2011: A – something that rhymes with Space Odyssey but isn’t …

Mistletoe and Wine, anyone?

As all is winding down for Christmas I thought I’d write yet another blog post. According to stats, nearly six people read the last one!

The snow is back, loads of books are getting lost in the post (or not, if you happen to know a postman and get a Tonto book for Christmas) but the mood is very positive going into the Noo Year. A few books I’ve been chasing for a few years look like they might now be happening and three new ones all came in on the same day. Fingers crossed that I’ll be able to shout about them pretty soon.

The much-anticipated Where’s Whitey?edit is complete and production will resume in January. As you can see on the link, we have testimonials from Goodfella Henry Hill, Ulrich Boser and there is another from Mr Nice himself, Howard Marks. The cover will be redesigned for the release in June, most likely featuring an image of Whitey to give it a more ‘fact-based-on-fiction’ feel. There’s quite a buzz about this book. Writers Phyllis Karas and Kevin Weeks are the number one best-selling team behind Brutal and we’re planning launches in the US of America as well as here. I’m in the process of firming up a few author events in Boston MA at the moment. I’ve just been awarded a £12,000 Arts Council grant to go to America to research possible venues to hold a launch. Which is nice. I’m starting in LA, then Las Vegas before flying to Miami and then New York to see what’s what in February. The grant includes all my spending money too – how cool is that?*

I’ve been in meetings for the last couple of weeks looking to develop e-book content going into next year. We aim to get all Tonto titles out in e-book format as well as looking into bringing a few titles out in audio book format. It’s all dead exciting! As a small indie (not even a big fish … not even a fish) it’s difficult to get up to speed with everything at once, but I’m working with some top people at the moment and all is progressing splendidly. And look out for a new imprint … publishing children’s books. Honest.*

E-books have been aal awa the industry press for yonks now. Of course, many remain septic. Some are even unsure. I doubt we have to run away from e-books like we’re being invaded by Scientologists, I reckon p-books and e-books will co-exist for a few lifetimes yet. I’ve always believed that children are the future and, if they want to download them there books and read them on those there phones, then who are wii to stand in their way, eh? We’ll always have our Ikea bookshelves to show off to our dinner guests as we sit around eating posh cheese and drinking real coffee. We don’t have that many record players around these days and most of us have flogged our LPs on Ebay but, hopefully, we’ll always have eyes. So reading will never stop – just the way we read is starting to change.

Christmas present ideas?

Get ‘Kill Your Friends’ for someone if you haven’t already.

Or ‘We Are Not Manslaughterers’.

Weller brought out a live CD recently that comes with a DVD.

And if you’re looking for a prezzie for me … Pretty Green does some lovely scarves.

WEBSITE UPDATES have started and will continue into tomorrow and the one after. Loads to get uploaded but bit by bit.

* That was a complete lie. Don’t even know why I wasted my time typing it. I suppose that’s just how I roll.

* That wasn’t a lie at all.