The Brightonians Under Siege

History, mystery, and enough bitchery to meet your daily nutritional requirement for snark, secrets, and sweet sentiment! The Brightonians Under Siege is about a group of warring socialites coping with the bonkersness of the first lockdown. But on a broader level, it's about how resourceful people can be when they feel under attack. Under siege you might say! The important role played by humour and friendship. And in the case of our Brightonians: dabbling in the dark arts, too! Beginning in 2020 with an ominous card-reading that the fortune-teller hasn't drawn for 40 years, one question preys on his mind. Could this scary new virus he's read about be as devastating as the one that killed so many of his friends in the mid-80s? Only time will tell. But as countries close their borders and people are told to stay at home, one set of Brightonians becomes transfixed by his reading. Especially the Saxon symbols on which the cards are based. Deprived of their usual battlegrounds of parties and social events, they take to the internet - and the occasional illegal gathering - in a race to be the first to capitalise on this ancient magic. Peppered with flashbacks to the hedonistic 80s, before the arrival of that 'other' pandemic and the darker period ushered in as a result, The Brightonians Under Siege explores how differently the world responded to both viruses. But far from being a sad tale, this is a joyously, funny story. Perhaps not so surprising when the key narrator is a 73-year-old ex-porn star turned drag queen, keen to reminisce about outrageous gay discos and leather fetish clubs! At a time of unprecedented crisis, the stakes couldn't be higher. What answers might the symbols offer in the fight against this new virus? And more importantly, who will be victorious in the battle to control this most colourful of social circles? Too soon to reminisce about lockdown? Not on your nelly. Cut yourself a slice of banana bread and let the socially distanced party begin! Following the success of The Brightonians - described variously on goodreads.com as evoking the style of E F Benson's Mapp & Lucia, P G Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster and Maupin's Tales of the City - The Brightonians Under Siege is written in the same satirical style. Of interest to fans of The Brightonians, the sequel is a standalone work aimed at readers not familiar with the first novel.

Ex-advertising copywriter, Daren Kay, is the author of two works of fiction and the editor of a guide to copywriting. Winning over 100 industry awards - including a D&AD and numerous Cannes Lions - with campaigns for a diverse list of clients that includes Guinness, Unilever, Oxfam and the RAF. After 30 years working for some of London's biggest agencies, in 2016, Daren jacked it all in and carved out time to write about Brighton's vibrant queer present and past. Inspired by an exhibition he helped to curate at the city's museum, called Queer the Pier, and his adoration for E F Benson's Mapp & Lucia series of novels, he refocused his passion for words to write The Brightonians, a queer tale of life beyond the picture postcards and candy floss of this far-from-quintessential seaside town, which draws a group of bitchy socialites back to the saucier side of 1960s Brighton. Drag queens, gay porn, fancy-dress parties - what's not to love! With over 70 reviews and an average rating of 4.5 on www.goodreads.co.uk and www.amazon.co.uk quite a few people agreed! Fingers crossed they like how this band of colourful Brightonians cope with the biggest social science experiment the world has ever seen: the global lockdown.