A treasure trove of personal writings by the great post-punk singer-songwriter—with a foreword by his wife Deborah and an introduction by Jon Savage. So This Is Permanence presents the lyrics and personal notebooks of one of the most enigmatic and influential music artists of the late twentieth century, Joy Division’s Ian Curtis. The fact of the band’s relatively few releases belies the power and enduring fascination its music holds, especially in light of Curtis’s tragic suicide in 1980 on the eve of the band’s first American tour. This volume features Curtis’s never-before-seen handwritten lyrics, accompanied by earlier drafts and previously unpublished pages from his notebooks that shed fascinating light on his writing and creative process. Also included are an insightful and moving foreword by Curtis’s widow Deborah, a substantial introduction by writer Jon Savage, and an appendix featuring books from Curtis’s library and a selection of fanzine interviews, letters, and other ephemera from his estate.

The only in-depth biographical account of the legendary lead singer of Joy Division, written by his widow. Includes a foreword by Jon Savage and an introduction by Joy Division drummer, Steven Morris. Revered by his peers and idolized by his fans, Ian Curtis left behind a legacy rich in artistic genius. Mesmerizing on stage but introverted and prone to desperate mood swings in his private life, Curtis died by his own hand on 18 May 1980. Touching from a Distance documents how, with a wife, child and impending international fame, Curtis was seduced by the glory of an early grave. Regarded as the essential book on the essential icon of the post-punk era, Touching from a Distance includes a full set of Curtis's lyrics and a discography and gig list.

'Genuinely funny: indeed, the story will… keep you entertained for a very long time' Sunday Times Joy Division changed the face of music. Godfathers of the current alternative scene, they reinvented rock in the post-punk era, creating a new sound - dark, hypnotic, intense - that would influence U2, Morrissey, R.E.M., Radiohead and many others. This is the story of Joy Division told by the band's legendary bassist, Peter Hook. 'Hook has restored a flesh-and-blood rawness to what was becoming a standard tale. Few pop music books manage that'Guardian 'An honest, enthusiastic account … It's a window like no other into the reality of life in this most aloof of bands' METRO 'An immense account of Joy Division's rise…Having read Hook's book, you'll feel like you were the fifth member of the band' GQ 'A bittersweet, profanity filled recollection… If you like Joy Division, you really have to read it' Q Magazine 'Hook lifts the lid on the real Ian Curtis' NME 'He's frank, incredibly funny, and isn't shy'Artrocker

The SUNDAY TIMES Top Ten Bestseller#1 Book of the Year, UNCUT#1 Book of the Year, ROUGH TRADEBook of the Year, MOJOOver the course of two albums and some legendary gigs, Joy Division became the most successful and exciting underground band of their generation. Then, on the brink of a tour to America, Ian Curtis took his own life.In This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else, Jon Savage has assembled three decades' worth of interviews with the principal players in the Joy Division story to create an intimate, candid and definitive account of the band. It is the story of how a group of young men can galvanise a generation of fans, artists and musicians with four chords and three-and-a-half minutes of music. And it is the story of how illness and inner demons can rob the world of a shamanic lead singer and visionary lyricist.

Science fiction roman.

Bernard Sumner pioneered the post-punk movement when he broke onto the scene as a founding member of Joy Division, and later as the front man of New Order. Heavily influencing U2 and The Cure while paving the way for post-punk revivalists like Interpol, Sumner's has left an indelible mark on punk and rock music that endures to this day. Famously reluctant to speak out, for the first time Sumner tell his story, a vivid and illuminating account of his childhood in Manchester, the early days of Joy Division, and the bands subsequent critical and popular successes. Sumner recounts Ian Curtis' tragic death on the eve of the band's first American tour, the formation of breakout band New Order, and his own first-hand account of the ecstasy and the agony of the 1970s Manchester music scene. Witty, fascinating and surprisingly moving, Chapter and Verse is an account of insights and spectacular personal revelations, including an appendix containing a complete transcript of a recording made of Ian Curtis experiencing hypnotic regression under the Sumner's amateur guidance and tensions between himself and former band member Peter Hook.

In Temporary, a young woman’s workplace is the size of the world. She fills increasingly bizarre placements in search of steadiness, connection, and something, at last, to call her own. Whether it’s shining an endless closet of shoes, swabbing the deck of a pirate ship, assisting an assassin, or filling in for the Chairman of the Board, for the mythical Temporary, “there is nothing more personal than doing your job.” This riveting quest, at once hilarious and profound, will resonate with anyone who has ever done their best at work, even when the work is only temporary.