Steve Chilton's Blog: Goodreads Author's Blog, page 10

Full cover and all cover quotes

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I can now reveal the cover for my new book: All or Nothing At All: The Life of Billy Bland (detail above). It has again been designed by Heather MacPherson (of Raspberry Creative Type). The cover image is of Billy Bland in dominant mode, as he leads the Ben Nevis race in 1981.

The Foreword to the book concludes with:

In this book, Steve continues to explore the history of fell running in the brilliant style of his previous books, his in-depth analysis leading us to understand Billy Bland,...

Upcoming talks/book signings

I will be doing some book signing/talks when ‘All or nothing at all: the life of Billy Bland’ comes out (in July 2020), and they will be noted on the blog as they are arranged.

The first event arranged is 4 pm Sat 18 Jul 2020, nr Skipton. As part of the Yorkshire Dales Outdoors Festival (organised by Due North Events) I will be doing a talk entitled ‘It’s a hill, get over it’. It will cover everything from the early fell running events, to the dominance of Billy Bland. Full details, including...

Mistaken for someone famous

Have you ever been mistaken for someone famous? It has happened to me at least twice, both times with amusing results.

The most recent was last week whilst I was on a break in the Lakes. I was there partly to set up the book launch for my latest book [All or nothing at all: the life of Billy Bland]. As part of this task I had arranged to meet Chris, the owner of The Fellpack/The Round eateries in Keswick. When The Round had just opened I had called in and donated a signed copy of my book [The...

Any surprises in your new book?

Further to post about my new book and its synopsis, I have added a very (poor) short video on YouTube of me talking about it: https://youtu.be/nNqZVVP2F6s

Reminder: it is published by Sandstone Press, and can be pre-ordered from any good bookshop – eg Sam Read, Fred Holdsworth or Bookends (if in the Lakes) or any Waterstones (elsewhere).

ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL – Book Number IV: Reveal #3

So here it is then: I can reveal both the title and the synopsis of my fourth fell running book, to be published by Sandstone Press later this year.[image error]

This was my original synopsis, as pitched to the publisher back in early 2018:

The book will tell the story of Borrowdale man Billy Bland, and of his extended family, many of whom competed in fell running, and one of whom is considered to have been one of the best in the sport for a period (his nephew, Gavin Bland). Billy and Gavin achieved...

Weather v BGR completions

Following on from my blog about BGR completions for 2019 (and previous years) I have had look at weather data for the last 10 years to see if one can infer any relationship between weather in the Lakes and BGR completion levels. [NB: I am quite prepared to accept that this analysis shares some pretty dodgy statistical analysis]

Firstly, I made an assumption (extrapolating from the monthly data of completions) that the most significant months of any year would be May to September. I then...

BGR Completions – 2019 update

Bob Wightman has just released the figures for Bob Graham Round (BGR) registrations, completions, male/female split, direction of travel, etc. for 2019, which make interesting reading, and that I have commented on before. [https://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showthread.php?24761-BGR-2019-summary&p=657211#post657211]

I have updated my spreadsheet, and the graphs of several aspects of the data. My original analysis was in an earlier blog [BGR completion rate is 42%], with a follow-up on women’s...

Popular blogs/downloads 2019

ICYMI: The last day of the decade is as good a time as any on which to share my most popular blog posts (ie reads) and files (ie downloads) for 2019. Listed, described and linked are the top three in both categories, plus a bonus in each category that looks like it may have been missed by a few.

MOST READ

Jan 28 2019, with 899 reads in 2019

BGR completion rate is42.2% [image error]

Stats and comment on the completion rates for the Bob Graham Round, including: ‘… a strong trend for more people completing...

Top running books read in 2019

It is coming to the end of the year and I decided to list the running books I have read this year. I notice I have only read 8 running-related books this year, compared to 10 last year. So here are short reviews of them all, taken from my Good Reads website. It is NOT my top ten running books published in 2019, just some thoughts on those I have read this year. In fact only four are from 2019. There is always catching up to do!

The figures after the author are the grade (1-5, five is best)...

Book Number IV: Reveal #2

[image error]This blog will give a feel for the researching and writing process that I have been through for Book IV – includingfinding sources, contacting interviewees, collecting facts and opinions, sorting themes, scheduling chapter breaks, and starting to write.

The book started out as a standard biography, so I started by setting up some meetings with ‘the subject’, initially covering the early days and exploring both upbringing and family background – the traditional starting point for a biog. But...