Gill James's Blog, page 13

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (1 & 2) by Francesca Cavallo and Elena Favilli

2016, 2017, Key Stage 2, ages 9-11, upper primary, fluent reader,   
These are gorgeous books. They are hardback and have smooth, pleasing to the touch covers.  Each one contains 100 double spreads, featuring a page about a woman who has made a difference and a full page portrait of her. A variety of artists have been commissioned to produce the portraits.  On almost every portrait there is a quote from the woman featured.   The range is wide and includes Margaret Thatcher, J K Rowling and Billie Jean King. In both books the women are listed in alphabetical order by first name.      
How should one read these books? 
I admit to reading both in just a few sittings but perhaps the titles suggest that one story at a time should be digested just before the reader goes to bed.  Are these books just for the girls? Maybe. They are indeed aspirational. But maybe the boys should read them too so that they can appreciate what women can do. Ideally as well each woman should be scrutinised carefully and each entry should be discussed in detail – between mother and daughter, maybe, but also between class teacher and the whole class?   
The concept started as a crowd-funded project and each book lists all of the backers.  It has now been taken over by Particular Books, an imprint of Penguin.       

News 5 March 2019

We have now found a house to buy and fingers crossed it all goes through quickly. We put in our offer ten days ago and it was accepted. We’re awaiting a structural survey. This can’t be done until next week as the sellers are away in Australia. But they have said they’ll move out and stay with relations even if they haven’t found a place.      So, I’m taking break from writing to do some decluttering. We’ve suddenly become ruthless and it is very liberating.  However, I am actually sitting here writing this.  There may be a little more disruption when we actually move for a few days.                    News about my writing I’ve actually had two short stories accepted for publication this month. I’ll let you know when they are out.  Weekly offers on our book I have now started work on this and there have been several postings: https://www.scribblersbooksbooksbooks.co.uk/I advertise via Twitter and Facebook and have started to build up an email list. And I’ll let you into a secret: many of the offers are permanent though we only push them for a week.                  Catalogue of books for children I’ve added several titles to this over the last month. It is growing apace. You can find it here.  Do take a look if you’re into children’s books.  Useful links for writersMy list of links for writers is also growing steadily. Find it here.  This month I’ve put in a few festivals, conferences and courses.   1940s Group Just a reminder: this is a Facebook group for all people who write about the 1940s. Fiction and non-fiction, for young and old. Topics might then be: the Holocaust, World War II, Civilian Experience (all sides) and the battle front. We can exchange ideas about research and marketing. We may promote books and stories, - the last day of every month and on launch / release day. If you feel that is you, do join us: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2026868870924138/Please answer the three questions.      Of course, with my Schellberg Cycle I'm constantly in that world.        Dreamteam Find members here.     This is a personal recommendation. Initially I intend to use my Dream Team a lot myself but gradually I would add in people that friends and friends of friends have recommended. What happens? You sign up to a mailing list and every time a request comes in we mail it out to you or the enquirer contacts you directly via my web site. The conversation then carries on between you and the person making the request. You may also have a page set up on my blog and you may update that once a year.  Interested? You may sign up for more than one category.  Beta readers sign up here.Reviewers sign up here. Editors sign up here.Illustrators sign up here.Designers sign up here.Proof-readers sing up here.    DO REMEMBER THAT AT ANY TIME YOU’RE APPROACHED AND YOU’RE BUSY IT’S PERFECTLY FINE TO SAY NO.   I’ve recently added Yvonne Walus as a reviewer. She is happy to review crime, contemporary women's and science fiction. Quirky romance and erotica could work as well.
News from all of our writersDo keep sending news about your publications and events. Remember to supply a link to where reader can buy the book or where people can sign up for an event.   
         Bridge House We have one call for submission out at the moment: Our annual anthology this year will have the theme of “Nativity”. Again we don’t just want retellings of the Christmas story or about what went right or wrong at the local nativity play though such stories would also be welcome.  Full details of how to submit are here: http://www.bridgehousepublishing.co.uk/index.php/call-for-new-submissions   The entries for the Waterloo Festival are in now. We had 89 in the end. I’d hoped for a few more but in fact that is a good number to work with. We have a pleasing mixture of people we’ve published before and writers new to us. I’m really looking forward to reading the entries.         
We’re still getting plenty of interest in our single-author collections. These are now only for authors we’ve published before and they may include stories we’ve already published, ones they’ve had published elsewhere and new ones. The description for this is now on the web site. http://www.bridgehousepublishing.co.uk/index.php/single-author-collectionsYou may recycle stories we’ve already included in another anthology, and you may reedit these if you wish. You may also add in new stories. We’re aiming at a total word count of between 30,000 and 70,000 words.
Your work will go through three stages of editing, and will be proof-read twice in-house. We design the book and the cover. We hook it up to all the distributing channels and we complete first-level marketing. We are risking all of this on you as well as the set-up costs and the copies to the British Library and Legal Deposit Agency.   
You’ll probably not get rich quick: anthologies by new authors do not sell in big numbers initially. Each month we post to a dropbox information about books’ performance. A link is sent with the monthly newsletter. See below for how to access this newsletter.          We have a huge backlog so please be patient. You can always check our progress at: http://apublishersperspective.blogspot.co.uk/p/work-flow.html
      CaféLit Stories are at 4.00 p.m. Afternoon Teatime, Kaffee and Kuchen time and it's also when the kids are home from school. Just the right time for a cuppa and a good story. In February we had stories from:  Mehreen Ahmed, Jude Alderman, James Bates, Brandy Bonifas, Jo Dearden, Dawn De Braal, Gill James, Rosemary Johnson, Amanda Jones, Shawn Klimek, Mark Kodama, Wendie Lovell,eLucy, Kim Martins, Roger Noons,  Khalilah Okeke, Penny Rogers, Copper Rose, L F Roth, Allison Symes and Andrea Williams.   

Highest performing posts in February were:Saachi  by Wendie Lovell  189 The Daily Grind by Brandy Bonifas  132 The Food Demonstrator by Kim Martins 101 The Slippery Pole by Mark Kodama  97Angel Feathers by Khalilah Okeke  87
A reminder to o those people who appeared in The Best of CaféLit7 to cast their votes about hat to put in into The Best of CaféLit 8. You have until 30 April. I have yet to cast my own!   A Walk in the Woods by Jo Dearden Airport Sandwich by Pat Jourdan Bats Downunder by Mehreen Ahmed Budgies and Bingo by Alyson Faye Dignity and Injustice by Allison Symes Father Van Der Bosch’s Last Christmas by Robin Wrigley Gemini Rising by Paula Readman God works in mysterious ways especially at Christmas by Robin Wrigley Goodbye My Lush by  Shawn  Klimek Induction Day by  Janet Howson  Jeopardy in Pink b Penny Rogers Losing Tony by Gill James Marking Time by Janet Howson No Room for Them by Dawn Knox On Time by Lisa Williams Redemption by Richard Hough Rose Tinted Glass by Linda Payne  Remembrance Day by Jim Bates Salisbury Plain, February 1946 by Laura Gray Self Assessment by Peppy Barlow She says we’ll get there soon by Hannah Retallick The Art Critic by Allison Symes The First Time by Patricia Gallagher The Lady in Red by Caroline S Kent Years & Years by Kim Martins Yellowjackets by James Bates
Note these are in alphabetic order, not number of votes. A quick reminder of how stories are promoted:  if when I go to my editor’s dashboard I see that a story has fewer than 20 hits, I put it on my own Twitter feed and the Facebook page.   Our stories are generally spread in the following ways: 36 people have signed up to have the stories fed from the blog site  I tweet about the site from time to timesome members visit daily or when they have time  authors make efforts – blog, website, FB, email signature, word of mouthcasual readers come across the site      one story being read leads to another  Maybe you could all share your ideas of how to make us more visible and tell us what you do? Shawn Klimek has been in touch and told us that he shares his stories not only on his own tiny(his word) Facebook page but with the many Facebook groups he’s a member of. These groups allow members to promote their work. He says if he gets into a Best of anthology he’ll add this to his author page up on Amazon. Well, Shawn, if you take a look at the chart above, you will see that you will soon be putting more on your author page.     You can read all of the stories here.
And here's a reminder of how we select stories: I open my inbox and I'll often see four or five submissions. I'll select the best of the bunch and schedule it for in a few days' time. I'll let you know. I may reject one or two but ones that are basically sound I'll keep forever or until they’re published.  Consequently if one you've submitted to us has not been rejected, and you find a home for it elsewhere, let us know the name of the story and the date you submitted and we'll remove it from the archive. Try to include the drink each time. Do put CaféLit in the subject line so we can identify your submission. Remember to include your bio (50-100 words including links for longer stories, just links for 100 words or less) each time. I haven't got time to look up an old one and in any case your bio is probably changing all the time. If all stories are equally good I may select a new writer. If there is no new writer I’ll go for the one that is easiest to post. It should be in the body of your email and set out thus. I’ve added notes in brackets and red.    (title, by-line, and drink centred. Note lower case for “by” and drink)  Snowflakes by Jim Bates camomile tea(I don’t mind which font – in fact I like the variety as we move from story to story)   Back then, back when he was just a gangly kid and before he became an artist, I felt I had a job to do - teach my son to be better at sports than I ever was. I'd been a second string jock during high school so on the day Joey was born I vowed to teach him how to play football, baseball, basketball and hockey better than I'd ever been able to. My underlying thought was that maybe one day he'd become a superior athlete, someone I could be not only proud of, but could also brag about to anyone who would listen. You can imagine my horror (or maybe not, but let me tell you, it was real) when Joey, try as he might, proved to be even less athletically gifted than his old man. (Note the paragraphs are both indented and have a line space afterwards.  Either or both are good. This translates well on to the Blogger platform)               He was nine years old when, after pre-season hockey tryouts, the awful truth finally reared its ugly head. Joey dejectedly skated over to where I'd been watching from behind the boards and said, "Dad, I'm sorry, I really am. I'm trying, but those other guys are just way better than me."            One look at the fluid motions of the other kids on the rink, skating comfortably backward better than Joey could ever skate forward, and I had to finally admit it - my son was not now, nor would he ever be, a hockey player. Which was his best sport. Football, baseball and basketball? Forget about it. The reality of the situation was painfully apparent. Joey would never be the star athlete I once imagined he'd be.            I swallowed my disappointment and put my arm around his thin shoulders, hugging him a little. "That's okay, son. Really. Let's head home," I told him, trying to man up, along with beginning to adjust my game plan for him. Now that sports were out of the picture what could I get him interested in? Chess, maybe? Cribbage? Orienteering? I drew a blank. None of them sounded too exciting.            I went into the locker room with him while he changed out of his gear. When we sat on the bench, he unzipped his equipment bag and I saw a notebook.            I pointed, "What's that?"            "Oh, nothing," he shrugged. "It's just my sketchbook from art class."            "Art class? You're kidding." I hadn't a clue. Having trouble drawing a stick figures, myself, I'd never once imagined he'd enjoy anything like painting or whatever.            He grinned, "Yeah, Dad, for my drawings. Here, let me show you." He opened it. "Lately, I've been sketching snowflakes and winter scenes. I'm thinking about maybe using them for cards for the holidays. Tell me what you think."            He laid the sketchbook on my knees and went about getting changed. I paged through his drawings, each one more impressive than the previous. He'd used what looked to be a pen and ink to create intricate snowflakes all with six pointed tips. Each one was unique and amazingly detailed. The snowflake sketches were followed by a series of charcoal drawings of winter scenes, mostly landscapes in the country, some with farmhouses, some with people, some with animals. One even had a horse drawn sleigh. He'd used colored pencils to make the scenes come alive with subtle tones of greens and browns and reds and blues. To my way of thinking they were utterly charming and made me think of those Currier and Ives calendars.             I turned to him, "Joey, these are amazing. How long have you been drawing like this?"            He laughed, "Ever since I can remember, Dad. Since I was a little kid." Then he was quiet for a moment before adding, "Mom kind of got me started."            Oh. Gail. My wife and Joey's mother. She'd passed away four years earlier when he was only five. In many ways we were still coping.            I looked at him seriously. "These really are wonderful, son," I told him.            "Thanks, Dad," he said as we stood up to leave.            He grabbed his heavy hockey bag, hoisted it over his shoulder, tilting to the right a little under its weight, and started for the door. I held his sketchbook in my hands, aware that I was holding something special, something that really was what my son was all about, not just some sad, preconceived sports fantasy of his father's. I suddenly had an idea. "Hold on a minute." He stopped and I took the bag from him. (It really was pretty heavy.) "How about if on the way home we stop at Blick's Art Supply and check out what they've got, maybe get you some supplies. What do you think about that?"            Joey picked up his hockey stick and looked at me questioningly. He knew how much I loved sports. "You sure, Dad?"            "Yeah," I said, biting a metaphorical bullet, "Looks like we've got an artist in the family."            Joey grinned as we walked to the car. His step seemed lighter, somehow, like a weight had been lifted, and I don't just mean the equipment bag. It was good to see him so happy.            Next to the art store was a sporting goods exchange. We parked and while Joey went inside and looked around for art supplies, I went next door to see if I could sell his hockey equipment, which I did. Then I hurried next door to met him. But before I went inside I stopped a minute, looked through the window and watched as he perused the aisles, happily caressing the paints and brushes and sketchpads and canvases. He seemed in another world, one that he felt comfortable in. Natural.            I headed for the front door. Once inside, I'd get him to show me what all the art supplies were used for. Maybe I'd buy him an easel or something to get him set up properly for his art work. He was a good kid. I guess I had a lot to learn. It was time I started paying better attention. About the author Jim is a former hockey player and devoted parent, hence the genesis of this story. (Jim has provided a succinct story-specific bio. This could be enhanced a little if he had added a link. He usually does, actually! )
           We're always open to submissions. Find out to submit here. Remember, this gives you some exposure, you can add in a short CV each time, and there's always the chance that your work might be accepted for the annual anthology.    
We have some seasonal opportunities coming up now:Winter Pancake Day SpringEaster  May Day Spring Bank Holiday  Summer holidays So, get writing.
Don’t forget also on offer for CaféLit authors is a page on our web site. See examples here.   
The list is growing. Click on the names to find out more about the authors and to access their work. If you're a CaféLit author and would like a web page, use the ones there to get ideas. You need to send me between 250 and 350 words about yourself, an attractive image, a list of up to six publications, up to six awards and up to six links. I then also link the page to your stories on CaféLit. Send to gill at cafelit dot co dot uk.  I’m happy to update the pages each January.  
Creative CaféI’ve added just one café in February: http://www.creativecafeproject.org/2019/02/the-toast-coffee-house-okehampton-uk.htmlSee also the interesting reviewby one of our writers, Amanda Jones. Keep sending suggestions and review them if you can.  Cafés might further support the project in the following ways.  I could provide you with flyers about The Creative Cafe Project and CafeLitYou could have the ezine up and running for people to browse and search – they should pick stories according to the drink they fancy!run an event on writing for Cafelithold an event for local writers published by CafeLit stock some of anthologies (they are available through normal distributors)host a Writer in Residence – see  http://www.creativecafeproject.org/search/label/writers%20in%20residence / http://www.creativecafeproject.org/search/label/Writer%20in%20Residence     host a readers’ event where readers all read the same anthology and then talk about two or three favourite stories       Do you have any further suggestions? I'm continuing my tour of creative cafés where I collect stories for an anthology. In some cases, writers may offer them and in others customers may tell me their story and I'll write it for them. Do you know of a café that might be interested in this? Let me know if you do.         Remember you can now buy merchandise for the Creative Café project. The profit on anything you buy here goes to the Creative Café Project. Check this out here.    We’re always looking for new cafés.  If you visit one of the cafés in the projectand would like to write a review of between 250 and 350 words – nice, too, to have a couple of pictures – send it to me here.Do the same if you find a new café.  The Red Telephone I have some books now lined up to read. I'm particularly interested in near-futures speculative YA fiction. Again, I’m only accepting proposals from people we already know.      Facebook Group for the Imprints Scribblers Sans Frontières - Here you can:·         Discuss all technical issues re our books·         Exchange marketing ideas·         Advertise and report on your events·         Promote any of your titles or successes ·         Share good practice and ideas·         Get help with writing problems ·         Anything else appropriate The page URL is https://www.facebook.com/groups/185719828704485/Please come and join us if you're eligible. Or you can ask me to sign you up.  
School Visits I’m proactively promoting my school visits associated with The House on Schellberg Street project. I’ve now developed a whole workshop for this. It starts off with a board game, includes some role play and creative writing and ends with a discussion. It is now possible to purchase the kit to work on on your own. Find details here.Costs for my workshops = travel expenses plus £400 for a full day and £200 for a half day. This includes all materials and some freebies. Two schools near to each other might consider splitting the day and halving the travel expenses and fees. This is open to negotiation in any case.        I also offer a free half day visit, though you pay my travel expenses, if you allow me to promote my books.       I’m continuously adding materials for schools to the site that are different from the ones I use for the workshops. I’ve recently added in resources and books to do with the topic. See them here:       Query for a school visit here.I’m also happy to tailor a visit for your agreed donation. This can be for either a Schellberg Cycle visit or a creative writing workshop. Any monies raised this way will go specifically to a project I have for a non-fiction book about a journey that will follow the footsteps of Clara Lehrs. I’m hoping to do the whole journey by train, including departing via my nearest Metrolink station. It’s important to feel the rails beneath my feet.       I offer as well standard author visits which include readings from my books, Q & A sessions and creative writing exercises. Please remember, with these as well, I’m open to negotiation if you can’t afford the full price. Free listing for our writers If you are one of our writers and would like to offer school visits, please contact me. I'm offering a free listing on the imprint pages. State: age groups you are prepared to work with, a definition of your work, distances you are prepared to travel. Appropriate links. Please provide an image.           Future events Editing / marketing courseLast call for the first of our marketing and editing course: The work we are doing is rapidly expanding and we could really do with some extra help now. We’re looking for help with commissioning, editing and marketing. You should be either one of our own experienced writers – three or four stories  published in our various anthologies and / or a single author / flash fiction book  or have commissioning, editing and marketing skills from elsewhere.We’re offering a one day course for you to see if this suits you and you suit us.  Commissioning and editing will be one course, marketing will be separate. The course is free and travel expenses will be paid. It’s even all right for you to take the course and then decide you don’t want to be involved; it will have given you some insight into our editing process. However, I do ask that you only apply for the course if you think you would like to be an editor or publicist.    The course will include some homework before and after the course. It will probably be 10.00 to 4.00 with a working lunch.   It now looks as if the venue will be in London.If you do decide to edit or market for us, you will be paid a fee and later royalties after the fee has “earned out”.  This will show up on the monthly book performance statements. It would be great to have separate editors for each stage of editing.  If this is of interest, please email me, let me know if you’re away any item in the next few months, which course you’re interest in – you can of course do both – and where you’re located.
Waterloo Festival Marketing WorkshopJust £5.00 This will take place on 8 June 10.30 – 1.30 St John’s Westminster. This is different from the course mentioned above. This is about marketing your own work. Save the date and watch this space!     Waterloo Festival Celebration Event  Free event. Again 8 June at St John’s Westminster. It will follow a similar pattern to the one we held last year. Stars of the show will be those selected for the 2019 anthology. 2.30 – 4.30. Save the date. Watch this space.
Imprints Celebration Event7 December 2.00 - 4.30.  St John’s or St Andrew’s Westminster. Save the date and watch this space for more detail.                                   Current reading recommendationIt was difficult this month to choose as I’ve read so many good books. Eventually, though, I’ve decided on Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. This is a book that is probably aimed at upper primary school girls but I would say it is readable by everyone. It’s a quite tactile book, a hardback, and has its own ribbon bookmark. There are 200 pages of double spreads. Over 100 women who have made their mark on the world are featured.  On one page there is an account of what they did and on the one facing it there is an artistic impression of her / them, with a quote to inspire the reader.  Maggie Thatcher is in there (!) but so is Ada Lovelace, Elizabeth I and Yoko Ono. There is also a second volume that I’ll be reading shortly. Find it on Amazon here.                        Calling all writersI'm running an occasional series of interviews on my blog. If you would like to be on my blog just answer the questions below and send them with appropriate images to gill dot james at btinternet dot com. Please feel free to pick and choose which of these to answer.  1.      What do you write? Why this in particular?  2.      What got you started on writing in the first place?3.      Do you have a particular routine?  4.      Do you have a dedicated working space? 5.      When did you decide you could call yourself a writer? Do you do that in fact? 6.      How supportive are your friends and family? Do they understand what you're doing? 7.      What are you most proud of in your writing? 8.      How do you get on with editing and research?9.      Do you have any goals for the future? 10.  Which writers have inspired you?Please write as much or as little as you like for each section and supply as many pictures as you like. Also let me know your latest publication and supply me with a link if it's not on Amazon.  I 'm also happy to offer you a post whenever you have a new book come out, even if I'm not your publisher. In this case answer the following questions:Tell me about your book. Tell us about your research for this book. What inspired you to write this?What's next? How can we get a copy of the book?Do you have any events planned?Again write as much or as little as you please. Alter and add to the questions if you wish. Provide as many pictures as you wish. Send to: gill dot james at btinternet dot com Giveaway This moth I’m giving away another Bridge House anthology: In the Shadow of the Red Queen – another early work.   Access it and lots of other freebies here.  Note, that normally my books and the books supplied by the imprints I manage sell for anything from £0.99 to £10.99, with most on Kindle being about £2.99 and the average price for paperback being £7.00. We have to allow our writers to make a living. But we’re offering these free samples so that you can try before you buy.   Naturally we welcome reviews. Some notes about my newsletters and blogsThey do overlap a little but here is a summary of what they all do.
Bridge House Authors For all those published by Bridge House or interested in being published by us. General news about the imprint. News for writers. Link to book performance. Sign up here.
CaféLit Writers For all those published by CaféLit. General news about the imprint. News for writers. Link to book performance. News about the Creative Café Project. Sign up here.
Chapeltown Authors For all those published by Chapeltown or interested in being published by us.  General news about the imprint. News for writers. Link to book performance. Sign up here.  
Chapeltown Books News about our books and our authors. Sign up here.
The Creative Café Project  News about the project and CaféLit – for the consumer rather than for the producer.  Sign up here.   
Gill’s News: News about my writing, general news about what the imprints are doing, news about other writers I know, news about the Creative Café Project, a recommended read, and a giveaway each month. Find it here.   
Opportunities List Remember I keep a full list of vetted opportunities on my writing blog. See them here. New ones are added several times a day. Roughly once a month I go through it and take out all of the out of date ones. At that point I send it out to a list. If you would like to be on that list, sign up here.  
Pushing Boundaries, Flying Higher News about conferences and workshops to do with the young adult novel. (infrequent postings) Sign up here.  
Red Telephone Authors For all those published by The Red Telephone or interested in being published by us.  General news about the imprint. News for writers. Link to book performance. Sign up here.
Schellberg Cycle Workshop News Offers and news of events to do with Schellberg Cycle workshops. Sign up here.  
School Visits Offers and news of school visits. Sign up here.
Red Telephone Books News about our books and our authors. Sign up here.
A Publisher’s Perspective Here I blog as a publisher. Access this here.   
The Creative Café Project Listings and reviews of creative cafés. See them here.   
CaféLit Stories Find these here
Gill James Writer All about writing and about my books. View this here.
Gill’s Recommended Reads Find information here about books that have taken me out of my editor’s head.    
Gill’s Sample Fiction Read some of my fiction here.
The House on Schellberg Street All about my Schellberg project. Read it here.
Writing Teacher All about teaching creative writing.  Some creative writing exercises. Access this here.       
Books Books Books Weekly offers on our books.  Find them here. 
Happy reading and writing.

Cat Tales (Smoke Cat) by Linda Newberry

This a one in a series of stories about cats.  Further subtitles are: The Cat with Two Names, Rain Cat, Shop cat, The Cat Who Wasn’t There and Ice Cat.  Author Linda Newberry is a cat lover and keeps cats herself. 
There is nothing in the book or on the cover to indicate that this is a book for early readers. The child can have the delight of picking the book to read. It has a respectable spine.  Yet the props are there: There are short chapters, the text is printed in a large font (though it has a small serif and difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s), the lines are double-spaced, it is formatted ragged right and there are line-drawings which mainly illustrate but occasionally tell more of the story.  
There is plenty of story, a ghost story at that.  Protagonist Simon has moved into a new house – which is actually quite an old house and sees a strange old lady in the garden next-door.  No one else can see her. She seems to talk to the plants but she is actually talking to the cats who are buried beneath them. She is troubled about Smoke, who is also confused and distressed. Simon helps them both.        

Secrets of the fearless by Elizabeth Laird

Click on image to view on Amazon


2005, fluent reader, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, ages 9-11, ages 10-13, upper primary, lower secondary  There is a little romance and there is a marriage near the end of this story but this is very understated. This is mainly an adventure on the high seas and includes espionage, danger and risk-taking. It contains much of the drama that we would expect to see in works by Dickens or Shakespeare.   We even have a girl dressed up as a man.   
There is plenty of pace in this novel. The chapters are relatively short and each contains several exciting plot points.    
This is a slight departure for Elizabeth Laird. Much of her work is set in different cultures in the modern world. This story however takes place in a past that is just as exotic in another way, and we have details about press gangs, battles with the French and the Empress Josephine.  Laird demonstrates here that she is an excellent story-teller. 
It is a long read – 351 pages of a point 12 point serif font with difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s.  The text is blocked.  The book has a robust spine.       

Think seasons and festivals

It will be Valentine’s Day tomorrow. I go to a Spanish Conversation group once a month and this month we have been asked to prepare something about the day. Have we got a story? I’m sure it will be an interesting session.     
I’ll often accept something seasonal for CafeLit. I schedule in advance and we’ve had something ready for Valentine’s Day for some time now. I even have several Christmassy stories scheduled for December 2019.       
Days of the Year  provides useful tips about significant days.
http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/index.htmgives a more succinct day by day description.  
http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/index.htmis also useful. 
There are the obvious ones of course: just a few coming up in the next few weeks include Pancake Day, Ash Wednesday, Mothers’ Day (UK) Easter and  - dare I mention it - Brexit Day. Then there are the seasons.  If you write with the senses you are sure to make good use of the cold crisp days, the warmer afternoons blessed with spring flowers, the balmy warm days on favourite beaches and the glorious colour of the autumn.
You may have to rely on memory a lot. You could find yourself writing about Christmas on beach days, about spring on the dark days after Christmas and about seaside holidays in February because of publishers’ deadlines. One good thing about being a writer is that you can enjoy all of these sensations-packed scenarios from the comfort of your own writing-den.  
These settings may provide another resource when you’re all out of ideas.                   

Fantastically Great Women Who Made History by Kate Pankhurst

Click on image to view on Amazon

2018, fluent reader, Key Stage 2 , ages 9-11

This book introduces the young reader to fourteen women who have made their mark on the world: Boudicca, Harriet Tubman, Flora Drummond, Qui Jin, Noor Inayat Khan, Dr Elizabeth Blackwell, Valentina Tereshkova, Josephine Baker,  Pocahonta, Hatshepsut, Mary Wollstonecraft,  Mart Shelley,  Sayyid al Hurra and Ada Lovelace. Each woman has a double spread to herself though mother and daughter Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley share a spread.  A final double spread displays a series of book spines, one for each woman featured.  The sub-title to each book is a reminder of that woman’s main characteristics.   

Each double spread is filled with snippets of factual material.  The text is enlightened with quirky two-dimensional drawings and some extra extraordinary facts.  Each page is very busy and the reader may not wish to read in a linear fashion.

There are a variety of fonts – mainly serif and with difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s. Some chunks of text are boxed off. This make it easier to distinguish the different sections.  
  There is also a glossary at the end of the book of some of the more demanding expressions. This is a good book for dipping into and it’s likely that it will be read over and over again. It seeks to motivate girls.    

Jiddy Vardy by Ruth Estevez

 Jiddy Vardy by Ruth Estevez Click on image to view on Amazon  

2018, YA, Key Stage 4, Key Stage 5, ages 14-17, adult 
Jiddy Vardy is an extraordinary young woman, living in a world that is dangerous and exciting. She is later introduced to another world, a world that is her birth right, and she finds herself conflicted. 
Is it a young adult book or one written for adults? Certainly Jiddy is a young person who encounters many of the dilemmas facing young people even today. She experiences her first kiss. She is kissed by another man but this second lover doesn’t come up to expectations. The ending is upbeat but open, so typical of a young adult text. Yet the novel would also be very appealing to adults.   
This is arguably also an historical novel. Estevez creates a convincing setting and makes good use of the senses to pull us right into the story. 
Estevez’s prose style is very evocative, making the novel an excellent read.  It may be a little rich for some young adults but certainly very readable by many of them.  

An Interview with Stuart Larner

I'm very pleased to welcome to my blog today fellow writer Stuart Larner. We have published Stuart in several of our short story anthologies.  His stories are extraordinary. Highly recommended. Do try them if you've not already.   
What do you write? I write because I find it entertaining to convey to others some interesting thoughts that occur to me. This occurs across all literary formats.What got you started on writing in the first place?I started when I was young, and received encouragement from my English Master at school. However, my job as a clinical psychologist was so demanding of my time that it was often difficult to write. It was particularly demanding of my mental time. Working as a psychologist tended to blind me to more artistic and creative ways of thinking. Even though I finally knew four thousand people in depth, there were ethical reasons why I could not use them as characters. Now I am retired I have a lot of time to write.Do you have a particular routine?I write for two hours in the morning, then a coffee break, then another half an hour before lunch, half an hour after lunch, and two hours in the early evening. If a poem comes, it might wake me in the night and then I have to scribble a few lines on a bedside notebook in the dark, before going back to sleep again.Do you have a dedicated working space?There is a dedicated study where my wife and I have a desk each.
When did you decide you could call yourself a writer? Do you do that in fact?I started saying I did writing after I retired. I sometimes call myself a writer in part of my life; rather like another dissociated personality How supportive are your friends and family?My friends and family are very interested and they will read what I write. I am also in several writing groups.What are you most proud of in your writing?I like my poems best.How do you get on with editing and research?I like editing. I do research if I get interested into something. I don’t travel much physically – but my journeys over the World Wide Web are extensive.Do you have any goals for the future? To keep on writing and getting published. To write something that everybody will go into ecstasy over when they read it.Which writers have inspired you?Conan-Doyle for his mysteries, Wodehouse for his humour, Larkin for his down-to-earth truth.
You can find Stuart's blog at :
https://stuartlarner.blogspot.com

News 1 February 2019

 Well that’s January doneOn a personal level I have to report that yesterday we completed the sale on our Southampton house – just as the snow arrived down there. So now we’re looking for one to buy. We’re in a good position – we’re cash buyers and we have somewhere to live until we find the right place as we’re still in the house we’ve rented for ten and a half years. We’d quite like to buy this one and we’re currently negotiating with the landlord. However we’re still looking at others – and decluttering.  Even if we buy this one we shall do quite a bit of this. Getting rid of junk is always a good strategy. I’m doing a little work for Salford University again – on the Masters programme this time on an intriguing module called Professional Practice. It does what is says on the tin and embraces the academic, the pedagogic and the creative practitioner life. It’s a lovely module and I met the students for the first time this week. They’re a very pleasant bunch. Neither of these two factors will encroach on my writing or my work as a publisher but I will be taking a little time from my own promotion and submission activities for a while. There may be a little more disruption if we actually move for a few days around the time of the move.                  News about my writing My own writing is carrying on much as I mentioned last month.  I'm now on the fifth edit of Peace Child 4.  Between edits I write a short story and start my writing day with a bit of flash fiction if all I’m going to do for the rest of the time is editing. I’m continuing to work on my book about the dark side of children's literature – which is making me read a lot and also reread several works I’ve read before. I’m spending quite a bit of time at the moment on reading older texts and I’m using http://www.gutenberg.orgfor this. There’s something quite satisfying about reading children’s books and it counting as work. I’m currently working on the chapter about the history of children’s literature. To some extent this established where the darkness comes from.     Weekly offers on our book I have now started work on this and there have been several postings: https://www.scribblersbooksbooksbooks.co.uk/I advertise via Twitter and Facebook and have started to build up an email list. And I’ll let you into a secret: many of the offers are permanent though we only push them for a week.                  Catalogue of books for children I’ve added several titles to this over the last month. It is growing apace. You can find it here.  Do take a look if you’re into children’s books.  Useful links for writersMy list of links for writers is also growing steadily. Find it here.   1940s Group Just a reminder: this is a Facebook group for all people who write about the 1940s. Fiction and non-fiction, for young and old. Topics might then be: the Holocaust, World War II, Civilian Experience (all sides) and the battle front. We can exchange ideas about research and marketing. We may promote books and stories, - the last day of every month and on launch / release day. If you feel that is you, do join us: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2026868870924138/Please answer the three questions.      Of course, with my Schellberg Cycle I'm constantly in that world.        Dreamteam Find members here.     This is a personal recommendation. Initially I intend to use my Dream Team a lot myself but gradually I would add in people that friends and friends of friends have recommended. What happens? You sign up to a mailing list and every time a request comes in we mail it out to you or the enquirer contacts you directly via my web site. The conversation then carries on between you and the person making the request. You may also have a page set up on my blog and you may update that once a year.  Interested? You may sign up for more than one category.  Beta readers sign up here.Reviewers sign up here. Editors sign up here.Illustrators sign up here.Designers sign up here.Proof-readers sing up here.    DO REMEMBER THAT AT ANY TIME YOU’RE APPROACHED AND YOU’RE BUSY IT’S PERFECTLY FINE TO SAY NO.   News from all of our writersDo keep sending news like this and remember to supply a link to where reader can buy the book. 
         Bridge House We have a new book out this month: The Art of Losing by Paul Williams. Paul is a British academic living and working in Australia. The stories in this collection are quite literary.  You’ll find the Kindle edition here.  The paperback is here. As usual, reviews are welcome. I can provide a mobi file for your Kindle or a PDF. Get in touch if you would like to review.  We have two calls for submission out at the moment: http://www.bridgehousepublishing.co.uk/index.php/waterloo-festival-2019-call-for-submissionsThe 2019 Waterloo Festival Writing Competition. The theme is “Transforming Being”. Follow the link for full details.Our annual anthology this year will have the theme of “Nativity”. Again we don’t just want retellings of the Christmas story or about what went right or wrong at the local nativity play though such stories would also be welcome.  Full details of how to submit are here: http://www.bridgehousepublishing.co.uk/index.php/call-for-new-submissions       
We’re still getting plenty of interest in our single-author collections. These are now only for authors we’ve published before and they may include stories we’ve already published, ones they’ve had published elsewhere and new ones. The description for this is now on the web site. http://www.bridgehousepublishing.co.uk/index.php/single-author-collectionsYou may recycle stories we’ve already included in another anthology, and you may reedit these if you wish. You may also add in new stories. We’re aiming at a total word count of between 30,000 and 70,000 words.
Your work will go through three stages of editing, and will be proof-read twice in-house. We design the book and the cover. We hook it up to all the distributing channels and we complete first-level marketing. We are risking all of this on you as well as the set-up costs and the copies to the British Library and Legal Deposit Agency.   
You’ll probably not get rich quick: anthologies by new authors do not sell in big numbers initially. Each month we post to a dropbox information about books’ performance. A link is sent with the monthly newsletter. See below for how to access this newsletter.          We have a huge backlog so please be patient. You can always check our progress at: http://apublishersperspective.blogspot.co.uk/p/work-flow.html
      CaféLit Stories are at 4.00 p.m. Afternoon Teatime, Kaffee and Kuchen time and it's also when the kids are home from school. Just the right time for a cuppa and a good story. In January we had stories from:   James Bates, Lynn Clement, David Deanshaw, Jo Dearden, Thoma Elson, Robert Ferguson, Debz Hobbs-Wyatt, Richard Hough, Michael Howell, Joseph Isaacs, Gill James, Mark Kodama, Roger Noons, Mari Phillips, Hannah Retallick, Holly Anne Shaw, Louise Taylor, Roxy Thomas and Sandy Wilson.     
Highest performing posts in January were:The Payback By Foster Trecost 566The Healthy Streets by Hannah  Retallick 143Cheese and Pickle by Debz Hobbs-Wyatt  94Letter to a Known Soldier  by Gill James 89The Old Tramp by Roger Noons 81
A reminder to o those people who appeared in The Best of CaféLit7 to cast their votes about what to put in into The Best of CaféLit 8. Look out for a separate reminder email about that. So far the following stories have votes: Budgies and Bingo by Alyson Faye Dignity and Injustice by Allison Symes Gemini Rising by Paula Readman God works in mysterious ways especially at Christmas by Robin Wrigley  Induction Day by  Janet Howson  Jeopardy in Pink by Penny Dale Losing Tony by Gill James Marking Time by Janet Howson No Room for Them by Dawn Knox   On Time by Lisa Williams. Rose Tinted Glass by Linda Payne  Salisbury Plain by February 1946 by Laura Gray   Self Assessment by Peppy Barlow  She says we’ll get there soon by Hannah Retallick The Art Critic by Allison Symes The First Time by Patricia Gallagher- The Lady in Red by Caroline S Kent Years and Years by Kim Martins Yellowjackets by James Bates
Note these are in alphabetic order, not number of votes. This would probably already make a book. We may not be able to include all of the ones voted for.   You may be interested to know that the top performing posts in 2018 were: Accentuate the Stubble  by Hannah Retallick A Field for Polly by Bronte Pearson Goodbye, My Lush... by Shawn KlimekThe Payback  by Foster Trecost She Says We’ll Get There Soon She Says by  Hannah Retallick A quick reminder of how stories are promoted:  if when I go to my editor’s dashboard I see that a story has fewer than 20 hits, I put it on my own Twitter feed and the Facebook page.   Our stories are generally spread in the following ways: 36 people have signed up to have the stories fed from the blog site  I tweet about the site from time to timesome members visit daily or when they have time  authors make efforts – blog, website, FB, email signature, word of mouthcasual readers come across the site      one story being read leads to another  Maybe you could all share your ideas of how to make us more visible and tell us what you do? You can read all of the stories here.
And here's a reminder of how we select stories: I open my inbox and I'll often see four or five submissions. I'll select the best of the bunch and schedule it for in a few days' time. I'll let you know. I may reject one or two but ones that are basically sound I'll keep forever or until they’re published.  Consequently if one you've submitted to us has not been rejected, and you find a home for it elsewhere, let us know the name of the story and the date you submitted and we'll remove it from the archive. Try to include the drink each time. Do put CaféLit in the subject line so we can identify your submission. Remember to include your bio (50-100 words including links for longer stories, just links for 100 words or less) each time. I haven't got time to look up an old one and in any case your bio is probably changing all the time. If all stories are equally good I may select a new writer. If there is no new writer I’ll go for the one that is easiest to post. It should be in the body of your email and set out thus. I’v added notes in brackets and red.    (title, by-line, and drink centred. Note lower case for “by” and drink)  Snowflakes by Jim Bates camomile tea(I don’t mind which font – in fact I like the variety as we move from font to font)   Back then, back when he was just a gangly kid and before he became an artist, I felt I had a job to do - teach my son to be better at sports than I ever was. I'd been a second string jock during high school so on the day Joey was born I vowed to teach him how to play football, baseball, basketball and hockey better than I'd ever been able to. My underlying thought was that maybe one day he'd become a superior athlete, someone I could be not only proud of, but could also brag about to anyone who would listen. You can imagine my horror (or maybe not, but let me tell you, it was real) when Joey, try as he might, proved to be even less athletically gifted than his old man. (Note the paragraphs are both indented and have a line space afterwards.  Either, or, or both are good. Thsui translates weel on to the Blogger platform)               He was nine years old when, after pre-season hockey tryouts, the awful truth finally reared its ugly head. Joey dejectedly skated over to where I'd been watching from behind the boards and said, "Dad, I'm sorry, I really am. I'm trying, but those other guys are just way better than me."            One look at the fluid motions of the other kids on the rink, skating comfortably backward better than Joey could ever skate forward, and I had to finally admit it - my son was not now, nor would he ever be, a hockey player. Which was his best sport. Football, baseball and basketball? Forget about it. The reality of the situation was painfully apparent. Joey would never be the star athlete I once imagined he'd be.            I swallowed my disappointment and put my arm around his thin shoulders, hugging him a little. "That's okay, son. Really. Let's head home," I told him, trying to man up, along with beginning to adjust my game plan for him. Now that sports were out of the picture what could I get him interested in? Chess, maybe? Cribbage? Orienteering? I drew a blank. None of them sounded too exciting.            I went into the locker room with him while he changed out of his gear. When we sat on the bench, he unzipped his equipment bag and I saw a notebook.            I pointed, "What's that?"            "Oh, nothing," he shrugged. "It's just my sketchbook from art class."            "Art class? You're kidding." I hadn't a clue. Having trouble drawing a stick figures, myself, I'd never once imagined he'd enjoy anything like painting or whatever.            He grinned, "Yeah, Dad, for my drawings. Here, let me show you." He opened it. "Lately, I've been sketching snowflakes and winter scenes. I'm thinking about maybe using them for cards for the holidays. Tell me what you think."            He laid the sketchbook on my knees and went about getting changed. I paged through his drawings, each one more impressive than the previous. He'd used what looked to be a pen and ink to create intricate snowflakes all with six pointed tips. Each one was unique and amazingly detailed. The snowflake sketches were followed by a series of charcoal drawings of winter scenes, mostly landscapes in the country, some with farmhouses, some with people, some with animals. One even had a horse drawn sleigh. He'd used colored pencils to make the scenes come alive with subtle tones of greens and browns and reds and blues. To my way of thinking they were utterly charming and made me think of those Currier and Ives calendars.             I turned to him, "Joey, these are amazing. How long have you been drawing like this?"            He laughed, "Ever since I can remember, Dad. Since I was a little kid." Then he was quiet for a moment before adding, "Mom kind of got me started."            Oh. Gail. My wife and Joey's mother. She'd passed away four years earlier when he was only five. In many ways we were still coping.            I looked at him seriously. "These really are wonderful, son," I told him.            "Thanks, Dad," he said as we stood up to leave.            He grabbed his heavy hockey bag, hoisted it over his shoulder, tilting to the right a little under its weight, and started for the door. I held his sketchbook in my hands, aware that I was holding something special, something that really was what my son was all about, not just some sad, preconceived sports fantasy of his father's. I suddenly had an idea. "Hold on a minute." He stopped and I took the bag from him. (It really was pretty heavy.) "How about if on the way home we stop at Blick's Art Supply and check out what they've got, maybe get you some supplies. What do you think about that?"            Joey picked up his hockey stick and looked at me questioningly. He knew how much I loved sports. "You sure, Dad?"            "Yeah," I said, biting a metaphorical bullet, "Looks like we've got an artist in the family."            Joey grinned as we walked to the car. His step seemed lighter, somehow, like a weight had been lifted, and I don't just mean the equipment bag. It was good to see him so happy.            Next to the art store was a sporting goods exchange. We parked and while Joey went inside and looked around for art supplies, I went next door to see if I could sell his hockey equipment, which I did. Then I hurried next door to met him. But before I went inside I stopped a minute, looked through the window and watched as he perused the aisles, happily caressing the paints and brushes and sketchpads and canvases. He seemed in another world, one that he felt comfortable in. Natural.            I headed for the front door. Once inside, I'd get him to show me what all the art supplies were used for. Maybe I'd buy him an easel or something to get him set up properly for his art work. He was a good kid. I guess I had a lot to learn. It was time I started paying better attention. About the author Jim is a former hockey player and devoted parent, hence the genesis of this story. (Jim has provided a succinct story-specific bio. This could be enhanced a little if he had added a link. He usually does, actually! )
           We're always open to submissions. Find out to submit here. Remember, this gives you some exposure, you can add in a short CV each time, and there's always the chance that your work might be accepted for the annual anthology.    
We have some seasonal opportunities coming up now:Winter Pancake day SpringEaster  May Day Spring Bank Holiday  So, get writing.
Don’t forget also on offer for CaféLit authors is a page on our web site. See examples here. 
The list is growing. Click on the names to find out more about the authors and to access their work. If you're a CaféLit author and would like a web page, use the ones there to get ideas. You need to send me between 250 and 350 words about yourself, an attractive image, a list of up to six publications, up to six awards and up to six links. I then also link the page to your stories on CaféLit. Send to gill at cafelit dot co dot uk.  I’m happy to update the pages each January.  
Creative CaféI’ve added two cafés this month: The Trattoria N16  http://www.creativecafeproject.org/2019/01/trattoria-n16-london-n16.htmlis perhaps a little unusual. It is really more of a restaurant. However, they are certainly “creative” and in fact they approached us.    The Caffe Lena Saratogna http://www.creativecafeproject.org/2019/01/caffe-lena-saratoga-springs.htmlis also a little unusual as it acts as a publisher as well. Keep sending suggestions and review them if you can.  Cafés might further support the project in the following ways.  I could provide you with flyers about The Creative Cafe Project and CafeLitYou could have the ezine up and running for people to browse and search – they should pick stories according to the drink they fancy!run an event on writing for Cafelithold an event for local writers published by CafeLit stock some of anthologies (they are available through normal distributors)host a Writer in Resident – see  http://www.creativecafeproject.org/search/label/writers%20in%20residence / http://www.creativecafeproject.org/search/label/Writer%20in%20Residence     host a readers’ event where readers all read the same anthology and then talk about two or three favourite stories       Do you have any further suggestions? I'm continuing my tour of creative cafés where I collect stories for an anthology. In some cases, writers may offer them and in others customers may tell me their story and I'll write it for them. Do you know of a café that might be interested in this? Let me know if you do.         Remember you can now buy merchandise for the Creative Café project. The profit on anything you buy here goes to the Creative Café Project. Check this out here.    We’re always looking for new cafés.  If you visit one of the cafés in the projectand would like to write a review of between 250 and 350 words – nice, too, to have a couple of pictures – send it to me here.Do the same if you find a new café.  The Red Telephone I have some books now lined up to read. I'm particularly interested in near-futures speculative YA fiction. Again, I’m only accepting proposals from people we already know.      Facebook Group for the Imprints Scribblers Sans Frontières - Here you can:·         Discuss all technical issues re our books·         Exchange marketing ideas·         Advertise and report on your events·         Promote any of your titles or successes ·         Share good practice and ideas·         Get help with writing problems ·         Anything else appropriate The page URL is https://www.facebook.com/groups/185719828704485/Please come and join us if you're eligible. Or you can ask me to sign you up.  
School Visits I’m proactively promoting my school visits associated with The House on Schellberg Street project. I’ve now developed a whole workshop for this. It starts off with a board game, includes some role play and creative writing and ends with a discussion. It is now possible to purchase the kit to work on on your own. Find details here.Costs for my workshops = travel expenses plus £400 for a full day and £200 for a half day. This includes all materials and some freebies. Two schools near to each other might consider splitting the day and halving the travel expenses and fees. This is open to negotiation in any case.        I also offer a free half day visit, though you pay my travel expenses, if you allow me to promote my books.       I’m continuously adding materials for schools to the site that are different from the ones I use for the workshops. I’ve recently added in resources and books to do with the topic. See them here:       Query for a school visit here.I’m also happy to tailor a visit for your agreed donation. This can be for either a Schellberg Cycle visit or a creative writing workshop. Any monies raised this way will go specifically to a project I have for a non-fiction book about a journey that will follow the footsteps of Clara Lehrs. I’m hoping to do the whole journey by train, including departing via my nearest Metrolink station. It’s important to feel the rails beneath my feet.       I offer as well standard author visits which include readings from my books, Q & A sessions and creative writing exercises. Please remember, with these as well, I’m open to negotiation if you can’t afford the full price. Free listing for our writers If you are one of our writers and would like to offer school visits, please contact me. I'm offering a free listing on the imprint pages. State: age groups you are prepared to work with, a definition of your work, distances you are prepared to travel. Appropriate links. Please provide an image.           Future events Editing / marketing courseThe work we are doing is rapidly expanding and we could really do with some extra help now. We’re looking for help with commissioning, editing and marketing. You should be either one of our own experienced writers – three or four stories  published in our various anthologies and / or a single author / flash fiction book  or have commissioning, editing and marketing skills from elsewhere.We’re offering a one day course for you to see if this suits you and you suit us.  Commissioning and editing will be one course, marketing will be separate. The course is free and travel expenses will be paid. It’s even all right for you to take the course and then decide you don’t want to be involved; it will have given you some insight into our editing process. However, I do ask that you only apply for the course if you think you would like to be an editor or publicist.    The course will include some homework before and after the course. It will probably be 10.00 to 4.00 with a working lunch.   Venue and date will be mutually decided once people have registered their interest. I’ll probably make a decision at the end of February, sooner if we get lots of applicants. The venue may well be in London or Manchester.If you do decide to edit or market for us, you will be paid a fee and later royalties after the fee has “earned out”.  This will show up on the monthly book performance statements. It would be great to have separate editors for each stage of editing.  If this is of interest, please email me, let me know if you’re away any item in the next few months, which course you’re interest in – you can of course do both – and where you’re located.
Waterloo Festival Marketing WorkshopJust £5.00 This will take place on 8 June 10.30 – 1.30 St John’s Westminster. This is different from the course mentioned above. This is about marketing your own work. Save the date and watch this space!     Waterloo Festival Celebration Event  Free event. Again 8 June at St John’s Westminster. It will follow a similar pattern to the one we held last year. Stars of the show will be those selected for the 2019 anthology. 2.30 – 4.30. Save the date. Watch this space.
Imprints Celebration Event7 December 2.00 - 4.30.  St John’s or St Andrew’s Westminster. Save the date and watch this space for more detail.                                   Current reading recommendationI’ve really enjoyed reading Kate Atkinson’s A God in Ruins. It is my book group’s pick for our February meeting. I do like Atkinson’s writing and I’ve had the privilege of meeting her. The book moves between the present and past chapter by chapter and within chapters. I found myself particularly engaged with Teddy Todd who could possibly be described as the protagonist. However we also have the point of view of several other characters, including Teddy’s wife Nancy, daughter Viola, and grandson Sunny. In any case all of the characters are emotionally rich and very convincing. Quite a bit of the story takes place in and around World War II so you can imagine that it is of particular interest to me. I’m impressed with Atkinson’s research. We’ve covered some of the same ground for World War II but she also includes a lot about the RAF that I’m less familiar with. She has old age and nursing homes spot on. Teddy is about the same age as my late father. Yes that is what it was like in the noughties for World War II veterans. There is a slightly odd twist near the end that at first I found a little bizarre. In retrospect it makes perfect sense. I’ll say little more as I don’t want to spoil your experience of the book but I will say that it sanctions Teddy’s life. Find this book here.                     Calling all writersI'm running an occasional series of interviews on my blog. If you would like to be on my blog just answer the questions below and send them with appropriate images to gill dot james at btinternet dot com. Please feel free to pick and choose which of these to answer.  1.      What do you write? Why this in particular?  2.      What got you started on writing in the first place?3.      Do you have a particular routine?  4.      Do you have a dedicated working space? 5.      When did you decide you could call yourself a writer? Do you do that in fact? 6.      How supportive are your friends and family? Do they understand what you're doing? 7.      What are you most proud of in your writing? 8.      How do you get on with editing and research?9.      Do you have any goals for the future? 10.  Which writers have inspired you?Please write as much or as little as you like for each section and supply as many pictures as you like. Also let me know your latest publication and supply me with a link if it's not on Amazon.  I 'm also happy to offer you a post whenever you have a new book come out, even if I'm not your publisher. In this case answer the following questions:Tell me about your book. Tell us about your research for this book. What inspired you to write this?What's next? How can we get a copy of the book?Do you have any events planned?Again write as much or as little as you please. Alter and add to the questions if you wish. Provide as many pictures as you wish. Send to: gill dot james at btinternet dot com Giveaway This month I’m giving away a PDF of the first book Bridge House ever published, Making Changes.   Access it and lots of other freebies here.  Note, that normally my books and the books supplied by the imprints I manage sell for anything from £0.99 to £10.99, with most on Kindle being about £2.99 and the average price for paperback being £7.00. We have to allow our writers to make a living. But we’re offering these free samples so that you can try before you buy.   Naturally we welcome reviews. Some notes about my newsletters and blogsThey do overlap a little but here is a summary of what they all do.
Bridge House Authors For all those published by Bridge House or interested in being published by us. General news about the imprint. News for writers. Link to book performance. Sign up here.
CaféLit Writers For all those published by CaféLit. General news about the imprint. News for writers. Link to book performance. News about the Creative Café Project. Sign up here.
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The Adventures of Odysseus by Hugh Lupton, Daniel Morden and Christina Balit

Click on the image to go to Amazon  


2010, fluent reader, Key Stage 2, ages 9-11, upper primary
This is a simple retelling of Odysseus’s story.  It is divided into neat chapters. Each chapter is to a large extent an alone-standing story and the whole story overarches. Towards the end, however, where Odysseus claims his home back, we have cliff-hangers at the end of chapters. 
Both Hugh Lipton and Daniel Morden are professional story-tellers and indeed this text would really  come to life if it were read out loud.  Nevertheless it is very readable by the fluent reader and greatly enhanced by Christina Balit’s delightful illustrations. 
It is important that young people become familiar with the ancient myths. Much of our culture relates to them and this book allows the young readers to access this story on their own.          It is a very pleasingly tangible book. It has a good weight and glossy pages. It uses blocked text and a serif font with difficult ‘a’s and ‘g’s.  It is 12 point and in this particular font is rather small. However the text is double-spaced, which makes it a little easier to read.