'Another gangster with all the presence of a ghost. Just stories you hear over the years. Heavyweight. King shit. Bad arse. Red Laal - If there did exist a Pakistani Don Corleone, then this was him.' Kilo has fallen down the rungs of the criminal ladder and is once again reduced to dealing small time. Just when he realises he has to make a clean break and get out, along comes Red Laal with other ideas. Unnerved by the revelation of a long-held family secret and seduced by Red Laal's charms, Kilo is quickly lured back into the criminal fold. But a trail of blood and betrayal leads him back to his ancestral village where he learns that not everything is what it seems. Soon Red Laal will discover what Kilo is prepared to do in the name of justice and revenge. M Y Alam's novel is a compelling tale of survival, honour and family values; it is at once a page-turning thriller and homage to his home city of Bradford. In Kilo and Red Laal, Alam has created characters beyond compare in contemporary British fiction.

In Made in Bradford, novelist and sociologist M Y Alam presented research illustrating how stereotypes of young British Pakistani men found in the media, policy rhetoric and popular discourse differed from real life. In The Invisible Village, he continues his research across West Yorkshire, one of the most culturally diverse regions in Britain, and assesses whether similar misrepresentations apply to a much broader sample of the population. The Invisible Village paints a vivid picture of everyday life in modern urban society with a series of insights and views of the world that may help us all make greater sense of it. Presenting stories drawn from conversations with people who talk openly and in moving terms about family, education, work, crime, migration, as well as home and belonging, this book allows us to look beyond the headlines. Reviews for Made in Bradford 'Honest and unsentimental, it's an impressive exercise in sociology and a terrific read. This, too, is modern England.' - Mslexia 'One of the most important books to ever come out of Bradford.' - Bradford Telegraph and Argus

This bumper issue #14 from Route brings together further chronicles of contemporary preoccupations. Presented in three distinct collections: Criminally Minded. Something Has Gone Wrong In The World and Next Stop Hope - this anthology of new writing takes you skilfully through the inner workings of the criminal mind, the nuances of human relationships and our personal connections with an increasingly disturbing world, where hope is hard to find.

Khalil Khan was a good boy. He had a certain past and an equally certain future awaited until gangsters decided to turn his world upside down. They shattered his safe family life with baseball bats but that's only just the beginning. They turned good, innocent and honest Khalil into someone else: Kilo, a much more unforgiving and determined piece of work. Kilo cuts his way through the underworld of Bradford street crime, but the closer he gets to the top of that game, the stronger the pull of his original values become. When he finally begins to rub shoulders with the men who madvertently showed him the allure of crime, the more convinced he becomes that it is sometimes necessary to do bad in order to achieve good.

Tells a story from a Britain we all thought existed, but were never quite sure how. We see events through the eyes of Ammy, a wannabe writer who works in a shop until one day the police barge in, march him down to the station and charge him with the murder of a frail old customer by the name of Annie Potts...

The thoughtful stories featured in this collection capture the soul of the city of Leeds by tracing the unique contours of 50 years of social and economic change. In one story the Millgarth Police Station reverberates with the early adrenaline rush of a case they won't close for years. Another tells of a teenage boy who trails the city center bars of the 1980s in thrall to his hero, a Leeds United football hooligan. Despite being products of their time, these stories remain distinct from the larger events and wider currents that have shaped the cultural landscape of today's Leeds, a modern city with both problems and promise. Featured authors include Tony Harrison, Jeremy Dyson, Shamshad Khan, Ian Duhig, David Peace, Susan Everett, M. Y. Alam, Andrea Semple, Martyn Bedford, and Tom Palmer.