Ashley Hames: Sin Cities

Some more info on one of our future publications:
Sin Cities: Adventures of a Sex Reporter by Ashley Hames

With a weakness for women, good times and binge drinking, it seemed inevitable that Ashley Hames would turn cult hero with Sin Cities, blazing a toxic trail though a minefield of debauchery and fantasy across the globe.

As clown prince of L!ve TV, he happily meandered along as News Bunny and produced such lowbrow classics as Topless Darts. A few months down the line his career had him hoisted up on meat hooks, tortured, clamped and generally trampled on in the name of entertainment. It was only when the cameras stopped rolling that it got messy.

Ashley investigates the sexual habits of some of the most extraordinary people on the planet – from the bizarre to the unimaginable – and somehow helps it all make perfect sense.



"Irresponsible, insane but inspired, the Queen should present Ashley Hames with a knighthood and a straightjacket as this fine book amply illustrates that he is equally deserving of both." - Piers Hernu

Stu

Free UK postage and packing on all orders

We're now offering FREE UK p&p on all orders placed via our website. With more special offers on a selection of titles, there's never been a better time to shop.

Paul

Unofficial Football book free update

A free update for the Unofficial Football World Championships book is now available here. The download-and-print update is designed to slip seamlessly into your book and bring UFWC title matches and rankings right up to date as of March 2008.


You can read more about the book here, and, if you have no idea what the Unofficial Football World Championships is, then you should check out the official site here.

Paul

Tonto to publish NUFC.com Toon Diary

We're delighted to announce that in October we'll be publishing the NUFC.com Toon Diary 2009. NUFC.com is the Newcastle Unofficial Fans' Collaboration website, the most popular and respected source for all things related to Newcastle United. The diary will be packed with facts and info compiled by NUFC.com's Mike 'Biffa' Bolam. 2009 will mark the 40th anniversary of Newcastle United's European Inter Cities Fairs' Cup victory, and the diary will be presented in a fantastic retro cover to commemorate that fact. It's sure to be on every Newcastle fan's Christmas list this year. Keep watching this blog for a first look at the cover.


Paul

Cheap books for book groups!

Got a book group? Borders are offering 20% off when you buy 3 copies of the same book. Just print out the voucher and take it into your nearest branch. The offer is valid until 31st March 2008. Happy reading!


Paul

Business is booming - it's official!

The Bookseller reports that 'the UK's independent publishing sector is flourishing'. Independent Publishers Guild (IPG) membership has an all-time high 515 members (the fledgling NEPub already has 10), and Nielsen are estimating that there are 20,000 active publishers in the UK. Hooray.

Paul

Free books! The future of publishing?

There's an interesting feature on Wired this week, Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business. It's written by Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, which basically explained how businesses, including publishers and booksellers, can shift away from focussing on a relatively small number of big 'hits' and toward a larger number of small niches. (Anderson discusses the 'long tail' of publishing in his original Long Tail feature.) The Long Tail was a business and publishing 'sensation', so we'd we wise to take notice of his new work.

In 'Free!', Anderson explores how companies offer free razors to make revenue from blades, free mobile phone handsets to make revenue from service plans, and so on. It's not a new concept - Gillette pioneered it in the early 1900s. But how can this be applied to publishing? Earlier this month, Suze Orman's book "Women & Money" was offered as a free download for two days on Oprah Winfrey's website, and was downloaded more than 1.1 million times. Despite the fact that the public could read it for free, the book shot to the top of the Amazon's sales rankings - because people tend to prefer physical books to online e-books. They were drawn in by the freebie, but ended up buying the book.

Offering stuff for free is something we've been actively discussing in the Tonto office recently. We tried it back in 2006 with our free Christmas short stories anthology, which 1,200 people downloaded. Everyone likes free stuff, right? Watch this space for more.

Paul

The Non-Beardy Beer Book

Another new book and cover, this one will be out in the autumn...


'Probably the best beer book in the world. An alternative to beardy and boring real-ale guides, The Non-Beardy Beer Book is a humorous and no-nonsense guide to Booze Britain's favourite drinks, featuring irreverent reviews of 100 of the UK's bestselling brands of beer, lager and cider, plus bluffer's guides to the most popular wines, alcopops, spirits and cocktails, lovingly put together by a panel of completely independent (possibly inebriated) reviewers. An essential companion for any trip to the pub, club, supermarket or off-licence, this king of beer guides refreshes the parts other books cannot reach.'

Paul

Rosalind Wyllie: Everything You Ever Wanted

Another new book, today it's Roz Wyllie's debut novel, released in August:


'"I'm every woman they have ever dreamt of. I'll do anything – I'll do things they didn't even know they wanted."

Tiggy's stuck in a rut - trapped in a half-life as a stripper at a Mayfair club, surviving on dope and vodka, and desperate for her married lover to leave his wife.

Scarlett is different – she's more confident, stunningly beautiful, and willing to do absolutely anything to get exactly what she wants.

Tiggy is intoxicated by the enigmatic Scarlett, following her into an arousing world of sex and excitement. But Scarlett has her own agenda, and she doesn't do anything for free. Sooner or later Tiggy's going to have to pay.

Evocatively set in the summer of 1991, Everything You Ever Wanted is a smart and gritty tale of two young women's colourful adventures in a London sex industry where money talks, and boundaries are there to be broken.'

'A sharp and stunning debut. Taut prose, original voice, visuals that crackle and shock. Wyllie trips the reader into a foreboding world where sex sells and friendships are dubious.' - Caroline Smailes

Paul

Stephen Shieber: Being Normal

Another forthcoming title in what I've just decided we're officially calling 'new book week', today it's a collection of stories by Stephen Shieber, to be released in August:


'A confident, poignant collection filtered with debauchery, melancholy and black humour, Being Normal is an examination of loneliness, rejection and the idiosyncrasies of living in and against contemporary society.

Stephen Shieber brings together the glory of everyday nothingness and elevates it to great drama; where loveless marriage, teen angst, childhood misadventure, lonely Christmases and family dysfunction are the norm.

Each character in this stunning debut provides a very different slant on the notion of mundane – a book for anyone who has ever found themselves on the outside, dancing to the beat of their own drum.'

Paul

Stephen Miller: Paralympian, My Autobiography

This week we'll be posting first looks at the covers for some of our our forthcoming titles, starting today with Stephen Miller's autobiography, released in July:


'Stephen Miller is one of Britain's most successful athletes. Record-breaking Stephen, who has Cerebral Palsy, has won three Paralympic gold medals, plus dozens of other international accolades in the club and discus events, and will endeavour to win more at Beijing 2008 and London 2012. A writer and poet, Stephen's inspirational autobiography tells of his struggles and triumphs, and is told with refreshing honesty and infectious humour.'

Paul

NEPub - North East Publishers group launched

We're pleased to be one of the founder members of NEPub, a new coalition of independent trade book publishers in the North East of England.


NEPub aims to be a support network in which members can share experience and knowledge, build contacts, arrange industry talks and training sessions, co-attend book fairs, and have a bigger voice in the industry. It already has ten member publishers, and looks like being a very valuable and worthwhile enterprise. You can find out more about NEPub and its members here.

Paul

New Tonto newsletter out today

The latest edition of our email newsletter is out today. The newsletter is sent out monthly, and contains news about new titles, projects, events, and submission opportunities.

You can read previous newsletters here.

To subscribe send a blank email here.

Paul

Fortean Times reviews The Rocketbelt Caper

Everyone's favourite chronicle of strange phenomena Fortean Times features a review of the publishing phenomenon that is The Rocketbelt Caper in the new March issue. Click on the image below to see a readable version.


Paul

Swap Shop for Books

Yep, the title is a bit of a clue. Maybe some of you have tried this before - I was sent a link to it recently and am keen to get logged in and have a look. As you'll see on the categories on the left, there are plenty to browse through - new as well as old books... even one of mine on there!

Here is the website link, Read It Swap It. Happy swapping!

Stu

Top tips for formatting your manuscript

If you're thinking of submitting to our New Novelists competition, or sending your writing to another publisher or agent, you might find the following tips useful:

1. The first step, of course, is to get your spelling and grammar right - while the odd mistake will be overlooked and corrected in a copyedit, multiple mistakes will make the manuscript difficult to read and likely to be rejected. Refer to a good dictionary and Strunk and White's The Elements of Style.

2. Once you've got your spelling and grammar in order, there's no getting around the need to format your manuscript in a sensible font (e.g. Times New Roman 12pt) and double-space it. Don't try to be clever or quirky with this - a manuscript submitted in Comic Sans is unlikely to succeed.

3. Align text to the left margin. Don't be tempted to justify the text (stretching it between left and right margins) to make it look more like a finished book, as this makes your manuscript difficult to read.

4. Ensure there is just one space between your sentences, not two. For some reason, many writers are in the habit of hitting the spacebar twice after every full-stop. If you are one of them, you can use 'Find and Replace' to correct this.

5. Don't use bold or underline. Italics are fine, but don't overdo it - large passages of italics can be difficult to read.

6. Avoid any drop caps or other embellishments. You are not typesetting a book - that will be done by the publisher. Similarly, don't paste illustrations into your manuscript.

7. Paragraphing: Left justify the first paragraph of a scene or section. Indent subsequent paragraphs using one 'tab' key, not the space bar. Only double space between paragraphs to denote a change of scene or section. Don't paragraph every sentence. Think about how the words will be laid out on the page. If unsure about paragraphing, just pick a favourite book from your shelf and see how it's done.

8. Be consistent with your use of numbers, dates, titles, quotations etc. For example, you can spell out numbers one to ten, and use numerals for numbers 11 and up. You could use single quotation marks for quotes, and double quotation marks for quotes within quotes. You could put book, song or film titles in italics. But always be consistent.

9. Avoid using song lyrics unless you have written permission from the copyright holder. The use of song titles is fine.

10. If sending via hard copy, print onto plain white paper and don't bind your manuscript. If sending via email, save as a popular file format (e.g. .doc, .rtf) but don't 'zip' the file, and send as an attachment - don't paste it into the body of the email.

One final note is to check specific instructions given by publishers or agents. The guidelines for our New Novelists competition can be found here. Good luck.

Paul

New Novelists Reminder

Not much time to get your submissions in!
We've had a lot of entries to the New Novelists 2008 competition so far, and with the deadline of 31 March approaching, I thought I'd post a reminder.

As you'll know, this competition is supported by The National Lottery through the Arts Council England. This means that the competition is region-specific to first time novelists based in the North East of England, with full details on the website here, and is part of an overall regional project to support new writing. We’ve had people saying they live very near the North East... some saying they used to live up here... but that just isn’t good enough!
Please read the guidelines on the website. We also cannot review, comment, give feedback on novels.
Best of luck!

Stu

Ashley Hames blows into Toon

Tonto author and TV star Ashley Hames was in a very cold and windy Newcastle yesterday for a photoshoot for his forthcoming book, which will probably be called 'Sin Cities: Adventures of a Sex Reporter'. The title and this 'behind the scenes' photo should be fairly self-explanatory. Obviously Stu and I had to be there to make sure everything ran smoothly, and then take Ashley out for a couple of quiet pints. This publishing lark can be a right bummer...


Thanks to Twink for taking the photos, model Natalie Overton for being a very good sport, Mark from the Officer's Deck for the venue, Steve for fixing it up, and Ashley for braving the blizzards on his first ever trip to the Toon. The book will be published in July.

Paul

Dial M for Adam in Digital Awards

Tonto author Adam Maxwell is in the running for an award. The Dial M For Monkey writer is nominated for a One North East Digital Award in the best podcasting campaign category. His website www.adammaxwell.com offers free podcasts and short stories. If you like the look of it you can vote for Adam here. Closing date for the confusingly-named Digital Awards 2007 is 28th March 2008. You can get more info about the book here.


Paul

Rocketbelt movie - last reviews

Despite some better reviews, Pretty Bird, a movie based on The Rocketbelt Caper story, failed to find a buyer at Sundance, according to USA Today. 'Nothing went as planned this year at Sundance,' says the paper. 'Star-studded films were left without distribution, including... Paul Giamatti's rocket-pack entrepreneur comedy Pretty Bird.'

In a separate interview, Giamatti told USA Today about the rocketbelt: 'It's a real thing. But they only fly for 30 seconds, and they're incredibly dangerous, but they exist. There is a whole subculture of rocket-belt enthusiasts.'

Over at 109.com, the real story gets a mention: 'One of the films at Sundance that flew under the radar this year was jetpack fantasy Pretty Bird, based on the book The Rocketbelt Caper. The film is billed as a comedy, but the real story is both weird and disturbing - more of a comedy of errors.'

UGO also brings up the real story: 'Writer/director Paul Schneider's take on the story is funny and filled with colorful characters, but his faithfulness to actual events is the film's downfall. In real life, building a rocket belt is dangerous business, fraught with angry words, duplicity, kidnapping and murder... Unfortunately, everything falls apart in the final act as the true story [of the rocketbelt caper] has nothing even resembling a happy ending. Schneider is to be commended for not attempting to rewrite history with a factually inaccurate conclusion... Sadly, Pretty Bird crashes hard as a comedy since the true story is completely devoid of redemption or even closure.'

Wired gives the movie an 'honorable mention' in its Sundance round-up: 'For the first half, it plays like a Silicon Valley cautionary tale, except set in New Jersey... But what could have been a classic tale of American capitalism, technology and paranoia meandered off into melodrama by its end.'

The influential Variety offers criticism: 'The darker side of the American spirit of invention weighs on actor-turned-helmer Paul Schneider's Pretty Bird, an overly calculated cautionary tale... With a gruff and one-note Paul Giamatti as co-star, pic won't fly in the theatrical market, and will prove a dicey sell abroad and in vid... Strong plus here is a soundtrack plucked from Dutch minimalist composer Wim Mertens' catalog.'

Let's end with a positive review. Indiewire calls the movie, 'Smart, sharp and lovely to watch.' 'Pretty Bird is a Horatio Alger story with a welcome cynical streak; it's David Mamet's The Water Engine with welcome playfulness. It's familiar, yet fresh at the same time... Pretty Bird is an impressive first step for Schneider, granted, one with expected flaws.'


Although the true story certainly has comedic touches, I envisioned it more as a Coen brothers-style black comedy in the vein of Fargo. Fingers crossed the company that have actually optioned the book will do a better job. It looks like the only reason to see Pretty Bird will be to find out which bits, if any, they've nicked from the book. See for yourself by reading the The Rocketbelt Caper.

Paul

New Novelists 2008 web publicity

Word is spreading about our North East New Novelists 2008 project, as mentioned in a previous post. Currently you can read about it on the following websites: The Journal; Booktrade.info; Hexham Courant; The Crack; Literature North East; Literature Training; Newcastle City Council; Tom Kelly; and loads more, but that's enough to be going on with. Get details of how to enter here.

Paul

A textbook case of an unrealistic claim

The following letter appeared in Saturday's Guardian money pages, but is perhaps better suited to Viz comic's Letterbocks pages. Hurray to Cambridge University Press. Boo to DM from County Durham. This country, etc...

A textbook case of an unrealistic claim

Q: I sent a 10-year-old French textbook back to publisher Cambridge University Press because some pages became detached. CUP refuses to replace it or refund postage money.
DM, County Durham

A: No. Your request is unrealistic. Ten years is a good life for a textbook which you may now know by heart! Publishers have no responsibility to replace a book. A bookshop would, however, have to help with a new book which fell apart. Amazon sells the title second-hand for under £10.

See also the first letter on the page, My lap dancing bill is up the pole. Some people, etc...

Paul

Rocketbelt movie - more reviews

Lots more reviews for Pretty Bird, a movie based on the Rocketbelt Caper story, which premiered at Sundance this week:

Cinematical puts it into the 'Good Sundance Movies with Rotten Titles category'. 'Loosely based on actual events, Pretty Bird is a darkly amusing look at the American Dream... [Paul] Schneider's screenplay dabbles in both broad humor and dark comedy, and the three leads seem to be having a lot of fun with this somewhat strange material... Toss in a typically amusing supporting turn from Kristen Wiig, and a few really unexpected plot contortions, and you've got a fine indie flick that's definitely worth a look.'

The Cinematical review also explains that in the movie Paul Giamatti plays Rick Honeycutt (the 'Larry Stanley' character, for those who have read the book), Billy Crudup plays Curt Prentiss (the 'Brad Barker' character), and David Hornsby plays Kenny ('Joe Wright').

The Boston Globe says the movie 'certainly looks good on paper [Yes, on 224 sheets of paper, bound into a lovely cover and available from all good bookshops!], with its hip cast and oddball story line about a deluded entrepreneur (Billy Crudup) and a rage-aholic aerospace engineer (Paul Giamatti) building a rocket belt... Except that the movie doesn't hit one note that doesn't feel strident or forced... In its own small, overbaked way, Pretty Bird feels like the death of indie cinema.' Ouch.

Hollywood Reporter says 'Pretty Bird flaps one comic wing and one dramatic wing, but this slight-framed bird never soars and ultimately crashes under the weight of its excessive thematic ballast. Intermittently amusing, this light comedy is a get-rich-quick story gone bust. Unlikely to navigate successfully as a theatrical, Pretty Bird should flap straight to video.'

Film Threat says, 'When this movie first started, I was very intrigued about the possibility of a greasy marketing man, a rocket scientist, and a mattress salesman getting together and making a dream a reality... The first part of this film is excellent... Yet as Pretty Bird went on, all dreams and hopes of this movie being great crashed and burned... even if this film is based on true events like it is said in the beginning.'

Mike D'Angelo at The Screengrab says, 'Schneider based his screenplay on a true story, one that takes a surprisingly dark turn. Major characters wind up dead, kidnapped and imprisoned. And yet the film's tone never really wavers from goofball geniality... File this one under Fascinating Failure.'

Erica Stern says the movie is 'just a crazy, all-over-the-place, "yes this is your first feature" comedy that makes you wonder why Paul Giamatti was so adamant on its production that he would act and produce the film.' Oddly, she also says, 'Unfortunately, new friend Craig, told me an awful story about how the idea (one of the best parts besides the actors) was taken from a good college friend Zene...' Erica, tell Craig to read this.

All Eyes All Ears says, 'I liked it for the most part.'

LAist says, 'Up until the moment of the first successful rocket belt flight, I was captured by the strange imagination of the story... After the rocket belt flight, though, the movie took a dark turn which felt completely out of sync with the rest of the film. Paul Schneider was actually at the screening and mentioned that he wanted to make a film that explored the dark side of ambition. Pretty Bird certainly does that, but in doing so sacrifices the wonderful sense of whimsy and invention that the first part of the film so expertly created.'


If you'd like to know what that dark turn might be, you really should get hold of The Rocketbelt Caper: A True Tale of Invention, Obsession and MURDER as soon as possible.

Paul

Voucher offer - 20% off at Borders

Courtesy of the fine folks at Borders, here's a voucher to get 20% off any full-priced Book, DVD or CD. Just print off the voucher (or get it sent to your mobile phone) and take it into your nearest Borders store. It's valid until 17th Feb 2008. Among the books you'll find there will be several lovely titles from Tonto Books. Just in case you need reminding, some of them are shown under the voucher. We're sure the nice people at Borders will help you find them.



Print the voucher here or get it sent to your mobile here.



Paul

Rocketbelt movie premiere - first reviews

First reviews are in for Pretty Bird, a movie based on the Rocketbelt Caper story, which premiered at Sundance on Sunday night. It would be polite to say the reviews are mixed...


Blogger cha no ma-ri says, '"Pretty Bird" is about a con man who is so mired in his lies he doesn't seem to know what it would be like to tell the truth. It's well-written, brilliantly acted by Billy Crudup and Paul Giamatti, but I came away from the theater feeling that I didn't care too much about the characters.' The quote they will use on the posters is 'well-written, brilliantly acted'...

Lou Lumenick on the New York Times Blog offers a less quotable view: 'I knew 10 minutes into "Pretty Bird", the self-indulgent directorial debut of actor Paul Schneider, that it wasn't going to work for me despite the presence of Paul Giamatti as the inventor of a rocket belt who develops a conflict with an entrepeneur (Billy Crudup, incredibly annoying). I stuck it out for an hour; there were plenty of walkouts, including the L.A. Times' Kenneth Turan.'

Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch Blog says: 'Laced with a mordantly off-kilter sense of humor, the movie seemed to make many people laugh out of confusion as much as anything else, and the last 30 minutes left most completely bewildered. Waiting outside for the shuttle bus afterward, one long-standing indie distributor muttered, to no one in particular, "I don't understand why they even placed that in the festival. It was so bad."' Oh dear. Still, it's early days....


Now would be as good a time as any to remind that, although Pretty Bird is obviously based on the Rocketbelt Caper story, it is not affiliated with the book, the option for which had been previously taken up by another movie production company. Why not buy the book and imagine a movie in your head? More details, extracts, etc are here.

Paul

Pete Tanton's change of note - interview

There was a big 3-page interview with Pete Tanton in The Journal on Saturday to promote the New Novelists competition. Pete won the previous competiton with his novel Johnny Lonely. In this really nice interview by Hannah Davies, Pete talks about the success of Johnny Lonely, how the Tonto project has benefited him, and about his next book. You can read it here.

The article also contains full details of this year's New Novelists competition. You can read full details here.

Paul

Pretty Bird movie premiere

Pretty Bird, a movie based on the Rocketbelt Caper story, will premiere on Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival. The movie stars Paul Giamatti (Sideways) and Billy Crudup (Almost Famous) as pair of entrepreneurs who team up to build a rocketbelt, with disastrous results. Giamatti says, 'They have this kind of James Bond jet-pack, and it leads to complete mayhem as they try to steal it from each other. I play a fairly tightly wound guy. He's unemployed and feels he has never gotten his due as the kind of genius that he is, always screwed around by his other employees and cut out of the deal. He slow-burns through the whole movie.'

Paul Giamatti in Pretty Bird
Details about the movie remain scarce, but we'll reveal more here after the premiere. For those that have already read the book, in this fictional take on the Rocketbelt 2000 story Giamatti plays a version of the real-life character Larry Stanley, while Billy Crudup plays the Brad Barker character. If you haven't yet read the true story, you can see more about the book here.

Paul

Fiction 2008: Being Normal by Stephen Shieber

More news about our Fiction 2008 project. In August, Tonto Books will publish Being Normal, a collection of short stories by Stephen Shieber. Stephen's stories have been published in the Tonto anthologies, and this is his first solo collection. 'The collection is called "Being Normal" because none of the characters are particularly normal,' says Stephen. 'It would be boring if they were.'


As part of the project, Stephen will work with acclaimed short story author and novelist Laura Hird. Laura's story collections include Hope and Other Urban Tales, and she does much to promote short stories and new writing via her website www.laurahird.com. 'I'm a huge fan of Stephen's work and will really enjoy working with him,' says Laura.


The Tonto Books Fiction 2008 Project is supported by The National Lottery through Arts Council England. As part of the project we are also running a New Novelist competition. See our previous post here.

Paul

Fiction 2008: Everything You Ever Wanted by Rosalind Wyllie

Another day, another signing. As part of our Fiction 2008 project, Tonto Books will publish Everything You Ever Wanted by Rosalind Wyllie. Ros was previously published in three Tonto short story anthologies, and this is her first novel. As a taster for the book, Ros says: 'Twenty years ago, when I was 17 I worked for a few months as a waitress and announcer for the acts in a Mayfair hostess club and that I have used that setting as the backdrop for the novel – part coming of age, part thriller.' The book will be published in August.


During the editing process, Ros will work with novelist Caroline Smailes. Caroline is the author of In Search of Adam, and also an editor and mentor. 'I am thrilled and it is an honour to be involved in a project that will promote and develop the voice of emerging writers from the North East,' says Caroline.


The Tonto Books Fiction 2008 Project is supported by The National Lottery through Arts Council England. As part of the project we are also running a New Novelist competition. See our previous post here.

Paul

Tonto to publish Ashley Hames book

Tonto Books is pleased to announce that our first signing of 2008 is TV presenter and director Ashley Hames, and we will publish an eye-opening book about his wide-ranging and fascinating career later in the year. Ashley got an unusual break as the infamous News Bunny on L!VE TV, but he is probably best known as the presenter of Bravo TV's highest-rated show Sin Cities. Other credits include Bad Trip, Man's Work, and most recently the BBC2 show Guilt Trip.


The book begins with Ashley's time at L!VE TV (during which he ran for Parliament and legally changed his name to News Bunny!) and then concentrates on his travels around the world with Sin Cities, experiencing all manner of sex, drugs and debauchery along the way. It's a fast-paced and hilarious tale, and we'll post more details about it here very soon.

Paul

Remembering Chrissie

Thursday 10 was the memorial service in Newcastle for novelist and tutor Chrissie Glazebrook, who died in December 2007.
The service was packed with friends, family, writers and colleagues and there were ten speakers who reflected on their friendship with Chrissie. Carol Clewlow and Penny Smith (tutors from Northumbria University) read out some of our words as graduates of the course, and extracts of Chrissie's work were read and displayed. It was nice to hear so many stories about Chrissie and the immense humour by which she lived. Although tears were shed, there were many of laughter as we heard about what Chrissie was like to work with and her outlook on life.

For anyone who doesn't know of Chrissie's work, you can find out more about her here:

Guardian Obituary by Sean O'Brien

The Madolescents


Stu

Tonto New Novelists 2008 launches today

Are you writer based in the North East of England? Could YOU be a Tonto Books' North East New Novelist 2008? Pens at the ready - we have TWO publishing contracts up for grabs! As part of Tonto Books' new fiction project, we are today launching our North East New Novelists contest. Two lucky writers will win publishing contracts and see their novels published by Tonto Books in January 2009. The contest will be judged by bestselling novelists Kitty Fitzgerald (Pigtopia) and Wendy Robertson (Family Ties). Uniquely, the two winning novelists will be mentored by Kitty and Wendy as their novel is developed for publication.


The Tonto Books Fiction 2008 Project is supported by The National Lottery through Arts Council England. Due to the nature of this project's funding, the contest is only open to writers in the North East of England. Writers outside of this region are advised to watch our website and newsletter for news of future national and international projects for which they might be eligible. The closing date for submissions is Monday 31 March 2008. Please see full submission details on our website.

Paul

New year, new name - welcome to Tonto Books

Alert visitors to this website will already have spotted this - Tonto Books is the new name for Tonto Press.



Our website - now www.tontobooks.com - has also had a New Year spruce-up. Have a gander and let us know what you think.

Paul

Where do you start?

Following on from yesterday's post about getting back into writing, I watched Get Carter again last night and felt even more inspired to put pen to paper.
I always find writing anything competition-based gets me completely bogged down with too many questions... What are the judges looking for? Will Judge X like this because it's similar to their work? Are they looking for a commercial idea? Will something with limited readership appeal still have a chance if the writing is good? The list is endless. The answers? I'd imagine it is a bit of everything. I don't think it is worth entering any writing competition if you are catering to the tastes of the judges, but all judgements are based (to an extent) on personal taste, whether we admit it or not. A commercial idea is obviously something that will make the competition look good if it has mass appeal and goes on to become the next Harry Potter - but critical acclaim is always what we seek as writers too.
On the subject of ideas, what about high concept? Here's another blog with an interesting post on high concept worth reading.
And now you're bogged down too.
My apologies.

There are books on how to come up with ideas, books on how to write books, books on how to write short stories and probably even books on how to write books on how to write books.

What do you do then? It's simple - writers write. Get writing! Revisit that novel with a fresh and optimistic 2008 eye. Don't get bogged down by thinking all the what ifs, just write your story, get it out, don’t procrastinate. You never know when these competitions are going to be announced, so don’t get caught out by having a high concept one-liner and 300 blank pages.

Stu

Being a Writer

Here's one to start the New Year. I watched a TV documentary over the holidays about JK Rowling, looking at a year in her life up to the publication of the latest Harry Potter book. There are Youtube links to various docos here.

I've never read any of the Harry Potter books and probably never will. I think I'm one of the only people I know who hasn't read one. However, I was quite gripped by the documentary. JK Rowling was just like the rest of us... a struggling writer. She had the archetypical writer's poverty-stricken lifestyle, but never gave up hope. It took her back to the flat where she struggled as a writer. She was asked how many millions she now has in the bank; she said ‘loads’. We found out how many millions of books she’s sold and we gasped.
A few things struck me about the doco. As writers, we all know what it’s like to sit there day in, day out, looking for that big break that rarely happens... and here is living proof that it can happen. It’s so easy to criticise and hate people who become successful at something, but JKR didn’t rub my face in it as a viewer. She wasn’t the devil, she’s not someone we should hate. She was normal, humble and admitted that a lot of her big break was down to luck. Its people like her who have made writing more accessible and dispelled the myths that us writers are all mad eccentrics (well, some of us are).
I thought it was great to see someone making a good living as a writer and I actually thought that one day I might just make the effort to read a Harry Potter book. Might.

So – my New Year Revolution is to go back to writing in my spare time. Importantly, I want to enjoy writing. I’ve got a deadline for a non-fiction book approaching and I intend to get something to the New Writing North Writers’ Award this year. Don’t forget to keep checking our friend’s blog out – she gives a good insight into the world of a working writer.

Happy writing!

Stu

Happy New Year

The Christmas tree and decorations are down, there's no turkey left, the chocolates nearly gone and it may be your first day back at work.

We hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year, but it's time to put your Christmas booky wooks down and get back to 'normality'.

Yep, as the link suggests, Russell Brand's book was Christmas number one seller in the UK, closely followed by Nigella Lawson, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson. Doesn't look like anyone reads fiction anymore.

Never fear - we'll put a stop to all that. It's the first day of a new year in Tonto world and we've got some exciting new announcements to make in the next few days, so stay tuned for more details.

Stu

Paul's Christmas blog

Choosing my favourite novel I read this year is easy - it's David Peace's The Damned United, a fictionalised account of Brian Clough's tumultous 44-day reign as Leeds United manager. Clough is obviously a fantastic ready-made protagonist, but Peace's skill is to make the reader love him, hate him, respect him, pity him... all at the same time. It's brilliantly written, and the structure is really inventive. The Times called it 'probably the best novel ever written about sport' and it's hard to disagree with that.


In my opinion, 2007 has been the worst year in living memory for new films. The Bourne Ultimatum was the only decent thing to come out of Hollywood, but my pick of the year came out of Germany. The Lives of Others is about a Stasi spy who is drawn into the lives of a couple he is ordered to monitor. It's gripping and fascinating, and there's a brilliant central performance from Ulrich Muhe, who sadly died in July. The ending is just perfect, and the final line is sure to bring a tear to the eye.



Finally a CD pick and, after honorable mentions for Kate Walsh's Tim's House and Josh Rouse's Country Mouse, I'm plumping for Midlake's The Trials of Van Occupanther. I know it has been around for a while, but it only really took off this year. It's difficult to describe - ambitious 60s and 70s-flavoured melodic indie pop with narrative lyrics that tell tales of ancient or post-apocalyptic bandits, kind of a cross between classic Fleetwood Mac and Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds... Actually that makes it sound really rubbish, you'll just have to trust me that it isn't!


Have a great Christmas and a happy New Year.

Paul

Stu Recommends

As these will be the last blogs before Christmas and starting back in 2008, we thought we'd put some recommendations up.

BOOKS
It has been difficult to find the time to read for pleasure this year, as much of my time at Tonto and at home has been taken up by reading manuscripts. When I've got the time, I always seem to drift back to the same books. The first being 'Filth' by Irvine Welsh. His writing is an acquired taste, but once tasted, something you'll never forget. If new to Welsh, I'd recommend going for some of his earlier works before attempting this one. On my Christmas list this year is his latest book of short stories, 'If You Liked School, You'll Love Work'.


Being a massive Paul Weller fan it was great to see two Weller books out this year - Paul Weller: The Changing Man by Paolo Hewitt and Suburban 100, by Weller.

For me, Suburban left me wanting to hear more about what inspired the songs, what they were based on... everything. I think many Weller Geeks felt the same but it was amazing to hear the man himself telling us about the songs and not just some journo assuming what they were about (and I got a signed copy). The cover is brilliant too, with artwork by Sir Peter Blake.

We're going to be working with some very interesting writers next year, so I'm very much looking forward to a productive New Year!

FILM


The best film I've seen this year has to be The Last King of Scotland. Forest Whittaker gives an outstanding performance in this tense and fast paced film, based on the novel by Giles Foden. It is one of those films that leaves you stunned... I hope Santa remembers to bring this one as well.

Stu

Ros's Christmas blog

So this year the novels that gripped my heart in their fist were Anne Tyler's Digging to America, Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother and How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper.


As well promoting the More Tonto Short Stories anthology at Durham Lit Festival I've been redrafting a novel... writing lots of stories and thinking through ideas for my next novel... My most recent short story Defying Gravity is being featured in this December issue of Laura Hird's website.

I'm hoping 2008 will be the year that my novel gets published and so I get to spend the year touring bookshops and shamelessly self promoting... fingers crossed!

Anyone who wants to come along and show some support then please come to The Blue Room in Newcastle on 2nd March 2008 which I'll be reading at - very exciting stuff...

Oh and there's about five half written plays to finish and that film script in the corner that I keep ignoring - still...

Ros Wyllie

Rosalind Wyllie's short stories are featured in Tonto Short Stories, More Tonto Short Stories and Tonto Christmas Short Stories. During December you can get a free copy of More Tonto Short Stories and a free download of Tonto Christmas Stories - see more details here.

Pete's Christmas blog

Looking at my bookshelf, I'm hard pressed to find the books that I've read this year. Holding down a regular job, going through the final edit of Johnny Lonely and working on a new book has left me, a slow reader at the best of times, with little in the way of completed reading material, outside of research for my new book, An Englishman in Rocket City. Boy A by Jonathan Trigell and Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon stand out, and my all time favourite, Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, which I reread for the eighth time.


The launch of Johnny Lonely has been the high point of 2007 for me, and it got me involved in the Durham Literature Festival and the LitFest Inside programme at Low Newton women's prison, among other things. Thanks to all who have supported Johnny Lonely. May 2008 bring you all more smiles.

Pete Tanton

Pete Tanton is the author of Johnny Lonely

Roger's Christmas blog

I met Jonny almost 20 years ago and over that time wrote his life story with him, before contacting a film company who created the documentary 'The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off'. This year, Tonto Press published Jonny's story, now available at most stores and on-line at Amazon. I'd met Jonny just at the right time, after I'd returned home after sailing the Caribbean. I'd had such a pirate-ridden, shocking, hurtful, startling, starving, adrift-at-sea, desertion of Captain time. I wrote it all down. Got the bug. Penned a trilogy of adventure fiction, then bumped into Jonny.

Roger in festive mood
There is no getting around the fact that getting published is a nightmare. Twenty years plus I have been sending stuff away, to no avail. You almost have to stalk a publisher or agent these days! Meet them on a train, in a pub or save their lives because the accepted route just does not work. None the less, Tonto Press read one of my manuscripts this year and published Jonny's story.

So 2007 has been a great year. The charity is coming along a treat and I have done quite a few signings, which are fun. I usually take along a sign that states 'author here' as a bit of humour. I love it, especially when a young girl came up to me and said, 'Oh, I thought that said, "Arthur"!'

Roll on 2008 is all I can say.

Roger Stutter

Roger Stutter is the author of Jonny Kennedy: The Story of the Boy Whose Skin Fell Off.

The Burglar's Dog Christmas survival guide

As previously promised, here's The Burglar's Dog Christmas guide, produced for a local publication (hence the lack of rude words) but not published, presumably because it was slightly unkind to some of their advertisers... More special features from Tonto writers coming next week.
Paul


'Tis the season to be dragged around city centre bars by sozzled work colleagues in novelty Santa hats. The Christmas office pub crawl can be a nightmare, but luckily Newcastle's favourite four-legged bar reviewer The Burglar's Dog (AKA Mark Jones) is on hand to offer up a survival guide. To celebrate the release of the new edition of his bestselling drinking guide, here are his best (and worst) Christmas party pubs in Newcastle upon Tyne:

Akenside Traders: Every single office night out from my work for the last 2,000 years has involved the Akenside. And since I detest every one of my colleagues, it'd be fairly safe to say that the Akenside is not one of my favourite Christmas haunts. I hate this place – I've got nothing but bad memories of terrible nights out amongst imbeciles, and of ricking my ankle on those stupid steps.

Buffalo Joe's: This 'amazing Western fun theme bar', has long been one of the most depressing bars in what the geniuses at the neighbouring councils would like you to call NewcastleGateshead, and its mornings-after the prime instigator of calls to the Samaritans, but it is written in law that every office night out must, inevitably, end here.

Centurion: Central station's lovingly-restored, Grade I Listed, first class passenger lounge has become a room full of neglect and echoes, with tacky lighting effects clashing with the tiling. It's plain the management have got about as much love for this place as they would for a ginger stepchild.

Fluid: Two floors of average wood and brick decor, a reasonable pint, and a healthy cross-section of punters, happy hours for the Christmas party crowd. Nothing out of the ordinary to report. File this one under M for mediocre.

The Goose: I believe that small is beautiful when it comes to pubs. It's a viewpoint that has held me in good stead over the years, and provides a yardstick with which to batter this gargantuan hellhole about the face and neck. I've actually seen people lining up to get in here. Where are these people coming from? Why has there not been a cull?

The Lodge: Loveable cheeky chappie TV presenters Ant & Dec apparently ploughed a quarter of a million quid into the refit and rename of the old Jonny Ringo's, but I'm left thoroughly nonplussed. However, whatever your line of work, your colleagues will inevitably want to drink here on their big night out.

Pacific Bar Cafe: What a terrible, terrible bar this is. Even after all this time, I still fail to see how the fact that it cost £9 million to build can justify serving up rubbish beer at astronomical prices. Bar humbug.

Tiger Tiger: I understand the nature of exclusivity, but I expect to get what I pay for, and it has to be said that, for a so-called luxury bar, Tiger Tiger is absolutely woeful. And the spiteful door policy might scupper your night out before it starts.

Union Rooms: Thanks to the marvellous building in which it is housed, the Union Rooms is the least horrible of Newcastle's Wetherspoon pubs, serving up a reassuringly drab pint of bargain fizz to go with your festive celebrations.

Yates's: If there was any justice in this world, then this would be the finest bar Newcastle has ever seen, housed in a truly remarkable French Renaissance building. Instead it's a Yates's chain bar. And it's an absolute bran tub of dross.


The brand new revised and updated edition of The Burglar's Dog Alternative Guide To Drinking in Newcastle upon Tyne by Mark Jones is available now from all good bookshops, priced £9.99.

A can't-put-it-down murder mystery

There's a nice review of The Rocketbelt Caper in a publication called General Aviation News. Reviewer Janice Wood calls the book, 'a can't-put-it-down murder mystery that shows how obsession and betrayal can lead people to commit dastardly deeds.' Read the full review here.


Paul

Chrissie Glazebrook

It is with great sadness that I post today's blog. Our friend and creative writing tutor, Chrissie Glazebrook, died last Friday.

Chrissie was a tutor on the MA Creative Writing course at Northumbria University and a very well-known and respected author. She was very supportive of Tonto, and kept in touch offering encouragement and words of wisdom to me since graduating.

For those who knew Chrissie, there will be a memorial service for her in Newcastle on Thursday 10th January at the Friends Meeting House in Jesmond at 2pm. There will be refreshments afterwards and there will also be a display of her work with comments collated from ex-students. Venue to be confirmed.

Stu

Rocketbelt movie premiere

As reported in the Sunday Sun article posted here yesterday, Pretty Bird, a movie based on the rocketbelt caper story, will receive its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January. To clarify, despite what Wikipedia says, the movie is not officially connected to the Rocketbelt Caper book, the rights to which have been optioned elsewhere. This is how Sundance is describing Pretty Bird:

Pretty Bird (director/screenwriter: Paul Schneider). A comic tale of three would-be entrepreneurs who set out to invent a rocket belt. The clash of their mismatched personalities soon dissolves the business into a morass of recriminations, retaliations, kidnapping and murder in this parable of American dreams and delusions. Cast: Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, Kristen Wiig, David Hornsby.

Paul

Weekend press coverage round-up

A few bits and pieces from newspapers and magazines this weekend: First up, reviews of both The Burglar's Dog and The Rocketbelt Caper from the December issue of The Crack. Next is a piece about The Rocketbelt Caper from yesterday's Sunday Sun. Finally, there's a review of The Burglar's Dog from December/January's Accent magazine. Click on the images to see readable versions.




Paul

Jonny Kennedy book signings - Newcastle, Leeds, Birstall

Roger Stutter is currently busy with a host of signings for his book Jonny Kennedy: The Story of the Boy Whose Skin Fell Off. Roger will be pleased to dedicate copies of the book as inspirational Christmas gifts, and to chat to shoppers about his memories of Kennedy. Roger will be joined at the signing by representatives of the Jonny Kennedy North East charity. The book has already helped raise more than £1,500 for the charity.


Tomorrow, Saturday 8 December, Roger will be at Borders, Silverlink, Newcastle from 12 noon to 2pm.

Next Saturday 15 December, he will be at Borders, Leeds, from 12 noon to 2pm AND at Borders, Birstall from 4pm to 6pm.

More signings are being set up all of the time, so keep checking our website and blog for more details. [Roger will also be playing Santa Claus on Newcastle's Northumberland Street from the 16th to the 18th of December in aid of the Jonny Kennedy North East charity!]

Paul

The Book What She Wrote

OK, I'll stop having a pop at celebs who write books that they don't really write soon. Of course there are loads of them out there who write their own, and next up as a novelist is Coleen McLoughlin - Wayne Rooney's missus. I can almost hear the dinner time 'My book is better than your book' conversations.
The Bookseller reports that Coleen is writing a series of children's novels for HarperCollins as well as three more non-fiction titles. For those of you interested, the first is out in Spring 2008. Read the full article here.

Although fairly cynical, I am interested in Celeb Culture and am fascinated by their recent switch to novel writing. Is it such a bad thing? I don't know. I haven't read any of them, nor am I likely to, so I can't comment on their 'quality'. Probably they will be harmless enough and will work on some sort of role model level for the kids, who knows.

Where does it leave those novelists who have been slogging it out for years and years without great success, with or without an agent, looking for that big break? What about all that money you spent on your MA in Creative Writing, learning the craft, drafting your novel... all those rejections? Do you think it makes a mockery of all that blood, sweat and tears? Interesting debate.

Stu

Free books for Christmas!

It's freezing cold, pitch black whenever you're not at work, the roads are gridlocked, and you can't go into a supermarket without your ears being assaulted by Sir Cliff Richard. That can only mean one thing - it's Christmas! And once again, Tonto is getting festive by offering lots of free stuff!


First up, get a FREE copy of More Tonto Short Stories when you buy ANY Tonto book direct from us this Christmas! MTSS is our latest acclaimed paperback anthology, featuring sixteen writers including Ros Wyllie, Stephen Shieber and Katie-Ellen Hazeldine. The offer runs until 31 December 2007, while stocks last, one free book per order. Ideal for getting your stocking fillers!

If you aren't one of the 1,200 readers who downloaded it last year, there's also another chance to get our anthology of Christmas short stories by some of our favourite new writers, including Pete Tanton (author of Johnny Lonely), Stephen Shieber, Ros Wyllie and Jolene Hui (all More Tonto Short Stories contributors), absolutely FREE! It is presented in a newly-formatted easy-to-read and printer-friendly electronic version, and you can download it from our homepage.

We're also offering free Burglar's Dog and Johnny Lonely badges this Christmas. The brand new revised and updated edition of The Burglar's Dog is out now, and if you buy a copy direct from our website OR from amazon.co.uk using our trackable link, we'll send you a brand new set of four pin badges absolutely FREE, thoughout December 2007, while stocks last. Johnny Lonely is Pete Tanton's prize-winning novel. If you buy a copy direct from our website in December we'll send you an exclusive Johnny Lonely pin badge absolutely FREE, while stocks last. Don't forget, if you order direct from our website you'll ALSO get a free copy of More Tonto Short Stories!

All of these offers can be found at www.tontopress.com.

Paul

Search Inside! Tonto books

As several of our titles are now featured in Amazon's Search Inside! programme, we've added links to our website. You can now browse, sample and (obviously) search the following titles:









[The Burglar's Dog is not yet available on Search Inside! but you can read an extract here.]

Paul

Christmas book compo

Below is an 'advertorial' that appears in the current Gateshead Advertisers. Click on the image to see a larger version, and feel free to enter the book compo.


Paul