Today is the end of the London Book Fair which is one of the most important in an international author’s year. There, on stand 8c, is Marcia’s agent—Dinah Wiener. The other week of equal importance is the Frankfurt Book Fair which Dinah (who speaks fluent French and German) also attends. It is at these fairs that she makes and maintains her contacts with Marcia’s foreign publishers and Dinah’s network of sub-agents such as Ulf Töregård who looks after Scandinavia for her (and so us)..
Last week we received copies of the first two books being published in Poland by Wydawnictwo Replika. Here are the covers.
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| The Summer House |
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| A Week in Winter |
Sales of Marcia’s books in Germany are on a par with her UK sales. At the moment all of Marcia’s books are in print here in the UK but the Germans are now trying out a new campaign. Instead of publishing simply a new hardback with last year’s novel in paperback, they are now adding one of the early novels. They started with Those Who Serve and so in a few years time all of the books will be in print in Germany as well as the UK.
Below are some five of the covers for Echoes of the Dance just to show how differently each book is seen by different publishers (two are the UK editions, one the hard back and one the paper back).
THE TADPOLE TIMES
Thanks to overcrowding in their tank, I have now divided my shoal of frog tadpoles and so have two of the four available now in operation. Is ‛shoal’ the right collective noun for tadpoles? Not sure but the other possibilities—flock, swarm, etc.—don’t seem right either. Perhaps they should have one of their own. How about ‛a wriggle of tadpoles’ or ‛a squirm of tadpoles’? Any better suggestions, anyone?
This is the middle period of tadpole life when all they are doing is getting bigger with no sign of legs as yet. Feeding them is critical and my thanks to Pat Tytherleigh for her email in which she tells me that her tadpoles like Goosegrass (also known as Cleavers, Sticky Willie and—for the more scientific—Galium aparine). I would not have thought to try it but I am delighted to confirm that she is right.
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| Goosegrass |
Apparently it's a cloud of tadpoles which I think suits them quite well!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Claire. Yes, definitely suits them. Somewhere I read about it "raining frogs" (I think as a result of a tornado)so . . . Perhaps not.
DeleteI would have thought those tadpoles would be sprouting legs by now. It seemed like this happened faster when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteDon't you think that everything happened faster when we were children? I don't really expect to see the first legs (back ones) for a week or two yet.
DeleteHello Rodney,
ReplyDeleteWe have a very large pond in our current house (well not actually in it) but at our previous home we had a very small pond, about 5ft x 3ft. This tiny pond attracted a massive number of frogs/toads and we used to end up with hundreds of teeny tiny froglets all over the lawn in time. However.................when the frogs/toads were doing what had to be done to make baby frogs the pond resembled a battle zone!!! The frogs 'on top' quite literally drowned the females and nothing I could do could prize them apart. It was horrendous and I must admit I am quite happy to have left it behind. Is this normal or did we just happen to have very nasty frogs in the neighbourhood!.
Much love to Marcia,
Jenny xx
PS Am not really anonymous but was the easiest choice.
The idea of an "indoor pond" is really rather nice. You could spend lots of time watching what was happening from the comfort of your armchair. Much better than daytime television!
DeleteMarcia asked, "I wonder which Jenny that is? Truro, perhaps?" Can you satisfy her curiosity.
Yes Marcia it's ballet Jenny from Wheal Butson, St. Agnes!! Hoping you are both keeping well xx
DeleteYes, I've heard it is a cloud of tadpoles as the first commenter said. Great news about Germany and I hope the London Book Fair went well.
ReplyDeleteThank you, the fair seems to have been good. Nothing too spectacular but solid agreements which is what we like to hear. Now, if the French do produce the film of 'Sisters Under the Skin' (by Marcia writing as Willa Marsh) for which they have bought the rights . . .
DeleteThanks Rodney for giving us this little window on your life every week. I so enjoy reading about what you two are doing. Nancy B. in Charlotte NC
ReplyDeleteHi, was thinking about you the other day and remembering lunch together at Knighthayes - all triggered off because a niece went there the other day on her way down to seeing us.
Deletesuch a wonderful memory for me too, even with the few sprinkles that fell on us. i am seriously contemplating buyig a holiday home in the south or the west of england and will come to england this summer to look around. wish me luck. nancy in charlotte, nc
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