We at Compass love it when publishers make short
trailers for their books on YouTube – it’s a great way of summarising the feel
and mood of a title. Here’s an atmospheric 40 seconds promoting Escape to Perdition by James Silvester (pb, £8.99 978 1909273795) which
is coming from Urbane Publications in July. This is a contemporary
international political thriller in the best traditions of Le Carre and Robert
Harris. Set in Prague 2015; love, deception and murder dominate as the city
becomes the centre of international intrigue and shadowy organizations battle
for power over a nation's future. Escape to
Perdition is a timely slice of high quality political intrigue, at a
time when Europe is at the centre of constantly
evolving debates about its role. This is intelligent thriller writing that will
appeal those who like exiting stories with depth, great characterization and a
realistic setting. As the novel progresses the body count rises, options fade,
and the hero’s path to redemption is clouded in a maelstrom of love, deception
and murder – can he confront his past to save the future? Sounds pretty cool to
me – and you can find out more and order it here.
Here’s an interesting question – when does your bum
become your hip? I only ask, because there’s been a bit of stooshie (as my
Scottish colleagues would say) over the redesign of the iconic cover for Jilly
Cooper’s Riders! Have a look here to see what you think!
Don’t miss out on all the buzz building for Journeyman: One Man’s Odyssey Through the Lower Leagues of
English Football by Ben Smith
(978 1849548540, £12.99., pb) FourFourTwo (the biggest footie magazine) has just given
it a rave review and a five star rating – making it their No.1 book of the
month. This is a refreshing enlightening and candid, unvarnished life of a
jobbing footballer. It starts in 1995,
when its author Ben Smith, with a dream
of playing professional football, arrives at the training ground of one of
England Reading , Yeovil, Weymouth ,
Hereford , Shrewsbury , Southend, Crawley, Kettering
Stop Press – we’ve just heard today that the
Sunday Telegraph will be running an extract and (in their words) “a
good plug for the book” this Sunday (8 June) from I Know I am Rude But It is Fun: The Royals and the Rest of Us
as Seen by Prince Philip by Nigel
Cawthorne (pb, £8.99, 978 1783340125)This is the affectionate
compendium of the Duke of Edinburgh's propensity for putting his foot in his
mouth which has just been published by Gibson Square, and coincides
nicely with the Duke of Edinburgh’s 94th birthday next
Wednesday!
Congratulations to Helen
Tookey and Caoilinn Hughes
whose Carcanet collections Missel
Child and Gathering Evidence
have both been shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney
Centre for Poetry Prize.
You can find out more about that prize on their website here.
Lots of great press for Janice Galloway's Jellyfish (hb, £8.99, 978 1908754950): a stunning short
story collection by one of the United Kingdom’s best contemporary fiction
writers which is out at the end of this month from Freight. It will be
featured on BBC Radio 4’s Open Book programme on 18 June, and also
reviewed in the Scotsman, The Skinny, Prospect Magazine,
the Evening Times and the Guardian. There will be a cover
interview in the Herald magazine on Saturday 20th June and a feature
interview in Scotland
A warm welcome to BC Books – Bold Books for
Curious Kids – a new children’s imprint from Birlinn, designed to
provide writing and illustration of the highest quality for young readers
throughout the UK and beyond
which launched this week in Edinburgh
The four launch titles are Sixteen String
Jack by Tom Pow (978
1780272269, £9.99), The Secret Dog by
Joe Friedman (978 1780272870, £6.99),
Silver Skin by Joan Lennon (£6.99, 978 1780272849) and a Peter Pan graphic novel by Stephen White (978 1780272900, £12.99). There were
illustrated articles on the whole list this weekend in the Times, the
Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and Scotland
A big piece in the Bookseller today on the
Rising Stars of 2015; their annual
list of the up-and-comers and leaders of the future in the book trade – the
publishing industry’s movers and shakers! Maybe you or someone from your shop is
on the list? If so, many congrats from all at Compass Points! We’re very pleased
to see one of our publishers – Adrian Searle from Freight has made the
grade, and you can see the whole list of the 39 stellar superstars here!
We were all most excited to hear that Sixty Degrees North: Around the World in Search of
Home (hb, £12.99, 978 1846973369) by Malachy Tallack will be BBC Book of the
Week on BBC Radio 4 from 13 July 2015. There is lots of great
publicity coming up for this title too – including a Will Self review in the
Guardian. Polygon are submitting this lovely title for all the
major book prizes so there may well be more good news to come. It is going to be
Scottish Book of the Month for
Waterstones – and has a new pub date of 1 July. Sixty Degrees North is a deeply personal book
which begins with the author’s loss of his father, and his troubled
relationship. It is also a book of travel and culture, of history and natural
history and most of all it is a book about home. It will appeal to readers of
travel and nature books, as well as to those especially interested in “the
North” and Arctic regions – and anyone who loves quality writing. You can order
it and find out more here
A great piece in the Weekend Telegraph Travel
section by Jonathan Knight, Punk Publishing editor of the Cool Camping series, chooses his favourite
campsites in Europe with mountain views which you can read here – even those not remotely keen on
camping cannot fail to be enthralled the thought of waking up and unzipping your
tent to these jaw-dropping views! Cool Camping
Europe (978 190688964, £18.95, pb)
has just been published and is available now.
How well do you know your James Bond? Test your Bond
knowledge with this fiendish little quiz from those folk at Bluffer’s
Guides here and then swot up with The Bluffer’s Guide to
Bond (£6.99, pb, 978 1909365049)!
A couple of books to lift your spirits from
Birlinn; firstly MacLean's Whiskypedia: A
Gazetteer of Scotch Whisky (978 1780272535, pb, £14.88) by Charles MacLean. This is the author who the
Sunday Times called “Whisky’s finest guru” and of whom the
Independent said “Charles MacLean writes like no other expert on the
subject, his prose is informed and highly entertaining”. Whiskypedia explores the influences of history,
craft, tradition and science on Scottish whisky. Each entry provides a brief
account of the distillery’s history and curiosities, details how the whisky is
made, and explores the flavour and character of each make. Charles MacLean has spent thirty years
researching; writing and lecturing about Scotch whisky and Whiskypedia guides, entertains and informs novices
and experts alike. The Telegraph is giving this one quite a bit of
promotion on the back of their Whiskey Tasting Experience Event which they are
running with Charles MacLean on 8 and 9
June.
And secondly don’t forget 101 Gins to Try
Before you Die (hb, 978 1780272993 £12.99) by Ian Buxton This new book from another best-selling
drinks writer is out in August and is the authoritative guide to the world of
gin, and the first book to explore the explosion of innovative gin brands and
the artisanal distillers that are reinventing this highly popular
drink.
And on a related subject, here’s a great podcast of
Alexander McCall Smith talking whiskey and writing in a
bar in Dublin
A major serialisation is coming up in the Mail on
Sunday of Black Horse Ride: The Inside Story of
Lloyds and the Banking Crisis over the 7th June and 14th June.
Black Horse Ride is the first account
from the perspective of senior figures at Lloyds TSB of the doomed takeover of
HBOS at the height of the economic crash and provides key insights from
high-ranking officials at the Bank of England and civil servants on Whitehall
We love a bit of music on a Friday, so let's think
of our top five songs involving horses – or even more specifically black horses?
Well, crazy horses by one of my favourite bands probably
describes the behaviour of some of those bankers quite well – as does Mick
singing about those wild horses. With hindsight, I think we all feel that
many of those highly paid individuals were just one trick
ponies leaving Lloyds TSB as a bit of a horse
with no name. And what a great song is this one by KT Tunstall! (However, I’m not a fan of this one from Katy Perry- great video
though!)
Compass is on
Twitter! Follow us @CompassIPS. Here are some of our favourite Tweets from last
week...
A
thousand thank yous for last night's TOKYO
So
proud to have taken a punt on @bsmudger7's autobiog of a lower league
footballer. It's become a bestseller!
Up for
the Challenge of reading Sod the Bitches. Thanks @urbanepub
'ambitious,
playful poems' - Great review in the TLS for @CaoilinnHughes' Gathering Evidence today! http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781847772626 …
So
excited for @malachytallack Sixty Degrees North as #BookOfTheWeek @bbcradio4 @agentjenny roll on July!
Congrats to
Adam @frostatwork on another Chelsea Gold! Book @RedPlanetZone in July
Please
place your vote for More Life, Please! in the People's Book Prize http://www.peoplesbookprize.com/book.php?id=1289 …
@PeoplesBkPrize
Wild
weather gone now so we can appreciate the fab @wildthingsbooks display at @blackwelloxford Sunny #FridayFeeling!
That’s all for now
folks, more next week!
This blog is taken form a newsletter sent weekly to over 700
booksellers as well as publishers and publicists. If you would like to order any
of the titles mentioned, then please click here to go to the Compass New Titles
Website or talk to your Compass Sales
representative.
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