DIVThe novel that began as a radio hoax, Theodore Sturgeon’s I, Libertine is a hilarious erotic romp through the royal boudoirs of eighteenth-century London/divDIV Inspired by a notorious radio hoax in the mid-1950s, popular radio host and prankster Jean Shepherd exhorted his faithful listeners to approach their local booksellers the next morning and request copies of the historical novel I, Libertine by Frederick R. Ewing—a book that had never been written, by an author who had never been alive. The hoax was so successful that I, Libertine became the talk of the town, even earning the unique distinction of being banned by the Archdiocese of Boston, despite the fact that it didn’t yet exist. Now there was nothing left to do but write the thing . . . and fantasy and science fiction legend Theodore Sturgeon was called in to work his magic./divDIV /divDIVOriginally written pseudonymously, Sturgeon’s I, Libertine is a glorious tale of close shaves, daring escapes, and wildly licentious behavior. It covers the bawdy misdeeds of Captain Lance Courtenay as he carelessly romps through the royal court and the bedchambers of London’s finest ladies. Chock-full of wicked wit and Sturgeon’s trademark twists and turns, it is a hilarious, picaresque adventure that Ewing himself would certainly have been proud to call his own, if he had existed./divDIV /divDIVThis ebook features an illustrated biography of Theodore Sturgeon including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the University of Kansas’s Kenneth Spencer Research Library and the author’s estate, among other sources./div

An enthralling work of history about the Libertine generation that came up during—and was eventually destroyed by—the French Revolution. The Last Libertines, as Benedetta Craveri writes in her preface to the book, is the story of a group of “seven aristocrats whose youth coincided with the French monarchy’s final moment of grace—a moment when it seemed to the nation’s elite that a style of life based on privilege and the spirit of caste might acknowledge the widespread demand for change, and in doing so reconcile itself with Enlightenment ideals of justice, tolerance, and citizenship.” Here we meet seven emblematic characters, whom Craveri has singled out not only for “the romantic character of their exploits and amours—but also by the keenness with which they experienced this crisis in the civilization of the ancien régime, of which they themselves were the emblem.” Displaying the aristocratic virtues of “dignity, courage, refinement of manners, culture, [and] wit,” the Duc de Lauzun, the Vicomte de Ségur, the Duc de Brissac, the Comte de Narbonne, the Chevalier de Boufflers, the Comte de Ségur, and the Comte de Vaudreuil were at the same time “irreducible individualists” and true “sons of the Enlightenment,” all of them ambitious to play their part in bringing around the great changes that were in the air. When the French Revolution came, however, they found themselves condemned to poverty, exile, and in some cases execution. Telling the parallel lives of these seven dazzling but little-remembered historical figures, Craveri brings the past to life, powerfully dramatizing a turbulent time that was at once the last act of a now-vanished world and the first act of our own.

A delightfully illustrated literary anthology that explores the fantasies, seductions, and intrigues of the eighteenth-century French lover This sumptuous volume presents more than eighty selections from eighteenth-century French literature, each concerning some facet of the game of love as practiced by the libertine, or the freethinking aristocratic hedonist, a type that flourished—not least in literature—in the declining years of the Ancien Régime. These pieces, which include fiction, drama, verse, essays, and letters, are the work of some sixty writers, both familiar—such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and, of course, the Marquis de Sade—and lesser-known. Each selection is illustrated by well-chosen period artworks, many rarely seen, by Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, and numerous others. Racy, thought-provoking, and a treat for the eyes, The Libertine is the perfect gift for litterateurs, art lovers, roués, and coquettes.

'I am up for it. All the time. That's not a boast. Or an opinion. It is bone-hard medical fact.' John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. Charismatic poet, playwright and rake with a legendary appetite for excess. Yet when a chance encounter with an actress at the Playhouse sends him reeling, he is forced to reconsider everything he thinks and feels. With all the wit, flair and bawdiness of a Restoration comedy, Stephen Jeffreys' brilliant play is an incisive critique of life in an age of excess. Originally performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1994, The Libertine has been staged around the world, was adapted for radio, and became a film. This edition of the play was published alongside the 2016 production at the Theatre Royal Bath and Theatre Royal Haymarket, directed by Terry Johnson and starring Dominic Cooper as Wilmot.

Jean Shepherd (1921-1999), master humorist, is best known for his creation A Christmas Story, the popular movie about the child who wants a BB gun for Christmas and nearly shoots his eye out. What else did Shepherd do? He is considered by many to be the Mark Twain and James Thurber of his day. For many thousands of fans, for decades, “Shep” talked on the radio late at night, keeping them up way past their bedtimes. He entertained without a script, improvising like a jazz musician, on any and every subject you can imagine. He invented and remains the master of talk radio. Shepherd perpetrated one of the great literary hoaxes of all time, promoting a nonexistent book and author, and then brought the book into existence. He wrote 23 short stories for Playboy, four times winning their humor of the year award, and also interviewed The Beatles for the magazine. He authored several popular books of humor and satire, created several television series and acted in several plays. He is the model for the character played by Jason Robards in the play and movie A Thousand Clowns, as well as the inspiration for the Shel Silverstein song made famous by Johnny Cash, “A Boy Named Sue.” Readers will learn the significance of innumerable Shepherd words and phrases, such as “Excelsior, you fathead ” and observe his constant confrontations with the America he loved. They will get to know and understand this multitalented genius by peeking behind the wall he built for himself – a wall to hide a different and less agreeable persona. Through interviews with his friends, co-workers and creative associates, such as musician David Amram, cartoonist and playwright Jules Feiffer, publisher and broadcaster Paul Krassner, and author Norman Mailer, the book explains a complex and unique genius of our time. “Shepherd pretty much invented talk radio ... What I got of him was a wonder at the world one man could create. I am as awed now by his achievement as I was then.” – Richard Corliss, Time magazine online

The first time I was drunk. The slippage was fantastic, seeing the lean of the world from the privilege of a happy state. Well, not always happy, but always intense, a state of the most incredible heightening. I was amplified, with soft edges that could be teased to go just about anywhere. This laxity, this dipensation, this letting go is why drunkenness is such a crime. It lets you do anything. I did do anything... Sex, violence, power. In an unnamed city in an unnamed time, a brutal and vicious war rages. A young woman becomes the General's mistress, observing the military campaigns he directs against the unseen enemy from hotels around the city. To him she is Kali, his goddess of destruction, his partner in death. '[Kali] is the bringer of death and the dancer of destruction. She dances on top of her consort Shiva who lies like a corpse beneath her.' 'She dances on top of his penis.' whispered the General. I continued with not a little malice. 'She dances on men's bellies and bites off their penises then slurps up their intestines. She eats their organs like spaghetti. She has sharp white teeth and a long red tongue which lolls out of her mouth and with which she licks the corpses clean.' 'Where did you see her?' The lie was easy. 'I've dreamt of her.' 'And did she speak to you?' I hesitated. He seemed to take my question as assent, for he mumbled, 'I knew it. You've got the look of knowing it ...' She is driven around the city in limousines, escorted by bodyguards, drinking to blot out what her life has become as the war - and the General's power - escalates. On the drive back to the hotel I saw something on the razor wire that had risen up around the city. For the first time I took a good long look, for the first time I saw the bodies strung up on the new fences. Scarecrows flapping a warning to say away. 'Resistors,' mumbled the driver. He had a heavy foot and he drove off fast but I saw the carrion birds coming towards us, their beaks full and their wings dipped in blood. I looked again, they were bombers. Occasionally she manages to slip past the guards and clandestinely meet her lover, a revolutionary fighting against the General. It is only the thought of her lover that keeps her going. But if he were to discover her relationship with the General, her 'benefactor', it would be the end of everything. But in the end, does she share more in common with the General than she knows? Shocking, at times violent, always confronting, Libertine is a new direction in women's erotic writing.

When Dionysus the Renegade faked a Sophocles text in 400BC (cunningly inserting the acrostic 'Heraclides is ignorant of letters') to humiliate an academic rival, he paved the way for two millennia of increasingly outlandish literary hoaxers. The path from his mischievous stunt to more serious tricksters like the controversial memoirist and Oprah-duper James Frey, takes in every sort of writer: from the religious zealot to the bored student, via the vengeful academic and the out-and-out joker. But whether hoaxing for fame, money, politics or simple amusement, each perpetrator represents something unique about why we write. Their stories speak volumes about how reading, writing and publishing have grown out of the fine and private places of the past into big-business, TV-book-club-led mass-marketplaces which, some would say, are ripe for the ripping. For the first time, the complete history of this fascinating sub-genre of world literature is revealed. Suitable for bookworms of all ages and persuasions, this is true crime for people who don't like true crime, and literary history for the historically illiterate. A treat to read right through or to dip into, it will make you think twice next time you slip between the covers of an author you don't know...