Edinburgh Book Festival - Author Event - Sara Baume and Ian Stephen

I've been a little random about the writing-up of our visit to Edbookfest so this last piece is actually about the first event we went to!
It brought together two of the First Book Award nominees - Sara Baume and Ian Stephen. I've heard a  lot about Sara Baume's debut novel Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither through Irish bookbloggers such as Bleach House Library and had it on my 'want to read' list for a while but Ian Stephen's A Book Of Death and Fish was completely unknown.
It turned that they had quite a few things in common. Both books were published by small independent publishers - Tramp and Saraband - and share a theme, with a man looking back over his life, reminiscing about this and that, following his memories as they, seemingly randomly, pop into his mind. Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither takes it's starting point as a man talking to a newly-adopted dog, sharing his secrets and confidences with it; A Book of Death and Fish starts with a man making a will - obviously a good point from which to reflect back on his life. The voices of the two main characters were very different though, with a more poetic feel to Baume's writing. I also had the impression that Sara Baume's story has a rural setting, while Ian Stephen's although set on the Hebridean island of Lewis is a more urban novel, set as it is in the fishing port of Stornoway.
Both authors' readings certainly had me wanting to know more about both books, and I'm hoping to read them soon.

Edinburgh Book Festival - Author Event - Lucy Wood and Sarah Hall

As our Edinburgh holiday dates are generally driven by other factors rather than around the Book Festival itself, it's always a bit hit and miss which authors will be appearing while I'm actually there, so I was delighted to realise that Lucy Wood, author of Diving Belles and Weathering, would be there during the few days I was. Weathering was her debut novel - a story of home, belonging, the not-always-easy relationships between mothers and daughters, and the thin divide between life and death, which I absolutely loved!  For her event she was paired with Sarah Hall, whose latest novel The Wolf Border also deals with a young woman, Rachel Caine, returning home - and introducing wolves back into the Lake District. The title comes from a Finnish expression describing the 'border' between urbanised, human habitation and the wilderness that surrounds it.

After a short chat introducing their novels, the authors read a short section from their work; Lucy Wood's an almost poetic piece as the ashes of grandmother Pearl are sprinkled on the river and she finds herself mixing with the water and mud - still partly herself, and partly a ghost - while Sarah Hall's was a more prosaic description of the transportation of the wolves to their new Cumbrian home - a journey you could follow on a map if (like me) you wanted to, but filled with tension as Rachel worries about all the things that could go wrong along the way, and what she'll find returning home after so many years away. Although the themes are similar in many ways, the treatment of them and the writing style seemed very different. Weathering is set in an anonymous place, possibly the moors of South-West England (though for me there was a northern "Yorkshire" feel to it), whereas Wolf Border is set more firmly in the real world, both geographically and politically - though the Annerdale estate doesn't actually exist, and the Scottish referendum swung the other way.

One of the aspects of Weathering that I adored was the poetic style, a little Virginia Woolf stream of consciousness in many ways, and the fluid ambiguous qualities of the storyline. It's impossible to pin down exactly what Pearl is - a ghost, a figment of her grand-daughter's imagination, or an accumulation of her daughter's memories - but who really needs to?  I was pleased to discover that something which struck me when reading it, the play on "weathering'  - either worn away by or proudly withstanding the elements - was intended by the author, not just something I made up!



Just a quick word for once about the venue - not the standard plain white marquee style of most the Edinburgh Book Festival's 'rooms' but the multicoloured Spiegeltent more reminiscent of a circus big-top. I've been in here before, for coffee during the day and the Jura Unbound events in the evening but not to a 'book' event. The seating was grouped informally round tables which as I'd gone along alone, I found more conducive to chatting with my neighbour while waiting for the event to start.

Edinburgh Book Festival - Author Event - Gordon Corera

By The Mole

Having worked in IT for over 30 years I have seen a huge transition from operating a room full of computer that had less power than the average modern day phone to a room full of servers supporting a diverse business of over 500 PCs. Security has been an issue for many days and we all curse when we have to create yet another password to enter a competition. But whereas we have these issues and frustrations what is the wider "cyber threat" that we hear so much about? When will it hit us and how bad could it possibly be?

Gordon Corera is a security correspondent for the BBC and has contacts who are hackers, security consultants, spies, ministers and many other things. Over the years he has witnessed trends and events that will either worry you and keep you awake at night, or reassure you and help you sleep soundly. These events, anecdotes and projections for the future he has compiled into a single volume called 'Intercept: The Secret History of Computers and Spies' and at this event he set about giving the tightly packed audience a flavour of the book as well as recounting some rather humorous anecdotes. Gordon is not a technician and this book is not aimed at technicians - it is aimed at the average member of the public and as such it talks in broad terms rather than specific methods.

Well practised at speaking to the camera he held the audience's attention throughout and gave a very entertaining event. I admit to not having read this book yet but much of the history which he recounts is new to me and I am looking forward to finding the opportunity to read this book to fill in so many of the things that have happened that I have missed over the years.

Another extremely good event from Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Edinburgh

 It's August so it must be time for Edinburgh International Book Festival!

This year we went for four days and tried to pack in as much as possible (along with seeing the sights of Edinburgh and catching a variety of shows at the Fringe Festival)

Having won tickets to the event Protest! with Phil Jupitus, Hollie McNish, Hannah Silva and Elvis McGonagall we went along to see what performance poetry was about.

Phil Jupitus was the "anchor" that brought them all together and he told us a little of performance poetry in the UK and how he got into it. I was intrigued that bands on tour used to have a supporting poet rather than, as now, a supporting band. But these poets were generally delivering protest poems - protest being the 'thing' to be into throughout the 60s and 70s. Phil Jupitus, who 'supported' the likes of The Style Council, gave us some of his poetry from then and also some of his more recent work.

Elvis McGonagall then followed and had the audience laughing along to some of his older poetry as well his more modern stuff. His style was extremely different  and entertained in a different but just as compelling.

Hannah Silva's work was extremely different and frankly I was sceptical at first. Using a foot operated sound machine she recorded, played back and edited her own voice to create poetry - and there can be no other name for it - that really blew me away. It was poetry that can only be listened to, not read, and it left a mark on me like no other poetry ever has. It was fantastic and a completely new experience.

Last, and certainly not least!, was Hollie McNish. Her poetry, although more conventional, was fast, modern, highly topical and still very entertaining.

All these poets left me wondering.. If I had attempted to read their work would I have got as much from it?

Meanwhile Maryom headed to the other side of town to see author/illustrator Jackie Morris at The Golden Hare bookshop in the Grassmarket. This was a joint story-telling and painting session, with Jackie reading her own Song of the Golden Hare and children colouring in their versions of the book's illustrations. Lots of Jackie's books were there on display - even early copies of Something About a Bear (published in October '14 by Frances Lincoln) and Cat Walk (September '14 by Graffeg) both of which will be launched at Solva Woollen Mill in Pembrokeshire. Jackie also talked about her current project involving feathers which are being sent to her from all over the world - see here for how to join in.

We find that the book festival is a great place for meeting friends and authors whose work you have appreciated and this year The Mole came face-to-face with Kirkland Ciccone whose book Conjuring The Infinite won Catalyst Book Award this year. Kirkland does quite a few school visits and is known for his spotted shirt - something that helped me find him amongst the throng of festival goers. Sitting in the bookshop cafe, drinking tea and enjoying a scone, he explained a little about his much awaited second book, The Endless Empress, and told me that the genre of young adult fiction fantasy is not one he is likely to desert in the near future and if Conjuring The Infinite is anything to go by then he certainly shouldn't. Good luck Kirkland!

Maryom had hoped to catch James Mayhew's Big Draw event on the Sunday - but it was just too popular with children and parents queuing to get in. She managed to meet up afterwards though for a very brief chat. James was at the Book Festival as Illustrator-in-residence to celebrate 25 years of his Katie books which introduce art to children by stepping through the picture frame.

Monday was time for another brief meeting - this time with Linda Strachan, author of several YA novels (Don't Judge Me, Spider, Dead Boy Talking)  and the Hamish McHaggis series for younger readers. Unfortunately Linda's Bookfest events took place after we'd left but it was lovely to catch up and hear a little insider gossip about her up-coming projects.


On Monday evening Maryom made her way to the joint Michele Forbes/Donal Ryan event, which she'd been looking forward to since the holiday was booked. Michele Forbes was a bit of an unknown quantity but Donal Ryan's novels have made a huge impact on her. Both writers are from Ireland - Michele Forbes' debut novel, Ghost Moth, is set in Belfast, alternating between the 1960s and 1940s; Donal Ryan's two novels are set in a small country town around the time of the Celtic Tiger economic boom of the late '90s and the subsequent crash. The writers talked,of course, about their books and the inspirations behind them - it was interesting to discover that Donal Ryan's first published book The Spinning Heart had actually been the second to be written, which explains the plot spoiler within it for The Thing About December. Then there were questions from the audience followed by the all-important chance for a few private words with the authors while books were signed.

And in between all this there was also time for soaking up the sun in a deckchair or two...










.....catching sight of Nicholas Parsons, Chris Brookmyre and Tom Rob Smith signing books after their events, and spotting Phil Jupitus again, browsing in the bookshop.

Edinburgh Book Festival - author event - Evie Wyld and Amy Sackville

Amy Sackville

By Maryom

Sometimes at literary events it's difficult to see why certain authors have been paired together but it wasn't on this occasion  - the Chair's introduction almost made them seem like twins! Both, amongst a raft of other awards, are winners of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for authors under 35; both work with books and

Evie Wyld

words in their 'day job' - Amy Sackville teaches creative writing at the University of Kent and Evie wyld works at an independent bookshop; both were here to talk about their second novels and both of those novels are set on islands!
I've been aware of Amy Sackville for a while - I reviewed The Still Point for Bookmunch back in 2010 and absolutely adored it - but Evie Wyld is a new, almost accidental, 'find' and I was in the middle of reading her latest novel, All the Birds, Singing 

Evie Wyld's All the Birds Singing is a tale of an Australian woman breeding sheep on a cold, wet British island, trying to escape from her past and seeking redemption for her past actions. Amy Sackville's Orkney follows a mismatched couple on their honeymoon. The husband begins to wonder how well he knows his much-younger wife and why she was so insistent on their travelling to this remote northern island.

The event started as is usual with the authors reading from their respective books, then chatting with the Chair. The subjects touched included research and future plans - and the authors suddenly diverged from their twin-like image. Evie Wyld had been researching very practical matters -  understanding the fundamentals of sheep farming and how to shear them, though not actually having a go herself - while Amy Sackville had immersed herself in myths of selkies and mer-people. For the future too, their paths are taking seperate ways;  Amy Sackville is planning a research trip for her next novel to somewhere warm and sunny; Evie Wyld is moving to a different genre with the submission of a graphic novel.

I for one will be watching very closely what both these authors do in the future.

Edinburgh Book Festival - author event - Peggy Riley and Jenn Ashworth

by Maryom

For my third event, it was back to the Writers' Retreat hidden in a corner of the Book Festival site. This time I was there to see Peggy Riley and Jenn Ashworth, talking about their novels dealing with faith and the loss of it.

Peggy Riley's Amity and Sorrow is the story of a woman trying to escape the strange and very personal religious cult she's been living in. After living in a closed community, she and her daughters react differently to the outside world. Is it liberating and exciting or just plain frightening?

Jenn Ashworth's The Friday Gospels, follows a Lancastrian Mormon family throughout a pivotal day as they await the return of their son after 2 years missionary work in Salt Lake City. Although outwardly seeming secure in their faith, several family members have doubts and long to be free of its restrictions. The reading from it and the discussion that followed made this a book I'd very much like to read. I, presumably like most people, mainly go to book-related events involving authors whose work I know and love. Although listening to Peggy Riley talk about her work and getting to meet her afterwards was the highlight of this visit, it's always interesting to go along and discover someone new in this way.

After the reading, the authors adjourned to sign books in the main Festival bookshop. Here I was faced with a problem; I've read and been deeply moved by Amity and Sorrow, and would love to have had my copy signed by the author....but.. I had a Kindle copy! The only quick solution I could think of was to have my ticket signed.

Edinburgh Book festival - author event - Emylia Hall

by Maryom

Although this was actually a joint event with Lucy Ellman, I have to admit that for me Emylia Hall was the big draw. I totally fell in love with her first novel The Book of Summers, a coming of age story set in the long, hot summers of Hungary, and was disappointed to miss her at last year's Edbookfest. As it happened, this year's event sold out the day after I bought my ticket, so I nearly missed out again!

Emylia was in Edinburgh this time to promote her new novel A Heart Bent Out Of Shape, out officially in September but copies were available in the Festival bookshop. "A Heart Bent Out of Shape is the story of a first love, a terrible tragedy, a snow-filled paradise; a year that will never be forgotten." says the Amazon blurb and - in slightly less flowery words - this was the impression I got from Emylia's description of it. Hadley Dunn has led an unremarkable life with no great traumas or joys - until she decides to spend a year studying in Lausanne. There she forms strong friendships and falls in love but seems to be heading towards tragedy and disappointment. The feeling of place played an important part of the appeal of the Book of Summers and seems to do so again in Heart Bent Out of Shape. Hungarian heat is replaced with Swiss snow; lush green countryside by a bustling, vibrant city. I can't wait to read it!
As is usual at such events, things kicked off with readings from the authors' novels - with a slight difference. Lucy Ellman's latest novel, Mimi, is told in the first person from the perspective of an eminent, rather jaded-sounding, male plastic surgeon - so the 'taster' was read by the author's husband to give a more authentic flavour. These readings were followed by a discussion between the authors and the chair, and then questions from the audience. I got the impression that Emylia Hall was the lesser known author of the two; that the majority of people were there to see Lucy Ellman and certainly had more questions for her. Despite being on a Richard and Judy reading list, I don't think many people have discovered Emylia Hall - and I think they should!

Edinburgh Book Festival - Author event - Linda Strachan

This year's Edinburgh International Book Festival was our busiest ever, with tickets for four events - all for authors whose work we love. First up was Linda Strachan's in the Baillie Gifford Imagination Lab. We've met Linda before on several occasions when she's been wonderfully welcoming but have never managed to time our visit to Edinburgh right to catch one of her events, so we thought it was time we redressed that issue.

Linda is the author of many books aimed at both younger children and teens - and this event was aimed at the older end of her audience, specifically about her latest teen novel Don't Judge Me - a tale of arson, suspicion and judging people too quickly. If you aren't aware of it check out our reviews here - the Mole's and Maryom's

Accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation, Linda started by telling how she became a writer. She's NOT one of those people who, from an early age, dreamed of being an author. In fact as a child she believed her friend was far better at telling stories and at school she was labelled as lacking in imagination! She only came to writing much later, through a series of drawings that formed themselves into a story.

Linda talked about the thoughts and inspirations behind Don't Judge Me. The inspiration for Don't Judge Me came because we are always making assumptions about people, often those we only pass in the street, on little or no information - a series of adverts had been running showing how that happens.

In order to most accurately describe the setting of the fire she spoke to the Fire Service and was then concerned that it would explain to people how it's done but the spokesperson assured her that if people want to know then they can Google it anyway.  Surrounded by images and news items relating to the two threads, Linda set to work in her writing shed.

Her other teen books are Spider - a very powerful story about car theft and joy riding and how it wrecks so much more than property, but lives as well - and Dead Boy Talking - a similarly powerful story about knives and the outcome of carrying them.

Linda is currently working on a project with ROSPA who liked the approach in the teen books, the non preachy approach and showing what can happen rather than just saying don't do it!!  ROSPA have asked her to work on stories around accidents in the home environment generally and some aspects of fire safety are included.

I always find authors' research methods fascinating and Linda certainly doesn't believe in doing it from the safety of her desk but by getting out there on fire service training days or joining emergency ambulance crews on their rounds.

If you'd like to catch Linda for yourself, she'll be appearing at Bloody Scotland 2013  on September 14th and you can find more about Linda and her books on her website.

James Mayhew at The National Gallery of Scotland

James as "Van Gogh"

post by The Mole

In parallel to the Edinburgh Fringe and the Edinburgh International Book Festival there are other events running and each year in Edinburgh and the National Gallery generally put on an event. This year, once again, they invited James Mayhew to come along and tell stories while painting a picture from the story.

This year he was sat beside a painting that included Cupid and this was the theme for his first story - a story that was totally new to me. The story was of Venus' (Cupid's mother) jealousy of Psyche who was judged to be more beautiful than her. The gallery was busy and despite the relatively quiet voice that James has the gallery became almost silent as people listened, totally captured by his telling of and and fascinated as the blank page came to life.

He then told the story of the Firebird... one that I was more familiar with but not with this rendition. Once again the room was captivated and silent except for James' storytelling. Afterwards James explained to us the origins of the story and how the number of variations came about. Not only is James an extremely accomplished artist and story teller but extremely well versed on myths and legends too.

His latest book in the 'Katie' series is Katie and the Starry Night. I cannot sum the Katie books up better than in the synopsis for his latest book "James Mayhew created Katie as a way to make art accessible to all children. He has been bringing art to life for over twenty years and is a much-loved author/illustrator".

If James is in an event near you at anytime then take the opportunity to go along and be dazzled. Even if you have no children - but if there are children you can take then they will be sure to enjoy it.

Read more on James Mayhew, his books and events over at his blog

Matt Cartney - a cup of coffee with the author

By The Mole

While at Edinburgh International Book Festival I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Red, White and Black by Matt Cartney and I took the opportunity to put aside the book I was about to start to read this instead. I was halfway through and really enjoying it when I received a text from Matt, who had got my number via the publisher, asking if I would like to meet up and chat over a coffee.

I quickly jumped at the chance and met him at The Scotch Malt Whisky Society - a members only club where we could be sure of getting a seat at Fringe time. Matt, who works in Edinburgh, sees the Fringe every year and I asked him how he viewed it. He told me that locals sometimes see it as an opportunity for the city and at other times as an invasion.

I had heard that he had been going to Russia doing 'research' and had run intoa problem which he told me was due to a mechanical issue with his Landrover. But on the subject of research he told me how the things that Danny has done, Matt actually did first! In the current book Danny goes to a high Norwegian plateau to search for a plane and has to spend several nights camping in order to get there. Apart from not finding a plane, Matt made that trip taking photographs along the way. He also climbed Schneibstein (a mountain in Bavaria) that Danny climbs etc gathering photos along the way.

I was left wondering if this is what gives the Danny Lansing stories a special 'edge'.. a genuine 'Boys Own' feel that makes you want to get up and do it.

Matt explained that when doing school visits he takes a laptop and projector and uses some of the gathered research photos to illustrate his talks - it must be a rather special treat for the children!

The first book "Sons of Rissouli" was set in the deserts of Morocco; this, the second book "Red, White and Black" is set in the snows of Norway amongst other locations; the third book is (apparently and if I remember correctly) set in the jungles of Belize. The fourth was to be in Russia but... And now Matt is in Iceland so we will see and wait with bated breath.

Danny Lansing is a normal boy, albeit with an an investigative journalist uncle who is a little eccentric in how he looks after Danny after the death of Danny's parents - and perhaps he is every boys dream of how a guardian should behave?

I was very grateful to Matt for making time to see me and I sincerely hope that Danny goes on a great deal longer with his adventures.

Torn by Cat Clarke

Review by The Mole

Tara is mean one too many times on a school activity holiday, when she humiliates Polly by making sure the whole school trip hears of an incident while pot-holing. Cass is fuming and is determined to dish out some humiliation to Tara. Recruiting Polly, Rae and Alice she devises a plan that will surely do it. Unfortunately things don't go to plan and Alice finds herself between a rock and a hard place.

I shall put my hand up (as I did to Cat Clarke at the Edinburgh International Book Festival) and say that I had no plan to read this while we were away - simply because I had others I planned to read that were removed from the packing at the last minute. [Any suggestions on ereaders and I will happily send an address for you to post one to! ;-)] But - most importantly - I LOVED it. Yes, I may not be the target audience but so what?

I quickly found myself wanting to shake some of the people in the story. Not 'characters' because they were just so real and believable. It's difficult to say more without giving spoilers except to say that it certainly will get you thinking and probably have you taking sides in it all.

Fabulous!

Publisher - Quercus
Genre - teenage, YA, Fiction

Buy Torn from Amazon 

EdBookFest in pictures

Edinburgh International Book Festival is held every year in the city's Charlotte Square. At any other time of the year it is one of the many green areas around the city where tourists, residents and local workers on a lunch break can be seen sitting, chatting, eating, exercising dogs or anything else that we all use such areas for. But for two weeks a year it becomes home to the festival.

Entry to the festival is free and so anyone can still wander in and take in some of the sights and sounds. Perhaps you may want to fill your water bottle, jump onto the free wifi, get a book signed in one of the free book signings or simply relax in one of their fabulous deck chairs.

Chances are though that for a reasonable charge you may be tempted into one of many many events that run throughout the day and the evening (or even one of the free events!). There are events for adults, teens and even small children - something for EVERYONE.

But be warned - it's addictive! But it's one of those rare addictions that is actually good for you as it broadens your horizons. If in the area give it a go - you won't regret it!

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2012

This year we timed our annual holiday so as to spend a week in Edinburgh to take in events at the festival as well as meet people and step outside a bit and enjoy fringe events too.

The first week was to be our week and we set aside just 3 days to attend the festival but what we didn't realise is that the festival is actually addictive and that we quickly changed that to 6 days, so if you plan on attending the festival at all then be warned!

We met and made a lot of friends and attended events and book signings and here are but a few.

i) Alan Bissett - Maryom chatted about Pack Men and how it is not just for male football fans. We also saw Alan at the Festival Cafe (a BBC Scotland radio show) where he talked about and performed a brief excerpt from his one man fringe show for arachnophobes - extremely funny, catch him if you can.

ii) Barry Hutchinson - We talked with Barry and other Scottish authors about the difficulties caused by branding books as 'Scottish' and how buyers in England avoid such books for some reason perhaps in the belief that they are "all haggis and tartan".

iii) Linda Strachan - We chatted about many things and had a sneak preview of the cover for Don't Judge Me, her next teen novel to be published by Strident in Autumn.

iv) Keren David and Cat Clarke talked about motivations for writing, methods of writing and other things and read from their latest books and The Mole discussed with Cat Clarke the character with which she identifies and although we disagreed on choice her father was in agreement with The Mole.

v) Keith Charters  - We chatted at length on many subjects surrounding publishing and many NOT publishing related.

vi) Matt Cartney - We chatted about several things... but more on this meeting in a later post.

vii) Edward Wilson talked of his route to writing spy thrillers and read from his  book.

viii) James Mayhew - We saw him story telling and painting in a way that he does so well.

ix) S J Watson signed Maryom's copy of Before I Go To Sleep and chatted about it and the publicity campaign surrounding it.

And one of the great things is that at the festival you can meet so many people by chance..while in the yurt, apparently Neil Gaiman walked past and we missed him, we brushed passed and chatted with Nicola Morgan in the bookshop and we met and chatted with Victoria Campbell as well as brushing past an Archbishop.

The problem is that you cannot do everything you want to do and we missed many people. There were also so many authors and friends we would like to have met in the second week, but sadly due to the GCSE results day in England then it had to be the first week only.

Keith Charters - Author/Publisher interview

When in Edinburgh we arranged to meet and share a pizza with Keith Charters. He was very approachable and our teen was delighted that he was not just book orientated but also showed an interest in her music. We are delighted that he managed to find time to be interviewed by us.

You worked in London as a stockbroker before taking up the pen and producing "Lee And The Consul Mutants". What was the inspiration behind Lee and why this particular story subject?
Actually, I ran a sales team involved in what are known as the wholesale financial markets – essentially where banks trade with other banks in financial products. Some, such as foreign exchange, were simple; others, such as credit default swaps, less so.
Did this have anything to do with Lee and the Consul Mutants?
No.

And yet yes – indirectly. By day I was Sales Director. By night I was a would-be author, with all the usual traits: a desk in my bedroom; an irrepressible need to write most evenings despite long hours at work; the same need on planes when I should have been trying to catch up on lost sleep. I started writing psychological thrillers, and they were okay – importantly they improved the more I wrote.
My oldest kids (twins) were aged about 9 at the time the idea for Lee and the Consul Mutants popped into my head. They’d been having a great laugh reading the likes of Michael Lawrence’s The Toilet of Doom. I loved that books were entertaining them in that way and thought I’d try writing a few lines about a boy whose appendix had exploded. Before I’d even finished the first page I knew it was what I should have been doing all along. It was so much fun!

When did you decide to leave stockbrokership and was it to become a writer or a publisher?
I’d already left to give myself some concentrated writing time. A brave/risky/stupid move, of course. I might have come to naught. But it didn’t. Sometimes putting yourself in the position of needing to make something work means you make it work. So I started as an author and at that point had no thought of becoming a publisher.
So how did I end up a publisher too? Well, my first publisher was small and I had a background in business. That meant I learned a lot. And after they’d expressed an interest in signing up Lee Goes For Gold and Lee’s Holiday Showdown (both of which I’d written by the time Lee and the Consul Mutants was published) I thought: could I do what my publisher is doing? And, perhaps because I’d done much of the marketing myself, I decided that I could…with help. Because I didn’t (and still don’t) know it all. But I’d found some great people who knew some of the bits I didn’t know. So we formed a team, each of us with different strengths.

It’s worth saying that from the outset we were focused on building a strong list. The fact that my books – already validated in the market – happened to be on it was incidental. But it was a neat starting point. Now, of course, they’re an increasingly small part of what we publish. I can’t write quickly enough for it to be otherwise!

You formed Strident Publishing in 2005. What was your first publication under this brand?
D A Nelson’s DarkIsle in October 2007. I remember the launch well. I’m sure Dawn does too – she was about 8 months pregnant by then. Helpfully, the book won the 2008 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children’s Books and promptly sold (mostly to parts of Random House) all around the world in rights deals.

At what point did you decide to move the Lee stories in-house?
From the outset. In fact, we bought back the rights to the first Lee novel to ensure we’d have control over the full series. My original editor also came over. That was important because she was used to telling me when my writing worked and when it didn’t, and she just carried no doing that. It meant we kept objectivity and that was important to me.
Many of the titles you publish are specifically for the 8-12 year old reader and recently you have published books by Emma Barnes, again aimed at that age group, was this reader Strident's original target market?
We originally saw our market as those of school age. Actually, we’ve avoided the 5-6 sector and gone for 7+. And whilst we didn’t expect to publish books for adults, the likes of Gillian Philip’s Firebrand and Bloodstone, and Janne Teller’s Nothing, having taken us there by virtue of their strong crossover appeal.
So, Emma’s novels (How (Not) To Make Bad Children Good and Jessica Haggerthwaite: Witch Dispatcher, both for ages 7+) are very firmly targeted at our core market.

Strident’s "Mission Statement" is 'Strident aims to produce books with a bit of spark; books that give young people a kick out of reading. They will be bold and modern and will cry out to be read and discussed.' How well do you feel Strident is achieving this?
Hopefully very well! In fact, although we have one list, there are two distinct parts to it. Our 7+ titles have a ‘modern classic’ feel – Paul Biegel’s The King of the Copper Mountains and Emma Barnes’s novels. Beyond 9+ the titles become increasingly feisty. Nick Green’s The Cat Kin and Cat’s Paw definitely fit that description and Linda Strachan’s Spider and Dead Boy Talking only take it a step further. Then there’s Janne Teller’s controversial and philosophical Nothing; and finally there’s Gillian Philip’s Firebrand and Bloodstone. I sometimes think the word ‘feisty’ was invented with those last two in mind.
And then come writers like Linda Strachan writing for the teen market, and Gillian Philip's "Bad Faith" and then... The Rebel Angels series. This series has appealed to the adult reader, although mostly the female readers. Did this take you by surprise?
We were delighted that Linda Strachan’s Spider won the 2010 Catalyst Award. Her teen/YA fiction is short, accessible and thought-provoking. We’ve always believed that would be a winning combination.

Then, as you say, along came Gillian’s Rebel Angels series. Now that has taken us to a new part of the market. The series was originally written as YA fiction, but as anyone who’s read Bloodstone will know, they are at least as much adult as YA. In fact we had a dilemma when publishing the first book: should we launch it into the main (i.e. adult) sci-fi fantasy market or into YA? Ideally we’d have gone for both, but retailers’ systems won’t allow that. It has to be listed in one or the other. Gillian had already been building a reputation in YA (she was Carnegie Medal nominated for Crossing The Line, and Bad Faith was very well received) so we eventually opted for that category. However, just to prove the extent of its crossover appeal, Tor in the USA have bought the entire 4-book series for their adult fantasy list, while Ravensburger in Germany are publishing it as a YA title.

Do you now have any intentions of publishing for the adult market?
Well, we didn’t, but we effectively do because of Firebrand, Bloodstone and Nothing. It’s not quite the same as having an adult list, of course. Do we plan one? Not quite yet.

As a keen gardener do you have any plans for horticultural books at all?
‘Keen gardener’. I like that description. It’s an improvement on my wife’s ‘obsessive veg planter’.
Of course, growing plants is like growing stories: you start off with the seed/seed of an idea, ensure it has the ideal growing environment (compost/coffee and cake) and then hope for the best. And there’s also an element of creating something out of nothing about both.
Do we have plans for horticultural books? If the right project (and people) came along we would certainly consider creating a separate imprint.
Would you rather be known as an author or a publisher?
I don’t see it as a choice between the two. Indeed, I would argue that both are essential to what I/we do. I meet a lot of authors because I’m an author myself and that’s been the channel through which many of our titles have come to us. Plus, presenting to young people gives me a keen sense of what they want. That informs our editing and the titles we acquire. And, on the other side, being involved in acquiring and shaping the books of others helps me focus on what I need to do with my own writing. Yes, there’s only one of me (don’t believe any of the claims that I’ve been cloned), but I manage to fit in publishing, presenting, writing (occasionally, and always on trains) and a few other things to boot.
A different – but relevant – question might be: which am I likely to become known for. Again, I hope both, with the answer being dependant upon who’s being asked. I’d hope that those in publishing would know me best for publishing; whereas I’d hope that young people aged 9+ would know me best for my Lee books and lively, humorous author sessions.

Many thanks for finding the time to answer our questions and best wishes for both projects in the future. And if there is an imprint for horticulture please remember - we also review non-fiction.
If you would like to follow Lee then he can be found at leenovels.blogspot.com

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Wish I'd Read It Sooner
review by Maryom

The Eyre Affair was of those books that I'd heard about, intended to read but somehow never got round to. Then events seemed to conspire to bring it back to my attention - first it came up in conversation as Jasper Fforde walked past us at Edinburgh Book Festival, then later he was good enough to sign autographs for the Teen and offer writing advice for her friend, and the following week, a later book in the series cropped up in a B+B! It was definitely time to read it!

Thursday Next is a Literary Detective - Litera Tec - in an alternative universe where trade in first edition classics is big, criminal, business. Mainly her work is involved with tracking down the gangs behind this trade but then her path crosses that of Acheron Hades, a master criminal who has plans to kidnap characters from novels and hold them to ransom. Can Thursday find a way of thwarting his plans before literature as we know it is changed forever?


The Eyre Affair is a marvellous work of imagination. It's alternate reality - of airships, pet dodos, an audience participation version of Richard III, an ongoing Crimean War and a Soviet Republic in Wales - is jam-packed with the wonderful and bizarre but holds firmly together with it's own internal logic. The plot moves briskly through its many twists, turns and time-loops with hardly a still moment for Thursday to catch her breath. I was slightly surprised that 'Jane Eyre', while always there in the background, didn't figure more highly and consistently throughout the plot - but that's just an issue with the title not the appeal of the book.
If this were the only Thursday Next novel, I'd wonder how the author was going to keep up his inventiveness but as I've arrived rather late at the party there are many more ready and waiting for me to discover - hopefully all as wonderfully eccentric. I find it a little sad though that only in a work of fiction is literature cared about so much.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Hodder
Genre - fantasy


Buy The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next) from Amazon

Linda Strachan Interview

Today we welcome Linda Strachan who we met at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. We have reviewed both Spider and Dead Boy Talking and really enjoyed both although they are very different in styles.

Spider... It is really a most powerful story telling of joy riding and it's side effects. The speed and feeling of invincibility, the confusion of passenger noise and then the calm of the after effects and the emergency services. It carries a great feeling of either experience or research. Can you tell us how you came to be able to portray so much so vividly?
I have no experience of joyriding but I did spend quite a few years around car enthusiasts when I was an older teenager, going to car rallies and driving around in fast cars.When I was writing Spider I wanted the crash, and the aftermath, to feel very real, so I did a lot of research - going out with an ambulance crew on a Saturday night-shift - attending a crash simulation day at the local fire training school where they had to extract trainee firemen from mangled cars.I wanted to know what happened after a crash so that I could understand what it sounded like and felt like being inside a car, when they took the roof off to get people out. I wanted to make it feel real. I also went to speak to a teenager who had been involved in stealing cars and joyriding. He helped me to get the voice for Spider.

And then there was Dead Boy Talking... again told so very vividly... Was this research or experience or just from observation?
I have no experience of being stabbed but with Dead Boy Talking I did what I always try to do and that is to put myself inside my character's head. I try to be that person, to see what they see, feel what they feel. Sometimes that can be very uncomfortable, I have a vivid imagination!I wasn't sure if I had managed to portray the real feeling of being stabbed, so I was delighted when one of the first people to read it told me that they knew what it felt like, from personal experience, and could assure me it was almost too painful to read. I had nailed it!

What was your inspiration for these stories - where did it come from?
I suppose Spider and Dead Boy Talking both came about because having sons of my own I always feel for the families when I read in the papers about teenagers who are killed driving on the roads, or by being stabbed. It seems such a waste of their lives, their potential. Joyriding happens everywhere and many teenagers (mostly, but not only, boys) love cars and speed, and think they are invincible. It will never happen to them. I wanted to explore not only what transpires when, in a moment, everything goes wrong; but also what is going on in their lives to lead them to this point and what happens afterwards. We are often driven by circumstances to make bad decisions in the rush of the moment, but more so when we are young. The choices we make at times like this are not necessarily choices we would make in calm or different circumstances, and often one thing will lead to another until it becomes a spiral of dangerous choices and bad decisions. So I find I am putting my characters in this kind of situation and following what happens to them.I was trying to decide what I was going to write after Spider when the title and the first line of Dead Boy Talking came to me. I was on a train and thinking about the news stories of young boys who have been stabbed and I wondered what it would be like to be sitting in the dark, all alone frightened and bleeding.I could hear a boy's voice in my head saying. 'In 25 minutes I will be dead.' I still have the notebook where I wrote it and the first page has almost not changed at all. Gradually I began to find out more about Josh, what was going on in his life and how he got to that point.When I am writing I usually don't know what is going to happen to the characters in the end. I prefer to find out as the characters do, to live the story with them. So I didn't know what was going to happen to Spider at the end of the book, or whether Josh would live or die.

We hear rumours of a third teen crime novel is in the offing? Can you tell us a little about it?
Yes, I am writing a third teen novel which should be out next year (2012). I don't have a title for it, which is fairly usual for me (Dead Boy Talking was the exception!) It is about Arson or Fire setting as it is known north of the border. But it is much more than that, it is - a 'who dun it? and a look at our perceptions of other people and how wrong we can be when we make snap judgements, about both friends and strangers.

And then there is.... Hamish McHaggis. On a recent holiday in Scotland we saw, almost everywhere, books about Hamish and his various adventures. These books are colourful and fun and seem to be designed to appeal to the young audience - a very important audience. We hear that a tenth book in the series is about to be launched. Can you tell us a little about Hamish and his adventures?
Hamish McHaggis is a lot of fun to write and I work very closely with the illustrator, Sally J. Colins which is fairly unusual. With other illustrated books I have written I've never even met the illustrator, but Sally and I work together as soon as I have the story outline. We are working on the 10th book in the series Hamish McHaggis and the Great Glasgow Treasure Hunt, at the moment. It will be published at Easter 2012.

We hear that he does travel abroad - to Japanese and Australian(?) bookshelves - but we don't see him come to England. Why is this? Does he dislike the English, because I cannot see the English disliking him?
The Hamish books have indeed got a far reach. They are very popular in Scotland in schools as well as in homes all over the world. Hamish has been in the USA this summer, attending several Highland Games there. I recently did a tour of schools in New Zealand and they loved Hamish and his adventures.Hamish does have fans in England but, as often happens, the response in bookshops in England is often that it is too 'Scottish' so they don't often want to stock it because they think it will not sell. I hope that will soon change. I have been invited to speak in schools all over England and Hamish has been very well received everywhere.Hamish has not had an adventure outside Scotland yet, but I am hoping we will be seeing him over the border before too long!

We also hear rumours that you may shortly be publishing for adults. Can you tell us a little about that at all yet?
The future – Yes, I have been researching a novel for adults for a number of years and I think I am almost ready to devote the time it needs. It has been a bit of a personal project that has simmered on the back burner for a long time.I can't say too much about it just yet, but it came about when I heard a family story about my Italian great-grandparents and decided it was so fascinating that I wanted to know more. I decided early on that this was going to be a work of fiction, based very loosely on that story. I know who my characters are and I have begun to write it.But at the moment I need to find time in a busy schedule of writing for young children and YA. I also have far too many ideas for stories I want to write for children slightly older than Hamish fans and younger than YA, and a fairly hectic diary of author visits, both here and abroad (I love to travel!) So I am not making any promises about the adult story. Writing for young people is so interesting and often a lot of fun!

Many thanks Linda for taking the time to answer our questions and we look forward to your future books. You can find out more about Linda on her website lindastrachan.co.uk

The Eddie Dickens Trilogy By Philip Ardagh

Nostalgia
Review by The Mole

When we attended the Edinburgh Book Festival we had the opportunity to meet, if only briefly, the author, Philip Ardagh.

Shortly before our trip, Maryom had won a copy of "The Eddie Dickens Trilogy" the special 10th anniversary edition that was a year late. Well 11th doesn't sound so good does it. Maryom had read some already and warned me that they are "Very, very silly" and what's wrong with silly I wonder.

The first story "Awful End" finds Eddie's parents ill with an unknown disease and the doctor administers an unknown cure. So as not to spread the disease to young Eddie he is sent away into the dubious care of Mad Uncle Jack and Aunt Maud. What could go wrong? Well, perhaps everything.

These are clearly children's books and the stories are not only easily read but they have a style of writing that will draw children in and leave them wanting more. I don't come under the 'children' category any longer but to me it brought nostalgic days of listening to "The Clitheroe Kid", "The Navy Lark" and "Around The Horne". The humour is clean, obvious and easy to enjoy. The cover says "Winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize" and while I have never noted Roald Dahl stories as particularly funny, Eddie Dickens is well deserving of this prize.

If you get the opportunity to meet Mr Ardagh then be warned - he leaves quite an impression on you. Yes, he is bearded - a full set to be more accurate. And yes he is tall - he left me feeling naked as he looked down on my balding bits. (Note to self - wear a hat should the opportunity to meet him arise again.) But he also has a quick and harmless wit that leaves you thinking "I should have said..." long after it's too late..

Publisher - Faber & Faber
Genre - children, adventure, humour

Buy The Eddie Dickens Trilogy from Amazon

Nicola Morgan - Interview

A huge welcome today to Nicola Morgan - Google search's top result for 'Crabbit Old Bat' - who we met in Edinburgh and spent some time chatting to. We have also reviewed Wasted - one of her many books that was loved by both of us as well as our teen daughter.

You've written many, many books - fiction and non fiction - but it's your foray into social-networking and promotion that interests me today....

How important is a web presence for an author today?
Increasingly. It has been for non-fiction for a while - for obvious reasons, as you do need to show expertise in your subject and it provides a way for potential readers to see and respect you. Then in the US it became important for fiction. And now in the UK, too, it's pretty essential unless you are very lucky. I've now heard several publishers say they won't take anyone new who hasn't got or isn't prepared to create some kind of online presence. Trouble is, half the time the publishers have no clue how the author is supposed to do this. They just say, "Do it." But you know, I'd actually say that it's quite important even apart from what publishers say, because it's about communication with other humans, and that's generally a beneficial thing anyway, isn't it? I enjoy it (luckily!), though it does sometimes become too much - but that's usually because I've let it. We need to keep control and achieve a balance. No single bit is compulsory, as long as we do something.
Does it really have an impact on sales?
Yes. But that is not why I do it and if you do it because of that then I think it will either fail or be horribly uncomfortable. I can't quantify the benefit because I can't say how many books I or anyone would sell if we weren't doing this stuff. (And I'm not at all interested in measuring it.) But I know that I have come into close contact with people who a) wouldn't have heard of me otherwise and b) who now might buy my books. I also know that they often do. But I have absolutely no intention of counting them or even wondering if any one of them has bought a book. Intuitively, I know I've got more readers because of it, but that feels like a bonus more than an intention. The times when I've joined a forum solely because I thought I should, I've not enjoyed it and have quickly slunk away.

Is a web-site enough or do you feel they need a more interactive profile such as Facebook, Google+ or Twitter?
For most of us - those who don't have huge marketing budgets from our publishers - a website is not enough. It's a start but it's not dynamic or interactive. Readers nowadays need to see us interacting, talking, being somewhat accessible. If we want to generate word of mouth, we must remember that people are more likely to talk about us when they can see us talking and can talk to us. However, it's usually easy to embed a blog in a website, so it wouldn't be hard to move from static website to dynamic website+blog. And Twitter? Well, to me it's the best. It takes time to get used to it but the benefits are phenomenal. Like a party where you can join lots of conversations at once, an office without the office bore, an encyclopedia written only by people you trust, a source of support when things are going wrong, and a resource for any topic, a job agency, a load of fun... and all free.

Your latest book Tweet Right is all about, er, well, how to Tweet? Is it possible to do this wrongly? Surely we all just get out there and gossip wildly?
Oh gosh it's very possible to do it wrongly! Or at least to do it fruitlessly and not enjoy it. Loads of people have started and left; loads of people arrive and don't know what to do. Loads of people also arrive and manage to get the hang of it easily. But a lot of people who were already tweeting away merrily have bought Tweet Right and realised either that they were getting something badly wrong, or that there were facets they hadn't realised (like the full-stop before the @ name??), or that there were ways in which they could use it even better.

There's a proliferation of book-bloggers on the web these days. How much impact do you feel they have? How useful are blog-tours in promoting an author's work?
Hmmm, loaded question! Yes, there's a proliferation of book-bloggers. I don't honestly know what impact they have because - as with the Twitter thing - I'm really not interested in measuring such things. Lucky I'm not a social scientist, eh?! Blog tours - I do know they are an enormous amount of work for the author and for the blogger. (I didn't do one for Tweet Right for that reason.) I don't really believe they pay off in terms of sales, but I think they are an unpredictably useful and Good Thing: you just never know what might come from it. Would you like to be involved in the Mondays are Red one? :)) *


Lastly, you mentioned on Twitter recently that you'd love to have a book banned. Why? Because there's no such thing as bad publicity?
Actually, I do think there's such a thing as bad publicity. I would hate bad publicity. I'm not thick-skinned. But a book being banned is not (to me) bad publicity - it says nothing about the book and everything about the narrow-minded, mistrustful ignorance of the banner. Banned books are the coolest, most edgy, thrilling, thought-provoking books. Although I don't set out to shock, I do want to provoke mental risk-taking, intellectual challenge. I don't want safe reading. I like books that drag readers out of any complacency and electric-shock them into a new compass. And I believe that fiction is the strongest, best and safest way to deal with difficult subjects. To be banned would be an accolade. Oh and also - many teenagers love to do things that are forbidden so banning a book is the best way to get them to read it!

Many thanks, Nicola, for taking time to join us - and yes, *we'd love to be part of the Mondays Are Red blog tour. You can find out more about Nicola and 'join' her at her website nicolamorgan.com