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Michael Yates

Michael Yates was a reporter and later film critic with the Sheffield Star. He taught playwriting at Harrogate Theatre and creative writing for the WEA. 
 
He has had a dozen plays performed in the north of England, including in Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester.
 
He has also been Poet in Residence in Whitby, Wakefield Cathedral and Wakefield Hospitals. His other books include The Bronte Boy, Homer's ODC, Short Shorts and 
Life Class.
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Dying is the Last Thing You Ever Want to Do  

Seventeen year-old Josie is a miner's daughter, a good Catholic girl, and brilliant at school. She might even get to university because her Aunt May 

has come into some insurance money.

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But then a man called Hitler invades Poland and her whole world is ravaged

by the violence of war. And then there's a different violence close to her Yorkshire home - when Josie falls for a handsome rogue called Denny who introduces her to the criminal underworld she never knew existed.

​

Before long, it's not just the German bombers who are killing her friends. And Josie has got herself a gun.

 A dead author dictates his novel to a friend. A loser in love tries plastic surgery. A boy comes home early to discover his father's infidelity.
A born-again Christian takes a lesson from Chairman Mao. A drug addict's dead parents come to visit. A have-a-go hero becomes an internet villain.
A murderer's dad counts his blessings. And the dead find themselves on a very slow train journey.
...20 compelling stories about real life. 
"A rich and rewarding assortment of treats! These immensely satisfying stories are stylish, spirited, wise, playful and entirely compelling" Jim Crace
"Imaginative, well-written, ironic, amusing, with a strong sense of the quirkiness of human existence" Philip Andrews
"Wry and terse, the taut stories of Michael Yates bristle with humour, mischief and an irreverent old school charm" Mark Connors
"Varied, fascinating, lifting the genre to a new level, all the way up to the penthouse, and the views are breath-taking" Helen Shay
"'QWERTYUIOP', my favourite in this collection, is entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny, and the ending almost made me drop the book" Colin Hollis
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