====================================== S T O P - P R E S S KYDD makes it to the TOP TEN FICTION BEST SELLERS at Harrods ====================================== "THE BOSUN'S CHRONICLE" --- emailed to Shipmates around the world the first week of each month --- VOL.1 ISSUE 8, DECEMBER 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 --- Already, Julian's diary for 2002 is starting to fill up. As well as projected tours of Australia and America, a number of literary events in the UK are being organised. The official Julian Stockwin website is updated at the end of each month, and Author Appearances are always announced in this newsletter. + ONE FOR THE DIARY IF YOU ARE IN THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND THIS MONTH + An exhibition of Sheppey and the Royal Navy, covering 300 years from the Dutch raid in 1667 and the establishment of a Royal Dockyard to final closure in 1960. The area was the scene of the terrible mutiny of the great fleet at Nore in 1797. Julian has let it slip that Thomas Paine Kydd will find himself caught up in these dramatic events! Open until 29th December, Sheerness Library, Russell Street, Sheerness, Kent. 01795 662618. Admission: free. ===================== 2) HANDS TO MUSTER --- Behind KYDD is a great team; each month "The Bosun's Chronicle" goes behind the scenes to talk to one of the Shipmates who have been involved in some aspect of the book --- This month we feature Jamie Hodder-Williams, Managing Director of Hodder & Stoughton. Hodder & Stoughton is part of Hodder Headline Plc, which was formed in June 1993 through the merger of Headline Book Publishing and Hodder & Stoughton. The latter has a history of over 125 years in publishing. +Bosun. What was your personal reaction when you first read KYDD? +Jamie. Roland Philipps, our Publishing Director, handed over the script of "a brilliant naval adventure" and said I simply had to read it that night. Julian's agent, Carole Blake, had already primed several of us that she had something really special and would be sending it to Roland, but I have to admit to being very sceptical when I sat down to read the script. I'd never read Alexander Kent or Patrick O'Brian, and didn't really expect to enjoy it. It happened to be a really stormy evening and I sat in our conservatory with the rain hammering on the roof, following Kydd's terror and tribulations, and I became completely immersed in Kydd's world, relishing the naval detail, trying to recall my school history. And like everyone else at Hodder, when I came in the next morning, I said we have to publish this Julian Stockwin. +Bosun. You were the Marketing Director of Hodder & Stoughton when the company made the decision to bid for the rights to publish KYDD and a number of subsequent volumes. Can you tell us a little bit about the lead-up to that auction? +Jamie. Roland Philipps had passed round copies of the KYDD manuscript, which several colleagues from sales, marketing and publicity all read. The next day we all sat down to discuss how we would go about trying to sign up Julian, and the many books he had already planned for the series. We knew we wanted to meet Julian - partly to see what he'd be like promoting his books, and partly so we could share our enthusiasm for his writing. The marketing and sales teams then sat down and talked about how we would launch the series - what format we would publish in, what the covers would look like, what time of year we would publish the hardback and paperback editions, and how we would get the trade as enthusiastic about KYDD as we were. We drafted a marketing plan which would form the basis of our presentation to the author and agent when they came in. Then we went out and bought some old ship's rope, a bell (from the wrong era!) and some rum and shot glasses (much weaker than it would have been two hundred years ago), so that we could have a little sea flavour in our presentation. +Bosun. With the vast numbers of books being published each week, marketing a new book/series is certainly a challenge. What one marketing initiative for KYDD do you feel most proud of? +Jamie. In general, I feel proud that we've managed to get a sceptical book trade to view the launch of a naval series as a major event, and to recognise that Julian Stockwin is going to be a major star of the future. Before the hardback publication, we visited every major bookselling head office, smelly rope, bell and rum bottle in hand, and passed out thousands of early reading copies, insisting each and every buyer read the book. It's very hard to get a new hardback bought and displayed widely, but we managed to sell nearly 30,000, which is a huge launch. +Bosun. The paperback edition of KYDD was published last month. How are sales going so far? +Jamie. So far we've sold 35,000 paperbacks, and sales out of the shops are very encouraging. We've got a big national poster campaign running, as well as posters in ports and national press advertisements too, so we're very optimistic about the series' future prospects. +Bosun. In your new role as Managing Director of Hodder how do you see the overall development of the Thomas Kydd series? +Jamie. I see us building a strong and loyal fanbase for the KYDD series, quicker than has been the case before for any similar series, and I see us taking the naval saga to readers who would never have dreamed of reading one before. ARTEMIS, the follow-up to KYDD, adds great new elements to the series and shows that Julian is developing as a writer, which is incredibly exciting for us as his publishers. +Bosun. Anything you would like to add? +Jamie. It is rare to have an author who sees his work with such long-term vision, and who understands the needs of his fans and works alongside them as the series develop, and that is tremendously helpful to his publishers. NEXT MONTH: The Bosun talks to David Brimble, Production Manager at Hodder & Stoughton, about the book production process. ==================== 3) NAUTICAL WEBSITE OF THE MONTH --- Every month Julian talks about a website with sea links --- THE HOME PAGE OF VICE ADMIRAL HORATIO LORD NELSON KB Nelson died at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. Clearly he could not have "written" this web site but Nelson's own words have been used as much as possible. The site is sponsored by the 1805 Club and provides some fascinating accounts of Nelson's main battles from both official despatches and private letters. The main sections are My Life (based on an autobiographical essay he wrote in 1799), My Battles (partly based on a special "Memorial" that Nelson drew up for King George III when he was applying for a state pension), the Battle of Copenhagen, My Ships, and Emma and Horatia. The latter contains some very poignant letters to his beloved daughter. The 1805 Club was founded in 1990 and has three main objectives: to assist in the preservation of monuments relating to Nelson, to promote research into the Royal Navy of the Georgian period and to organise cultural and historical events. Joining fee is œ25 (US$50) and entitles members to a number of free publications, including the highly respected "Trafalgar Chronicle Yearbook" and discounts at various museums and galleries in the UK. =================== 4) THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY --- Julian takes a look at an aspect of life at sea and ashore in the Great Age of Fighting Sail --- GUNFLINTS. Flint is a hard grey stone of nearly pure silica. It had an important role in Kydd's day as it was used in a gunlock to produce a spark for discharging naval guns. The use of flint for this purpose continued from the first decade of the eighteenth century until well into the Victorian period. (This ignition system probably dates from the work of a Marin le Bourgeoys, in France in the seventeenth century.) Initially, the Navy found there were problems with the gunlock getting wet and failing to fire, but this was solved by the placing of a lead apron over the gunlock. Many of the flints used at sea in the eighteenth century were manufactured by a William Levett of Northfleet. They were made by highly skilled workers called "knappers". Flints cost 4s 6d per thousand, although the larger cannon flints were more than three and a half times the price of musket flints. +COMPETITION+ Win an actual gun flint from Thomas Kydd's time! Recovered from the wreck of the eighteenth century 74-gun ship-of-the-line HMS Invincible, it is in a presentation box, and comes with a certificate of authenticity. Email the Bosun with the answer to the following question - "What was used at sea before gunflints?" First correct entry out of the hat on December 31 wins! ==================== 5) ON THE STOCKS --- News of upcoming books, foreign translations, audio versions, other products --- The Japanese edition of KYDD, published by Hayakawa, is scheduled for release early in the New Year. It will feature Geoff Hunt's cover art, "Coming Aboard a 98-Gun Ship". Thorndike Press, the number one Large Print publisher in the world, has brought out a Large Print Edition of KYDD. Format: paperback, 485 pp. ISBN: 0786 235 640 =================== 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS --- We welcome news and views from Shipmates around the world --- Shipmates come from all countries and all walks of life. This month's Shipmates are Richard Holland, Norman Smith and Bob Williams. Australian Richard Holland is a retired police superintendent. Having worked for the New South wales Police Service for almost 36 years, he now lives in Broken Hill. "Dick" has a long association with the sea. Near where he lived as a boy on the New South Wales coast were numerous shipwrecks, the last one being the collier "Birchgrove Park", which foundered in a storm in 1956. Dick's police work also involved him in a number of sea incidents and rescues. Bob Williams hails from the piney woods of east Texas. He has always loved nautical fiction and often re-reads his favourites, finding some new nuance with each reading. Having spent most of his working life at NASA, Bob now enjoys golf and working on his farm. Bob is also an inveterate traveller; his recent trip to Alaska and the Arctic Ocean was, he says, "more fun than I'm capable of describing". His next trip will be to Boston, primarily to visit the famous "USS Constitution". Norman Smith emigrated to Australia to take up an academic position, after a varied career that also including nursing and service in the RAF. He says his love of the sea came from his father who died when Norman was only seven, but he left his son a legacy of books on the sea and sailing. Norman's own sea experience spans 40 years, mainly deep sea cruising from Falmouth and Salcombe in the UK to France and the Scilly Islands. Every three or four years he catches up with an old sailing companion who lives on a boat in Ithaca, Greece. Julian would love to hear from you. ==================== 7) DAYS OUT --- Each month we visit somewhere around the world of special nautical interest --- TRAFALGAR CEMETERY, GIBRALTAR Just outside Gibraltar's historic Southport Gate, not far from the bustling city centre, is the Trafalgar Cemetery. Although the name of the cemetery commemorates the famous battle, only two of those buried there actually died of wounds suffered during the battle (Lieut. William Forster of the Royal Marine corps of HMS Mars and Lieut. Thomas Norman of HMS Colossus - grave numbers 121 and 101). Most of those who died in action were simply committed to the deep. One tomb with an indirect connection to Trafalgar is number 103, that of John Brugier, purser of HMS San Juan Nepomuceno. She was one of the prizes captured at Trafalgar, and after the battle she was towed into Gibraltar where she served as a supply hulk for some time. Also buried in the cemetery are victims of the other great sea battles of the Napoleonic Wars - the Battle of Algeciras (1801), and actions off Cadiz (1810) and Malaga (1812). Many of the tombstones in the cemetery commemorate the dead of the three appalling yellow fever epidemics in 1804, 1813 and 1814. One of the most moving features of the Trafalgar Cemetery is a monument with an anchor and an inscription quoting Admiral Collingwood's famous despatch of October 22, 1805. "Yesterday a Battle was fought by His Majesty's Fleet, with the Combined Fleets of Spain and France, and a Victory gained, which will stand recorded as one of the most brilliant and decisive, that ever distinguished the BRITISH NAVY...Our loss has been great in Men; but what is irreparable, and the cause of Universal Lamentation is the Death of the Noble Commander in Chief who died in the Arms of Victory..." A special ceremony is held every year in the cemetery on Trafalgar Day in remembrance of those who gave their lives. =================== 8) REPORTS Since its launch in April KYDD has attracted a great deal of notice - and many column inches in publications all around the world. These published reviews are on the official Julian Stockwin website , as well as a selection of the many comments readers have emailed. Among some of Julian's newly-received emails: + I recently bought KYDD. Read it all in one go, could not put it down! - TJ + I find you a superb storyteller - AK + KYDD is an absorbing and pacey book; really looking forward to the next one! - DL + Thoroughly enjoyed your book: very detailed and knowledgeable about life at sea - BW + Thank you for writing from the perspective of the everyday seaman! - RS ================== A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Back issues of the newsletter available by request ++ (To unsubscribe this newsletter email )