It was as if time had folded in on itself. Had American
history entered an alternate universe? In this eerily familiar new world,
Hillary Clinton had not won the election after all. Donald Trump had. What did
it mean? How had the historic Clinton machine sputtered and failed at the last
minute? What had the pollsters and pundits and corporate television executives
got so totally wrong? Game of Thorns: The Inside
Story of Hillary Clinton's Failed Campaign and Donald Trump's Winning Strategy by Doug Wead (978 1785902260, £12.99, pb) published by Biteback
is the first authoritative account of the momentous 2016 US Presidential
election campaign. It describes how the scandals of a lifetime finally reached
critical mass for both candidates, though with differing results. It shows how,
during the last few days of the campaign, some on Clinton’s staff saw the
ghostly fog of defeat creeping up on them but were helpless to act, frozen by
the self-denial. This is the story of how, despite reportedly spending more
money on her campaign than any presidential candidate in history, Hillary
Clinton fell at the last hurdle. And it is the story of how, against all odds,
Donald Trump won the presidency. There are bound to be plenty of books published
on this topic – but this is the first one, and it’s by an author who is a
former White House staffer and commentator with unprecedented knowledge of US
elections. It’s out on 28 February – there are sure to be mega reviews and
mucho publicity for it and I strongly suggest you order it now!
Congratulations to Bibliocloud who pipped Compass
to the post in last night’s IPG Book Awards for
the Services to Publishers prize. And well done to all the winners – you can
see the full list here. IPG
chief executive Bridget Shine said: “It is testament to the strength of
independent publishing in the UK that this has been the most competitive year
in the history of our Awards. Our judges had to work long and hard to select
the winners, who represent the very best of the independent sector.”
Talking of romance, what do you make of the news that
researchers have concluded that Mr Darcy, the romantic hero of Pride and
Prejudice would not have been dark and handsome, but would have likely had
powdered mid-length white hair, a long oval face and a small mouth, a long
nose, a pointy chin and a pale complexion. Whaaat??? Read the whole piece on
the Sky News website here!
Oh, go on then, here you go – you
know you want to watch it! Yes, I’m sure that’s much more what Jane
Austen had in mind!
A great mention in GQ this week for Paradise City saying
“Great crime fiction hinges on a sense of place, and after returning to
London after ten years living in the world in which he’s set his sophisticated
debut, Thomas proves an adroit guide to a city that has developed at dizzying
speed." Paradise City (£14.99, hb, 978 1910050972) is a fast-paced and
darkly atmospheric novel which introduces Joe Thomas as a new and distinct
voice in crime fiction and its published this week by Arcadia. Joe has a
feature for The Guardian travel section which is due to run
this Saturday and The Big Issue and Latino Life have
both run features written by Joe, with the former taking a full page. Joe also
wrote a 500 word feature for Male Xtra / Female First which
you can read here
about seeing Brazil through the eyes of an ex-pat and where he got
some of the ideas for this gripping novel. On digital media; Shiny New
Books have confirmed a review will run next week, alongside a piece
written by Joe and other literary and crime sites that are due to run in the
coming weeks include Crime Review, Raven Crime Reads and Crime
Squad.
Six Leeds United supporters set off for a short break in
Bruges. Two brothers Allan and Johnny Collins, the former a successful
businessman, the latter just out of prison, are visiting great-grandad’s grave
on the Western Front. They’re joined by Johnny’s bandmates, Craig and Terry;
the tomboy Petra and the out-of-sorts Yvonne. For all the political events,
historic and current, that surround them, they find it difficult to avoid
discussion of their beloved football club as it languishes in the second tier of
English football. And as their trip progresses they find it is more than just
the club that binds them together. Very much in the style of Nick Hornby, Marching On Together by
PJ Whiteley will
also appeal to fans of Jon Rance, Graham Swift and Jonathan Harvey. Bestselling
author Louis de Bernières said “I very much enjoyed Marching on Together and
was happily carried along by the wonderfully realised characters” and PJ Whiteley’s first book Close of Play was
shortlisted for the People’s Book Award and selected for a WHS
Recommends promotion. Marching on Together is
published at the end of the month by Urbane.
We do love a footie novel – what are your favourites? Have
a look here
at this top ten of football fiction in the Guardian to see if you
agree with their choices! Football films are famously even more difficult to
pull off than football novels – but here's one fan’s
suggestion for the top ten best and here's another’s.
I’m sorry, but exactly WHY is Gregory’s Girl on neither of these lists??
A big thumbs-up to Comma Press, who have announced
that in 2018 they have decided to translate only writers from the countries
affected by Trumps’ proposed travel ban – Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan,
Iran, Iraq and Sudan. Comma specialises in short-form writing and has a
number of writers directly affected by the ban, including all 20 contributors
to two prose collections. Hassan Blasim,
the Iraqi-born writer is now unable to travel to the US, despite huge success
there with his 2014 novel The Iraqi Christ.
CEO and publisher Ra Page said “If the only narrative America wants to
export right now is the narrative of hate, then we need to look elsewhere. We
need to consciously turn our backs on the circus that America is descending
into. We need to fight this. And make no mistake it will be a fight.” Have
a look here at
this piece in the Guardian talking about this and how other publishers
and authors including Malorie Blackman and Matt Haig have responded to Trump’s
decision.
We're delighted to announce that Adam Crothers' Several
Deer (£9.99, pb, 978 1 784102 44 9) has been shortlisted for the Shine/Strong Award. This award is presented
annually to the author of the best first collection of poems published in
English or Irish by an Irish poet and is made possible by the generous support
of Shine which is the national organisation dedicated to upholding the rights
and addressing the needs of all those affected by mental ill health. Several Deer is
much indebted to Bob Dylan and Lana Del Rey as to Emily Dickinson and George
Herbert; and Crothers writes about destruction, consumption, misogyny, gods,
sex, failure, and rock ’n’ roll. But he does so with rhythmic subtlety and
verbal craftsmanship, and for all their craft, the poems remain empathic and
sincere, “Now send in the clowns”, ends the collection’s opening poem –
and so they follow: happy and sad, wise and tragic, a touch melodramatic,
wilfully misunderstood. Easily side-tracked and keen to be sound tracked, the
collection doesn’t take its sadness seriously. It listens to the hits. Several Deer has been described as a “pun-tastic prick-tease”
– come on all you edgy booksellers, that quote is crying out to be quoted on a Pick
of the Week card! It’s published by Carcanet – and you can read a
review in the London Magazine here.
Is the internet changing the power dynamic between the
sexes? For example, while eighty per cent of those interviewed in polls say
that affairs are wrong, the percentage who admit to having had an affair has
doubled every ten years. Ooo er missus. Looking at the latest data, social
scientist Catherine Hakim traces new faultlines between men and women in our
increasingly sexualized culture in the paperback of The
New Rules (£8.99, pb, 978
1908096609). The hardback edition of this first ever study on the effects of
the internet on marriage and relationships had a massive amount of global
publicity. The paperback which is published by Gibson Square next week
has a great cover – and as the Times said is “too juicy to ignore.“ The
Telegraph called it “the recipe for happiness?” and the Daily
Mail speculated whether “having an affair could save your marriage.”
The Times are running an interview with Catherine
Hakim on Monday 13 Feb and the Today programme also wants to
interview her – this book is certain to be talked about so do make sure you
have it!
So to finish, what are your fave the top ten “caught
cheating” scenes in books and movies? Gone Girl? Bridget Jones?
They’re all here!
Compass is on Twitter! Follow us
@CompassIPS. Here are some of our favourite tweets from this week...
Compass
Academic @CompassAcademic Spotted
in the window @Foyles - only @ClaireyLove's We're All Mad Here! You know it's a
winner when you make a window display!
Sophington Towers @s0phie When
you get a fresh batch of reading materials in from @BirlinnBooks #happybookface
And Other
Stories @andothertweets In
Oxford? Head to @blackwelloxford to find out why their Senior Bookseller Ray is
such a fan of Arno Geiger's The Old King in His Exile!
Booksaremybag @booksaremybag Book
sales the week before Christmas were highest in 10 years
Jonathan Coe @jonathancoe So
Trump is tagging his daughter on twitter but gets some random stranger by
mistake. Funny! Gets the nuclear codes on Friday, did you say?
Polygon Books @PolygonBooks Ahoy-hoy, we spy a certain @malachytallack's
new book taking Amazon's number 1 bestseller spot! Brilliant
Red Lion Books @RedLionBooks 'My idea of a writer: someone interested in
everything.' - Susan Sontag,
Gutter Bookshop @gutterbookshop Suffering from a Night Nurse hangover this
morning - I expect to semi-awake by mid-afternoon... #BobsCold
Pluto Press @PlutoPress 'You've got to be taught to hate and fear'. The
appointment of Jeff Sessions suggests Trump intends to do just that:
Cecilia
Bennett @CeciliaEBennett A town
without a bookshop buys fewer books. To support the book industry, support
independents - inspirational talk by Andy Rossiter at the IPG conference.#ipgsc
Matthew at Urbane @urbanepub Waterstones is not in the risk business when
making buying decisions says James Daunt - but some publishers are in their
commissioning :-)
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.
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