Libby

You brought back so many memories Richard. Begging for my own radio so I could listen to Radio Luxembourg at night. Was the Power Play a RL thing? Anyway thanks for the chance to remember my youth!

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]

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

So. Many. Ways. That’s horrifying.

It is, isn’t it?

I suppose that once a book and an author become so well known that the text will survive whatever the publisher throws at it, things are different. The various covers for Mrs Dalloway were what I thought of straight away. They are almost always a portrait of a woman, often Woolf herself, but there are few that would positively prevent a purchase.…[Read more]

It is an excellent fox. Foxes are cool.

I think I understand really well why you wouldn’t want a human face on the cover. A huge part of the pleasure of reading a novel, is the way the characters reveal themselves to us as the story progresses. A picture of somebody, fully-formed, denies the reader that pleasure. But you can understand why…[Read more]

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

I treated myself to the podcast this morning. Wonderful story, lovely to hear it being read. SH is a fantastic home for it, one of my very favourite mags

Well done, Janette!