"THE BOSUN’S CHRONICLE" --- emailed to Shipmates around the world the first week of each month --- VOL.1, ISSUE 4, AUGUST 2001 Avast there – and welcome aboard from the Bosun of the Thomas Kydd Shipmates’ Network! 1) DECKLOG 2) HANDS TO MUSTER 3) NAUTICAL WEBSITE OF THE MONTH 4) THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 5) ON THE STOCKS 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS 7) DAYS OUT 8) REPORTS ==================== 1) DECKLOG --- events and activities --- In July Julian spoke at the Chichester Festivities, in the wonderful early-nineteenth- century St John's Chapel. Although services are no longer regularly held there, this church remains consecrated, one of the more than 300 churches throughout England cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust. Along with his agent Carole Blake (see HANDS TO MUSTER) and his editor Roland Philipps, he also joined a special literary panel at Chelmsford, Essex, to talk about the process of getting published before a packed audience of over 150. ++ One for the diary ++ Julian has been invited to speak at the Historical Novel Society's first ever conference. It will be held on Saturday October 6 at the Cavendish Club, Great Cumberland Place, London. Tickets cost £30, including lunch and refreshments. Further information from Sarah Cuthbertson on 01293 884 898 or . ==================== 2) HANDS TO MUSTER --- Behind KYDD is a great team; each month "The Bosun’s Chronicle" goes behind the scenes to talk to some of the Shipmates who have been involved in a particular aspect of the book --- This month we feature Carole Blake, of Blake Friedmann Literary Agency. Carole is one of Britain's foremost literary agents, with a career in publishing spanning more than 30 years. Blake Friedmann has been responsible for launching the career of many bestselling novelists. Carole herself is the author of "From Pitch to Publication", an indispensable guide to the publishing process - and yes, it is the book Julian actually used! +Bosun. Tell us the story about finding KYDD in your slush pile +Carole. We get up to 50 unsolicited manuscripts a day, in addition to the material from authors who are actually clients - so time spent on the "slush pile" is of necessity limited. My normal pattern is to sift and sort the slush pile, choosing items to be rejected straight away, some to go to readers or to staff, a very few to be kept for me to read at home. Needless to say this does not get done as soon as submissions arrive. But half an hour after picking up Julian's initial package [a brief blurb, book synopsis, main character biographies, an author bio and the first 3 chapters] I was still reading it at my desk. I knew I had to read the rest. I seem to remember I continued the manuscript in the bath at home and was cold and wrinkled by the time I reached the end! I knew nothing about male adventure fiction, hadn't been looking to take on more historical fiction writers, and cared not a jot about the sea - but I knew that if his writing could get me that excited I must be able to find editors who would feel the same. I was right - the UK multiple-book auction started very quickly, swiftly followed by another in America. I was actually in Brighton to attend the British Booksellers Association conference when I was walking in the street and took a call on the mobile which was the opening offer in the UK auction. I called Julian right away and sat on a nearby bench to chat with him. When we finished I looked up and saw I was sitting outside a pub called "The Admiral Nelson" in Trafalgar Street. A good omen, I thought! +Bosun. As Julian's agent, how do you see your role? +Carole. Manager, conduit, liaison officer, whipper-in-to-shape! My role is both protection and exploitation of the rights in the works and his career. +Bosun. Your colleague in the United States, Stuart Krichevsky, negotiated rights for KYDD with the prestigious American publishing house, Scribner. How common is this for a first novel? +Carole. Very unusual. Only a small number of British novels are bought by American publishers and few first deals in America are for three books, as Julian's contract with Scribner is. +Bosun. Are there any new deals in the pipeline that you can share with us at the moment? +Carole. We are offering film, television and radio rights, and the book rights are on offer in markets as diverse as Brazil and Bulgaria, China and the Czech Republic, Romania and Russia, Taiwan and Turkey. With audio already on sale and ebooks coming shortly, I'm confident we will add more languages and media soon. +Bosun. In your view, what does the future hold for KYDD and the rest of the books in the series? +Carole. I see the popularity of the series growing exponentially with each new book. We only have hardback and large-format paperback out at the moment but already nearly 30,000 books in the British edition alone have been sold which is extraordinary for a first novel. Hodder had to double their print run just three weeks before publication day! ++ "From Pitch to PUblication" is published by MACMILLAN. ISBN 0-333-71435-0 ++ NEXT MONTH THE BOSUN TALKS TO MATTHIAS JENDIS ABOUT THE CHALLENGES A TRANSLATOR FACES. MATTHIAS IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON THE GERMAN-LANGUAGE EDITION OF KYDD FOR ULLSTEIN MARITIM, WHICH IS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLICATION IN DECEMBER THIS YEAR. ==================== 3) NAUTICAL WEBSITE OF THE MONTH --- Each month Julian selects a website with sea links --- THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE SEA. The Festival, from August 24-27, at Portsmouth Dockyard and Harbour, will be the largest maritime celebration ever hosted in the United Kingdom. There will be an armada of Tall Ships, hundreds of classic boats, a multi-national Naval Fleet, a special Georgian exhibition to take you back in time to Kydd's period - and the promise of adventure and riches - and much, much more. Over 25 Tall Ships are expected. At least 14 of these will be of the largest Class A square riggers from UK, Norway, Holland, Russia, Ukraine, Poland and South America. They will be joined by barquentines, schooners, topsail schooners, gaff cutters and ketches. The modern navy is well represented, too, with the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, 5 Type 42 destroyers and 5 Type 23 frigates and a number of smaller vessels. The website is packed with information about the events and well worth checking out before attending the Festival. ==================== 4) THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY --- Julian takes a look at an aspect of life at sea or ashore in the Great Age of Fighting Sail --- HAMMOCKS. When Colombus landed in the Bahamas in 1492 he found that the natives used nets of cotton stretched between two posts as beds. They called them "hamacs". This was changed to "hamaca" by the Spanish. Hammocks in the British Navy stem from the age of Drake, when they were widely adopted. Hammocks were on issue in the service until quite recently, and Julian certainly spent much of his sea-time in a hammock. He says that a hammock stays still and the ship rolls around it! Hammocks were slung fore and aft, with the Marines aft between the men and the officers and petty officers at the side. Each hammock was slung at a numbered peg so that the sleeper was always in the same place near his station in an emergency. The official allocation of hammock space was 14 inches per man or 28 inches per man for a petty officer but with the two-watch system half the crew was on deck at once so each man had twice that. It is worth noting that this is actually more room than in today's double bed! By the time Kydd joined the Navy each man had two hammocks, one in use and one to be cleaned and drawn on Saturdays. They were made of canvas six feet by three feet and in each there was a mattress (made of flock or chopped-up rags), a blanket and a coverlet. Hammocks belonged to the Navy Board and the men either brought bedding with them or bought it from the purser. Each morning hammocks were taken down and lashed with seven half hitches representing the seven seas. They were put in special netting at the side of the ship to act as protection from musket balls and splinters when under enemy fire. Hammocks could serve as life preservers; thrown to a man overboard they would keep him afloat for several hours. If a seaman died at sea he was sewn into his hammock with two roundshot at his feet - and the last stitch through his nose. (Officers slept in cots slung from the beams of their cabins.) ==================== 5) ON THE STOCKS --- News of upcoming books, foreign translations and audio versions --- + The Japanese publishing house Hayakawa has purchased Japanese-language rights for KYDD + In the U.K. Chivers have bought large print rights for KYDD + The Bosun has been very privileged to see the specially commissioned cover art for ARTEMIS, book 2 in the Kydd series, due out in April next year. Geoff Hunt, whose work graced the covers of the O'Brian books, magnificently portrays the power and drama of sailing in the Great Southern Ocean. ==================== 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS --- We welcome news and views from Shipmates around the world --- Many Shipmates have emailed Julian saying how much they enjoyed reading KYDD. Among them were Sheldon Levy, Howard & Trish Peterson and Paul Lawrenson. Sheldon Levy retired 8 years ago from the US Navy where he was a Musician First Class. He is married to Barbara, also a retired Navy Musician. The Levys live in Orlando, Florida. Sheldon wanted to know whether Kydd is going to end up as a Captain of a ship and beyond. Over the length of the series, Julian has plans for him to become a full Admiral! Howard Peterson, an eighth generation Australian whose forebears were original settlers of Woy Woy in New South wales, wrote that like his father and paternal grandfather before him, he has always had a love and respect for the sea - and for the tall ships of sail. He treasures a painting by G F Gregory of HMS Victory that has been handed down through his maternal great great grandfather's family. Howard and his English wife Trish have both read KYDD and are looking forward to reading ARTEMIS. Paul Lawrenson, who lives 50 miles from England's scenic Lake District, enjoys fellwalking and history (especially the Western Front during the Great War; he has visited the battlefields of France and Belgium). An avid reader, Paul says he always has a book to hand but KYDD is the first naval book that he has read! He thoroughly enjoyed it; and is looking forward to expanding his knowledge of ships as he progresses through the series. Julian would love to hear from you. Contact ==================== 7) DAYS OUT ---Each month we visit somewhere around the world of special interest to Shipmates --- "The Golden Age of Sail" Exhibition, St. Barbe Museum and Art Gallery. St. Barbe Museum in Lymington, Hampshire, England, was established to tell the story of the coastal strip between the New Forest and The Solent, once a favourite haunt for smugglers. The museum also puts together special art exhibitions and its major exhibition for 2001 looks at the work of seven of the greatest British marine painters of the eighteenth century. The eighteenth century saw Britain emerge as the dominant world naval and trading power. This development sparked a cultural renaissance - and the first truly English style of marine painting. The paintings exhibited at "The Age of Sail" are drawn from private collections, the National Maritime Museum and the Tate Gallery. Featured artists are Charles Brooking - generally regarded as the most gifted of all the eighteenth century marine artists - Peter Monamy, Dominic Serres, Thomas Whitcombe, Samuel Scott, John Cleveley and Nicholas Pocock. "The Golden Age of Sail" proudly portrays the ships, battles and seas of the time when Britannia ruled the waves, offering a visual window on the world Thomas Kydd came to know and love. The Exhibition runs until September 8, 2001. ==================== 8) REPORTS --- what people are saying about KYDD --- Here are some of the highlights of recent reviews: + The 1805 Club Newsletter (U.K.) “Julian Stockwin carries the narrative at a cutlass-rattling pace salty with dialect, and takes us, palms sweating, aloft with his hero...if the rest of Kydd's adventures live up to the standard set in this novel, then like his first attempt at musketry, his balls will hit the mark." + Anglian Evergreen (U.K.) "We can surely look forward to the most enthralling and realistic series of novels of naval life ever written." + Barnesandnoble.com (U.S.) "If you are a lover of sea tales...this book is for you, the first in what promises to be a series that will rival Patrick O'Brian." + The Sticks (U.K.) "Author Julian Stockwin is a modern-day gentleman of the sea who knows his stuff." + Focus (U.K.) "Kydd is set to enthral his growing legion of fans for years to come." + Booklist (U.S.) "Adventure and historical fiction fans will delight in this well-crafted yarn." These reviews and interviews, and others, are on the official Julian Stockwin website Yours aye THE BOSUN ++Back issues of the newsletter are available on request++ (To unsubscribe to this newsletter email