News

Peter Duck outwits the weather fairy

Golden Duck — Thu, 09 May 2013 06:20:21 +0000

This wasn't the title Yachting Monthly gave my account of our 2012 cruise to the Veersemeer - a week that makes me feel happy everytime I think back. YM used a mix of my photos, one each from Bertie and Archie and some 'proper' ones taken a few weeks later by Bob Aylott. Click here to read

Reviews

Golden Duck — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:45:36 +0000

The Salt-Stained Book got a lovely write-up from bookseller Catherine Hawley on her blog Juxtabook. The entire Strong Winds Trilogy was reviewed by Chris Brown, reviews editor of the School Librarian and, as if all that were not enough, History Today ran a thorough and appreciative review of Fifty Years in the Fiction Factory by Melbourne based critic Fiona Gruber.

Arcadia in the East

Golden Duck — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:11:34 +0000

The month of March means the Essex Book Festival. Splendid choice of events across the county, mainly in libraries. I had a happy afternoon in a cosy corner of Epping Library last week talking about Fifty Years in the Fiction Factory. Such a good audience - I wanted to go on for ever! Wrote my Authors Electric March blog after a trip to Jaywick where literary culture fights the good fight from a restored Martello Tower. http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/arcadia-on-east-coast-of-england-by.html?spref=fb

Ninety well-chosen words

Golden Duck — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 23:59:23 +0000

in The Mail on Sunday Feb 24th 2013

"Herbert Allingham was one of Britain's most prolific and popular authors a century ago but you will never have heard of him. The reason is that he wrote stories anonymously for the weekly magazines so common in his day and none was ever reprinted in book form. He would have been forgotten had his daughters, one of whom was the author Margery Allingham, not preserved his work. Julia Jones has sifted through this archive and succeeded brilliantly in bringing to life both Allingham and the literary form in which he excelled."

****

THANK YOU SIMON SHAW

Margery Allingham - after the Afterword

Golden Duck — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:55:16 +0000

This month's blog for Authors Electric gave me the opportunity to think again (yet again) about the relationship between Margery's life and her fiction - specifically between The China Governess and the existence of Tom Carter

Read it here

Success for the Salt-Stained Book

Golden Duck — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 23:22:19 +0000

In January 2013 the Salt-Stained Book was entered in the international monthly book awards run by Acclaimed Books of Cornwall. More than 1200 votes were cast from 52 countries across 64 titles. The SSB was the overall winner as well as winner of the printed book section. It received 301 votes and glowing comments from readers.

Managing Director, Peter Lihou offered a personal message of congratulations to Julia. "Over the years, we've seen a great many popular titles gain the tangible applause of their fans by their votes and comments, but The Salt-Stained Book enjoys particularly warm support. It really is quite an accomplishment for an author to inspire their readers so much that they get online and vote in such numbers and leave extremely flattering comments. Julia is a very worthy winner!"

more reviews

Golden Duck — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 17:50:13 +0000

Beginning to feel thoughly spoiled (not complaining, mind) Here's a really good review of FYFF from Robert Kirkpatrick for the Children's Books History Society and a Strong Winds Trilogy review by Dennis Hamley in the delightful Armadillo magazine. I was tremendously grateful to Jackie Wilkin for including the SWT in her Christmas Books round up in Life - the WI magazine.

Reviews for Fifty Years in the Fiction Factory

Golden Duck — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 21:01:29 +0000

I'll admit I was feeling a trifle depressed about the published anonymity of Fifty Years in the Fiction Factory - and I'll further admit that I know I was being illogical when the whole point of the book was that it was about someone whose work was ephemeral and whose name unknown. Cally Phillips was characteristically quick off the mark and reviewed FYFF beautifully (as is her wont) in the Independent EBook Review. Robert Kirkpatrick and Roger Johnston wrote welcome special interest reviews and then there was ....hush.

It was such a relief when Kathleen Jones included a review in her regular book blog She completely got the point of the book as being social history. "This is not a biography", she wrote - and as a distiunguished biographer, she should know. She then repeated her kind comments on Amazon. Meanwhile novelist Peggy Woodford wrote a sympathetic and interested review for the Church Times. In The Oldie Historian Juliet Gardiner focussed on George Orwell's pioneering coments on the 'twopenny weekly' and used this as a means to evaluate the Allingham family as 'entrepreneurs of cheap print'. I'd promise to quit my moaning -- except that the TLS emailed yesterday and asked for an illustration. I long to hear what their reviewer has to say ...

the year's dying, 2012

Golden Duck — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:09:02 +0000

Sadness and gratitude in my Authors Electric blog for December

Water off a duck's back?

Golden Duck — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:42:20 +0000

I really enjoyed sailing with Dick Durham and Bob Aylott from Yachting Monthly but I think Ted Evans, owner of Ragged Robin (Arthur Ransome's Lottie Blossom) may want to keel haul someone when he sees the picture of AR at work on board Lottie, included as if it was PD. Honestly Ted, I didn't give it to them. Though I did recommend Christina Hardyment's new book where the photo is printed on the PD page ....

If you'd like to read the article, please click here