News 25 January 2002

TOPICAL BOOKS:

COVER UP OF CONVENIENCE is in the headlines again with the appeal of Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi (the man who the authors claim was wrongly convicted of the Lockerbie bombing). It is taking place in Holland this week and this time TV cameras have been allowed to cover the case. The appeal has been scheduled to last for three weeks, although there may be adjournments. 

Mainstream have added another title to the Spring list. SEEDS OF FIRE by Gordon Thomas has been bought from Dandelion Publishing in the States. They control world rights and to date have sold the book to 33 countries. One of the more surprising sales is to China's publishing conglomerate - the Communist Party controlled Xinhua Publishing Corporation. Thomas spent a year in China reporting on the events surrounding the Tiananmen Square massacre - before he was ordered to leave the country. In never-before published official documents, SEEDS OF FIRE reveals briefing papers from the CIA that show how China may launch an all-out nuclear attack against America 'before 2015.' Gordon Thomas, 69, whose books have sold 45 million copies world-wide, said from his home in Dublin, Ireland: 'I am stunned and delighted that in effect the Chinese government is prepared to let its billion-plus population have a chance to read what their government is planning to do. Become the next Superpower by confronting the United States.'

BOOKS IN THE MEDIA:

Paul Ferris will be on Richard and Judy on Channel 4 this week. He has also been asked to write a piece for the Telegraph Review section. THE FERRIS CONSPIRACY remains a consistent best seller in spite of being ignored by the review sections of the national press when it was first published. The book features at Number 8 in the Mainstream on-line bestseller list.

And FInally...

HOW TO SPOT A BASTARD BY HIS STAR SIGN has just been published in the US by St Martins Press. The first review has just been published in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY:

'Repeating their British-style title epithet so often that it loses any pejorative value, the authors ("both fire signs") offer firmly tongue-in-cheek characterizations of men, organized by sign, for the date-weary hetero woman.'

To date the book has been published in Australia, Germany, Italy, USA and UK. One wonders if there are no bastards in France or Spain or whether French and Spanish women just know how to spot them already!

On-line sales have been going so well that we thought it would be of interest to create a Best Seller list on the web site. Our first Top Ten is now live, unsurprisingly headed by JIHAD! And BIN LADEN but closely followed by DON'T GIVE UP THE DAY JOB and THE DREAM SOLUTION.