3-4-Friday: They Might Be Giants this Autumn

My oh my, but doesn't the book trade half love a 'Super Thursday' or two...

Super Thursdays, incidentally, are those Thursdays in late September and early October when loads of big-hitting authors are published on the same day. All jolly exciting - and a real challenge for booksellers. The books are often embargoed, so they all arrive within a few days (hours?) or each other, and staff often have trouble getting anything else done as boxes are opened with much oohing and aahing. There is sneaky flick-throughs. Customers are faced by over-excited booksellers brandishing gorgeous hardbacks

Blimey, this job is tough at times...

To the conspiracy-minded, all this stuff can look a bit suspicious (you can imagine the US Justice Dept: "What? Publishers working together?") but when, across so many publishers, you have literally thousands of 'lead' titles published in the September and October window, all jostling for the Ch*stm*s market, inevitably many will be published on the same day. Why not bunch them up a bit, and generate a bit of buzz? Simples.

Many of the titles that get released at this time have not been available as advance proofs either, so they arrive to us as unknown quantities. All of this is a heady brew, so for the last couple of days we've all been falling on the books and furiously reading them through...

So … Robert Harris, William Boyd, Mary Berry, Bill Bryson, David Walliams, Nigel Slater, Jacqueline Wilson, Bernard Cornwell, Pam Ayres, Cressida Cowell, Kate Adie – that was just a few, and just yesterday. So for today's 3 4 Friday #fridayreads we've picked three that we've particularly enjoyed watching come in.

A new title by Robert Harris is always a reason for celebration, and one of our finest exponents of ‘The Literary Thriller’ is back with a fictionalised account of one of history’s most notorious political scandals and injustices: ‘The Dreyfus Affair’.

In 'An Officer and A Spy' Harris tells the events through the eyes of Colonel Georges Picquart, the head of the then French counter-espionage section. The pace is fast, and Harris – as he did with ‘Pompeii’ and ‘Lustrum’ – draws subtle parallels with our own times, a warning from history and the heady mix of racial hatred, political manipulation and the role of the press...

Two years ago, Mostly Books was extremely proud to host one of the only UK events for the new James Bond novel written by Jeffery Deaver (at the risk of being 'infatuated by past glories' read about the event here). A new Bond novel is thus something we're always up for here in the shop...

Two years on, and now William Boyd has taken up the challenge of following in the steps of Ian Fleming. Boyd has set his novel ‘Solo’ in 1969, which sees Bond sent on a mission to a fictional African country, encountering a particularly nasty villain, escaping death and then setting off on a revenge mission - against orders.

Boyd knows a thing or two about spy novels, and writing about post-colonial Africa made his name as a young novelist. It seems a match made in heaven, and early reviews are very good.

Finally, Bill Bryson is an American writer that we Brits have adopted (and a big favourite of ours). His latest book ‘One Summer’ is another fabulously entertaining adventure, this time examining his native America through the lens of the iconic Summer of 1927 when America truly stepped out of the shadows of ‘old Europe’ to take its place amongst the world’s great nations.

The birth of talking pictures, television, a biblical flood, Al Capone, Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh. All are given the Bryson treatment, and it’s witty, energetic and eye-opening.

What’s more, we have signed first editions in the shop now, so please let us know if we can reserve one for you...

A Diamond Is Forever - Carte Blanche and Jeffery Deaver

By a series of very fortunate events, last Friday we were proud to host one of only three public events in the UK to coincide with the launch of the new James Bond novel 'Carte Blanche', with the book's remarkable author Jeffery Deaver.

Having been fortunate to have had the opportunity of meeting Jeffery earlier in the year, and on discovering his passion for science (particularly in the field of forensics), a few light bulbs had been set off, and an intriguing germ of an idea for an event was born; one at the suitably Bond-esque setting of the Diamond Synchrotron, just down the A34 from Abingdon:

See what I mean?

So, on a busy bank holiday Friday evening, in blazing sunshine, and despite horrendous traffic, two Bentley Continental GTs rolled up outside Diamond House (that's the square building to the left of the main synchrotron, connected via umbilical chord). Deaver - a writer who long ago acknowledged a huge debt to Ian Fleming - has reunited Bond with Bentley in the new book, hence the suitably 007-branded ride:

Jeffery was whisked up to the boardroom for a presentation from several of the Diamond staff led by Dominic Semple, and then taken on a tour of the facility itself:

Jeffery was shown the science and engineering behind the facility, and its use in everything from materials research to drug design, via food manufacture, document preservation and the potential for forensic analysis.

Meanwhile, the Mostly Books team of staff and volunteers were setting up in the atrium in preparation for the main event.

Naturally, there were drinks on arrival, and - of course - there were cocktails. "Mary Goodnight Fizz" was the non-alcoholic option, but the main drink was a Vodka Martini. There may have been instructions on how it was to be prepared... 

As the guests started to arrive, it became clear that several had come from some distance: Surrey, Sussex, Manchester, Edinburgh, Tulsa OK and Las Vegas...

Guests also had a chance to to take a peak inside the synchrotron, thanks to the Diamond staff on hand giving sneak-peek tours. It's a breathtaking facility, hard to believe it's on our doorstep, with much of the research going on possible nowhere else in the world.

Jeffery had quite an entrance into the atrium, down the stairs from the main building:

There was still the link to be made in the introduction: was Bond still relevant, and why the link between research, technology and the cultural phenomenon that is Bond? Ian Fleming was one of the first to realise that conflict in the modern world would be fought - and won - by superior information, which meant superior technology. In 'Carte Blanche', Deaver brings Bond bang up-to-date, with iPhones and apps - but you can draw a line to this from Enigma in the Second World War. Laboratories are as much in the front line as soldiers when it comes to responding to the challenges of the modern world...

Far from being outdated, Bond is probably more relevant now than he ever was. Fleming created a hero whose characteristics - loyalty, duty, right action - can be applied anew in every age. (Deaver's book recognises this incidentally in the dedication to Fleming at the beginning: "To the man who taught us we could still believe in heroes").

Jeffery is a consumate speaker, and took the audience through the story of how he came to write Carte Blanche, how Fleming influenced him as a young reader, and how a 'Jeffery Deaver novel' comes to be written. (Gaskella has written a fabulous summary of his talk here).

We had questions - and then a signing afterwards. Jeffery seems to genuinely enjoy meeting readers, and I can see why his die-hard fans (or which several were in the audience) travel great distances to meet him.

As the evening drew to a close, Jeffery posed with two of the cocktail waiters:

 ...the adrenaline-drenched booksellers...

 ...and then those Bentleys whipped him away, bound for the Hay Festival the next day via an Oxfordshire Hotel.

There is a list as long as your arm to thank, but to Laura, Dominic and Patrick at Diamond - the venue performed superbly and all the staff were amazing. Mostly Books staff and helpers had a very late night, and were a stunningly dressed and hard-working team throughout. To all our guests who braved a drive out to the wilds of Oxfordshire on the cusp of a bank holiday weekend - I hope you had a very entertaining and memorable evening (and are now enjoying the book!). Thanks to Hodder in entrusting us with one of their most important authors and for giving us an amazing opportunity. And the redoubtable Katy, from Colman-Getty, now has a working knowledge of X-Ray defraction to go with her incredible skills in PR.

But mostly, our thanks must go to Jeffery Deaver himself, at the eye of the Bond-hurricane, on a strength-sapping launch schedule - all best wishes from everyone there on the evening, and good luck with the global tour...

Dubai Another Day: Jeffery Deaver and Carte Blanche

By a series of unlikely (and fortuitous) events, I was very lucky to be invited to attend the official unveiling of the title and cover design for the new Bond novel, commissioned by the Ian Fleming estate from thriller writer Jeffrey Deaver.

"Carte Blanche" was launched this morning here in Dubai, and it's been interesting to watch the spread of the official press release around the Internet on various news sites. The BBC's take on the story is here. Hodder have also launched an official website to coincide with the book.

I don't know how long they agonised over the title and the cover, but it's a blinder. The title is simple, foreshadows well and leaves lots of room for the Bond fans to speculate on before the book launch. The use of the smoke is also interesting: I'm thinking cigarettes (almost a taboo now in the West) so immediately there's a hint of the illicit. Cover design is such a perilous process, Hodder deserve big congrats for doing a fine job (and that's not just me being a bit of a suck-up BTW, I genuinely think it's fab).

(What I would say though to Hodder is test the cover material - it would be a shame if we got into Ottolenghi 'Plenty' territory here, with lots of books going back as damaged having picked up dinks and scrapes - white covers seem unforgiving within the book trade's supply chain...)

Anyway, just in case anyone is in any doubt, Bond is BIG, and there is huge interest in Ian Fleming's creation, which has become something of a global cultural institution. What has been more interesting to me (as a bookseller) is to understand a bit more about Jeffrey Deaver's involvement and motivation in taking on the mantle of 007.

It turns out that Fleming was instrumental in forming the writer that Deaver became, and Jeffrey devoured all of the Ian Fleming novels before he had even seen a single movie. He credits Fleming with teaching him about how to keep readers turning a page, how to write suspense (and to do it without the need of gruesome acts or extreme violence). And unlike Sebastian Faulkes, Jeffrey is very much setting Bond in the here and now, with Dubai as the setting for part of the action.

I guess that's as it should be. Bond - and the world - have evolved and become way more complex than when Fleming originally created him. But having someone like Deaver in control now - who genuinely has Fleming running through his literary veins - has got to be good news for anyone who appreciates top notch thriller writing when the book is released at the end of May.

It's obviously been a fantastic experience for a little bookseller. I've had the opportunity to meet and get to know some great authors (not to mention other booksellers) - and there have been plenty of suitably Bond-esque touches to the trip, from vodka martinis on arrival, to 007 nibbles in the hotel rooms. A huge thank you to Hodder and their sponsors for making the whole thing happen (and I now have to convince other members of staff that I was doing lots of serious work out here, and not just taking advantage of a shameless freebie. This may be a big ask, as the saying goes)

The details of the plot are being kept well under wraps, so I've been speculating as to where the Dubai action might take place. Mmmm, what chance a baddy or two being hurled off the Burj Khalifa?