Paul Ashton

The calling card script is the script that expresses your voice, gets you noticed and helps you reach commission and production. Written by Paul Ashton, Development Manager of the BBC writersroom, and born out of his wide experience of reading scripts, working with writers, and as an industry ‘gatekeeper', this is a guide to the key writing tools you need to know and understand to write a truly original script. As many professionals need to switch mediums and genres in order to survive and thrive, the book uniquely draws together the universal principles of dramatic storytelling for screen, stage, and radio. With a focus on the script as a blue print for performance, sections and chapters break down into bite-sized practical insights and the book mirrors both the journey of the story and process of writing it. The Calling Card Script shows how to tell a great story in script form and offers valuable professional development insight for all writers, whether established or just starting out, who wish to hone their craft and speak their voice.

A memoir of growing up in a Plymouth Brethren family in the 1950s and 1960s.

'The Flight into Egypt' is the story of the first ten years of the life of Jesus, about which the Bible tells us nothing. The narrator is Jesus's older brother, James. During a ten day walk across the desert to escape Herod's soldiers the family witnesses a first display of divine power by the infant Jesus, and a first attack by the jealous Egyptian gods. They settle for four years in Memphis, the second city of an Egypt. During this time, on the way home from a country wedding, Mary, Jesus's mother, is bitten by a snake and dies. James has to descend into the fearsome Egyptian underworld to ask Lord Osiris to restore her to life. Immediately afterwards Roman soldiers discover the family's whereabouts and again they have to flee. After a desert journey on camels they reach Alexandria, the Mediterranean's foremost city, ruled from Rome but culturally Greek. Protected by a wealthy gay Egyptian couple the family begins to put down roots. Jesus is educated by Greek philosophers at the famous Library, Mary starts a business and has another child, and Joseph and James find work in the city. But at the age of ten Jesus, becoming aware of his divine mission and overcome by pity, heals a group of diseased beggars in a square in Alexandria. The family has to go into hiding. They get news that Herod has at last died, and plan to take ship for Joppa to return home, but not before Jesus has a fateful face-to-face meeting with Lord Osiris, and the Roman military spring one last surprise.

Ecological Genetics addresses the fundamental problems of which of the many molecular markers should be used and how the resulting data should be analysed in clear, accessible language, suitable for upper-level undergraduates through to research-level professionals. A very accessible straightforward text to deal with this difficult topic - applying modern molecular techniques to ecological processes. Written by active researchers and teachers within the field. There will be an accompanying web site managed by the authors, comprising of worked examples, test data sets and hyperlinks to relevant web pages.