'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 ]
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Car Brands Are Starting to Get the Marketing Data They've Always Wanted

The car industry isn't slowing down when it comes to employing more data for everything from vehicle malfunctions to marketing. In fact, in terms of digital advertising, the category looks like it's putting the pedal to the metal, as tech vendors, publishers and other players increasingly roll... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #specific product #short order #general motors #real time


National Libraries Day to see Birmingham cuts protest

Protesters will use National Libraries Day on Saturday as a chance to campaign against planned cuts at the Library of Birmingham. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins to Publish 2m Copies of New Harper Lee Novel

HarperCollins will publish 2 million copies of "Go Set a Watchman," a novel Harper Lee wrote in the 1950s and then “put aside.” It will come out on July 14. The post HarperCollins to Publish 2m Copies of New Harper Lee Novel appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harper Lee's second novel to be published this summer

Publisher Harper announced Tuesday that "Go Set a Watchman," a novel the Pulitzer Prize-winning author completed in the 1950s and put aside, will be released July 14. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Boom! Studios Celebrates 10 Years

Boom! Studio celebrates a decade publishing original graphic novels and comics, as well as recent movie and TV deals and a push for diversity. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Milan Kundera novel set for June

Milan Kundera's first novel in 12 years will be published in English this June. Faber will release The Festival of Insignificance, translated from the French by Linda Asher, on 18th June. C.e.o. and publisher Stephen Page acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in the novel in a deal with Sarah... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #18th june #milan kundera #sarah chalfant #wylie agency


Trade 'frenzy' over second Harper Lee novel

The surprise second novel from Harper Lee, set for release this summer over 50 years since To Kill a Mockingbird was published, will be “the most sure-fire hit of the century” according to Waterstones.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Guy Who Knows Everything About Comics Finally Made a Graphic Novel

If you've written the book on making comics, what kind of comics do you make? For Scott McCloud, it's an ambitious graphic novel about creativity itself. The post The Guy Who Knows Everything About Comics Finally Made a Graphic Novel appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2015-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harper Lee, author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' to publish second novel

The AP reports that Harper Lee will publish her second novel this summer, a sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic To Kill a Mockingbird. The book, entitled Go Set a Watchman was completed in... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2015-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vogue Wins Magazine of the Year at National Magazine Awards

Vogue was named magazine of the year at the annual National Magazine Awards ceremony on Monday night, earning the award that honors brands excelling in both print and digital media as well as areas such as events and branded content. But it was Nautilus -- an indie science magazine published... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #branded content #marriott marquis #managing editor #abc news


Harper Lee to Publish Sophomore Novel

Harper Lee, whose single work of fiction, 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' earned her the National Medal of Freedom and the distinction of having written one of the bestselling novels ever published, is going to be releasing a second book. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Catton defends her remarks on arts in New Zealand

Man Booker Prize-winning author Eleanor Catton has said she will “discuss the inflammatory, vicious, and patronising things” said about her in New Zealand, after she criticised the country’s government for its lack of support for the arts and literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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S&S Kids acquires YA superpower novel

Simon & Schuster Children’s Books has acquired Zeroes, the first in a new YA trilogy about teenagers with superpowers.   The Zeroes are six teenagers, all born in the year 2000, who live in Cambria, California. Their abilities make them anything but heroes – until a high stakes crisis... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New Telgemier, Kibuishi Deals Mark Graphix’s 10 Year Anniversary

Scholastic plans a year of special convention events and giveaways of special prints by top artists to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Graphix, its kids' graphic novel imprint. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Panel Mania: A First Look at Superman’s Early Years

Here's an exclusive preview of the new Superman series, out next week. It's the latest in DC's line of new-reader friendly Earth One graphic novels. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On Writers and Writing review – Margaret Atwood on her profession

Drawing on her panoramic reading and her experiences of the authorly life cycle, Atwood surveys her trade with a mix of seriousness and gentle fun“You may find the subject a little peculiar,” warns Margaret Atwood, before she discusses the writer’s relationship with mortality. “It is a little... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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ABA Winter Institute 2015: The First 10 Years

When the American Booksellers Association first tested the concept of a post-holiday educational conference a decade ago, it wasn’t necessarily a sure thing that booksellers would come. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New Rushdie novel coming this autumn

A new novel by Salman Rushdie being published this autumn will blend “history, mythology, and a timeless love story to bring alive a world - our world – that has been plunged into an age of unreason”. Jonathan Cape will publish Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights in September, seven... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New Salman Rushdie Novel Coming in September

Random House has acquired 'Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights,' a new novel by Salman Rushdie, set to pub in September. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Murdered Charlie Hebdo staff to be honoured at 42nd Angoulême comic book festival

The Festival de Bande Dessinée has opened and will award a Charlie Freedom of Speech prize among other honoursThe celebrated Angoulême comic book festival opened on Thursday to laughter and tears three weeks after some of France’s best known cartoonists were gunned down in a terrorist... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #speech prize #terrorist attack #satirical magazine #paris offices