Susie, Author at Allison & Busby

Friday Lunch with Authors

22 February, 2013

This week we’ve had some lovely author visits. Yesterday we enjoyed a lovely tea with Emily Winslow and today we had the pleasure of an office lunch with authors Judith Cutler and Edward Marston. Conversation covered all manner of topics from cricket to cruises to capital punishment, as well as the new BBC documentary Penguins […]

Swat up on your Nordic crime…

19 February, 2013

If your knowledge of Scandinavian crime fiction is limited to Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbø, then a new guide, Nordic Noir, by crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw (editor of Crime Time and reviewer for countless publications including the Independent and The Good Book Guide), looks to change all that. Whilst we regularly mention books from […]

Today’s pick from the web

15 February, 2013

The weekend draws near, and for the next two days I will try to avoid looking at a computer. But before I shut off from the online world I’ll leave you with my top three picks from the web today: #1 The New York Times – Maurice Sendak’s posthumous book My favourite books as a […]

How’s THIS for a Valentine’s gift?

14 February, 2013

Today, we lunched with author D E Meredith, and conversation turned (inevitably) to Valentine’s Day. Some people celebrate it (eg. Susie and Lesley) and others don’t (eg. D E Meredith and I), but we agreed that it’s definitely a more female-led celebration. (Spot the panic-stricken faces of men across of the country as they question […]

We’re celebrating fabulous news!

8 February, 2013

The champers is out!! Today we celebrate the wonderful news that Glass Houses, by Rachel Caine – the first book in the bestselling Morganville Vampire series, has been voted the most popular book with school children in the UK! Read more here… What a wonderful way to end the week! Chiara Priorelli, Publiicty & […]

Would you be reading that book if it wasn’t an e-book?

7 February, 2013

E-books, e-books, e-books. It’s unsurprisingly the biggest topic in the publishing industry at the moment, with more books being published only in e-book format, the ongoing debate about 20p e-book offers, and the natural worries of how e-books will affect the future of the bookshop… My question to you e-book readers out there is, are […]

The give-and-take of publicity

4 February, 2013

As a publicist, I spend much of my week alerting the press and blogosphere about our upcoming books, hoping to get them to run a review or an author interview, or at the very least get them to mention the title in a roundup or pertinent feature article. Of course, there are hundreds or other […]

It’s National Storytelling Week!

28 January, 2013

This week is National Storytelling Week (26 January – 2 February) with plenty of events going on up and down the country to celebrate ‘the most ancient of communicative arts’. So take a moment this week to think about and relish the art of storytelling. We may not be a novelist or a writer of […]

Richard Stark’s Parker to hit cinemas…

25 January, 2013

Point Blank, by Richard Stark (originally published in 1962 under the title The Hunter) first introduced readers to the character of master thief Parker. Parker was then immortalised on film by Lee Marvin in the 1967 film Point Blank. And so ensued a long list of other movies based on the Parker series with different […]

Stylist magazine dedicates an issue to me! (Sort of…)

24 January, 2013

This week’s Stylist is dedicated to holidays for the food obsessed. Which is to say it’s bascially an issue dedicated to me. In fact, if you were to ask me about my holiday (any holiday), my immediate response would involve enthusiastically describing a series of mouth-watering meals, perhaps punctuated by some other minor attractions… Holiday […]

Inspire us…for some free books!

15 January, 2013

In the A&B office, we’ve been talking about our personal resolutions which range from starting yoga, cooking a new recipe once a week and writing more letters (that’s right, proper letters, with pen and paper and everything), to stop using the Snooze button and using the word ‘discombobulate’ more often. But we’re sure you all […]

The World of the Lobbyist…

8 January, 2013

They say that things come in threes. Good things. Bad things. Buses. And in my case, the recurrent theme is Lobbyists. Over the Christmas break, I watched the brilliant documentary Food Inc. , which I simply must recommend – eye-opening, shocking and important viewing (will be getting the book!). Anyone who knows me, knows I get […]

Brighten up your Monday with a 99p sale…

7 January, 2013

It’s Monday. And the first full week of work after the Christmas holidays. Bound to be some Monday blues lurking about. Which inevitably means…time to hit the sales for some retail therapy! But no, I hear you say, the post-Christmas bank account can not endure more frivolous spending! Understood. But surely you can spare 99p? […]

I’m dreaming of a Nordic Christmas…

6 December, 2012

If I look on Twitter I’m surprised that #Scandinavian is not trending at the moment, because recently everything I come across has a Scandivanian bent. And it’s not suprising, because, let it be said, the Scandinavians truly know how to do Christmas. I had the fortune to spend six years of my childhood in Copenhagen […]

It’s Scottish Book Week!

27 November, 2012

This week we celebrate Book Week Scotland 2012, so what better excuse than to explore some our our books, set in Scotland and/or by Scottish authors! You could kick things off with some Scottish crime-fiction and the brand new release, Evil for Evil, by Aline Templeton. It’s the latest installment in the acclaimed series featuring […]

How to make Pecan Pie (Happy Thanksgiving!)

22 November, 2012

Today is Thanksgiving. And at home, my American mother has been busy since yesterday cooking up a storm which involves a turkey, a sweet potato casserole, a spinach-quiche-sort-of-thing, sautéed artichokes and an obligatory Pecan Pie. I’m salivating as I write this. The fact that my mother lives in Spain, will be cooking for Italian and […]

Incoherent notes from the past – what could this possibly mean?

6 November, 2012

Have you ever jotted down some notes on a piece of paper, which made perfect sense to you at the time, only to find, when you look at the notes at a later date, they’ve lost all meaning? I’m sure I’m not the only one. But usually, after wracking our brains (and memory) for a […]

We’re another kind of bookmakers today…

1 November, 2012

Yes, that’s right, we’re not talking about books and making them, we’re taking bets and the game starts NOW. As of Friday last week our server has been acting up, or, as the case currently may be, not acting at all. So, as I sit here working from home pondering the world’s biggest questions, including “How […]

Friday Fun: Beats David Attenborough’s voiceover…

26 October, 2012

It’s a miserably grey day, complete with intermittent spits of rain which means venturing outside the office walls for lunch is less than appealing. So lunch is at my desk today, but since our server is down at the moment, access to email and certain drives are off limit, restricting the scope for a hugely […]

Fly on the wall in the A&B meeting…

25 October, 2012

I’ve just come out of our inaugural A&B weekly meeting. As a small team, meetings have always been rather redundant as, previously working all together on one floor, there was never any real need for formal meetings, we all just knew what was happening and group discussions would take place in impromptu ways. Now, however, […]

We say goodbye to Lara Crisp…

19 October, 2012

After over 8 years at Allison & Busby (time does fly) today is Lara’s last day the office. We are, of course, still in denial, and will probably remain so for a little while. Seeing as in this new office, we are separated over two floors, at least Susie, Lesley and I (who sit on […]