Site last updated 28/11/24
Cover image: Crypt Style Cathi 88 by Mark Webb
Cover image: Crypt Style Cathi 88 by Mark Webb
"THE BIBLE OF GOTHIC ROCK" MONDO SONORO INTERNATIONAL MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
SEASON OF THE WITCH's Spanish sister has just won Best International Music Book of the Year in Mondo Sonoro music magazine! For non-Spanish speakers, this is the translation:
It is the bible of gothic rock. Because of the breadth of its focus. For the personal involvement of its author, who experienced it first hand. For its erudition, its irony, its exhaustiveness and its literary tone. For talking not only about Joy Division, The Cure, Bauhaus, Lydia Lunch, The Cramps, The Cult, The Sister of Mercy, The Gun Club or Siouxsie and the Banshees, but also about Cocteau Twins, Echo and the Bunnymen and Einstürzende Neubauten. For threading together, albeit with a few decades of delay, the definitive history of this kind of unwritten genre to which almost nobody wanted to recognise after the death throes of punk. And to do so by reflecting an even more tenebrous reverse side: the government of Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1990.
It is the bible of gothic rock. Because of the breadth of its focus. For the personal involvement of its author, who experienced it first hand. For its erudition, its irony, its exhaustiveness and its literary tone. For talking not only about Joy Division, The Cure, Bauhaus, Lydia Lunch, The Cramps, The Cult, The Sister of Mercy, The Gun Club or Siouxsie and the Banshees, but also about Cocteau Twins, Echo and the Bunnymen and Einstürzende Neubauten. For threading together, albeit with a few decades of delay, the definitive history of this kind of unwritten genre to which almost nobody wanted to recognise after the death throes of punk. And to do so by reflecting an even more tenebrous reverse side: the government of Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1990.
A WATERSTONES BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2023
A TIMES BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2023
A MOJO BOOK OF 2023
A LOUDER THAN WAR BOOK OF 2023
NEW PAPERBACK EDITION
OUT NOW!
CATHI's horrible history of Goth out now in paperback! You can buy a copy HERE, HERE, HERE or HERE
FEATURING: Joy Division, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, Magazine, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, The Cramps, The Gun Club, Lydia Lunch, JG Thirlwell, The Birthday Party, Soft Cell, Sisters of Mercy, Southern/Death/Cult, Theatre of Hate, New Model Army, Joolz, Marc & The Mambas, Echo & The Bunnymen, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, These Immortal Souls, Crime & The City Solution, Diamanda Galàs, Einstürzende Neubauten, The Virgin Prunes, Cocteau Twins, Danielle Dax, Cardiacs and more family favourites…
It opens 40 years ago, in the Winter of Discontent…
When months of industrial action have left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish piling up in the streets. After ten brutal homicides and the biggest police hunt in history, the Yorkshire Ripper is still at large and preparing to strike again. Punk has reached its bleak climax with the fatal overdose of Sid Vicious while awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, from a hot dose supplied by his mother.
Unlikely alliances of outsiders prepare to seize power, set the political agenda and write the soundtrack for the years to come. Their figureheads are two very different kinds of dominatrices...
As Margaret Thatcher enters 10 Downing Street, four bands born of punk – Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, the Cure, and Magazine – find a way to distil the dissonance and darkness of the shifting decade into a new form of music. Pushing at the taboos the Sex Pistols had unlocked and dancing with the fetishistic, all will become global stars of Goth.
By the time Thatcher is cast out of office in 1990, the arrival of Goth will have imprinted its will on the cultural landscape as deeply as the Iron Lady herself.
This is the story of how Goth was shaped by the politics of an era – from the Cold War, the Miners' Strike, privatisation, The Troubles and AIDS – and how its outlaw imagery and innovative, atmospheric music spoke to a generation of alienated youths.
A fascinating social history, SEASON OF THE WITCH tells the tale of an enduring counter-culture, one that steadfastly refuses to give up the ghost.
THE CRITICS SAY:
"The Bible of Gothic Rock"
MONDO SONORO
"You'd be mad not to buy it": –
MICK MERCER
A freaking masterpiece" –
LYDIA LUNCH
"As monumental as its subject, a real temple of love" –
VICTORIA SEGAL, MOJO
"A cross between social history and Dickensian epic" – CLARE BIDDLES, THE WIRE
"A rich sourcebook of darkly cultural thrills" –
ROSS McFARLANE, FORTEAN TIMES
"Brilliantly written and contextualised. I couldn't put it down" –
MARTYN WARE, HEAVEN 17
"Season of the Witch is a panoramic view of the musical culture of the UK in the 1980s and its search for a voice to capture" –
GREIL MARCUS
"Cathi Unsworth brings darkness to light" –
JON SAVAGE
"An utterly compelling social history filled with passion, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. This is the essential account of all things Goth, the epic and intimate story of a great tribe that emerged from Thatcher’s Dark Ages" –
JAKE ARNOTT
"Season Of The Witch is to Goth what Jon Savage’s England’s Dreaming was to Punk… a magnificent, wild dissection of the music, the madness, and social dysfunction of the era that spawned it. Hail Unsworth" –
BILLY CHAINSAW,
former assistant, Siouxsie and The Banshees
"The First Lady of Noir seamlessly stitches politics, psychogeography and secret history into the most mesmerising musical tapestry of the Eighties, to create a Gothic masterpiece. I was spellbound" –
ANN SCANLON, author of The Pogues: The Lost Decade
ORIGINAL HARDBACK VERSION STILL AVAILABLE HERE, HERE, HERE or HERE!
FEATURING: Joy Division, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, Magazine, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, The Cramps, The Gun Club, Lydia Lunch, JG Thirlwell, The Birthday Party, Soft Cell, Sisters of Mercy, Southern/Death/Cult, Theatre of Hate, New Model Army, Joolz, Marc & The Mambas, Echo & The Bunnymen, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, These Immortal Souls, Crime & The City Solution, Diamanda Galàs, Einstürzende Neubauten, The Virgin Prunes, Cocteau Twins, Danielle Dax, Cardiacs and more family favourites…
It opens 40 years ago, in the Winter of Discontent…
When months of industrial action have left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish piling up in the streets. After ten brutal homicides and the biggest police hunt in history, the Yorkshire Ripper is still at large and preparing to strike again. Punk has reached its bleak climax with the fatal overdose of Sid Vicious while awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, from a hot dose supplied by his mother.
Unlikely alliances of outsiders prepare to seize power, set the political agenda and write the soundtrack for the years to come. Their figureheads are two very different kinds of dominatrices...
As Margaret Thatcher enters 10 Downing Street, four bands born of punk – Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, the Cure, and Magazine – find a way to distil the dissonance and darkness of the shifting decade into a new form of music. Pushing at the taboos the Sex Pistols had unlocked and dancing with the fetishistic, all will become global stars of Goth.
By the time Thatcher is cast out of office in 1990, the arrival of Goth will have imprinted its will on the cultural landscape as deeply as the Iron Lady herself.
This is the story of how Goth was shaped by the politics of an era – from the Cold War, the Miners' Strike, privatisation, The Troubles and AIDS – and how its outlaw imagery and innovative, atmospheric music spoke to a generation of alienated youths.
A fascinating social history, SEASON OF THE WITCH tells the tale of an enduring counter-culture, one that steadfastly refuses to give up the ghost.
THE CRITICS SAY:
"The Bible of Gothic Rock"
MONDO SONORO
"You'd be mad not to buy it": –
MICK MERCER
A freaking masterpiece" –
LYDIA LUNCH
"As monumental as its subject, a real temple of love" –
VICTORIA SEGAL, MOJO
"A cross between social history and Dickensian epic" – CLARE BIDDLES, THE WIRE
"A rich sourcebook of darkly cultural thrills" –
ROSS McFARLANE, FORTEAN TIMES
"Brilliantly written and contextualised. I couldn't put it down" –
MARTYN WARE, HEAVEN 17
"Season of the Witch is a panoramic view of the musical culture of the UK in the 1980s and its search for a voice to capture" –
GREIL MARCUS
"Cathi Unsworth brings darkness to light" –
JON SAVAGE
"An utterly compelling social history filled with passion, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. This is the essential account of all things Goth, the epic and intimate story of a great tribe that emerged from Thatcher’s Dark Ages" –
JAKE ARNOTT
"Season Of The Witch is to Goth what Jon Savage’s England’s Dreaming was to Punk… a magnificent, wild dissection of the music, the madness, and social dysfunction of the era that spawned it. Hail Unsworth" –
BILLY CHAINSAW,
former assistant, Siouxsie and The Banshees
"The First Lady of Noir seamlessly stitches politics, psychogeography and secret history into the most mesmerising musical tapestry of the Eighties, to create a Gothic masterpiece. I was spellbound" –
ANN SCANLON, author of The Pogues: The Lost Decade
ORIGINAL HARDBACK VERSION STILL AVAILABLE HERE, HERE, HERE or HERE!
IN MEMORIUM: JAMES McMAHON 1980-2024
This week came the sad and shocking news about the untimely passing of JAMES McMAHON. I was a guest on his wonderful podcast for Halloween 2024 and we delighted in talking Dennis Wheatley and Margaret Thatcher, Aleister Crowley and Arthur Daley, The Rendlesham Incident and The Cramps and many more fertile Goth Leylines. Like me, James was obsessed with music and weirdness in equal measure and was the ideal conversational companion. We said at the time we would have to do many more chats like these to fully do those obsessions justice – neither of us realising there would never be the time. RIP James and my love and condolences to all who were close to you.
Listen again to James' wit and wisdom HERE
Listen again to James' wit and wisdom HERE
AND NOW EVEN A QUESTION ON THE CHASE!
THANKS TO DEVERIL AT CARDIACS FB PAGE FOR THIS!
NEW FEATURES: CATHI IN RECORD COLLECTOR SIOUXISE & THE BANSHEES SPECIAL EDITION, OUT NOW
Cathi is delighted to have two articles included in RECORD COLLECTOR's new SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES SPECIAL EDITION. Alongside Banshees experts and authors Kriss Needs, Wesley Doyle, Laurence Hedges, Chris Roberts, Cathi takes a look back at The Scream and interviews the legendary BILLY CHAINSAW, editor of THE BANSHEES FILE, keeper of the Fan Club and the band's PA from 1979-91. In all good newsagents now or from HERE.
NEW CROATIAN EDITION LOV NA VJESTICE
OUT NOW
SEASON OF THE WITCH's beautifully designed Croatian sister LOV NA VJESTICE is out now from ROCKMARK publishing. If you speak the language of the Count, you can order an edition or find out more HERE, HERE and HERE
SOHEMIANS ARE BACK!
NEXT EVENT: DENMARK STREET WITH PETER WATTS AND MAX DÉCHARNÉ, THURSDAY 5 DECEMBER, UPSTAIRS AT THE WHEATSHEAF, 6.30 FOR 7PM
PETER WATTS WITH MAX DÉCHARNÉ
THURSDAY 5 DECEMBER, DOORS OPEN 18.30
THE WHEATSHEAF, 25 RATHBONE PLACE, LONDON W1T 1JB
LIMITED STANDING ROOM ONLY TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE ON THE NIGHT
“This is the street where the NME and Melody Maker were started, where the Rolling Stones recorded their demo album and the Beatles signed their first publishing deal,” says veteran music journalist Peter Watts. “It’s where the first UK charts were compiled and were David Bowie recruited some of his first bands. As the music industry changed, Denmark Street changed with it, albeit sometimes reluctantly. We’ll encounter many of the greats of music from Lionel Bart and Joe Meek to Sex Pistols and Jeff Buckley.” Peter will be talking to Max Décharné, acclaimed author of Teddy Boys: Post-War Britain and the First Youth Revolution and no mean musician himself.
Join the Sohemian mailing list and find out about more forthcoming events at the new website HERE
THURSDAY 5 DECEMBER, DOORS OPEN 18.30
THE WHEATSHEAF, 25 RATHBONE PLACE, LONDON W1T 1JB
LIMITED STANDING ROOM ONLY TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE ON THE NIGHT
“This is the street where the NME and Melody Maker were started, where the Rolling Stones recorded their demo album and the Beatles signed their first publishing deal,” says veteran music journalist Peter Watts. “It’s where the first UK charts were compiled and were David Bowie recruited some of his first bands. As the music industry changed, Denmark Street changed with it, albeit sometimes reluctantly. We’ll encounter many of the greats of music from Lionel Bart and Joe Meek to Sex Pistols and Jeff Buckley.” Peter will be talking to Max Décharné, acclaimed author of Teddy Boys: Post-War Britain and the First Youth Revolution and no mean musician himself.
Join the Sohemian mailing list and find out about more forthcoming events at the new website HERE
NEW SEASON OF THE WITCH PLAYLIST!
This new and more extensive Spotify playlist was created by Spanish publisher Didac Aparicio for TEMPORADA DE BRUJAS – that's SEASON OF THE WITCH in Spanish, due on 6 MARCH from Contra publishing with a new introduction from Ana Cura. Listen HERE
NEW SPANISH EDITION:
TEMPORADA DE BRUJAS INTERNATIONAL MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR IN MONDO SONORO
The SPANISH edition of SEASON OF THE WITCH, available from CONTRA publishing, has just been voted Mondosonor's International Music Book of 2024. Beautifully designed and with photographs and extensive new footnotes throughout, it comes complete with a beautiful bookmark! For more information go HERE
• TEMPORADA DE BRUJAS in El Diario HERE
• In Mondo Sonoro HERE
• In El Periódico HERE
• AUDIO interview with Gustavo Iglesias of Radio 3 (Spain) HERE (starts 20 mins in)
DEFYING GRAVITY
NEW JAPANESE EDITION
NOW AVAILABLE
The Japanese edition of DEFYING GRAVITY: JORDAN'S STORY is available now, with an amazing LIMITED EDITION BOX SET packed full of goodies!
To order, please go HERE
To order, please go HERE
CATHI'S QUIETUS LOW CULTURE ESSAY ON TIM SMITH
THE QUIETUS asked Cathi to commemorate the recent SING TO TIM gigs with this Low Culture essay HERE. Please note, this is behind a subscriber paywall – but other Cardiacs articles are available from THE QUIETUS HERE, while news of more gigs and Cardiacs/Spratleys Marc Riley and Gideon Coe session can be found HERE
NEW AUDIO! CATHI ON NEW MUSIKAL CHAIRS – PARTS 1 AND 2
Cathi joins host JONATHAN 'J' CRIDFORD to talk about the musical and politcal climate of SEASON OF THE WITCH in part 1 of an extensive interview. In PART 2, up next week, we'll be selecting a Goth soundtrack to get dressed up to from records made before 1984. For YouTube visial version go HERE
For Soundcloud go HERE and for Spotify go HERE
PART 2 – Our Top Ten Goth abums made before 1984 now available HERE
For Soundcloud go HERE and for Spotify go HERE
PART 2 – Our Top Ten Goth abums made before 1984 now available HERE
CATHI ON ELECTRONICALLY YOURS PODCAST WITH
MARTYN WARE
Cathi talks to HEAVEN 17/BEF/HUMAN LEAGUE's Martyn Ware about SEASON OF THE WITCH, life in the Eighties and how the best of music was made from the worst of times. Tune in HERE
OUT NOW: CATHI IN SCALA!!!
JANE GILES and ALI CATTERALL's amazing documentary of the world's greatest fleapit, SCALA!!! Or, the Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World’s Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits charts a story very similar to the one told in SEASON OF THE WITCH, about life in Thatcher's Britain and how the infamous SCALA cinema sheltered a generation of weirdos, feeding them a steady diet of high art and cult classic cinema, sexploitation, horror, Kung-Fu and LGBTQIA+.
For more on the film and its DVD go HERE
For more on the film and its DVD go HERE
CATHI IN AUXILLIARY MAGAZINE
Cathi is delighted to be included in the Winter edition of the fabulous AUXILLIARY MAGAZINE, a beautiful publication dedicated to subculture fashion, music and lifestyle. This issue is devoted to darker subcultures from goth to post-punk and also features Yasaman Gheidi of Blackwood Castle, The Wake, Witch Baby Soap, Coffin Goblin, AR+, La Sorgente Pagana, , Zoetica Ebb, Disjecta Membra, Chiffon Magnifique, Mildreda, Shadow Age, Andrea Hunter, Katakomb, and more. A long form delicacy full of interviews, editorials, articles, and reviews. To grab your issue, go HERE
CATHI IN
SHEPHERD FOR AUTHORS
Cathi has picked five books that inspired her on her way to writing SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH for the website Shepherd For Authors. Read all about it HERE
CATHI ON THE JAMES McMAHON MUSIC PODCAST
Cathi talks to host JAMES McMAHON about Dennis Wheatley and Margaret Thatcher, Aleister Crowley and Arthur Daley, The Rendlesham Incident and The Cramps and many more fertile Goth Leylines. Tune in HERE
REFLECTIONS ON SOTW IN TOXIC GRAFITY
TOXIC GRAFITY's MIKE DIBOLL gets his motor running and takes an epic ride around SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH HERE
Illustration by HYD
Illustration by HYD
CATHI ON DRESS: FANCY
Cathi was delighted to be asked by host LUCY CLAYTON to talk all things GOTH for her HALLOWEEN SPECIAL! Pull up a pumpkin and join us HERE
CATHI ON WORD IN YOUR EAR LIVE
Cathi was delighted to be a guest on WORD IN YOUR EAR LIVE at 21Soho on 25 September. You can hear her conversation with hosts MARK ELLEN and DAVID HEPWORTH on all matters Goth HERE
CATHI ON BETTER KNOWN PODCAST
IVAN WISE invited Cathi onto his incredibly interesting Better Known podcast. All Ivan's guests get to talk about six people or things that should be better known – Cathi chose:
The magazine Fortean Times
Getting to know London's secrets by going for long walks
The noir writer Derek Raymond
The pop artist Pauline Boty
The publisher London Books
The musician Tim Smith
Listen in HERE
Photo by Travis Elborough
The magazine Fortean Times
Getting to know London's secrets by going for long walks
The noir writer Derek Raymond
The pop artist Pauline Boty
The publisher London Books
The musician Tim Smith
Listen in HERE
Photo by Travis Elborough
CATHI IN
THE IRISH TIMES
CATHI IN
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
CATHI ON FOXY RADIO
Cathi talks Goth with Peter Fox and plays ten classics from the crypt. Listen again HERE
CATHI IN UAL SUBCULTURES
Cathi is interviewed by London College of Fashion's KEVIN QUINN about SEASON OF THE WITCH in this in-depth feature, with photos by DEREK RIDGERS (above) and DAVID ARNOFF. Read all about it HERE
CATHI ON SUZI'S BOOK BAG
Cathi talks to host SUZI FEAY – who served her own Goth apprenticeship in Leeds during the glory years of 1981-3 – about SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH. And all matters pertaining to it. Tune in, turn on, burn out HERE
CATHI ON THE BOOKS PODCAST
Cathi talks to host TIM HAIGH about SEASON OF THE WITCH and how the turbulent reign of Margaret Thatcher shaped Goth's musical response. Tune in HERE
CATHI IN THE HERALD
CATHI ON
WORD IN YOUR EAR
Cathi joins hosts MARK ELLEN and DAVID HEPWORTH to talk cider and black, hanging round in graveyards, using orange juice to spike up your hair and much more HERE
CATHI ON BRITFLICKS PODCAST
Cathi joins host STUART WRIGHT to select Three Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton, 1955), WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (Bryan Forbes, 1961) and GOODFELLAS (Martin Scorsese, 1990). Find out what these cinematic gems have to do with SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH HERE
CATHI ON C86
Cathi joins host David Eastlaugh in his Time Tunnel to the Eighties to talk about the dark psychic weather of SEASON OF THE WITCH and Goth's response to the Thatcher reign. Tune in, turn on, burn out HERE
CATHI IN THE WIRE
SEASON OF THE WITCH REVIEWED IN 3AM
Read Nicky Charlish's in-depth review HERE
CATHI ON RADIO 4 FRONT ROW
Listen to Cathi talking Goth with Samira Ahmed HERE
CATHI ON
THE LYDIAN SPIN
Cathi discusses SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH with her very own Gothmother LYDIA LUNCH HERE
CATHI IN
OUTSIDELEFT MUSIC
Thanks to Alan Rider for his thoughtful review of SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH HERE
And full interview with Cathi HERE
And full interview with Cathi HERE
CATHI IN THE IDLER
Read Cathi's article on Goth in the new edition of The Idler, available online HERE. Photo of Nick and Lydia by David Arnoff, from his new book SHOT IN THE DARK.
SEASON OF THE WITCH IN MOONBUILDING
SEASON OF THE WITCH IN CLASSIC POP
IT'S GOTH OF THE POPS WITH CATHI IN 3AM MAGAZINE
It’s Thursday night, it’s seven o’clock, it’s Goth of the Pops! Cathi Unsworth is in the Videodrome with Andrew Stevens revisiting five Eighties Goth classics, ahead of her Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth, out May 11 (Nine Eight Books).
DEFYING GRAVITY
New paperback edition
out now
"IF YOU'VE NEVER READ A BOOK ABOUT PUNK, THIS IS THE ONLY ONE YOU'LL EVER NEED"
– Julie Burchill, The New Statesman
The image of Jordan with her white shards of beehive and Mondrian make-up is one of the most iconic in pop cylture. From the counter of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's taboo-busting shop on 240 King's Road, she helped shape a revolution.
But who was the woman behind it all? How did a ballet-mad girl from sleepy Sussex make her way, via the clandestine gay clubs of Brighton and London, to the eye of punk's storm? What happened after all her hair-raising adventures with The Sex Pistols, Adam and The Ants, Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol when she just disappeared?
With commetary from key players and close friends including Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook, Marco Pirroni, Holly Johnson, and her partner behind the SEX counter, Michael Collins – plus a wealth of never-before-seen images from Simon Barker, Sheila Rock and Harri Peccinotti and a specially commissioned cover by Graham Humphreys – Jordan reveals her outrageous life story. Buckle up for a masterclass in true punk spirit.
To order one, go HERE
Limited edition Slipcase and Boxed Set editions of Defying Gravity signed by Jordan are still available.
For the Slipcase edition, go HERE
For the Boxed Set, go HERE
See more of our previous adventures on our DEFYING GRAVITY page
– Julie Burchill, The New Statesman
The image of Jordan with her white shards of beehive and Mondrian make-up is one of the most iconic in pop cylture. From the counter of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's taboo-busting shop on 240 King's Road, she helped shape a revolution.
But who was the woman behind it all? How did a ballet-mad girl from sleepy Sussex make her way, via the clandestine gay clubs of Brighton and London, to the eye of punk's storm? What happened after all her hair-raising adventures with The Sex Pistols, Adam and The Ants, Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol when she just disappeared?
With commetary from key players and close friends including Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook, Marco Pirroni, Holly Johnson, and her partner behind the SEX counter, Michael Collins – plus a wealth of never-before-seen images from Simon Barker, Sheila Rock and Harri Peccinotti and a specially commissioned cover by Graham Humphreys – Jordan reveals her outrageous life story. Buckle up for a masterclass in true punk spirit.
To order one, go HERE
Limited edition Slipcase and Boxed Set editions of Defying Gravity signed by Jordan are still available.
For the Slipcase edition, go HERE
For the Boxed Set, go HERE
See more of our previous adventures on our DEFYING GRAVITY page
BAD PENNY BLUES
New edition out now
London 1959: Police Constable Pete Bradley has done one year in the force and dreams of moving up. His destiny arrives when the body of a young woman is dumped on the banks of the Thames. She’s the first in a series of murders whose naked victims are left in and along the river. Pete’s search for the phantom killer will lead him deep into London’s underbelly as the 1960s start to swing.
Meanwhile Stella Reade, an art student living in bohemian Ladbroke Grove, is woken by terrifying nightmares that echo the last hours of the murdered women – all of whom have been plucked from the streets around her home. Streets where fascists and Teddy boys, migrants and anarchists chase illicit thrills with gangsters and lords.
Bad Penny Blues is based on the Thames Towpath case of 1959-65, which sparked the biggest manhunt in Metropolitan Police history but was never solved.
“Cathi Unsworth has been compared to cult noirist Derek Raymond. Here she enters a pantheon of writers exploring London lowlife that extends from Patrick Hamilton and Colin MacInnes” Christopher Fowler, Financial Times
To order a copy go HERE
To hear Cathi discussing the book with Travis Elborough go HERE
Meanwhile Stella Reade, an art student living in bohemian Ladbroke Grove, is woken by terrifying nightmares that echo the last hours of the murdered women – all of whom have been plucked from the streets around her home. Streets where fascists and Teddy boys, migrants and anarchists chase illicit thrills with gangsters and lords.
Bad Penny Blues is based on the Thames Towpath case of 1959-65, which sparked the biggest manhunt in Metropolitan Police history but was never solved.
“Cathi Unsworth has been compared to cult noirist Derek Raymond. Here she enters a pantheon of writers exploring London lowlife that extends from Patrick Hamilton and Colin MacInnes” Christopher Fowler, Financial Times
To order a copy go HERE
To hear Cathi discussing the book with Travis Elborough go HERE
LYDIA LUNCH TALKS TO CATHI ABOUT THE WAR IS NEVER OVER
From Sheffield Documentary Festival 2021, Lydia talks to Cathi about Beth B's documentary about her life's work, THE WAR IS NEVER OVER. Go HERE to view.
CATHI "TOO GOOD NOT TO BE CRAZY FAMOUS"
Cathi joins a list of 12 noir writers from around the globe who are considered by Criminal Element's GREG LEVIN: "Too good not to be crazy famous." You can read the whole story – and pick up some more top tips for your noir reading pleasure HERE
WATCH OUR TED TALK WITH DAVID PEACE, MARTYN WAITES, NICK TRIPLOW AND CATHI HERE
Cathi joined David Peace, Martyn Waites and Ted Lewis' biographer Nick Triplow to pay tribute to the life and influence of Ted Lewis in this Crowdcast event from No Exit Press and Crime Time UK. You can see it HERE
CATHI SAYS:
I LOVE LIBRARIES!
WESTMINSTER LIBRARIES – my local group of libraries in Ladbroke Grove, Paddington and West End Central – asked me to make a short video explaining how libraries have helped inspire and inform me my whole life. You can watch the video HERE via Facebook and HERE via Twitter. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
A TRIBUTE TO TIM SMITH
A mighty oak crashed down in the magic musical kingdom of my life with the passing of Tim Smith. Some years ago 3AM let me write about Cardiacs when The Leader of the Starry Skies album came out. My thanks to Andrew Stevens for restoring the feature with new links to some of Tim's most incredible songs that mean the most to me. I would also just like to send love and deepest sympathy to the entire Cardiacs family: Jim, Billiam Dee, Kavus, Sarah, Dominic, Tim Quy, Alan James, Bic Haynes and Jo Spratley who helped me so much with this feature. Everything I want to say is written HERE
THE SINGER MAKES THE INDEPENDENT'S TOP 25 CRIME NOVELS TO READ DURING LOCKDOWN
The Independent's Sarah Hughes has put The Singer in her 25 lesser-known crime titles to read during Lockdown, in a fantastic list that begins with Alexander Baron's King Dido. Get the full SP HERE
WEIRDO NAMED IN
THE TIMES TOP TEN
CRIME NOVELS OF
THE PAST DECADE!
Many thanks to MARK SANDERSON for elevating Weirdo to the upper echelons of the past decade's crime novels The Times. His review reads:
Cathi Unsworth is a brilliant writer who would be far better known were it not for her refusal to repeat herself. Her fourth and best novel is set in a seaside town not unlike her native Great Yarmouth. Swinging between the Eighties and the Noughties, it is essentially a game of cat-and-mouse between a private eye and a retired cop responsible for more than one miscarriage of justie. Teenage angst, police corruption and witchcraft combine in a full-blooded neo- noir.
The other writers in the Top Ten are Peter Temple (Truth), Ruth Rendell (The Vault), Ruth Dudley Edwards (Killing The Emperors), Karin Slaughter (Cop Town), Ian Rankin (Even Dogs In The Wild), Fred Vargas (A Climate of Fear), Denise Mina (The Long Drop), George Pelecanos (The Man Who Came Down) and Jo Nesbo (Knife) – so the little oddball is in good company!
Cathi Unsworth is a brilliant writer who would be far better known were it not for her refusal to repeat herself. Her fourth and best novel is set in a seaside town not unlike her native Great Yarmouth. Swinging between the Eighties and the Noughties, it is essentially a game of cat-and-mouse between a private eye and a retired cop responsible for more than one miscarriage of justie. Teenage angst, police corruption and witchcraft combine in a full-blooded neo- noir.
The other writers in the Top Ten are Peter Temple (Truth), Ruth Rendell (The Vault), Ruth Dudley Edwards (Killing The Emperors), Karin Slaughter (Cop Town), Ian Rankin (Even Dogs In The Wild), Fred Vargas (A Climate of Fear), Denise Mina (The Long Drop), George Pelecanos (The Man Who Came Down) and Jo Nesbo (Knife) – so the little oddball is in good company!
