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Stanley Johnson with his wife, Jenny (Photo by Roy Riley) Stanley Johnson with his wife, Jenny (Photo by Roy Riley)
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7 May 2020: BLACK SPRING'S TWO-BOOK DEAL WITH STANLEY JOHNSON!

The Virus

Stanley Johnson's THE VIRUS and THE WARMING

The Black Spring Eyewear Press Group has signed a two-book deal with Jonathan Lloyd at the Curtis Brown Agency to publish the UK editions of Stanley Johnson's The Virus and The Warming for summer release dates.

On his collaboration with our imprint Black Spring Johnson says, 'I am absolutely delighted that this dynamic independent press is publishing my thrillers The Virus and The Warming. I hope people will still be reading and enjoying them long after the current "lockdown" is over.'

Initially published in 1982 as The Marburg Virus, Johnson's The Virus reveals uncanny zoonotic parallels with the current corona virus: the outbreak of a mysterious and deadly disease, the origins of which are traced to a medical student infected by a green monkey. It features an epidemiologist as its hero and a desperate search for a vaccine. In his equally fast-paced and clever novel The Warming Johnson turns his attention to geo-politics and global warming.

In the afterword to his re-released The Virus Johnson, 79, says, 'Will the fight again COVID-19 be as successful as my fictional hero was in fighting the Marburg Virus?...Thinking back to my own book, and its eventual happy ending, I can't help feeling that Governments around the world, our own included, need to be ruthlessly focussed on the search for an antidote or a vaccine. Without in any way diminishing the importance of precautionary measures of containment or mitigation, mass immunization would surely prove a crucial factor in stopping the spread of COVID-19 or in preventing further outbreaks, e.g. the "second wave" we are hearing about'.

The WarmingPraise for The Virus: 'There are some novelists who, by instinct or study, perfectly understand the indispensable components of a thriller. Stanley Johnson is one of them. The Virus contains exactly the right ingredients of suspense, violence and sex; all of them against well-chosen, exotic backdrops.' Stephen Glover, the Daily Telegraph

About the author: Stanley Johnson, outspoken environmentalist, and former MEP, is the author of 25 books, including 12 non-fiction works on environmental topics, two volumes of memoir and 10 novels. He is the father of Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister.

For any more information please contact Jane Collins at jane dot eyewearpublishing at gmail.com

Stanley's Books

Kompromat

KompromatStanley Johnson's latest political thriller Kompromat claims to recount the story of the most audacious geo-political coup since Genghis Khan and his hordes swept across Asia into Europe.

The UK Referendum in June 2016, on Britain's membership of the EU, was a political showdown a British prime minister thought couldn't be lost. But the next morning Britain woke up to a shock result. Kompromat explores the skullduggery that might just have gone on behind the scenes.

** BUY KOMPROMAT


 

Stanley I Resume; Further recollections of an exuberant life

Stanley I ResumeThis second volume of rip-roaring and hilarious recollections from Stanley Johnson begins with him falling out of a tree on his 40th birthday, then picks up where its acclaimed predecessor, Stanley I Presume, left off. Stanley discovers he is descended from George II; is further outgunned by his clan of outrageously talented children which includes a columnist, a Member of Parliament, a banker, a singer, a sustainability expert and, oh yes, a Mayor of London; masterminds a successful campaign to end seal hunting in Canada; writes half a dozen thriller novels, one of which is made into a movie, and is awarded prizes by Greenpeace, the RSPCA and WWF for his conservation work.

This latest highly entertaining chapter in Stanley's life story (which he threatens 'may not necessarily be the last') is a treat for those who enjoyed the anecdotal style of its predecessor, and demonstrates that Stanley continues to keep his hat well and truly in the ring, as a politician, environmentalist, author, raconteur and a true original.

** BUY Stanley I Resume


 

UNEP The First 40 Years; A Narrative by Stanley Johnson

UNEP The First 40 YearsTo mark its 40th anniversary, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has sponsored a new book detailing the history of the Nairobi-based organization over the last four decades.Written by award-winning conservationist Stanley P Johnson, the book charts the evolution of UNEP from its inception at the landmark Stockholm conference of 1972 to its position today at the heart of the global environmental movement. Entitled: "The First 40 Years; A Narrative", the book - which is not an official UN history but the view of its world-acclaimed author - explains in depth UNEP's role at the forefront of efforts to protect the environment and is stuffed with interesting facts and figures.

| click here for sample pages

| BUY UNEP The First 40 Years

| Interview: Stanley Johnson on the green agenda

| Book review: Blue and Green Tomorrow

 

Where the wild things were

Where the wild things wereIn this volume of collected travel and environmental journalism, Stanley travels from Exmoor to Ecuador, India to Istanbul, and across many other routes. He is charged at by mountain gorillas, encounters pandas, tigers, blue-footed boobies and the elusive blue whale. Dauntless, he climbs Kilimanjaro, catches cold at the Glastonbury festival, tracks down his ancestors in Turkey and meets legendary environmentalists such as Jane Goodall.

Behind the infectious Johnson humour, there lies the deep passion of a man who has spent his life in search of wild places and wild animals, and is committed to their defence. Reading this book, it is impossible not to catch the thrill.

** BUY Where the wild things were


 

Survival

SurvivalOur ruthless exploitation of the natural world has already driven many wild animals to the brink of extinction. Among the most threatened are many migratory species, whether avian, terrestrial or marine. Because in most cases these species cross national boundaries, the need for international conservation efforts is particularly great. Albatrosses and petrels, migratory water-birds and raptors, whales, dolphins and other marine ammals; antelopes and forest elephants and even gorillas – these are just some of the key species that are the subject of this meticulously researched and richly illustrated book.

Produced in conjunction with a UN agency, this book is both an informative warning against the threat facing many species and a stunning celebration of their beauty.

** BUY Survival


 

Stanley I Presume

Published March 19th 2009

Stanley I PresumeA rip-roaring and hilarious memoir from Stanley Johnson - father of London mayor Boris Johnson. Stanley's story begins with a loud bang - when his father, an RAF pilot in the Second World War, crash-lands a Wellington bomber on a Devon airfield. A few years later Stanley's parents buy a sheep farm on nearby Exmoor, where Stanley does much of his growing up. Stanley would keep his links with this much-loved rural idyll throughout his life - while going on to become an explorer, author, occasional politician and also one of the world's first environmentalists. A sparkling raconteur and experienced thriller writer, in Stanley I Presume great stories are told in great style.
 
On leaving school in 1958 Stanley travelled alone through South America - hitching rides across the jungle on Brazilian Air Force planes - and shortly afterwards he rode a motorcycle 4,000 miles from London to Afghanistan, tracing the route of Marco Polo with two friends. After winning Oxford University's poetry prize with a love poem - written following a hilltop tryst in the West Country - Stanley went on to do various adventurous jobs, before working for the billionaire John D Rockefeller 3rd, the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Union.
 
Stanley married and started a family young - Boris was born in New York when his father was 23 - and while Boris would go on to become big news, the family's forbears also provide quite a story, as Stanley finds out. For the Johnson family's roots are not just in the West Country, but in Turkey too - where, as Stanley discovers, his politician grandfather Ali Kemal was torn to pieces by an angry mob. Stanley visits a Turkish village where the locals are blonde - later he learns that he and Boris are direct descendants of George II.

Stanley I Presume


 

The Politics of Population: Cairo 1994

Published 2009

The Politics of Population: Cairo 1994 - Book Cover The International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994 represented a remarkable watershed. Not only did it produce an unprecedented degree of agreement among the 179 countries and thousands of non-governmental organizations taking part, it also created a wide-ranging Programme of Action which for the first time offers real chances of progress, by putting population policies at the heart of the struggle for social development. This book recounts what actually happened in Cairo and how it was achieved. The early chapters look in some detail at the preparations for Cairo, in the context of over three decades of attempts to integrate population, development and environmental issues. Focusing on the key controversial questions, including abortion, contraception and adolescent sex, it examines the ways in which attempts were made to reconcile opposing positions. Setting the discussion in a much wider context, it argues that Cairo witnessed a 'quantum leap' in the way the population issue is seen, and the need to give them control over their own lives, - central to the discussion about population, resources and development. The Programme of Action which emerged from the conference, particularly the parts dealing with gender issues (included here in appendices), is the most forward-looking ever adopted. As a whole the Programme is probably one of the most important social documents of our time. This book captures both the drama and the detail of its creation. Stanley Johnson edited The Population Problem (1974) and is the author of World Population and the United Nations (1987) and World Population ? Turning the Tide (1994), as well as numerous other books, including eight novels. Originally published in 1995.

The Politics of Population: Cairo 1994


 

Advance Reviews

"A wonderful jaw-dropping account of a rollercoaster life. Johnson senior does not disappoint... the book is a triumph" - ANNE ROBINSON

"Poet, explorer, irresistibly funny... This lovely book reflects its author's delightful personality" - ESTHER RANTZEN

"Boris has done for Livingstone; now it's Stanley's turn. There's no-one I'd rather go into the jungle with" - JOAN BAKEWELL

"From the early days of running across a mat of spring flowers at the stadium at Olympia, to a standing ovation at the Berlin Film Festival, via the politics and people of his time, Stanley Johnson's life sparkles with a joy of living. He writes with the wit and humour of a true raconteur. Stanley, I Presume, is a fascinating read of a fascinating life" - ZOE WANAMAKER

"Stanley I Presume is funny and engaging. It reveals not only the person but also his many talents, passions and adventures, from novelist to secret service agent, poet to population activist and explorer to Eurocrat. And it also reveals why the Mayor of London is called Boris" - TONY JUNIPER

 

Many of Stanley's books are available from www.abebooks.co.uk.

The Commissioner was made into a film directed by George Sluizer, click here for more details www.filmfestivals.com.

 
 
Stanley I persume
 
The Commissioner Dragon River Gold Drain
 
Icecap The Marburg Virus Panther Jones for President
 
The Doomsday Deposit Tunnel The Urbane Guerilla
 
Antarctica The Environmental Policy of the European Communities The Green Revolution
 
The Politics of Environment The Politics of Population The Population Problem
 
The Earth Summit World Populations and the UN World Population - Turning the Tide
 
 

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