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Read Regional 2012

We’ve had a brilliant week here at Bluemoose Towers, rounded off today with some more excellent news. We are really chuffed to tell you about our involvement with New Writing North’s Read Regional 2012 campaign.

This annual campaign connects local authors to local readers and includes writers and poets across the North-East, Yorkshire and Humberside. Our very own Michael Stewart will be getting involved and showcasing his book KING CROW.

As part of the campaign, Michael will be visiting various libraries in the region as well as taking park in the Durham Book Festival from 13th to 30th October.

The campaign to promote new books by northern writers runs from October 2012 until spring 2013 and will involve libraries, bookshops and festivals in the region, so come back here to find out what Michael will be up to over the coming months.

So as not to miss out on all the action you can follow us on Twitter at @ofmooseandmen, or follow New Writing North at @NewWritingNorth.

Read Regional is run by New Writing North, in partnership with 23 library authorities across the north of England. It is funded by Arts Council England. For more information, please visit newwritingnorth.com and readregional.com.

Stephen May meets Benjamin Myers for a cuppa

Stephen May, writer of Life! Death! Prizes! popped up his road and had a cuppa with our author Benjamin Myers. The result of their chat was a little interview about life and writing which Stephen has posted on his blog. Here’s a little excerpt:

He’s good company. Serious and thoughtful about his work and committed. He writes, he walks, he thinks. Reads, listens to music, watches films. That’s pretty much it. Doesn’t drink or smoke, commits himself to refining his vision and expressing it. He’s impressively dedicated and the work is muscular, powerful and original.

Read the whole thing at The Second Best Time.

Moose on tour

I had a great time selling books in The Hebden Bridge Bookshop, even cajoled two unlikely browsers to purchase THORN by Michael Dean and THE HARDEST CLIMB by Alistair Sutcliffe, two of the latest Bluemoose titles. The Moose was on tour over the weekend, going down to Waterstones’s Chelmsford on Saturday for the book signing of THORN by Michael Dean. It was a great success, good to meet Michael and have a chat to Marissa, the very passionate book lover and manager of the Wats store.

Michael will be giving a talk and signing copies of his book at Colchester Library this forthcoming Saturday 24th September. And we’ve just had some exciting news about films and one of our titles but I can’t say too much as blood has yet to be spilled in negotiations and we’re trying to keep the lawyers at bay.

Toodlepip book lovers.

Not the Booker Prize review

After a nervous wait of a few weeks, we’re really pleased with the review for PIG IRON by Benjamin Myers for The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. We’ve added it as it appears on the Guardian website, written by Sam Jordison.

Since the Not The Booker prize is all about openness, I think you should know right away that I like Ben Myers. Is this a conflict of interest? Arguably. But if it is a conflict, it's one that is played out across the books pages every day. The only difference here is that I'm being honest about it.

As I'm sure you already realise, friends review friends all the time. And if they didn't, literary journalism would have a few problems. Reviewers often become chummy with the people they write about. It's human nature. I became a reviewer because I like books; it follows that I'll probably also like a few of the writers of those books. Should I then refuse to read their books because of that affection? Well, we can have it out in the comments, but first, a bit more explanation:

I first came into contact with Ben years ago, because I liked his sweary prose, as this article (containing the wonderful question "Has anyone ever seen an e-book?") witnesses. I read Ben before I knew him. But since then, we've regularly corresponded, met once, and frequently laughed at slowed down versions of Metallica songs on Facebook. Does this alter the way I'm going to review Pig Iron? Possibly. The thing that gives me pause is wondering whether I'd have been able to write a review for Pig Iron like the one I wrote for Paint This Town Red. I think it would have been difficult. Perhaps I'd have managed it. Perhaps…

Happily, I didn't have to explore that dilemma this time around. I liked the book. And I don't think knowing Ben has influenced my opinion. Not too much, anyway. Maybe I warmed to it more quickly than I might have otherwise. Possibly, also, I felt extra pangs of sympathy because John-John Wisdom, the unfortunate main narrator, is a weird short northerner who's fond of Jack Russell terriers and therefore reminded me of Ben himself. But it was the writing that mattered. The writing.

One more quick personal note before I finally stop talking about myself. I spent part of my early childhood in County Durham, not so far from John-John's home in Pig Iron, and Myers' prose, rich in "mebbes" and "marrers", "nees" and "nowts", "haways" and "shite", tickled my memory. Importantly, it seemed real. John-John and his co-narrator (whom I can't name, since to do so would give away one of the book's successful surprises) speak in a stylised and sometimes strange way: "And that was when I got the weakness on me and I did faint." But it never seems forced or inauthentic.

Better still, I barely registered the unusual voice, after a while. It became part of the texture of John-John's world. Every now and again I was conscious of an appealing bit of yakka: "I've shat bigger jobbies than that lad." Also, a few lovely rhythms: "He began to treat me differently. I was a mother now. A mother who had endured one miscarriage and two births. I was a body that fetched the water and gathered the wood and kept the fires going and cleaned the clothes and the van and scolded the kids and kissed them better and worried about her husband when he disappeared for nights and days." Most of the time, though, I was too immersed in the story to notice what was happening on the surface.

It's hard not to make this story sound like a cross between Snatch and Fight Club. John-John is the son of the bare-knuckle King of the Gypsies, Mac Wisdom, whose life we hear about in retrospect from the second narrator, and whose influence weighs heavy on the protagonist as he attempts to rebuild his life after a long stretch in jail. But there's no Brad Pitt here. No Hollywood. John-John's world is ugly. The fighting isn't about pleasure. Or even escape. It's just savage men knocking bells out of each other: blood, guts and pain described in visceral detail:

Mackem's neck tasted warm and bitter and metallic… I loosened for a second then went at him again, nearly dislocating me bloody jaw. There was a crunching sound and me teeth nearly met in the middle and I must have hit some veins or summat because the blood started pouring out of his neck. Human flesh doesn't tear easily. It's noisy stuff.

Things aren't much prettier for John-John when he isn't scrapping. He's forced to live in a pokey, ugly flat on a dangerous estate, where he knows next to no one, and is hounded by a gang of "charvers" whose charm is well-demonstrated in their leader's announcement that "I'll put you in the fucking ovens where you and your lot belong."

Even so, there are moments of relief. John-John is consistently amusing, a master of the sardonic aside ("'I bet you like hearing the old tales, lad'. Like a punch in the cock, I'm muttering.") He's also big-hearted and warm. Some of the book's best passages come in the descriptions of the quiet fun John-John has tootling around the countryside ("the green cathedral") in an ice-cream van, falling in love with a very unsuitable local girl and fussing over his pet dog Coughdrop. John-John is a winning presence. And of course, that makes his catalogue of misfortunes and persecution all the more upsetting; his attempts to right those many wrongs all the more gripping.

Caught up as I was, I did wonder sometimes if Myers pushed things too far. Towards the end, especially, things went a bit nuts. Imagine Hunger Games with an uglier cast, genuine violence and less chance of redemption – but also fewer loud bangs to distract you from the essential daftness. Now and again, I had doubts, but was always carried through by John-John's force of personality and righteous anger at his and Coughdrop's oppressors. What's more, just when I thought things were about to go right over the top, Myers swerved away gracefully. The ending came in a sudden flash of gold and beauty. To say more would be to give it away; suffice to say, you'll like it when you get there and it's a journey worth making. This is another quality entrant on our shortlist.

NOD by Adrian Barnes

NOD by Adrian Barnes, our new book, arrives into the Bluemoose warehouse today and we’re all very excited!

Ben Myers, author of PIG IRON says about NOD, ‘Think WARRIORS, the film, scripted by JG Ballard with excerpts from Ray Bradbury.’ KING CROW author Michael Stewart says the first chapter of NOD is one of the best openings of any book he’s ever read. He went on to say he loved every single page of it.

I know they are both Bluemoose authors, but we haven’t paid them anything and they have their own minds; that’s why they came to an Indy in the first place. Just think if Mr Amis hadn’t pursued the dollar, he’d have won the Booker by now! Heaven forfend.

We’re flying Adrian Barnes over from Vancouver for the launch and a series of events and signings at Independent booksellers and Waterstones. Adrian will also be giving lectures at a couple of Universities too. More of that nearer the time.

Now its time to send off review copies to the great and supposed good of what was FLEET STREET. The broadsheets in the Metropolis. Scott pack, ex chief fiction buyer at Waterstones and now publisher and blogger at meandmybigmouth, said of one of our previous titles, THE ART OF BEING DEAD, that it wouldn’t get any reviews in the literary press because ‘The lit editors don’t look further than the ends of their noses.’ THE ART OF BEING DEAD is now a set text on the MA course in Contemporary literature at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Now that there are three books from small independents on The Man Booker shortlist, perhaps they won’t bin all books from publishers whose colophon they don’t recognise. Hopefully they’ve learned their lesson and realise that all the exciting literary fiction these days is coming from small Independents.

Tired of McEwan, Barnes, Faulks et al. and all those sixty-something males that get all the review coverage? Yep, me too. The Indies are coming “darn sarf” to rattle the cages of the literary establishment and in NOD by Adrian Barnes I really believe we have a title that will stir things up a tad.

Moose loose in a book shop

This morning I am to be let loose on the unsuspecting book buying public of Hebden Bridge. Gillian and Ross, the proprietors of The Hebden Bridge Bookshop have left the county for the day and have given me the keys.

Now I have been a sales rep for myriad publishers from pension stealing and spy Robert Maxwell to the Earl of Donoghmore’s son, Tim Hely Hutchinson, but I have never sold books directly to readers. I’m also a publisher at Bluemoose books and the simple deal is that we publish great stories that engage and inspire. Well today, I’ll find out how inspiring our books are. I have threatened to turn the bookshop into a shrine to the Moose, and I may. Photographs will follow.

The great thing about bookshops is the browse factor. You can’t get that with your Amazon online brief perusal nonsense. You have to pick up a book, feel it, smell it and read the first page. At Moose Towers we pride ourselves on production and our jackets. We have noticed that potential purchasers when picking up one of our books find themselves stroking it. You can’t stroke online, well you can but it is an arrestable offence.

Well, I’m Off to put some Eau De Biblio on, that should entice the book buyer public into the shop. That and shouting at them should do it.

Moose at large

It’s really important for us as a small independent publisher to get out and about as often as possible and spread the word. We like to meet as many readers and budding writers as we can. We do this for several reasons. Obviously, we want to make people aware of Bluemoose books and the brilliant titles we have to offer, we may also be lucky enough to find our next author, but equally we want to let people know about what we are trying to achieve with Bluemoose Books, our experience as an independent publisher and the state of the publishing industry as a whole.

We were recently invited by the Lincoln Pheonix Writers to talk about the Bluemoose “way” and had a great evening meeting enthusiastic readers and writers and sharing our experiences with them. Thanks to everyone there for the warm welcome!

On 22nd September, Kevin is attending another event at Macclesfield Library. This is Cheshire East Libraries’ annual celebration of books and reading. There is a full programme including talks by writers and other publishers. Kevin will be talking about his experience as a publisher but also exploring the issues regarding new technologies versus traditional methods of publishing.

More information can be found on the Cheshire East website [Updated July 2014, the page no longer exists], or follow @CEClibraries.

The event starts at 12.30pm on Saturday 22nd September. I will be talking from 3.30 – 4pm.

For more information and tickets, contact Macclesfield Library on 01625 374000.

The Hardest Climb - Kindle edition

We published THE HARDEST CLIMB by Alistair Sutcliffe in 2011 and it got a great response from a varied readership. Hardcore climbers, adventure seekers, appreciators of extreme sports as well as those who love a true story about hope against adversity and persistence (or is it stubbornness?) in seemingly impossible situations and the human instinct for survival, all loved this book.

If this book were only about Alistair’s climbing achievements it would be fascinating in itself; conquering the highest peaks on seven continents on the first attempts is certainly a feat of human endurance. But Alistair is also a medical anomaly. He suffered a life-threatening brain heamorrhage, but his high-altitude hobby had stimulated the blood vessel network in his brain in such a way as to save his life.

Part adventure story, part tale of returning from the brink, the hardest climb being the return to health, this is a story of remarkable human achievement and perseverance. We are delighted to be able to offer our readers this book now in digital format for Kindle.

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