Renegade A to Z – E is for…

… the e-book release of 20 Years Later!

If you can't wait for the hardback (released in July) then you can go and download the book right now from wherever you usually buy your e-books. The most recent list of distributors I have from my publisher is here:

•    Barnes & Noble (the Nook)

•    Kobo

•    Amazon UK Kindle store and US Kindle store

I talked about the lovely things you can do to help 20 Years Later take off yesterday, so I think it would be overkill to do it again!

So, I will move swiftly onto another e for…

eMergent Publishing, my other publisher (it sounds decadent to say that), who transformed my tiny self-published e-book From Dark Places into a shining, beefy anthology in print and e-formats that I am proud of. There, I said it.

I would link to eMergent's site, but it's being redesigned and Jodi (co-founder and editor of From Dark Places) hates the current site! Instead I'll point you towards Write Anything, a website that eMergent runs which is all about writing and is ace.

There's a blurb all about eMergent in the From Dark Places press pack which sums up the ethos of the company very nicely:

eMergent Publishing is a partnership founded in 2009 by Scottish writer, Paul Anderson and Australian writer, Jodi Cleghorn.

eMergent is a unique venture; an indie publisher run by writers for the benefit of writers, founded on the business ethos that writers always come first. That is why eMergent insists on higher royalty shares for all their writers.

eMergent supports new and emerging writers from across the English-speaking world, providing grassroots editorial assistance and publishing opportunities from new writing talent via innovative anthologies like Chinese Whisperings. The Write Anything website functions as a community and information hub for writers.

You can download the whole press pack here by the way ;o)

And my last e is for…

Elbow - as in the band. A friend put me on to them years and years ago, when he made a CD of different tracks he thought I might like. Scattered Black and Whites was the track (oh! so, so beautiful), I went and bought the album, their first one called Asleep in the Back.

Now, several albums later, they are one of my favourite bands – actually, they might be my favourite (I always have a tussle between them and Radiohead when I say things like that) as every single album is simply magnificent.

The trick to discovering Elbow, if you haven't already, is to buy their albums rather than individual songs, as they are so immersive, and to listen to the album three times (at least) before deciding whether you like it. The music is so deep and rich it's impossible to fully appreciate the first or second times.

Lyrically, their songs are beautiful, poignant, funny, devastating and often make me weep, even after listening to a song hundreds of times. I have never heard a band capture so many emotions, so perfectly.

Of course, that's just my opinion. Elbow, I love your music, thank you for feeding my soul for so many years.