Theo Michaels was back on ITV’s breakfast show this week with his
fabulous and fun summer microwave mug recipes. If you want to find out how to
cook warm orzo and lemon chicken salad, chilli salmon and spinach salad and,
one of his favourites, sea bass with fresh pea puree in 90 seconds (and
frankly, who wouldn’t) then you can see all three recipes on This Morning
here.
And you can see even more of Theo’s brilliant microwave mug meal recipes on his
own website here!
All the recipes are from Microwave Mug Meals (£9.99, hb, 978 0754832850) which is published by Lorenz.
On July 27th, 2015, Colin
Cremin overcame a lifetime of fear
and repression and came to work dressed as a woman called Ciara. Man-Made Woman: The Dialectics of Cross-Dressing (pb, £16.99, 978-0745337128) charts her personal
journey as a male-to-female cross-dresser in the ever-changing world of gender
politics. Interweaving the personal and the political, through discussions of
fetishism, aesthetics and popular culture, Man-Made
Woman explores gender, identity and
pleasure through the lenses of feminism, Marxism and psychoanalytic theory. Cremin's anti-moralistic approach makes this a
very emancipatory and empowering read, where both author and reader are
encouraged to examine their relationship to gender. One critic called this “a
wonderful book, erudite, politically astute, brilliantly written, and at times
wickedly funny. It's my favourite I've read for quite some time” and this
feminist-Marxist analysis of being a crisscross-dresser set within the scathing
critique of patriarchal-capitalism is sure to get plenty of publicity. It is
published by Pluto in August, and if you would like to read a proof copy
then please email Kieran O'Connor at kierano@plutobooks.com
Talking of outdated gender stereotyping in popular
culture, I think you will very much enjoy looking at these
seriously outdated vintage advertisements!
Any novel set in the Houses of Parliament is probably onto
A Good Thing I feel, as it has provided the location for many a memorable
moment – most recently perhaps, THAT scene in Apple Tree Yard.
Among my personal favourite fictional political characters are Hugh Grant as
the PM in Love Actually; Alan B'Stard played by Rik Mayall; all the cast
of Yes Minister; Frances Urquhart; Malcolm Tucker; Harriet Jones played
by Penelope Wilton and Harold Saxon (aka The Master) played by John
Simm in Dr Who; and the prime minister in Ian McEwan's The Child
in Time whose name I can’t remember. Any more? This leads me neatly to a
new arrival in this genre; The Threat Level Remains
Severe (pb, £8.99, 978 1910709153)
which shines a sly light into the backrooms and office romances of the
corridors of power by an author who currently works there! You can find out
more about her inspiration for the book here. There
will be an interview with Rowena Macdonald in the Femail section of the Daily Mail
on Saturday 8th July and this Sunday (2 July) Rowena will be featuring in the One
Day slot in the Sunday Telegraph magazine, Stella. This is a
full page of promotion – terrific publicity for this stylish, acutely observed
contemporary drama, published next week by Gallic.
A few weeks ago; we talked about the Chemsex Monologues, and this week we tell you
about Something for the Weekend: Life in the Chemsex
Underworld (pb, £12.99, 978
1785902291) coming from Biteback on 27 July. When James Wharton left
the army, he found himself with more opportunities than most to begin a
successful civilian life; a husband, two dogs, two cars, a nice house in the
countryside and a book deal. But a year later he found himself alone, living in
one room and trying to adjust to single gay life back in the capital. In his
search for new friends and potential lovers, he became sucked into London's gay
drug culture, soon becoming addicted to partying and the phenomenon that is
'chemsex’. Exploring his own journey through this dark but popular world, James
looks at the motivating factors that led him to the culture, as well as
examining the paths taken by others. He reveals the real goings-on at the
weekends for thousands of people after most have gone to bed, and how modern
technology allows them to arrange, congregate, furnish themselves with drugs
and spend hours, often days, behind closed curtains, with strangers and in
states of heightened sexual desire. Something for
the Weekend looks compassionately at a
growing culture that's now moved beyond London and established itself as more
than a short-term craze. As our sales team have reported, the jacket of this
book is certainly not for the more conservative or timid booksellers among you but as they always do, Biteback have definitely tapped into a growing
trend, and there will be a market for this title.
Yuri Herrera was tipped in the Critic’s
Picks for the Summer Books of 2017 in the Financial Times
this week as one of "two of the best writers working today:
unsentimental, clear-eyed witnesses in troubling times" You can see
that whole piece here. The
book they were recommending was Kingdom Cons (pb, £8.99, 978 1908276926) which has just been
published by And Other Stories. Part surreal fable and part noir
romance, this prize-winning novel in which a penniless street musician swears
an oath of loyalty to a powerful Mexican drug baron, questions the price of
keeping your integrity in a world ruled by patronage and power. The New
York Times called it "short, suspenseful . . . outlandish and
heartbreaking."
A drug baron usually makes pretty memorable fictional
villain – or sometimes even hero. Who’s top of the pile? Walter White? Tony
Montana? Have a look here
at a pictorial line up of fifteen of the most ruthless and powerful, from The Wire to 21 Jump Street. And here are WatchMojo’s
Top Ten Movie Drug Dealers – they so shouldn’t be cool, but some of them
so are!
How to manage childhood anxiety is a growing concern for
many. Dr Suzanne Barret and Dr Fiona Zandt,
the authors of Creative Ways to Help Children Manage
Big Feelings (pb, £19.99, 978
1785920745) which has just been published by Jessica Kingsley; spoke
recently about the issue on a podcast here. This
ingeniously easy-to-use therapy toolkit helps children to stay on top of
"big" feelings like anger, sadness and anxiety and provides
activities using everyday materials and a variety of tried-and-tested therapy
models. With its winning mix of creative resources and clinical expertise, all
wrapped up in a simple and practical format, this is the ideal companion for
those working with children aged 4-12.
How many of you are secretly budding crime writers who
dream of giving up your day job and plunging into the fickle world of
publishing? Charles E McGarry’s was one
such would-be author and in his thirties, he gave up a well-paid job as a
business analyst with BT to concentrate on writing. He received one rejection
after another from agents and publishers and some fourteen years later, his
tale is finally being published next week by Polygon. You can hear all
about his journey from the bedroom to the bookshelf on a brilliant 6-part
podcast which you can find at www.debutpodcast.com.
It includes interviews with two of the biggest names in Scottish crime writing,
Val McDermid and Chris Brookmyre, who offer advice to McGarry on his fledgling literary career as well
as many entertaining insights into the journey to publication. The Ghost of Helen Addison
(pb, £7.88, 978 1846973796) was featured in the Bookseller’s Editor’s
Choice, and there have also been pieces about it in Scotland on Sunday,
the Daily Record and in the Scotsman here.
Charles’ editor at Polygon loved how the novel’s protagonist,
private detective Leo Moran, was not the conventional divorcee, alcoholic
detective with the empty fridge; but an avowed gourmand and wine connoisseur
who enjoys the pleasures of life to the hilt in the splendid isolation of his
West End apartment! However, he becomes increasingly unsettled by his visions
of violent crimes, and after the ritualistic murder of a young woman in Argyll,
he helps the police, meeting a host of strange and colourful characters along
the way, including her ghost…
The Book of Khartoum (pb, £9.99, 978 1905583720) which was published in April by Comma, is back in the spotlight, as one
of the stories featured by Sudanese author Bushra
al-Fadil; The Story of the Girl whose Birds Flew Away; has
been shortlisted for The Caine Prize for African
Writing. It is only the second translation from Arabic in the
prize’s 18-year history. The story was translated into English for the first
time by co-editor Max Shmookler,
with support from Najlaa Osman Eltom. He
is joined on the shortlist by Chikodili Emelumadu (Nigeria), Lesley
Nneka Arimah (Nigeria), Arinze Ifeakandu (Nigeria)
and Magogodi oaMphela Makhene (South Africa). The Book of Khartoum was
the first major collection of Sudanese short stories in English
translation, and you can read al-Fadil’s
shortlisted story in full here.
There are reading and events across London promoting the prize next week which
you can find out about here and the
winner of the prize will be announced on Monday 3rd July. Comma
have had quite a run of awards recently – you can find out more on their news
pages here.
In yet another week where the
world appears to be ever more bonkers, I think it’s time for some more
headlines from The Daily Mash …
- Passionate crowd of about 15 people broke into chants
of 'Oh, Andrea Leadsom' at a village fete in Northamptonshire yesterday
- Tesco launches pre-binned bagged salad
- Remainer celebrates one year of feeling morally
superior
- EU Brexit secretary David Davis is on his way home from
Brussels after Google abolished the European Union.
- Parenting 'a doddle', confirms aunt who has been
babysitting for half an hour
- May hoping for 'constructive relationship' with
creationist homophobes who think Pope is Satan
- Glastonbury massive media coverage welcomed by
Britain's top letches
- Please stay while we savour your
humiliation, Britain tells May
- Researchers discover only British actor who hasn't been
in Doctor Who
- Robots are enjoying the May-Hammond rapport
- Corbyn to perform Labour manifesto on 50-date stadium
tour
- My idiot sons could run this country better than you,
the Queen tells May
- Third bottle of wine 'always a bad idea for wide variety of reasons', say experts
That’s all for now folks! More next
week!
This blog is taken from a newsletter which is 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 talk to your Compass Sales Manager, or call the office
on 020 8326 5696.
