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The Arts Council Fiction Group Book of The Month is:

THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING by Colette Snowden. Congratulations to Colette.

September 1st was a momentous day in the short history of Bluemoose Books. It is the first time a Bluemoose Book, NOD by Adrian Barnes, will be published and available in the United States and Canada, the biggest book market in the world, and we're all chuffed to bits. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our brilliant editors. Hetha Duffy, Lin Webb, Leonora Rustamove, Janet Oosthuysen and Pippa MacCarthy and to Stephen May for introducing Adrian to us. It goes without saying congratulations go to Adrian and I hope it is an enormous bestseller in North America. He deserves it, it is a brilliant story. NOD was long listed for The Commonwealth Writers Prize, short listed for The Arthur C Clarke Award. It as been translated into Turkish, Hungarian and Romanian and 20th Century Fox have bought the Film & TV rights. The story of how we managed to read NOD is a bestseller in itself and a blog for another day, suffice to say, the manuscript left Rossland BC in Canada four years ago landed in Hebden Bridge and has travelled via London, Budapest, Sofia, Ankara and has returned back to Rossland BC via New York. Very Exciting. If you're in the States or Canada, drop into the local bookstore and buy a copy.

Here's a wonderful quote from The Guardian about Colette Snowden's debut novel THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING.

"A powerfully resonant portrait of abuse in a suburban marriage - and everything rings true."

The Guardian announced the 10 books on the longlist for their First Book Award and there's no surprise that Independent presses dominate. The literary editor of The Guardian said. 'It is the smaller presses that are driving innovation.' Indeed it is. It sometimes feels as if we the independents are the R&D departments for the conglomerates. But how many really great stories are still out there?

I have been saying for a long time due to the sensibilities of corporate publishers whose allegiance is first and foremost to their shareholders, that they have become risk averse and their lists refelct this.

Viva Independence.

The wonderful Bluemoose writer Mark A Radcliffe will be joining several other writers at The University of Brighton on Wednesday 21st October from 19.30 onwards. The topic of discussion is

'ON BEING HUMAN.' Please do go along and listen to some great stories and join in the debate.

You are all cordially invited to the Manchester launch of THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING by Colette Snowden at CHAPTER ONE BOOKS on Lever Street, the fabulous new bookshop in the Northern Quarter on Thursday 17th September between 7 - 9pm. There will be fine words, coffee, cake and a glass of somethng too. Look forward to seeing you there.

Bluemoose Books will be celebrating Independent Booksellers Week 20th - 27th June by joining forces with The Bookcase in Hebden Bridge for the duration of IBW. There will be a series of events in which Bluemoose authors, editors and publishers will be working alongside Kate and her colleagues in the bookshop, answering questions on writing, publishing and editing plus on Thursday 25th June at 7pm we will be launching the next Bluemoose book, THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING by Colette Snowden.

Here's the itineray:

• Saturday 20th between 2-5pm, award winning author Michael Stewart will be in store to field any questions on writing.
• Monday 22nd June, 2-5pm - Publisher, Kevin Duffy will be in the bookshop where you can ask him what Bluemoose looks for in a submission or anything else you fancy about publishing and the book trade.
• Tuesday 23rd June, 7-9pm - You can book your 20 minute slots and ask advice from our editorial team. Not to be missed.
• Thursday 25th June, 7pm - The launch of THE SECRET TO NOT DROWNING by Colette Snowden - a wee tincture will be served.
• Friday 26th June, Award winning author Benjamin Myers will be in the bookshop writing a short story.
• Saturday 27th June, 2-5pm - Local author Anna Turner will be in store talking to customers about writing and how to get published.

Please do support your local Independent bookseller, without their presence on our high sreets and their dedication in presenting something different to the corporate and chain booksellers, our reading experiences are diminished.

Here is a stunning review of CAFE ASSASSIN by Michael Stewart in The Daily Mail, Friday 20th March. The first of many!