Sylvia Broady launches A Time for Peace

Sylvia Broady was born in East Yorkshire and has lived there all her life. With a career varying from child care, a police civilian and working for the NHS she then started her dream job of working in the Library Services. Sylvia’s previous novel, The Yearning Heart, was also published by Robert Hale.

To launch her latest novel, A Time for Peace, Sylvia headed to Bargain Books, King Edward Street, Hull for a signing. Here’s what happened:

As a writer and a reader, I am passionate about books and love visiting book shops, especially those like the Bargain Books shop in Hull, where I was warmly greeted by the friendly and supportive staff: Lisa, the manager, and her assistants Laura and Melanie have been so helpful with publicising my book signing event.

I knew this was going to be a successful day as soon as I entered the shop and saw a table, placed in a strategic position near the door, holding an arrangement of my books and a large stand up poster advertising my book signing.  In addition, there was another large display of my books in a prominent position by the till. Having publicised this event as widely as possible in all areas of the local media and on facebook, so all I had to do now was wait for some customers. For a fleeting moment I felt nervous, but that soon vanished as customers began to arrive.

I was very delighted with the response I received from loyal fans, and especially from people who came into the shop to browse and who bought my book. There was lots of interest in the local setting of the story, and I was happy to answer questions and to explain why I chose to set the book in Hull in the difficult period at the end of the Second World War and the beginning of peace. Also, just to assist the celebrate atmosphere, I offered delicious tempting chocolates.

I have called into the Bargain Books twice since the event and I was thrilled to be told that they have only a few books left, particularly as other sources have now sold out and are awaiting the reprints and new supplies.

This has been a most encouraging launch for my second novel. Already I have had feedback from readers who have enjoyed my novel and have also expressed an interest in my next book. So, watch this space!

– Sylvia Broady

A Time for Peace by Sylvia Broady is available to buy now. To find out more about this title, go to the Robert Hale Ltd website.

Simon Clark’s Hotel Midnight Adapted Into Play

To celebrate the spooky happenings of this Halloween, Simon Clark’s Hotel Midnight has been adapted for the theatre as part of the Manchester Horror Fringe festival.

Three stories by Simon Clark (“Simply the best writer of horror fiction at work in Britain today” – SFX) brought to the stage by Lass Productions and Scytheplays (V for Vendetta).

In Swallowing a Dirty Seed, adapted by Baz Greenland, a reclusive writer allows two lost students to stay overnight at his remote Welsh cottage – but he does not realise just how lost they are.

In They Will Not Rest, adapted by Ross Kelly, the end of the world has come and for most of the world’s population, to sleep means death – but three people have found a way to stay awake, if they can only trust each other.

And in Humpty’s Bones, adapted by Sean Mason, Eden Page discovers that her eccentric archeologist aunt has dug up something very unusual; something that, somehow, Eden knows – and it knows her…

Here is the current schedule:

Studio One @ The King’s Arms: –

Preview performance – Monday 21st October, 6pm – Studio One

Thursday 24th October, 7.30pm – Studio One

Friday 25th October, 9pm – Studio One

The Salmon Room @ The Lass O’Gowrie: –

Tuesday October 29th, 7.30pm – the Lass O’Gowrie

Thursday October 31st, 7.30pm – the Lass O’Gowrie

£8/£7 concs.

For more information on Simon Clark, check out his website here or follow him on Twitter at @hotelmidnight. The ebook for Hotel Midnight is available to buy now.

More information on the Manchester Horror Fringe Festival can be found here.

Peter Tickler Launches Blood in the Marsh… with ice-cream

On 28 October 2012, Peter Tickler launched his new crime novel, Blood in the Marsh, at George and Delila’s Ice-Cream Café in Oxford.

Launching a crime novel in an ice-cream café? Isn’t that a bit, well, odd? Maybe. But actually George and Delila’s in Oxford’s Cowley Road was the obvious place. Firstly because it appears more than once in Blood in the Marsh. Secondly because Cowley Road and East Oxford is very much the milieu which typifies my crime. And thirdly because books and ice-creams go together like … well not like bacon and eggs, but actually really well nevertheless.

The fact is that the launch was a blast! Two scoops of the best ice cream for the price of one; a sorbet named for the night after my book; loads of happy faces; a journalist from the Oxford Times; lots of books signed and sold. I am not sure what some of the students who had gone there for a quiet pore over their laptops made of it, but at the end of it I came away happy and exhausted. The first draft of the next Blood in Oxford murder is waiting on my desk calling, and finally I am able to give it my attention!

– Peter Tickler

Blood on the Marsh is available to purchase now with a limited time only discount of 30%

Pamela Fudge Turns Back Time as she Launches Her New Book at Waterstones, Poole

On 29 June, Pamela Fudge launched her new book Turn Back Time with a signing at Waterstones in Poole, Dorset. Here’s what Pamela had to say about the day:

Set in Faulklands Square, just outside of the bustling Poole Dolphin Centre, Waterstones is not unlike the Tardis from Dr Who, being deceptively roomy inside, covering two floors.

Dee Steed from Waterstones in Poole, Dorset has been a huge support to me since 2006 when she offered me my first book signing in the then Ottakers book store. The following year, when I returned with news of another publication, she invited me to throw a launch party there and it has become a yearly event. This year the launch was for Turn Back Time, my ninth novel.

I was warmly welcomed by Dee and Glen and together we set up a table for the books, another for nibbles and drinks and, finally, a table for me to sign my books. As ever, I was quite nervous, but on the dot of 4.30 people began to arrive. Anyone who knows me tends to arrive early because they know that rather than make a speech I will read a poem especially written for the occasion – they are usually on the humorous side and this year was no exception.

The support locally is phenomenal and I always try to personalise a short message in each book I sign if I know the person. They tell me how much they look forward to reading each one and are generous with their comments when they have.

When I returned to Waterstones the following week I was thrilled to see that Turn Back Time was at the top of their chart for hardback book sales for that week.

– Pamela Fudge

Turn Back Time by Pamela Fudge is available to buy now with a limited time only discount of 30%.

James Raven Book Signing in the New Forest for ‘Rollover’

James Raven was a journalist for most of his working life. After reporting for local, regional and national newspapers he moved into television in 1982 as a news scriptwriter with TVS television where he then worked his way up to become Director of News across Meridian, Anglia and HTV. When Granada took over most of ITV he became Managing Director of Granada Sport before setting up his own production company. James spends much of his time writing and travelling and also performs magic at various venues across the country.

Here, James tells us about his book signing in the New Forest – where his book, Rollover, is set.

I went to Lymington in the New Forest for my first ever book signing on 21 April. My book, Rollover, is a crime thriller set in Southampton and the New Forest – so it was the obvious place to start a local promotional campaign. The signing was at the Waterstones store on the High Street and luckily for me it was market day and therefore quite busy.

I was very nervous to begin with but the response I got was terrific. There was a lot of interest partly because of the book’s setting in the forest and partly because of the lottery theme which strikes a chord with many.

Since I’m also a semi-professional magician, I did a few tricks for the youngsters who were there with their parents.

Overall, I was pleased with the way it went and I’m looking forward to the next signing at Waterstones in West Quay, Southampton on June 16.

– James Raven

Rollover is out now in Hardback. Raven’s next book, Urban Myth, is currently scheduled for release in September 2012, also in Hardback.

Carole Llewellyn Launches ‘For the Love of Catherine’ in Devon

Carole Llewellyn was born in Bridgend, South Wales and previously worked in PR and in the theatre before becoming a successful businesswoman. She has written a variety of short stories for national magazines and newspapers including The Daily Telegraph and Woman’s Weekly and is now a full-time writer. Her previous novels, Megan and Rhiannon were also published by Robert Hale Ltd.

Here’s what happened when Llewellyn’s new book For the Love of Catherine was launched at the Torbay Book Shop in Paignton, Devon on 4th April:

My book launch party, held by Matthew Clarke at The Torbay Bookshop, Devon (one of the top independent booksellers), was a resounding success. All were invited to meet me for a glass of wine and a chat. The turn out surpassed all my expectations. The atmosphere in shop was buzzing and my pen was kept busy. A great night! A big thank you to all those who attended.

– Carole Llewellwyn

Carole Llewellyn is currently working on her next novel ‘WOMEN OF STRAW’…

FOR THE LOVE OF CATHERINE OFFICIAL PLOT – SYNOPSIS

14^th APRIL, 1912.

RMS Titanic Struck by an Iceberg!

In the chaos of the sinking ship, Mair Parsons is separated from her infant daughter, Catherine, and her travelling companion and future mother-in-law, Ethel Jenkins, the kind woman who has tried to compensate Mair for the mother’s love she has never known.

The disaster changes all their lives. During her repatriation to Britain Mair has time to reassess her life and knows that before she can find true happiness she must find out the truth about her absent mother, even if it means leaving her beloved Wales and the fiancé and family who care for her.

Her search takes her to London where she becomes a Nightingale Nurse at St Thomas’s hospital and meets the exciting doctor, Andrew Baxter. With new love and a new career, can she be truly happy? Or will her heart be forever bound to those she loves in Wales?

Em Marshall Signs Copies of Music in the Landscape in Dorset

Em Marshall is the Founder-Director of the acclaimed English Music Festival, Director of the CD label EM Records and Chairman of both the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society and Granville Bantock Society. Marshall recently headed down to Dorset to sign copies of her book Music in the Landscape.

Here’s what happened when The Book Shop welcomed Em Marshall to the Dorset landscapes…

As a relative newcomer to Dorset, I hadn’t yet had the chance to sample the delights of Bridport, so was delighted when my first book-signing event was confirmed for The Book Shop in that very town, on Saturday 17^th March. Despite being a rather overcast and chilly March morning, the town was absolutely packed – partly, it appeared, due to a popular street market, purveying everything from bananas to rusting old saws and door knobs! The Book Shop is centrally located on the charming and ancient main street, and I was warmly welcomed by Ross and his assistant Anne, who looked after me very well. We had good interest, with a variety of customers ranging from those who already knew me (pleasant surprises to see them!), through those who had never met me but had ordered the book in advance (it took me some time to wipe the grin off my face after one woman called me her ‘hero’ and ‘the person who has done most for English music in recent years with the sole exception of Richard Hickox’!), through to composers who just happened to be passing and noticed the poster in the window! I found it rewarding and interesting talking to these good folk about English music and the countryside, and the links between these. Several  had relatives who were composers and told me their stories of how their particular part of England inspired said relative. On the whole, it was a morning pleasantly spent – made all the better by an ensuing bag of chips on a nearby cliff!

– Em Marshall

Music in the Landscape is available to buy now in hardback, with a foreword by Jeremy Irons and introduction by Jonathan Dimbleby.

MUSIC IN THE LANDSCAPE

Music in the Landscape is an exuberant celebration of British composers and the landscape. The book explores the lives of some of our nation’s greatest musical names and sets them within the context of the rich variety of their native countryside – wherein Britain’s vast variation of colour, light and contour, from gentle rounded valleys to bleak mountain landscapes and wild coastland, has resulted in great masterpieces that brim with expression and emotion.

Although readers may be aware of Elgar’s love of the Malverns or Britten’s identification with the Suffolk coast, nearly all British composers of the early- to mid-twentieth century were influenced by the landscapes in which they were born or chose to live, and so this book effectively presents a history of the Golden Renaissance of English music.

Marshall delves into particular places that were vital to the inspiration of musical landmarks – such as Tintagel, instrumental to Bax’s eponymous tone-poem; Maiden Castle of John Ireland’s Mai-Dun; and Egdon Heath, Holst’s evocation of the wild Dorset heathland described by Hardy in The Return of The Native. These works, and many others highlighted in this illuminating volume, epitomise the intimate relationship between nature and music that compels the attention of music-lovers throughout the world.