Well-observed and often funny. (Sunday Times)
Very funny without ever being contemptuous. (The Times.)
Outrageously and wickedly honest. Full of finger-lickin’ good digs at distasteful modern horrors. (Men Only)
It’s very unlikely, almost like a fantasy, but very funny. (Amazon)
An absolute joy! (Amazon)
WARNING!
The three novels that comprise The London Chronicles – and particularly the first two – were written in a different space-time continuum when readers and the general public were rhinoceros-skinned and the general rule was ‘if it’s funny, fuckit – let it fly.’ Many readers may be offended by this material and if you are prone to outrage, apoplexy or heart attack please, please do not read The London Chronicles.
This book is a compendium of three comic novels previously published separately.
IT’S YOUR MONEY IN MY POCKET, DEAR, NOT MINE IN YOURS is a hilarious and raucous expose of life in a Soho strip cub in the early seventies, originally published by the very courageous Quartet Books (though we note we are not featured in the current Quarter backlist! Are they ashamed?). We will forever be grateful to William Miller and John Booth, who gave us our first break. The book sold well and garnered excellent reviews.
The sequel, ENGULFED IN A TIDE OF FILTH (now known as UP THE PICTURES) was also published by Quartet and tells the story of Jeff, stage manager in the first book, who tries to make it as a photographer but instead gets caught up in the crazed machinations of various loony left and rabid right political groups – not to mention the puritanical Whitehouse-style outfit NOFUK (No Filth In The United Kingdom.
THE MAO TSE TUNG WORKERS REVOLUTIONARY STRIPTEASE EMPORIUM was written decades after IT’S YOUR MONEY, and takes up the story of Le Can-Can strip club after it’s taken over by a workers’ co-operative headed by demented hardline Communist carpenter Chan. If you’ve ever fantasized about a troupe of strippers singing the sayings of Chairman Mao to the tune of ‘Climb Every Mountain’, this is the book for you.
THE LONDON CHRONICLES is over 180,000 words of comedy gold, a must for anyone who remembers London in the seventies, a time before computers and mobile phones, before sat nav and Oyster cards, when Soho was the province of working girls and clip-joints rather than ad men and wine bars.