Features

Ellie Thompson, the author of 19 Years, shares some info on what it's like being a new author! Did you always dream of becoming an author? As much as I have always been an avid reader, I never had a dream to write my own book. How did you come about writing your book? Was that your intention or did you start writing for fun? For over 20 years I had friends and family nagging me to write a book. They insisted it would make a good story and raise awareness. ...

Danny Toma, the author of Outside the Wire: A Foreign Service Officer in Southern Iraq, was the featured speaker at the July 6th meeting of the Oxford [Mississippi] Lions Club! Toma, a veteran of the United States Department of State, spoke about his newest book, Outside the Wire: A Foreign Service Officer in Southern Iraq, which is an account of his sixteen months of service with a Provincial Reconstruction Team during the Iraq War. Sales were brisk after the meeting, and Toma was avail...

Michelle Young and Bryony Dique, the author and illustrator of The Moon's Beam, are having a book hunt! The Book hunt is to celebrate the upcoming release of the book, which will be available from the 29th of July! You can check out the details of the event here, why not see if you get lucky? If you are in or around the Hampshire area in the UK, then keep an eye out, you might find a surprise! If you didn't manage to find one and wanted to get a copy for yoursel...

Marion L Stapleton Harley, the author of Puddles and Pals, had a book signing event at The Castle Bookshop in Ludlow! See below an excerpt from the Bookshop: 'Originally opened in 1949 by Mr & Mrs Bell, the shop overlooks the market square in historical Ludlow. Their son Peter, continued the business until his death in 1997. The shop was then taken over by Stanton Stephens, who had worked there since 1989. He endeavours to keep the ethos and feel established by the Bell family, all those ...

Jeremy Moran, the author of Shadow of Exposure, shares some info on what it's like being a new author! Did you always dream of becoming an author? It’s always been a goal of mine to write and publish a novel but I never thought it would actually happen. I’ve always loved writing, the escape of it was and is brilliant; the romantic idealism of being a writing is absolutely alluring to me. What was your first job? Unironically I was a paper boy. I think I m...

Cleaner streets, safer oceans, beautiful communities… Let’s all come together and make that a reality, not just for Plastic Free July, but for the whole year! Plastic Free July is an attempt to help millions of people learn how they can make a difference, and protect our wonderful world. Below you will find a link to the Plastic Free July Website, which has some amazing tips on how you can do your bit. We picked out a few for this blog: - Avid coffee drinker? ...

Ian Hickman, the author of The Third Eye, shares some info on what it's like being a new author! Did you always dream of becoming an author? Not really. I probably started making up stories for my kids, and then some short stories for my own amusement. I did enter a short story competition run by ABC Radio. I was invited to read this “On Air”. It had to be a true story, with less than 500 words. What was your first job? At sixteen I left school and commenced work wit...

It’s World Chocolate Day, so we hope you are all indulging yourself! We thought to celebrate, we would share 10 sweet facts to get you in the mood for the delicious treat! To make 1 pound of chocolate, 400 cocoa beans are used! Each cacao tree on average produces 2500 cocoa beans. Before a harvest, a farmer has to wait four to five years before cacao trees are ready to produce their first beans. Around 50 million people, worldwide, depe...

It's National Picnic Month at the minute, and what a great month to have it on! We seem to have gotten very lucky with the weather recently, so why not make the most out of it and go out for a nice picnic! Better yet… Nothing beats laying in a nice spot, catching some sun, and reading a gripping thriller, or a light-hearted poetry book. If that sounds like something you’d like, keep reading to find 4 great reads, that will make a great companion for your picnic escapades. ...