Things have been happening in The Smoke (that’s London) this week. Paul made a flying visit and met up with almost-legendary musician, film-maker, and DJ Don Letts in the unlikely setting of Willesden Green Working Man’s Club. The issue of the day was the filming of a documentary for BBC4, tracing the roots of ‘skinhead’ culture back to the late 1960s. Don remembers those days well, and wanted to set the record straight. The documentary is being made by the 7Wonder production company, and it is due to be screened some time around September this year.
Before setting off back to the glens, Paul also called in on publishers Oneworld to drop of a book there for Jenny Parrott, who is handling their POINT BLANK series. And there was a moment of magic at Kings Cross Station – no not on Platform 9-and-three-quarters, but out in the concourse, where someone was flying a Harris Hawk. The lovely bird swooped low over travellers’ heads, perched on top of the Departures Board, returned to the falconer’s hand, and suffered itself to be the subject of photos and selfies.
Hard on the heels of news of our client Marie Marshall’s success at Winter Words comes a review from an enthusiastic reader of her YA vampire novel From My Cold, Undead Hand. Here’s an extract:
These are exciting times for our client Carmen Capuano. She has been invited to have a book-signing event at the Women of the Year Awards! This is an honour she certainly deserves.
Firstly there is Split Decision by Carmen Capuano, a new novel for the young adult readership.
As you might guess from her name Mrs Polly Pink-Witch is a witch. In the summer she makes her delicious Pink Wish ice cream and likes nothing better than traveling from town to town in her bright pink ice cream van.
We’re looking for at least 100 people to help Carmen Capuano‘s new novel Split Decision launch with a bang on 4th of July. We’re doing it using the Thunderclap web application, and we need your support. There’s no money involved, no catch, and only a couple of minutes of mouse-clicking to do. But we have to gather those 100 by the 4th in order for this promotional tool to work.
In addition to wanting submissions in the 
Split Decision by Carmen Capuano is only a proof-edit and a cover short of e-publication. The cover artist will be available only at the end of June; however this gives us time to raise some publicity. Split Decision is YA, though I’d actually like to classify it as YA crime fiction; a girl (Natalie) is faced with a choice of two dates, and decides to… go on both. That is, the author follows this young lady down both possible decisions, and while the one date very quickly turns sinister, the other, apparently sweet and halcyon, has its surprises too, things that in an ideal world, a young girl just short of sixteen should never have to encounter. Capuano manages to balance these two contrasting paths with delicate skill, not losing traction in either for even a moment. A manuscript I could not put down, even though it was long past midnight and I was overtired.
Darx Circle by Leslie Hyla Winton Noble has been waiting far too long, and many of you have been following its development from the very first idea, on Colonialist’s blog. It is darker and far more serious than the light-hearted YA fantasy we are used to from this versatile author. I’m almost tempted not to place it in YA at all but into general fantasy; but it would be doing it an injustice as firstly the protagonists are young teenagers, and secondly it relates closely to the fantasy worlds he created in “Baa Baa Black Belt”, “Regina” and “Forest Circle Quest”. Tyrannical young Tyrentia accompanies the dreamer Hugh and his friend Dengana onto a quest to discover what is going wrong in the Darx realm. Their epic journey, laced with danger and heartbreak, leads them into the dark heart of the realm, and straight into the palaces of the evil forces trying to corrupt the very core of nature. During this journey Tyrentia also undergoes an inner journey, coming to terms with the evil that lies in her own personal past…
And then there is Marie Marshall’s gripping new YA vampire novel,
We are actively looking for an upmarket crime or suspense novel, on behalf of a publisher who will be branching out into this genre in early 2016, but who is already considering manuscripts. By ‘upmarket’ they mean the well-written, well-plotted, sophisticated end of the genre. Might that include your work? If those three criteria apply, then contact us – but it has to be with a damn good book!
Bookseeker Literary Agency 