What a week!

It was a week in which the US elections captured the hearts and minds of the world (pending a result as I write. Go Georgia! (I have no idea...it just sounded good)

And also, let's not beat around the bush (no US election pun intended) the week in which I felt the true force of social media, following my publisher, the brilliant Hobeck Books' decision to release the new Jack Cade novel The Angel of Whitehall.

When I say release, what I mean, is pre-release...imagine you've sown a seed. Well that was, for me, earlier this year, what I did when I wrote the first chapter of The Angel of Whitehall - it was watered and nurtured. What Rebecca and Adrian, the powerhouses behind Hobeck have done is allow it to bear fruit, by editing it to within an inch of its life (don't even think about saying the word brunette to Rebecca!), typesetting it skillfully, and by commissioning one of THE best cover artists in the business, Mr. Jem Butcher to work his magic.

Jem has produced some superb cover art and as we speak/type is working on the final proof covers for not only The Angel of Whitehall but also the Seventh Wave trilogy; Seventh, Seven Degrees and Seven of Swords.

Loads of great feedback followed and then just when I thought Hobeck had done enough for one week they released fifty copies of The Angel (as we call it with affection) to the HART Team! (Queue dramatic music...)

The Hobeck Advanced Readers Team were selected from the masses, an eclectic bunch of readers, bloggers and reviewers who really are the backbone of the modern book industry, spending as many hours of their lives reading and reviewing novels as the authors do writing them!

Now let me tell you dear readers I have been on the edge of my seat with these elections - I won't tell you my preference but this has been NOTHING compared to the edge-of-the-seatness (It's a phrase) that I am experiencing with the HART team reading The Angel. Imagine an expectant father...then double it, and start smoking ninety a day, whilst juggling, on stilts, on a tightrope...

So take care one and all, the world is on a trampoline at the moment, be wise, be careful and above all if you get bored and need an escape, there's always a novel, somewhere, crying out to be read..

Much love,

Lewis.