10 Rules on How to be a Writer

I ran across this (see below next to the bullet point) in my feeds this morning – genre writer John C. Wright (author of nine books and numerous short stories) offers up his…

… wise, wise words and although perhaps less specific to submitting one’s material to an agent, he’s bang on the button in oh, so many ways.  Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned wordsterlooking for a sale or an agent, take heed!

Iain Sinclair’s Official Unofficial Web Site

Here’s a link to a really excellent web site dedicated to Iain Sinclair and his work. Iain has given his blessing to this instructive online resource which is run and maintained by Sinclair fan extraordinaire, Benedetto.

If you want up-to-date information on Iain’s public engagements, this is the place to visit…

Chris Schuler Reviews Hans Fallada…

alone-in-berlinChris Schuler recently had his review of Hans Fallada‘s novel Alone in Berlin (recently published in the Penguin Hardback Classics series in a new translation by Michael Hoffman) published in the Independent on Sunday (click through to read this review online.)

It is June 1940. In a Berlin apartment, Old Persicke, a drink-sodden retired publican, and his ambitious Nazi sons celebrate the fall of France. Their quiet, middle-aged neighbours, Otto and Anna Quangel, have just learnt that their only child has been killed in that campaign. On the top floor, an elderly Jewish lady tries to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, while in the rear tenement, Emil Borkhausen, blackmailer and pimp, is sniffing around for a chance to turn a quick profit…

Piers Bizony at this year’s Hay Festival…

apollo11Space expert Piers Bizony, will be appearing at this year’s Hay Festival on Tuesday May 26th giving a lecture that “celebrates the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 with astounding images and and flight logs from the first manned mission to reach the moon.”

NEW CLIENT – Colin Harvey

angry_robot-thumbWe’re delighted to add British author Colin Harvey to our client list, representing him in the UK and British Commonwealth on behalf of Jenny Rappaport at The Rappaport Literary Agency in the US.

Colin has recently sold two books to Angry Robot, the shiny new genre imprint at HarperCollins headed up by Marc Gascoigne, and we were delighted to have been involved in steering the deal through. Congratulations Colin!

Here’s a link to Colin’s Blog in which he talks about Winter Song, his novel due to be published by Angry Robot in October 2009.

Submissions. For anyone wondering…

… why we are still closed for submissions, or why we’re taking so long to get through stuff sent in before we closed, take a good, hard look at this article by Shawn Speakman entitled The Busy Agent that appeared on Suvudu today!

Chris Schuler’s New Blog…

Chris Schuler has dropped us a line to tell us about the launch of his brand new blog, Notes in the Margin – “A new blog concentrating on books, publishing news, and literary anecdotes.”

Notes in the Margin can be found here.

Amanda Hemingway at the BFSA Open Night

Amanda is to be interviewed by Roz Kaveney at the next BSFA monthly meeting. The event takes place at The Antelope Tavern at 7pm on April 22nd and you’d be a fool not to be there!

For those of you on Facebook, here is the event page.

Stephen Volk on ‘Fantastic Writing’

He’s only been a client for a day or two, but already Stephen Volk is out there flying the flag! Here’s a little something worth putting in your diary…

Stephen Volk is giving a talk on the creating and writing of his award-winning TV drama series Afterlife at ‘Fantastic Writing – science fiction, fantasy and magic: Writing the future, the past and other worlds‘, a one-day event for budding scriptwriters taking place on Saturday 7th March 2009 at De Montfort University’s Leicester City campus.

The day also includes a keynote speech from acclaimed novelist Graham Joyce (The Facts of Life, DOOM), Q&A sessions with guests such as Phil Ford (Sarah Jane Adventures, Dr Who, Torchwood) and James Moran (Dr Who, Torchwood, Spooks), and a presentation on writing for on-line drama.

Tickets for the event are £65 per person including lunch, refreshments and car parking. For more information or to book a place, please contact:

Promotion & Recruitment Centre
Faculty of Humanities

Tel–0116 250 6470
Email – pghums[at]dmu[dot]ac[dot]uk

And here is the direct link to the event web site.

Eamonn McCabe’s Photographs of Writers Rooms

Beryle Bainbridge's Writing Room… at the Madison Contemporary Art Gallery in London. Fascinating to see where so many top drawer writers scratch out their living. Other than Dahl and Ballard, there’s a noticeable lack of genre writers involved with this project – or perhaps the Spock ears and Star Wars™ Lego™ toys are just out of shot?

The BBC has a wonderful flash movie of the exhibition here.