Cover artwork by Terry Cooper

ISBN : 978-0-9555185-6-0
Paperback : 216x138mm : 208pp

Due to be published June 2008

When life's problems get you down, a good way to escape the troubles is to take a holiday. The further away, the better.

Troubled Earthman and Kebab-lover Jeff Spooner is having a bad time. His fiance found love in the arms of the local vicar, and she dumped him. Plus she wants the £50 he owes her back. And to make matters worse, he seems to be mocked by the sounds of 'I Should Be So Lucky' and 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'.

Fortunately, help and hope comes in the guise of Ray, Jeff's eccentric but likeable barber. A man with a plan. A man hard to understand. A man from Kangazang!

Together, this unlikely pair of heroes set off to see the sights, find a decent pub, and more importantly, save the entire universe in a spacecraft made of human hair.

Takes all sorts, I suppose.

Extract from the book :

Jeff climbed up into the spacecraft. He looked around and was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't as cramped, or as hairy - or indeed as smelly - as he thought it might be. In fact, the subtle aroma of hair conditioning products was more like a built-in air-freshener. After all, it wouldn't do to be traversing immense galactic distances inside an armpit.

He found a place to dump his rucksack, between some of Ray's boxes, and went up front to the cockpit area. He took a seat next to the pilot's chair. It was a converted barber's chair, naturally, and as it had been recently outfitted with seat belts and a number of control panels, it really looked the part. Jeff secretly hoped that he wasn't left alone to pilot the thing at any point in the near future. He reached out in front of him, and touched the thick glass windshield. It seemed to be gently vibrating, as if the ship had a slight pulse deep inside.

He still didn't understand much about this crazy ship, or indeed about his new travelling companion, the man from Kangazang. Just when you think you know someone, they turn out to be completely enigmatic.

Download Chapter 1 (22 pages) : Kangazang.pdf : 161kb

Terry Cooper was born in the back of an ambulance in North London, in December 1969. He lives and works in South Wales as an artist most of the time, and a writer some of the time. In his younger years, he was known as Rapster Tee, hip-hop lyricist and performer in his band, Best Shot. He still has the fake gold rope chains. His spare time is split between his two children, drawing, the Internet and a bottle of wine. He someday hopes to bring one of his stories to the silver screen, but it hasn't happened... yet. Find out more on his website at : www.terrycooper.co.uk 

"An intelligent, yet casual approach to the genre which hasn't been seen since Douglas Adams."  — Tonya Kay

"Kangazang! is inventive, intriguing and truly comic. As a first novel, it is a remarkable piece of work." — Neil Kinnock, House of Lords