Envelopes Everywhere!

You know how sometimes getting a short text message from a friend you haven't seen for ages can just make your day? Or when the person next to you on the tube says something to make it seem less of a miserable journey? Well, picture that warm glow inside and multiple it to the power of global loveliness, as we're seeing 'Envelopes' popping up everywhere!

A big thank you to Miss Cosby at St Meryl's School in Watford who sent in a few pictures of the illustrated Envelopes her pupils had been inspired to create. How wonderful - I can almost hear that cracker popping right off the page!

And secondly, proof that Envelopes manages to charm in every corner of the world, we received today an utterly beautiful envelope which has journyed all the way from New Zealand! Check it out.
And if all this Envelopes business is meaning nothing to you - what? You mean you haven't seen a copy? What's wrong with you - go here to read more about it.

In 3rd Place...

Third on the podium is C Fowler from Ashford whose unique 3D envelope featuring an origami boat on a paper sea also gets a 'high commended' spotlight!

Judge Harriet Russell said 'It was lovely to see an envelope with more of a sculptural approach. I liked how the sea was bursting out of the envelope and the creative use of different papers in this entry.'

In 2nd Place...

A very close contender for the winners prize was Frances Culshaw from High Peak who gets 2nd place in our Envelopes competition. (She may have missed out on the prize but we simply must bestow her with special recognition!)

Judge Harriet Russell said of this entry: 'The drawing of the pin ball machine was well executed, colourful and eye-catching, and cleverly incorporated the words of the address into the game. I liked the idea of the 'Postie's challenge' which was very much in keeping with my original idea!'

And The Winner Is....

Congrats to Lucy Groom from Chelmsford! - the winner of our Envelopes competition!

Harriet Russell, author of Envelopes: A Puzzling Journey Through the Royal Mail and the judge of the competition said of Lucy's envelope idea: 'This entry stood out as I felt it was the most original and engaging. I enjoyed the way she had incorporated the address into her little story of a couple called Allison and Busby and their 13 daughters, one called Charlotte and the rest called Mews...which I thought both clever and charming. It was also visually appealing as each part of the story was written on a separate patterned handmade envelope, and bound together to make a story book.'

Lucy will receive a £100 Gift Card to spend at Borders (any store or online)... It's a timely prize in the run up to Xmas, but hope it doesn't all go on pressies and you treat yourself to something nice, Lucy!

We love all your Envelope entries!

A quick note to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who entered our Envelopes Competition (now closed). Opening our daily post simply won't be as fun anymore! We'll now be getting the lovely Harriet Russell, author of the wonderful book Envelopes, to pick the winner and runners up and these will be announced on the 1st December. Check this blog or our website then to see who topped the creativity chart!

Win a £100 voucher!

Ok, I realise we have grossly neglected this blog... but I can assure you it's all for good reason. Oh yes - we are getting ready for something BIG...something that will transform your online vision of A&B, and indeed this blog. That's all I'm saying at the moment, but bear with us. Think of it as the calm before the storm, or rather in this case, the silence before the fanfare!

But just breaking the silence for a moment to flag up our Envelopes competition.

Inspired by the Harriet Russell's unique book Envelopes - a collection of puzzling, artistic and oddly addressed envelopes - we thought it would be great to see what other quirky envelope ideas people could come up with. So! If you fancy flaunting your creative talent and winning a £100 to spend in any Borders bookshop or online (bet that 'll save on your Christmas shopping!) click here for full details about the competition.

It ends on 17th November so get cracking!

Books or chocolate...books or chocolate...

There’s doom and gloom every time I turn on the news these days – credit crunch this and inflation that – which isn't much fun for anyone. And while browsing the bbc website this afternoon I came across details of a survey about the ‘essentials’ for different groups of society. From Kit-Kats to croissants via cars, it gives you an interesting viewpoint on what we can’t seem to live without today and will scrimp and save to keep. All I can say is thank goodness for my fantastic library, which is doing a great deal to keep my bank balance looking healthy. And it's open seven days a week no less (ha – bet you’re all really jealous now!) and up to 13 books out at one time! You can check out the survey here:

And you might like to take advantage of your local library with some great author events - check out the A&B events calendar here for upcoming dates.

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

Do you often poke your friends? In a facebook sense, that is? Well, if the idea of a facebook for, err, books, sounds like your idea of heaven, you must head over to www.bookrabbit.com. This new site allows you to upload pictures of your shelves at home (or in my case some very untidy heaps from before I moved) and browse through the bookshelves of others, all with the idea of kicking off discussion. It’s compulsive stuff – come on, you know you check through (OK – snoop is a more accurate word) people’s bookcases!

They’re even working on some very impressive technology, called ‘Automatic Bookshelf’ that will be able to ‘read’ and recognise the spines of your photographed books: finally computer wizardry does something worthwhile. Keep your eyes peeled too as sometimes we nice publishing folk get a bit giddy and give away books – such as the fantastic steampunk novel The Affinity Bridge our Snowbooks friends are bringing out soon – if you want a proof click here but get in there quick! And, if all this talk about peering at other people's bookshelves is giving you book envy, have a look at the A&B crime page up right now – head to here to check it out.

The month that time forgot...

...err, what happened to May at the A&B office? You might very well be asking that question, and the answer would be - holidays, bank holidays, weddings (not ours), sales trips, meeting new authors, yet more glow-in-the-dark fun, the appearance and disappearance of summer and moving house - finally!

Yes, I'm now an official Essex girl and enjoying the commute with plenty of time to read - sigh of contentment!

Anyhoo - more anon.

Good ol' fashioned glow-in-the-dark fun

So, here are the photos of our stand at the book fair taken Monday morning before I managed to generally clutter and mess the space up! The lovely thing about the stand was having a space where anyone and everyone could (and believe me did) roll up. We saw A&B authors past and present (including Christopher West, whose Death of a Blue Lantern is reissued next month, a mystery set in Communist China that with the current headlines is very topical). And, particularly pleasantly, work experience guys and gals past and present. Hello in particular to Sophie, our high-flying friend now over at SPCK, who's a regular visitor to the blog (waves). Apologies to Jas who appeared at our stand looking so professional that it took more than a minute or two to place her. The idea of photographing our work experience people to aid future recollections has been voiced again in the office. Roll up for your mugshots here?

And in reference to the title of my post - earlier this week we got finished copies of Rachel Caine's Glass Houses which prompted the entire office to stash copies in cupboards and under desks and excitedly peek at them. No, we haven't taken complete leave of our senses, we wanted to fully appreciate the very cool glow in the dark finish that we've added to the cover design. Spooky.

Catching up

So, three days out of the office and my inbox nearly exploded with spam - a great thing to welcome you back to your desk eh? Getting back and following up lots of things from meetings and random bumpings-into has stopped us talking about the fair much - but I do have photos of the A&B home from home at Earl's Court, so I do intend to blog about it soon.

In the meantime, an email offer from Borders prompts me to post - save 40% on any full priced book this weekend, not to be sniffed at I reckon. Click here to print off the voucher.

Good weekend to all!

My mates the printers have done me proud

It’s April, the sun is shining as I sit under the skylight at A&B central and various items have poured in from the printers leaving me feeling happy with the world. The latest catalogue covering July – September (as well as a few other titles which crept into our Spring schedule) is in and no glaring omissions have made my blood run cold yet. You can have a virtual flick through by clicking the link on the lefthand side of the A&B homepage. A rather nifty leaflet featuring our summer reading picks has arrived and the pièce de résistance, our glorious A&B bags have made an appearance too, and very handy they’ve already proven themselves to be. Glorious as they are, we had to share some with the world. In steps dovegreyreader who has done a prize-draw giveaway of some to lucky readers of her blog.

Ah, I'm a happy chappie.

And we have a winner!

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that our author Colleen Gleason has won the DA BWAHA Tournament for best book in the romance genre with the first book in her vampire romance series The Rest Falls Away. The tournament (where readers vote for their favourites online) was sponsored by Smart Bitches and Dear Author blogs and saw Gleason up against Nora Roberts and her book High Noon in the final round. But Gleason bagged the trophy, and deservedly so! For all you UK readers who are dying to know what the fuss is about, you won't have to wait long. The Rest Falls Away will be out in the UK at the end of this month!

In fact, it's really all I've been thinking about this week... and I'm not exaggerating. I've been working on the UK cover and I have three words to say on that subject: Purples, Pantones, and Palpitations. Hey, that's actually not a bad title for a "How To" book or humorous memoir - with subtitle: "A Day in the Life of a Graphic Designer" (I might copyright that). But I digress. I have renewed respect for any designer out there who battles with picking the right colour when your computer screen shows you one thing, your printer prints out another, neither matches your colour bridge and you have to trust the CMYK/RGB figures instead of your eyes. I've actually been dreaming in purple pantones (my boyfriend was a nice violet hue, the shopkeeper a sickly off-mauve) but I digress again...

Anyway, all will be revealed tomorrow. Stay tuned.

April Fools Day...

…was yesterday and was it just me or was the world a little more dour than I think it had cause to be? The only ‘joke’ I came across in the media was on the BBC Breakfast show; a segment on penguins that have advanced on the evolutionary scale by learning to fly. No offence Aunty Beeb, it was cute, but surely you can do better? Anyone else have any good'uns?

Speaking of witty, clever and original things (you're probably getting used to the fact that I rarely fail to!), I am waiting with baited breath for the finished copies of the Boomsday paperback that are due in from the printer today…drum roll please.

And here's the penguin segment, if you are interested in some OK-ish CGI!

Let's talk about the weather....

As we return from our Easter break, I'll have you know, that this Sunday 23rd March was also World Meteorological Day! Perhaps this explains the chaotic weather conditions over the weekend which included a 30-second hailstorm, two bouts of snow, bright sun, blustering winds, sleet and rain. Could the elements have been celebrating?? It certainly gives me reason to highlight our upcoming fantasy series about Weather Wardens, by Rachel Caine. It's a modern fantasy series, set in today's world as we know it, but including a parallel universe of powerful wardens who can control the elements. Ill Wind (Book one) will be out in a months time. Intrigue, corruption, murder, thrilling battles between extreme weather and a sexy and feisty female weather Warden as heroine, who is being chased by a storm... Considering the bizarre weather this weekend, I might think twice before labelling the series as fantasy... Oh! And today we're celebrating Christina's birthday who designed the brilliant cover for Ill Wind (fans on Rachel's Caine's blog have already given it a big thumbs up!). So Happy Birthday Christina, Happy World Meteorological Day (members of the World Meteorological Organisation are actually celebrating it today) and just keep a close eye on the weather people...

Easter - eggscellent (in a Mr Burns voice)

All hail the long weekend! I don't know about you, but I'm probably going to spend most of the easter holidays curled up reading with my smarties easter egg. It might even turn into something of a hibernation.

Chiara as some top seasonal recommendations below which have inspired the following puns. Apologies, I am fully aware of how ripe and past their sell-by date they are. But my excuse is that after working on the new catalogue for the last few days (covering July - September, as well as a few other titles that crept in - watch this space) I need to let off steam; my brain is scrambled, fried and only capable of handling things over-easy. heh heh :)

Rabbits and eggs!

Am off now for the long Easter weekend break, but considering we're in for a chiller (see BBC 5 day weather report) here are two quality reads to keep you entertained as you rug up indoors whilst...um, still keeping in with the Easter spirit: The Rabbit Factory, by Marshall Karp and The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy, by James Anderson. Guaranteed you'll finish them both over the four days. I mean, frankly, what else have you got to do besides eat chocolate??

HAPPY EASTER to all!

The Colour of Magic - to see or not to see?

Last night I saw the preview for Sky One's TV adaptation of Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic, to be broadcasted Easter Sunday. I'm probably one of the few people in the world who hasn't read a Harry Potter book, let alone seen any of the films, and I probably put this down to the fact that Terry Pratchett got to me first. I became a fan of the Pratchett's Discworld novels years ago. From the moment I read the line "A thought crossed his mind - very fast, and looking both ways in case it got knocked over" I was hooked. (I take no responsibility for misquotation) . I still delight in the layers of humour and the surreal that Pratchett so brilliantly delivers. So I have to admit, whilst I was at first delighted to see the preview for The Colour of Magic pop up on my TV screen - a bit like suddenly spotting someone you know on the telly - I'm now slightly unsure as to whether or not I really want to see the film. Whilst the technology these days means that productions such as these are remarkable, part of me wants to keep my own unique image of the Discworld, safe from a TV producer's interpretation. But I'm curious. Of course I'm curious. I never did see the first adaptation, The Hogfather, so if anyone saw that one and would advise For or Against seeing The Colour of Magic, I'm all ears! Reviews welcome. Because after all, it could prove to be a disappointment - like the colour of magic itself, a mere "greenish-purple" (according to wizard Rincewind).

And Elmer Fudd thought Bugs Bunny was a challenge...

Today we all enjoyed a jolly lunch with author Zoë Sharp and her hubby Andy. They had just come from filming a Meet the Author video where Zoë talks about her thriller Second Shot (Look out for the clip - will be online soon!) before heading off to a photoshoot in Oxstead. (Zoë doubles as a photo-journalist for the motorpress ie. if you ever believe the stereotype that authors hide in their studies wearing twead - think again. You're much more likely to see Zoë hanging out of a fast-moving Ford GT to get a cool low-angle shot.)

Anyway, amongst banter about dodgy flights, property development and book covers, the conversation somehow veered onto German Giant Rabbits...which of course I then HAD to google and I now share with you the evidence of what can only be described as: nature gone slightly mad. (Please refer to above image - I think it's eaten Peter Rabbit.) Will you look at the thing? Bit of a large target for rabbit hunters, but I bet this hefty fella wouldn't go down with one shot... or even a Second Shot. Or even a Third Strike ! (See? See what I just did there?)

I won't begrudge any rolling of the eyes...

Bag ladies

The countdown to the London Book Fair at Earls Court is on. Between 14th and 16th April you’ll be able to say hello to the A&B ladies at our stand (J205 in case you’re wondering). But extra kudos will go out to those who manage to spot us on the go – we’re getting some lovely bags printed with the rather nifty A&B logo and our proud slogan “The small publisher of BIG books”. And through the wonder of technology we can see what they are going to look like before ink has touched canvas.

Well, what do you know, I've managed to blog without mentioning a frock...I've moved onto accessories instead!

Book voucher - get it while it's hot!

Those people at Borders are lovely, aren't they? They are letting you get a whole quarter, yes 25%, off a book if you buy one before the Monday. I might happen to suggest that you pick up a copy of The Rabbit Factory or Innocent Blood, both of which were options for Borders' January Book Club. First chocolates, now books, we do spoil you lot. Check out the link and print it off - enjoy!

http://www.bordersstores.co.uk/_assets/newsletters/_vouchers/_feb/25book/voucher.htm

Red Carpets

I love the build up to the Oscars. There’s the anticipation, frock-spotting [note to self – I’m coming over as just a little bit frock obsessed in recent posts, must mention something more serious next time] and judging the nominees from home – what’s not to love? Well, over-long acceptance speeches perhaps. And what about the after show parties? Though I seem to have not been invited this year - some terrible administrative error I'm sure - I saw on the morning news that this year Elton John is throwing just an intimate soiree for a mere 600 guests.

But, as we all know, publishing and Hollywood are thick as thieves – is anyone able to name me a really great / really big movie of recent years that hasn’t been adapted from a novel/memoir/comic/shopping list that came before it? There must be some, but my mind is drawing a blank. Anyway, I tend to subscribe to the notion that the book is always better than the film, and would highly recommend the following A&B gems for the movie buffs out there to compare. We’ve been talking up Boomsday since its trade paperback publication in October, but it was Thank You for Smoking that gave Christopher Buckley an oomph last year; one of the contenders for my own little ‘Best A&B Cover Design’ award. Little Children’s (available here and here) movie adaptation featured a superb Kate Winslet playing the character of frustrated stay-at-home Mum Sarah. And as Susie mentioned the other week, we are putting On the Waterfront into a snazzy new look next month. A surfeit of riches, bring out the popcorn!

Free chocolate and other Valentine's stuff

Happy Valentine's Day! What better way to say we love you than by sharing this link to get free bags of chocolate from Woolworths this week! (Geez, do I ever think of anything but food?) Click here for your free chocolate voucher.

I don't really do Valentine's, but you could say I'm celebrating the day with a bit of paranormal romance as I've just started to read the first book in The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, by Colleen Gleason (one of our upcoming series - watch this space!). It features a young girl making her debut in 19th century London Society who is chosen to continue the family legacy as a vampire hunter. So one moment she's getting all flushed by the advances of one particularly gorgeous and eligible bachelor at the ball, and the next is ramming a stake into a fanged enemy. Great stuff - never been one for complete sappiness on Valentine's.

However, for those who do want fullblown romance, just letting you know that The Notebook is showing on Film 4 tonight. Personally I would have opted for An Officer and A Gentleman as Valentine's Day viewing which was actually on last night (had I known it advance I would have told you!) but I did tape it so now I can go home and behold the particularly dreamy Richard Gere and pretend he's the one taking me out for a candelit dinner for two. Mmmm....

This Valentines I am mostly loving...

I'm a day or two early but what the heck - happy Valentine’s dear blog readers! Don’t worry I won’t be getting all slushy on you, but I thought I’d take a moment or two to share my love for a few things at the moment. These include:

1. Carter Beats the Devil – thanks to Susie who gave me a copy of this book which I’ve been meaning to read for, lord, six years or so. I don’t want it to end and for once would welcome long, unexplained stops in Jubilee line tunnels!

2. The approach of spring – slowly we seem to be getting there, when you can see through the fog that is.

3. Finished copies of The Galliard; our fourth Margaret Irwin novel which is out next month, is a lovely chunky size and has a lady in a gorgeous frock on the front – ticking my first two boxes for great historical fiction.

4. Discovering random new ‘interesting’ facts – did you know that Mark Billingham used to be one of the knights in Maid Marian and her Merry Men? Whatever next?

A Happy Ending and a New Start

For those of you familiar with my on-going bathroom saga (I really should write a book about it – a very looong book involving leaky roofs, cracked walls, gorgeous plumbers…), I can now finally reveal that I’ve reached the happy ending! After several months of problem following upon problem, delay following delay, I now have a bright, shiny new bathroom that looks like it’s come straight out of an Ideal Home page – or a bijou version of it at least! My lovely little flat is really starting to feel like home, and I’m looking forward to finally having the time to catch up on some reading at the weekends rather than painting/packing/unpacking… First on my list is the wonderful War in Val d’Orcia by Iris Origo, which I’ve had on my bookshelf for longer than I’d care to admit and never found the time to read. Well, now’s that time. Especially as we are going to be reprinting it again soon with a fantastic new cover design. I’ve been told it’s one of the most moving and beautiful books A&B has ever had on its list. It sounds like an unmissable read (I’m appalled at myself for neglecting it this long), and I’m looking forward to finding out for myself just how fabulous it is…

X

Wine and books - perfect combination

T'is the end of a great week! Liz Corley's book launch went brilliantly. Hosted by the hugely entertaining and knowledgeable David and Daniel at Goldsboro books, there was a colourful mix of city types and bookie people. Signed first editions, good wine and a cosy atmosphere...nothing wrong with that on an otherwise miserable Wednesday night in January. And clearly everyone else though so too - we only left the bookshop after 10!

Happy weekends to everyone.

xxx

TV and Books

The other day as I lay at home doing the seasonal thing of snuffling and sneezing I saw my first Richard and Judy Book Club episode in I don’t know how many years. They were discussing Orion’s The Rose of Sebastopol with Samuel West and Charity Wakefield. Considering the ho-ha that Richard and Judy generates in publishing and bookselling I was mildly surprised at how short the segment really was. A filmed portion with the author Katherine McMahon; a pithy summing up of the general plot and character progression and some anecdotal ‘I loved this bit’ etc. I’ve only read one of R&J’s choices so far, Lloyd Jones’ Mister Pip, and can’t help but think that the format will not do it anything like the justice it deserves. I’m not knocking Richard & Judy as such, but I know I’ve enjoyed The Book Show with Mariella Frostrop far, far more. I particularly love the section they do where authors discuss the books that they wished they had written – a real booky treat.

And lo, just the other day there was the news in The Bookseller that there will be an apprentice-style-celebrity-crime-novel programme coming to the BBC soon called ‘Murder Most Famous’. Should be interesting how Minette Walters is going to put the likes of gardener Diarmuid Gavin through a crime boot-camp… Ah well, it's all for charity.

Backlist gems

At Allison & Busby we have a backlist packed full of fantastic books and we are always trying to come up with a tasty new way of selling/promoting them. This month, we've been hugely helped by those lovely Borders people who have put Anchee Min's stunning novel Becoming Madame Mao, into their historical fiction promo. Min has written a number of novels but is perhaps best known for her Richard & Judy pick Empress Orchid, which we shamelessly plug on Madame Mao, of course.

More backlist gems coming up this year include On the Waterfront (altogether now .. "I coulda bin a contender" said in a gruff, Brando-esque manner) with a stunning new cover courtesy of our in-house design supremo Christina. And we've got two of Manette Ansay's novels, Sister and River Angel scheduled in the summer - I'll post about her another time as she really warrants undivided attention. Oh, and a new look for Richard Stark's classic Point Blank which we'll have out shortly. We're working that backlist ... any thoughts/tips/advice gladly received.

Books for Dummies

While reading an article on the BBC website today I made a shock discovery. Apparently you don’t need to read books to be clever. Of course you don’t, intelligence can’t be settled by having ticked off a list of approved reading, and if you believe some of the recent controversy about the ‘dumbed down’ state of our bestseller lists, we’re all headed for Dumbsville.

But that wasn’t actually the fact that struck me. Three quarters of the way through the article Denise Winterman writes about books having lost their ‘chic’ and quotes Professor John Sutherland as saying "If you try and sell your house, estate agents will tell you to get rid of the books, they are viewed as tired and middle aged". Huh? Now in my ongoing house hunting quest I’ve met some odd estate agents (particularly that lovely lady who said I was asking her the ‘wrong’ questions – aha blog revenge!) but surely books are part of that aspirational lifestyle that people are drawn to when viewing a house – aren’t they? The idea that you may have the time and inclination to read gorgeously produced literature – doesn’t that cast a better light on the mod cons and double glazing? Or has the rise of Tesco et al in the bookselling stakes put a permanent kibosh on this?

The quest continues by the way…

New Years Resolutions - blown 'em already

I absolutely faithfully promised to do three things in the New Year:

1) go to the gym ... ha ha

2) read more books and watch less telly ... can't do until I've finished the final series of The Sopranos which Santa gave me for Christmas

3) blog each and every day ... oops

So let's pretend last week never happened, and start from NOW.

Happy New Year!

What did you read over the festive period? I was pathetic and managed just two books but I did have the excuse that I was cruising down the Nile and it would have been rude to sit with my nose in a book rather than ooh and aah at the passing sites. Edfu temple was amazing, as was the city of Luxor, The Valley of the Kings (seen from a hot air balloon at 6am) and the Aswan dam. The books that I did manage to read were Reginald Hill's new Dalziel & Pascoe, The Death of Dalziel, and Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale. Mr Hill is my crime God. I think he's utterly brilliant and in almost 20 years, I have never read a book of his that I haven't adored.

I'm about 50 pages from the end of The Thirteenth Tale and must confess I can't wait to get home and finish it. I knew I'd love it as Jane Eyre is one of my favourite books, and I am completely hooked. Oh, look, 5.31pm. Time to go home and get reading.

We're back!

I must have been a good girl in 2007 as Father Christmas didn’t fill my stocking with coal and I was able to enjoy quite a peaceful yuletide. Furthermore I was pleased this Christmas because (for once) I was a realist on the book-reading front. I didn’t put a pile of books on my wish list that would take me until the August bank holiday to read and I didn’t have to trail a mobile library along with me on the train from the deepest, darkest British countryside. I read one non-A&B book – Perfume by Patrick Suskind, which reinforced how rubbish I am at distinguishing scent and taste – and one forthcoming A&B book: Ill Wind by Rachel Caine. This is the first in the Weather Warden series (see Susie’s mention of it in our very first blog post here) and, following my reading of The Dead Girls’ Dance in the autumn, it’s the second book by Rachel Caine that I’ve read. In both cases I would recommend them as fantastic holiday reading, there’s never a dull moment because either a powerful (literal or figurative) storm is kicking off in one or a nightmarish scene is unfolding in the other. Finally, there are very intelligent, sassy heroines in both series. We’ve gotten the artwork which will be on Ill Wind from artist David Seeley and I'm showing it off here - moody eh?