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News 25 June 2004
Mainstream
is delighted to have acquired rights to COLOURS by
Observer journalist Henry McDonald. Born in 1965 McDonald grew
up at the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland and in this
book takes a journey through time from the bombs of the 1970s and
80s to the boom of the present day. As a young boy he witnessed
IRA men and British soldiers being shot down outside his front
door. But despite being caught up in civil war he managed to have
a relatively normal childhood. He escaped into the fantasy world
of Marvel comics, discovered punk in 1978 and a year later joined
a group of young soccer hooligans. In one poignant moment he describes
being a holiday camp with his parents and being asked to sing a
song. Instead of a pop tune he broke into a high pitched version
of 'Armoured cars and tanks and guns' - 'The Men behind the wire',
a song penned by a republican balladeer to condemn the British
policy of internment. 32 years later that same holiday camp is
surrounded by barbed wire and is a holding centre for refugees
fleeing trouble around the world. In ALL MY COLOURS McDonald seeks
to reveal the real Ireland lurking behind the veils of the Celtic
Tiger, of River Dance, Dublin's Temple Bar district, U2 and the
peace process. The result is an accessible all encompassing history
of the Irish troubles put into the context of popular culture.
Far from being naval gazing ALL MY COLOURS is outward looking,
forward thinking and contemporary. Publication will coincide with
the 10th Anniversary of the ceasefire in October 2004.
Women's magazines are clamouring for interviews with Diane Blood (FLESH AND BLOOD), Catherine Hill (DANCING IN THE SEA), Suzanne Schlosberg (1001 NIGHTS WITHOUT SEX) and Jan Michael (FLYING CROOKED). They will be confirmed within the next week.
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We have just had an offer from a major Australian publisher for ANZ rights to TERROR TRACKER. Manuscripts were only sent out last week. The deadline for US publishers wishing to make an offer is 2nd July.
World
Spanish rights for IN HITLER'S BUNKER have been
sold to EL ATENO, Grupo ILHSA in Argentina. A leading UK national
broadsheet has confirmed an exclusive interview with Armin when
the book is published in September.
The
media response to ON THE MAKE, HOW THE SCOTS TOOK OVER
LONDON has been fantastic. To date David Stenhouse has
been on Newsnight, Sky News (twice!), BBC Five Live, Radio Scotland
and the World Service. He has written pieces in the Times, Daily
Mail, Sunday Times, Herald and Sunday Express. There have been
feature pieces by other people in the Telegraph and Mail, and reviews
in various papers including:
"The entertaining and feisty book is enough to start a campaign demanding an English parliament." The Financial Times
"David Stenhouse's entertaining, informative volume expands
on the truism that Scots dominate politics, the armed forces, the
police, engineering, medicine, banking and media."
Peter McKay - The Evening Standard
"Intelligent and sprightly... keenly observed and articulately argued." Scotland on Sunday
In
anticipation of the 2004 Tour de France, The Observer Sport Monthly
have just devoted six pages to Paul Howard's diary from last year
when he rode the Tour de France ahead of his heroes. The full story
was published in RIDING HIGH: SHADOW CYCLING THE TOUR DE
FRANCE which Mainstream published in Autumn 2003.
Tod
Volpe continues to make waves with FRAMED. The
BBC Radio 4 programme 'Between Ourselves' featuring a 30 minute
interview with Tod will be broadcast on July 27th. As mentioned
previously the Montel Williams Show will air on July 8th.
And Finally...
At less than 14 weeks Grace Campbell has just rolled over much to the delight of her proud parents Bill Campbell and Sharon Atherton.. I'm sure my own daughter was about 5 months before she rolled over so Grace is clearly a genius!