'I've never felt less festive': the art of writing Christmas novels, 365 days a year

Drinking sherry, bingeing Downton Abbey ... how authors keep up the spirit of the season, even when writing during heatwaves and a nightmarish ChristmasChristmas novels are not a new phenomenon. Charles Dickens sold out of his first print run of A Christmas Carol in days in December 1843, while Agatha Christie played on seasonal stresses with titles including The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding in 1923 and Hercule Poirot’s Christmas in 1938. But these days, there are acres of festive crime and rags-to-riches romances under the mistletoe to choose from. All tastes are catered for, whether it’s a love of trains (Edward Marston’s Victorian railway detective story A Christmas Railway Mystery), religion (Unlikely Santa: An Amish Christmas Story) or even festive erotica. Ebook retailer Smashwords stocks romance titles including The Old Dragon of the Mountain’s Christmas, and the inventive-sounding A Cyborg’s Old Terran Christmas. (“Interstellar bride Nell and her three children are forced to enter space-sleep capsules in the hope of surviving a calamity. She wakes over 700 years later on a ship of cyborg warriors. In this strange environment, Nell can’t imagine what their future will hold, but she is determined to keep her promise and make Christmas for her children.”)It may sound futuristic, but it is part of a long tradition beloved by readers. As Christina Storey at Allison & Busby, an independent publisher whose titles this year range from Anna Jacobs’ Christmas in... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 15:22:04 UTC ]
News tagged with: #print run #allison busby #wonderful time #independent publisher

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Everett gets a big boost: Boeing lands largest 747 order in 25 years

Big is back. Boeing (NYSE: BA) has landed its largest order for the four-engine 747 jet in a quarter century, a 20-jet order from Volga-Dnepr Group, a Russian cargo carrier. The intent to order, announced at the Paris Air Show, is for 747-8F freighters, and probably is worth about $3.8 billion... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #big boost #quarter century


EL James heads to Texas for rare signing event as fourth novel, Grey, is released

Sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey, told from Christian’s perspective, is Amazon.co.uk’s most pre-ordered book of the year Related: EL James to publish Fifty Shades sequel telling story from hero's point of view An independent bookshop in Texas that opened its doors for the first time earlier this... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #year related #fifty shades #pre-ordered book #el james #independent bookshop #time earlier #literary events


New Fifty Shades of Grey novel puts Christian Grey centre stage

Grey, the fourth book in EL James’s erotic series, is released on the birthday of her fictional male anti-heroFifty Shades of Grey author EL James is ringing in the birthday of her fictional anti-hero, Christian Grey, by releasing the fourth book in her series of erotic novels in the dark hours... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #christian grey #erotic series #fifty shades #fourth book #el james #thursday morning


Sphere signs novels from Carrie Hope Fletcher

YouTube star Carrie Hope Fletcher is to write two novels for Sphere, including a “high-concept love story like no other”. Fletcher’s non-fiction book All I Know Now was published by Sphere earlier this year. Sphere commissioning editor Manpreet Grewal acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #non-fiction book #hannah ferguson #hardman swainson


Abacus buys Jonasson's '100-Year-Old Man…'

Little, Brown imprint Abacus has acquired UK rights to Jonas Jonasson’s The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared. Independent Hesperus was ordered to stop selling or distributing the title in April after a High Court hearing brought by Hachette Book Group US, which... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jonas jonasson #stop selling


Could 2015 Be the Year for e-Fairness?

With many in Congress determined to extend the moratorium on taxing Internet access, the retail trade association, RILA, would like to add legislation that would enable states to tax e-tailers the same as bricks-and-mortar stores. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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2015 is the year of 'merger mania'

I was recently reading in Forbes Magazine that the U.S. has had the best first quarter for mergers since 2000 with $414.7 billion (£267 billion), and it was the best first quarter ever for Asian (non-Japan) M&A with $199.7 billion (£128 billion). In fact, the first quarter of 2015 will go... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2015-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Type Books Turns Window Displays into Art

On Toronto’s Queen Street West, there is a nine-year-old independent bookstore that has taken the art of window displays to a whole new level. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Philip K Dick's only novel for children to be reissued in UK

A boy leaves Earth to rescue a cat in a short novel from ‘the Shakespeare of science fiction’ which has been unavailable in the UK for more than 20 yearsA boy and his family leave Earth on a “gentle” quest to save his cat, Horace – not the kind of manuscript you might expect from the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #uk edition #publisher turned #science fiction


No men allowed: publisher accepts novelist's 'year of women' challenge

Small press And Other Stories will produce no books by men in 2018 in answer to Kamila Shamsie’s call for direct action to beat gender bias in publishingSmall press And Other Stories has answered author Kamila Shamsie’s provocative call for a year of publishing women to redress “gender bias” in... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #male authors #small press #kamila shamsie #direct action #literary world #novelist made #booker prize #prize-winning novels


Edinburgh Festival line-up revealed

The programme for this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival’s 2015 has been revealed, with speakers coming from over 55 countries. The festival has an international focus this year, with speakers including American author Marilynne Robinson, Spain’s Jaume Cabré, multi-award winning... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #international focus #jenny erpenbeck


S&S acquires 'captivating' Swedish novel

Scribner in the UK and Atria Books in the US, both part of the Simon & Schuster group, have acquired a new book by Swedish novelist and playwright, Jonas Hassen Khemiri. World English Language rights in the novel, titled Everything I Don’t Remember, were acquired by Rowan Cope, editorial... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #scribner uk #ss acquires #atria books #rowan cope #senior editor #ahlander agency


Bloody Scotland Festival to offer free tickets to unemployed

The Bloody Scotland festival is to offer free tickets to unemployed people or those on low incomes as part of a scheme to reach new audiences. The festival, which takes place in Stirling from 11th to 13th September, will give away standby tickets on the day of events if there is good... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jackson joins 'global' book festival

The Edinburgh International Book Festival will be a "global village" this summer with guests from 55 countries, its director has said. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2015-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trade has mixed views on Shamsie's Year of Publishing Women

Author Kamila Shamsie is “right to draw attention” to gender inequality in publishing, but her suggestion of a year in which only books by women are published has been greeted with mixed views by the trade. Writing in the latest issue of The Bookseller, Shamsie [pictured] said 2018 – the 100th... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #draw attention #gender inequality #latest issue #100th anniversary


New Novel From 'The Shack' Author Among Spirituality and Religion Highlights at BEA

A new novel from 'The Shack' author and debuting imprints at HarperOne and New World Library gave publishers lots to talk about. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Germany's 'Publisher of the Year' Talks Local Trends

Georg Reuchlein, who was named 2014 Publisher of the Year by Germany's 'BuchMarkt' magazine, talks digitization, discoverability and the German thriller he's publishing this season that he described as "a kind of Berlin 'Chinatown.'" Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vt. Author Teams Up with Local Bookstores to Promote Serial E-novel

When children's author Michael Daley decided to self-publish his YA race car thriller as a six-installment serial, he turned to area bookstores for help. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #local bookstores


McGuinness wins Wales Book of the Year

Patrick McGuiness has won the main English-language prize at Wales Book of the Year 2015 awards, run by Literature Wales, for Other People’s Countries (Jonathan Cape). Other People’s Countries is set in the town of Bouillon, where the author’s mother came from, and is a “brilliant, lyrical... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #wales book #literature wales #lyrical memoir


Kamila Shamsie: let’s have a year of publishing only women – a provocation

It is clear that there is a gender bias in publishing houses and the world of books. Well, enough. Why not try something radical? Make 2018 the Year of Publishing Women, in which no new titles should be by menSeveral years ago, Martin Amis chaired a literary festival panel on “The Crisis of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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