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In remembrance of Iain Rossouw

Paul writes:

1I woke up this morning to find tweets and blog posts that I could not at first take in, and when I could take them in, I could scarce believe them. Iain Rossouw, who headed Honeymead Books, had tackled three intruders at his home in South Africa, and had been killed in the struggle. His wife Lyz, who heads Honeymead’s sister-house P’kaboo, writes about it here. I can only imagine what she’s going through right now.

In practical terms, for the agency, this means that we must ask your forbearance – please do not make any new enquiries about P’kaboo or Honeymead for the time being. We’ll resume normal service as soon as we can. Meanwhile we will continue to act for existing clients who have books with the two houses.

Lyz and Iain are a great couple (I can’t bring myself to say ‘were’, because they will always be a couple). Lyz is a woman of great strength of character. My thoughts are with her.


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‘The Solar Wind IV’ finds a place in the heart.

solar-wind-ivReviewer Colleen Chesebro recently had the following to say about the fourth in the Solar Wind series by Lyz Russo:

Volume Four brings the pirate assassin, Federi, and his wife, the lovely genetic engineer/musician, Paean, back together at long last. When these two are apart, the Solar Wind never rides smooth on the waves beneath its bow. Something is off, though, and Federi’s gypsy intuition is pushed into overdrive to figure out what is wrong.

Suddenly, a new threat surfaces when Dana, an alien from the planet New Dome, arrives aboard the ship with an agenda all her own. The hauntingly beautiful Dana disrupts the newfound relationship between the Captain and Perdita when it is revealed that she is Rushka’s mother. Perdita is stunned and watches, filled with fury, as the Captain succumbs once again to Dana’s evil charms. Meanwhile, Rushka, pregnant with her first child remembers the cruelty she suffered at the hands of her alien mother when she was a young child.

And, if that wasn’t enough drama, mutant creatures are menacing the crew, threatening their very lives. The beings can’t be destroyed, and they regenerate themselves from a single living cell. They multiply into the thousands with only one thing on their mind – to kill. When one of the creatures attacks Federi, the team battles for his and their lives looking for solutions to save the world from certain destruction.

lyz-russo

Lyz Russo

Perdita is the key to protecting humankind from Dana’s malevolence. If they can save Federi, there is still hope…

I have been reading the Solar Wind Series for some time now, and I must say, I enjoyed Book IV, Raider, the best! The characters have long ago found a place in my heart. Once again, it is the relationship between Paean and Federi that steer the crew into new adventures. The addition of space travel and the ability to beam to any location in an instant added another layer of mystique to the plot.

Lyz Russo has created a science fiction series that continues to entertain and invite the reader into the world of the Solar Wind, and its crew. This futuristic pirate fantasy is one of my favorites!

Read more about Solar Wind IV here.


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“Snappy dialogue and excellent writing – worth trying!”

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A recent reader’s opinion of Carmen Capuano’s Split Decision:

Snappy dialogue and excellent writing – worth trying! Looking at this because I like Carmen’s The Owners series. Not sure whether it’ll appeal to male readers as much as female but she can write and her dialogue is spot on – she makes her conversations sound real…


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Aspiring cover artist wanted!

Our client Marie Marshall is looking to recruit some new artistic talent. Could that be you?

Marie Marshall's avatarMarie Marshall

2Are you an aspiring artist? Would you like to take a punt at designing a cover illustration for my latest YA/teen vampire novel, KWIREBOY vs VAMPIRE, sequel to From My Cold, Undead Hand? I have little to offer you at this point except recognition, but in that respect I would be helping you and you would be helping me.

Your illustration does not have to be fancy. In fact if you could take a cue from Millie Ho’s excellent black-and-white cover for the first book in the series (look right) you’ll see the kind of aesthetic we’re looking for.

If you would like to offer your services, please get in touch with the publisher direct.

Thank you,

MM.

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Edinburgh International Book Festival

1.1I have just spent a long fortnight in and out of the International Book Festival in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. this has become an annual thing for me, and I have a whale of a time even though I’m actually engaged in hard work. while I’m there I’m writing, tweeting, talking, taking photos, so when I get back I don’t really want to write any more. So here’s an essay in photographs rather than words, about the scenes and faces at this year’s festival.

The photos were taken on a bog-standard Nikon D50 or an iPad.

PT

2.2 Graham Swift

Graham Swift

2.4 Ian Goldin

Ian Goldin

2.1 Ali Smith

Ali Smith

1.2 a wave of beards

A wave of beards swept through Charlotte Square. I think that’s author Philip Ardagh on the right.

2.2 Iain Macwhirter

Iain Macwhirter

Chris Close’s excellent photo-portraits of visiting writers etc. were on display again this year. The exhibition was better than ever – here are just a few faces, including Alexander McCall Smith, Gavin Francis, Joan Bakewell, Wilko Johnson, Ruby Wax, and Attila the Stockbroker. Thanks for letting me use these, Chris.

4.1 Alexander McCall Smith & Gavin Francis

4.2 Joan Bakewell & Wilko Johnson

4.3 Ruby Wax & Attila the Stockbroker

And back to my own pics…

1.4 Book Shop

1.5 posing

2.10 Michael Scott

Michael Scott

2.5 Thomas Clark

Thomas Clark

2.9 Zaffar Kunial

Zaffar Kunial

1.10 relaxation

Relaxation…

1.6 photo bunch

Photo call

2.11 Jackie Kay

Scots ‘Makar’ Jackie Kay

2.13 Roy Hattersley

Roy Hattersley

1.8 staff

2.3 Louis de Bernieres

Louis de Bernières

2.7 Gordon Brown

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown

2.8 Richard & Daniel Susskind

Richard Susskind & Daniel Susskind. In the background is journalist Lee Randall, who chaired their event.

2.12 Carol Ann Duffy

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy

2.6 Roger Mason

Roger Mason

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1.7 Cloud

Late in the day we heard that actor Gene Wilder had left our world of pure imagination, maybe to watch from this cloud.


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Can you twang? Can you pick a country blues guitar?

crumb-hurt-2

If you can, head over to our client Marie Marshall’s poetry blog and see if you can put a tune to some words she came up with one night.

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ClareTalking of twanging guitars, It’s festival time here in Scotland, and Paul is out-and-about. If you spot him at The Foodies Festival in Inverleith Park, Edinburgh, or at the International Book Festival in Charlotte Square, or at Edinburgh Fringe events such as Harry Venning’s ‘Release Your Inner Cartoonist’ (the Pleasance, Venue 33) rubing shoulders with ‘Clare’ (see opposite), say hello! The twanging of guitars was what was happening at Perth’s Southern Fried Festival, which took place over the last weekend in July. It is Scotland’s biggest celebration of Americana and regularly hosts musical acts from both sides of the Atlantic. Paul was visiting on behalf of the Scottish review site ‘The Mumble’, and managed to see, and in many cases meet, some really interesting musicians, along with other  festival-goers. There were performances from the likes of Martha Fields, aka ‘Texas Martha’, Black Diamond Express, Yola Carter, Imelda May, Dean Owens, Daniel Meade & the Flying Mules, Amythyst Kiah, Andy Fairweather-Low, and many more.

2016-07-28 09 Southern Fried

One exciting pre-festival event was a press and media briefing, and premier of American Epic, a four-part documentary series which will be shown this coming winter on BBC4 in the UK and PBS in the USA. The documentary, which took ten years research, uses hitherto undiscovered archive material, and documents not only the sudden flood of recordings of blues, bluegrass, and other grassroots music, but the technology that gave rise to it – along with the reason why so much of both the archive and the technology was lost during the Depression and World War 2. Co-writer and producer Allison McGourty was interviewed after the premier, and took part in a question-and-answer session.

2016-07-28 10 Allison McGourty

Allison McGourty interviewed in Perth Concert Hall.

Paul says, “I look forward to this festival every year, and every year it seems to go from strength to strength.” Amongst the highlights for him were “… meeting and talking to Yola Carter and Martha Fields, both of whom were utterly charming… getting to know Marc Marnie, the larger-than-life photographer, who has been photographing musicians since 1977… hearing Imelda May live… eating soul food… chatting to Lloyd Reid about Hofner arch-top guitars…” Some of Paul’s memories of the weekend are captured in the photos here.

2016-07-29 02 Pete Caban

Scottish bluesman Pete Caban

2016-07-29 05 Texas Martha

Texas Martha and the House of Twang

2016-07-29 17 Soul food

Some of the soul food on offer.

2016-07-30 01a Black Diamond Express#

Black Diamond Express.

2016-07-30 15 Yola Carter*

Yola Carter.

2016-07-30 21 Imelda May*

Imelda May.

2016-07-31 01 Yola Carter

It’s Yola’s birthday!

2016-07-31 15 Daniel Meade*

Daniel Meade & the Flying Mules.

2016-07-31 17 Daniel Meade (h)

The Flying Mules’ amazing guitarist, Lloyd Reid.

Images © Paul Thompson / Bookseeker Agency


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A great review for Lyz Russo’s ‘Freedom Fighter’!

Lyz Russo’s Solar Wind novels form a series of futuristic adventures – it would be unfair to hang the simplistic label ‘fantasy’ on them – that take its principle characters on a journey of piracy and political intrigue, mystery and mayhem, revolution and romance, through an unfamiliar seascape. Latter-day Romany errants cruise the currents of the yet-to-come, running from and striking back at the world’s ruthless rulers, the Unicate. That, and more, is what the reader gets in the pages of these books. The original Mystery of the Solar Wind was the book that the word ‘unputdownable’ was invented for, and each sequel has pushed the envelope a little further.

The third book in the series, Freedom Fighter, was recently put under scrutiny by writer and reviewer Colleen M. Chesebro, and it received an almost perfect score, 4-and-a-half stars! Believe it. Click on the picture below to read the review for yourself on Colleen’s lively blog…

freedom-fighter-lwi


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I Tamburisti di FIREnze – project now running!

I just got an email from Marie Marshall about this. She says that her friend, who is co-ordinating this project, hates to ask for money in a world where there are so many causes worth supporting. “But,” says Marie, “I’m totally behind the ethos of this project and the way it keeps alive the idea that things can be done other than for money, even though they may need money to kick-start them.” Well, a literary agency works for commission – true – but there are times when a smile and a rosy glow are commission enough! Please take a little time to read the linked article, and to follow its internal links.

Paul.

Marie Marshall's avatarMarie Marshall

12010699_1465307271.6343_funddescriptionI told you in my last news update here about my contribution to Camp Thump Thump’s presentation for Burning Man 2016 I Tamburisti di FIREnze. Well, it has grown arms and legs since then. The text has tripled and the story of the Guild – part fact, mostly fiction, and a little bit Time-Lord – has been brought up to the present day. The plan of the Project Coordinator is to adapt what I have written into a large, scrapbook-like record, to be put on display at the Guild’s mobile HQ on the Playa at this year’s Burning Man, so that people who drop in to the workshop can read it and marvel! I have to say I’m honoured.

Now, the essence of Burning Man is that things are given freely. The members of the Camp Thump Thump team give up their time, energy, materials, and finished products entirely…

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Carmen Capuano secures a publishing deal with an American publisher

carmen2We’re very pleased to announce that Carmen Capuano (pictured right) has secured a publishing deal for her novel Ascension. The book will be released by American publisher Uncial.

We’ll give you more details when we have them.

Meanwhile Carmen has been hard at work giving talks to the public and readings from Split Decision. We hope to continue to have good news to pass on about Carmen, and about our other authors.