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News 18 June 2004
Mainstream
is delighted to have acquired KILLING CHARLIE,
The Bloody, Bullet-Riddled Hunt for the Most Powerful Great Train
Robber by Wensley Clarkson. It charts the extraordinary rise and
spectacular fall of Charlie Wilson, the most powerful villain to
emerge from the Great Train Robbery. Wilson moved on to become
a drug emperor of unquenchable savagery and KILLING CHARLIE takes
us on a frantic, deadly trip through five decades in the London
underworld and the murky international drugs scene, including a
long spell in Spain and forays into the most lethal killing fields
of all: South America. Containing interviews with many of Charlie
Wilson's former associates, KILLING CHARLIE reveals how Wilson
struck fear into many other criminals and how, in the end, he desperately
tried to 'retire', only to discover the inevitable - that gangsters
never rest in peace.
We
are also extremely excited to have acquired North American rights
to our UK bestseller SOLDIER FIVE. We published
SOLDIER FIVE earlier this year to great critical acclaim and it
remained in the Sunday Times bestseller list for several weeks.
Described in the Daily Mail as an 'exciting and awe-inspiring
account of an operation which went badly wrong' Mike Coburn,
one of the last members of the Bravo Two Zero mission to tell his
story, seeks to set the record straight and honour the memory of
his three comrades who were killed. The Mail went on to say that
the book 'fills in many of the details which were left unexplained' by
earlier bestsellers like Andy McNab's BRAVO TWO ZERO and Chris
Ryan's THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY. Mainstream is publishing in paperback
in November 2004. If you are interested in North American rights
please contact Fiona.brownlee@mainstreampublishing.com Translation
rights are handled by ILA. Dutch rights have already been sold
to Aschehoug.
We
can now confirm that AMONGST THE MARINES has been
sold to Random House Australia. There has been an enormous amount
of interest in serial and we anticipate confirming a deal within
the next couple of weeks.
FLESH AND BLOOD continues to generate huge amounts of media interest. Professor Lord Winston has just written a foreword which is exciting both in terms of public recognition and in medical circles.
One
of the most important books Mainstream has ever published is LOST
LIVES, a chronological catalogue of all those killed in
Northern Ireland. Paul Murphy, Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland recently referred to the new edition as an 'extraordinary
book' and wrote of this 'unlikely bestseller' that 'it
is so much more than a research work. The quiet dignity afforded
to each victim and the actuate sensitivity with which each story
is told allow the force of these terrible tragedies to burn all
the more intensely.' Personally I have never felt so proud
to be involved in the publication of any book. It deserves to be
on every bookshelf in every country in the world as a reminder
of the pain and loss on both sides in every civil war. It has remained
a bestseller since it was first published in 1999 and I hope will
continue to make its mark.
Mainstream
has dominated ITV this week. Jan de Vries gave
a wonderful interview on the popular day time chat show THIS MORNING
on June 9th and Les McKeown was interviewed on
GMTV on the same channel a few hours earlier to promote his documentary
which went out that evening. The documentary went out on Channel
4 and Channel 5 are now interested in doing another documentary
about the former Bay City Roller.
And Finally...
Mainstream author, Alan Don, is diversifying from crime writing to luxury holidays on the West Coast of Scotland. His latest venture is at Lochwood House in the beautiful setting of Lochgoilhead. To see what writing a bestselling crime book can do for you go to www.visitscotland.co.uk