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Allison & Busby

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URL: http://allisonandbusby.blogspot.com/
Updated: 4 hours 33 min ago

Allison & Busby

    Books or chocolate...books or chocolate...There’s doom and gloom every time I turn on the news these days – credit crunch this and inflation that – which isn't much fun for anyone. And while browsing the bbc website this afternoon I came across details of a survey about the ‘essentials’ for different groups of society. From Kit-Kats to croissants via cars, it gives you an interesting viewpoint on what we can’t seem to live without today and will scrimp and save to keep. All I can say is thank goodness for my fantastic library, which is doing a great deal to keep my bank balance looking healthy. And it's open seven days a week no less (ha – bet you’re all really jealous now!) and up to 13 books out at one time! You can check out the survey here:

    And you might like to take advantage of your local library with some great author events - check out the A&B events calendar here for upcoming dates.
    Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

    Do you often poke your friends? In a facebook sense, that is? Well, if the idea of a facebook for, err, books, sounds like your idea of heaven, you must head over to www.bookrabbit.com. This new site allows you to upload pictures of your shelves at home (or in my case some very untidy heaps from before I moved) and browse through the bookshelves of others, all with the idea of kicking off discussion. It’s compulsive stuff – come on, you know you check through (OK – snoop is a more accurate word) people’s bookcases!

    They’re even working on some very impressive technology, called ‘Automatic Bookshelf’ that will be able to ‘read’ and recognise the spines of your photographed books: finally computer wizardry does something worthwhile. Keep your eyes peeled too as sometimes we nice publishing folk get a bit giddy and give away books – such as the fantastic steampunk novel The Affinity Bridge our Snowbooks friends are bringing out soon – if you want a proof click here but get in there quick! And, if all this talk about peering at other people's bookshelves is giving you book envy, have a look at the A&B crime page up right now – head to here     to check it out.
    The month that time forgot...
    ...err, what happened to May at the A&B office? You might very well be asking that question, and the answer would be - holidays, bank holidays, weddings (not ours), sales trips, meeting new authors, yet more glow-in-the-dark fun, the appearance and disappearance of summer and moving house - finally!
    Yes, I'm now an official Essex girl and enjoying the commute with plenty of time to read - sigh of contentment!
    Anyhoo - more anon.
    Good ol' fashioned glow-in-the-dark fun
    So, here are the photos of our stand at the book fair taken Monday morning before I managed to generally clutter and mess the space up! The lovely thing about the stand was having a space where anyone and everyone could (and believe me did) roll up. We saw A&B authors past and present (including Christopher West, whose Death of a Blue Lantern is reissued next month, a mystery set in Communist China that with the current headlines is very topical). And, particularly pleasantly, work experience guys and gals past and present. Hello in particular to Sophie, our high-flying friend now over at SPCK, who's a regular visitor to the blog (waves). Apologies to Jas who appeared at our stand looking so professional that it took more than a minute or two to place her. The idea of photographing our work experience people to aid future recollections has been voiced again in the office. Roll up for your mugshots here?
    And in reference to the title of my post - earlier this week we got finished copies of Rachel Caine's Glass Houses which prompted the entire office to stash copies in cupboards and under desks and excitedly peek at them. No, we haven't taken complete leave of our senses, we wanted to fully appreciate the very cool glow in the dark finish that we've added to the cover design. Spooky.
    Catching upSo, three days out of the office and my inbox nearly exploded with spam - a great thing to welcome you back to your desk eh? Getting back and following up lots of things from meetings and random bumpings-into has stopped us talking about the fair much - but I do have photos of the A&B home from home at Earl's Court, so I do intend to blog about it soon.

    In the meantime, an email offer from Borders prompts me to post - save 40% on any full priced book this weekend, not to be sniffed at I reckon. Click here to print off the voucher.

    Good weekend to all!
    My mates the printers have done me proud
    It’s April, the sun is shining as I sit under the skylight at A&B central and various items have poured in from the printers leaving me feeling happy with the world. The latest catalogue covering July – September (as well as a few other titles which crept into our Spring schedule) is in and no glaring omissions have made my blood run cold yet. You can have a virtual flick through by clicking the link on the lefthand side of the A&B homepage. A rather nifty leaflet featuring our summer reading picks has arrived and the pièce de résistance, our glorious A&B bags have made an appearance too, and very handy they’ve already proven themselves to be. Glorious as they are, we had to share some with the world. In steps dovegreyreader who has done a prize-draw giveaway of some to lucky readers of her blog.

    Ah, I'm a happy chappie. And we have a winner!I'm absolutely delighted to announce that our author Colleen Gleason has won the DA BWAHA Tournament for best book in the romance genre with the first book in her vampire romance series The Rest Falls Away. The tournament (where readers vote for their favourites online) was sponsored by Smart Bitches and Dear Author blogs and saw Gleason up against Nora Roberts and her book High Noon in the final round. But Gleason bagged the trophy, and deservedly so! For all you UK readers who are dying to know what the fuss is about, you won't have to wait long. The Rest Falls Away will be out in the UK at the end of this month!

    In fact, it's really all I've been thinking about this week... and I'm not exaggerating. I've been working on the UK cover and I have three words to say on that subject: Purples, Pantones, and Palpitations. Hey, that's actually not a bad title for a "How To" book or humorous memoir - with subtitle: "A Day in the Life of a Graphic Designer" (I might copyright that). But I digress. I have renewed respect for any designer out there who battles with picking the right colour when your computer screen shows you one thing, your printer prints out another, neither matches your colour bridge and you have to trust the CMYK/RGB figures instead of your eyes. I've actually been dreaming in purple pantones (my boyfriend was a nice violet hue, the shopkeeper a sickly off-mauve) but I digress again...

    Anyway, all will be revealed tomorrow. Stay tuned.



    April Fools Day...…was yesterday and was it just me or was the world a little more dour than I think it had cause to be? The only ‘joke’ I came across in the media was on the BBC Breakfast show; a segment on penguins that have advanced on the evolutionary scale by learning to fly. No offence Aunty Beeb, it was cute, but surely you can do better? Anyone else have any good'uns?

    Speaking of witty, clever and original things (you're probably getting used to the fact that I rarely fail to!), I am waiting with baited breath for the finished copies of the Boomsday paperback that are due in from the printer today…drum roll please.

    And here's the penguin segment, if you are interested in some OK-ish CGI!