The pick of this month's new books - and some older ones too...

   Books Monthly Volume 13 No. 12 | September 2011 | This is booksmonthly.co.uk - I hope you enjoy your visit.

HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF BOOKS MONTHLY! The reviews pages now have widgets for every available book straight to Amazon where you can buy the titles featured in this magazine...

You can now buy Daniel Polansky's brilliant debut fantasy THE STRAIGHT RAZOR CURE, published by Hodder on 18th August and Books Monthly's Book of the Month when I first got my hands on it! Here's what I said about it then: "It's a superb debut novel - the most exciting and original fantasy I've read for decades - absolutely stunning, I couldn't put it down! I can't remember when I last enjoyed a fantasy book this much..." This issue contains some stunning images from Dynamite Entertainment's brilliant WARLORD OF MARS series - there are two graphic novels released this month and next, containing the first series of monthly comics in the WARLORD OF MARS and WARLORD OF MARS: DEJAH THORIS runs. You can read about them on the Graphic Novels and Comics page, and you'll also find a gallery of covers elsewhere in this issue.

THE PICK OF THIS MONTH'S BOOKS...

The September BOOK OF THE MONTH is LUTHER by NEIL CROSS - read about this amazing thriller on the Adult Fiction page here. During the last month, I happened to catch Peter Jackson's brilliant film THE LOVELY BONES on terrestrial TV, and, as usual, having seen it, I searched for the book in the local charity shops, and found a copy for 50p which I couldn't resist. It's brilliant. Again, you can read about it on the Adult Fiction page. Dorling Kindersley's blockbuster for this month is ANIMAL - everything you could ever want to know about the animal kingdom, in their inimitable style - a brilliant book. Read about it on the Nonfiction page here. ANNA JACOBS follows her recent success with CHERRY TREE LANE in ELM TREE ROAD - a real tear-jerker. You'll find this on the Adult Fiction page too!

You really must have a look at LEE NICHOLS's two brilliant YA novels, DECEPTION and BETRAYAL. In DECEPTION, Emma Vaile discovers she's the reincarnation of a previous Emma Vaile, a ghostkeeper with extra special powers. Normally ghostkeepers can only summon or dispel ghosts, not both. Emma can, and not only that, she can also see them and talk to them. It's unheard of, and it gets her into all kinds of trouble when she takes up residence at special school Thatcher. Both books are absolutely brilliant, and I have no doubt whatsoever you'll love them. You'll find these on the Children's Fiction page. I've just caught up with Lauren Kate's FALLEN series, the third volume of which, PASSION, was just published. This is an excellent series, and you can read about it on the Children's Fiction page. Also one to watch out for is HOUNDED by Kevin Hearne - first of a terrific new trilogy about Druids. You'll find this one on the Adult fiction page, where you'll find a "jump to" link for this month's Orbit titles, all of which are very much worth a look. LISA TOWNSEND has written a terrific "fill-in" Chalet School novel, published this month by GIRLS GONE BY Publishing. Read about it on the Nostalgia page.

While we're on the subject of school stories, CARMEN REID's sixth SECRETS AT ST JUDE's story, PARTY GIRL, was published a short while ago and you can read about ST JUDE's, about Carmen and about Party Girl in this issue. PARTY GIRL is my Children's book of the month for this month. JUNGLE GIRL was originally a book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of Tarzan and the John Carter novels. Then there was a series of comics back in the 1940s/1950s which inspired a series of films. And then... the brilliant FRANK CHO, inspired by all of the above, started his own Jungle Girl comic, and now the individual comics have been collected up into two very colourful and mesmerising hardback books published by Dynamite Entertainment. I've a special page on Jungle Girl showing some of the best artwork by Frank Cho and Adriano Batista from the comics and books. Jerry Dowlen has a fascinating article on ROY HATTERSLEY in this issue, and my WATCHING THE DETECTIVES series continues with Chief Inspector Barnaby and MIDSOMER MURDERS - that's the real Chief Inspector Barnaby, not the idiot who's pretending to be him in the latest series (scroll down for more on Barnaby)... Simon and Schuster have reissued the fantastic SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, with amazing new covers:

My very own MIKE THOMPSON mysteries are now available to purchase as Kindle editions from the Amazon Kindle store, priced at just over £1.40. Read about them on the Kindle page in this issue. alongside T S Sharp's short story UNFAMILIAR COUNTRY. If you would like me to include details (and perhaps reviews) of your kindle books or stories, just let me know.

The graphic novelisation of Stephen King's Dark Tower series continues with volume seven, THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA. This was originally a standalone short story, first published in a fantasy shorty story collection, but since included in King's own short story collection FROM A BUICK 8. It tells how Roland is set upon in the town of Tull by a group of Green Mutants, and is almost killed but saved by a group of what appear to be nuns, who nurse him back to health. The only problem being that they want him for their own vampiric devices. It's a chilling story that somehow never seemed fully integrated into the Dark Tower canon, but now, thanks to Marvel and Robin Furth, it's totally a part of the story that began in the first volume, THE GUNSLINGER. It is for me the very best of the graphic novels, not least because it's drawn by Luke Ross, a different artist to the rest of the series. Read about it on the Stephen King page here, along with my review of the latest in THE STAND graphic novels series, NO MAN'S LAND.

This month's WATCHING THE DETECTIVES takes a look at probably the most watched of them all, DCI Barnaby of MIDSOMER MURDERS. John Nettles hasn't really played anything but TV 'tecs, starting with a long stint as Bergerac, and then several years as Barnaby, finally retiring this year to make way for his cousin, also DCI Barnaby and played by Neil Dudgeon. With nearly half a dozen episodes under the new Barnaby, I'm still waiting for some spark, some reason to watch it, and not getting one. It's been dire so far, and I can't see it improving if they retain the services of Dudgeon and DS Jones, who for me, started to drag the series down all those years ago when DS Scott left, having himself replaced Troy. Add to this the furore surrounding the producer when he said he didn't really see the need to change the formula of the show and introduce other races into the mix, and you have a series now in crisis after ruling the TV 'tecs for two decades. (We'll deal with Morse when we look at Lewis in a future article, of course). I love John Nettle's Barnaby, and Troy and Scott were brilliant. But when Jones took over as Barnaby's sergeant, the show started to go downhill for me. Having said that, I don't believe I've ever missed an episode, although I'm not sure I'll be queueing up to see the new series with quite the same enthusiasm. Fortunately, there are a few great Barnaby books to read...

ENGLISH ROSE PUBLISHERS - NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK...

Formed in 2010, English Rose Publishing are setting out to bring a touch of class and perfectionism to the market, with stunningly beautiful editions of classics and original stories. You'll notice the fantastic John Carter or Mars volumes already published, including one compendium containing the first five of ERB's classic Martian series, and A PRINCESS OF MARS again carrying the classic Schoonover cover and billed as "the book of the film" already mentioned elsewhere in Books Monthly. Add to that THE NURSERY ALICE by Lewis Carrol, THE LOVE LETTERS OF GREAT MEN, THE BROKEN WINGS by Khalil Gibran, and MARK TWAIN's HOW TO TELL A STORY AND OTHER ESSAYS, and you'll see that English Rose are both eclectic and traditional at the same time. These are editions to treasure, instant collectors' items, and whilst they pride themselves on producing the written word in its traditional form, they won't let the eBook revolution pass them by, I'm certain.

BOOKS MONTHLY BLOG - (back to top of page)

August 26 2011

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks for the simple reason that I was flat out preparing Books Monthly for the multifarious "buy from Amazon" widgets that you will see in the September issue and which mean that any book you see reviewed has a direct link to its page on Amazon allowing you to buy it there and then, and you will already know that Amazon have amazing prices! Any book really means almost any book, because there are some, like the excellent Dennis MagBooks, who sell their own books from their own site, and it's just as easy and convenient for you to nip across from Books Monthly and place your order direct from the MagBooks site. But I digress. It's been a dire week in what used to be my favourite soap, EastEnders. Some of the characters spent the week in "Sarfend", and therein lies my first problem. We never made it to Albert Square until late Friday evening, when they all returned, but the ones who went to "Sarfend" were the worst characters, the dregs from Eastenders, and it was to be hoped none of them made it back. Only Fatboy went who has any real acting talent and any real appeal as a character. The others? First there's Whitney - we're meant to feel sorry for Whitney and ring the helpline at the end of the show if we've been affected by what's happened to her, but really, she's just a stupid little tart with no brains who still couldn't see what Rob was doing to her, right up until Fatboy rang brother Ryan to come and dig her out of the mess she was in. Added to that is the fact she's a crap actress, and the combination of bad actress and awful character really don't add up to anything worth watching. I couldn't care less what happened or happens to Whitney - she has no brain. That doesn't mean I don't sympathise with real-live victims of this awful crime. But the character has no credibility in EastEnders, and the story has dragged on for too long. Anyone stupid enough to be seduced by her own stepfather really doesn't deserve our sympathy. To get involved with Rob in the first place... well, the least said about him the better - he's a terrible actor, and not a very nice person either. Next we had Shirley and Heather, two more of hell's spawn from Walford. The Carter woman is a monster, and doesn't really deserve the appellation "woman". She's something else, a brute, a charmless thug, and well suited to her other half, the equally monstrous Phil Mitchell, whose own sell-by date as a Walford character is long gone. Heather Trott may be a nicer person, but she's grotesque, and not really what you want to see hogging the screen at a time when obesity worries once again surface in the national psyche. Then there's Dot. She should never have been allowed to join the cast in the first place. Like Heather, she's a caricature, a monstrous, disgusting woman full of her own self-importance and carrying so much baggage she's unbelievable. Just imagine how awful she must smell! And whoever had the idea to write in her sister Rose really wants shooting. Add to that the feeble man-mountain Andrew, who appears to be besotted with Heather, and the reappearance of thug Rob, who was a monstrous character first time around, and you have a week of EastEnders that is best forgotten. I was totally turned off by the pantomime gays and lesbians at the festival, but I was more turned off by the assortment of rubbish characters they carted off to "Sarfend" and had to look away from the screen most of the time they were on. EastEnders plummeted to rock bottom last week, and Emmerdale now becomes my favourite soap. It will take the return of Max to Albert Square to make me sit up and care about what goes on in EastEnders once more. Dire. Absolutely dire - the worst week ever. There are some really nasty, offensive characters in EastEnders right now, and to put 90% of them in "Sarfend" for a whole week, to the exclusion of all the other characters, was a golden opportunity to ditch the lot of them in a Big Wheel accident. Unfortunately, the best character, Ryan, had to leave because he'd killed Rob, and the rest of them, along with the two new grotesque, ugly Cotton family members, made it back to the square. Ugh! I know it's not real, but I do expect some acting - most of these people mentioned above are just playing themselves. I'm beginning to dislike EastEnders intensely, something awesome has to happen, like a plane crash killing off most of the characters, starting with those listed above, and with the exception of Fatboy, and get rid of Ian Beale, Phil Mitchell and Ben. Bring back Lucy, for goodness' sake. Time for a serious clearout in my opinion. It worked so well with Emmerdale, although the odious (but excellent) Eric Pollard and his odious (but crap actress) partner Val Pollard should think long and hard about the hard time they're giving Amy, and reflect on the disgustingly bad things they've done themselves over the years! At least Casualty and Holby City go from strength to strength, and Dylan is an inspired creation in Casualty. From October, by the way, you'll find the Books Monthly blog on its own page...

August 14 2011

Yet again BBC2 provided a superb prom last night, this time it was the turn of the NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, performing the Britten Piano Concerto (soloist Benjamin Grosvenor, now 19 years old) and then, after a fascinating interval in which we watched members of the NYO arriving at Birmingham University for their summer get-together, we saw them perform the Prokoviev suite based on his ballet Romeo and Juliet. It was absolutely fantastic, and when you put the achievements of these young people into the perspective of last week's mindless and extremely distressing riots, it makes you realise that the vast majority of youngsters are law-abiding, sensible and decent. If you want my take on the rioting, I'd have to say that I believe the "do-gooders" have an awful lot to answer for. It's easy to look back and say that things were so much better in my day, but it would be absolutely true. We went in awe of policemen, we respected our elders, we certainly didn't cheek them, and we heeded what they told us, and by and large, we behaved ourselves. The worst crime I can remember committing was scrumping apples from the vicarage garden, by shinning up a tree that grew just outside the six-feet-high garden wall and picking a few apples that hung out over the road. Then, in the 1960s, everything changed. Change is never a good thing on its own account. If it's not broken, don't interfere with it, it doesn't need fixing. We had punishments in the 1960s that were a real deterrent, and then some joker in America, Dr Spock, decided that we should let everyone do exactly as they liked, especially the children, and all hell broke loose and has been loose ever since. Now, as soon as you even look at a child who's behaving abysmally, an army of do-gooders is ready to move in and tell you you shouldn't be punishing it in any way, shape or form, which is simply outrageous, and the root cause of all of the problems with our youth culture today. Boundaries have to be set. If you overstep them, you're punished. In some way. You're not protected by an army of stupid people with nothing better to do than dream up novel ways to reward others for misbehaving. If all of the do-gooders were to take themselves off to some remote island and stay there tomorrow it wouldn't be soon enough for me. People who go against the laws of our society have no place in it. Confiscate their toys, their phones, MP3 players, iPads, iPods, game consoles, TVs, cycles, hoodies, lock them up, set them to work, bring back penal servitude, hard labour, don't pay them, stop their benefits, put them in the stocks. Two images remain in my head from last week - the shameful face of Britain's lawless rioters... and the brilliant National Youth Orchestra, playing with joy, and a shining example of all that can be achieved. Now then, there has to be a cause for the rioting, and whilst it's tempting to blame the coalition for their excessive cuts to public spending, I can really only accuse them of being so far out of touch with well, everything. They're all millionaires, for God's sake. They're not affected by lack of prospects, no money, rising fuel costs, rising energy costs, inflation etc. It passes them by. The first thing to do is to reinstate the idea of respect for other people's property, for the police, for the law, and to punish those who transgress the law in such a way that they will think twice before doing it again. Time to stop pussy-footing around. But more importantly, we have to give people something to do. Really bad recessions are made worse by cuts in public spending, made better by spending more. Put people to work building much-needed houses, mending roads etc. More tax revenue and growth will automatically follow. People will feel valued by society and everyone will be happier. Just stop all the do-gooders. For good.

August 7 2011

Last night we were privileged to watch a magnificent performance of Mahler's 2nd Symphony performed to perfection by Gustavo Dudamel's Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra at the Proms on BBC2 - perfect soloists and an inspired orchestra made this a really memorable concert! My second favourite Mahler symphony and it was a brilliant performance - very long, very stately, very reverent. The superlative playing of those young musicians was thoroughly deserving of the standing ovation they received from the 6,000+ orchestra, and the scenes of joy as the soloists came off stage which the BBC very kindly showed us wrapped up a terrific evening. I have at least three recordings of Mahler 2, two by Simon Rattle, one by Zubin Mehta, but this one was really quite special and moving. How can all that glorious music come from one man's brain? It defies belief - Mahler was a genius touched by God...

August 1 2011

I've given up on TORCHWOOD - there's little or no science fiction in it, Barrowman's acting has plumbed new depths and the script is simply a vehicle for his own gay proclivities. He never was a particularly good actor, and his adverts for his Saturday night show reveal him in his true guise as someone with no real charisma and not much talent for acting either. The latest series is a real turn-off, just as the over-sexed CAMELOT turned out to be. Not for me. I used to be a fan of Dr Who too, but the freak they have playing the latest doctor is also a turn-off. Why didn't they choose someone half normal? In future on Thursday nights I'll watch THE KILLING or TOWN with Nicholas Crane. Torchwood sucks, bring back SPOOKS, for God's sake!

July 26 2011

Watching last week's BBC TV IMAGINE programme about Harry Nilsson inspired me to dust off my Nilsson CD collection. On Sunday afternoon, rather than sit through another failed attempt by Jensen Button to win a Grand Prix (not his fault, I'm right behind him, and hope he performs better in the second half of the season!) I played NILSSON SCHMILSSON, then THE POINT, and finished up with AS TIME GOES BY, surely the most laid-back album, the most laid-back sound ever recorded? Nilsson's voice is unique, and Gordon Jenkins's arrangements are sublime. This album collects the original A LITTLE TOUCH OF SCHMILSSON IN THE NIGHT and the second album, which I never owned on vinyl, but I see that AS TIME GOES BY now retails for over £250 on Amazon, presumably, like BOBBY DARIN'S EARTHY, because it's no longer available. I don't know who makes the decision to remove an album from the list, but at least EARTHY is now available as an MP3 download, so you can create your own CD. Not so with AS TIME GOES BY, and this is terribly sad and unfair. There are countless "BEST OF NILSSON...." albums, but the finest showcase of this unique and beautiful voice is not to be had! I bought mine in HMV around twelve years ago for the price of a fiver, I believe, and I will always treasure it as the best album of the best male singer in the world (apart from John Lennon and Bobby Darin, of course!)

July 25 2011

What really annoys me is the modern trend of showing people smoking in soaps and TV dramas - the US shows are particularly bad, and a few years ago they had a kind of moratorium on it, where only the really nasty guys were seen smoking, and the good guys refrained. I know it isn't like real life, but then in real life, you wouldn't get people refraining from using the "f" word, would you? Let's think about the English soaps for a moment, shall we? All of a sudden, everyone in Eastenders smokes, whereas it used to be just the ghastly and grotesque Dot Cotton and the hot-air balloon Pat Evans. Now everyone's at it, including Tanya and Max. In Torchwood, everyone smokes, and it's almost as bad as standing next to someone in the street, seeing them doing it, makes me feel quite ill. I cannot recall seeing anyone smoking in Emmerdale apart from the nightmare that is Val Pollard, and even Eric disapproves, so there is a moral message here; and I firmly believe that stopping it from being shown on TV would be a huge step in the right direction if we are really serious about stopping people from smoking and draining the resources of the NHS. Casualty is another serious offender, whilst Holby City manages to avoid it for the most part. There's nothing worse than seeing an attractive female lighting up on TV. Kind of destroys it instantly, don't you think? We're not aiming for realism in the soaps, after all, or everyone would be effing and blinding just as they do in real life. So cut it out, producers, and do us all a favour - make our soaps a smoke-free zone, and for Christ's sake, ditch the awful Dot Cotton. She never could act, and she contributes nothing to the programme whatsoever... Thank goodness Rickaaaaay has gone back to Dubai for the foreseeable future. Whoever had the bright idea of bringing him back?

July 22 2011

It's time to get excited by the JOHN CARTER movie - I've been reading that some people are annoyed that the director, Andrew Stanton, has left out the "Of Mars" from the title so that the character grows within the movie from an American civil war veteran to a Martian warrior. I don't have a problem with that, and the hype that will come in the months leading up to the movie's release will mean that the majority of people will have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the John Carter books in preparation. There are a huge number of editions available on Amazon, but by far the best one is from ENGLISH ROSE PUBLISHING, and contains the first five stories in one fabulous volume! This staggeringly beautiful book, which is the size of a modern-day fantasy novel, is reviewed in the August issue, just over a week from now! Artwork associated with Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series is breathtaking (mostly). There are some dire covers out there, about which the least said the better. But when you get people like Joe Jusko, Alex Ross, Boris Vallejo, Frank Frazetta, Bruce Pennington and all the fantasy greats turning in beautiful illustrations, you'll come to realise that this is something really special. There's a collection of JC artwork in the August issue. Dynamite comics have their own project going on, and you'll be able to read about these also in the August issue, which is rapidly turning into a John Carter of Mars special! I've started reading the original novels again, to remind myself in readiness for the film, I suppose, but also because of the magnificent English Rose five-novel volume. These stories are truly classics, and probably the best writing ERB ever produced. I still long for a decent TARZAN film, and remain convinced that someone will do it one day. In the meantime, it's most gratifying to know that Hollywood, in the shape of Disney, have the foresight and dedication to put money into a project that will bring the best of Edgar Rice Burroughs to millions of people in March of next year.

July 9th 2011

This month's WRITING Magazine has a few references to the Kindle and E-publishing, all of them mentioning the fact they believe books will stay in spite of the forecasts for sales of E-publishing, particularly in the UK, to rise sharply. I said as much in my blog last month (see below), and I stand by it; it seems I'm in good company, because one of the people voicing this opinion is Melvyn (Lord) Bragg. However, it does seem that the percentage of E-books will certainly affect our high street bookstores detrimentally, which is not a good thing, of course. The same magazine also carried a feature on how to self-publish for the Kindle. I've already done it once, and you can find an obscure first part of my Heraklion fantasy saga available for $5.99 - I forget the £ equivalent, but it's probably too much, and in several months, no one has bought a copy. Undaunted, I've started preparing some of my Mike Thompson mysteries for E-publishing, and by the time you read this blog, you'll find the latest, THE SILENT THREE, in the Amazon Kindle store for the princely sum of $2.50. A second Mike Thompson mystery is already "under review" which is Amazon-speak for being prepared for sale. I decided to join the E-publishing revolution when I received THE SILENT THREE manuscript back from Robert Hale a couple of weeks ago. Friends in the publishing and writing business tell me that just because one publisher doesn't like a submission, it doesn't mean another publisher won't like it. But consider this: although this advice is sound, it costs £7 to post a manuscript to a publisher or an agent - £3.50 and £3.50 for its safe return. For someone on pension credit and living hand to mouth because generations of politicians with more money than the average wage earner coming in fail to understand the reality of living costs, £7 is an awful lot of money. It would pay for two or maybe three shopping trips to the next town because the Freemasons of Sheringham managed to prevent us from having our own supermarket for the best part of fifteen years. Probably two shopping trips, with the price of fuel being what it is. I can't afford to send my MSS to other publishers and agents, even though Robert Hale describes them as "Very well written and of publication standard". Why should another publisher or even an agent take me on? I don't see that my stories are any less good than the ones Robert Hale actually publishes. In fact, as I've said on more than one occasion, I have yet to read a published book that doesn't have a typo or two - and I read plenty of books, as you will already know! My point is this: there are precious few publishers who accept unsolicited manuscripts, and getting an agent is almost as difficult as getting a publisher to read your work. Even fewer publishers accept e-mail submissions, and this is quite wrong. Everyone works on a PC or a laptop nowadays, and this would save those of us on small fixed incomes from having to fork out the enormous cost of postage. Why can't publishers read submissions via e-mail or even online? So, I've given up. I am working on a new novel, written about 15,000 words, and hope to have it ready for submission in about three months' time. In the meantime, my rejects are gathering dust on the hard drive, so I've decided to E-publish for Amazon's kindle store. Three more titles to go, all described by Robert Hale as "Very well written and of publication standard", so, by the end of July, the Amazon kindle store will be groaning with the Mike Thompson mysteries - all five volumes, including DAYLIGHTS, a horror story, and his very first appearance. You have been warned. And, by the way, they're very cheap!

July 4th 2011

Just finished reading Jessie Keane's new blockbuster PLAYING DEAD which is published towards the end of this month, and will be my book of the month in the August issue. I'm not in the habit of giving spoilers, and today is no exception - this is a sensational return for Annie Carter, Jessie's first "heroine", if you can call her that. Trouble follows Annie like a dog on heat and this book will keep you riveted with its twists and turns, its murders and maimings, its relationships and its cruelties. Following the blogs, I've been struck how many people are waiting for this new Jessie Keane, and it's a measure of her success - she has got the formula for successful writing exactly right, and she deserves it. The sticker on the front says "As good as Martina Cole or your money back"... Not sure how you'd have the nerve to write in and say "I didn't like this as much as I like Martina Cole", but I, for one, know which author I prefer. I've stuck with Jessie from day one, and she's never let me down. The Annie Carter saga still has mileage, I'm sure, but not before we've all caught up with this one. Sensational.

June 23rd 2011

I've been a little quiet on the blog for a few days - been working hard getting the next issue of Books Monthly ready for publication, taking delivery of several fantastic new books, including the one I'm currently reading, which is Tana French's FAITHFUL PLACE - it's my crime read of the summer, so it is! The dialogue is sparkling, the characters tremendously real, and the plot is to die for. This is one to watch, most definitely. Nothing much else to report, except that I'm also working on a new series for Books Monthly called WATCHING THE DETECTIVES, which will feature a series of articles about our TV detectives, beginning with Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie, which finished its first series (hopefully not its last!) last weekend. I'll be covering VERA, BARNABY, LUTHER, DALZIELL AND PASCO, GENTLY, LINLEY, LEWIS (and Morse, of course) and as many as I can think of. It's going to be great fun, and will feature some terrific books. More blogging at the weekend.

June 11th 2011

I was in our new local branch of W H Smith yesterday, just browsing to see what was on the shelves, and had a good look at the children's section. Quite good, three whole racks, probably eighteen shelves or thereabouts, with markers, one of which showed a compendium of Enid Blyton Famous Fives (I think it was the Best of the Famous Fives, a boxed set), and then a whole shelf dedicated to EB, including all of the Malory Towers, some of the St Clares, some "Adventures", some Secret Sevens and a handful of Famous Fives in various liveries (you may already know that Hachette publish two distinct versions of the Famous Five - a new version and a classic version - guess which version I prefer!) The remainder of the children's racks were filled with new authors - the Blytons were all new, of course, but as far as I could tell from the ten minutes or so I stood there drinking it all in, she was the only author published during the last century still on display, and it occurred to me that there's a huge opportunity here for modern bookshops to offer the kind of titles being published each month by GIRLS GONE BY publishers, and FIDRA, of course. I imagine these good people have tried to get their titles distributed more widely, but I have to say that I have never ever seen a GGBP or a FIDRA book in a modern bookshop, which is a great shame. It would be so good to be able to look at the children's shelves in WHS and see all of the Malcolm Savilles, the Monica Edwards, the Chalet School series, which many people must believe to be available only in secondhand bookshops, and all the other wonderful titles I'm privileged to feature in the pages of Books Monthly - two new titles from GGBP coming in the July issue, of course, a Chalet School which is absolutely brilliant, and a Saville's LONE PINE story, The Secret of the Gorge, which kept me amused for several hours - a real pair of page-turners, I can tell you! If dedicated people are prepared to invest their time and money in reprinting these essential children's books, which still manage to excite and enthrall nowadays, then it isn't oo much to ask that booksellers like W H Smith should stock them. Most books nowadays come on a sale or return basis. What would be the harm in populating those children's shelves with some of the classics from the last century? I'm utterly convinced they would sell. Have a great weekend. I'll share my views on the new CAMELOT TV series with you next week.

June 10th 2011

Hurrah for the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has gone up astronomically in my estimation... it's never easy writing about politics in a review magazine, but it's something I feel passionate about, and at the risk of alienating some readers, I'd like to say that I agree wholeheartedly with what the archbish had to say. Just finished reading THE SECRET OF THE GORGE by Malcolm Saville, one of my favourite children's authors. Published by Girls Gone By, this is a superb story, full of the kind of excitement children could only experience in a narrow band of decades from the last century, and in a time now long forgotten by historians and modern generations, but well-remembered by people of our age [sixties plus]. It was a time when the seasons were properly defined, the skies were a deep blue throughout the summer months, and when children could play outside without fear, and there were other priorities than the latest computer game and fad, and to make a phone call you had to walk to nearest phone box, often half a mile away, and press button B then button A and wait for your old pennies to drop into the box. It was a time when there was full employment, a monumental building programme for affordable council houses to rent, food was again plentiful after the rigours of WWII, and you could spot a villain a hundred yards away, because they were all furtive and mean-looking and exactly as Saville and Blyton described them! Where and when did it all go wrong? My dear wife often accuses me of wanting to turn the clock back so that we would still be living in the fifties - she's right in some ways, but I wouldn't want to lose any of the precious forty-five years we've so far had together, or any of the wonderful children we've brought up. There are adverts on right now for tablets that are identical to those used by Captain Kirk in Star Trek. Technology has moved on so far in such a short space of time, but the enormous steps that need to be taken in finding a way into space and to colonise other worlds and planets simply hasn't happened. Communications seem to be dominating our lives, at least the lives of the developed world, often at the cost of everything else. The obesity epidemic is simply a by-product of children and adults spending too much time in front of the TV and games consoles instead of getting out of the house and walking, or playing. That 's what's different between the 1950s and now. I've said it so many times before - we had books, radio, gramophone records, and we balanced it all by playing outside, climbing trees, playing football in the playing fields, cycling, walking. Eating sensibly didn't really come into it, because we burned off so many calories it didn't matter what we ate. Or so it seemed. Was it all so good back in the 1950s? I can't remember anything that wasn't good, except one thing, one dark episode that I've spoken about before, and don't want to speak about again. It was a brilliant time, uncluttered by technology, populated by books, comics and magazines and outdoor leisure activities that are alien to today's younger generation. I don't want to travel back in time to the 1950s, but I do reserve the right to look back on those years with fondness, and to be excited by the things that enriched our lives then. I have a cupboard full of 1950s books and annuals, and a load of Enid Blytons have pride of place on the window sill, in between the Titanic book ends. It's the sort of thing that Kirsty Allsopp has in her house, and whilst I don't subscribe to her political ideals, I do recognise that she has style, so if it's all right for her, it's all right for us. This is a bit of a rambling blog today, beginning with the good old archbish and ending with Kirsty. More at the weekend.

June 8th 2011

DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHO THE PUBLISHER IS?

If you see a book you like the look of, i.e. you judge it by its cover, do you bother to check who it's published by, or do you simply assume that all books are published by someone, doesn't matter who, as long as it's a good readable book? Publishers do matter, especially when it comes to non fiction, and, to a lesser extent, in my opinion, for fiction also. Take the wonderful DORLING KINDERSLEY as my first example. They publish a huge amount of books each month, many of them are what you would consider to be "coffee table" books. My nonfiction page for July kicks off with a stunning book from DK - the Lego Harry Potter book - an encyclopedic record of all the Lego Harry Potter sets so far issued. It's visually stunning, impeccable printed, and meticulously researched. You can trust Dorling Kindersley, it's as simple as that. You know it's going to be printed on high quality paper [from sustainable sources] and that the illustrations, of which there are many, will also be high quality. I've yet to encounter a DK book that isn't perfect in every way. Another trustworthy publisher is CARLTON PRION. Their reprints of 1980s Commando picture story libraries is fantastic - printed on slightly cheaper paper, not glossy, for example, but in keeping with the original publications, and perfectly registered. They, too, produce some fantastic titles, many of them containing facsimile reproductions e.g. Beatles memorabilia, Jack the Ripper letters, Beethoven memorabilia - if I was looking for a book with such additions, I'd automatically look for a CARLTON/PRION publication. SHIRE BOOKS are brilliant little social history commentaries, beautifully illustrated and again impeccably researched - you know you can trust them to be accurate. If you were looking for a car owner's workshop manual, there's only one publisher, really, and that's HAYNES. So, if you were to see a book on garden landscaping or a history of the LMS railway, or a workshop manual for the Titanic, or the Space Shuttle, or the Starship Enterprise, you'd know it was pretty good value for money and extremely trustworthy if it bore the Haynes logo, wouldn't you? As for fiction, well, the same thing applies, only with different parameters. Take Stephen King, for example. Hodder UK publish a huge percentage of King titles in the UK - and given the reputation of the world's most popular novelist, you'd trust Hodder if they came to you with a different author and told you it was a good book, wouldn't you? I would. Similarly with Harper Collins, who do a splendid job with Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden. And Titan Books, who publish all of those fantastic DAN DARE reprints from the Eagle comics of the 1950s. They also import and publish loads of US comics, of course. So yes, in my opinion, it does matter who the publisher is, because it's a matter of trust, and trust, nowadays, is absolutely everything. If you wanted fine art books, you'd go to Thames and Hudson, or Phaidon - they've been in the business of publishing fine art books for decades. Next time you buy a book, look at the spine and see who the publisher is. If you like the book, look for more from that publisher. It sometimes works, and it's why I always print the name of the publisher in Books Monthly.

June 2nd 2011

I've never been tempted to put my boot, my fist, or a brick throught the television, no matter what the provocation. If there's something on that annoys me, I'd rather switch channels or turn it off. It isn't there to be abused, it's a vehicle for my entertainment. If I happen to be watching something that makes my blood boil, that's my fault. I have a choice, the TV does not. Furthermore, I hate it when people lose their temper (on TV or in real life) and throw their mobile phone to the floor, usually breaking it because something has gone wrong. Venting your anger on an inanimate object is just stupid, such as hurling a glass at the wall - someone has to clear it up, and broken glass is extremely dangerous. Having said that, some things do make me really angry, such as people saying "for free". It's commonplace, everyone does it, especially on TV and, so I'm given to understand, in newspapers and magazines as well. I should explain that I do not read newspapers, and the magazines I read (Classic FM, BBC Music etc.) don't appear to transgress this rule. Something is not "for free", it's either free, or "for nothing". "You can join for free" is so wrong, and it makes my blood boil. You cannot join "for free", you can join "for nothing", or "Joining is free". Let's put a stop to this harsh, grating and totally wrong phraseology right now. Please. Or I may be tempted to put my foot through the TV...

June 1st 2011

Although I have several new books coming, I've just about finished reading all there is to read at the moment. I'd better write some more of my new crime fiction novel so I have something to read until those new books arrive!

There could be some news on the Stephen King/Dark Tower front soon... We watched the penultimate episode of THE EVENT last night, and have the last episode still to watch - disappointing that they didn't have the faith to invest in a second series - we thought it was quite good, well worthy of air time, unlike the interminable X Factor and America's/Britain's Got Talent that promote people to God-like status who have no business being there. Reality TV leaves me cold unless it's about something worthwhile, like VICTORIAN FARM or VICTORIAN PHARMACY, and there are far too many cookery programmes on TV in Britain right now. I read in the Radio Times that the new controller of BBC1 is drama-orientated, so that may be a good thing. Having said that, most of the cookery programmes are on BBC2 anyway! Drama comes in all shapes and sizes, of course, and the trend lately has been to try and shock people. Alison Graham, Radio Times columnist, implores people to stick with SHADOWLINE - there's a reason people are drifting away from it, Alison - it's not to their taste. It isn't the best cop drama ever, as you claim. It's clichﾬ shocking, and nasty, full of things we don't want to see on TV. Our preference in cop shows has never been reality - the demographic of people who watch TV cop shows is of people who were brought up with the locked room mystery, witness the spectacular success of Midsomer, Morse, Lewis, Lynley, Dalziel and Pascoe et al. Just look what happened to Taggart when they changed the format half a dozen episodes and introduced the all-too-familiar feeling of dread when the announcer says "contains violent scenes and something really quite nasty which you won't want to see right at the start..." TV isn't the cinema. TV is supposed to be entertaining, where the producers, directors and writers do not have licence to shock, but to bring people what they really want to see, which is good detectives solving interesting crimes. Real life is quite horrific enough without putting it into what is supposed to be escapist drama, otherwise all TV might as well be reality TV. Thank goodness for DVDs, and my boxed sets of Lewis, Foyle, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. Such a pity there are no novels based on any of these spectacularly good and thoroughly enjoyable shows. Time was when someone made a TV show, someone else novelised it, and everyone was happy, and the franchise just grew and grew. Sadly, those days are gone. Sadly, we're moving faster and faster towards a time when everything is materialistic. Doom merchants say the book is dead (yes, back to that!) but thankfully, the likes of Carlton, Dorling Kindersley, Hodder, Harper Collins, Titan and Haynes don't believe it. Neither do I. The book is dead? Long live the book!

May 31st 2011

Some feedback on E-books, kindles, and the demise of traditional publishing... David Farland quotes some enticing figures about the rise of e-publishing, from 1% four years ago to 27% this year (estimated). However, kindle sales remain low - around 2 million according to Farland. I know the kindle isn't the only e-reader, that people with iPads also download books, but it seems to me that the future for books is not yet over. Take Dorling Kindersley, my favourite nonfiction publisher. Many of their new titles are available both as hard copy and as e-books, as of a few months ago. They've taken the initiative and given people an alternative. I will try to find out how many of each format they are selling - not actual sales figures, but percentages, and blog it in the days to come. HAUNTING VIOLET is excellent, by the way, I can heartily recommend it. Incidentally, going back to the business of e-publishing - what would happen to our libraries? Would you be able, for example, to pop into your local library and ask to borrow a kindle or an e-reader with the eight books on it that you're entitled to borrow? Would the bookshelves be populated by e-readers? Would you be expected to sit in the library with a kindle and read the book you used to be able to borrow? Your thoughts on a postcard, if you please...

May 29th 2011

I just finished reading a beautiful new book about angels, UNEARTHLY by Cynthia Hand - you can see the UK cover at the top of the page on the right. I don't usually like present tense works, but this one is perfect, a real romance, and written so beautfully... probably my book of the month for July. I'm a huge fan of WATERLOO ROAD, mainly because it's a school story, and I have loved school stories for as long as I can remember. Nothing much changes in school stories - the children are always at loggerheads with the teaching staff, some of the teachers are absolute pigs but really only want the best for their pupils - anyway, this season of Waterloo Road has one of the saddest storylines yet, and it involves two of my favourite characters - Sambuca Kelly, played brilliantly by Holly Kenny, and Finn Sharkey, played even more brilliantly by Jack McMullen - both of these excellent young actors have terrific futures ahead of them, I'm sure. I also understand that the head teacher, Karen Fisher, is also leaving in a few weeks' time, and one wonders if Robson Green's tenure as site manager will also come to an end. Off now to start reading HAUNTING VIOLET by Alyxandra Harvey, who also wrote the excellent Drake Chronicles, of course. Can't wait to get stuck in. More soon...

Books Monthly is published by Paul Edmund Norman on the first day of each month. Web design is by Gateway. Submitting to Books Monthly: Basically, all you need do is e-mail it along and I'll consider it - it can be any length, if it's very long I'll serialise it, if it's medium-length I'll put it in as a novella, if it's a short story or a feature article it will go in as it comes. Payment is zero, I'm afraid, as I don't make any money from Books Monthly, I do it all for fun! For Advertising rates in Books Monthly please contact me at paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk. Should you be kind enough to want to send me books to review, please contact me by e-mail and I will gladly forward you my home address. Meanwhile, here's how to contact me: paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk