Paperbooks

Black Mongoose launched!

The brilliant Black Mongoose by Jon Haylett was officially launched on Saturday. We are really excited about the release of this powerful and highly topical novel which is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a fast-paced thriller or is interested in African politics and society.

The author Jon was born in Africa and has worked in the Caribbean and right across Africa so knows a lot about the subject matter, making the book a highly-informative read, as well as entertaining page-turner.

Below is the blurb:

USuzwe is an African country rotten with corruption. Its rulers systematically pillage the economy, rob the charities and drain the aid budgets of gullible Western countries. However, a group of citizens rebel against the poverty, food shortages, bankrupt social services, disease and early deaths and plan to topple the regime within a week, their unsuspecting instrument ex-Royal Marine Commando Johnny.

Johnny arrives in the Kingdom of USuzwe like any other tourist, intent on enjoying its palm-fringed beaches, game parks and beautiful girls. But when his brother mysteriously disappears, he finds himself the object of a huge police manhunt. Guided by Ephraim and the beautiful Lindiwe Dhlimani, Johnny begins the systematic destruction of the snakes of Kisingo’s regime, but at a terrible price.

Order your copy now - £7.99 

Lucy

Morning with the PM...

What a week so far - three days at the London Book Fair (very busy as normal but seemed to go well with some exciting developments), a book launch and an afternoon with the British Council as part of an excellent Creative Entrepreneurs Club they're formed out of each of their annual awards.

So when I got a phone call about another event on Tuesday, my instinct was that it's not possible. But there are a few opportunities for experience you shouldn't say no to and this one was from the Prince's Trust who had arranged a Q&A for many of the young people it has brilliantly supported (they provided me with vital support when starting Legend Press) with the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and Minister James Purnell.

It was a fantastic and spirited event, which I greatly enjoyed. (Was covered for ITV and Sky, was spotted on ITV News last night and can just about be viewed on this clip on the No.10 site). I asked a question, among the many, on the support of banks for smaller businesses that may not be of sufficient risk to them to support without being pressurised/directed to do so. The Prime Minister provided an informative answer, providing some concrete examples, which I was looking for, and then added that he would be happy to discuss again in a couple of months or sooner to see if we had received the support required.

As everyone was leaving at the end, one of his advisors came over to take my details with a view to setting up that meeting - something that would be a fantastic priviledge and experience.

So, overall, a unique opportunity as part of a very big week for Legend Press and Paperbooks. I'm looking forward to being desk-bound for a lot of next week to follow up the many exciting developments that we have recently been creating and to carry on driving everything forward.

Tom

Jon Haylett Interview

Jon Haylett's fantastic novel Black Mongoose is out this Saturday. Jon has done a fascinating interview with the Writewords website, which was posted up yesterday.

Below is a taster:

How did you start writing?

One evening, some twenty years ago, I’d finished my marking and preparation for school and started, for no logical reason, a short story. Since I’d neither thought of doing this before, nor had any experience or knowledge of writing, the decision at the time seemed quite bizarre. Yet within months I had won a short story competition and my first novel had found an agent.

Who are your favourite writers and why?

I don’t enjoy most novels, particularly modern novels, preferring well-written non-fiction or novels with a firm factual base. So I have difficulty in pointing at an author and saying that he or she influenced my style of writing. On the other hand, I do have some favourites, which include:

1. Books about the history of the opening up of Africa by European missionaries, hunters and explorers, for example Patterson’s Man-eaters of Tsavo, JA Hunter’s Hunter’s Tracks, The Washing of the Spears by Donald R Morris, a history of the rise and near-destruction of the Zulu nation, and the stories of men such as Robert Moffat, the missionary who opened Africa for people like Livingstone.

2. Novels including Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet, particularly Justine, which I first read as I hitch-hiked along the North African coast towards Alexandria, Jock of the Bushveld by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, the story of a dog in the early days of the European penetration of South Africa, Something of Value by Robert Ruark, a novel, but sometimes described as the best history of the outbreak of Mau Mau in Kenya, and A Sunday by the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtmanche, a chilling story of the Rwanda massacre in 1994, because, as so often happens, a novel is first in revealing the true horror of events ignored by press and politicians.

To read the interview in full click here!

Pre-order your copy now - £7.99 

Lucy

London Book Fair

It has been a busy book fair for Legend Press and Paperbooks this year, with lots of interesting meetings over the 3 days. Tom has been busy with a marathon of appointments filling all three days, speaking about rights, sales and most areas of the business - despite losing his voice on the way.

This was my second London Book Fair and it was fantastic to meet so many literary agents excited about their up and coming books, which could possibly be Legend Press or Paperbooks titles  of the future.

Lauren has been busy raising awareness of our fast-developing Exclusively Independent project, meeting fellow independent publishers to discuss their involvement with the initiative and increase submissions for the scheme. It was great to see publishers really excited about the project and look forward to seeing the new developments. Not all hard work, we also attended the Turnaround 25th birthday celebration at Kings Cross.

Lucy

Jon Haylett blog

The hero of ‘Black Mongoose’ is an ex-Royal Marine commando. I knew precious little about the marines when I started writing the novel – I hadn’t fully appreciated that they are a section of the Navy, not the Army – but it was essential that my man had certain military skills which he puts to good use in the book, and the marines are one group which specialises in them. So I had to rely on someone else to help me when I wrote about Johnny Strowger’s earlier exploits. In this I was fortunate as an ex-pupil of mine has been in the Royal Marine Reserve ever since he left school.

Last September he went out to Afghanistan. As a Reservist he didn’t have to go, he chose to, and I admire him for doing it. He left his job, his family, his life in London and, after some additional training, was posted to Helmand Province. It’s not the first time he’s volunteered: a couple of years ago he did six months in Basra. Last week we all breathed a sigh of relief: he’s back, safe and well.

Johnny Strowger was involved in Operation Telic as part of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. One of the difficult things I have tried to capture in the book is the mental state of a man who, as part of such operations, has killed, clinically, frequently and up close and nastily.

As an author, I feel more comfortable writing about things I have experienced, but I’ve always believed that it’s the acid test of a writer’s skill when he/she attempts to write outside his/her field. For all the research (and the internet is a wonderful thing), for all the talking to other people, in the end it comes down to imagination, whether the writer can put him/herself into the boots of the person portrayed and ‘see’ what they would think, feel and do.

I found writing about Johnny rather frightening, particularly as I know that many servicemen and women experience considerable difficulty in adjusting to civilian life. I admire those who succeed; I worry for those who, like Johnny, struggle.

Jon

Author Post: Jon Haylett

The publication of Black Mongoose coincides with the appearance of a rash of books describing the problems which Africa faces – Dambisa Moyo’s ‘Dead Aid’, Robert Calderisi’s ‘The Trouble with Africa’ and Michela Wrong’s ‘It’s Our Turn to Eat’, to name but a few. All of them lay out, at great length, the damage that a half-century of ill-advised and poorly accounted western aid has done, all describe the excesses of the parasitic elites that have fed off our largesse, all detail the dreadful problems most countries in that continent now face as a result of the irresponsibility of leaders such as Robert Mugabe.

As an old friend of mine, a man I grew up with in East Africa, who went to school there and, later, worked there, reminded me in a recent email after I’d told him my new book was about to be published, “AIF, Jon. AIF”.

AIF stands for ‘Africa is fucked’. He should know as he’s been watching it, at first hand, for the last 60 years. When he became fed up with planting tea in Kenya, he joined BOAC as cabin crew and has, for some forty years with BOAC and BA, been visiting Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa, Angola, Nigeria and Ghana.

Of course, most of the serious books about Africa’s current problems don’t dismiss it so lightly. All, in different ways, suggest cures – though most of them could be likened to those drastic remedies suggested for a man with terminal cancer.

Black Mongoose could be called a political thriller as it too suggests remedies. One of the problems of publicising a book which is primarily a thriller is how much of the story to reveal: too much, and I spoil some of the readers’ enjoyment, too little and the book risks sounding bland. All I can promise is that Black Mongoose’s are short, sharp and to the point.

Jon

Quotes from the Panel...

Part of the POS is an A4 Quote Sheet which details quotes from one panel member on each title. It's just a nice, simple way for quickly sumarising the title to the reader, letting them know what we thought of it. So here it is:

The Angel Makers ‘A finely tuned historical novel; well balanced, well-written and thoroughly gripping.’ – Lauren, Legend Press

Unfolding Islam ‘A compelling, concise and accessible history.’ – Steve, The Book Depository

The Blue Fox ‘Lyrical and haunting, The Blue Fox is part thriller, part fable, set in the unforgiving Icelandic winter.’ – Irene, Bookgroup Info

Crime and Punishment ‘A masterful adaptation of one of Russia’s literary classics; dark, dramatic and fascinating.’ – Lauren, Legend Press

Kill Grief ‘A story of its time – earthy, enchanting and yet subdued.’ – Tom, Legend Press

Poets in View ‘A beautiful collection of poets spanning four centuries. Each provides individual beauty, importance and meaning.’ - Lauren, Legend Press

Paprika ‘Welcome to the surreal world of Yasutaka Tsutsui where you will be taken on a poetic, graphic and often very funny experience.’ – Irene, Bookgroup Info

The Year of the Hare ‘An act of kindness acts as a catalyst, turning a journalists life upside down.’ – Debby, Reader Development Librarian

Riversmeet ‘The story moves at a fast pace and you just have to find out what will happen next, complex and ultimately unforgettable.’ – Tom, Legend Press

Saxby Smart: Private Detective – Eye of the Serpent 'Eye of the Serpent' - the latest in the excellent Saxby Smart series, this is another fun collection of cases for the schoolboy detective - and the reader - to solve. Perfect for 8-12 year-olds.’ – Roy, Dulwich Bookshop

Lauren

A few technical problems...

Today we're experiencing a few minor difficulties with the phones...they aren't at all working!

Due to a mysterious 'power outage' our phones are rather useless. Hopefully this will be resolved soon and in the meantime if you have any queries, you can still contact us all via email.

Thankfully the Internet is still working so Legend Press and Paperbooks haven't come to a complete halt just yet.

Sorry for any inconvenience!

Lauren

Jon Haylett blog

One of the joys of writing about Africa is the exuberant variety it offers: it is raw, dangerous, colourful, unpredictable, exciting. Sadly, but not unjustifiably, the average British man in the street associates it with starvation, massacre, dictatorship and extreme poverty.

‘Black Mongoose’ takes full advantage of Africa’s variety but I’ve tried to go one further than write a taut, action-packed thriller. The website which is linked to it describes something of the background to events or references in the book. While, inevitably, it shows much of the bitter side of the modern African experience, it also puts on display the joy of the continent, a joy that grows so often out of adversity.

So when it came to choosing a theme tune, one name jumped to mind: Spokes Mashiyane. I’d first come across the ‘kwela’ music for which he is famous when, as an eighteen-year old, I taught in Southern Rhodesia. At morning break and at midday, in the heat of the day, my pupils would return to their boarding houses, not to relax but to…. dance.

The ‘kwela’ to which they ’jived’ was the music of Soweto, of a black South Africa groaning under apartheid, a place of police raids, disappearances, repression and discrimination – things that would start, all too soon after, in Rhodesia under Ian Smith, and re-emerge, decades later, under Robert Mugabe. Yet its tunes are catchy, its beat is joyful, its cyclical form hypnotic. It’s escapist music: in its time, it needed to be.

But what I like so much about this music is the underlying simplicity. Mashiyane plays a penny whistle. He learned on the reed flutes he made when he herded cattle as a small boy. He graduated to a whistle made, so the story goes, from the spokes of a bicycle – hence his name. This is wonderful, grass-roots, African music.

Jon

UK Distribution of EI selection!

Exclusively Independent is going from strength to strength. With the addition of London Libraries back January, we are now pleased to announce, that the project is going to be distributed nationwide be Gardners Books.

The collaboration leaves room for further expansion, with additional bookshops already signed up to the next cycle of EI.

So far, the list of bookshops are: Dulwich Bookshop (Dulwich), Bolingbroke Bookshop (Clapham Junction), Housmans (Kings Cross), Bookseller Crow on the Hill (Crystal Palace), Peckham Review (Peckham), Eastside (Shoreditch), Woodstock Bookshop (Woodstock) , City Books (Hove), Knaresborough Bookshop (Knaresborough), Chepstow Bookshop (Chepstow) Bookends (Wokingham), The Torbary Bookshop (Devon) and Crockatt & Powell (Fulham Rd and Lower Marsh branches).

Over the next few months, we aim to work with as many bookshops as possible, to branch out and provide the selection to readers all over the country.

This is a great step forward for the project, and proves that it's aim of providing independent talent, is something that readers are definitely interested in.

Lauren