We’re delighted to be hosting the Manchester launch of two new books from the mighty Influx Press – Wayne Holloway’s OUR STRUGGLE and Steve Hollyman’s ESC&CTRL. Wayne and Steve will be in conversation with Stu Hennigan (Ghost Signs).

About the books:

Our Struggle – Wayne Holloway

Paul, ex-tube driver and drinking partner of legendary Union leader Bob Crowe turns up at Essex University in the early 1980s haunted by the death of his colleague on the tracks. Thrown into the radical mix of Student Union life and the academic intoxication of post-modern theory taught by the likes of Ernesto Laclau, Jaques Derrida and a very young Slavoj Zizek, Paul befriends the novel’s unnamed narrator. What follows is a riotous attempt to put the 20th Century to bed, as seen through the eyes of the foot soldiers of British history. From Miners strikes to IRA collection buckets, ANC demonstrations and some very dodgy handling of Soviet money, Our Struggle climaxes with a devastating denouement in modern day Kurdistan. Holloway’s epic tale asks the big questions, does what we think, what we say and what we do ever match up or are we destined to fall short of the ideals we think we cherish?

Esc&Ctrl – Steve Hollyman

Vincent wakes up in an apartment in New York City with no recollection of having arrived there. Back in the UK, his girlfriend, Emily, has been murdered. Guided by mysterious phone calls which lead him to a series of clues, he soon suspects he has travelled to New York to find Emily’s killer. Meanwhile, an explicit video Emily made is going viral. When she shared it with Davison in a private forum, she never expected him to upload it. But she’s only ever spoken to him online, and he might not be who he says he is. Framed by footnotes and annotations written by Ike A. Mafar and author Steve Hollyman, Esc&Ctrl is a metafictional murder mystery examining the loss of identity in the virtual world of the Internet; a self-begetting novel for the 21st Century.

About the authors:

Wayne Holloway is a novelist and film maker from London. He is the author of the novel Bindlestiff (Influx 2019) and the collection Land of Hunger (Zero 2016). His latest film, From These Hands was released in 2021.

Steve Hollyman was born in Stoke-on-Trent and currently works as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing. He is a graduate of the Manchester Writing School, where he completed an MA and PhD. He is the vocalist and guitarist in the three-piece alternative rock band CreepJoint, whose most recent album A Generation of the Dark Heart was released in 2018. His debut novel, Lairies, was published by Influx Press in 2021.

Doors: 6.30, event starts: 6.45

Tickets are £3 or free when purchasing a copy of either book. Our Struggle and Esc&Ctrl will also be available to purchase on the night and Wayne and Steve will be signing copies after the talk. If you would like a signed copy but cannot make the event, please contact us on 0161 274 3331 or manchester@blackwell.co.uk and we can arrange this for you.