We've got a fantastic group of authors here at Legend Press - each and every one is absolutely brilliant to work with. We're listing them here in alphabetical order by surname, we think you'll agree they're an interesting bunch! If you'd like to contact any of them either follow the links to their personal websites or blogs, or simply send us an email at info@legendpress.co.uk and we'll pass on your message.
OUR NOVELISTS:
Luke Bitmead
White Summer was Luke's first published novel and received rave reviews nationwide. Luke tragically and suddenly passed away on 27th October 2006, aged 34. To honour his memory, enthusiasm and great talent Legend Press is working with Luke's family to continue promoting White Summer and other writing he had been working on. Royalties from his books will go to the Luke Bitmead Memorial Fund to support fledgling writers; more details can be found at www.lukebitmead.com. Heading South, a novel in two halves which Luke wrote jointly with Catherine Richards, was published in May 2007. We miss you Luke.
Reviews, blurbs and more information about:
White Summer
Heading South
Other links:
The Luke Bitmead Memorial Fund
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William Coles
William has been a journalist for 18 years - which he thinks is probably the reason why he hates working in little pokey offices or libraries. Instead, he likes writing in coffee-bars and internet cafes with a wall of white noise and coffee on tap. Even though he's now written his first novel, The Well-Tempered Clavier, and plans to write many more, he still loves the tension and deadlines of journalism. William is pictured here with one of his two young sons.
Reviews, blurb and more information about:
The Well-Tempered Clavier
Downloads:
Two-minute author video -- Bill talks about the book and plays Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier music on the piano.
Legend Press asks Bill some random questions:
Download bill_coles_spills_the_beans.pdf
Other links:
Bill's personal blog featuring the (fully fictional!) character of 'Idle Tom the publisher'
Writewords interview with Bill
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Nick Griffiths
Nick graduated from King's College, London, in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. By mistake. He managed to turn this around, becoming a journalist, on the music press (Sounds, Select), then women's magazines (New Woman, Options), before settling as a TV writer with Radio Times and the Daily Mail. He has also written for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Time Out and others, and scripted the Sunday morning children's TV show, Dog & Dinosaur, for BBC Choice. His Doctor Who memoir, Dalek I Loved You, was published by Orion in 2007. He's a big fan of Bill Bryson and one day thought, "I could write something like that!", except he rarely travels anywhere, so he had to make it all up. In the Footsteps of Harrison Dextrose was the result.
More information about:
In the Footsteps of Harrison Dextrose
Downloads:
Legend Press ask Nick some random questions:Download the_nitty_gritty_from_nick_griffiths.pdf
Other links:
Nick's personal blog and website
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Lee Henshaw
Lee is credited by many to be the founding father of online PR. He started out with Way to Blue, a company which now has a team of over 40 and offices in London, Madrid, Paris, Rome and Berlin. As well as Queer Fish in God's Waiting Room, he also had an Oasis biography published in 1996. He plans to have at least one book published per decade and is currently working on a second novel. He lives in Stoke Newington with his wife, Claire, and two young children.
Reviews, blurb and more information about:
Queer Fish in God's Waiting Room
Downloads:
Audio recording of Lee reading from Queer Fish, with music from hip-hop artist Akira the Don: Download queer_fish_in_gods_waiting_room.mp3
Reading at the Queer Fish launch party
Other links:
Lee's 'Next to Hemingway' blogsite
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Candi Miller
Candi was born and educated in Africa, but now lives in England where she teaches Creative Writing. To research her first novel, Salt and Honey, she undertook an expedition to the Kalahari Desert to visit groups of San people. There she was caught up in one of the largest veld fires ever to sweep the sub-continent, charged by a bull elephant and enchanted by Ju/'hoansi story-telling around a campfire. Further books can be expected shortly.
Reviews, blurb and more information about:
Salt & Honey
Downloads:
Candi's full-page biography:
Download author_biography_candi_miller.pdf
Legend Press asks Candi some random questions:
Download candi_gets_grilled.pdf
Other links:
Survival International, the human rights charity which Candi chose to support with the launch of Salt & Honey
Writewords interview with Candi
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Mark Liam Piggott
Since Mark can remember he's been writing stories, in his head and on paper, first about his own life and then about other people, and finally about people he made up. Writing caused him a lot of pain but it has also been his saving grace, his last excuse, his way out of whatever mess he was in at the time. It's simply the only thing he's ever wanted to do (apart from play for Man Utd), and he would recommend it. But only a bit. As well as writing his first published novel Fire Horses, Mark writes features for the nationals, currently the Telegraph, and has also had short stories published in several collections.
More information about:
Fire Horses
Legend Press asks Mark some author questions:
Download mark_piggott_tells_it_how_it_is.pdf
Other links:
Mark on MySpace
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Catherine Richards
Catherine is Head of English at a secondary school in Rotherham and has been writing in some form or other since she could hold a pen; be it epic stories at school, play and sketches to perform with friends, or just keeping a diary. Things took a bit of a twist for Catherine's writing when she met Luke Bitmead on the BBC Get Writing Forum. They decided to work on a novel together, despite never actually meeting in person, and Heading South, a highly entertaining dual-perspective comedy, is the result.
Reviews, blurb and more information about:
Heading South
Other links:
Catherine on MySpace
Writewords interview with Catherine
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Rebecca Strong
A passion for books and writing from a young age led Rebecca to study French and Spanish at University College London and then become an active member of the Society of Young Publishers (SYP), starting by writing articles for its magazine, InPrint, and subsequently editing the magazine and holding a committee position for two years. She got married in July 2005 and (somehow) found the time to write her first novel, Here or There, in 2006.
Reviews, blurb and more information about:
Here or There
Downloads:
Download rebecca_gives_us_a_few_answers.pdf
Other links:
Rebecca on MySpace
The SYP
Writewords interview with Rebecca
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Jae Watson
Jae lives in London though it was while studying Theology at Manchester University that she developed an interest in world belief an human psychology, both of which are reflected thoughtfully and emotionally in Journey - her first novel. Jae carries out social work on a part-time basis, devoting the rest of her time to writing. She has also played saxophone in 'Hoodwink', an all-female indie rock-band, and travelled extensively.
Reviews, blurb and more information about:
Journey
Other links:
Jae on MySpace
Writewords interview with Jae
OUR SHORT STORY WRITERS:
Click here for reviews, blurbs and more information about the three titles in Legend Press' Short Story Reinvented series.
Jackie Blissett
Jackie is originally from the south of England but now lives in Sorrento, Italy, after having met her (now) husband while she was there on holiday. As a child and through school she wanted to be a writer and her choice to read English at the University of Plymouth reflected this. She now teaches English for business to various companies in Sorrento, and also English as a foreign language to private students. For the rest of the time she lets her creative writing take over her life – when she’s not being a housewife or mother that is! She and her husband have three boys, twins Andrea and Antonino, and little George. Her story, ‘Maria’s Mother’ in Eight Hours is the first work she has had published.
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Kevin Chandler
For over two decades Kevin has trained RELATE counsellors and, despite devoting much of his time now to writing, still sustains a successful private practice of couple and individual therapy and supervision. He says that one benefit of a career listening to others' private personal stories is the insight it affords into intimate attachments. This understanding has produced a powerful and gripping story - 'Fifty-Minute Hour' - in Legend Press' new collection, Eight Hours.
You can visit Kevin on MySpace at www.myspace.com/lonewolfwriter
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Justin Elliott
Justin lives in Gloucestershire and after finishing school worked in banking and insurance before deciding to become a writer. As well as having his story published in The Remarkable Everday, he has written two novels:Theft, and Beneath the Southern Cross.
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Daniel Gothard
Daniel Gothard studied creative writing at Ruskin College, Oxford and Bath Spa University. His previous work has appeared in Mix and The Poet Tree. Before becoming a writer he worked as a producer with the company he co-founded – Evolution Pictures Ltd. He lives in Oxford with his wife, Zoe, and their three children – Jasmine, Joe and Nate. Daniel's story 'A Thousand Dreams' is the last in the Eight Hours collection.
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Josie Henley-Einion
Downloads and links:
Legend Press asks Josie some author questions:
Download josie_henleyeinion_in_the_spotlight.pdf
You can visit Josie’s personal website at www.josiehenley.net and find her on MySpace at www.myspace.com/josie_henley
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Lea Hurst
Arriving in England just in time for the last of the swinging sixties, Lea worked as a teacher for children with special educational needs. After retiring, she turned to writing and her talent was immediately recognised, being shortlisted for a festival award before being published in The Remarkable Everyday.
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Sarah James
After her degree at Trinity College Oxford, Sarah became an award-winning journalist before taking a career break to have children. She now fits in writing short-fiction and poetry around looking after her two young sons. Sarah is a prolific writer and has had many of her short stories and poems published, including her story Monday in The Remarkable Everyday.
Downloads and links:
Legend Press gives Sarah our set of author questions:
Download sarah_james_speaks_to_legend_press.pdf
You can visit Sarah's prose and poetry blog, entitled 'The Mother of all Blogs', here.
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Anwar Khokar
Anwar is a writer, stand-up comic, and physician based in Minneapolis. He grew up in Islamabad, Pakistan, received his medical degree in Karachi, and moved to the United States in 2001 (just weeks after 9/11) for post-graduate training. His story Thursday in Seven Days reflects his experience of what it can be like to be caught between two cultures.
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Hilary Lloyd
Hilary is retired and writing furiously (in all senses of the word). She trained as a nursery nurse and then primary teacher, but her best-loved work came in later life when she spent fourteen years on a Shropshire smallholding rearing sheep, geese and hens. Though a life-long scribbler, it was during this time that she began to write 'seriously' on discovering it was the perfect antidote to the hard physical graft of farming. Hilary has had numerous articles and short stories published, and also been awarded several writing prizes. Her story, 'The Moon on a Stick', is included in Eight Hours.
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Sophie Mackintosh
Living in Pembrokeshire, Sophie is a young writer with a great future ahead of her. She has been writing for as long as she can remember and likes to challenge herself by writing from very different perspectives. This was evident in her story published in The Remarkable Everyday, which portrayed a mother coming to terms with the tragic loss of her daughter.
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Liilia Morrison
Liilia is a painter, poet and writer living in Homestead, Florida. She has travelled extensively, meeting scores of fascinating people many of whom have been characterised in her extensive work. She is also the founder and editor of newsletter Arttalks and has had both prose and poetry published. She has been influenced by the strong Mayan presence in Homestead and this has proved the basis for her main character in Tuesday, which is included in Seven Days.
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Victoria Mottram
Victoria is Legend Press' only Antarctica-based writer, currently working as an overwintering doctor at Halley Research Station. When still a medical student, she spent two months working at a medical centre for the homeless, and also did voluntary work with people living on the streets in Newcastle, the setting for her story Wednesday in Seven Days.
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Brett Pransky
An American Midwesterner, Brett is a poet and short fiction writer with an admirable list of publishing and academic successes. As well as his story being chosen by Legend Press for The Remarkable Everyday, his work can also be found in Carnelian, Remark, The Gator Springs Gazette and Antimuse, to name just a few. Brett holds undergraduate degrees in English and Philosophy/Pre-Law and is currently teaching at Ohio University in exchange for free tuition and a modest pay-cheque, both of which he is using to obtain an advanced degree in Rhetoric and Composition.
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C L Raven
Cathryn and Lynsey are 25-year-old twins from Cardiff, writing under a joint pen-name. They find that being twins is great for team writing as their work blends seamlessly into one narrative voice, and no one can tell that two pens have been in operation. As Goths, they know what it's like to be subjected to abuse by teenagers and how a thirst for revenge is always present, and this is powerfully reflected in their story, 'End of Innocence', in Eight Hours. Bullying has left the twins socially phobic but they say that rarely leaving the house is great for their writing, they get to write all day surrounded by their many animals and don't have to waste their time with 'real' work.
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Anca Scott
Anca lives in America and graduated from Northwestern College in 2002 with a degree in youth ministry. Anca is a practicing Christian and part of the gothic subculture, two things that she has had to reconcile to one another as part of defining her identity. This struggle is thoughtfully illustrated through the protaganist in her story Saturday, which is featured in Seven Days. (Photo credited to Krista Wille).
Downloads:
Legend Press asks Anca some author questions:
Download anca_scott_answers_our_questions.pdf
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E C Seaman
Emma is Legend Press' only author to be published in all three short story collections in the Short Story Reinvented series. Having studied English at Oxford, she only began writing again a few years ago having given up 'working on her first novel' to start on her second instead. She has been widely published and has won numerous short story prizes. She lives in Devon with her husband and two young daughters.
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Andrew Theophilou
A second-generation Greek Cypriot having grown up in North London, Andrew spent over ten years studying and working abroad, teaching English at various universities, fighting corruption in Latin America with an international NGO, and copywriting. He has now returned to London to work as a freelance journalist and is concentrating on his first novel while also writing short stories including Friday, the first in the collection Seven Days.
Andrew is on MySpace at www.myspace.com/theophilou
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Nick Tyler
Nick has written his entire life, always daydreaming and jotting notes down for story ideas in his classes (which didn’t lead to terrific grades). A little over a year ago, he discovered fanstory.com. He admits to being extremely nervous the first time he posted his work on the site, but the feedback was better than he expected and he became hooked. After winning some contests, he decided he’d give the Legend Press ‘Single Hour’ contest a go and his story, ‘Needs’ was selected for publication in Eight Hours. Nick is married and lives in North Carolina. He and his wife are expecting their first child this April.
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Joel Willans
After travelling in Canada and the US and later South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America, Joel decided to take up writing and received a diploma from the London School of Journalism. He has had work published in a number of magazines before having his story selected for The Remarkable Everyday.
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Miguel Ylareina
Winner of the Legend Press short story competition for The Remarkable Everyday, run in conjunction with FanStory.com, Miguel is based in Canada and has written and lectured on technical subjects for over ten years. Growing up in an intensely multicultural setting, he developed a keen interest in cultural and racial issues, which often feature in his work.
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