NEWS FROM THE SUNDIAL PRESS

December

Our focus this month is on Roger Norman's excellent and highly recommended new novel RED DIE. Of our Powys titles, DURDLE DOOR TO DOOR is now reprinting and sales of UNCLAY have recently acquired a new lease of life and, whatever the reason, we're naturally delighted. Details of further Powys titles and other books for 2009 will be posted here shortly. Until then, thank you all for your continued support and we wish you all A HAPPY NEW YEAR. 

The Author in Dorset where he attended Sherborne School and founded Booklore.

[To enlarge photos, please click on the images]

November: Roger Norman being interviewed by Nicola Rayner from THE DORSET ECHO plus visits to Sherborne School and Booklore (The Sherborne Bookshop) and signing copies of RED DIE.

RED DIE

Some comments from readers:

"My copy of 'Red Die' arrived promptly this morning and what a handsome volume it is. The cover illustration is most striking and the nicely spaced type will enhance my reading pleasure. Thank you." - Peter Knox, London.

"I'm so thrilled to get this book, always hoping that Roger would write another novel after his earlier success. RED DIE certainly lives up to and exceeds my expectations. Please congratulate him for an impressive read." - Harry Cale, Oxford

"One of the many pleasures of this finely written novel is the beautiful evocation of Dorset. It may provide the backdrop to the cleverly plotted narrative but quickly establishes itself as a character in its own right. I have visited Dorset many times over the past two decades although not recently and reading 'Red Die' has reminded me that another visit is now a priority. Needless to say, I'm enjoying this splendid novel and think I will be ordering several more copies to give to friends at Christmas." - Jane Selwyn, Rye.

"I read Roger Norman's Albion's Dream about sixteen years ago in my teens and it left a deep impression on me. Now in my early thirties it was a delight to discover that Mr Norman has written a novel for adults so I placed an order for it immediately. I've just read the first two chapters and I'm already gripped by the beauty of the prose and its strong story line full of suspense and excitement. I think this is going to be a roller coaster of a ride!" - David Wright, Bristol.

"I started reading the book soon after it arrived and have just completed it in one day but two sittings: and what a triumph! What I like about it are the sharply drawn characters, the strong sense of place and time, the often imperceptible blurring between fact, imagination, dream, fate and a little magic and the brisk pace of the narrative which still allows for descriptive passages (no purple prose here though) without a single unnecessary word. The ending came as both a surprise and a shock which I must read again. This is a book that deserves wide exposure in which case it could become a runaway success. I hope so." - Ben Bowen, Cheltenham.

We welcome your comments on RED DIE: please email them to books@sundialpress.co.uk

If you have any questions you would like to put to Roger, or simply wish to contact him, please email him here: info@sundialpress.co.uk

The RED DIE Press Kit is now available to download here which you can either read online or print out.

Roger Norman's first novel ALBION'S DREAM was published in hardback in 1990 by Faber and Faber. Recently, a small box containing near mint copies of the first edition of ALBION'S DREAM in hardback was discovered and we are making these available at the original published price of £7.99 (plus postage). Further details here. 

We have now sold out of Alyse Gregory's HESTER CRADDOCK and have only a few copies left of Philippa Powys's THE BLACKTHORN WINTER.

We include the following review by John Vernon of Sundial's two volumes of Wessex Essays by Llewelyn Powys:

DURDLE DOOR TO DARTMOOR

Llewelyn Powys, a brother of the possibly better known John Cowper Powys, published a number of short essays on the landscape and features of Dorset and Somerset in a variety of books and newspapers. The Sundial Press have gathered twenty six of these in a delightful little book, giving us a guided tour of one of the most historic and beautiful parts of England. Strictly speaking, it is from Studland to Dartmoor, but that would spoil the alliteration of the title.

Powys demonstrates a joy in nature and history, and has a poetic writing style (that occasionally goes over the top). The essays are unfortunately too short to develop any sustained deep thought, but there are many nuggets of wisdom and vivid description to take away. I read this book mainly on grim commuting trains in London, and was imaginatively carried into an almost idyllic world I would love to explore. If I went on a tour of ‘Wessex’, I would surely take this book as a guide to the interesting places he describes. However I may suffer some disappointment, since these pieces were written in the 1930s, and in them he often harks back another twenty to fifty years. So much of what he describes may have been steamrollered to oblivion by modernity.

There are many treasures in this collection, but one of my favourites is ‘On the other side of the Quantocks’. He describes these individualistic hills based on a journey to visit a grave. “I set out on my expedition proposing to spend my first night at Crowcombe, a small village which lies at the foot of the Quantocks, and from there to walk over the moors to Watchet.” One realises, with a shock, that he walked there for two days (and presumably walked back). He had the thoughtfulness and leisure to walk to four days to commune at the grave of a dead friend. How many of us would today spare that time?!

Then I realised that ‘sparing the time’ is hardly the right phrase. This is time well spent, walking over the English countryside, thinking, observing, feeling and enjoying. Permeating the essays therefore is a view of life we could well benefit from, if we would only emulate it even slightly. Powys sits in the parlour of the Carew Arms by a “wide old-fashioned fireplace” and eats “whortleberry jam and Devonshire cream”. After his meal he walks up Crowcombe lane with “periwinkles out on the crumbling walls and everywhere primroses”. This is not an invented idyll. It is the world of his beloved England in which he lived in the 1930’s, evidently savouring every moment. Inspirational!

STILL BLUE BEAUTY

This is a companion book to ‘Durdle Door to Dartmoor’, also published by The Sundial Press. It contains more short essays on the West Country countryside and its famous people, with a large dose of personal family reminiscences. This little volume helps one appreciate the natural and cultural riches of this part of England, as well as being a useful insight into the talented Powys family.

I decided to use the two books as a travel guide and in the month of July took a brief driving holiday to the area. Having the essays to hand, so well written and quick to read, enhanced my enjoyment of places such as Cerne Abbas, Weymouth, Portland, East Chaldon, Studland and Corfe Castle. However these essays are not a tourist brochure – Powys is keen to dig into his personal memories and bring in historical and literary anecdotes, even if they wander off the ostensible subject sometimes. This gives a strong feeling of being in the company of a colourful individual, and one who loves life.

John Vernon is the founder of Renaissance Training www.rtraining.co.uk

UNCLAY ON STAGE UNCLAY is currently being developed by writer Michael Caines for bagg theatre’s first commission. "Michael discovered a battered hardback copy in a second-hand bookshop in early 2007 and, realising he’d found something unique, gave it to bagg theatre Artistic Director, Laura, to read. Unclay is a novel by T. F. Powys, first published in 1931 and subsequently out of print for many years. An excellent new edition of Unclay has just been published by the Sundial Press. UNCLAY is a unique piece of writing, a curious and humorous mix of fiction and fable, with an engrossing and suspenseful narrative, and fantastic theatrical potential." We will post performance dates when they become available. [bagg theatre is based in Barringer Square, London. Visit there website here.]

To read more about our titles please click on the various links.

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Should you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact us by email or by telephone.

info@sundialpress.co.uk

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Our current publication is a new novel by Roger Norman: RED DIE, an enthralling mystery set in Dorset. Read more ...  

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January 2009