Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood is the definitive portrait of the condemned man of rock n roll, from the baptism of fire and tragedy that was the New York Dolls, through the junkie punk years of the Heartbreakers, to his sudden and mysterious death in 1991. It is an unflinching account of a unique guitarist whose drug problems often overshadowed his considerable style and talent, but whose unquestionable influence on glam, punk, and more still resonates today. Nina Antonia discovered Johnny Thunders and the New York Dolls as a teenager and spent her formative years as a dedicated fan before starting work on this book in her twenties. Then, when Johnny and his manager read her early drafts, they decided she should make it an authorised biography and granted her unique access to Johnny s life. As such, it begins by painting a historical portrait of Thunders and his early life and work before shifting into the present tense as Nina vividly describes her own experiences with the real-life Johnny and his associates. First published in 1987, Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood has been kept alive over the years by an audience that isn t always catered for. While the New York Dolls are now rightly acknowledged as having been as pivotal as the Velvet Underground, and you might catch the odd fashionista sporting a Dolls T-shirt, Johnny s dark flame burns for those who have known adversity. He is the voice of the disenfranchised; he is every gifted son or daughter who went off the rails. Like Jesse James or James Dean, he couldn t come in from the badlands of rock n roll; he wouldn t appease or kowtow to the establishment. This new edition adds a new closing chapter, bringing Thunders legacy up to date, new photographs, and a foreword by Mike Scott of The Waterboys.

Writings that shed new light on one of the most gifted, if reclusive, poets of thefin-de-siecle. A lost poet of the decadent era, Lionel Johnson is the shadow man of the 1890s, an enigma "pale as wasted golden hair." History has all but forgotten Johnson, except as a footnote to the lives of more celebrated characters like W. B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde. Johnson should have been one of the great poets of the age but was already drinking eau-de-cologne for kicks while a teenager at Winchester College. His attraction to absinthe damaged his fragile health and cast him forever into a waking dream of haunted rooms and spectral poetry. A habitual insomniac, he haunted medieval burial grounds after dark, jotting down the epitaphs of the gone-too-young, as if anticipating his own early demise at the age of 35-falling from a bar stool in a Fleet Street pub. It was rumored that Johnson performed "strange religious rites" in his rooms at Oxford and experimented with hashish in the company of fellow poet Ernest Dowson. Moving to London, he fell in with Simeon Solomon, Oscar Wilde, and Aubrey Beardsley, and would contribute to the leading decadent publications of the day, including The Chameleon, The Yellow Book, and The Savoy. Like a glimmering of a votive candle in one of Johnson's dream churches, Incurable sheds new light on one of the most gifted, if reclusive, poets of thefin-de-siecle. Containing a detailed biography, illustrations, rare and unusual material including previously unseen letters, poetry, and essays, Incurable pays tribute to this enchanting and eccentric poet while providing fresh insight into an era that continues to fascinate.

Too Much Too Soon is the definitive story of the most outrageous glam rock bands of them all - The New York Dolls. The Dolls, peddling trans-gender posturing and incendiary rock 'n' roll, were dumped by the record business after making just two albums. But their influence lived on when Malcolm McLaren injected the last of the Dolls' life blood into The Sex Pistols and changed pop forever. From punk to grunge, practically every new sensation in the contemporary rock scene has been a delayed reaction to the New York Dolls. Too Much Too Soon celebrates all the glorious sleaze and excess of the Dolls' brief auto-destruct career through interviews with the survivors, including band members, managers, roadies, groupies and hangers-on. This new edition takes the story up to the Doll's reformation for Morrissey's Meltdown in 2004 and the tragic death of Arthur Kane shortly afterwards. Illustrated and including a comprehensive discography.