This volume is the first to draw together theoretical reflection, empirical research, and critical reflection on practice occurring at the juncture of critical approaches in leisure studies and event studies within diverse explorations of deviance. It includes chapters on games and gaming; performing queerness; events around being kinkster; drugs and sex, LGBTQ+ events and activism, and goth subculture. These are combined with poetry, personal reflection and artwork, much of which has been created by contributors. The compendium draws on inquiry undertaken by contributors from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines, as well as deviant leisure practitioners/event organisers. It seeks to expand the cultural and academic articulation of deviance into other disciplines and to develop new perspectives on deviant leisure and deviant leisure practice. It speaks to students, researchers, and practitioners working or interested in critical leisure and event studies, queer theory, cultural theory, burlesque/circus studies, media studies, and discourse studies.

'Echoes of Angela Carter's more fantastical fiction reverberate through this exuberant tale of a hermaphrodite Jekyll and Hyde figure...enjoyably energetic' SUNDAY TIMES Late nineteenth-century Manchester is a city of charms and dangers - the perfect playground for young siblings, Edie and Gnome. But as they grow up, they grow apart, and while Gnome revels in the night-time, Edie wakes each morning, exhausted and uneasy, with only a dim memory of the dark hours. Convinced she deserves more than this half-life, she tries to break free from Gnome and forge her own future. But Gnome is always right behind, somehow seeming to know her even better than she knows herself. Edie must choose whether to keep running or to turn and face her fears. The Night Brother is a dazzling and adventurous novel exploring questions of identity, belonging, sexual equality and how well we really know ourselves.

Rosie Garland's extraordinary tale is a story of superstition and devotion in the time of the Black Death and will bewitch both new readers and fans of her much-loved debut, The Palace of Curiosities. DEVON 1349 The villagers of Brauntone are awaiting a sign. As they haul a stinking creature from the nets, new priest Father Thomas thinks it has finally come. In the hands of his young housekeeper, Anne, this creature is revealed as just a girl, but in the mind of Father Thomas she is to be so much more than that. And he will stake all but his own life on that as the Plague rages towards Brauntone and its people turn to him to save them.

A luminous and bewitching debut novel that is perfect for fans of Angela Carter. Set in Victorian London, it follows the fortunes of Eve, the Lion-Faced Girl and Abel, the Flayed Man. A magical realism delight. Before Eve is born, her mother goes to the circus. She buys a penny twist of coloured sugar and settles down to watch the heart-stopping main attraction: a lion, billed as a monster from the savage heart of Africa, forged in the heat of a merciless sun. Mama swears she hears the lion sigh, just before it leaps...and when Eve is born, the story goes, she didn't cry - she meowed and licked her paws. When Abel is pulled from the stinking Thames, the mudlarks are sure he is long dead. As they search his pockets to divvy up the treasure, his eyes crack open and he coughs up a stream of black water. But how has he survived a week in that thick stew of human waste? Cast out by Victorian society, Eve and Abel find succour from an unlikely source. They will become The Lion Faced Girl and The Flayed Man, star performers in Professor Josiah Arroner's Palace of Curiosities. And there begins a journey that will entwine their fates forever.

"She combs her hair long, a black sheet to cover the new mouth at the back of her neck, where angry stories leak out..." Behind the scenes in the life and mind of the award-winning poet, novelist, groundbreaking performance artist and singer with The March Violets, Rosie Garland (as in Judy). "You spend all that time trying to understand the world, its family relationships, friendships, social systems through a serial adventure of episodes mundane and or memorable. You spend all that time trying to fit into the human. Then, you are propelled into realisation through a life-threatening disease. Travelling not outward into the world but inward to the beating heart of the matter, you dive deep into the DNA. You are the resplendent there. You are the clicking queen of the insects. When you dress again in flesh and skin, you go amongst the sleeping humans and new and glittering worlds are left in your wake. Welcome to Rosie Garland!" - John Hyatt "One of the reasons I love Rosie's work so much is because she provides food for thought. She addresses issues that need addressing, and imagines the inner and outer landscapes we all inhabit with eloquence and grace. Shine your light, Rosie." - David Hoyle AKA The Divine David Adult poetry / LGBT+

"Give me heat. I want to singe my fingers. I want them sticky, messy down and dirty, I want life and all it costs..." Powerfully articulating diverse themes including childhood, relationships, gender and serial-killers, Rosie's first collection since beating throat cancer showcases her thought-provoking and passionate award-winning poetry.