Susie, Author at Allison & Busby

In light of the Diamond Jubilee…

1 June, 2012

As things gear up for the Jubilee celebrations, you’d be hard pressed not to spot a British flag and the image of the coiffed head of her Royal Highness somewhere in your line of vision. There she is on the cover of new releases… special celebratory memorabilia… and the Diamond Jubilee stamp… That Her Highness’ […]

A Day at CrimeFest

31 May, 2012

Last Friday saw me head over to Bristol and specifically to the Marriott Royal Hotel to enjoy a day at CrimeFest, the first of this year’s UK international crime festivals (the Harrogate crime festival is coming up in July). And it was a pleasure to see our attending authors including Adrian Magson, who was up […]

Competition: How good is your Gujarati?

25 May, 2012

Yesterday, I received a copy of Garavi Gujarat, which I understand is one of the oldest and biggest selling weekly Indian magazines published outside India. I was delighted to read the covering letter which flagged up the fact that they had reviewed Death on the Marais, by Adrian Magson (the first book in the Lucas […]

Books about zoos…

22 May, 2012

Following Sara’s blog post yesterday heralding the importance of children’s books, and the fact I took my 3-year-old nephew to the London Zoo over the weekend, it brought to mind the fact that you can usually find children’s books to compliment real-life experiences. So I feel compelled to bring you a little selection of wonderful […]

Creative highlights from Rachel Caine’s book tour

17 May, 2012

Rachel Caine, author of the bestselling Morganville Vampire series, continues her mega tour of the UK meeting her legions of fans and signing copies of her new book Black Dawn. And we’re absolutely loving the fabulous effort and creativity so many bookshops and fans have put into making the events so memorable. Here are a […]

An afternoon with Kimberly Derting

15 May, 2012

This Saturday just gone, YA fans flocked to Foyles, Charing Cross in London for a chance to meet Kimberly Derting (author of the new dystopian fantasy The Pledge published by us, and The Body Finders series published by Headline) where she was giving a talk and reading with fellow YA authors Tanya Byrne, James Dawson […]

Friday browsing: The most beautiful libraries in the world

11 May, 2012

Today, I came across this wonderful link to the most beautiful libraries in the world. Any place that is packed with books holds a world of inspiration within, no matter what size, shape or form it may take. But if your idea of a library is of a dated, boring or ugly hall with old […]

If only we had DogBooks instead…

3 May, 2012

In yesterdays Stylist I came across the story about the launch of DogTV. Quite literally, TV for Dogs. Yes, that’s right, a digital channel broadcasting programmes specifically for pooches. It is a known and depressingly accepted fact that we, humans, spend far too much time sitting in front of the TV. We have a child […]

Notes from the weekend press

30 April, 2012

The abysmal weather made it a particularly good day to sit indoors reading the weekend papers and on Saturday it was lovely to see two pieces about Allison & Busby authors, Jessica Mann and Michael Bond. In Saturday’s Guardian, Jessica Mann – author of the bestelling non-fiction book about child evacuees Out of Harm’s Way, […]

Talk, Book Signing and Fancy Dress Competition: Rachel Caine in Walsall

27 April, 2012

Tuesday 15 May, 6.00pm WATERSTONES, WALSALL Enjoy a Vampire-fest of an evening! Rachel Caine will be talking about and signing copies of her much-awaited new book Black Dawn, the twelfth novel in the bestselling Morganville Vampire series, as well as judging a Vampire costume competition. Dress and in your best vampire slayer gear; or if […]

Not an average day in the office

27 April, 2012

Two hours ago we got a text from A&B editor, Lara Crisp (currently on maternity leave) which read, “You all ok? Just seen the news.” Which, of course, prompted us to suddenly notice the sound of a helicopter above us, stop whatever we were doing and to check Twitter (#TCR) and the BBC News online […]

Would you like a hat à la Maisie Dobbs?

26 April, 2012

Last week, Jacqueline Winspear (author of the acclaimed Maisie Dobbs mystery series) came into the office for lunch and to sign copies of her new hardback A Lesson in Secrets. As I passed watched her sign the pile of books, I caught myself thinking (as I looked at the drawing of Maisie Dobbs on the […]

Quotes from a day at the London Book Fair

19 April, 2012

So yesterday was my day at the London Book Fair – a slightly more subdued experience than usual given it was the first time I had attended on the last day of the fair. You can feel a palpapal difference on the last day. The fair kicks off with a buzz of adrenalin (something akin […]

Marking the 100th anniversary of the Titanic tragedy

17 April, 2012

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and many of you may have watched the commemorations this past Sunday morning (the ship hit the iceberg at 23.50 on 14 April 1912). There are plenty of things marking the centenary, including the launch of The RMS Titanic Centenary £5 coin, the […]

A lighter note on gender equality…

13 April, 2012

Gender equality remains a constant topic of discussion and debate. Last month the Insitute for Public Policy Research revealed that women still do more houswork than men, this week’s Stylist ran a feature on the gender gap including how women get paid less for the same job (Women: Is it time to strike?) and recently […]

A few results of our ‘What’s another word for AUTHOR?’ competition

2 April, 2012

On our blog (Friday 23rd March) we posted a competition to come up with another word or phrase to denote the term AUTHOR. We’ve had some lovely entries including these favourites below: A life injector of paper Samantha Wesley, Blandford (our runner-up) Ink Wizard Stacey Corrin, Tiverton Imagination in Use Steph Meakin, Derby Wordician Kelly […]

Feeling the heat with Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet!

30 March, 2012

We’ve already been enjoying the fact that Hotel on the Corner of BItter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford has climbed to the #2 spot on the Small Publishers Bestsellers List this week, but have just now seen (causing a combined squeal from the all of us in the office) that Hotel has hit the Heatseekers […]

Those peculiar little QR Codes…

29 March, 2012

Do you remember when QR Codes came into your life? I’m not sure when it happened. All I know is that now they are everywhere. We’ve got one (above) on our London Underground poster for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, I spotted two codes in the Evening Standard last night, and as […]

Friday Fun: What’s another word/phrase for AUTHOR?

23 March, 2012

Men sweat, women perspire or glow (though the latter I feel surely takes things a bit far); a friend of mine protested that she was merely ‘lamenting’ the fact her husband never brought her flowers, whilst he retorted she should stop ‘whining’ about it; parents will deny they are ‘passing judgment’ and only ‘voicing concern’ […]

Catch Susan Wooldridge at the theatre

22 March, 2012

Some of our authors do not dedicate themselves to writing full-time, but amazingly find the time to write novels whilst enjoying another successful career. For example, there’s Martin Edwards (author of the Lake District mysteries) who is a partner in a national law firm, Elizabeth Corley (author of the DCI Fenwick crime novels) who is […]

Spot our HOTEL posters on the London Underground!

19 March, 2012

Today, I began my commute to the office buzzing with excitement, which is not that usual (however much I like my job) for a Monday morning. The reason? Our posters for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford, have now officially gone up across London underground stations! It’s our first-ever tube […]