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Review: The Salt Path

08/05/2018 / Paul / 1 Comment

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

The bad news came fast, Raynor Winn’s husband had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, they had just lost a court case even though they had the evidence that they were not liable for debts and now the bailiffs were hammering on the door to take their farm and livelihood away. Their only income would be £48 per week. It is at times like these that some people would have a breakdown or consider a more permanent end to the problems, they didn’t; inspired by the book 500 Mile Walkies by Mark Wallington they decided that as they were homeless anyway they may as well walk the south coast path.

With the precious little money they have, they buy a new lightweight tent, a couple of sleeping bags and new rucksacks and drive the van to Minehead in Somerset as that is where all the guidebooks begin. Moth’s condition of corticobasal degeneration or CBD, meant that the doctor had advised him to take it easy and not to overdo it; probably not attempt a 630-mile walk around the spectacular coastline of the south-west. The first part of the footpath is probably the toughest section with the high cliffs and steep paths and it is a struggle for both, but Moth in particular. They have no money for official campsites, so wild camping was the way to go, ensuring that they found a place out of sight, and were packed up before they could be discovered in the morning.

They met all sorts of people of the walk, but telling those that they met that they were homeless would a lot of the time cause a lot of prejudice and they would be shunned, called tramps or worse. Sitting eating a shared pack of budget noodles when other are stuffing pasties and ice creams in, is quite soul destroying. However, there were others who would be prepared to help, providing hot drinks, paying for food, and even a millionaire wine importer who wined and dined them for an evening. One man they met on a cliff path told them about salted blackberries, picked right at the very end of the season just before they turned when the flavour was most intense and dusted with the salt from the sea they gorged on them whenever they could find them. They had completed a fair chunk of the route, before stopping and staying with a friend, earning a little money and starting to plan a future once again. Rather than head back to where they had stopped, they came to Poole and started from the other end walking through the Jurassic Coast back to the place that they had stopped a few months previously.

This is a heartwarming and inspiring story of a couples fight back against a life-changing legal decision that left them totally penniless. Winn writes with an honesty that is quite moving, she is open with her feelings and her thoughts about the people she meets on their walk and the events that led to them walking. There are some moments in here that may make you cry as well as some amusing anecdotes that will have you chuckling. What does come across throughout the book is the inner strength of Raynor and Moth, to overcome a financial situation that most could not recover from, the way that Moth manages to use the walk to improve his health and that being in the right place at the right time can offer an opportunity that can be life-changing. If there is one thing that can be taken from this, it is that there is nothing that human optimism can’t overcome. 4.5 stars

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Review: The Man Who Climbs Trees

08/05/2018 / Paul / 3 Comments

The Man Who Climbs Trees by James Aldred
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

It has been a long while since I climbed a tree, but in my childhood, I spent a fair amount of time climbing and occasionally falling out of trees. There were one or two that were particularly good to climb or hide in and several that we tried and failed at. To reach the top of a small tree felt like an achievement, even though the heights weren’t that high, it felt like you were on the top of the world. James Aldred began the same way, climbing trees in the New Forest until at the age of 17 he went with two friends to ascend using rigging and climbing gear to climb a tree where the lower branches were totally out of reach from the ground. At this point, he was hooked and knew what he wanted to do.

Now he climbs trees that are over 150fit high using high tech equipment, taking up cameras and assisting the wildlife cameramen for the BBC and others that are looking to film what goes on up in the canopies of the global forests. With some other expert climbers, he has ascended one of the highest trees in the world, peeking above the treeline around 300 feet up. The risks are enormous, one mistake and it is all over, but it is a job that he loves with a passion. It has taken him to forest all around the world, he has seen animals that have enthralled and amazed him, slept out under the stars many times, been bitten alive by all manner of insects and in on very scary moment was attacked by a harpy eagle. He wouldn’t change it for the world though.

Aldred has been very fortunate to work with some of the very best in the wildlife film industry and the stories that he tells in this book will enthral and entertain you.
I am not too bad with heights, but some of the trees Aldred climbs are quite staggering, though the thought of sleeping in the canopy, very securely strapped in, of course, does appeal quite a lot. It is a book that can be categorised in a few ways, but definitely, a book that is worth reading.

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Review: Enduring Love

08/05/2018 / Paul / 0 Comments

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Joe and Clarissa are picnicking when they hear cries from a hot air balloon that was descending nearby. The man controlling it had tried to get out, the rope had caught round his leg and it was rising again dragging him with it. A few men converge on the balloon, grabbing hold of the ropes hanging down to try to hold it down, but one by one they drop off. One man, John Logan, hangs on for as long as he can before he drops off at a height that can only be fatal. They rush to him to see if they can help, but it is too late.

In this intense moment, the other man who got to the body at the same time asks him to pray about the situation, but Joe flatly refuses. Jed Parry though is a man possessed, he thinks that something has passed between him and Joe and in the moment that they shared that Joe has fallen deeply in love with him. He thinks nothing more of it and heads home but is slightly disturbed when he receives the first phone call from Parry at 2 am. From this moment Parry begins stalking Joe, writing letters to him, leaving countless messages on his answerphone and standing outside his flat. Joe is severely unnerved by it and Clarissa thinks he is losing his mind but the police aren’t interested as he has done nothing wrong

He meets with Parry briefly, but it only exacerbates the situation. Pushed to that absolute limit, Joe snaps and sets about taking matters into his own hands. Then he gets a phone call from Clarissa; Parry is with her and wants Joe to come home to talk.

McEwan has written a book about those suffering from de Clerambault’s syndrome a delusional disorder where an individual thinks that person is infatuated with him or her, thankfully it is rare, but as McEwan does in this book when coupled it with religious fervour, it has a deeply sinister edge. There is plenty of tension in the plot as Parry becomes more extreme in his actions to be with Joe. It is very creepy, as McEwan manages to convey just how disturbing stalking is for any victim of it. There are a couple of sub-plots that really didn’t add much to the story either. However, there were several details that I couldn’t get along with, in the book; I didn’t quite understand as all these men ran to save the balloon with the child in, how they knew each other almost immediately, the balloon is described as a helium balloon later in the book too. Not bad, but could have been so much better.

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Monthly Muse – April

04/05/2018 / Paul / 2 Comments

I managed to up my game last month and with the help of a weeks holiday got twenty books read. 20!! There is a little bit for everyone here, including most of the Wellcome Prize shortlist. So behind on reviews at the moment so some of these are not reviewed yet, but here we go:

Our present economic system is broken, it cannot predict the future and the way it is set up, it is consuming vast amounts of resources with no plan for sustainablilty. Rathworth is proposing that we adopt a system that considers the limits the earth can manage, the outer ring, with the minimum acceptable living standard for the global population. Well worth reading, though I am not sure just how much will happen just yet with the vested interests in control.

The cuckoo is one of our most distinctive migrants that most people have never seen, but who would instantly recognise the call of. Nick Davies is obsessed by them (to put it mildly) and this book tells the stories of his observation and experiments on the cuckoos of the fens. Fascinating stuff, and even though he is a Professor, it doesn’t read like an academic paper

The universe that Fenn has created with the Sidhe, a forgotten race that still controls humans covertly reaches its finale in this the fifth book. A fast-paced sci-fi thriller that twists and turns right until the end

This is a loose tie-in to the TV series, that explains the actual story behind the fictionalised account that became the Corfu Trilogy. Lots of details and photos of the Durrell family in their homes in Bournemouth and Corfu

Maxwell had written several books before Ring of Bright Water became a massive bestseller. But his life story as a minor aristocrat, traveller, closet homosexual and consumer of vast amounts of whisky wasn’t really known until his friend Douglas Botting told it in this book. It is brilliant too and this reprint by Eland in their distinct style is still worth reading.

Normally books about hostage taking are fast action thrillers that demand page turning rapidly as the plot races ahead. This isn’t like that; the slow pace after the hostage-takers realise their there target isn’t there allows the building of characters and some unexpected events.

A tragic balloon accident brings two men together, one who becomes obsessed with the other and begins to stalk him. This external pressure starts to unravel his marriage and sanity Until it reaches a dramatic climax. Wasn’t so keen on this book though as there were several parts that didn’t make sense.

Leon has just had a baby brother. who unlike him, is white. After his mum suffers a breakdown, they are both put into care and shortly after his brother is adopted, never to be seen again. The lady looking after him ends up in hospital, he is passed to her sister. Whilst he is fond of her, he still wants to bring his family back together again, and maybe the guys at the allotment might be able to help him with that. Poignant stuff about the care system in the 1980’s.

Patagonia sits astride two countries, Chile and Argentina and is a place that people go to to make or lose a fortune. In this classic travel book, Chatwin follows the stories around the bottom part of the American continent. Not as much of the place as I had hoped, but still worth reading.

This was a Wellcome Prize shortlisted book. Drug addiction routinely devastates families across the UK and it even happens at the very highest level of society. This is the story of Hans and Eva Rausing and their descent into addiction, Eva’s death and the public attention in the story seen from the eyes of Sigrid, Han’s sister. She is brutally honest about her own life and the failures in helping Hans and Eva, but also now understands the limits of what she could actually do at the time.

This was a Wellcome Prize shortlisted book. This is a story full of love, life, death, tragedy with uplifting moments set in Nigeria of a womans desire to have a child to fufill her husbands families wishes. It is full of the politics of the country as a turbulent backdrop. Yejide is in between cultures as the old Nigerian ways clash with the new world and Western medicine and there is plenty of deceit and lies as the plot twist and turns and the truths are laid bare.

This is the last book that the late Helen Dunmore wrote and it is a return to the origins as it is poetry. Like with all poetry there are some that I like and other that I didn’t quite get. Mostly enjoyable though

This was a Wellcome Prize shortlisted book about the advent of modern surgery and clinical practices. If you were admitted to a hospital back in the Victorian era, then you stood as much chance of dying of your care as you did from the original problem. It does not hold back on the blood and gore, so not one to read whilst you’re eating, but it is very good and from what the author said to me, may be made into a film.

Over 60 years ago, the chances of people surviving common illnesses were fairly low, but with the advent of effective vaccines then public health improved dramatically. This book is the story of the creation of those vaccines that have saved billions of lives around the world. It does get quite technical at times so might not be for everyone.

There are three things that are certain in life; taxes, your computer crashing and death. The final one of these is almost taboo now days but in this book Mannix tell the stories of those who have reached the end. Most are old, some are painfully young, but each family has come to accept the passing of their loved one with her and her teams help. A very moving book.

Spring is the most dynamic of seasons. The starkness of winter is thrown off with the new shoots, the longer days warm the earth and the annual migration of millions of birds from winter sites to breeding grounds begins. Rose follows the changing season from the very south of Europe across 35 degrees of latitude to the northern coast. Not a bad book overall.

People have spent ages messing about in boats, and after his friend, James made a two-seater canoe, it was time for Matt Gaw to join that gang. It is an entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable read about the journeys that make on rivers near and far just because they can.

John Lister-Kaye has run the Aigas Field Centre for a long while now, but this is the story of his journey to that place so dear to his hear. He tells of the medical struggles that his mother had with her heart, of the frankly horrific school system of the day, and finding happiness at one in Lyme Regis Dorset, where the natural world came alive to him. There is, of course, Gavin Maxwell and the attempt to create a zoo on the Isle of Skye as well as all the animals that passed through his hands as a child.

So that was it! any her that you have read, or now want to read? Let me know in the comments below

Review: The Valley at the Centre of the World

04/05/2018 / Paul / 0 Comments

The Valley at the Centre of the World by Malachy Tallack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Shetland has a bleak beauty about it, scoured by storms that roll in from the Atlantic, it shapes the landscape as much as it does the people that live there. For some islanders, it is the only place that they have known and they would never leave it, but the population in the scattering of houses in a valley is slowly ebbing away. David, a third generation crofter, live in one of the houses in the valley. It is a place that he would never leave; the island is as much a part of his DNA as the skills that he learnt at his father and grandfathers side and he takes every day as he finds it. Their daughter Emma was in the house next door, but she has headed south to Edinburgh, leaving her ex-partner, Sandy, learning the essential elements of crofting from David. Terry lives nearby, separated from his wife and son, he is seeking comfort in the bottle. Maggie, who is well in her eighties and the oldest resident of the valley, lives just up the road and there is Alice, formerly a bestselling writer and a newcomer to the island and the valley; she is there for the solitude and still bereft after losing her husband to cancer.

As much as things remain the same, there is change in the air. A property becomes available after a resident dies; Ryan and Jo, a young couple with their own difficulties move into the valley and change the dynamics of the relationships that had developed. At the centre of them all is David who takes everything in his stride with a calm and patient outlook.

If you are expecting a dynamic plot then this might not be for you; this is a book where you get to explore the way that characters change as the circumstances flow. There is plenty of tension in the book, some from the complex relationships of the small number of characters
and other tension reflecting how tough it can be to live there. Reading the accents of the locals does take a bit of getting used to, but it does give authenticity and atmosphere to the narrative. The other star of the book is the place. Tallack’s prose through the book that Alice has begun to write as she emerges from grief describes the land and seascape of the island and the life that survives and thrive there. I think his non-fiction just has the edge for me, 60 degrees north is an excellent travel book, and I would urge you to read it. However, this proves that he is capable of much more as a writer, and I think can sit happily alongside his contemporaries like Melissa Harrison who write fiction with strong natural history undertones. Looking forward to the next book he writes now.

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Review: The Long Spring: Tracking the Arrival of Spring Through Europe

04/05/2018 / Paul / 0 Comments

The Long Spring: Tracking the Arrival of Spring Through Europe by Laurence Rose
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At the very south of Europe spring begins around early February, and often on San Blas Day, you will hear the clattering as the first storks arrive back on the continent. These are the first of many migrants that will appear over the next couple of months, escaping the heat of Africa and heading to their summer breeding grounds. There seems to be a reverse logic to all of this as some of the smallest birds undertake the longest journey’s around our planet twice every year.

Beginning at the Straits of Gibraltar at the latitude of 35 degrees, Rose with follows these feathered migrants through Spain, into France and onto the UK. From there he heads to Scandinavia, to visit Sweden, Finland and Norway where his journey ends in May at Finnmark. His impressive journey visiting places where these migrants fly land is assisted by the latest technologies that mean he can track them in real time from his phone maximising the number and variety of birds he sees. He notes that the dates that these arrive are getting earlier year on year and there are now birds who now can overwinter as climate change grips our planet. Rightly so, he gets angry at some of the nature reserves and sanctuaries as an ideal place to shoot the birds that have a tough enough journey as it is around our planet.

Journey’s end is 35 degrees further north, where the long winter flips briefly into spring before the short summer. It is close to the dawn of the 24 hour day on the very edge of the Arctic Circle. Rose has written an interesting book about following the advent of spring from the very south of Europe to the furthest north as life returns as the days lengthen and the sun warms the land again. He has an eye for detail as the book is full of facts and details of the birds and creatures that he saw and stories of the people he meets and places that he visits. Even though he tries bear spotting and there are snippets of information about other animals, it is very much bird centric, which is fair enough given Rose’s background at the RSPA. The writing didn’t sparkle for me, but it still makes for interesting reading and it is a good companion volume to Walking Through Spring by Graham Hoyland.

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Review: The Pull of the River: Tales of Escape and Adventure on Britain’s Waterways

02/05/2018 / Paul / 0 Comments

The Pull of the River: Tales of Escape and Adventure on Britain’s Waterways by Matt Gaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.

People have their lives filled with constant interruptions and phones demanding attention constantly, tearing from one place to another, we rarely take the time we need for ourselves. Mat Gaw decides that is time to discover another speed to his life and with his friend, James, seek the tranquillity of his local river in their homemade nautical red canoe, Pipe, the colour of Mae West’s lips supposedly…

People have been drawn to rivers for millennia, not only do they hold an essential element to life, they have always had a spiritual dimension too and often now are used for all sorts of leisure activities. Travelling in a canoe on a river or canal is a silent way of moving through the town and countryside and offers a startling new perspective of the places that they thought they knew well. From their local rivers, they head to Britain’s longest and best-known ones, The Thames and the Severn, further afield to the south-west on the River Otter and across Scotland’s great glen.

They get wet as you’d expect after falling in several times, get stuck in the mud, beached, bitten alive by midges, failing to see Nessie, brushing through the branches of willows, racing the rapids and have a couple of very scary moments. Sometimes they make time to talk when paddling, at other times the only sound they make is the gentle splash of the paddles as they sit in silence discovering just how much wildlife is there when you sit quietly and wait for it.

It was a really enjoyable book, written with humour, a wry wit and a keen eye as he describes the land and waterscapes that they pass The context of the book is wider than that though, his research of the rivers uncovers those nuggets of information of the historical and cultural terrain that overlays the rivers and that makes this a much richer read as they paddle along. I also found it refreshing as Gaw brings no personal baggage to his watery voyages; it is just him and his friend taking the time to immerse themselves in the natural world, sleeping out under the stars and rediscovering a place where time moves at a very different rate to modern life; a world that few people see now days.

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Welcome Book Prize Announcement

01/05/2018 / Paul / 0 Comments

I’d read the shortlist, with my fellow bloggers chosen a winner, To Be A Machine, and I was fortunate to be invited to the prize announcement at the Wellcome Collection in London. As it costs a fair amount to get from Dorset to London, I’d thought that I’d make a day of it. Popped in to see Blake and Clare at Head of Zeus and then next tube stop was Matt at Duckworth. Had a very quick bite to eat and then headed north to see Simon at Big Green Books as I promised him I would pop in one day. Purchased his book, signed of course, and then headed south to Euston.

I was meeting up with two of my fellow bloggers from the Shadow Panel, Rebecca from Bookish Beck and Clare from A Little Blog of Books. Quick look around the shop and a natter over a coffee and it was time to head upstairs to the library and for the formal event to begin. Drinks were acquired and canapes consumed and we listened to jazz and shouted at each other over the noise. Edmund de Waal came on after around half an hour and started the preamble and introductions. Each of the judges introduced the books, presented the authors with a bouquet quoted from it. Photo’s (slightly blurry sorry) below:

and the winner was:

Which Max Porter accepted on behalf of Mark as his wife was in the process of giving birth to their second child. It was a highly amusing speech too. It was the one we picked too so we were quite chuffed, to say the least!

After the announcement had been made more drinks were brought around and the authors moved into the crowd to talk. Spoke to several of the authors and was even complimented by one on my review, which I probably blushed quite a lot at!

It was quite an experience and one that I feel privileged to have been invited too, we even got a free goody bag on the way out too. Overall a cracking day in London and I am hoping to be invited to another prize giving soon!

Publisher Profile – Head of Zeus

30/04/2018 / Paul / 2 Comments

For me, independent publishers are the people in the industry who are prepared to take risks on new authors and books where the larger players either don’t wish to venture, or where they can’t see there being a return on. Each month in 2018 I am aiming to highlight some of my favourite independent publishers, along with some of their books that I have loved and also to have someone from the publisher answer a few questions. This month is the turn of Head of Zeus.

Head of Zeus are based in London and have been in business now for 16 years. They have a broad portfolio of books and have also started their own imprints for childrens books, literary fiction and digital books. In their latest catalogue you can find a diverse range of genres from crime to historical fiction, YA and science fiction and fantasy. As you would expect from me, I tend to head to their non-fiction pages first to perruse their latest offerings and their books have always been well worth reading. Along with other small publishers they take care in choosing the covers that work with the books they want to publish as well as that attention to detail in the quality of the paper and what I call the heft of the book.

The first that I can recommend is Stonehenge by an archelogy hero of mine, Francis Pryor. He was one of the first authors that I interviewed for Nudge Books magazine and he was generous with his time and his answers. I did notice that they are publishing a new book of his on the Fens later this year.Simon Barnes was another author that I interviewed about his beautiful book, The Meaning of Birds, it is a well written, heartfelt book about the wonders of birds. One of the subjects that I like reading about is language, and may I Borrow Your Language? by Philip Gooden about the way that the English Language purloins words from all over the place is well worth reading and would be an excellent addition for anyone with an etymological collection of books.

Swimming with Seals by Victoria Withworth is a book in the sub-genre of nature writing and personal memoir. Whitworth is a member of the Orkney Polar Bears, a swimming club who meet to swim in the cold seas of Orkney. This beautifully written book is about the company she seeks to comfort her, as her marriage crumbles and she tries to manage other health problems too.

My career is in engineering, both electronics and mechanical so I have an inordinate fascination with all sorts of machines. This book about the Blackbird is a collection of facts and details about the design and creation of this still breathtaking looking aircraft that still holds several records for speed including one for travelling from New York to London in just 1 hour 54 minutes.

They are a publisher with breadth and depth to their range of books. I have read one of their fantasy books, but not read any of their brilliant looking science fiction as yet, though have been very tempted at times. Laura and Blake were kind enough to answer some of my questions below on behalf of Head of Zeus.

Can you tell me a little about the history of Head of Zeus?

Head of Zeus started life in an attic in Shaftesbury Avenue. The company consisted of five people, three laptops, and four chairs in a startling shade of neon pink. It was chaotic and exhausting, but very exhilarating too. We founded the company in January 2012, just as ebooks were exploding. Our mission was to launch new fiction authors in the market very quickly, using a hybrid model of traditional print publishing and innovative E-publishing to reach – and grow – their readership.

How is the company organised today and how many people work for you?

We are now 40 people, working out of a lovely, light-filled office in Clerkenwell. We have added non-fiction, children’s fiction and digital-first fiction to our publishing portfolio, and since 2012, we have won the Digital Business of the Year Award, the Independent Publisher of the Year Award and a Bad Sex Award. You can guess which one is in pride of place on the bookshelves.

As we have grown in size, we have tried to preserve the entrepreneurial spirit that was central to our foundation. Having an open-plan office is very important to us – sometimes it gets a bit noisy, but it means we all know what is going on in each department, and can collaborate as much as possible. And we’ve kept our original pink chairs to remind us where we started!

What is the company philosophy when it comes to selecting for your catalogue?

We have two publishing divisions, one which focuses on literary fiction and non-fiction, and one which focuses on popular fiction. I run the latter division, and our aim is to build a list of 60 book-a-year authors, each of whom has the potential to become a market leader in their genre – whether that be historical fiction, romance, crime and thriller, or science fiction and fantasy.

How do you go about choosing the titles to be included in your portfolio?

Personally, I look for books that combine a page-turning plot, memorable characters and emotional engagement. I want escapist fiction that makes me feel something, whether that be fear, shock, love, sadness, or happiness. All editors are different, of course. Some search for brilliant prose stylists; others look for fiction which transports you to new worlds. At Head of Zeus, all our editors have slightly different tastes. Hopefully, that means we can publish something for everyone.

Tell me about your process after selecting a book for publication

Usually, we will schedule a book for publication twelve months after it has been written. Books have to go to the printers three months before they are published – so that gives us nine months to prepare. We spend the first three months working on the structural edit; designing the book jacket; and preparing the sales pitch. The remaining six months are spent undertaking finer edits; writing the copy for the book jacket; selling the book into the bookshops; and planning the PR and marketing campaign.

How much effort goes into the design of the book, for example, the cover design, font selection and so on?

I’d say the cover is one of the most crucial moments in a book’s life. We know that people look at a book’s cover in a bookshop for about 3 seconds before they decide whether or not to buy it. They may turn it over to read the back, or they may not. Either way, you have 3 seconds for your cover to tell someone 1) what the book is and 2) why they must buy it. So it’s absolutely crucial to get the cover right.

We put a huge amount of thought and effort into our covers and into the cover copy, sometimes redesigning or rewriting them two or three times over the book’s life.

Are there any up and coming books that you are publishing soon that we need to look out for?

We’ve just published Anna, a heartbreaking but uplifting love story by one of my very favourite authors, Amanda Prowse. I defy anyone to read it without shedding a tear.

On the other side of the emotional spectrum, I have had a ball working with Wendy Holden on her sparkling romantic comedy Last of the Summer Moet. If you are looking for something fun, glamorous and truly escapist, it’s perfect. (it is also 99p on kindle until the end of March!)

We’re also really excited for Gallows Court from Martin Edwards, who is President of the Detection Club, Chair of the CWA and consults on the British Library’s classic crime series. He’s won hundreds of awards and when you read Gallows Court you can see why – it’s gripping and dark, and totally unputdownable.

What debut authors are you publishing this year?

We are publishing two really exciting debut authors this year.

My tip for the summer is The Boy at the Door (July 2018) by new author Alex Dahl. It is a completely engrossing psychological thriller about a woman in Norway whose perfect life is destroyed when a mysterious young boy turns up at her doorstep. I raced through it.

In August, we are publishing The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas – a wonderfully quirky novel about a group of female scientists who invent a time machine and use it to solve a murder. We’re describing it as a time-travel murder mystery, and everyone who’s read it, loves it.

How did you come across them?

Both authors were submitted to us by their literary agents. We tend to find most of our debut authors via literary agents, although we also welcome authors to submit directly through our submission portal (headofzeus.com/submissions). Our digital imprint, Aria, also has a submissions portal and we’ve had some great titles acquired through this.

What title of yours has been an unexpected success?

Back in 2013, we published a novel called The Detective’s Daughter by Lesley Thomson. It was upmarket, literary crime, first in a series. In the ‘old’ days, that kind of fiction would have taken seven books (over seven years) to build up the kind of readership that delivers a top-ten bestseller. But the immediacy of ebook publishing had changed all of that. People liked the title and description, and downloaded it in their droves. Then, once they had read it, and started posting rave reviews, what had begun as a little success snowballed into something much bigger. The book sold 300,000 copies in four months, was reviewed by 1500 readers, and stayed at the top of the kindle charts for about ten weeks.

What would you say were the undiscovered gems in your catalogue?

My absolute favourite undiscovered gem is a novel called Black Dog Summer by Miranda Sherry, which the entire company fell in love with at acquisition. It’s the story of a young girl navigating the world after the death of her mother. Set in rural South Africa, the novel weaves together family drama, thriller, love story and ghost story. Although we got excellent reviews, sadly the sales didn’t hit the dizzy heights we were all expecting. If the book ever has a renaissance, I’ll die happy.

One of our authors, M.R.C. Kasasian, has developed a hardcore fanbase, who call themselves the #KasasianCrew. Everyone who reads his books adores them, but for some reason they haven’t broken through yet. We’re re-launching him this Autumn with a new series featuring kickass detective Betty Church, in Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire. Hopefully this will be the moment where his amazing books, which combine a wonderful, wry humour with gruesome and gripping crimes.

How do you use social media for promoting books and authors?

We have a monthly email to readers on our rapidly growing database, which highlights our titles for the month, shares details of our upcoming events, and also spotlights the best content from the previous month on the website. We share all our review coverage online and take advantage of events and book signings to share new content like videos and photos, so that we are constantly engaging with our followers.

But although we are very active on our HoZ social media channels, at the end of the day, it’s the author, not the publisher, that readers really want to connect with. So we encourage all our authors to have social media accounts, and advise them on which one (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) would work best for them. We give tips on building their profile, and we create artwork and marketing messages for them to share.

Is working with book bloggers becoming a larger part of that process now?

As a small independent publisher, we have always benefited from our relationship with book bloggers. Unlike some of the bigger companies, who invest heavily in tube advertisements or magazine campaigns to promote their books, we rely on word-of-mouth within reader communities. We recognise how important bloggers are, and (hopefully!) we show our gratitude for their support by inviting them to author launch parties, crediting them properly when we include their reviews on our books, and offering them exclusive content such as signed copies.

What book do you wish you had published?

Oh there are so many! If I can pick just one, I’ll go for The Other Hand by Chris Cleave. Partly because it has the perfect combination of gripping plot, memorable characters and emotional heft I am always looking for, but mainly because it was published with creativity and flair. The publisher made the unusual decision not to share any details about the story or the author anywhere on the cover. Instead, the book included a passionate letter from the editor, imploring readers to simply trust in the magic of the storytelling. It was an original and bold strategy, and it worked on me! I have never forgotten it.

What does the future hold for Head of Zeus?

Last year, we launched a children’s list, Zephyr which has some brilliant offerings later this year, including big names like Marcus Sedgwick and Sally Gardner. Our genre fiction is going from strength to strength and, with our science fiction authors over for WorldCon in Dublin in 2019, next summer is starting to look out of this world. We are already publishing some fantastic authors – old and new – and I can’t wait to see how it develops in 2019.

Apart from that, it’s quite simple: world domination.

So world domination it is then… A big thank you to Laura and Blake for taking time out of their hectic schedules to answer those questions for me. I really appreciate it. Head of Zeus’s books are available from all good bookshops and their most recent catalogue can be seen here. I would urge you to buy them from an independent bookshop if you can as this support them, the publisher and of course the author with one purchase.

Previous Publisher Profiles:

Eland

Salt Publishing

Little Toller

Review: Queen of Nowhere

29/04/2018 / Paul / 0 Comments

Queen of Nowhere by Jaine Fenn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

They look human, have considerable mental and actual resources at their disposal, and have the advantage that no one actually believes they exist. They were thought to have vanished a thousand years ago, but Bez knows the Sidhe still live among human-occupied space. Even though there are not many of them left, they have people in key positions and wield considerable power and influence over what they consider a substandard race.

Bez has been fighting her own secret war against them. Using multiple identities and rarely staying long anywhere and building a network of spies and agents, she has located almost all of the Sidhe across habs. If she was to make one mistake though, the trap that she has spent her life setting will end in disaster and the Sidhe would have won. Her knife-edge balancing act begins to wobble when she realises that the only person who knows her real identity might not be able to be trusted and that there is another who claims to know who she is and has been helping her all along. To survive this, and bring about her life’s work, she is going to need every instinct that has kept her alive so far.

This is the fifth in the series of the Hidden Empire series from Fenn, and it slots nicely into the universe that she has created in her previous books. The world building is as good as the previous books, I particularly liked the starliners that Bez uses to get to the different habs where the populations live in her universe. Apart from the main character, the rest are a little thin, but the plot rescues this with is fast pace, twists and turns and explosive ending. Great stuff as usual and I am eagerly looking forward to her new series.

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