Firewoman

Firewoman picks up where Raising the Seams left off. The author has seamlessly drawn upon the success of his first book to bring the reader back into a world where everything is not what it seems. Whether telling us the story of a mysterious woman on a small Caribbean island or a family picnicking in a graveyard, the author brings us into stories not soon to be forgotten. The author relies on classic storytelling techniques to both frighten the reader as well as make the reader laugh. This book also includes two scripts from short films. These scripts show the author's versatility in drawing upon less conventional subjects, including a metalhead's take on the future of music. Firewoman will scare you and make you laugh. The author hooks you from the first story to the last. Anyone who has ever read a Stephen King story, watched a Quentin Tarantino movie, or listened to a heavy metal tape will be able to relate to the stories in this book.

Amelie is a little bored now and then – but that never lasts very long, because she always thinks of something great that she can play: Café with her friend Sophie, for example, or the challenging Yes/No Game with Dad. She teaches her doll Lisa to fly, extinguishes fires in the doll house with her cousin Amos and secretly changes clothes with him because ... Well, I won't spoil that here.

War was coming. Everyone knew that confrontation with Nazi Germany was inevitable and that London was likely to be a prime target of Hitler’s bombers. So, in January 1939, Aylmer Firebrace, the Chief Officer of London Fire Brigade, was seconded to the Home Office to plan for the capital’s fire defence. Before joining the Fire Brigade, Aylmer Firebrace had been a Royal Navy officer who had fought in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War. It was following the Armistice that, in 1919, he became principal officer in the London Fire Brigade. He was promoted to deputy chief and finally chief officer in June 1938.. That war struck London soon enough, but it was on 7 September 1940, that Firebrace’s preparations were truly tested with the start of the Blitz. For the next fifty-seven days and nights London was subjected to the longest continuous bombing campaign in history. Then, as the Luftwaffe ranged wider and further across Britain’s towns and cities, Firebrace was tasked with toured the nation to see the effects of the bombing, at which point he saw the need for a national response. The result was the creation of the National Fire Service. Formed in August 1941, by the amalgamation of some 1,600 separate brigades, this remarkable organisation had, at its peak, a strength of 370,000 men and women. It was led for its entire existence by Aylmer Firebrace. As the war continued, Firebrace became Chief of the Fire Staff and Inspector-in-Chief of the Fires Services, being the first and, to date, only person to head all the fire-fighting services in Britain. This body had to deal with the expansion of the Blitz as well as the so-called ‘Baedeker’ raids, the ‘tip-and-run’ attacks, Baby Blitz and V1 and V2 offensives of the later years of the war. In his fascinating account, written immediately the war, Firebrace reflects on the functioning of the fire service at its most testing time. This book is an essential addition to the understanding of the Blitz and how London and the rest of the country survived its darkest hour.

Explores ideas on women and sexuality presented in the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata.

The inspiring true story of Josephine Reynolds, Britain's first full-time female firefighter. When Josephine Reynolds signed up with the Norfolk Fire Service in July 1982 at just seventeen years old, there was no such thing as a firefighter - only fire men. Set against the slate-grey backdrop of early 1980s Britain, Fire Woman is the story of how a young woman brought up in rural Wales coped in the testosterone-fuelled world of the fire brigade, where even today 96 per cent of all staff are male. In a life packed with incident - where lethal forest fires, escaped zoo animals and unexploded bombs formed a background to the everyday toll of death and disaster - Josephine experienced both triumph and heartbreaking personal tragedy. Fire Woman also provides a unique insight into the camaraderie that comes with risking your life on a daily basis and stands as the inspiring true story of an extraordinary young woman who took on a man's world and won, becoming Britain's first full-time firefighter.

Collected for the first time, these essays delve into the mysteries of the prehistoric human mind with intelligence, passion and a radical approach to the unknowability of the evocative but obscure early chapters of the human story. Starting from personal experiences with megalithic monuments and sites of ancient rock art, Gyrus unfolds implications and speculations that keep one eye on the latest academic research, the other on the unproven possibilities that intimacy with prehistoric relics affords. Also includes a foreword by acclaimed antiquarian, Julian Cope.