Lowe and McArthur tackle 'rage-inducing 2019' for Sphere

Sphere has bagged The Shitshow from Steve Lowe and Alan McArthur, returning to their Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit? series.

Editorial director Hannah Boursnell acquired world rights direct from the authors. The Shitshow: An Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit? Special will be published in hardback, e-book and audio on 31st October.

The publisher explained: “In The Shitshow, Alan and Steve will return to the bestselling Is It Just Me…? series for the first time since 2009. With their trademark sharp humour, Alan and Steve will tackle all that is absurd, irritating or rage-inducing in 2019. And what with Elon Musk, The Independent Group, people nailing dead crows to Chris Packham’s gate, Leavers, Remainers, the AI takeover, woke oneupmanship and the redundancy of dystopian fiction in an age when everything’s already been done, they’ve certainly got a lot to choose from.” 

The original book was a huge bestseller, shifting 444,815 copies for £3.7m across all editions in the UK, according to Nielsen data. 

Boursnell: “Alan and Steve are legends at Little, Brown – Is It Just Me…? is absolute classic, and many of us here have happy memories of working with them over the years. I’m delighted to be working with them again on this new book… even if it is due to the impending apocalypse.”

The authors added: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with everyone at Sphere and Little, Brown again. We feel like this book cannot fail to be timely unless the world does, in fact, manage to sort itself out by October 31st – which, if we’re being honest, it might not.”