21/7/2014 The Book of Thoth is on schedule!Yesterday, Matt ArtPix finished the typesetting of The Book of Thoth. Now it's my turn to read through and make a few corrections and adjustments.
Matt ArtPix will now finish off the cover design and we hope to have everything ready to go to the printers around 25th September after our much deserved holiday! We are on schedule, and it is getting very exciting! Also, the book looks terrific! I really cannot wait to be able to get it out there into the big wide world... 16/7/2014 Work in progress: an updateHere is a quick update on what's happening with the books! I will be taking I Am a Muse to various events in the next six months, mostly selling copies of the book on my second-hand/vintage book stall. The list of events can be found on the EVENTS PAGE on Arcane Publishing's website. The list is being updated regularly, so keep checking! Matt ArtPix is typesetting The Book of Thoth and the first completed PDF should come to me in within the next week or so. Then I'll have to check things over, adjust bits and pieces, and check the second PDF, etc. until we get the content finalised! Half the cover has been done (see above), so work will be required on this - Matt ArtPix's job again! We hope to have everything ready to go to the printer by 25th September - after our fortnight in Dorset! Fingers crossed it all goes to plan! And then today, I am starting working again on my third book, The Right Place, set in Dorset and inspired by PJ Harvey's song, The Wind.
I started work on this book during my week-long Culture lab course at Metal Southend in October 2012 and read the opening pages at the Shorelines Literary festival in November 2013 (you can read them HERE). This project had been pushed to one side while I finished The Book of Thoth, but now that TBOT is being typset, I can go back to The Right Place and throw myself in it properly (plot, research, etc.). I have a few characters already that need defining and refining and a few plot lines, but things are still pretty vague. I want the inspiring landscape of the county to play an important part in the plot, and I'd like to give the book an atmosphere of mystery and an edge that will make it stand out. A genteel book about rural idyll it won't be! In the forthcoming days, I will also work on the brief I will send artist Sam Cannon who has agreed to illustrate the cover. It's going to look amazing! The main obstacle for this project is lack of funds. I will need to spend quite some time in Dorset in order to write in a quiet environment surrounded by the landscape that is such an important part of the book, but accommodation costs a lot of money. I am still not sure how things will turn out, but we live in hope! Here's the (provisional) blurb for The Right Place - some elements in it might change: Catherine (Kat) Moorhouse is a quiet, mature fourteen year-old girl. She was only a baby when her mother, a musicologist from New Zealand, died in a car crash on a research trip. She has lived with her widowed journalist father in New York, Edinburgh and London. After a vicious bullying campaign that has left her seriously shaken and heart-broken, Kat is relieved when her father decides to move to Dorset for an indefinite period of time. The young girl soon feels at ease in her new environment and falls in love with the county’s ancestral landscape. She is particularly drawn to St Catherine’s chapel in Abbotsbury, with which she shares her name. One evening, on Chapel Hill, she meets a mysterious woman, also called Catherine, who works as a “life assistant” to a local elderly aristocrat, Ronald Sinclair. The origins of Lord Sinclair’s family are rather dubious and are the stuff of legend in the area. As her relationship with Catherine develops, Kat finds herself at the same time fascinated and repulsed by her new friend and understands that nothing is what it seems in this idyllic part of England… 9/7/2014 A very special item...A new, very special item has now been added to the Arcane Publishing's stock.
This is the story "L'Oiseau du Nord et l'Oiseau du Sud" / "The Snow Bird and the Sun Bird" narrated by Grace Kelly of Monaco! This is a bilingual vinyl from 1970, recorded by Grace of Monaco, formerly movie star Grace Kelly in two languages, French and English. There is also the illustrated book of the story in both languages; the images are by prolific Belgian artist Nadine Forster (linked article is in French). This comes from my personal collection. This is a genuinely lovely item that will enchant any story-loving child and adult! Find it on my stall at So Vintage London at Old Spitalfields market on 2nd August! We had a great day last Saturday at So Vintage London at Old Spitalfields market... We will be back there on 2nd August! On the left is our I Am a Muse display! You can read more about it and see more pictures of our stall and stock on the Arcane Publishing website HERE. 26/6/2014 Dragnet tent at Village Green update 2On Saturday 12th July, I will be working the whole day at the Dragnet tent at Village Green, and you will be able to purchase a copy of my debut novel, I Am a Muse, in the on-site bookshop! I will also have some flyers for my next book, The Book of Thoth.
25/6/2014 Dragnet at Village Green 2014: updateSo on Monday, I blogged about the fab Dragnet tent at the Village Green festival.
Yesterday, completely out of the blue, I was asked to join the team that puts it together, and I will be working the whole day at the tent on Saturday 12th July. This is such an exciting development! It will be wonderful to be surrounded and work with so many talented people... 24/6/2014 The Book of Thoth - sample pages!Matt ArtPix has been hard at work on Part I of The Book of Thoth, trying things out... It does look good... A few tweaks required but we're there, really! I am extremely pleased with the look of it!
23/6/2014 Literature at Village Green 2014!... and another literary festival for Southend-on-Sea! Is it C*******s already? Back in February, I posted THIS BLOG about the press briefing I attended at Metal Southend's HQ at Chalkwell Hall about the 2014 edition of their annual Village Green festival. Since then, Metal have been constantly adding more and more performers and artists. Head HERE if you want to know about the myriad of things happening across the festival. I mean, there is so much going on, it's already quite an event as it is. But there is more... And I know where all the Cool Cats will be on the day, no mistake... There is going to be a festival-within-the-festival. This year's Village Green will host the pilot for a new literary festival in Southend-on-Sea. Of course, we already have the fab Shorelines Festival (see here for my report of last year's edition). But it looks like in 2015, Southend's seafront might host a rather different beast of a literary festival: a Literary Noir Crime festival over a whole weekend... And what better place to try it out than Village Green? This new exciting event is the brainchild of authors Cathi Unsworth, Travis Elborough and Syd Moore. Travis Elborough says: We really wanted to work within the genre of crime and mystery fiction and produce something intelligent, stylish, with a vintage vibe that reached out to new audiences who might not normally think of going to a literary festival. This first edition promises to be a real treat. Here's a taste of the programme for the day (12pm to 8pm): Pioneering psychogeographers Chris Petit and Iain Sinclair explore the life and work of the late great Derek Raymond (considered to be the founder of the British Noir genre) among other things. Crime Writer's Assocation Gold Dagger Award winner, Lilian Pizzichini - reading Making a Killing at the Kursaal, about Southend’s famous landmark, from her family memoir, Music Night at the Apollo. The Sohemian Society Players: A Drop of Tea With Acid is a murderous brew of mystery and satire inspired by the crimes of the infamous 1940s 'Acid Bath' killer and consummate spiv John George Haigh, written by Marc Glendening and starring Callum Coates, Duncan Bolt and Emma Brown. Cathi Unsworth in conversation with Travis Elborough about the Dark Currents that run between the coast and crime fiction. Max Décharné will trace the journey of classic pulp fiction from the dimestore to the big screen, with clips and live music performance. Syd Moore and Mark Pilkington in discussion about local Fortean curiosities: witches, smugglers and highwaymen. Paul Willetts talks about his book, North Soho 999, which traces a murder that took place on the streets of Soho in the 1940s and which prompted a nationwide manhunt that eventually focused on Southend. Anna Whitwham, the author of acclaimed crime novel, Boxer Handsome, interviewed by writer Ann Scanlon about women working in the corrupt worlds of sport and popular music, where they are not always made welcome by men. And there's going to be some music! Sophie Loyer, a gypsy-blues-jazz violinist, and the fabulous The Cesarians (believe me, I've seen them but cannot find my live pictures to put on here!), a truly thrilling seven-piece band with incredible charisma and energy straight out of the best smoky 1920s-30s Berlin cabarets... They will probably be the best dressed band of the whole festival! I am supposed to cover the Village Green festival for this blog and possibly for a French music website, but I know I will be tempted to spend the whole day inside the Dragnet tent... I leave you with The Cesarians... 16/6/2014 Harmsworth Magazine vol VI was lucky enough this weekend to get my hands on a copy of the Harmsworth Magazine, volume V (it covers August 1900-January 1901). It is absolutely amazing. There's fiction and reports, all illustrated with wonderful Black and white illustrations and photography, quite astonishing for the times! Here's an in-depth article about the magazine. In other news, The Book of Thoth typesetting is being delayed a bit but we hope to catch up soon! It looks like the official pub date might be postponed to early 2015, but I still hope to get the physical books here with me by December this year to take to one or two fairs...
Talking of fairs, Arcane Publishing have now announced our next event, it will be So Vintage London at Old Spitalfields Market, London, on July 5th 2014! We are working on booking some more events, a few to confirm before we announce them... Autumn is going to be busy! |
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