There cannot be many cities where crime could mean anything from stealing a ship to singing a seditious song but nineteenth century Glasgow was a unique place with an amazing dynamism. Immigrants poured in from Ireland & the Highlands while the factories shipyards & mills buzzed with innovation. However underneath the bustle was a different world as an incredibly diverse criminal class worked for their own profit with total disregard for the law. Robbers infested the highways & byways a glut of garrotters gathered to jump on the unwary; drunken brawls disfigured the evening streets prostitutes lured foolish men into dark corners conmen connived clever schemes & perfidious poisoners plotted. There were dark & dangerous places such as the Tontine Close & always the possibility of a major riot
- with religion the excuse
- as a volatile population became angry at unjust poverty & poor housing. It was perhaps not surprising that Glasgow formed Britain's first professional police force & men such as Superintendent James Smart fought to stem the crime that at times seemed to overwhelm the city. The forces of law had to be mobile with the robbery of the Paisley Bank involving a coach chase as far as London while the robbery of Walter Baird's shop in the Argyll Arcade took Acting Superintendent George Mc Kay over the sea to Belfast. The police had an often thankless task & The Real Mean City" chronicles the century long struggle of the forces of law & order to bring peace to a troubled city."

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The fragile beauty of glass has ensured its popularity through the ages in forms ranging from simple beakers to ornate decorative masterpieces. This beautifully illustrated book traces the story of glass from its origins in Mesopotamia some 5000 years ago to the creation of the elegant vessels of the Islamic Near East the superb mastery of Renaissance Venice & the creation of modern glassware for daily use. ...

Over recent years there has been considerable interest in the creative potential of printing onto alternative surfaces. Glass in particular offers incredible potential for the artist due to its transparency & flexibility. This handbook provides all the necessary information to create high quality prints on glass. It begins with relatively basic processes & then introduces more sophisticated methods in subsequent chapters offering new creative methods of working across the main areas of glass art: Kiln glass Hot glass & Architectural glass. Throughout the specific materials mediums & methods are explained. A range of works by international artists are also shown to demonstrate the exciting creative potential & diversity of approach possible in this area. ...

In the remote Kingdom of Castalia the scholars of the Twenty Third century play the Glass Bead Game. The elaborately coded game is a fusion of all human knowledge
- of maths music philosophy science & art. Intrigued as a school boy Joseph Knecht becomes consumed with mastering the game as an adult. As Knecht fulfils his life-long quest he must contend with unexpected dilemmas & the longing for a life beyond the ivory tower.
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G.W. Dahlquists The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters" the first in the series of adventures of Miss Temple Cardinal Chang & Dr Svenson & followed by " The Dark Volume" & " The Chemickal Marriage" is a rip-roaring tale like no other. In " The Glass Books of The Dream Eaters" three most unlikely but nevertheless extraordinary heroes become inadvertently involved in the diabolical machinations of a cabal bent upon enslaving thousands through a devilish process: Miss Temple is a feisty young woman with corkscrew curls who wishes to learn why her fiance Roger broke off their engagement... Cardinal Chang was asked to kill a man but finding his quarry already dead he is determined to learn who beat him to it & why... And Dr Svenson is chaperone to a dissolute Prince who has become involved with some most unsavoury individuals... An adventure like no other in a mysterious city few have travelled to featuring a heroine & two heroes you will never forget. " Fantastic. Somewhere between Dickens Sherlock Holmes & Rider Haggard. I was in seventh heaven". (Kate Mosse author of " Labyrinth"). "A page-turner a rollicking ride. As stupendous as it is stupefying". (Giles Foden " Guardian"). " An erotically charged rip-roaring adventure for adults with scarcely a dull moment to be had which defies its great length to keep the reader on the edge of his seat". (" Daily Mail"). G.W. Dahlquist fell asleep when trapped by a snowstorm & " The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters" came to him in his dreams. He is the author of the " The Dark Volume" & " The Chemickal Marriage" the next books in the series." ...

Every girl has her price.. . To Steph working as a bar hostess in Japan sounds too good to be true. Friends say she can earn a fortune simply by flirting with drunk businessmen & theres no sex involved
- honest. Old friends Julia & Annabel are earning piles of cash in Tokyo & say hostessing is perfectly safe. But once in Japan Steph realises Julia is a shadow of her former self & Annabel has disappeared. No one cares that Annabels gone
- least of all a troubled & secretive Julia. As Steph searches for her missing friend she is lured into gritty glamorous Roppongi
- an exotic world of sex modern-day geishas & easy money. There she meets Mama San a charismatic & powerful hostess club owner who has worked in the shadowy Japanese sex industry all her life & knows everything about pleasing men. But the longer Steph stays in Tokyos sex district the less finding Annabel seems to matter. Steph soon realises she must discover whats happened to Annabel or risk selling a part of herself shell never get back.


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Sharon Li: apprentice shaman & community support officer for the magically inclined. It wasn't the career Sharon had in mind but she's getting used to running Magicals Anonymous & learning how to Be One With The City. When the Midnight Mayor goes missing leaving only a suspiciously innocent-looking umbrella behind him Sharon finds herself promoted. Her first task: find the Midnight Mayor. The only clues she has are a city dryad's cryptic warning & several pairs of abandoned shoes... Suddenly Sharon's job feels a whole lot harder. ...

College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation where the popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks in the school's social scene: somewhere less than zero. When Claire heads off-campus the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life but they come out fighting when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out hungry for fresh blood... ...

Kit Mc Mahon lives in the small Irish town of Lough Glass where everyone knows everyone; children who walk to school together grow up & become sweethearts & marry people gossip & grumble & dream their lives away. For it is a place where change comes slowly. Until one day beautiful mysterious Helen Mc Mahon disappears presumed drowned in the lake & then the gossip runs wild. The consequences for Helen's husband her son but above all for her daughter Kit are unimaginable & will leave not one of their lives unchanged. ...

Abandoned by her husband Amanda Wingfield comforts herself with recollections of her earlier more gracious life in Blue Mountain when she was pursued by gentleman callers. Her son Tom a poet with a job in a warehouse longs for adventure & escape from his mothers suffocating embrace while Laura her shy crippled daughter has her glass menagerie & her memories. Amanda is desperate to find her daughter a husband but when the long-awaited gentleman caller does arrive Lauras romantic illusions are crushed. ...