Bite Marks...

A fantastic new book has just been released from my publisher - 'Bite Marks' by Drew Cross.

Info on 'Bite Marks' and Drew can be found on the below link.

http://www.nightpublishing.com/drew-cross.html

Because the Night …...

My publisher, Night Publishing, is setting up links with the Radisson Edwardian hotel chain to offer books of the month.  The details, to what I think is a fantastic idea, are below.

 

There has been an extremely interesting development in the book world – the prestigious hotel group Radisson Edwardian have set up a book club whereby they give all their guests at their Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street Hotel, London, a courtesy book of the month.

Why Bloomsbury? Well, based on the Bloomsbury literary group of the early 20th century, as you might suspect.

It a bit boggles the mind how the literary editor of the Radisson Edwardian Book Club, Chris Moss of trendy London guide Time Out, chooses a book to meet the tastes of all 14,000 guests who stay there each month, but it has to be a lovely idea for people like us who enjoy a good book and, it has to be said, a good hotel, starving authors that we are.

There you are, you arrive at the hotel tired and in need of instant relaxation, the TV doesn’t appeal, you’ve seen all the movies, what you need is a good book – hey presto, here it is and, if those guests are exceptionally lucky, it will be a Night Publishing book too.

Oh come on, nobody gets that lucky.

Funnily enough, though, that is why Night Publishing is so-called. It was originally set up to supply fun business books to business travellers in hotels – not the stuff that you hang on your wall as a trophy in the unlikely pretence that you have actually read it – all ten pages that matter out of 500 anyway – but really entertaining business-related books like Matt Beaumont’s ‘Company’ or Maxx Barry’s ‘Syrup’.

Well, that idea never took off – why would a hotel be interested in offering its guests books? – but it lingered on in the publisher’s name and in its Relax at Night book showcase brand.

Http://relaxatnight.weebly.com

Full circle. Here is the Radisson Edwardian Book Club keen to indulge its guests in a good book like T.S. Elliot’s poems (they really want you to have a good night’s sleep, those guys) or ‘A Room With A View’ (geddit?), and here is Night eager once again to step up to the mark to supply them at least occasionally with just the sort of book that will make their guests happiest, a naturally talented and tasty treat from a much cherished free range author.

Happy ever after.

And what books are Night suggesting first to the Radisson Edwardian Book Club?

Well, there is Charlotte Castle’s ‘Simon’s Choice’, the broad appeal family drama which asks “Would you accompany your dying child to heaven?”

http://www.nightpublishing.com/charlotte-castle.html

Then there is Danny Bent's 'You've Gone Too Far This Time, Sir!' chronicling the everyday adventures and misadventures of Danny Bent as he cycled 10,000 miles from London to Chembakolli in Southern India with a very sore bum and chased across mountain tops by a masked robber on horseback (headline - 'Vicious bum chases aching bum').

http://www.nightpublishing.com/danny-bent.html

Third suggestion: 'The Bookie's Runner', Brendan Gisby's seminal portrait of a man of no importance - his father - who thought he had worked out how to get one big win on the horses before he died, and he was right, but …...

http://www.nightpublishing.com/brendan-gisby.html

And then the truly outrageously good, as-Jane-Austen-would-have-written-it-if-she-had-been-born-in-Atlanta-Georgia, 'The Wilful Daughter', where a successful middle-class blacksmith is absolutely determined to marry off his five eligible and beautiful daughters to the right suitors in the appropriate order, and his fifth, most attractive and wilful, daughter is equally set on having it, and the man she loves, her way.

http://www.nightpublishing.com/georgia-daniels.html

Finally a lyrical fable, a plea for friendship across races, however unlikely that might be, a book for all ages and all time, George Polley's 'The Old Man & The Monkey'.

http://www.nightpublishing.com/george-polley.html

Hell, I would stay in the Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street just to read those books.

P.S. Actually I would like to add a personal story of my experience with the Radisson Edwardian hotel group. I used to live between France, Belgium and the UK, so travelled a lot into London Heathrow, London Luton, London Stansted and London Gatwick airports. One day I arrived at Heathrow desperate to get onto the Internet and to have some lunch. I had travelled past the Radisson Edwardian hotel at Heathrow many times and it looked really pretty, so on that basis alone I bowled in there and said “I don’t suppose you will accept this from a non-resident, but I would love to get on the Internet and I would love to have lunch, will you help me?” They were charm itself, they offered me my own office and a not expensive lunch, and I did everything I had to do in 3-4 hours. They are still my favourite Heathrow airport hotel (and I do have experience of a few others).

Anyway, if you think that the Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street Hotel might be worth a free book, here it is:

http://www.radissonedwardian.com/london-hotel-gb-wc1b-3qd/gbmarlbo

Holiday Blues

Hi peeps,

I’m back from a great holiday with the family and have a case of the holiday blues. I’m trying to cheer myself up by looking at holidays for next year.  Who of us doesn’t do that, eh??

We went to Lanzarote, if you haven’t been then I highly recommend going.  It’s a beautiful place, and the people are very friendly.  We stayed in Mashasha, it’s about a twenty minute drive from Puerto del Carmen.  It’s a mountainous area and some of the views were amazing.  Especially at dusk, watching the sun fade behind the hills.

Okay, so I’m starting to etch the blues up a notch, and I’m also not a travel blog, so I’ll quit there and get back to the writing, that’s the one thing I have missed!

Had A Bad Day...

I woke up this morning, to discover that our bank account has been defrauded.  They got our details via an online purchase.  The dangers of shopping online!  It did happen to me once before about four years ago but that was my credit card.  This money was actually taken from my bank account, which contains our money that pays the bills, buys the food, etc. 

It makes me very angry, and also worries the heck out of me that these people could just dip their hand into my account and help themselves to our hard earned cash.

Fortunately for us the stolen money was covered by insurance and will be refunded back.  But that’s not the point.  Theft is theft.

All I can say is please be careful about who you buy from online, and ALWAYS pay using Visa/Mastercard/AMEX, so you’re covered in case of theft. 

Here’s hoping for a better day tomorrow!

Japan...

Today has been a day that the people of Japan will surely never forget, and undoubtedly the rest of the world.

Mother Nature sure is peeved at the moment, and I think it’s at times like this when we need to think about how we treat each other, and the world we live in.  Maybe if we showed the world some respect, then she’d show us some back.

My heart goes out to everyone who is caught up in this terrible tragedy. x

I'm in book cover hell...

Today I've been looking at pictures for possible covers for 'The Bringer'.  Sounds exciting right?  Well it was when I thought I knew what I wanted, but then I made the foolish error of 'browsing' and after looking at reams and reams of pictures I'm feeling pretty confused! Oh well best get back to it, this covers not gonna make itself!

Hope everyone is having a lovely day :)

Virgin Blogger

Today is my first official blog.  Eeek! 

I have spent most of today setting up this webpage; several cups of coffee later and teetering on a nervous breakdown, I’m just about there! No writing has happened today and I really need to get a shift on with ‘A Single Bite’ as I’m back at work (part-time) in 4 weeks and 2 days, and counting L  Which means I’ll have less time, than I already have, to spend writing.  Best stop moaning about it and get writing then! 

I’ll keep you posted on the publication progress of 'The Bringer' and any other developments of my books as they happen.