Been busier than a bee who works on the rigs through the week then does a shift on the taxis on a weekend.

Had quite a bit of press since the last blog posting. The two books that I’ve been going on about have been signed up and announced. Woohoo!

First up was Carpet Burns: My life with Inspiral Carpets by Tom Hingley. Tom was lead singer of those there Inspiral Carpets and the news was covered in The Bookseller magazine.

And what attracts me to this project is not any ‘we were better than them’ bitterness or clutching at wanting to be famous as many biog writers are criticised for. Tom’s lived through it all and is still gigging. He’s a real musician who can tell a balanced story. He’s got an English degree as well, so he uses words that I pretend to know, then I google them while on the phone. We’ve got a cover image from a brilliant rock photographer who worked with Nirvana, The Smiths and the Stone Roses too. I think the appeal of this book is not just about the nostalgia of the scene … it’s about life during an exciting time for music and also acts as a social commentary – and whatever you do, don’t get him started on politics!

There’s also been some coverage of Colin Firth: The Man who would be King biography,  - PR on that has gone around the world, so I’m a bit chuffed with it. In fact, news has gone aal awa. Writer Sadnro Monetti lives and works out of LA and breaks showbiz stories to the UK. These are two big signings for the Tontos and I’m really looking forward to getting them out. And the books.

Bookseller piece.

And speaking of LA, I’m off over there next week with Mark Allison. I’ve never been to the US of America and can’t wait to experience it. There are some writers I’m trying to hook up with while over there and a couple of producers are interested in Shakespeare & Love. There have been a fair few legal issues holding this book up, so it is being kept back by a couple of weeks while we sort it all out. I suppose this kind of thing happens with a book of this type, just have to sit tight while our people talk to their people and say peopley things, write expensive letters to each other, then nod a bit.

The online catalogue has gone errr … online recently too. There are still a couple of titles to add that are in progress, but being my first attempt at doing something like that I just wanted to get it up.

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And here it is – 2011 catalogue.

Most books are available on pre-order now on the website.

I’m working with a splendid writer, Chris Rickaby at the moment too. We’re working on some e-book stuff and an innovative (I can never say that word) book made up of seven short stories. More news as it progresses, it’s a bit hush-hush at the moment.

And another seamless link – as Tonto’s content starts going to Kindle etc in the following weeks, we’re going to be kicking off just as we did back in the day. The first book to test the water will be a short stories collection with some stroies being pimped out as teasers. It feels fitting to have short stories out as that was how Tonto Books started and getting it together with e-technology means we can hopefully continu