THE GHOST WHO BLED published today by Comma Press

THE GHOST WHO BLED, Gregory Norminton's collection of ‘sublime’ short stories, is published out now in the UK, published by Comma Press. 'Witty, intelligent, crunchily written, Norminton’s collection is pure reading pleasure.”  says Neel Mukherjee, the Booker-shortlisted author of The Lives of Others.

Spanning centuries and continents, the stories in this collection amount to a tour de force of literary worldbuilding. From deeply insecure time travellers to medieval mystics and futuristic body modification cults, Norminton’s characters find themselves torn between conflicting impulses – temptation and fortitude, hubris and shame, longing and regret. By turns sad, strange and darkly comic, THE GHOST WHO BLED reveals a master storyteller of incredible range.

Listen to Gregory chatting about the book on BBC Radio Sheffield here.

Gregory’s new novel THE DEVIL'S HIGHWAY will be published by 4th Estate in Spring 2018.

Visit Gregory’s website here.

Follow Gregory on Twitter here.

Praise for THE GHOST WHO BLED:

'This is a sublime collection of short stories by a writer whose breath-taking flexibility of style gives life to an array of different voices... Unfailingly beautiful, deceptively simple and lyrically powerful' — Claire Looby, The Irish Times

'There is a yesteryear quality to much of Gregory Norminton’s writing, at least in these stories, several of which look backward in style to classics of the genre.' — Peter Gordon, Asian Review of Books

'Witty, intelligent, crunchily written, Norminton’s collection is pure reading pleasure.” - Neel Mukherjee (Booker-shortlisted author of The Lives of Others)

'All the doors of the imagination are open to Gregory Norminton, the author of micro-fictions and exuberantly long novels; this collection roves magnificently from one side of the world to the other, bringing together people and their predicaments as only its author can. Read it and be transported, too.' — Michael Caines (The TLS)

‘Gregory Norminton’s tautly written, mordant short stories make the reader sit up and think. Startlingly original imagery and that rare thing, moral and political bite.’ – Maggie Gee

‘Norminton's beautifully written stories capture the range and complexity of life with wit and compassion, insight and pathos: hugely enjoyable, very much recommended.’ — James Miller (The Lost Boys, Sunshine State)

‘These wonderfully accomplished stories range over time and place, but what holds them together, other than the mastery of the language and the sheer gift of storytelling displayed, is their constant, complex humanity, and the sense that being human is only part of being something larger, what the narrator of the title story calls "the sufficient planet of home."' — Charles Lambert (The Children's Home)

‘Anything by Gregory Norminton is a pleasure to read.’ — Time Out

 

IREMONGER TRILOGY OPTIONED TO BRANDISH PRODUCTIONS

Edward Carey’s acclaimed IREMONGER TRILOGY has been optioned for film by Brandish Productions.

‘Delightful, eccentric, heartfelt, surprising, philosophical’ – Eleanor Catton, author of THE LUMINARIES, and included in her Best Books of 2013 in The Guardian

Brandish Productions is a new company set up by established producers Charles Brand and Jago Lee. Charles executive produces a wide range of film, drama, comedy and factual programming. Previous projects include the BAFTA award winning 'Billy Elliot', BAFTA nominated drama series ‘Births Marriages and Deaths' (BBC2), acclaimed BBC documentary series ’The Monastery’, and comedies 'Stella Street' and 'Bill Hicks: Revelations' (Channel 4/HBO). Jago is the creative director of Antenna Pictures, having held posts including managing director and co-founder of NERD TV, head of documentaries at Tiger Aspect, and head of development at Optomen Television. Past credits include ‘The Lion Cub From Harrods’ (Channel 5/ Animal Planet), ‘Inside The Gangsters Code’ (Discovery), ‘The 12 Year Old Lifer’ (A&E/Channel 4), and ‘Find My First Love’ (FYI/ MTV UK).

The novels follow young Clod Iremonger, and servant girl, Lucy Pennant as they unravel the mysteries and misdoings of the family’s patriarch, Umbitt Iremonger. When Lucy is cast out into ‘the Heaps’ – the undulating mass of collected rubbish that makes the Iremongers their wealth – Clod must follow, and together they must work to stop a diabolical plan to take Westminster by force and allow the dastardly Iremongers to reign supreme. Complete with Carey’s vivid pencil drawings of the family and their Gothic, fantastical, alternate Victorian London (exhibited in Italy in 2016 in collaboration with his Italian publisher, Bompiani), the novels lend themselves beautifully to screen adaptation. The series has won much acclaim, and is published in 11 languages across 14 territories.

Praise for the trilogy:

A New York Times Notable Children’s Book of 2014; Selected in Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2014; Selected by Kirkus as one of the Best Teen Books of 2014; On tor.com’s Best Books of 2014 – Reviewer’s Choice; Selected as one of Newsday’s Top Ten Children’s books 2014; Recommended on the Booktrust Christmas Gifts for Children List 2013; Listed by The Sunday Times as one of the Top Children’s Books of 2013; New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice

‘If this were music, Carey would be Eric Satie. If it were film, he would be Tim Burton.’ - Newsday

‘An exceptional, astonishing book… gorgeously written… HEAP HOUSE is, its heart of trash notwithstanding, an absolute treasure’ –NPR Books

‘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

‘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

‘Spectacularly weird’ – New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice

‘Splendidly deranged imagination and deliciously peculiar prose…Beyond the gripping adventure and creepy illustrations, the premise demands consideration of the tendency of raw capitalism to make people and things both interchangeable and disposable. A story wondrous fine, full of terrors and marvels.’ Kirkus Starred Review

LATEST TONY PARK THRILLER - Red Earth - published IN PAPERBACK IN THE UK TODAY

Fans of bestselling thriller writer Tony Park can now enjoy his thirteenth novel - a breakneck chase adventure, featuring an assassination, a stolen baby and a race to the death. RED EARTH, published by Pan Macmillan in paperback today, is an adventure novel set against the backdrop of KwaZulu-Natal, the home of South Africa’s Zulus. 

Durban, South Africa, a car is hijacked. Suzanne Fessey fights back and kills one thief but the other, wounded, escapes with her baby on board. In pursuit of the missing vehicle and baby are helicopter tracker pilot Nia Carras from the air, and Mike Dunn, a nearby wildlife researcher, from the ground.

But South Africa's police have bigger problems: a bomb has gone off in Durban, killing the visiting American Ambassador, and chaos has descended on Kwa-Zulu Natal.As the missing baby is tracked through the wild game reserves from Zululand to Zimbabwe, Mike and Nia come to realise that the war on terror has invaded their part of the world.

The author has pledged to donate a portion of the royalties from the first 200 copies sold of his novel Red Earth to the charity Veterans For Wildlife. Purchasers of Red Earth will be invited to send photographs of their receipts to redearth@veterans4wildlife.org.

Veterans For Wildlife is an international charity that aims to prevent wildlife crime using the skills, knowledge and experience of military veterans. 
 

Praise for RED EARTH and Tony Park

‘A gripping page-turner.’ – Thando Ndabezitha, Sawubona Magazine

‘Their frantic chase through the wild animal reserves of Southern Africa makes for a gripping yarn told by a master of the craft, Australian author, Tony Park’ – Herald Sun

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

‘In his novels you can smell Africa… Tony Park's insightful descriptions make you feel you are there… Another page turner from Tony Park whose love affair with Africa seduces us all.' – Susan DeLong, Mudgee Guardian & Gulgong Advertiser

About Tony Park

Tony Park grew up in Australia and fell in love with South Africa on a short trip in 1995. A Major in the Australian Army Reserve, Park served in Afghanistan in 2002. He and his wife spend half of every year in Sydney and the remainder in southern Africa, where they own a home on the border of the Kruger National Park. Author of 13 African thrillers, he has worked as a newspaper reporter in Australia and England, a government press secretary, a public relations consultant, and a freelance writer..

Read more about Tony on the Blake Friedmann website or Tony’s own website.

Follow Tony on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Julian Stockwin’s THE POWDER OF DEATH out in paperback today

Julian Stockwin’s thrilling historical novel, THE POWDER OF DEATH is published in paperback by Allison & Busby on 20 April. THE POWDER OF DEATH follows THE SILK TREE (also published by Allison & Busby), another standalone historical action-adventure novel examining and reimagining a key turning point in the past.

As Alan Eggleston writes in Booksville: ‘I'm a big fan of Julian Stockwin novels. He doesn't disappoint…Stockwin is a master teller of grand historical fiction tales. Pick one, any one, and you will be highly entertained…Stockwin writes brilliantly, bringing wonderful characters to life in a wholly realistic setting exploring history and times in thoroughly researched detail…’

1261. Oxford, England. An envoy returns from the land of the Tartars to meet with an English scholar and share a deadly secret that touches on the future of Christianity itself. The two men vow that the knowledge of gunpowder must die with them as the consequences are otherwise too fatal to contemplate.

1290. Hurnwych Green, England. After his quiet life is shattered by tragedy, local blacksmith Jared begins a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Aboard a ship to Venice, he meets Sir Nicholas Gayne who invites him to join the Knights Hospitallers as their blacksmith on a holy crusade for King Edward.

The adventure that follows sees Jared encounter men from distant Cathay who harbour the secret of huo yao, and so begins one man’s obsession with the powder of death and a king’s determination to change the very nature of warfare…

Julian at sea

The most recently published book in Julian Stockwin’s popular Thomas Kydd series is INFERNO, with PERSEPHONE to be published on 18 May this year (Hodder & Stoughton). THE BALTIC PRIZE, the nineteenth title in the maritime adventure series, comes out in November.

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 he worked for NATO on the strategic deployment of merchant shipping.

See more on Julian Stockwin’s website.
Follow Julian Stockwin on Twitter.

Praise for Julian Stockwin, and THE POWDER OF DEATH

‘The preeminent living historical naval fiction writer on either side of the Atlantic.’ – George Jepson, Quarterdeck (Spring 2017)

‘Stockwin has the knack of weaving a great story around an event in history to create an entertaining and informative adventure. He is up there with the best of the maritime novelists.’ – Ross Gates, Sunday Tasmanian

‘Historical fiction is a tricky beast. As a writer you have to keep your history in proper shape while combining it with a narrative that someone actually wants to read. Score two out of two for Julian Stockwin.’ -- Daily Mail

‘Julian Stockwin has become a master at this craft, no more so than in POWDER OF DEATH…The plan is cunning and the struggle is compelling. Your payoff is the life-changing journey…a great adventure.’ – Alan Eggleston, Booksville

THE SECRET nominated for Best Mini Series at this year’s BAFTAS!

We’re delighted that client Stuart Urban has been nominated for a BAFTA for a third time! ITV's THE SECRET has been nominated for best mini-series at the 2017 awards, alongside Channel 4's ‘National Treasure’ by Jack Thorne, BBC1 drama ‘Witness For the Prosecution’ by Sarah Phelps and BBC2’s ‘The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses’, adapted by Dominic Cooke.

Starring James Nesbitt (who was nominated for Best Actor for the role at the 2017 national RTS awards) and Genevieve O’Reilly, THE SECRET is a chilling four part series based on the true events that occurred between 1991 and 2011, and the extreme actions taken by dentist Colin Howell and Sunday school teacher Hazel Buchanan to cover up their illicit affair.

Urban’s previous BAFTA wins include ‘An Ungentlemanly Act’ (1992 Winner Best Single Drama) and ‘Our Friends In the North’ (1997 Winner Best Drama Serial, Winner Best Actress for Gina McKee, plus a sweep of other nominations).

Praise for THE SECRET

THE TELEGRAPH ****

“The real achievement of Stuart Urban’s superb script was in capturing the weird balance of religious devotion and sexual obsession that seemed to normalise the relationship in Howell and Buchanan’s minds…‘The Secret’ was masterly, an excellent reason to say in on Friday nights to come”. Gerard O’Donovan.

       @hugh_laurie  The Secret is astounding. Urban, Murphy, Nesbitt, O'Reilly are just absurdly good.

THE SUNDAY TIMES

“I can’t remember a better portrayal of suburban charm hiding suburban evil…it’s hard to create suspense when you already know the ending. But in this case…it was still a nail-biter”. Matt Rudd.

RADIO TIMES “A scarily excellent dramatisation”. Jack Eagle.

THE I

“Told with passion and power...the sort of tale we’ve seen many times before, yet what made ‘The Secret’ so interesting was the way Stuart Urban’s smart script dealt with it…Urban sensitively depicted a close-knit community where religion was central”. Sarah Hughes.