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Archive
Behind-The-Books Blog
Articles by chiara
Blindness and Seeing
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Last night I watched the film Blindness - about an epidemic that spreads through a city causing people to suddenly go blind. It is a harrowing story that follows a group of people infected with blindness who have been quarantined and abbandoned in an asylum - a place which quickly descends into squallor and where [...]
Crime-writing Short Story Competition
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Lancashire Libraries has been focusing on crime fiction and true crime this year, recommending a variety of books in all crime sub-genres (from classic crime to psychological thrillers), hosting special author events and organising other (legal of course) crime-related activities…
And here’s the latest: Crime-writer Zoë Sharp, author of the hugely acclaimed thrillers featuring female bodyguard [...]
Where did I put my…??
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Yesterday I left home to go to work, got to Wimbledon station and then realised I’d left my travel card at home, in the pocket of another jacket. Arrrgh! Great start to the day. I am forced to text my colleagues to admit my oversight, letting them know I have to head home again so [...]
One Foot Wrong and Room - two books, same story?
Friday, August 13th, 2010
Last year we published the uniquely memorable book One Foot Wrong, by Sofie Laguna - a novel both exceedingly dark and exceedingly beautiful, and the kind which lingers with you once you’ve turned the last page. It was (as we never failed to say to anyone we’d speak to about it) unlike anything we’d read [...]
Rediscovering Julia Child
Thursday, August 12th, 2010
Earlier this week, I watched the movie Julie & Julia - in which Meryl Streep brilliantly plays the larger-than-life character and American National Treasure, Julia Child. Being the food-lover that I am, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie - not least because I grew up seeing the Joy of Cooking (mentioned several times in the movie [...]
The pleaures of direct customer contact
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
The People’s Friend magazine recently picked A Moment of Silence as their Book Club choice for July (including a reader offer if the public bought the book direct from us) and we’ve since been bombarded with calls, cheques and online purchases of said book. Besides the obvious thrill of knowing the moment one of our [...]
Root canals, fillings and….fangs.
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
As I thumbed through my free copy of Stylist on the tube yesterday, I came across a rather surprising news story. Apparently, teenagers across the United States have been flocking to cosmetic dentists this summer in order to get….vampire veneers. Yes, you heard right - that’s fangs - at $200 (£135) a pop.
The result of [...]
Does my computer do it on purpose?
Friday, July 30th, 2010
This week has been a bit of a more technical week for me…ie I’ve been glued to the computer working on a lot of web related content ready for our August highlights and also on one of our fab Morganville Vampire Competition prizes, the Morganville Yearbook (School Diary).
That means a lot of work in Content [...]
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
I was incredibly suprised to read in The Bookseller that Penguin will be publishing Where The Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein for the first time in the UK this autumn. Surprised, because I couldn’t believe the book had never been published here before!
This book - a collection of quirky, funny and imaginative poems inextricably tied [...]
It’s official: I am a Survivor
Friday, July 9th, 2010
Last night, the rest of the A&B girls and I, sauntered off (yes, we sauntered) to the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith to attend the hit show How to Survive A Zombie Apocalypse - an interactive seminar on surviving the undead.
If you haven’t seen this show - all I can say is G0. Go now. Because [...]
Creative fan mail
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
It’s always lovely to receive fan mail from readers who love our books, and such a pleasure forwarding them on to our authors. But one particular fan letter was such a delight that I can’t help but share it on the blog. Here is the card we received from Brian Howard-Heaton - fan of Edward [...]
Spotlight on The Lit & Phil
Monday, June 28th, 2010
The Guardian ran a lovely little piece over the weekend about The Lit & Phil (a.k.a .The Literary & Philosophical Society). It flagged up this Newcastle Library as a wonderful example of a library which has retained its traditional aura as a sort of home outside your home - a place “where you are implicitly [...]
News from the Morganville Vampire Tour…
Friday, June 11th, 2010
It doesn’t have to be ALL about the World Cup you know…
No, there are other exciting things happening this month - such as the Morganville Vampires 2010 UK Tour.
Rachel Caine, bestselling author of the Morganville Vampire series, has been busy for the past two weeks traipsing around the country meeting her legions of Morganville-mad fans. [...]
It’s official: Martin Edwards is the Ultimate Criminal Mastermind
Monday, May 24th, 2010
I love pub quizzes. I’m absolutely rubbish at them but I do have a competitive streak so enjoy the thrill of trying (albeit in vain) of winning. Apparently, I need coaching from author Martin Edwards.
Yesterday Martin won the Criminal Mastermind quiz at Bristol’s CrimeFest for the second year running. He was up against authors Cara [...]
My Raw Food Challenge
Friday, May 21st, 2010
Bar my recent attendance at the launch of the new Saf Restaurant in Kensington, the “raw movement” is probably one of the few culinary arenas I’ve not really explored. So, after browsing on Amazon, I decided to add to my collection of cookbooks the book Ani Phyo’s Raw Food Kitchen.
The health benefits of eating more [...]
At the launch of the new Saf Restaurant
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
I recently attended the launch of the new Saf Restaurant in High Street Kensington - serving only natural vegan raw foods. The original Saf restaurant in London is in Shoreditch, but this new branch can be found on the top floor of Wholefoods in the area of the Food Hall previously taken up by the ‘home’ store [...]
Happy Freedom Day!
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Today is Freedom Day - South Africa’s National Holiday. So, tonight I’m inviting a few of my South African friends over for dinner to celebrate - really just an excuse to impress them and cook up some recipes from our new release The South African Illustrated Cookbook, by Lehla Eldridge.
On tonight’s menu: Darling Evita’s Dried [...]
Volcanoes, The Digital Future, and good ideas
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
The last day of the London Book Fair is always the quieter of the three days, but as I walked through the hall at Earl’s Court it was obvious that the travel mayhem caused by Iceland’s volcano had hit the fair more than I had expected. There were empty stands - still unpacked where foreign [...]
Ready for the London Book Fair
Friday, April 16th, 2010
The London Book Fair is upon us - kicking off this Monday for three days. Unlike the editorial and sales/rights team who will be busy with back-to-back meetings with literary agents, rights managers, foreign publishers etc., I get an easy ride at this event.
I’ll just popping along on Wednesday, attending the Publisher’s Publicity Circle (PPC) [...]
Richard Jay Parker v Paulho Coelho…
Friday, April 9th, 2010
What a result! Richard Jay Parker has been shortlisted for the Author Blog Awards, in light of his popular microblogging on Twitter @bookwalter!
If you didn’t know this already - read our News.
If you did know this already - well, it would be remiss of me to not mention it here too - it is, after [...]
Currently we are...
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...reading
The Slap , by Christos Tsolkias Lara: An excellent reading group choice as there’s much to discuss. Clever, yes. Would I recommend it? Not so sure. Very interesting subverting of characters but it’s taken me till around the middle of the book to start really getting in to it.
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