Let the brain escape the strain
Commuter Books Now Only £1.85 for Kindle.
Light Transports is a set of three collections of short stories designed as pocket books for the commuter. The books are compiled with a series of stories that reflect differing lengths of journeys – A Couple of Stops,Commutes and Intercity – and are pulled together by editor Steve Dearden. (You can see Steve’s account of the project here.)
A Couple of Stops
Seven stories of ten minute reads for short journeys.
Featured authors: Winifred Holtby, Tom Spanbauer, Mandy Sutter, Steven Hall, Ellen Osborne, Chenjerai Hove, Kath McKay.
Commutes Four stories of twenty minute reads for medium-length journeys.
Featured authors: Alecia McKenzie, M Y Alam, Jack Mapanje, Sumeia Ali.
Intercity
Four stories of forty minutes reads stories for longer journeys.
Featured authors: Storm Jameson, Mark McWatt, Patricia Duncker, Aritha van Herk
Click on the above links to order on Kindle.
The books are also available as a set of 3 pocket paperbacks. £10 for the set. Click here.
‘Red Laal is a real rough guide to Bradford, an unflinching look at the city’s criminal hinterland, but then MY Alam isn’t in the business of tourism. Every city has its underworld, and Bradford is no different. Red Laal is a smart, tough and authentic revenge thriller best served cold, and marks out M Y Alam as a major name in gritty, contemporary gangster-culture crime writing. It might be a little early in Alam’s career to say he’s the Bradfordian version of Elmore Leonard, but given a few more novels of this quality, at this pace and in this vein, then who knows?’ – Bradford T&A
‘Red Laal is a fine novel, a story that absolutely races along and grips like a vice. Sometimes it feels as though you can touch the fabric of the world Alam has created.’ – Yorkshire Post
‘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.’
Red Laal is the third novel from M Y Alam and has been ten years in the making. The book continues the story of Alam’s protagonist Khalil ‘Kilo’ Khan, who was first encountered in Alam’s award winning novel Kilo in 2002.
M Y Alam novels consistently chronicle the British-Pakistani experience in the same way that the works of Mario Puzo traced the Italian-American experience, through the lens of a self-regulating organised criminal network. In Kilo, we learnt of Khalil’s journey into a life of crime, how an innocent boy was transformed after witnessing a violent attack on his father by gangsters. Ultimately his progression through the criminal world allowed him to take revenge on his father’s attackers, but at the heavy price of a tormented soul.
Red Laal picks up the story ten years later, and we find Khalil at a low end, a small time drugs dealer desperately in search of his own salvation. The arrival of Laal Hussain, a Godfather figure of his father’s generation, lures Khalil back in to the criminal fold, but revelations of Laal’s hidden history and family connections make Khalil more determined than ever to escape the life of crime once and for all. A trip to Pakistan unlocks a wealth of secrets and leads to a showdown with Laal; two men plagued by their own demons and there’s only one possible way out.
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.
***
M Y Alam is the author of the novels Annie Potts is Dead and Kilo. He has published several short stories and is the editor of the acclaimed social history books Made in Bradford and The Invisible Village. During the day, he is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Bradford.
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It’s not every book that has a discography. Red Laaldoes. Each section of the book is framed around a film, and each chapter framed by a song title. Here’s the discography. It’s quite a mix. Click the video player above to listen to the playlist in full. Details of songs below.
RAINING STONES
Producer: Sally Hibbin. Director: Ken Loach
Studio/Production company: Channel Four Films/Parallax Pictures. 1993
Wapas karna
Taken by Trees ft. Sodagher Ali, East of Eden, 2009, Rough Trade Records Pimper’s paradise
Bob Marley & The Wailers, Uprising, 1980, Tuff Gong/Island Throw your hands up
Eightball & MJG ft. OutKast, In Our Lifetime, 1999, Suave House Records/Universal Records Glitter freeze
Gorillaz ft. Mark E Smith, Plastic Beach, 2010, Parlophone/EMI Alphabet aerobics
Blackalicious, A2g Ep, 1999, Quannum Projects Such a night
Dr. John, The Definitive Pop Collection, 2007, Rhino/Elektra The art of getting jumped
De La Soul, Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump, 2000, Tommy Boy Still
Geto Boys, The Resurrection, 1996, Virgin
DEAD MAN’S SHOES
Producer: Mark Herbert. Director: Shane Meadows
Studio/Production company: Warp Films. 2004
I against I
Massive Attack ft. Mos Def, Collected – The Best of Massive Attack: Greatest Hits, 2006, Virgin Twinz (Deep Cover ‘98)
Big Pun, Endangered Species, 2001, Relativity Realms of Junior M.A.F.I.A.
Junior M.A.F.I.A. ft. Notorious B.I.G., Conspiracy, 1995, Atlantic Rock (remix)
Louis Logic ft. Celph Titled, Lexicon, Ryu & J-Zone, Blame it on the Hooch, 2004, Pot to piss in Mirror in the bathroom
The Beat, I Just Can’t Stop It, 1980, Go-Feet Blood runs cold
Jedi Mind Tricks, Violent by Design, 2004, Babygrande Records English rose
The Jam, All Mod Cons, 1990, Polygram Chalte chalte
Lata Mangeshkar, Pakeezah (soundtrack), 2004, Saregama Loaded
Primal Scream, Screamadelica, 1991, Creation Records Prayin’
Plan B, The Defamation of Strickland Banks, 2010, 679 Recordings Radio retaliation
Thievery Corporation, Radio Retaliation, 2008, ESL
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
Producer: Ethan Coen. Director: Joel Coen
Studio/Production company: Working Title Films. 1998
Too hot
Swollen Members, Black Magic, 2006, TVT Chief rocka
Lords Of The Underground, Here Come the Lords, 1994, Cooltempo Red right hand
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Best of, 1998, Mute Quiet dog
Mos Def, The Ecstatic, 2009, V2 Cooperative Music Laura Gene
Big Black Lincoln, Heaven’s Caught on Fire, 2007, Maple I’ll be your man
The Black Keys, The Big Come Up, 2008, Alive Records S. 90 skank
Big Youth, Ride Like Lightning, 2003, Trojan The truth
Beanie Sigel, The Truth, 2000, Mercury One day at a time (the golden banjo)
Phontaine, Bibliotec, 2007, CD Baby.Com/Indys Slim Jenkin’s place
Booker T. & The MG’s, The Best of Booker T. & The MG’s, 2005, Atlantic
KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS
Producer: Michael Balcon. Director: Robert Hamer
Studio/Production company: Ealing Studios, 1950
Let’s push things forward
The Streets, Original Pirate Material, 2002, 679 On days like these
Matt Monro, The Very Best of Matt Monro, 1992, Music For Pleasure Tonight the streets are ours
Richard Hawley, Lady’s Bridge, 2007, Mute And so it burns
Jedi Mind Tricks, Legacy of Blood, 2004, Babygrande records Worldwide
Royal Flush, Ghetto Millionaire, 2005, TVT Work
Gang Starr, Moment of Truth, 1998, Cooltempo True skool
Coldcut ft. Roots Manuva, Sound Mirrors, 2006, Ninja Tune Nova heart
Spoons, Arias & Symphonies, 1982, Ready Stop
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Take Them on Your Own, 2003, Virgin
SECRETS AND LIES
Producer: Simon Channing Williams. Director: Mike Leigh
Studio/Production company: Channel Four Films, CiBy 2000, Thin Man Films. 1996
Kashmir
Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti, 1975/1997, Pid/Atlantic Swerve and lean
Nappy Roots, The Humdinger, 2008, Nappy Roots Entertainment Group Transmission
Joy Division, Still, 1993, London Afrika shox
Leftfield ft. Afrika Bambaata, Rhythm and Stealth, 2003, Sony Supreme
Jus Allah, All Fates Have Changed, 2005, Babygrande Something to lose
Kyprios of the Sweatshop Union ft. Metty the Dert (Sweatshop Union), Kyprios, 2009, Kyprios Shadow portraits
White Lotus, ft. Loke and Morning Star, Formless Kung Fu, 2008, Lotus Clan Productions Real estate
Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill, 1991, Columbia 3 minute classic
7L and Esoteric, A New Dope, 2006, Babygrande Sunn vanjhli di mitthri taan ve
Noor Jehan, Greatest Punjabi Hits, 2006, EMI Pakistan Somebody got murdered
The Specials, Today’s Specials, 1996, Virgin Straight to hell
The Clash, Combat Rock, 1982, CBS Ja sha taan
Fun-Da-Mental, Erotic Terrorism, 1998, Nation/Mantra Je toon akhian de samne naeen rehna
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Nit Khair Mangan Vol. 17, 1991, Oriental Star King of pain
The Police, Synchronicity, 1983, A & M Lonely soul
Unkle ft. Richard Ashcroft, Psyence Fiction, 1999, Mo Wax Ali mullah
Transglobal Underground, Backpacking on the Graves of Our Ancestors: 1991 –1998, 1999, Nation Space age love song
A Flock of Seagulls, A Flock of Seagulls, 1990, Jive
Tried by 12
The East Flatbush Project, Remixes, 1998, Ninja Tune Food for thought
UB40, Signing Off, 1980, Graduate Records Transform ya
Bun B, No Mixtape, 2010, Trill Ent./Double Dose Ent./Rapalot 4 Life/LRG. Black steel in the hour of chaos
Asian Dub Foundation ft. Chuck D, Time Freeze 1995-2007: The Best of Asian Dub Foundation, 2007, Virgin Wajan marian bulaya kai war
Alam Lohar, Best of Alam Lohar: Dil Wala Dukhda, 2003, Nupur Exit music (for a film)
Easy Star All-Stars ft. Sugar Minott, Radiodread: Tribute To OK Computer, 2006, Easy Star Saif ul Malook
Alam Lohar, Saif-ul-Malook, 2008, OSA Assan hun tur jana
Alam Lohar, A Tribute, Vol. 1, 2007, Oriental Star Agencies
While this is the second book to feature anti-hero drug dealer Kilo from MY Alam, the great beauty of it is that it works as a stand-alone piece, yet you can almost feel the predecessor adding weight to the story. Red Laal is a fine novel, that stands tall on its own, but even if you haven’t read the previous book, Kilo, you can sense this latest book exists in a greater universe than the one you see on the page in front of you.
MY Alam is the pen name of Bradford university lecturer Yunis Alam. That he grew up in Bradford and knows the city like the back of his hand is enormously evident in Red Laal. A previously published academic work by Alam, Made in Bradford, in which he conducted no-holds-barred interviews with some of the city’s young Asian men is also evidenced in the book, so rich and deep is the texture of the world Kilo inhabits. Sometimes it feels as though you can touch the fabric of the world Alam has created.
Kilo is a drug dealer who has a conflict at his centre. He has a strong moral backbone that makes selling drugs troublesome for him. He doesn’t live in opulence with the earnings from his trade – which he clearly could do with more rigour and efficiency if he wanted to – but just earns enough to get by.
With a reputation for being a man who can ‘fix things’ he is called upon to help an ‘uncle’ rescue his daughter who has been led into a life of vice. Kilo taking on the job of helping the girl is the story’s first hint that the drug dealer may have something good at heart.
Helping the girl sets off a series of events that lead Kilo into ever more dangerous territory and a voyage of discovery.
A story that absolutely races along and grips like a vice, Pontefract-based publishers Route deserve credit for publishing this book so handsomely and Alam for creating a piece of work that is utterly shot through with authenticity.
‘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.’
Route are proud to present Red Laal, the new novel by M Y Alam, the book is officially released on 1 Ocotber 2012, and will be marked at a public launch event at Ilkley Literature Festival, Monday 1 Ocotber, 7:30pm, where M Y Alam will be in conversation with Yorkshire Post Arts Correspondant Nick Ahad. Click here for details and tickets. We’d love to see you there.
Red Laal is the third novel from M Y Alam and has been ten years in the making. The book continues the story of Alam’s protagonist Khalil ‘Kilo’ Khan, who was first encountered in Alam’s award winning novel Kilo in 2002.
M Y Alam novels consistently chronicle the British-Pakistani experience in the same way that the works of Mario Puzo traced the Italian-American experience, through the lens of a self-regulating organised criminal network. In Kilo, we learnt of Khalil’s journey into a life of crime, how an innocent boy was transformed after witnessing a violent attack on his father by gangsters. Ultimately his progression through the criminal world allowed him to take revenge on his father’s attackers, but at the heavy price of a tormented soul.
Red Laal picks up the story ten years later, and we find Khalil at a low end, a small time drugs dealer desperately in search of his own salvation. The arrival of Laal Hussain, a Godfather figure of his father’s generation, lures Khalil back in to the criminal fold, but revelations of Laal’s hidden history and family connections make Khalil more determined than ever to escape the life of crime once and for all. A trip to Pakistan unlocks a wealth of secrets and leads to a showdown with Laal; two men plagued by their own demons and there’s only one possible way out.
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.
****
M Y Alam is the author of the novels Annie Potts is Dead and Kilo. He has published several short stories and is the editor of the acclaimed social history books Made in Bradford and The Invisible Village. During the day, he is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Bradford.
Thursday 11 October
Morley Literature Festival, Morley Library, 7:45pm
M Y Alam, Wes Brown, Ross Raisin
A discussion between three authors from the region – Keighley, Bradford and Leeds – on how location influences their work and shapes their characters’ identities and actions. Click here for more details and to book tickets
‘Thanks to the astuteness of Alam’s ability to weave individual stories into one coherent protagonist, there’s enough here to give even the most elusive Whitehall cost-cutter a chance to understand what it is to be a community.’ – Philip Wood, The Student Journals.
Here’s a sample of one of the individual stories from The Invisible Village.
Feud
You know why we came to England? Because my mother and mother-in-law family have a blood feud. You know what that means? It means that one family kill somebody and my family have to kill somebody too. Then the first family have to kill another one. It is a long time and that’s why we came out. My husband say, ‘I have only got one son, when he is growing up, I don’t want anyone to kill him.’ About forty-five people in our families killed. My six uncles: all dead by blood feud. When we told Home Office, they didn’t believe us. He said we could go to another city. How can you go to another city?
Every night I am watching news, reading and studying on the computer. I want to learn anything. When I wake up in the morning, I forget everything: every single thing. I am saying, What am I doing? I don’t know what I did on night, because I am taking a tablet to sleep as well. If I don’t take a tablet I am awake and just thinking and thinking. Can’t close my eyes. The past. Feelings get into my head again. We were so rich, we were very very rich. We have a big house, 500 metres was only our house, with seven bedrooms. People came to clean my house two times a week, every week. I don’t do anything.
It was very scary the first time we came to Golcar. After one week I went to town with my husband and at every single bus stop I am thinking, My God, where is my house? Now it’s okay, it’s very safe.
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