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Pre-order Utterly Dark and/or Kevin

 

Authors and booksellers LOVE pre-orders. They can help booksellers to notice a new book in a very crowded market, and give them an idea of how many they’ll need to stock. So, with three weeks to go until the UK launch of my new novel, it’s time I tried to persuade you to order a copy, ideally from your local independent bookshop, who I’m sure will be glad to hear from by phone, email, or in person. Id be very grateful!

If, on the other hand, you don’t have a local independent bookshop, here’s a handy link to order online.

Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep is a fantasy story set on the imaginary island of Wildsea, somewhere off the coast of England, round about the year 1810. One of its (joke) working titles was Magic Poldark, which gives you the general idea, but many other influences have seeped into it too; there’s a lot of made-up folklore, some seaweed monsters that feel as if they’ve shambled off the wobbly set of a 1970s Doctor Who story, and a general air of impending doom which is hopefully lightened a bit by the irrepressible heroine, Utterly Dark herself. It was written as a stand-alone, but I miss Wildsea and Utterly and friends so much that I’m at work on a sequel at the moment. The cover art is by Paddy Donnelly, and here’s a sneak peek at some of the lovely chapter headings he’s created for the book.

But WAIT, I hear you cry, I don’t like the sound of this at all! Supernatural shenanigans on made-up Regency islands are not my cup of Lapsang Souchong, and those seaweed monsters will give me nightmares. A nice try, but you don’t get out of me asking you to pre-order things that easily. For it is also three weeks until the UK publication of Kevin vs the Unicorns, the fourth and (we think) funniest of the Roly Poly Flying Pony books I’ve been writing for the past few years with Sarah McIntyre, the glamorous American Eric Morecambe to my grumpy Devonian Ernie Wise. You can preorder that from your favourite bookshops too! And I’ll be just as grateful! And so will Sarah! So that’s twice as much authorly gratitude coming your way! 

And if you’re really keen you can order it from comic shop Page 45, for whom Sarah has designed these exclusive bookplates for the first 100 orders.



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Unow22 said…
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12 October 2021 at 22:27
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