Irreverent, “Non-Woke” Book Makes Perfect Father’s Day Gift for Grumpy Bas***ds Everywhere

‘Perverting the Course of Hamsters’ takes a collection of articles, characters and dialects to provide a witty and irreverent look at a large cross-section of life. From women’s magazines and feminism to sex-offender household pets, hair loss and the realities of the Last Supper – Levinson brings each topic to light with brutal honesty and thick opinion. One critic wrote, “The book ranges far and wide and pokes fun equally at posh boys and proles. No subject matter is safe from his wry eye and pointy prose – soap operas, checkout girls, call centres, pub bores, relationships and religion all take a bit of a pasting.”

With years of both writing and voicing some of TV and radio’s most off-the-wall, side-splitting and unconventional commercials, plus experience as a stand-up comedian, Martin Levinson knows what the lighter side of life looks like.

In a most unique book, Levinson makes no apologies as he releases a series of articles and character narrations through those little quirks of life everyone is too scared to talk about. And he doesn’t feel bad about it, one iota. Know any old grumps in need of a jolly good laugh? This is their perfect 2020 stocking filler!

Is your hamster a paedophile? Are magazines aimed at women actually anti-female? Do old people get on your nerves? Why should men be happy to lose their hair? And what was really said at the Last Supper? These and many other conversations we’ve all been itching to have are covered here for the very first time in this unique and long-awaited publication. Taking dialogue and typography to new levels of creativity, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll call for a pizza as dozens of voices come alive on the page, including God and his next-of-kin Jesus, international singing sensation, Toni Spangoni, public school boys Roly and Jamie, the odious Justin, and the legendary Colin Rant. Plus some ghastly woman and her even more ghastly dog. Oh, and a colander…

“If you take life seriously, hate non-PC humour and find shows like ‘The Two Ronnies’ to be mind-numbing, then please stay away from my book!” explains Martin. “This book is a deliberate attempt to help us laugh at our differences, highlight our idiosyncrasies and give a voice to the wild array of colourful characters that grace our nation.

“Need something to read in the loo? Well you’ve found it. In fact, it’s my goal to get a copy of this book into every household toilet across Britain and, with Father’s Day around the corner, there’s never been a better stocking filler. Grab your copy now, because you’re going to see your own life reflected right back in front of you!”

Peter Morrell, Editor, comments “Before starting I’ll declare an interest, I’m totally ‘Non-Woke’ and a Grumpy Bas***d. These facts alone made Perverting the Course of Hamsters a very appealing book to me, but it wasn’t the only reason. Martin has written a very clever and meticulously observed commentary on modern day Britain.

“It’s a 54-chapter chronicle on many aspects of life. This book gave me a comfortable and reassuring feel that I am not alone in my foibles. In chapter 39, ‘Public Bar, Private Thoughts’, Martin details to great effect the internal dialogue that I’m sure many of us have.

“On this journey of acute observation, Martin visits the supermarket queue, Tripadvisor, the television, junk email and many more. In fact, lots of things that annoy, puzzle or frustrate us.

“I liked this book a lot, it’s not something you have to devour in one or two sittings, but you can dive in and out of it. No matter where you open the book there will always be a relatable chapter that you will gain much amusement from. Martin has produced the excellent illustrations and you will of course find out where the title of the book came from.

“This is an ideal Father’s Day present for the Grumpy Bas***d in your life.”

‘Perverting the Course of Hamsters’ is available now from : 

About the Author:

Martin Levinson starting creative writing in the advertising industry as a copywriter, in the days of the long, liquid lunch and the ever-ready passport for those telly scripts that start: “We open on a beautiful, palm-fringed beach…” creating campaigns for the likes of Carlsberg lager, Saab cars and Colman’s sauces.

As well as the occasional stints as a stand-up comedian, he is also a professional voice-over artist – providing the voices for anything from TV commercials to video games…and pretty much everything in between.

A big fan of well-written dialogue from the likes of Kingsley Amis and Alan Coren, “Perverting The Course Of Hamsters” is the bringing-together of his experience, and of his joy of the spoken word – not least different accents, types, characters, classes and ages.

In the book, he also uses typography and (sometimes challenging) phonetic spellings to help the dialogue come alive – so for example, the voice of a young teenager would be captured by the words themselves and by the choice of ‘social-media’ style typeface. Or if one of the characters is speaking loudly, then this would be reflected by a bigger, bolder typeface.

Married with a suspiciously tall child and a demented Siamese cat, he now lives in Hastings on the south east coast where he continues to refuse to be tattooed and change his sex.