News 7 March 2003

Following the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed last week we are updating MASTERMINDS OF TERROR before publication. The authors are providing an addition to the introduction and an epilogue which will include details of the arrests of Ramzi Binalshibh in September 2002 and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in March 2003.'

International publication is now confirmed for Thursday May 8th with serialisation embargoed until the weekend of May 4th. In the UK serial rights have already been sold to a leading Sunday broadsheet. Rights have now been sold in Germany, Holland, Latin America and Australia. We could not hope for better pre publicity, I am sure that there will be many more rights deals at the London Book Fair if not before!

HITLER'S BASTARD is an exciting new acquisition which will be presented at the London Book Fair. It is the memoir of Eric Pleasants. The manuscript was discovered by Ian Sayer and Douglas Botting, authors of the international best seller NAZI GOLD. During his life Pleasants flirted with communism, was a member of the British Union of Fascists and latterly became a pacifist. The son of a Norfolk gamekeeper and one time bodyguard to the Queen of England he was arrested in occupied Jersey during the 2nd World War.

He was interned in Nazi Correction camps where he was recruited in to the British Free Corps - a tiny composite unit of the Waffen-SS. He moved to Berlin where he fell in love with and married a young German woman whose father was in the SS. He survived the bombing of Dresden and attempted to escape along the sewers of Berlin but was arrested by the KGB and sentenced to seven years hard labour in Russia. Only with Stalin's death in 1953 was Pleasants finally repatriated. Although he wrote his memoirs they were never published and only discovered when he died aged 87. HITLER'S BASTARD is a unique social account of his life in Germany during the war. For further information contact fiona.brownlee@mainstreampublishing.com

Following last weeks news that we had acquired world rights for THE LOOKED AFTER KID we have had interest from numerous publishers, particularly in the US. To follow quotes from a selection of readers letters which the author has received:

'Congratulations on having faced your demons and finding the courage to bare so much of yourself with such dignity and calm. What a service you've done and what an inspiration to many.'

'The book was great, best biog I've read since 'basketball diaries'. Read it in one sitting.'

'I found your writing very compelling, and was very moved by your life story.

I am so glad that your life has been so rich and that you have achieved the dreams that you managed to hold on to. Many people have their dreams crushed out of them, but yours have sustained you even in the worst times.'

'Fantastic! I couldn't put the book down. Throughout my Social Work training no other book has been so interesting, useful or as real... it should be compulsory reading for all workers and carers.'

IN SEARCH OF TIGER book proofs are winging their way to golf writers, golf professionals and golf shops throughout the country. No one with any interest in the sport will be able to escape the fact that this book is being published! Author, Tom Callahan, will be visiting the UK at the time of publication. Extract rights have been bought by a leading Sunday broadsheet to run on the 6th April and second rights have been sold to a leading men's magazine.

And Finally...

There will be a drinks party at the Scottish Publishers stand (B100) at the London Book Fair on Sunday 16th March from 5.30-6.30pm. The party is sponsored by the Isle of Arran distillery so if you are going to be at the Book Fair come and raise a glass of whisky to toast 30 years of the Scottish Publishers Association and 25 years of Mainstream Publishing!