13 July 2010

Great news!
I have just heard that my latest Angel book has been accepted by my publishers. It is called THE DOG COLLAR MURDERS. It will come out in March 2011, and I am naturally delighted.

I am particularly pleased because everywhere you go, I hear of good, experienced, competent authors stuck with manuscripts in their hands, not knowing which way to turn. The credit strain is battering authors very hard. Money is short. Libraries have had their already mean buying allowance drastically cut back. So orders to publishers aren’t flowing in so readily. Some authors have sold the rights to an email publisher. I am not sure how that works. I understand that the book is never actually printed, and that it is sold on line for a fee, like music. It might eventually be sold to readers who have one of these new IPADs. I think an IPAD is a computer about the size of an A4 sheet of paper and around two inches thick. One side is mostly screen, and I understand that an IPAD can store more books than you could read in a lifetime; also you can do all sorts of clever tricks with it, such as change the font size to make it easier to read, and that sort of thing. The practical and commercial mechanics of ‘publishing’ that way are beyond my comprehension. I hope we are not seeing the end of the published book. After all, there’s nothing like unwrapping a book as a gift … it wouldn’t be the same as unwrapping an internet file as a Christmas present, would it?

Well, we are in the dog days of Summer. I read that the saying comes from the Romans who called the hottest days of the summer, ‘dog days’. They believed that the DOG-STAR (Sirius) rose with the sun, added to its heat and therefore bore the combined heat of both. So it says in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. It says that the hottest period therefore is from about 3rd July to 11th July. So we have just had it! I must say, it does feel a bit chilly today.

It has been beautiful this last week and I have managed a few walks round the Park. I hope you are able to take advantage of the good weather and get outside and enjoy the fresh air, the green grass and the trees. The bad weather is soon enough with us when we will want to be huddled up inside.

I must get started on my new book. I have a super plot for an Angel book in my mind, but the queen and I have a few domestic jobs to do before I can get started.

Have a nice holiday if you’re going away; if you’re not going away, have a lovely, quiet, unhurried time at home doing whatever you want to do.

Thank you for reading the ramblings of this old writer.