Gollancz Party

Dear readers and fellow bloggers from the sphere, Mark and I got to attend the very swanky Gollancz party this year. We were joined by Ana from The Booksmugglers and Gav from Nextread. Needless to say there was a lot of squealing and "ohmygodwhatamIgoingtowear" before the time because you know, the nearer we got to the date of the party, realisation dawned: a truckload of authors are going to be there whom we are all slavish fans of. (And we all had to look purty). Then we realised they will be joined by editors, reviewers, publicity people, journalists, other publishers and their media teams. It was going to be HUGE.

And it was - there were hundreds of people. The venue was the Oktober Galleries in Bloomsbury which were a series of rooms and a lovely outdoors garden. We mingled our way around and to be honest, the amount of people I recognised by name alone was staggering. The worst part was being unable to talk to all of them.

A definite highlight for me was catching up with James Lovegrove whose novel, Age of Ra, taught me not to turn my nose up at military sci fi! I owe James a long email and he in turn owes us a blogpost (hurrah!).

Further along we got to meet up with the luscious Alex Bell who seems set on outshining everyone because not only is she tall, very pretty and sexy, she has the dress-sense of fashionista. Check out this amazing shirt! Isn't it gorgeous? And angel wings, as we all know are very topical right now.

We got to hang around with one of my favourite people of all time - Saxon Bullock - who looked extremely suave in a velvet jacket and goatee. Saxon has this infectious air and a personality that hinges on the hysterical that has everyone falling around laughing. I think I may need eyecream for all the laughing wrinkles I got on Thursday night.

It would be bad of me not to mention the talented Ms. Suzanne McLeod who looked rock 'n roll. We didn't get a chance to chat loads, but I got to whisper some confidences to her very briefly before she shot off home. When we saw the tiny group of authors arrive I also spotted this tall chap in a purple shirt who looked a bit out, a little bit like Leonardo Di Caprio if Leonardo was actually six foot tall and had broad shoulders. I asked Alex who he was and it turns out he's a new author signed by Gollancz, called Sam Sykes. I've failed to find a website for Sykes. We did however corner him at the party - yes, me, Mark, Ana and Gav - to have him tell us about his upcoming book and people, all I can say is...2010 is going to be an awesome year.

Ana and I are particularly excited about the upcoming books from Gollancz - we are going to see authors like Nailini Singh and Caitlin Kittredge come to the UK as part of their urban fantasy / paranormal romance lines they are establishing. This, needless to say, had us fanning ourselves in utter joy.

We got to spend some time with the girls from Orbit: Sam, Rose, Coreen and Ana - who, all by the way, can take Paris by storm with their fashion sense! We were enticed about Blue Blood by Melissa de la Cruz and I for one cannot WAIT to read this series. Rose and I also discovered a shared passion for Kelley Armstrong, Dean from Supernatural and a variety of other things I'm not allowed to mention on here because it could be held against us in a court of law.

I got to chat to John Berlyne who runs the Zeno Agency - I also review for John over at http://www.sfrevu.com/ where he is the UK editor. They've had some amazing authors sign with them lately and sold books most recently to both Gollancz and Angry Robot. *sparkly eyes* More pretty books to read!

I also - yay! - got to chat with another legendary John - John Jarrold of the John Jarrold Literary Agency. It was brief only but after chatting to John on and off for about 2 years now, it was fantastic to actually get to meet him in person.

Ana and Gav met the amazing Robert Holdstock for the first time. A nicer, kinder and gentlemanly man is hard to find. I still do fan-girl squealing about him though - my autograph I got from him at the Gemmell Award is still a favourite treasure.

We got to meet some of the girls over at Voyager too - we've all been twittering incessantly for ages now so it was good to be able to put faces to Twitter names. Also a shoutout to the tallest guy at the party, 6ft 6inches Niall Harrison who is not only a cool guy but also a new friend.

Mark managed to get hold of Joe Abercrombie for part of the evening at the after party and coerced him into posing for a picture or two. I think Mark and Joe are a very dangerous combination and I'm a bit relieved that they managed to break away from one another. I had visions of some kind of creative collaboration in which more bloodshed and zombies would abound than you could shake your boomstick at.

My one regret of the evening is not being able to talk to MD Lachlan, a new author signed by Gollancz. His book is called Wolfsangel and we've met up and chatted on Twitter a few times. I really wanted to congratulate him in person but sadly, not this time around.

There is loads more to say about the party but to be honest, I'm still recovering. It was an amazing evening and we all had a tremendous time. Thank you to Jon and everyone at Gollancz for inviting us around. We all had a fantastic time!

US deal for Suzanne McLeod

As fan-girl and admirer of Suzanne, I have to share the fab news from John Jarrold's blog:

Susan Howe, Rights Director at Orion, has sold US rights in three urban fantasies by UK novelist Suzanne McLeod to Ginjer Buchanan of Berkley Ace in a good deal. The books will be published as mass-market paperback originals, with the first appearing late in 2009 or early in 2010.

World rights in the series, which opens with Suzanne’s debut THE SWEET SCENT OF BLOOD (published in hardback and trade paperback in the UK in September 2008), were acquired by Jo Fletcher at Gollancz from John Jarrold in 2007. The second book, THE COLD KISS OF DEATH, will be published by Gollancz in July 2009.

An evening with Neil Gaiman

Friday, 31st October 2008

One of the highlights of my readerly and geek calendar. Mark and I got to go our and play with other fans and meet the lovely Neil Gaiman. We were standing outside to draw some money when the taxi drew up and out spilled Mr. Gaiman and his posse. Mark had to restrain me otherwise I might have been writing this from a nine by six jail cell. We allowed Mr. Gaiman and his posse to enter the building unharmed. And qued, because that is what we do.

What made it extra special is that I managed to spot Suzanne McLeod and her partner Norman at the back of the queue and I hastily made sure they joined us further up front. We professed to be all Gaiman Geeks (Registered Trademark) and gushed at one another about reading, writing, authors, agents, editors, deadlines.

Fans of Neil "The God" Gaiman dressed up on Halloween

Suzanne and I commiserated that our mutual friend Karen could not make it due to unexpected illness. Hope you are feeling better, young miss! Watch out for an email later on.

Whilst Suzanne and I went into the auditorium, Mark and Norman lurked around the table of goodies the amazing peeps from Blackwells had on display. Each of them managed to secure a pre-signed, limited edition, hard back, slip cased copy of The Graveyard Book, illustrated by Dave "I draw for chocolate" McKean. *beams*

The auditiorium filled up swiftly and conversation was all over the place - some people went all the way and got dressed up for Halloween which I have to admit was pretty awesome. I would have loved to have made the effort but I don't think my boss would have been happy with me showing some people from Morgan Stanley into the conference room at the office dressed as a Zombie or Witch.

Some amazing creatures came out to play with us at the talk and signing - thank you for letting me take your photos!

Mr. Gaiman came on, chatted briefly about The Graveyard Book's premise and then proceeded to read us a chapter from the book. Chapter Five, Dance Macabre. The thing about Neil Gaiman reading his own work is: you are right there with him. His intonations and inflections emphasise the excellent prose - The Graveyard Book is made to be read out loud. I will be ordering the audio for sure.

My advance reader copy signed by NG

The reading went quickly - it was over way too soon, for all of us. But it was not the end of the evening by a long shot. Mr. Gaiman then answered a handful of questions the audience wrote out for him. Mark was particularly thrilled as his question was: "Will you be writing another script after writing Beowulf? Also, please note: Beowulf Rocked!" and Mr. Gaiman answered in the affirmative - yes, he is working on a script for Anansi Boys and Neverwhere. Yay!

We got into the queue after all the questions were answered and we each got to have a very brief chat with Mr. Gaiman as he signed all our books. We were lucky enough to get seats, second row from the front, which you have to admit is pretty darn good. During his talk, Dave McKean arrived and once Mr. Gaiman had signed my advance copy of The Graveyard Book, Stardust and Preludes and Nocturnes and the limited edition Graveyard Book, and he signed Mark's ancient copy of Good Omens (signed by Terry Pratchett in 1997) we hustled over to Dave and had him sign Preludes and Nocturnes and the limited edition Graveyard Book. A bit of a result, all in all. Plus, Mark and I both managed to speak words and not just giggle nervously and spit or drool in our effort to be witty and charming.

The limited edition personalised to Mark and I, by both Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

Mark's 1996 edition of Good Omens signed by Terry Pratchet (1997) and Neil Gaiman (2008)

Suzanne and Norman joined us for dinner at Pizza Express and we chatted non-stop about spooky events we've heard of and experienced and Suzanne and I had geek moments about how cool Neil Gaiman is and how effortless he makes it all seem.

Fans waiting to buy copies of Neil's back catalogue and newly published books

It was an amazing evening and I was so pleased that I could share it with another author whom I admire greatly for her talent and skill. It was the first time I met Suzanne and I have to say: you can't wish to meet anyone nicer. We spoke at length about her own writing, her research she's been doing and that the deadline for the second book is fast approaching. I think I am more excited about it than should be healthy!

We reluctantly said good bye and made our respective ways back home / hotel, in Suzanne and Norman's case. I couldn't stop stroking my newly signed books, much to the horror of one of the people on the train next to us. At least I don't think I called them "my precious."

I think.

**News**

Righto, readers and fans (she says, optimistically) some news for the upcoming month of September:

Firstly, CE Murphy, novelist, comic book writer all round cool rock chick, will be doing a signing at Forbidden Planet in London, this month - naturally, as I am a squeeling fan, I will be there, trying to remember not to drool or spit. The date is the 18th September between 6 - 7. CEM has also updated her website, so why not check it out. This is the link. I will be trying to devastate her with my charm and drag her off to

Secondly, Peter Brett has posted a lovely post over at his site about his visit and his signing at FP. Read it here.

Thirdly, Suzanne McLeod's book has made it as a part of 3 for 2 deal at Waterstones so that is awesome news! And, what is always very sweet, to me personally, is that you can read, on the back of Sweet Scent of Blood, a quote from the review from MFB, which I did for Suzanne's book. I am totally blown away and am in fan-girl mode. I've gone and bought my copy to sit next to the ARC, and will have her sign both when I one day get to meet her in real life.

Fourthly, the tasty, shoe-loving and very talented Cassandra Clare will be coming to London to do research for some of her new books but because of fan pressure (tries to look innocent) she's agreed to do one signing only. It is to be at the fab Murder One book shop on Charing Cross Road and will be taking place on the 27th September at 5pm. Much hilarity will ensue, so do make an effort to swing by if you are in the area. And yes, again, I will be there!

Lastly, Dave Brendon's logged an interview with favourite Karen Miller over at his rapidly growing site. You can read the interview here.

The Sweet Scent of Blood by Suzanne McLeod

The book proof for The Sweet Scent of Blood by Suzanne McLeod arrived Saturday morning and I started reading it over breakfast. And completely forgot that we had to pack to go up north for a friend’s birthday later that afternoon. I took the book to the couch, ignoring the dishes, the dog, the husband. And fully immersed myself in the story, only breaking to go to the party and then spent all of Sunday lazing in the sunshine reading until its very last delectable page.

I honestly suspected that this was going to be good. I just had no idea how good it would in fact turn out to be!

In The Sweet Scent of Blood we meet Genny Taylor who works for Spellcrackers.com . She’s good at her job where she finds magic and unmakes spells, has a fun relationship with her colleagues and she also happens to be a Sidhe fae.

All of the story is set in London and we find places like Leicester Square and Covent Garden and Greenwich plundered mercilessly by the author for good settings and I love it because it conveys the grittiness of the city but with a shimmer of the Other which really works very well.

Vampires are no longer hidden, they have been outed and are becoming A-list celebrities. Their communities are strong and they have an amazing PR campaign that would put any politician’s campaign to shame. But then, if you’ve had a couple of hundred years to tell lies, you would also be very good about it!

Alongside the vamps you have an interesting mix of fae and other creatures who seem to have become fully integrated in human society. They work alongside us and have become something else we seem to be fascinated with, especially the vampires.

It always shows in an author’s world building and putting those ideas across how adept they are as storytellers. Suzanne McLeod isn’t just adept, she’s bloody brilliant. The world creation is very competent and helps the story flow with ease – it will be a rich source for her to write in for her future books.

Genny is a well thought out main character but retains enough mystery to keep you guessing about her heritage. I find the fact that she can crack spells with ease and can absorb the magic into her interesting but she can't actually do any spells herself. It makes for an interesting slant. She's not a heroine with a gun, or with any kind of overt screaming talent. For all Genny being a Sidhe, she seems a normal girl using her brains and wits to figure out what the opposition is after, besides sucking her dry that is.

With a further cast of Other creatures from policemen trolls, to house brownies, the vamps (naturally), satyrs, witches, goblins and other fae you have the impression that you’ve walked into a slightly chaotic Arthur Rackham drawing but it works by the sheer talented will of the author who clearly had the time of her life putting all of them into play.

We watch Genny as she is called in to help one of the vampires, Roberto, clear his name in the murder of his girlfriend, Melissa. But things are naturally never as straight forward as that when it comes to vampires. The storyline is kept in tight reign and nothing is left to chance. All the characters you meet as the story develops has genuine roles to play, no one is just a prop, which is something I really liked about it. Everyone still connived and carried on behind the scenes, even whilst Genny was busy somewhere else, so you have the impression of realtime action.

The Sweet Scent of Blood is going to hit the urban fantasy and paranormal romance market with a big bang. For fans of LKH, Lilith Saintcrow, Kim Harrison, Kat Richardson, Mary Janice Davidson, Lori Handeland and Charlaine Harris and other authors of the same ilk, take note that Suzanne McLeod is going to be the next Big Thing in this much loved genre. The book is funny and charming with enough action (and some very sexy action at that) to keep any book junkie entertained for quite a few hours.

The Sweet Scent of Blood is an exceedingly well written debut ticking all the right boxes, from a gutsy and unique heroine, to an engaging storyline with sexy foes and a strong ensemble cast. A highly recommended and fun read.

Suzanne’s website can be found here and you can pre-order the book either from Gollancz or from Amazon. It is due out in September 2008.