Brit Happens

One Sunday afternoon in a tiny postage-stamp garden, James Mullinger made the life-altering decision to give it all up: the London pubs, bustling city streets, and a flourishing comedy career. But where in the world would he and his partner raise a family? The English countryside? Toronto? New York? Hmmm. How about St. John ... sorry, Saint John, New Brunswick? Brit Happens chronicles Mullinger's lifetime of adventures, from his beginnings as a shy and nervous kid collecting comedy records at the neighborhood video store, to rising through the ranks of GQ magazine and meeting his personal idols Jerry Seinfeld and Paul McCartney, to imagining the possibility of another life in Canada. From the highs and lows of London to beginning anew in New Brunswick, Brit Happens tells gut-busting stories of success and failure and the unpredictable grind of stand-up comedy. It also offers a laugh-out-loud look at life in Atlantic Canada from the region's funniest outsider-turned-local.

This is the Advance Edition of Contracts in Context: from Transaction to Litigation.

Strange things are happening in Neville, Ohio. As cousins, aunts, uncles, and exes gather for the Noland family reunion, bizarre forces come into play. Strange lights and crop circles appear. Monsters have been sighted. A devoted couple flee the altar and fall in with an inter-dimensional being and a reformed stripper. Meanwhile, a drug-dealing doctor in bunny slippers plies his trade outside town, and a young woman who drops into Neville from a passing freight car winds up dead in the back of a pickup. What’s worse, the Ohio Bicentennial celebration attracts even more unlikely victims within reach of these otherworldly influences, including a pair of lady clowns, a Buddhist drifter, and a few unfortunates who thought they’d left Ohio far behind. James Gallant’s darkly funny novel explores small town life, with all its rich characters and whimsical conventions. And behind the backdrop of tradition and family values, chaos has begun to stir…

The hilariously accurate, witty and indispensable manual for everyone who longs to attain True Britishness 'Got me in tears of laughter' 5***** Reader Review 'Laugh-out-loud hilarious, witty and insightful' 5***** Reader Review _______ Born in Hungary, George Mikes eventually spent more than forty years in the Britain observing behaviours and misbehaviours of local and foreign Brits. With essential chapters such as "How to Avoid Travelling", "On Shopping", "In Praise of Television", "On Not Complaining" and "How to Panic Quietly", you'll get to know Britain like never before. Loved by readers and authors alike, How to Be a Brit contains Mikes's three major works -- How to be an Alien, How to be Inimitable and How to be Decadent. If you're British, you'll love it; if you're a foreigner, you'll appreciate it. Queuing: "An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one." How to plan a town: "Street names should be painted clearly and distinctly on large boards. Then hide these boards carefully." Sex: "Continental people have sex lives: the English have hot water bottles." George Mikes's perceptive bestseller provides a complete guide to the British Way of Life. _______ 'Hilarious and informative essays about the British way of life' 5***** Reader Review 'So many people have tried to describe the English mentality . . . This book is as near as you can get!' 5***** Reader Review

For decades, British stage musicals struggled to compete against the dazzling Broadway productions that came roaring in from across the pond. But that tide was turned at last in 1978, when Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of Evita brought the West End back into contention with Broadway. It was just the first of several blockbuster productionsthat helped Britain dominate musical theater all over the world. In this revealing behind-the-scenes narrative, journalist and author Robert Sellers gives a definitive account of how Evita, Cats, Starlight Express, Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Chess, and Miss Saigon changed the business of musical theater in the 1980s. These mega productions of the were larger than life, colorful, and spectacular. Sellers collects insightful, personal stories from cast members, set designers, musical supervisors, dancers, lighting designers, production managers, singers, and choreographers from the shows that finally put Broadway on its back foot. He also describes the backstage drama, production nightmares, and financial woes that threatened to derail the shows at multiple points. Whatever obstacles they faced, though, these productions swept the world and transformed the face of musical theater in ways that still resound today.