humbug

Xmas is coming. Which means you’ll be assailed* from dawn till dusk (and beyond) by a tsunami of adverts promising to make your life full and lustrous and wonderful, to keep you slim and your teeth perfect and your partner beautiful and your world just tickety-boo. Because you’re worth it. Because every little helps. Because it’s sodding priceless.

It’s a shrieking crescendo, a corporate frenzy offering you nirvana on the never-never to the sound of Jingle Bells. And we’re pretty bloody ambivalent about entering into this bunfight. But bear with us for the course of this blog while we give it our best, slightly hesitant, shot.

We’ve got some wonderful books which will make excellent presents, for you, your family, or your friends. There. We said it. And seeing as we’re in for a penny, we might as well go in for a pound, so – please – read on.

We’ve been talking about our latest publication – City Baby, the autobiography of Ross Lomas of GBH – for months now. (If you’ve been hiding under a rock – or swimming from Lands End to John O’Groats – and have no idea what we’re on about, you can find one of the many excellent reviews of the book here). It’s currently sold out and we’re waiting on delivery of a second print run in late November. What better way to celebrate the birth of the little baby Jesus than with a rollicking read about life in punk rock? Oh, and every order made this month will come with a free gift, just because we like the idea. So don’t miss out.

If you only learned about Ignite because of City Baby, (or even if you didn’t) there are two other books we strongly recommend. Mud Sharks, by Dave Barbarossa, was published last October. The debut novel from the former Adam & The Ants drummer – and one which got a 4* review from Q magazine – it’s the gripping tale of a teenage boy in 70s London who runs away from a brutal home life and discovers the drums, and punk rock. With that comes fame, and with that comes… ah, but that would be telling. Read it yourself to find out. It’s very good.

Next up, Wild Thing by Joolz Denby. Joolz is a remarkable writer who was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for her novel Billie Morgan. Wild Thing is every bit as good. Annie Wynter has turned her back on the music industry and gone home to Bradford. Life as a social worker is as far from the London whirl as you can imagine, but Annie is getting by. Then a brutal killing and an encounter with a feral child turn her whole world upside-down. No-one, least of all Annie, expects what happens next. This book blew our metaphorical socks off when we first read the manuscript, and it still does now. Highly recommended.

There you go. The Ignite Xmas ad campaign, done and dusted. Three books. Two great novels and one unforgettable life-story. Check our website, and you’ll find more, including three books of poems and short stories by Steve Pottinger. Any or all of them are great value at Xmas, Yule, New Year, a week on Wednesday, whenever you fancy. And you won’t be swelling the coffers of some bloated multinational when you buy them, either. You’ll be making a real difference to people who live for their art and their music.

Thank you.

*correction: have been assailed since mid-September.