THE BOY GOES TO SCHOOL

Last Thursday Julia and I visited Solway School in Silloth to read extracts from The Boy with Two Heads, and to tell the students about the origins of The Olympic Games. We had a mixed group of years 7 and 8. There was much hilarity at pictures such as the following, and lots of interest. 

"He's got a laptop", they said in amazement. Actually, what he has got is a tablet, made from wood and coated in wax, and he is writing on it with a stylus. The children were intrigued to learn that these words originated in ancient Greece. 

 

Children can be quite prudish: when they learnt that Greek athletes ran, jumped and wrestled naked, they giggled and blushed, but when Julia showed them this picture of a boy with his penis tied up, I thought we were going to have a medical emergency- some of them went purple from laughing! 

Nobody knows exactly why Greek men did this, but it might have been something to do with the fact that they oiled their bodies, then rolled around in the sand wrestling!

Solway Community College is a pleasant, calm and friendly school: we thoroughly enjoyed our visit, and are very grateful to Head Teacher Mrs Lois Baird,  English Teacher Mr Bernie Green, and the lively and polite pupils themselves.

"THE BOY" IS #21 IN THE OLYMPICS LIST!

Wow- I checked out Amazon just now and found these figures, for The Boy with Two Heads. It is number 21 in the top hundred best-selling books about the Olympic Games! (and 65 in the Greek top hundred!) Well done Julia!

• 
  • #21 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Other Sports > Sporting Events > Olympic Games 
   
  • #65 in Books > History > Ancient History & Civilisation > Greece
   
  • Now how about some of you who have bought it writing a review!

AMAZON ISN'T EASY!

I talk to Amazon a lot- by email, by live chat, and even by phone. They are always charming and polite and promise to do something. However, getting something changed on the mighty Amazon is like swimming through treacle, or as an acquaintance whose word-hoard I envy, once said, "It's like pinning jelly-fish to clouds."

I have had two problems with them recently. One concerns the fact that they list The Boy with Two Heads as out of stock, when we know that people have ordered it from local bookshops, and we ourselves have a (rapidly diminishing) pile of copies. They also say they don't know who the publisher is. Well, durr- they've been talking to me! Me- the publisher!

However, it does say that The Boy with Two Heads is #31 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Other Sports > Sporting Events > Olympic Games

Yay!- it's in the top 100 already (or in a top 100) and this is in spite of the fact they say it's "out of stock."

The message is- don't be put off, order it anyway, and we hope and believe you will enjoy this lively and gripping new read.

The other problem is potentially more serious. When you search for Carla Nayland's Paths of Exile on Amazon.co.uk, you will not at first see this striking cover,

but the one that went out of print some time ago. You can still find the Trifolium Books 2011 edition, but t you have to expand the information in the formats box by clicking on the + sign. Obviously, I would prefer that you buy Trifolium Books' edition, but not just because it's got a handsomer cover, and a better layout, but because I will be able to pay royalties to the author. As the publisher of the earlier edition, Quaestor 2000, has ceased to trade, I have no idea who now receives the profits from any sales, but I guess it won't be the publisher, and I know it isn't the author!

So the message here is simple too- if you want a copy of this gritty and gripping book, buy either the edition on the right, or the Kindle version of the same edition.

Amazon I hope will eventually get the message that they should not be selling out of print POD books!

THE BOY CAN NOW BE ORDERED ON AMAZON

The Boy with Two Heads by J M Newsome

A time-slip novel about the Ancient Olympics

ISBN: 978-0-8568104-4-1

According to Amazon, The Boy with two Heads is out of stock, but I've got a stack of them and sold a couple within half an hour of unpacking the boxes! Also according to Amazon, the publisher is unknown. Here in my small corner I am jumping up and down shouting "It's me! It's me" but evidently they haven't heard me. I shall put them right, just as soon as I have finished writing this post, but in the meantime you can order from Amazon, or any bookshop for that matter. What their listing means is that they have had the information from Nielson that the book is published. However, what really tickles me is the assertion that you there is a "used" copy available- the mind really and truly boggles!

As Amazon hasn't managed to come up with a cover image yet, here is what they look like:

The bright blues of Greece make an interesting contrast to Cumbria's greens

A stack of copies with Trifolium Books' Head Office in the background

 Just in case you can't see the fells clearly, this is what they looked like in the sparkling early morning light: 

About the book

It all starts in Athens.

In 432 BC, they think Themis is dead. Suzanne, who is on a school trip in 2010, is drawn through thousands of years to keep him alive. Will Themis’ destiny be death or glory in the Games of the 87^th Olympiad? Will Suzanne regain control of her life, or will her mind be occupied forever by the past, while her body lies in hospital in present-day Cumbria?

“This book transported me effortlessly back to ancient Greece, vividly evoking its sights, sounds and even smells. And I found that young people’s issues have hardly changed in 2,400 years!”

Marion Clarke, fiction editor

“A wonderful story which brings the ancient Olympics to vibrant life and links them to contemporary young people. You can almost smell Greece, and there is a lovely equivalence of teenage feelings and humour, then and now. I couldn’t put it down and didn’t realize how much I had learnt until after the enthralling climax.”

Philippa Harrison, former Managing Director of Macmillan and Little Brown UK

Read more about this novel on the author's blog: 

www.kneadtowrite.blogspot.com

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SMALL PUBLISHER

The Boy has been finally put to bed! I wish somebody would do the same for me- and tuck me in with Teddy!

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A SMALL PUBLISHER

In February 2011 we published Kathleen Herbert's Moon in Leo; that in itself quite an achievement since I received it in a chaotic jumble of over a thousand badly typed pages, just over 6 months before. (Read the full story here)

It is February 2012, and we are about to publish our third book, The Boy with Two Heads, so I am in celebratory mood.

 

SEMIOTICS AND COVER DESIGN
 

Our covers have been praised for their beauty and elegance and I hope the new cover will appeal too. It is busier and more "modern" looking than the others, but, like them it has its own story. A cover should tell you as much as possible about the content of the book.   (I wrote an earlier post about how some American covers were misleading) Just as with Moon in Leo and Paths of Exile, the images were chosen for their significance as well as for their look. This is what makes cover design so fascinating: sometimes the semiotic aspects war with the aesthetics! When they both come together it's magical. I hope we have got it right with this one- but I am sure you, the readers will tell us- please feel free!

THE BOY WITH TWO HEADS COVER STORY

Both background photographs were taken by the author: the picture on the front is of the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, built in 1896 to house the first modern Olympics. 

A detail from the map of Ancient Athens. The bridge over the Ilissos (now covered by a modern road) is the spot where both Themis, and over two thousand years later, Suzanne, meet with their accidents. The natural amphitheatre between the hills is the site of the Panathenaic Stadium. In 432 BC, this is where  Athenian youths would practise their sports. 

The girl on the cover (our Suzanne) is looking towards the crossing where her accident occurs. The photo on the back of the book is of the crossing itself and the police accident board (a real board, kindly loaned by my local constabulary) is on the exact spot where the accident occurs. The bronze head (our Themis) is of the Youth of Antikythera in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. When we had problems obtaining permission to use a photo of the statue, Alex, who lives in Athens, stood on tiptoe and held her camera above her head to get the picture we finally used.  Designer Kate worked her magic on it, and finally flipped both heads!

When she turned this-

into this-























we all three knew it felt right. Don't forget to tell us what you think!

HEADS AND TALES: JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COVER

We are so near publication that I wanted to share my excitement about the new book and its very striking cover. When I put our three covers together, I am very pleased that they all look so different- reflecting the very different nature of their stories and writers- but am struck by the similarities too. Each cover has a tale to tell, and every element on each of them has resonances above and beyond its visual impact. More of this later.