HEAP HOUSE out in the US today from Overlook

The Iremongers are let loose in the States today as HEAP HOUSE, the first book in Edward Carey’s acclaimed IREMONGER trilogy, is published in the US by Overlook. It will be published in beautiful hardback with illustrations by the author himself.

The book, which will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman, Roald Dahl and Mervyn Peake, young and old alike, tells the story of Clod Iremonger and his eccentric family ('kings of mildew, moguls of mould'), all of whom must carry 'birth objects' as a matter of course, and who make their fortune from the collective detritus of a Dickensian London. When Clod begins to hear objects from the heaps speaking out, everything is shifting, and with the arrival of orphan, Lucy Pennant, Clod will have to decide where he belongs.

The book has already received a fantastic review in the New York Times by Pseudonymous Bosch, who wrote:

‘At first glance, you might mistake Edward Carey's HEAP HOUSE for a new edition of Dickens illustrated by Edward Gorey. In fact, the novel's delightfully dour, hand-painted portraits are the work of Carey himself. . . . Carey remains true to his dark, skewed vision all the way to the perverse but perfect end. HEAP HOUSE is weird, yes, Spectacularly so. . . . Here's hoping … [this] talented and original author stay[s] strange.’ 

Kirkus called HEAP HOUSE ‘a gothic tale in turns witty, sweet, thoughtful and thrilling—but always off-kilter—and penned with gorgeous, loopy prose just this side of precious… magnificently creepy’, and Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review, writing ‘Full of strange magic, sly humor, and odd, melancholy characters, this trilogy opener, peppered with portraits illustrated by Carey in a style reminiscent of Peake’s own, should appeal to ambitious readers seeking richly imagined and more-than-a-little-sinister fantasy.’, and included it in their Best Indie Books Fall 2014 picks. It has also been listed by Indie Sleepers on their “Big Books From Small Presses 2014” list.

In the UK, HEAP HOUSE was recommended on the Booktrust Christmas Gifts for Children List 2013 and listed by The Sunday Times as one of the Top Children’s Books of 2013. Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton called it ‘delightful, eccentric, heartfelt, surprising, philosophical’ and her ‘favourite novel for children published this year’. The paperback is currently available.

Rights to HEAP HOUSE have been sold in 9 territories, including HarperCollins in Canada who published in March. In the UK, Hot Key have just published the second in the trilogy, FOULSHAM.

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Praise for HEAP HOUSE:

‘Edward Carey's HEAP HOUSE-- delightful, eccentric, heartfelt, surprising, philosophical, everything that a novel for children should be.’ – Eleanor Catton, author of THE LUMINARIES

‘IREMONGER torques and tempers our memories of Dickensian London into a singularly jaunty and creepy tale of agreeable misfits. Read it by gas lamp, with a glass of absinthe at your wrist and a fireplace poker by your knee. ’    -- Gregory Maguire, author of WICKED

'I cannot recommend HEAP HOUSE by Edward Carey enough. The best book of its kind since GORMENGHAST (& more exciting)' – Gregory Norminton

‘Fabulously strange and in the tradition of Mervyn Peake... Astonishing and inventive, it calls out to be read.' – Sunday Times Best Children’s Books of 2013 

Two Blake Friedmann authors nominated for Green Carnation Prize

Two Blake Friedmann authors have been longlisted for the Green Carnation Prize. Kerry Hudson’s THIRST and Laurie Penny’s UNSPEAKABLE THINGS were both among the 13 books selected for the prize which celebrates the best of LGBT literature. Other longlisted nominees include Neel Mukherjee, Anna Freeman and Emily Mackie. The shortlist will be announced on 6 November.

THIRST is a heart-breaking romance of almost unbearable fragility in contemporary East London & Russia. Kerry Hudson is also author of TONY HOGAN BOUGHT ME AN ICE CREAM FLOAT BEFORE HE STOLE MY MA, which was shortlisted for 8 awards, including the Green Carnation, and won the Scottish First Book Award. Both books were published by Chatto.

Laurie Penny’s UNSPEAKABLE THINGS is a fresh look at gender and power in the twenty-first century which asks difficult questions about dissent and desire, money and masculinity, sexual violence, menial work, mental health, queer politics and the Internet. It was published by Bloomsbury earlier this year.

Praise for THIRST:

'Hudson excels at depicting twilight lives... tremendously affecting… impressively unostentatious in its instinct for a common story within a city of millions that rarely gets heard.' - Claire Allfree, The Metro

'Hudson builds up narrative tension slowly. It’s not so much the will-they-won’t-they tension that is more pervasive to general romance, but rather a sense, even before we know Alena’s back-story fully, of external threat lingering in the air, knocking on the door of Dave’s flat, now a refuge... THIRST is hardly an easy summer read but it is probably an essential one.' - The Scotsman

Praise for UNSPEAKABLE THINGS:

‘We need her. … We need fresh, extreme voices to make us re-examine ourselves for complacency and closed-mindedness. Penny forces us to test the ground we stand on and say, yes.’ – Melanie Reid, The Times

‘[Laurie Penny] knits rendingly painful personal anecdotes into the essays in "Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution," … [she] is resolutely urgent (and sometimes very earnest) as she reaches for context, reminding us of the excluded and the undervalued.’ – Joy Press, The LA Times

Carole Blake's 50 Years in Publishing Gallery

Carole Blake celebrated 50 years in publishing with a fantastic event at The Stationers’ Hall last year. Among the attendees were colleagues past and present, Blake Friedmann authors, UK and foreign publishers and friends Carole had made over the course of her career. With the anniversary of this memorable occasion today (to those few who can remember the whole night…), we’re delighted  to have a gallery of Jack Ladenburg’s photography from the night up here.

PASHA by Julian Stockwin out in the UK today

The 15th KYDD adventure, PASHA, is published in the UK today by Hodder. In this latest instalment of Julian Stockwin’s acclaimed maritime adventure series, an Admiralty summons to England cuts short Thomas Kydd's service in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. While the crew of L'Aurore can look forward to liberty and prize money, a shadow hangs over their captain: the impending court martial of his one-time commander, Commodore Popham, who led a doomed attack on South America.

Fans should also look out for Stockwin’s new novel, THE SILK TREE, which will be published in November by Allison & Busby. It tells the tale of a quest to bring the secret of silk production out of China to the west.

At 14 Stockwin joined a tough sea-training school, followed by the Royal Navy, transferring to the Royal Australian Navy when his family emigrated.  He saw active service in the Far East, the Antarctic, the South Seas and Vietnam, and was on board the Melbourne at the time of its disastrous peace time collision with the Voyager.  Later worked for NATO on the strategic deployment of merchant shipping.

Praise for the KYDD series:

‘The story takes you on an explosive journey, which is full of unexpected turns … rich in action and full of interesting characters, this thrilling novel leaves you in awe of the 18th century seaman.’ -- Evening Telegraph

‘A wonderfully fresh and incredibly vivid debut novel … I reckon [the series] will be as popular as the novels of Patrick O’Brian so exciting is this new author.’ -- Publishing News

Tony Park’s THE DELTA out in the US today

Tony Park’s “heart-thumping thriller” THE DELTA is published in the US today. This is the first of two African adventure novels acquired by St Martin’s Press, with IVORY to be published in 2015.

Sonja has led a troubled life: her father is an abusive alcoholic, her lover Danny - an IRA leader - is dead, and her daughter hasn't spoken to her since she became a hired assassin. When Sonja's latest mission goes horribly wrong, she realises it was a set-up, and ends up alone in the African wilderness at risk from the men who seek to destroy her and her family.

It’s a busy month worldwide for Tony Park. His latest thriller THE HUNTER is published by Macmillan in Australia and South Africa on 14 October and in the UK by Quercus on 16 October. 

Hudson Brand hunts people, not animals. Today he’s hunting for Linley Brown. Detective Sannie van Rensburg is also looking for Linley, and a serial killer as well. Hudson is her top suspect. Sannie and Hudson cross paths and swords as they track the elusive Linley from South Africa and Zimbabwe to the wilds of Kenya's Masai Mara game reserve. The hunt is on.

Quercus also published DARK HEART, the story of three people brought together twenty years after witnessing the Rwandan genocide, in paperback in the UK on 2 October.

Praise for TONY PARK:

'An author who is starting to challenge the veteran Wilbur Smith for the title of 'master of the African thriller'' -- Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail

'Tony Park is one of Australia's best thriller writers and his African-based novels are consistently entertaining and thought-provoking.' -- Canberra Times

'Park's heroes are tough, blokey types - soldiers and coppers - and his heroines sassy and smart, but Africa always steals the show…a great way to spend a winter evening, transported to somewhere warm and exotic.' -- Georgia Gowing, The Independent Weekly