New Book News... by Lynne Benton

 It’s so hard at the moment to think about anything else when the news from Ukraine is so appalling. 

And in some ways it feels really heartless to even think about trying to promote my latest book at such a time – but if I don’t do it, who will?  And if not now, when it’s just been published, when? 

"Billy and the Queen" is a middle-grade book set in 1953, the year of the Queen's Coronation.  It's the story of ten-year-old Billy, who is very excited about the prospect of going to London to see the Queen and the whole Coronation procession, so when the promised trip falls through he is very fed up.  However, his schoolfriends are more concerned about the mysterious stranger in the village who they are convinced is a dangerous spy, so Billy agrees to investigate him.  But the spy has a lovely dog, just the sort Billy has always wanted, so he is torn between wanting to get to know the dog while investigating her owner for possible criminal activities.  Then, just before the Coronation is due to happen, things take a dramatic turn when Billy overhears something terrible, which might even threaten the Queen herself...

Given the subject matter, it seemed obvious to me that the best time for this book to come out would be in the year of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.  So rather than waiting to have it published by a mainstream publisher, which I knew would take at least 18 months, I decided to publish it myself in good time for the Jubilee celebrations in June.

I have self-published books before, so I knew what to do – and after various lovely writer friends had kindly read the manuscript and made helpful comments, I was able to publish it last week, complete with a great cover designed by my son (who, luckily for me, just happens to be a professional graphic designer and illustrator!)

Anyway, that’s my blog for today, and thank you for reading it.

And if anyone is tempted to buy the book, it’s available from Amazon as both an ebook and a paperback.

website: lynnebenton.com

Diamonds are forever ..... by Miriam Halahmy

"It's our diamond birthday," my oldest friend Jean announced to me earlier this year. So me and the Queen - we arrived at the same point together somehow. There was no escaping it. On May 31st 2012 I would join the ranks of old codgers, senior citizens, OAPs, and the worse thing? I won't even get my freedom pass until July 2014.
The only way to cope was to plan a zillion celebrations - just like the Queen. I invited some of my writer friends over for what I called, 'A writer's brunch' in the garden. They loved it! We drank Prosecco and talked about books and I even thought of making a speech. Fortunately I abandoned that idea quickly and read a poem instead. No, I didn't take photos and plaster them all over Facebook. We just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company.
Although I didn't get any diamonds ( because I became one??) I got some great presents. This one could have been from the Queen I suppose. Actually it was from another friend, Liz, who went diamond the month before me. "Its got your dates on it," she quipped.

My lovely husband ( who gave me far too many presents) has discovered that you can get pictures onto mugs. So here is one of his presents ( the patriotic teapot is from my daughter.)

We all went out for lunch and suddenly, after the meals, my daughter says, "Turn round mum." And there was the cake. I was speechless ( unusual for me!)

The waitress was giving me such strange looks so I said, "Don't worry, its my book cover." She smiled with relief.
So if you are about to go diamond here are three tips :
1. Ignore the friends who gasp in horror - they don't mean anything, its just such a big number and everyone wants to be 40 something these days ( yeah, even the 20 somethings - don't ask me!)
2. Have lots of little parties and celebrations, it helps you to absorb the impact coming up to meet you.
3. And make sure you get your book cover on a cake - its utterly amazing!

I'm happy for you to comment, but don't feel you ALL have to wish me happy birthday - there was loads on Facebook and we don't want to clog ABBA up.