Dead Men Walking (2002)

Dead Men Walking…NOW OUT OF PRINT – THE NEW VERSION IS CALLED CUT TO THE CHASE 0.5

some of the blurb…

Well, after over a year of discussions, curries, dreams, phone calls and a long journey finding a publisher we managed to finish what became a true labour of love – a book written for men who don’t like books and modelled on the style of Generation X by Douglas Coupland (short punchy chapters) with questions to provoke thought and action.

It has been used all over the world (well, my mate found it in an airport on New Zealand!!) and sparked off loads of discussion and men’s groups. It has only sold around 3000 copies so far but it seems to ‘have legs’ and gets passed around to loads of people in churches and curry houses (usually in plain brown paper bags!).

there is more info if you really need it you probably don’t. We don’t want to be full of c**p and take ourselves too seriously but you have to give the full details so for the hugely keen…

Contents…
Thanks
Preface
Foreword
Introduction
1. A Lesson in the Three Rs
2. And Whatever Did Happen to the Heroes?
3. Braveheart
4. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
5. Effing and Jeffing
6. Fantasy Island
7. Finding the Answer
8. Global Village
9. Hide and Seek
10. His Kingdom, Not Your Church?
11. I’ll Be There For You
12. Keep On Keeping On
13. Never Been Trained!
14. Never On a Sunday
15. Sorry to Bother You…
16. The Career Magnet
17. The Doorway to the Kingdom…
18. The False Divide
19. The Fun Factory!
20. Walk the Plank!
21. What Women Really Want
22. Zany Gob Case
Who Is Lee Jackson Anyway?
Who Is Baz Gascoyne Anyway?
Resources

Dead Men Walking Back Cover quotes…

‘The boys who wrote this book don’t wear sandals. They probably haven’t got any fishes on the rear end of their motors, and, if they were to wear a tie, it would probably be looped around their heads, Braveheart style. If you felt led to give them a Robin Reliant, they’d torch it … This book is raw, rude, offensive, gripping, occasionally gut-wrenching, with an honesty that will leave you breathless and a call that could seriously mess up your life – in the best possible way.’
From the Foreword by Jeff Lucas

‘Frank, funny and extremely readable.’
Matt Bird Director of Joshua Generation

‘A timely challenge to the church of the timid Christian.’
Nic Sheppard Diocesan Youth Work Adviser

‘Passionate without being pious, hard-hitting without being hurtful, and thought-provoking without being tedious.’
The Rt Rev Cyril G Ashton Bishop of Doncaster

Any one who risks reading this book will have to believe they are in the presence of one of God’s zany disciples. Baz Gascoigne challenges all the norms there are and yet at the heart is a man truly committed to walking with Jesus.
Howard Mellor, Principal of Cliff College

“Church needs to develop a raw and rugged spirituality in order to be connect to the male populous. Dead Men Walking does a great job at exploring mens spirituality through the lives of a group of guys pursuing Jesus in todays world. Frank, funny and extremely readable.”
Matt Bird, Director of Joshua Generation

Publishers blurb etc…

£8.99 retail price

Paperback – 256 pages

first published 6 December, 2002 by Kingsway Communications ISBN: 1842910213

Synopsis
A call to men (Christian or not) to drop the pretence and false “niceness” and start being real with one another. Consists of 22 short chapters containing quotes, information, questions and real-life stories.

Ermmm it is made of paper… it is a bit black and white and smells nice when new

some reviews…

Here are some reviews from Amazon.co.uk and we didn’t pay any of them…

Women should read it too!, 29 January, 2003

Reviewer: A reader from Codsall, West Midlands

Ok so I’ll level with you. I’m actually a woman, but I decided to be controversial and read it anyway. Conclusion – this book rocked me from my roots. It spoke directly into my life and has forced me to sit up and think about stuff. Every word is just as relevant to women as it is to men.
Brokeness, forgiveness, accountability, fantasy, fear, fathers, careers, humility, relationships, pride – the list goes on. It tackles the difficult topics, then the hard topics, then the harder topics and then the topics most christains sweep under the carpet.
But the most fantastic thing about this book is it isn’t prescriptive. It doesn’t claim to have all the answers worked out. Instead it breaks up into manageable topics and persuades you to question and get real with yourself, God and someone else.
If it had brought me on my knees infront of God just once it would have been worth every penny. The fact that each chapter did that made it a bargain.
___________________________________________________________
At last – A christian book written for proper blokes, 17 January, 2003

Reviewer: matt665 from Loughborough UK

Anyone who’s disillusionned with the pile of trite drivel that usually passes for “Christian Mens Books” should stop here. At last there is a book relating a journey with God to the kind of blokes that like to knock chunks out of each other in the name of sport & make up over a beer.
You have to respect two authors who are prepared to be as real as Jackson & Gascoyne are here (how many authors will tell you about them fainting before going for their vascetomy?). Not only that but by getting othrs to write chapters they get a wealth of experience that goes far beyond the usual “I’ve been a pastor all my life so I know chuff all about real life” approach thats so common and replaces it with unbelievable stories such as Andy Hunters story in the latter chapters.
Read it or eat quiche forever
___________________________________________________________
Real Life, Real Issues, Real Views, Real Answers, Read it!, 16 January, 2003

Reviewer: Kev Dawson from Billingham, Teesside, UK

This book is an essential read for all men (and women) who perceive Christianity in the stereotypical image of sandals, tank tops, well spoken folk who are forever nice. This is the real world view of modern day christianity through streetwise guys with opinions outlining some of the most passionate, aggressive, dedicated and yet absolutely down to earth followings of Jesus. They, in quite different angles, deal honestly and frankly about previously taboo issues with chapters that are sharp, witty and short enough to pick up and read ad-hoc or to read in one sitting. Even to inquisitive non-christian readers as I was, this book is highly reccommended. Pulls all the puches, deals with issues head on and speaks today’s street language in the wisdom of Jesus. Definately not one to miss, with no excuse or exception granted.
___________________________________________________________
Alive Man Reading, 12 January, 2003

Reviewer: andesmallwood from leeds, west yorkshire United Kingdom

So you get a pen and a bit of paper and you write a book, right, no wrong. You get a pc and you get some friends and you go what does he want me to put down and this is what you get. This is a collection of real people talking about real life, I don’t like messing around and beating about the bush partly cos I don’t know what that means but I do like people giving it to me straight, and that is what this book does, I have sat and listened to people tell me how to live my life time after time and more often than not I have fallen asleep after mins of waffle, but this book has no waffle, and luckily this book has no cheese as well, its just honest, you may find yourself disagreeing with some of the stuff in this book and I’m sure the guys that wrote it wont be that bothered. This book brought back some memories of my past I thought I may have dealt and have since realised probably still needed some sorting out. This book made me laugh and nearly reduced me to tears (the feeling was there the tears weren’t) I could give this book to my friends and know that even if they didn’t talk about it with me it would have helped them in some way. The only bad thing I can say about this book is that it’s too short and perhaps that’s not a bad thing after all.

More pages in the Our books section: