Blog

Good morrow. Have been resting the antlers. A lot has happened since I last posted. KING CROW by Michael Stewart won The Guardian’s NOT THE BOOKER and we have sold the rights to this book and GABRIEL’S ANGEL to Russian Publisher AZBOOKA-ATTICUS, owned by the chap who now owns Waterstone’s, Alexander Mamut. Penguin Books USA are reading KING CROW too, with a view to publish, as are several European publishers. Alistair Sutcliffe, author of THE HARDEST CLIMB was invited to Buckingham Palace and there is now a Bluemoose book inside the throne room. We have full CCTV access and audio contact withing the palace. I will of course keep you updated about royal events before they happen throughout the year. Antler TV will be fully operational by January 1st. WATCH THIS SPACE.

This, and my Republican views has nothing to do with Philips’ recent cardio thoracic difficulties. Several hundred thousand feathered friends, relieved that their festive tormentor spent Boxing day on his back and not armed with several shotguns, will be involved in a celebratory murmaration and fly past of the palace on NEW YEARS EVE. I am now reliable informed that The corgis too had a restful Saturnalia.

Alistair was on MIDWEEK on the 21st December and sales went through the roof on Amazon. 39th bestselling biography and into the top 200 bestselling books too. You can also buy ANTHILLS AND STARS on KINDLE. I’ve got into bed with the ‘A’ beast, and all our titles will be available by electrickery by the end of the year.

We’ve been really lucky this month with coverage of our books and authors in The Big Issue in the North.

In their Shelf Space section they asked some leading authors to recommend their favourite reads. Amongst the authors are two of our very own, Benjamin Myers and Michael Stewart. Both PIG IRON and NOD get a mention in this article.

In the magazine itself there is a Q&A with our Canadian author Adrian Barnes. Why not make a vendor’s day and buy a copy?

Even if you visit this blog irregularly, you will know that I am not one to mince my words when it comes to my thoughts on publishing. I’m also not shy and don’t confine my thoughts to these pages.

Recently, Galley Beggar Press, a new and upcoming independent publisher from Norfolk asked me to write a few words about Bluemoose Books – it turned into a bit of a rant.

In July next year we will be publishing a book called A MODERN FAMILY by writer Socrates Adams Florou. We are excited about working with Socrates and started the editing process this week. I’m sure you’ll hear lots more from us about him and his book in the coming months.

Today Socrates had some amazing news about a film he has co-written with writers Joe Stretch and Chris Killen. He also has a starring role. The film called WIZARD’S WAY follows two friends who play a wizard simulator game. The great news is that the film has just won the LOCO London Discovery Award, an annual prize for a British comedy feature film that does not yet have distribution.

You can follow the action on twitter either @socratesadams or @savewizardsway.

Sorry it’s taken a while to get round to this…

A few weeks ago we packed our bags and embarked on a whirlwind tour of the bookshops of Yorkshire and Lancashire with our author Adrian Barnes to help get his debut novel NOD off to a flying start. Here is a photo to whet your appetite for a more complete write up of the tour.

Adrian Barnes recently spoke to author Stephen May about his book NOD and writing in general. You can read their conversation on The Second Best Time.

To promote NOD by Adrian Barnes we’ve put together a little film of Adrian walking through the areas of Vancouver that feature in the book.

We are getting very close to publication date for our new book NOD by Adrian Barnes. Adrian is coming to the UK to promote the book shortly after it hits the shelves. Here’s where you can catch him:

• Wednesday 7th November – Waterstones Bradford – 11am to1pm
• Wednesday 7th November – The Bookcase Hebden Bridge – 7.30 to 9pm
• Thursday 8th November – Waterstones Blackpool – 10.30am
• Thursday 8th November – Wordpool Literature Festival – 11.30am
• Thursday 8th November – Blackpool & Fylde College – 1.30 to 3.30pm
• Friday 9th November – University of Huddersfield
• Saturday 10th November – Waterstones Leeds – 11am to 1pm

Contact the venues for further details.