As part of the debate surrounding print books vs. eBooks, new figures from Nielson have suggested that fiction eBooks will be set to overtake print books in 2014. After the success of the Kindle since its first launch in 2007, followed by the phenomenon of shame-free public-transport reading of Fifty Shades of Grey, you might […]
Thursday 28th November, 7.30pm EAST SHEEN LIBRARY As part of Richmond Literary Festival, D.E. Meredith will be taking part in a discussion with fellow authors Essie Fox and Lloyd Shepherd at East Sheen Library, Sheen Lane, SW14 8LP. She will do a reading from her latest Victorian crime novel The Devil’s Ribbon as well as […]
So, it’s official – Jane Austen is to appear on the next £10 note. It’s a shame she’s replacing Darwin (can’t they make room for him somewhere else?) but it’s brilliant that we finally have a great woman writer on our cash. I’m not too sure about the design concept, though – it all looks […]
I spent many happy hours as a child sitting with my family watching Upstairs, Downstairs, and now am counting the weeks until Downton Abbey returns to our TV screens again. And here in the A&B office we’re equally excited about the upcoming release of Over a Hot Stove, by Flo Wadlow – a delightful memoir […]
Saturday 7th September, 8pm GLADSTONE LIBRARY Join crime writer Martin Edwards in an interactive lecture called ‘Who killed George Hargrave?’ and solve the Victorian mystery with Martin as your guide. Winner of the CWA Short Story Dagger, Martin writes the bestselling Lake District mysteries and his latest and sixth installment, The Frozen Shroud is out […]
Tuesday 13th August, 7.30pm GLADSTONE’S LIBRARY Best-selling crime writer Martin Edwards will be launching his latest book, The Frozen Shroud which is the sixth edition to his award-winning Lake District crime novel series, at Gladstone’s Library, Church Lane, CH5 3DF. Martin will read from The Frozen Shroud as well as take questions about the novel […]
Saturday 9th November, 7.30pm VENUE TBC A&B’s D E Meredith will be joining a panel entitled The English and The Exotic to discuss the English exploration of exotic lands – a theme which features in D E Meredith’s Victorian crime novel Devoured. Tickets are £7.50 and will go on sale in early October. Check back […]
Kate finally popped! So the third in line to the throne is a boy. And we wait with baited breath for a name. I wonder if there’s one already chosen or if they’re trying to decide from a few shortlisted names. We can scoff and imagine they’ll call him something like Bartholomew, but I think […]
Have you been watching The White Queen? After what I thought was a good start (Janet McTeer gets thumbs up from me and not just for her Princess Leia hair-do, though that helps) I’ve found that later episodes have dragged a little. Mostly because characters are having to carry the weight of exposition, and keep […]
Self-proclaimed ‘book addict’ Simon Savidge of Savidge Reads has nominated Bitter Greens, by Kate Forsyth as one of the top 5 novels that he believes deserves to win the Booker.
Earlier this week I spent a few lovely (and luckily sunny!) days camping in Pembrokeshire. We camped at Lleithyr Farm, a brilliant site and a truly secluded countryside spot; my only complaint might have been the occasionally noisy sheep! Although I of course took my smartphone along with me (who can be separated from theirs […]
In an attempt to write without the pressure of Harry Potter hype, it was revealed this week that JK Rowling had published a crime novel under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The result being that reviewers had – in contrast to her previous venture into adult literature The Casual Vacancy – unwittingly judged the book on […]
Last year we spotted the Gothic font used on our brilliant Morganville Vampire covers on the signage for Sweet Revenge – a cupcake store in Kingston. Now I’ve spotted it in South Wimbledon, this time on the signage for a tattoo parlour, Collector’s Ink. A tattoo parlour certainly fits in with a Morganville-esque theme. Tattoos […]
Wednesday 31st July, 7pm – 9.30pm LONDON Literary Bites is a new initiative by Words of Colour Productions, connecting aspiring scribes with published writers over great food. At each event, an established author, such as A&B’s Alex Wheatle will read from and discuss their work over a carefully sourced and quality menu that is affordably […]
Last week I read an article title that made me feel a little smug. Young book-buyers ‘put off Amazon’. A survey from the Booksellers Association showed that over 70% of 16 – 24 year olds said recent revelations about internet-only booksellers’ tax affairs made them less likely to shop for books online, as did 59.5% […]
Sunday 15th September, 12.30pm STIRLING HIGHLAND HOTEL In conversation with fellow author David Ashton, Alanna Knight will be celebrating Scotland’s greatest writer in a discussion called Robert Louis Stevenson as the Split Detective. Alanna’s Rose McQuinn and Inspector Faro novels, such as Murders Most Foul, are rich in Stevenson’s influence. Tickets are £7/£6 concession and […]
My name is Lesley and until last week I had never been to London Zoo. There, I said it, but I made up for this shocking discrepancy by going along to one of the Zoo Lates last Friday night. Checking out the giraffes and gorillas (the silverback had poses that wouldn’t have looked out of […]
The current book occupying my bag by day and bedside table by night is David Mitchell’s much-acclaimed Cloud Atlas, and reading it made me think about the often crucial element of narrative voice. I must admit that I wasn’t hooked on the book at first, because the initial voice was quite dry, dull and didn’t […]
Sunday 15th September, 2pm ALBERT HALLS STIRLING Crime writing is much more about the characters than the crime. Great characters make great series. Meet three uniquely different characters and their creators to find out just why readers demand more and more of the adventures of the Alanna Knight’s Inspector Faro and Glasgow’s DCI Lorimer by […]
Wednesday 31st July, 7pm FORMBY BOOKS Join Martin Edwards at Formby Books annual CWA Crime BBQ for a crime quiz, food and drink as well as talks from Martin and fellow crime writers Kate Ellis and Sheila Quigley. Martin’s most recent Lake District mystery The Frozen Shroud was published in June and he will do […]
As a newcomer to the somewhat daunting world of the early morning London commute, I am impressed by the people who, undeterred by the uncomfortably close mass of armpits and elbows, continue to be absorbed in their books whilst standing in a cramped tube carriage. Having managed to get on the wrong train once already, […]