====================================== S T O P - P R E S S 75,000 copies of the KYDD series sold to date! ====================================== "THE BOSUN'S CHRONICLE" --- emailed to Shipmates around the world each month --- VOL 2, ISSUE 11, November 2002 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) ANATOMY OF A MAN-O'-WAR 5) ON THE STOCKS 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS 7) DAYS OUT 8) REPORTS ==================== 1) DECKLOG --- events and activities --- During November Julian will be visiting a number of stores in the South of England signing stock copies of the UK paperback of ARTEMIS. November 12. Visits to Westcountry Books in Launceston; Ottakars, Truro; Falmouth Bookshop; St Ives Bookshop. November 17 & 18. Over these two days Julian will also be popping in at a number of stores in the region. Full details will be posted on the website by November 7. You can reserve a signed copy of the book at any of these bookshops. ===================== 2) HANDS TO MUSTER --- Behind the Thomas Kydd series 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 catch up with Diane Banks, who is responsible for selling translation and bookclub rights for Julian's UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton. Diane has been with Hodder for three and a half years, before that she worked at Penguin. +Bosun. What do you see as the main reason for the popularity of book clubs? +Diane. Despite many alternative ways of buying discounted books, such as internet booksellers like Amazon, bookclub membership remains high because members benefit from the expertise of the club editor bringing to their attention the best titles published each month. +Bosun. In the UK rights to Julian's books have been bought by Book Club Associates and sold via their World Books club. Can you tell us a little about the company. +Diane. BCA has a turnover of over GBP100 million a year, with more than 2 million members over a number of book clubs. To date, BCA have sold over 5000 copies of ARTEMIS and sales are still being made. The title was given prominence in their catalogue and featured alongside KYDD, which was flagged as a World Books bestseller. When SEAFLOWER is released, the backlist will also be offered alongside the new title. Julian has also been interviewed by BCA and members can read the feature online. +Bosun. What is the potential for this channel for Julian's books? +Diane. Julian was an instant hit with the bookclub right from the outset. It's rare to establish a new author so quickly; we can only look forward to bigger and bigger successes in the future! NEXT MONTH: The December issue will feature Julian's new UK editor Carolyn Mays and her thoughts on SEAFLOWER. ==================== 3) NAUTICAL WEBSITE OF THE MONTH --- Every month Julian talks about a website with sea links --- Mystic Seaport Many great sailing ships were constructed on the precise location of Mystic Seaport on America's East Coast. The Museum that is now Mystic Seaport was founded in 1929 in the face of the Great Depression by men who felt that preserving something from the maritime past might provide a touchstone to help guide the nation through difficult times. Mystic Seaport is now the largest maritime museum in North America. Although nothing can compare with actually walking around the numerous exhibits on the 40-acre site, the Mystic website is a fascinating taster of what the visitor can experience and an excellent guide to planning a trip. There's also an excellent on-line shop for all kinds of books and products relating to the sea. Why not become a member of Mystic Seaport? For a modest subscription, there's free admission, a quarterly magazine and newsletter, special programs and discounts at the store. ==================== 4) ANATOMY OF A MAN-O'-WAR --- The sailing ships of Kydd's day were the most complex machines on the planet at that time --- NAVIGATION Navigation was an essential skill for every officer in the navy, from midshipman right through to admiral. More than anything else, this is what separated the officers from the seamen; navigation required literacy and a high degree of numeracy. Navigation was the responsibility of the master (essentially the technical head of the ship, as opposed to the captain, the military head) who was required to provide all his charts and navigation equipment. To sail anywhere the master had first to know the exact position of the vessel and out of sight of land this was calculated by the noon sighting. Latitude was fixed using the sextant. Longitude was determined by comparing time differences between local noon and Greenwich using a chronometer. Chronometers were expensive and not supplied by the Admiralty except to ships on foreign voyages at the captain's request so they were often purchased by the officers themselves. Every glass (30 minutes) the ship's course was marked by a peg in the traverse board and at the end of the watch the course run was worked out and recorded. ==================== 5) ON THE STOCKS --- News of upcoming books, foreign translations, audio versions, other products --- UK PAPERBACK The UK edition of the paperback of ARTEMIS is available now. ISBN 0-340-79476-3 LARGE PRINT EDITIONS The Kydd series is published in the UK by Chivers Press (one of publishing's most prolific producers of large print titles) and in the US in large print format by Thorndike Press (the no. 1 large print publisher in the world). All the books are printed in 16 pt. Plantin, a very easy to read typeface. Chivers Press +44 (0) 1225 335336 Thorndike Press (800) 223 1244 THE KYDD COLLECTION Stunning limited edition prints of Geoff Hunt's cover art are available from: UK +Art Contact USA +Mystic Seaport +TallShips Books The prints can be viewed on the web via the links in the official website. ==================== 6) SIGNALS FROM FOREIGN PARTS --- We welcome news and views from Shipmates around the world --- This month's Shipmates are Roy Hodgkinson and Ann Holsman. Roy writes that he is currently reading KYDD, which he is thoroughly enjoying. He first became interested in boats of all kinds at the age of nine when he used to help a school friend and his father sail boats in a local park. Roy has done a lot of canal and river cruising, but never actually sailed. Ann lives in Ogden, Utah, and volunteers her services each Friday in "Wisebird Bookery", a local independent bookstore. It was there she first came across KYDD and subsequently ARTEMIS. Ann's dad, her daughter and her husband were all navy and she writes she's always enjoyed a good sea story and is eagerly awaiting SEAFLOWER! Julian would love to hear from you. Contact ==================== 7) DAYS OUT --- Each month we visit somewhere around the world of special nautical interest --- Nantucket Whaling Museum Today many people look on whaling with revulsion, but in the past it was a brave, romantic - and very prosperous - enterprise. In the eighteenth century and into the middle of the nineteenth century, Yankee whaling ships sailed the oceans of the worlds, returning with oil (sometimes after more than a year at sea) for the lamps of America and Europe. The Nantucket Whaling Museum on the island of Nantucket 30 miles off the Massachusetts mainland, is housed in a former whale refinery and has a fascinating record of the heyday of whaling, including ship's logs of the "Essex" (immortalised in Moby Dick), a huge finback whale skeleton, scrimshaw and sailors' souvenirs. In summer there are whale watching cruises from many of the New England ports where visitors can observe these majestic creatures in their true glory. =================== 8) REPORTS Since its launch in April 2001, the Thomas Kydd series has attracted a great deal of notice - and many column inches in publications all around the world. These published reviews, along with selected reader comments, are on the official Julian Stockwin website Here's a selection of recent reader comments emailed to Julian: "Upon a chance find at a book store in Texas, I ran across your novel KYDD. your book was a true treasure indeed!" -TW "Just to say I have finished reading KYDD, what a bloody good read it was, too! I have started to read ARTEMIS again!" - CB "I heard about your book on an internet mailing list I belong to. I sat down with it at 3pm. at midnight and well in to the morning I was still reading. Taking a break for a few hours sleep I then finished it!" - RM "I really had trouble putting ARTEMIS down and look forward to the next book." - DP "What a great read! I'm having so much fun with Kydd and Renzi and I will be on the lookout for the next instalment." - AK Julian greatly appreciates all the readers who take the time to let him know how much they're enjoying the books, and each afternoon he sets aside time to personally respond. ================== +New departments and features are being planned for "The Bosun's Chronicle", starting January 2003. The Bosun would love to receive any suggestions from Shipmates. There will also be a number of new additions to the website in the first quarter of the year. +We've had a very good response to the contest for Shipmate Reviewers and the results will be announced next month. +Kydd memorabilia. Julian has had a number of inquiries about how Shipmates can get the KYDD bookmarks. We'll send one to the first 50 requests - just email your full postal address to the Bosun, marked "bookmarks". Yours aye, THE BOSUN ++ Back issues of the newsletter by request ++ (To unsubscribe this newsletter email )