KARL SHAW

FIVE PEOPLE WHO DIED DURING SEX
(and 100 other terribly tasteless lists)

Karl Shaw invites readers with a well-developed sense of the absurd, the extreme and the bizarre on a hilarious tour around the world and through the ages with his tasteless lists. 5 PEOPLE WHO DIED DURING SEX is a treasure trove of history's most repellent, idiotic, and outrageous customs and behaviours.

“In 1992 the Pennsylvanian judge Charles Guyer was sacked after a hidden video camera recorded him offering a novel form of plea-bargaining. He offered convicted men lighter sentences if they allowed him to shampoo their hair…” (Criminal Judges, # 10) “15 bowls of noodle soup, 100 pieces of sushi, 5 plates of wheat noodles, 5 plates of beef with rice and 5 plates of curry and rice in 2 hours (Japanese National Eating Championships).” (Fascinating Food Records, # 1) A celebration of the peculiar… a fascinating trawl through the dustbins of history… This is an amazing collection of the most disgusting, outrageous and bizarre true historical oddities. Subjects covered in this comprehensive volume include Death and Sex, Saints and Sinners, Crime and Punishment and ‘Ad Nauseam’, including fetishes of the famous and several historically creative uses for formaldehyde.

In the lists appearing here you will discover:
Who was the first president of the United States to throw up on live TV
Which tune is the chart-topper in Britain’s crematoria
Who were history’s most gifted psychopaths
Which king owned a golf bag made from an elephant’s penis, and why
Which queen died of blood poisoning after sucking the pus out of her husband’s septic wound.
Prepare to be amazed, appalled, disgusted, and hugely entertained by this wealth of historical facts
– and all absolutely true!
This book reveals what the usual history books try to cover up… Twisted humour at its very best.

Material: Finished copy
Sales: Broadway Books UK and USA; Metafora Czechoslovakia; AST Russia

THE GIANT BATHROOM READER From elk-dropping earrings to radioactive watches, a wealth of information, completely incredible, much of it improbable, but all of it true. Be amazed, be appalled, but, above all, be enthralled by this cornucopia of craziness. Material : Finished copy Sales: Constable & Robinson

ROYAL BABYLON

THE ALARMING HISTORY OF EUROPEAN ROYALTY

'A fascinating trawl through the dustbins of history.' Daily Mail

'A hugely entertaining collection of aristocratic excess.' Belfast Telegraph

Queen Victoria warned that it was unwise to look too deeply into the Royal houses of Europe – that the ‘black spots’ were best kept from prying eyes. This unique book reveals all. Since 1714 Britain has been ruled by a clan of inbred Germans with a history of mental instability and a talent for profligacy and debauchery. But, compared to their blue-blood cousins across the Channel, they are neither remarkable nor particularly mad. In the last three hundred years, Europe has been plagued by dysfunctional rulers – the insane kings of Spain, the psychopathic kings of Prussia, the sex-fixated French kings, the famously inbred Habsburgs of Austria, and, of course, the drunken, debauched and always dangerous czars of Russia. This unusual and amusing account of the great and the sordid will make even the most ardent royalist wonder whether Europe’s republics really miss this collection of madmen, philanderers, sexual misfits, sociopaths and tragic emotional cripples. (325 pages)

Sales: Virgin UK; Broadway Books USA; Domino Czech; Magyar Konyklub Hungary; MKZ Croatia & Slovenia; Bertrand Editora Portugal; Nezarisimaya Gazeta Russia.

'With a family tree like this, it’s little wonder that Prince Charles talks to plants … Karl Shaw chronicles the fluctuating fortunes of various personalities and dynasties which have made up European royal gene pool.' North-West Evening Mail

'Utterly irreverent account of Europe’s mad Royalt.' Nottingham Evening Post

'Good fun......a vigorous slap at monarchists everywhere.' Kirkus Reviews

'Anyone who loves scandal, particularly the juicy dish on royalty, will inhale this gossipy account by British writer Shaw............irreverent and amusing.' Publishers Weekly

KARL SHAW works in marketing for the largest manufacturer of stool jars in the country. He lives in Staffordshire with his family. His books have also been published by Robson Books, Robinson, and Michael O’Mara UK, Nezavisimaya Gazeta Russia and Heyne Germany.