to be an explosion. It's going to be messy. And nobody knows who will pick up the pieces.

Paul Schreber is a man who wants to go home — but can't. He is a man crippled by an illness he doesn't understand — and sometimes doesn't even know he has. He's no condition to face the worst — but the worst keeps on happening to him. His family is disintegrating, past traumas are coming back to haunt him — and so are those troubling, seemingly laid-to-rest fears of persecution…

Two stories of disappointment, regret and finely tuned hilarity from Joseph Mackertich. In Obsolescence, a reality television documentary maker starts to film his next door neighbour's every move — and gets far more than he's bargained for. In Ad Astra, a man goes hear a speech from the “stockholder's stockholder”. It's the ultimate get rich quick conference stump speech — and the last thing that most people in attendance want to hear.

A story that takes place on a train. About building a world out of matchsticks. About brothers. About drinking. About things that matter.

“Raymond Ess is going to kill me.” This is what Steven Strauss thinks. He also thinks that he and his boss Raymond Ess are on a fool's errand. They're in India to buyan anti-gravity machine — something Steven is almost certain doesn't exist, and something Ess is convinced will save his company from bankruptcy. It's hopeless, everyone knows. At least, Steven knows it — and he knows, too, that his boss's grip on reality is growing weaker by the day. His fixation on anti-gravity devices is just one more symptom of a failing mind…… Or is Ess, in fact, as crazy as he seems? As you readThe Weightless World, you'll start to wonder. This fantastically entertaining debutstretches the limits of possibility. It shows that when technology becomes indistinguishable from magic, miracles can happen. It shows us our world anew. And as it does, it weaves a tale of friendship, betrayal, and loss that will move the ground beneath your feet.

A new story from our first ever Singles Club author, Michael Stewart, in which, God has some explaining to do. You'd think that a conversation in front of a live audience would be the perfect place to do it. But He thinks otherwise…

A wonderful new mini-collection from Galley Beggar favourite and soon to be superstar, Samuel Wright.

The final Galley Beggar Single of 2013 and a very special one. Gerry Feehily takes us into the glamorous exciting world of fashion and models — and demonstrates conclusively that they are neither glamorous or exciting. But they are deliciously disturbing. And funny. And nasty. And as for the gunk… This one goes deep.

'Imagine sleeping in it,' said Johnny. He leaned forward. 'Imagine lighting a fire, and killing a deer and roasting it there. We could skin it and gut it and salt it. We could live there.' His eyes widened. 'Let's do it. Let's spend the night there. It'll be amazing.' The Bunker is our second release from Samuel Wright, one of the most promising new talents we've seen. It's a story about friendship, love, rude jokes, bad words and spending a night in a World War 2 bunker. It's a story where every word counts…

“If one stopped to consider the vast network of coincidences that make up a life, he thinks, taking a packet of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, it would be enough to drive one mad.” The Artist waits, and smokes, and dread builds. Alex Preston takes us behind the public facade of dictatorship and reveals a world of corruption, misadventure and compromise — and does it with all the clarity and precision of a portrait on a banknote…

Here's the start of the covering letter Dan Clements first sent to Galley Beggar Press: “My name is Dan Clements. I am a former Royal Marines Commando and intelligence specialist; I am now a geopolitical analyst by day, a writer by night, and a carer of two hyperactive kittens with every spare minute left to me. I am writing to introduce my short story collection, entitled 'Time is On My Side', in which I have sought to capture something of my experiences of the frontline in Afghanistan.” Time Is On My Side turned out to be one of the best things we've been sent. It's raw, it's fascinating, it's angry, and it's also beautifully written. The Lion Of Babaji is the first (and hopefully far from the last) piece we've extracted from the collection. It's an account of dealing with an Afghan warlord. Do you even need to know more? Okay. It's frank, it's unsettling, it's brutal and yet compassionate. The first line is: “Haji Musa Khan was a crook and a murderer and a mean-looking old bastard and I couldn't help but like him” — and you have to read it.

A bomb blast. A face wound. A nun is there to help. But is it the kind of help that can be freely taken? This beautifully composed story about The Troubles is at once gentle, tender and explosive.

You feel the weight of the past behind you. That same weight is being transported up ahead. You go downstairs, open the backdoor and listen to the hiss of lorries on the distant M42. Sometimes that helps a bit. You can't escape the past. Not when the past is someone called Dave who insists — absolutely insists — you're going to remember, you're going to let him into your house, he's going to sleep in your bed, he's going to drink your whisky… This story by Jon Fortgang will make you wonder why you don't have more of an idea of who Jon Fortgang is. It's that good. He's that good.

Tigh is the latest Pretty Boy on a popular children's TV show. The kids love him. The mums love him even more. So much that Tigh soon finds himself getting into a very sticky mess…

The powder was in the top cabinet, behind packs of organic barley and quinoa that we never use. I unwrapped the plastic and took out the bottle. I put on a pair of wash gloves and carefully unscrewed the lid, catching a faint whiff of something, thick, clotted and musty, like a crypt filled with dead spider's webs and moth's wings. I took a tea spoon and scooped out a tiny pinch. It was a dull grey colour. Quick, I stirred it in. A brief fizz as it met the JD and Coke, then nothing. I added two ice cubes. This is a story about an Exploding Zombie Cock by the brilliant James Miller. What more do you need to know?! (If you really have to know more, it definitely lives up the title. And is a bit rude.)