 | Huge congratulations to Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, whose debut novel, The Creak on the Stairs, has scooped the Best Thriller Debut at the Thrillzone Awards in the Netherlands. The book is the first in Eva's DI Elma series, and is also the winner of the Storytel Award (Best Crime Novel 2020), the Blackbird Award (Best Icelandic Crime Novel) and the CWA New Blood Dagger. |
The cover for Paul Burston's memoir, We Can Be Heroes, is now out in the world and we couldn't wait to show it to you.
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Activist. Journalist. Survivor. One man’s journey from prejudice to Pride.
Paul Burston wasn’t always the iconic voice of LGBTQ+ London that he is today. Paul came out in the mid-1980s, when ‘gay’ still felt like a dirty word, especially in the small Welsh town where he grew up. He moved to London hoping for a happier life, only to watch in horror as his new-found community was decimated by AIDS. But even in the depths of his grief, Paul vowed never to stop fighting back on behalf of his young friends whose lives were cut tragically short.
It’s a promise he’s kept to this day. As an activist he stormed the House of Commons during the debate over the age of consent. As a journalist he spoke up for the rights of the community at a time of tabloid homophobia and legal inequality. As a novelist he founded the groundbreaking Polari Prize.
But his lifestyle hid a dark secret, and Paul’sdemons—shame, trauma, grief—stalked him on every corner. In an attempt to silence them, he began to self-medicate.
From almost drowning at eighteen to a near-fatal overdose at thirty-eight, this is Paul’s story of what happened in the twenty years between, and how he carved out a life that his teenage self could scarcely have imagined. Emotional but often witty, We Can Be Heroes is an illuminating memoir of the eighties, nineties and noughties from a gay man who only just survived them.
We Can Be Heroes will be published by Amazon's Little A imprint in June 2023.
Paul Burston wasn’t always the iconic voice of LGBTQ+ London that he is today. Paul came out in the mid-1980s, when ‘gay’ still felt like a dirty word, especially in the small Welsh town where he grew up. He moved to London hoping for a happier life, only to watch in horror as his new-found community was decimated by AIDS. But even in the depths of his grief, Paul vowed never to stop fighting back on behalf of his young friends whose lives were cut tragically short.
It’s a promise he’s kept to this day. As an activist he stormed the House of Commons during the debate over the age of consent. As a journalist he spoke up for the rights of the community at a time of tabloid homophobia and legal inequality. As a novelist he founded the groundbreaking Polari Prize.
But his lifestyle hid a dark secret, and Paul’sdemons—shame, trauma, grief—stalked him on every corner. In an attempt to silence them, he began to self-medicate.
From almost drowning at eighteen to a near-fatal overdose at thirty-eight, this is Paul’s story of what happened in the twenty years between, and how he carved out a life that his teenage self could scarcely have imagined. Emotional but often witty, We Can Be Heroes is an illuminating memoir of the eighties, nineties and noughties from a gay man who only just survived them.
We Can Be Heroes will be published by Amazon's Little A imprint in June 2023.
| We are delighted to welcome Ben Slater to the Agency. Ben joins Emily Glenister's list and is a recipe developer, writer and food photographer who has worked in many establishments from Michelin-starred restaurants to oyster shacks. Ben’s food is ingredient, nostalgia and experience-led. He reluctantly accepts that caviar is delicious, but insists that it should be eaten on heavily buttered cheap white bread. Blitzed up pork scratchings are the ultimate oyster topping and heaven is a McDonald's apple pie hastily mashed into smooth vanilla gelato. |  |
 | Heather Darwent's debut, The Things We Do To Our Friends, was published last week and to celebrate, the book picked up some absolutely fantastic write-ups in various publications: "Rainy Edinburgh is beautifully evoked, class is interrogated, the characters are well rounded and some of the choppier moments will have your heart racing ... Heather Darwent has a great career ahead of her as a thriller writer." The Times "This book succeeds as pacy entertainment and Darwent's incisive gaze shows her to be a promising young writer." The Irish Examiner |
"Creepy yet compulsive, this impressive novel will stay with you long after reading."
Heat (Book of the Week)
"This twisted thriller about toxic friendships makes for compulsive reading."
Closer
The book is available in hardback, eBook and audio now!
Heat (Book of the Week)
"This twisted thriller about toxic friendships makes for compulsive reading."
Closer
The book is available in hardback, eBook and audio now!
| Also published last week was the gorgeous, new, uplifting novel from Maddie Please, Sunrise With the Silver Surfers! The book is out in eBook, audiobook and paperback, and is available to order now. Newly single at sixty, Elin Anderson decides it’s finally time for an adventure of her own. With her marriage to tedious Tom now officially over, Elin plans to visit the family she hasn’t seen in years. First stop: Australia! But going home is harder than Elin thought. Everywhere she turns Elin sees brightness and colour, which only makes her own life seem even more drab and beige. How has she let herself fade away? |  |
Determined to have some fun, Elin reluctantly agrees to join The Silver Surfers – a group of seniors who travel the coast, only caring about their next big adventure. Because life’s too short to watch the ocean when you could be making waves…
There’s only one catch – her road trip companion, Kit Pascoe. Kit is a man who doesn’t know the meaning of the word fun and makes it clear to Elin that this adventure will be subject to his own strict rules.
But with every new day, Elin slowly begins to rediscover who she really is. And she’s certain that rules are meant to be broken … aren’t they?
There’s only one catch – her road trip companion, Kit Pascoe. Kit is a man who doesn’t know the meaning of the word fun and makes it clear to Elin that this adventure will be subject to his own strict rules.
But with every new day, Elin slowly begins to rediscover who she really is. And she’s certain that rules are meant to be broken … aren’t they?
Bestselling author, M. W. Craven, was featured on ITV News last week as news broke of plans to adapt the first in his highly-anticipated news series, Fearless, for television.
Craven has a worldwide fan base with his books achieving best-seller status as far afield as Japan, and has recently concluded talks with a major streaming service to develop his latest work into a TV adaptation, following talks with household names including Steven Spielberg and Channing Tatum.
Craven has a worldwide fan base with his books achieving best-seller status as far afield as Japan, and has recently concluded talks with a major streaming service to develop his latest work into a TV adaptation, following talks with household names including Steven Spielberg and Channing Tatum.
While we can't reveal too much yet, more news is expected soon about this incredibly exciting news ... Watch this space!
 | The Cold Fix, the debut non-fiction book from Sara Barnes, has been nominated for a WOWSA Award 2022. The WOWSA Awards is an annual recognition of the world’s open water swimmers, products, services and events in 6 different categories via a global online poll. Having been a keen runner and cyclist all her life, in 2017 Sara Barnes was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis and found herself facing major surgery and a future of limited mobility. Rather than obsessing about what she could no longer |
do, she decided to focus on what she could do and took to the water of the tarns, river pools and lakes in her home county of Cumbria. A new appreciation of being in nature and love of cold-water swimming and immersion was born.
In The Cold Fix, Sara takes the reader on an enthralling journey, from her first tentative steps into the water, to meeting other swimmers from around the world who share her passion and who can help her answer the question: what is it about cold water that proves irresistible to an increasing number of people?
You can cast your vote for The Cold Fix here.
In The Cold Fix, Sara takes the reader on an enthralling journey, from her first tentative steps into the water, to meeting other swimmers from around the world who share her passion and who can help her answer the question: what is it about cold water that proves irresistible to an increasing number of people?
You can cast your vote for The Cold Fix here.
| Finally, following the success of her debut book, Mortal Monarchs: 1,000 Years of Royal Deaths, we are delighted to announce that current publisher, Wildfire, have snapped up Suzie Edge's second non-fiction work, Vital Organs. Editorial director Philip Connor acquired world rights from Emily Glenister. The synopsis reads: “From Napoleon’s penis to van Gogh’s ear, and Marie Antoinette’s teeth to Marie Curie’s bone marrow, Vital Organs brings together the remarkable stories of body parts that have made history. |  |
This collection of the world’s most notable limbs, organs and appendages includes how Queen Victoria’s armpit led the development of antiseptics; why Percy Shelley’s heart refused to burn; and the strange case of Hitler’s right testicle.”
Vital Organs will be published in hardback, e-book and audio in September 2023.
Vital Organs will be published in hardback, e-book and audio in September 2023.
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