Jonathan

If anyone is wondering about splashing out on a print version of any of the ‘Love triangles with murder’ series, Blurb has a SHIP4FREE offer – at their usual rate of £6.99 for one book this is of considerable value, but offer ends 30th March

h t t p s://w w w.blurb.co.uk/user/SandraDavies…
Use the code SHIP4FREE

Thanks, Ath. I bought a copy of Carol’s novel, but as it only arrived yesterday I haven’t begun it yet.

Wow, that’s not far from me at all. Half an hour by car. A pilgrimmage might be in order

@bellam, perhaps you can help me. I remember as a child hearing about a pirate radio ship that had been caught in a storm and had to put into Harwich, when it was impounded. I was there with my Mum and she pointed it out to me. I just remember a small, red ship. This was in the mid 1980s. I can’t find any references to it. I know we still had…[Read more]

Lovely, elegiac blog, Richard. I don’t think I realised how hard it could be to access pop music, especially anything out of the mainstream, until the late 60s.

As you know, Fairport is one of my favourite bands as well. I’d never heard the live version of Percy’s Song but just listened to it, and I know what you mean – both versions have…[Read more]

Interesting to see this pop up again – thanks for those podcasts Libby, looks interesting – and it has sort of kicked a thought into the foreground.

As a writer, my books *are* me (when it comes to fiction, that is). They are fragments of my being that I have extracted and slapped down on paper. I find it impossible to conceive of someone who…[Read more]

Publishers vary a lot in terms of the extent they will consult and take account of author suggestions. Mine have ranged from asking me for examples of covers I like and making changes to the design at my behest, to not even showing me the cover until the book is published. In the middle was making some changes to a first iteration, showing a…[Read more]

With crime fiction, it seems that the ‘THIS IS WHAT THIS IS signifier is a silhouetted man walking down a tunnel or over a bridge or along a lonely road BUT IT IS ALWAYS THE SAME BLINKING MAN!!! and I wonder authors don’t put their foot down. Even more so when I see what can be done by a small company with ‘This is our undoing’

It’s a great cover because it hints at characters and themes and atmosphere enough to give a sense of the book, without doing so too overtly

Yes, my thoughts exactly @athelstone. I did the same thing – I specifically asked my publisher to brief the designer to NOT include illustrations of the characters, for precisely the reasons you say. I wanted the kids to have ownership of them. Silhouettes are fine, but not drawings. Funny how we all feel the same about this!

Our local indie bookshop – https://www.drakethebookshop.co.uk/ – is doing a brilliant job of keeping us stocked up with books – and says he has deliveries of stock arriving daily for click and collect. I’ve already spent £100 with him this year – and my ‘need’ list grows ever longer.

Catalyst

Despite the haste of his extreme, and unavoidably, late arrival – ‘Sorry, sorry, bastards took my phone so no way to warn. I’ll be fine, just need to wash the blood off … nose, yeah. Not broken. No, it’s fine, Alix paid my cab off at the door. And yeah, the police took witness statements.’ – he’d caught a glimpse of her as he hurri…[Read more]

Stunning, Raine.

I gushed all over this on social media and have only just seen it here – so congratulations on a thing of beauty (autocorrect tried to make that a ‘biting of beauty’, and perhaps I should have let it), which is quite perfect. xx

Wow, that’s fantastic! Sorry, I’ve just seen this, but congratulations – a fabulous achievement. 😍

Aaah, that makes sense! Yes, now you mention it I think I recall more attention on that aspect. I think it worked. Good on you, lovely to see your writing get more recognition

That’s interesting @raine, the story seemed pretty much exactly as I remembered it so I don’t suppose too much can have changed? Really glad to see my writing friends appearing in my favourite sources