Mainstream is delighted to have acquired the rights to THE GHOST RUNNER, The Greatest Long Distance Runner You Never Knew by Bill Jones. It is the true and heartbreaking story of John Tarrant who as a teenager fought five boxing matches for a total of £17 which in the eyes of the sporting establishment forever transformed him from an amateur sportsman to a professional disqualifying him from ever running for his country in spite of being Olympic standard.
Tarrant's life became a struggle against prejudice, politics and hypocrisy. He began to take part in races without an allocated number resulting in headline news regarding the 'ghost runner', the outlaw athlete championed by the media but rejected by the sporting establishment.
The books draws on Tarrant's own letters and has been written with the full support of his family. There is already an enormous amount of interest in film rights. Bill Campbell of Mainstream bought the book direct from Bill Jones, a former executive with Granada TV. World rights are available. For further information contact fiona.brownlee@mainstreampublishing.com
Elizabeth Taylor to China and two offers on the table from Russia.
Bin Laden offer from Romania and news that is to be reissued by Skyhorse in the US who recently acquired the book as part of the Arcade backlist. They are also reissuing an updated version of Masterminds of Terror, first published by Mainstream in 2003.
Kate has just been sold to China bringing the total of territories to 11 for that title.
LATEST SERIAL DEALS:
Treachery by Chapman Pincher to the Mail on Sunday
Dear Joan by Tony Ross to Woman's Weekly
Witness by David Smith with Carol Ann Lee to the Daily Mail
Excellent coverage for Mainstream titles recently, with Chapman Pincher's Treachery making the front cover of the Mail on Sunday Review section. Also making a cover was Kasey Edward's 30 Something and the Clock is Ticking, with her interview in The Guardian Family running as the supplement's lead story. Another Mainstream extract was Tony Ross' Dear Joan, which got a double page spread in Woman's Weekly magazine and a mention on the cover.
Alexander Shannon's The Underworld Captain has been getting great coverage, withh a four-star review in News of the World claiming that the book 'gets to the heart of Shannon's astonishing double life'.
Last year, when Carol Ann Lee's One of Your Own was first published, it received massive critical acclaim, with The Independent calling it 'a compelling read...a measured, humane effort to get beyond the hysteria and the horror', the Mail on Sunday describing it as 'scruplously researched and clear-sighted' and the Sunday Times labelling it 'as good a biography as we're likely to get'. Paperback reviews have already started to come in with The Herald saying that 'Lee lets the readers make up their own minds - and the evicence is damning'. Lee's second book related to serial killer Myra Hindley, Witness, written in association with the prime witness for the prosecution will be published next month and serial has already been sold.
14/5/2011 Steven McLaughlin, Squaddie, Waterstones Warrington 10-4pm
16/5/2011 John Hartson, Please Don't Go, Cowbridge Lit Festival, 7.30pm
21/5/2011 Steven McLaughlin, Squaddie, Waterstones Carlisle 10-4pm
27/5/2011 Steven McLaughlin, Squaddie, Beacon Hill School, 10-4pm
7/6/2011 John Hartson, Please Don't Go, Waterstones Leadenhall, London 12-1.30pm
8/6/2011 John Hartson, Please Don't Go, Waterstones East Kilbride, Glasgow 12.30-1.30pm and The Celtic Store, Argyle Street, Glasgow 4.30-5.30pm
14/6/2011 John Hartson, Please Don't Go, The Uplands Bookshop, Swansea 12-1.30pm
18/6/2011 Shaun Attwood, Hard Time, Waterstones Trafford Centre, Manchester 11-5pm
18/6/2011 Roger Hermiston, Clough and Revie, Waterstones Bury St Edmunds, 11-1pm
All at Mainstream were saddened to hear of the death of author Claude Choules on 5 May at the age of 110. His autobiography, The Last of the Last, was coincidentally published in paperback on the day of his death. He was the last surviving veteran of the First World War.