Season's greetings
I'd meant to catch up with the diary before Christmas but domestic stuff got in the way. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday and stockings full of new books.
Since the last entry, RAVEN BLACK was published in Germany as DIE NACHT DER RABEN and yesterday THE SLEEPING AND THE DEAD came out in the States. THE SLEEPING is published by Bloody Brits, a small independent press run by Val McDermid and her partner Kelly Smith. As I've explained before, the aim of the press is to bring unpublished or out of print British titles to the attention of a new US readership. A great aim and they already have some wonderful authors signed up. There are big names like John Harvey - one of my all-time favourite crime writers - and people who have never been published in America before. Look out for the books with their distinctive jackets.
I've always enjoyed Anthony Powell's A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME, as much for the idea of people waltzing in and out of each other's lives as for the stories themselves. There's a fascination in seeing how people have changed. Sometimes separation means you see them in a completely new light; sometimes the relationship continues exactly as before. Last month, quite by chance at a funeral, I met up with someone who'd been a very close friend and we arranged to spend Boxing Day together. It's probably ten years since we've seen each other, but we got on as well as we'd always done.
So, I hope 2008 brings you old friends and new ones, good writing and good reading, as well as the traditional health and happiness.
Posted by Ann on Sunday, December 30th 2007 @ 06:06 PM GMT [link]
