A belated happy New Year to everybody.
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| New Year fireworks at Tignes |
I've had a few weeks away from my blog because I've
been on holiday for Christmas and the New Year. We spent Christmas in Wales,
arriving after the snow that would have cut us off had vanished, leaving us
with grey misty days that could have been dull but, where we were, were
strangely beautiful.
The snow returned just as we were leaving.
There wasn't enough
to stop us coming back to London where we were able to enjoy an afternoon of
dancing tango at the Royal Festival Hall before we were off again to see the
New Year in in the French Alps. There the snow fell rather extravagantly, but when the resort wasn't closed down because of the avalanche danger, we had some lovely skiing.
I wouldn't normally apologise for taking a
holiday during what so many people (admittedly mainly Americans) now call “the
Holidays”, but it was an unfortunate time to be away as it meant that we were
still in France when Endeavour press published Burke in the Land of Silver.
When Burke in
the Land of Silver was first published, I didn't really understand how
vital it is for writers to promote their books. I thought this was something I
could leave to my publisher. I was wrong. Nowadays a good part of an author's
life – any author, from bestsellers like JK Rowling to less well-known writers
like me – is spent promoting their work. With their publication of Burke in the Land of Silver, Endeavour have
given me a second chance to make a first impression. Perhaps being out on the
ski slopes when that chance came along wasn't a great idea, but sometimes
family commitments and the difficulty of organising everybody's diary so we can
holiday together is arguably more important than getting my blog out on time.
Still, even if I haven’t been busy on my own blog,
you will have had the chance to read things I have written elsewhere. Sandra W
has kindly offered me the chance to share my hopes and plans for 2018 on her
bookloverwormblog while Jennifer Macaire has allowed me space to talk about the research that goes into a book like Burke in the Land of
Silver. On Thursday there will be a piece
about the real James Burke on Jenny Kane’s blog (http://jennykane.co.uk) and there will be
other stuff coming soon – watch out for details on my Facebook page and Twitter.
And if you have a blog and would like to write something (or would like me to
write something for you), that would be just amazing.
Anyway, just in case you haven't worked it out, Burke in the Land of Silver is now available
on Kindle on Amazon. It's a thrilling story based on the real-life adventures of James Burke who was
spying for Britain in Argentina at the beginning of the 19th century. It's just
£2.99 on Kindle. A paperback edition should be along soon.
The second book in the James Burke series, Burke and
the Bedouin, will be published on 19 January. It is available to pre-order at
the ludicrously cheap price of 99p. Get your pre-order in soon!
If you live in North America the books continue to
be available from Simon & Schuster.
Anyway, that's all from me for now. Do look out for the posts that will be appearing on blogs all over the place and for news about my much promised new website, which really should be up and running very soon. Most importantly, do all have a very happy (if belated) New Year.
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