Blog Archive ~ May 2010
Four days in India
I've just returned from a wonderful trip to Mumbai to open the new Landmark bookstore: 40,000 square feet on one floor, 150,000 original titles, as well as a music section, games area and reading room. Quite fantastic. We launched And Thereby Hangs a Tale in Mumbai, so that India was a week ahead of the rest of the world. The result has been that the British edition has gone into its third re-print before publication date on Friday. My thanks to all those Indians, not only for buying the book, but also for Tweeting about it.
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Britain's Bestseller
So at last it's all over. Or is it? We have a Prime Minister and a Deputy Prime Minister, even if we don't have a Leader of the Opposition. If what had happened during the past few weeks was in a novel, we would be at about chapter 3 by now, and like any damn good story, Heaven knows how it's going to end. But the scribblers of Fleet Street will be very happy, as they will be guaranteed copy day after day after day. And I can tell you, not one of them will be able to predict the ending - which should always be the case with a good novel.
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Publication weekend
A fascinating weekend started with publication day of And Thereby Hangs a Tale. A celebration in the evening with a visit to Sweet Charity at the Haymarket Theatre, with Tamzin Outhwaite taking the lead in a thoroughly enjoyable romp. On Saturday, Mary and I travelled up to Oxford to attend Jacqueline Gold's wedding at Blenheim Palace - not a bad setting.
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A view of the sea
I am currently in Majorca completing the ninth draft of Only Time Will Tell, the first volume of The Clifton Chronicles. I normally don't break my routine to post a blog, but yesterday I learned from my friends in India that And Thereby Hangs a Tale had gone to No.1 in the Bestseller list, a feat they claim has never been achieved for short stories other than by R K Narayan.
Tags: blog