Posted by: Cassandra Sadek - Marketing Manager, Digital Specialist

Writers can be mysterious creatures. Some of them go into hiding with their typewriter and bag of cheezies. Others wax poetic from their favourite local café while sipping a venti non-fat latte.

We wanted to know more about the secret lives and habits of our fiction authors, so we’ve started playing a game of 20 questions with them. 20 Writerly Questions, that is.

- Which author wants Robert Pattinson to star in a movie version of her book?
- How long did it really take Justin Cronin to write The Passage?
- Does Yann Martel have a guilty pleasure read?

Jump into our 20 Writerly Questions, to find out! And hey, you can even submit your own questions. We’ll change ‘em up now and then, and just might include yours.

Posted by: Catherine Whiteside - Publicist

Once you’ve been working as a Random House of Canada publicist for a while, it would only make sense that you stop being quite so star-struck and nervous around authors. You still appreciate them for their incredible talents, but you also learn to separate that from the job you have to do — mainly keeping those authors happy, relaxed, and above all prepared and on time for their media inteviews and events.

But all publishing folks have a couple of authors whose works have so touched their lives that this separation becomes difficult. We are, after all, book lovers first. I know of an editorial veteran who burst into tears the first time she met Alice Munro in person. When at McClelland & Stewart, I used to have to let Rohinton Mistry’s phonecalls go to voicemail, so I could compose myself before calling him back; such was my nervousness and awe.

And so my cool, calm and collected publicist veneer was in danger last week - I would spend two days with my favourite author of all, David Mitchell. My brother (also now an RHC employee, as fate would have it) sent me a copy of Cloud Atlas when I was a bit of a disillusioned English Lit majoir at McGill. I’d fallen into a theory-laden funk, which had sapped the true joy of reading out of picking up a book. With this attitude I picked up Cloud Atlas… only to fall through Mitchell’s rabbit hole, barely sleeping or eating over the next two days as with bliss and rapture I ate up every single word. He brought me back to books, and I will forever carry that gratitude inside me. I’ve read everything he’s written before and since, and have never been disappointed.

Mitchell was in Toronto promoting his newest brilliant novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet” (pronounced “zoot.”). I was in charge of things running smoothly while he was here, and was both excited and terrified. What if I suddenly lost my ability to speak intelligently? What if I got us lost, or forgot an important detail? What if he hated me? And, perhaps most frightening, what if I hated him?

All fears were put to rest when he walked towards me at the hotel, bypassed my proffered hand, and gave me a hug. I didn’t think a thousand-watt smirk was possible, but I suppose that’s the British for you. He was charming, funny, animated and amiable, despite having just spent hours on a plane with very little sleep beforehand. He travels with his own tea bags. He tries to buy his own lunch. He says please and thank you and sorry more than any Canadian. He has a love of both crisp green apples and rich desserts (Portuguese custard tarts from St. Lawrence Market being a new fave). He’s utterly delightful.

I soon realized that I am only one in a large army of “Mitchell geeks.” Every interviewer had that same look of panic as I had before meeting him, and every one left beaming. We held a bookseller reception at our offices, with one woman traveling from as far as Halifax. He took time with every single person hoping to speak with him, as he did at his public event later that evening.

I met David when he visited Toronto about 5 years ago for Cloud Atlas. He’s such a sweet, considered and deeply grateful author. He’s exactly the kind of guy for whom you want good things to happen. Fingers crossed for The Man Booker Prize this year for The Thousand Autumns … - third time has got to be the charm, right? - Mike Fuhr, Director, National Accounts Marketing

The next day, an interviewer admitted that his girlfriend had tried to ask a question at the public event, only to be told there was no more time. So Mitchell asked if he could call her. From the middle of the interview. And he did. “Hi, this is David Mitchell. I hear you had a question for me?” The interviewer and his girlfriend were both shocked, and tickled.

Another interviewer asked Mitchell what he hoped people would take away from The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. He said “the conviction that I haven’t wasted their time.” I can attest to the fact that there’s no better way one could spend it, whether with Mitchell’s words, or with the man himself.

Click here to start reading from The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet.

Posted by: Tan Light - Coordinator, Digital Sales & Marketing

There are many reasons why I think my job is amazing - being able to watch the World Cup kick-off game on a Friday morning with authors, coworkers and the media is one of them.

South African crime writer Deon Meyer has been in Canada for the last few weeks, speaking at the Bloody Words Conference at the end of May and again this past weekend at Luminato, Toronto’s Festival of Arts and Culture (read his guest blog post). We were thrilled to have him join us at our downtown office to watch the first game of the World Cup - one that featured his home team! We were even more thrilled to have John Doyle, author of The World is a Ball join us as well. Doyle has traveled the globe during the build-up to the World Cup. In between the drunken fans, crazed taxi drivers, leprechauns and lederhosen, John Doyle has been musing on the evolution of soccer as a global phenomenon - a perfect game-time companion, I’d say.

Just before the game started, we were all gathered in our boardroom, and John raised a toast to South Africa and to Deon Meyer as his national anthem played. It was an emotional moment for Deon - this is Africa’s first time hosting the World Cup. The display of national pride at Soccer City was overwhelming. The announcers belive there are about 80,000 people in the stadium and most are wearing yellow. The sound of the vuvuzelas nearly drowned out the commentary.

And then the game is on.

There were a few tense moments in the first half, but no score. My colleagues wandered in and out of the room, getting a quick update on the game and introducing themselves to John and Deon before dashing off to their next meeting.

But when the second half begins, you can see the South African team is more confident. Deon mused that the coach has said something profound during half-time. And it pays off in no time with South Africa scoring the first goal! John Doyle and Deon Meyer lept from their chairs, leading a raucous cheer that has editors and publicists dashing down the hall to see the replay. FIFA fever was spreading through Random House of Canada!

South Africa fought hard to maintain their lead, but Mexico managed to land a goal. Deon conceded that they might have earned it, but our Special Promotions & Deputy Publicity Director, Cathy Paine, offered to hex them anyway. The lone Mexico fan in the room cheered. When the tie was called, Deon shook hands with his lone opponent and thanked us all for watching the game with him. He is such a nice guy!

For me, this was a wonderful introduction to The Beautiful Game.

Posted by: Amanda Lewis - Production Editorial Assistant, Random House of Canada

Ahhh, nothing beats dinner and a show, especially when said show combines literature and music. On May 1, we donned our finest and flocked to Hugh’s Room in Toronto’s West End for the inaugural Torn from the Pages: An Evening of Music and Prose, part of the Globe and Mail Open House Festival. Musician and author Dave Bidini hosted the event, with proceeds going to PEN Canada and Frontier College.

The evening’s theme was interpretation. Presenters selected books from a single publisher’s catalogue, in this case the venerable Coach House Books. Authors read from their own works or those of others, and musicians interpreted the books into a song or two.

After we finished our salads and entrees we settled back for the show. First up, local poet Matthew Tierney read two poems from Jeremy Dodds’s acclaimed Crabwise to the Hounds, and two from his own book, The Hayflick Limit. He had the crowd tittering with Dodds’s “Epileptic Acupuncturist,” and snagged me with the lines “The mind is a terrible thing/to keep chaste.” The Prince Brothers then set Dodds’s book to music. The combo of the chorus—“acrobats in waiting rooms/flipping through magazines”—and the slide guitar had me reminiscing about watching planes fly overhead in the fields near the Vancouver Airport. Who knows how these associations work.

Sheila Heti, writer and creator of the Trampoline Hall lecture series, was next, reading selections from Darren O’Donnell’s Your Secrets Sleep with Me. In addition to being a writer, O’Donnell is the artistic director of Mammalian Diving Reflex, and one of Heti’s favourite theatre artists. Selina Martin, in white vinyl boots, then took the stage. Blame serendipity: Martin’s song was based on many of the excerpts that Heti had read. If the nodding head of the mustachioed man in the front row was any indication, they both pulled it off admirably.

We then moved west to Winnipeg. Writer Charles Molgat read from Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg, based on Maddin’s film of the same name. Wearing a hockey sweater emblazoned with the logo of My Winnipeg’s mythic Black Tuesdays, Molgat read about major moments in Winnipeg history, including razing the Eaton’s to make way for an ice rink. Manitoba-born singer-songwriter Paul Linklater confessed he chose My Winnipeg as his book to interpret because it was the only one that he could watch on DVD … and even then, he never got around to watching it. He could have fooled me. With his wife, Donna, he played two songs, backed by a delightfully effervescent drummer.

Are you catching the rhythm of the evening? Welcome to intermission, and strawberry sorbet.
The second set was more streamlined, as writers read from their own works rather than others’. Andrew “Double Threat” Wedderburn, himself a musician, read from The Milk Chicken Bomb, a novel about, among other topics, vindictive lemon seeds and how many crumpled balls of foolscap a ten-year-old boy can fit in his mouth before the sodden wads of paper become stuck. For the record, the answer is four. Cuff the Duke’s guitarist Wayne Petti’s sartorial perfection was an ideal introduction to his (by his own admission) creatively titled song “The Milk Chicken Bomb.” Confidence abounded.

Playwright and novelist Claudia Dey did an amazing reading from her debut novel, Stunt. Takeaway advice: always match your outfit to your book. With her black shirt and pants, red boots, and long necklace that mimicked the rope on the cover, Dey coordinated perfectly with Stunt. The Billie Hollies were magnificent in their rendition of Dey’s novel. You might not think a French horn, clarinet, autoharp, stand-up bass, electric guitar, and operatic vocals are the obvious choice to interpret a book about family, the darker parts of ourselves, and tightrope walking. But you’d be wrong.

The night closed with a reading from the bestselling Canadian poetry book of all time. And no, the reclusive bard of Montreal did not make an appearance. Christian Bök’s reading from Eunoia was my personal highlight of the event. Eunoia, perhaps more than any other work in the program, demands to be read aloud. Dressed in a grey suit, Bök even reminded me of David Byrne. He issued a disclaimer—NSFW (Not Safe for Work)—before reading excerpts from the expletive-laden Chapter U. His performance, with its vitality, cacophony, assonance, and expert pacing, merged music and literature so successfully that further musical interpretation was hardly needed. But boy, was it welcome. Dave Bidini and Bidiniband then finished the set with a song that used all five vowels, plus y, and even a range of consonants. Their version of Chapter U set a man dancing solo between the tables. NSFW, indeed.

When the lights came up, we turned to each other, sated and beaming. The evening was a resounding success. An event with such a multitude of performers necessitated numerous set changes, and the transitions were all fairly seamless. The music breathed new life into the texts, if not tearing then gracefully easing them from the pages. Funds went to incredibly worthy literacy organizations. The merch table was swamped. And the paprikash was delicious.

Posted by: Lindsey Reeder - Sales Assistant, Random House of Canada

What’s a Read-a-thon, you ask?

In October 2007, Dewey, from the blog “The Hidden Side of the Leaf” (which has since been taken down) created the 24 hour read-a-thon with the intent of getting all her blog buddies to participate for a whole day of reading. It started with 69 participants, then 119 people and the current amount of people that participated on Saturday April 10th, 2010 was a grand total of 388 participants.

Unfortunately, Dewey passed away in November 2008. But the Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon continues to flourish, with events taking place twice a year (April and October). The idea is to read non-stop and blog about your experience, while also participating in all the fun events that are happening over at the main read-a-thon webpage. Each hour was filled with memes, contests, challenges and lots of cheering from the cheerleaders.

I woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to get prepared for my assigned time - 8:00am. With tea in hand, I began my first book and read straight through until 1:00am. I made my lunch with a book in hand, I ordered takeout so I wouldn’t have to take a break from reading and I consumed two red bulls to assist with any fatigue I experienced. It was a great experience and I even won two books from the prize list!

Some people participated for fun and some set goals to read for a purpose. My goal was to read as much as I could and donate $5.00 for every book I read to First Book, an organization that provides new books to children who might not have the opportunity to get books on a regular basis.

I completed 5 books over the span of 17 hours, that’s a grand total of 1149 pages. I’d say it’s a win-win, because I got to tackle my never ending “to be read” pile and First Book gets to help children start to become lovers of reading.

You can read all about the books I picked and my progress over on my blog, Reeder Reads.

Posted by: Pamela Murray - Sr. Editor & Manager, Co-Publications, KRC Group

The end to the sweet torment was a date on the calendar: March 12, 2010. This was the day of Canada Reads reckoning, when the country would find out whose book emerged the winner.

When I learned that Nicolas Dickner’s Nikolski was in the running, I was thrilled but terrified at all the big guns it was up against. So many huge books, and great ones. Good to a Fault a Giller nominee. Fall On Your Knees, a beloved classic. Generation X the acorn that became the mighty oak of Douglas Coupland’s phenomenal publishing career. The Jade Peony ensconced on school curricula! Nikolski was no stranger to recognition in its French version, winning awards, acclaim and readers in Quebec, where it was first published. But how thrilling that this competition would have so many more people reading this special book by this uniquely gifted young writer.

When we first decided to publish the book at Knopf Canada, I told my colleagues that the book would be a fantastic Canada Reads selection - for one thing, the book actually covers so much of Canada, from West to East. But also because it’s so much fun, and fun to talk about. All that was needed was a champion, somewhere, to get the same idea.

Fast forward two and a half years or so. I met Michel Vézina for the first time on the day the contenders were announced. Much has been made of this author and publisher’s past as a fire-breather, but personally I prefer to imagine him as a wish-granting genie. I liked his attitude right away - how, when Jian Ghomeshi asked him what his strategy for the defending the book would be, he said, it will be easy, my book is the best! (Exquisitely concise literary criticism.) Of course, all the other champions projected confidence, too…

Twitter had an ineluctable hold on me for the months (months!) leading up to the debates. At first it seemed that people reading all five books were starting with other titles, and there wasn’t a lot about Nikolski. But before long reactions started to trickle in and they were great. Could I dare to dream that the book about fish, pirates, garbology and a gnarled family tree might actually win?

Debates week. Office door closed, radio on, edge of seat steadily wearing away. The first two books to go were Generation X and Fall On Your Knees. As the week went on I railed against the slings and arrows aimed at “my” book, and cheered every bit of praise (Rollie said it was a “bouncy adventure”)!

On the last day, Good to a Fault was eliminated, leaving Nikolski and The Jade Peony to duke it out. The final vote: Samantha Nutt voted for Nikolskito leave, as did Perdita Felicien. Michel and Simi Sara voted for The Jade Peony to go. It was down to the vote of Roland Pemberton a.k.a. Cadence Weapon a.k.a Another Wish-granting Genie because, with his vote, Nikolski emerged triumphant!

So now, the whole nation will be reading this hugely entertaining book and discovering its many charms. And if anyone wants to discuss the Three-Headed Book or the Lost Saga of the Garifunas or the mysterious contents of Montreal dumpsters, just be in touch. I’ll be here - beaming, and definitely believing in magic. (Not to mention editing Lazer Lederhendler’s translation of Nicolas’s next novel, Apocalypse for Beginners - watch this space…)

Posted by: Nita Pronovost - Senior Editor, Doubleday Canada

In one of the stranger moments in my publishing career, a few weeks ago I found myself in a morgue with one of my authors. Fortunately, neither of us was performing an autopsy. Fortunately, neither of us was dead.

In Nicholas Ruddock’s brilliant debut novel, The Parabolist, a group of earnest young med students in the seventies dissects a body—through skin, tendon, flesh and bone they slice, as layer by layer, they unravel the mystery of a murder and the truth about their own lives. So, when it came time to drum up some promotional ideas, Nick, a family physician and an incredible writer (yes, some people have way too much talent), thought it might be neat to shoot a short video in a morgue. I had to agree: that did sound neat.

So that’s what we did.

I didn’t think much more about this—about the reality of this—until we actually arrived at the site. We were escorted through fluorescent hospital halls to those ominous stainless steel doors, and then it suddenly set in with a shock: this was not a movie set. Our plans were delayed because there was an actual autopsy in progress.

We returned a few hours later to learn that the “job” had been completed, and that “the crew” had cleaned up the morgue. We were ready to enter.

As we walked in, I couldn’t help but notice the small details: the chemical smell of disinfectant in the air, the line of rubber boots along a wall, the clipboard that read: “Processed Limb: For Disposal” … and in the centre of the room, that cold metal table, where a short time before, a person had been unravelled—skin, tendon, flesh, bone.

Here’s the thing: those are my toes in the video. I had volunteered to be the body in our shoot, proving that I will do just about anything for the love of book. I soon found myself lying on that freezing table with a white sheet draped over me, toes exposed and tagged. I’ll admit it: my heart was racing, and I was feeling more than a little spooked, but as we progressed, I started to relax into the role. I mean, how many times in my life would I get to play dead?

Fortunately for me, Nick’s a great reader and a lot of fun. The shoot was fast-paced; Nick’s gallows humour quelled my jitters; and my resurrection came mercifully quickly. As the shoot rounded to a close, we needed just one more shot. Nick asked the videographer, “Where do you want me this time?”

I knew the answer, and I couldn’t help myself. “Over my dead body,” I said.

Posted by: Beth Powning - author of The Sea Captain's Wife

On the evening of January 15, 2010, the Sussex Royal Legion in Sussex, New Brunswick, was transformed into an 1860s sailing ship for the launching of my new novel, The Sea Captain’s Wife.

Angelika Glover, my editor at Knopf Canada, came from Toronto. I had obtained a costume for her from Kings Landing Historical Settlement. We helped each other into vast crinolines, long dresses, detachable sleeves. In our 1870s house, I was struck by the sight of Angelika as she stood in the hallway adjusting her collar in the mirror. And then again as I saw her coming through the back door into the winter dusk, and as she and I rustled our long skirts over the snow in the deep country quiet. This is what literature is about, I thought; the thrill of entering another time, another world.

Perhaps it was this feeling that gripped every visitor to the Legion that night. People were greeted by high school students in costume, a six-foot-tall lighthouse, the sound of a fog horn and a cloud of fog. The room’s lighting was low, with pools of light illuminating photos and paintings of nineteenth century sailing ships and shipyards, and tables covered with objects gleaned from attics, or on loan from museums: ship’s logs, sextants, tools, even a captain’s sea chest. The Sea Captain’s Wife spilled from a leather trunk on the Indigo table; the manager and her assistant had travelled an hour from Saint John. There was the swish of long skirts, the half-giddy pleasure of women dressed in period costume. One woman wore a wedding dress from the 1840s. My son was resplendent in a brown beaver top hat and silk ruffled vest. A pirate appeared wearing a hoop earring and eye patch. The room smelled of chowder that simmered on the kitchen’s big stoves, attended by many volunteer cooks. Hundreds of biscuits were baked. A sea shanty group, “Before the Mast,” sat in a boat at the front of the room next to the stage - and the stage itself was a ship’s prow, with a life-sized figurehead made for the occasion, a huge canvas jib hung from a spar, and a ship’s wheel.

At seven o’clock, people began pouring in. They came and came. People reported that three adjacent parking lots were filled and that a line stretched far down the snowy sidewalk. The sea shanty group began to sing as the chairs filled and people jostled for space along walls. My neighbour and friend Kevin, dressed in a period captain’s outfit, was the emcee. I was introduced by the event’s organizer, Patricia, the high school librarian who had worked tirelessly, serving as the hub of a wheel of about 25 volunteers. As I read, I experienced the palpable energy of 500 utterly silent people. Afterwards, I thanked people in the crowd who had helped with the book in diverse ways: the veterinarian who told me how horses were disposed of in the 1860s, the doctor who had researched nineteenth century medicine. The sea shanty group sang again. People milled about, chatting with the women who had made the chowder, swapping yarns at the artifact tables, buying beer at the Legion bar, meeting old friends.

And they waited patiently in line to buy books. I signed and signed, for two hours. One man said to me, “I heard about this event on CBC. I told my wife we were going to go to it. ‘Harry, you don’t read!’ she said. ‘I’m going to read THIS book, I told her.’” To my astonishment, a couple told me they had come from Nova Scotia. And others from Fredericton, Saint John, Sackville.

It was a success beyond the wildest expectations of SLICE, Sussex Literary Initiatives and Cultural Events. We will all be talking about it in years to come, a warm, vibrant outpouring of community pride and support - just as we still tell tales of the Age of Sail.

Posted by: Jennifer Herman - National Accounts Marketing Manager, Random House of Canada

In my work in national accounts marketing, I help organize and attend tons of author events - especially at this time of year. I was thrilled to finally meet tennis great Andre Agassi who was in town last week promoting his new book Open. I have been raving about him since the summer, and now you can see what I was prattling on about.

Also a lot of fun to meet, and proudly Canadian, was Paul Shaffer who was in Toronto to promote his book We’ll be Here for the Rest of Our Lives. I loved all the musical connections this man possesses and he shared his newfound knowledge with anyone at the office who would listen.


I had the pleasure of being in Ottawa with Anne Murray earlier this week for her last event as part of her book tour in the Nation’s Capital and the place I call home. Over six hundred people came out to show their love for Canada’s first lady of song. She signed copies of her autobiography, All Of Me, and took pictures.


You’d never guess it was the last event of a fifteen city tour! That woman has more energy than I do!

From the event trail,
Jennifer

Posted by: Michael Schellenberg - Associate Publisher, Knopf Canada

It isn’t everyday that we crack the champagne before noon, but this morning, the Knopf Random Canada (KRC) group had two wonderful reasons to celebrate. Two books had made the Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist - that’s the Holy Grail of Canadian publishing - and both were edited by Anne Collins, doyenne of Random House Canada. So, KRC’s executive publisher Louise Dennys gave a heartfelt toast for Annabel Lyon’s wonderful novel The Golden Mean - check out that cover, kids - and the brilliant The Bishop’s Man by Linden MacIntyre.

It all started in a room at the glamourous Four Seasons, where the assembled group of nervous editors and publishers quaffed orange juice squeezed from real oranges and fair-trade coffee. Then, Jack Rabinovich took the podium to introduce the jurors.

This very generous man sponsors the award in memory of his late wife Doris. This year, the jury was comprised of the elegant Victoria Glendinning from England,

the handsome Russell Banks from the US, and Alistair Macleod, who couldn’t be there. And then Victoria started to read the nominees - this is always an interesting exercise, because the names are read alphabetically, and everybody in the room began to clock which books had been left off as the list was announced. When Kim Echlin’s wonderful novel The Disappeared (published by Penguin Books) was announced as the first nominee, people were shocked to realize that Margaret Atwood’s splendid The Year of the Flood hadn’t made the shortlist… As well as Annabel and Linden and Echlin’s books, also shortlisted were Colin McAdam’s Fall and Anne Michael’s The Winter Vault.

Well, back to work - hoping to find the Giller nominees of years to come - and then to turn our attention to the announcement of the Man Booker Prize this evening in London. KRC has two books on the shortlist….

Posted by: Tan Light - Coordinator, Digital Sales & Marketing, Random House of Canada

Teenagers - they are all over the internet, but as anyone in digital marketing can tell you, connecting with them is harder than it sounds! And with so many great Young Adult books, the question of how to reach this audience is posed often. We needed an answer - and when we couldn’t find one out there, we decided to build our own. After all, “If you build it, [they] will come.” Channeling Ray Kinsella, we set out to create an digital destination for Canadian teen readers.

First, this project needed a name. Something bookish, but catchy. A neologism! They are all the rage these days, right? How about…

Bookurious [book-yoor-ee-uhs]
1. - noun. A network for teens who exhibit a curiousity for books and reading.
2. - adj. To be drawn to books; the desire to read almost anything.

Yes. That’s it. Bookurious kinda rolls off the tongue, don’t you think?

What about an image? Something that conveys the wonders of reading…

Very nice.

Now, all we had left to do was give Canadian teen readers the kind of content they would want from a teen book site.
Wait… what would teens want from Bookurious.com?

To answer this question, we went right to the source - a team of teen readers. We pulled together the Bookurious Insiders Team by calling on friends and family members of the right age who were self-professed bookworms. We brainstormed, they voted; letting us know what’s hot and what’s not. With the help of our Insiders Team, we spent the summer putting together a brand new social network exclusively for teens (13-17 years old) to discuss books and authors, learn about upcoming events & news, and be part of a community of young Canadian readers.

We are very excited to announce that www.bookurious.com is now live and growing. Ok, so as an adult you can’t join (Sorry, that’s the rule!), but you can help spread the word to book-loving teens in your life! Send them to www.bookurious.com or become a fan on Facebook.

Posted by: Tan Light - Digital Sales & Marketing Coordinator

We, the Digital Marketing Team, are big fans of The Cupcake. Almost as fanatic about them as we are about books. Some of us have done the Toronto cupcake tour. Some of us check www.cakewrecks.com every day for the yummy CCC disasters (That’s CupCake Collage for you non-wreckies). But none of this could compete with our excitement when we heard the news: Martha Stewart was publishing a cookbook devoted to cupcakes! At last our two loves shall meet!

To celebrate Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, we decided to roll up our sleeves and try baking some cupcakes ourselves! Some a little more successfully than others. (and by “some”, I mean “everyone else”, and by “others”, I mean me!)

Now, I can admit that I am a terrible baker. That is mostly because I never follow a recipe. True to form, I used whole wheat flour instead of white, and my ‘cakes’ came out more like muffins. But they look ok. I’ll just tell people they are ‘healthy’.

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes, p. 152

We dubbed these the “breakfast cupcakes” because they weren’t quite as rich as the rest. But oh-so yummy! Definitely a good cupcake to start with. Thanks Jane!

Streusel Cupcakes, p. 63

Personally, these might have been my favourites - but I am a cheesecake junky, so I might just be biased. And Jess says they are super easy to make!

(and in detail)

Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes, p. 104

These were also delish - there was a tiny bit of pan-stickage, but really, I think that just let more of the awesomeness out, right Ainsley?

Chocolate Spice Cupcakes, p. 82

And definitely the prize for the most adorable cupcakes goes to Barb, the semi-pro cake decorator in the Marketing Department - her Ice-cream Cone Cupcakes are just too cute!

Ice-Cream Cone Cupcakes, p. 198

Speaking of adorable, one little girl got her cupcakes a bit early - just in time for her birthday. Julie made her the Chocolate Malted Cupcakes, with fun pink icing!

Chocolate Malted Cupcakes, p. 37

We’d love to hear about (or see pictures of) your own adventures in cupcakes! Pop on over to Facebook and post your pics and stories on our Booklounge Fan Page.
We’ve also brought the cupcake love to Twitter. Are you following?

Posted by: Julie Forrest - Marketing Coordinator, Digital Specialist, Random House of Canada

Last night I had the pleasure of attending my first Chuck Palahniuk event, hosted by McNally Robinson Booksellers at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Chuck’s new book, Pygmy, went on sale last week and his devoted (I’m not using that term lightly) fans were eager to get their hands on signed copies and meet their idol in person. I arrived two hours before the start of the event, and the line was already long. As per Chuck’s request, some of the attendees arrived creatively attired as U.N. delegates (an homage to the climax of Pygmy).

When Chuck arrived, the crowd cheered, whistled and clapped. He stopped to chat with the faithful folks at the front of the line.

He signed a heck of a lot of books, and patiently posed with very happy devotees.

And then the fun really began. Over the course of the evening, Chuck entertained us with his hilarious retellings of “fairy tales” in Pygmy speak (read one of them here ); he was interrupted by a “sext” from Margaret Atwood (he assured the crowd that “boys only tease the writers they like”); and he whipped 200 inflatable penguins at us (plus one lone naked inflatable man). Seriously. The crowd lapped it up.

In conversation, Chuck talked about the origins of Pygmy’s hilarious pidgin English (it was modeled on his own bad German as well as his older Ukranian immigrant relatives who “will never see his work, so they won’t be hurt”). He explained that writing in Pygmy’s voice actually wasn’t that difficult, and he and his friends made a game out of talking in Pygmy speak. The quotes from fascist dictators peppered throughout the book also came from a challenge to his friends (wouldn’t it be fun to be Chuck Palahniuk’s pal?).

When asked about how he started writing, Chuck told us about the writing workshop he’s attended every Thursday night for 20 years. He said that even if he never sold a piece of work, he would still be writing just for the Thursday night parties. The man likes to have fun; hence the penguins, the stories, the humour. ‘Twas a fun night indeed, and I too am now a devoted disciple of the cult of Chuck.

Want in on the fun? Join us at www.OperatonH.com.

Posted by: Adria Iwasutiak - Senior Publicist, Random House of Canada

Valet parking and an elevator right to your suite are merely a dream for most people, let alone authors, but for bestselling Canadian author Joy Fielding, these are realities within the new condo she and her husband enjoy. She kindly opened her home to Zoomer magazine and myself this February for a photo shoot to be featured in the May issue of the mag, starring her and her two beautiful daughters. Perfect for the Mother’s Day issue!

Decorated and updated with divine taste, the personalities of this couple shine through and bring a warmth to a space that looks like it is out of a top architectural and design magazine. Collections for conversation include the many vintage cameras, gorgeous and ecclectic Canadian art and varied retro wind-up toys. But perhaps most quirky and charming are the lady head vases that Joy has adorning her many shelves within the powder room, office and walk-in closet (which is incidently straight out of the Sex and the City movie).

The Zoomer team did an outstanding job photographing a beautiful bond between these three strong women, and the finished results will be available for all to see when the May issue hits stands in mid-April, just in time for the release of Joy’s most recent suspense-filled novel, Still Life. But while you’re reading her latest, I’ll be figuring out ways to save my nickels so that this once in a lifetime opportunity to see how the rich and famous live can become my own reality one day. Because I hear Joy’s list of house-sitting offers is even longer than her list of already published number one bestsellers!

Posted by: Janet Joy Wilson - Imprint Sales Director, Third Party Distribution, Random House of Canada

My job is to ‘take care’ of our client publishers and yes I do feel a motherly love for each and every one but sometimes one has a child that one favours a little more than the others. This season my favourite has a book that I have embraced and intend to ensure that everyone reads.

Every Man Dies Alone was written in 24 days by a prolific but psychologically disturbed German writer named Rudolf Ditzen, who spent a significant portion of his life in asylums (for killing a friend in a duel, for threatening his wife with a gun), in prison (for embezzling to finance his morphine habit) and in rehab. In spite of his precarious emotional state, he wrote more than two dozen books under the pen name Hans Fallada, which he took from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Before the war, he was an international bestseller and considered on par with Thomas Mann and Herman Hesse.

The Otto and Anna Quangel of Fallada’s novel are stand-ins for real-life Berliners, Otto and Elise Hampel, a working-class couple who conducted a postcard campaign for more than two years at the height of Hitler’s power, after Elise’s brother was killed in the war. Arrested in October 1942, they were sentenced to death by the Volksgerichtshof (People’s Court) in January 1943 and executed by beheading. Their Gestapo files came into Fallada’s hands in the fall of 1945, entrusted to him by a poet and postwar cultural official, Johannes Becher, who knew of Fallada’s prolific literary output and recognized his gift for objective narration.

This past month I was visiting Melville House in Brooklyn when the fax came in from the New York Times with a review that would be run on the following Sunday. The first line of the review began with “A signal literary event of 2009 has occurred, but if publishers had been more vigilant, it could have been a signal literary event in any of the last 60 years.” As Dennis Johnson sat at his board room table reading aloud, albeit with difficulty as the faxed copy was extremely blurred, to his co-publisher and wife, their publicist, an editor, and myself, we sat and listened in disbelief, joy and wonder. When he was finished, we were silently drinking in all the superlatives that had been used to describe a book that had been a result of a long search and many years to bring to fruition. I think it was me who suggested we needed to have some champagne to celebrate.

Every Man Dies Alone is in stores this week. It is the first time it has ever been translated into English. The book is more than a thriller, more than a love story, it is a slice of history that Fallada has created that will stay with you and you’ll want to talk about with other readers.

More and more glowing reviews are coming in and I couldn’t be more thrilled for my favourite but I don’t think I’ll forget that moment in Brooklyn when my own timing couldn’t have been better.

Posted by: Michael Schellenberg - Associate Publisher, Knopf Canada

You’d think that having a ticket to the 4th Annual Booklover’s Ball would be exciting enough, but it’s always fun to have a little suspense added to your day. A bout of extremely windy weather had us all wondering if Brad Martin, President and CEO of Random House, and co-chair of the night’s big event, was going to be stranded in New York City. The word was that all flights had been cancelled.

Well, Brad must have pull somewhere. The buzz at the Ball, held at the Royal York Hotel, was that he had in fact gotten on to a flight - so the evening was set to go off without a hitch!

CBC news anchor Diana Swain was the host, and it was nice to see my fellow ex-Winnipegger looking gorgeous and doing a great job handling the unruly crowd. Each table included a noted author, with a guest list that included Margaret Atwood, David Adams Richards, and Debbie Travis.

But the authors in attendance were there to work for their fancy dinners. As Diana pointed out, the author at each table was responsible for providing wit and candour for the evening. Upon hearing that, our entire table turned to MG Vassanji, our guest author - and he did exactly as he had been instructed, most amusingly trying to sort out what he would do with the MAC mascara that he had received in his gift bag.

After dinner, we settled in for a fashion show inspired by Harlequin books over the past fifty years. The decorating duo Colin and Justin were there, doing quite a number in Canadian kilts…

The Booklovers’ Ball is a fundraiser for the Toronto Public Library, the largest library system in the world. It has books in more languages than anywhere else in the world, but the statistic that I found most surprising is that 73 percent of Torontonians use the library. That is a lot of people reading a lot of books books and accessing the many other services, and it was a pleasure to witness all of the money being raised to ensure that the TPL continues to flourish.

Posted by: Evan Rosser - Publicity Intern, Random House of Canada

Though it may surprise some of you to read this, I have never before gone dress shopping with a bestselling author. Not once. Fortunately, my bestselling-author-dress-shopping virginity was taken gently and with good humour this last Friday by the lovely Joy Fielding.

After a brief and dignified struggle with the softly accented concierge, we made contact with Ms. Fielding in the lobby of her uptown apartment building. Outside we hailed a cab and cruised downtown to Fashion Crimes, a Queen west boutique store with a lot of dresses and two very tall wooden doors, which had generously offered to clothe and style several authors for this Thursday’s Book Lovers’ Ball (As I’m on comfortable terms with my feminine side, I didn’t feel at all out of place as we walked in). Instead I put myself to good use watching the coats and purses while Ms. Fielding and her tenacious publicist Adria Iwasutiak began their search for the perfect dress.

With the help of the store’s constantly moving staff several candidates were soon found. I continued to make myself useful by testing out potential accessories and became particularly fond of a daring feathery hair-clip. In the selection process Ms. Fielding showed a love of colour (particularly purple), a stunning figure and a charming, self-effacing sense of humour. In the interest of not letting the cat out of the bag I have wisely forgotten what her final choice looked like, but I know that it was elegant and if I was Joy Fielding I would have chosen it, too. Needless to say, I was sad to go back to the office and I would definitely go dress shopping with best-selling suspense author Joy Fielding again on a moment’s notice.

Posted by: Maylin Scott - Assistant Manager, Library Sales & Academic

Last week at the Ontario Library Association’s Superconference, the Dewey Divas and the Dudes were thrilled to receive the OLA’s award for Leadership in Adult Readers’ Advisory. For six years we’ve been traveling around the province giving targeted book talks to staff at public libraries and school boards. We let them know about our favourite upcoming reads, forgotten gems and the new writers - especially Canadians - about to break out. We know how essential librarians are at spreading the word about books and there has been a ton of recent focus among them on developing readers’ advisory skills. So this award was truly an incredible honour, going as it did to a bunch of publishers’ sales reps instead of to a librarian. We accepted the award at the conference’s awards night dinner (buzzed with excitement and from a pretty large and tasty piece of chocolate cake) and thanked our library wholesalers for their support and the many libraries who have welcomed us so warmly over the years and passed on our recommendations to their patrons.

Here we all are on our big night. From left to right: Susan Wallace (Oxford University Press Canada), Cindy Weir (President of the OLA), Janet Murie (Scholastic Canada), Rosalyn Steele (H. B. Fenn & Company), Maylin Scott (Random House of Canada), David Macmillan (HarperCollins Canada), Saffron Beckwith (Kate Walker & Company), Sharron Smith (OLA Readers’ Advisory Committee), Eleanor Denny (Simon & Schuster Canada), Ann Ledden (McArthur & Company) and Lahring Tribe (Random House of Canada).

Posted by: Tan Light - Coordinator, Digital Sales & Marketing, Random House of Canada

Do you have any book-related resolutions this year?

Myself, I plan to read more of what I already have at home, to listen to more non-fiction audiobooks instead of watching TV, and finally, to attend more book-related events.

Last year, I saw Giles Blunt at the Gladstone, I met Kelley Armstrong at a reading, attended a few champagne toasts and launch parties, and hit the Giller Light Bash with a few co-workers. This year, I want to attend at least two events per month. And I am starting with Priscila Uppal’s launch event, on January 13, at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.

If anyone out there shares my resolve to get out there and attend more events, here are a few tips for you:

1) Sign up for author alerts, so you know when your favourite authors have new books available.

2) Sign up for one of our Events Newsletters to know who is coming to your area. Make sure you register your postal code to be included in the VIP program! You’ll receive exclusive emails for your chance to win tickets, books and VIP treatment at selected events across the country! (Now THAT would make it easy to keep your resolution, wouldn’t it?)

3) Check with your local book store about events they are holding.

I will be sure to blog about the events I attend, so stay tuned!

Posted by: Heather Sanderson - Manager, Digital Sales and Business Development

Can’t imagine reading a book on a screen? That’s the first reaction that I get every time I mention the idea of eBooks or an eReader. Well, that and the thought that you can’t curl up with a machine.

I’ll admit, I had some of these same thoughts flit through my brain at first, but once you see the Sony Reader, even the most avid bibliophile will be swayed. Trust me. I’m definitely one of them.

I just received the brand new Sony Reader 700 and wow, is it cool! It’s the first touch screen Reader from Sony. Now all you have to do is flip over the cover, touch the screen, and you’re given a list of all of the books you have loaded. Want to search through a book on your Reader? No problem. There’s a simple search button that makes a full keyboard pop up - and you just type directly on the screen, find all of the instances within the book that have the item that you’re looking for, and touch the one you want. You can even drag your finger across text to highlight it and the Reader will keep a list of all of the notes you’ve highlighted (that definitely would have been a handy trick when I was at University).

The Sony Reader is so book-like with its e-Ink technology that the experience is virtually the same as reading a print book. The screen size is roughly the size of a small paperback page, and you can change the font so that it’s bigger (for those of us whose eyes are failing them).

Not only is it a cool piece of technology, but the Sony Readers also helping us here at Random House of Canada to help the environment. In the past, publishers and editors would print off and read manuscripts and the marketing, publicity and sales reps also read from printed manuscripts to be able to sell each book effectively. Now, we have provided staff with Sony Readers so that they can read manuscripts and books in advance of publication without printing off a single page. We get to look cool, save trees, and save costs - what more could you ask for?

Posted by: Tan Light - Coordinator, Digital Sales & Marketing, Random House of Canada

The biggest prize in Canadian literature, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, was awarded last night at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto. Our own Anthony De Sa was up for this prestigious award, valued this year at $50,000, for his story collection Barnacle Love. Not a sum to sneeze at in the book world! And while we, the average joes, could not attend the ceremony, a number of the young publishers made it to the Giller Light Bash, a party at which we watched the Gillers and ate great food, all in support of Frontier College.

Here in the Digital department, we thought that our new Twitter feed would be a great way to cover both parties. We had our Giller correspondent - Nicola Makoway, Anthony De Sa’s publicist - who tweeted for her first time to bring us coverage from the main event.

At the same time, we were tweeting from the floor of the Giller Light, snapping photos of authors and food, while waiting for the big announcement. You can check out our Twitter feed here to catch all the fun.

If you missed the announcement, the winner was Joseph Boyden for his sophomore novel, Through Black Spruce (Penguin, 2008). Congratulations to Joseph, and to the four shortlisted authors. I for one, can’t wait to do it all again next year!

Posted by: Tan Light - Coordinator, Digital Sales & Marketing

Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you I love two things: Books and the supernatural. As a kid, the first two sections of the library I went to every weekend were Horror for fiction & Occult for non-fiction. Over the years, I have developed quite a collection of paranormal fiction, from Christopher Pike to Anne Rice and Kay Hooper. If you’ve been following our new RandomHouseCA twitter feed, then you know that my absolute favourite author is the wonderful Kelley Armstrong, author of the Women of the Otherworld Series and the new Darkest Powers Series for young adults.

In order to develp a plan for the release of her latest book, Living with the Dead, I have been living and breathing her books since late summer. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with the company big-wigs as the “resident Kelley Armstrong fan” (What a title!) and get a sneak peek at the books coming next year. I’ve even worked with Kelley via email to develop a Facebook application, (you can check it out here), a first for both of us.

But the cherry on the cake was finally meeting Kelley in person. She was here in Toronto last night for a signing at the Chapters Queensway. (By the way, they have signed copies of the whole series in stock right now!) It took me an hour by transit, but I hauled my first edition hardcover copy of Bitten, the first book in the Otherworld series, all the way down there to be signed. And to my delight, Kelley turned out to be one of the nicest people. We spent nearly an hour talking about writing (yes, I am an aspiring author myself) and what it’s like to write in the supernatural genre.

The whole evening confirmed that Kelley has rightly earned her place as my personal hero.

Posted by: Jessica Scott - Digital Marketing Assistant

Being new to Random House I have already been dazzled by the scope of books we produce and the quality of our authors, plus the people I work with have been awesome so I really didn’t think it could get any better. That is until they offered me movie passes. What? Seriously? The only thing I like at vaguely the same level as books is movies, so I eagerly said yes.

Last week I attended a sneak preview of the newest book into movie for Chuck Palahniuk. Choke, originally published in 2002, tells the story of Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be “saved” by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor’s life, go on to send cheques to support him. When he’s not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park.

Want to read an excerpt?

It was a fantastic movie and to be honest, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I thought for sure I would hate Victor but Sam Rockwell did an amazing job at really making me feel sorry for him as well as try and understand the nature of sexual addiction. By far the most touching and dynamic performance was Anjelica Huston. She was superb as both the present day aging mother with dementia and in the flashbacks as a slightly-off, fugitive mother. There was a tangible conflict between Victor and his mother, a first class, love/hate relationship. The supporting cast rounded out the story line quite well and I feel like a number of them although for now are small name actors will have pretty impressive careers ahead of them. Fight Club already has a cult following and after seeing Choke I’m sure it will become another fan favourite. In fact it’s already got me thinking about what they would do for a film version of Chuck’s upcoming book, Pygmy. Hmmmm….

Posted by: Matthew Sibiga, Imprint Sales Director, Random House of Canada -

I have recently returned from a Bertelsmann’s “Be Green” meeting where representatives from the many green committees throughout the Bertelsmann world got together to discuss ways to de-carbonize our business practices as a corporate response to the very real climate crisis our planet is facing. One of the initiatives that I presented was the great news that Random House of Canada has agreed to purchase “green” electricity for our Mississauga and Toronto St locations from Bullfrog Power and I would like to officially inform you all this is the direction we are taking.

Random House of Canada has become Canada’s first major trade publisher to sign on with Bullfrog Power, a leading Canadian provider of 100 per cent green electricity. We have agreed to purchase almost 1,300 MWh of green electricity annually for our operations in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, joining the growing number of Canadian homes, businesses and organizations that support locally produced, clean, renewable power from Bullfrog.

In case you are wondering what “green” electricity is, it is produced from windmills and small scale hydroelectric dams. This power produces no greenhouse gases and it is a concrete commitment from our company in fighting climate change and this purchase is something of which we should all be very proud. “Random House of Canada takes our environmental responsibility seriously,” said Brad Martin, President and CEO, Random House of Canada. “We have been impressed by the positive impact Bullfrog is having and are pleased to be working with them as one of our environmentally conscious initiatives.”

Random House of Canada has committed, as part of Random House, Inc., to instituting environmentally sustainable measures in its business operations. The organization is targeting the use of 30 per cent recycled fibers in uncoated papers and 10 per cent in coated papers for its books by 2010. Already a year ahead of schedule, Random House estimates that 300,000 trees were saved in 2007 due to these initiatives.

Random House of Canada has a strong program of publishing books on environmental topics. Recent titles include The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon, Heat by George Monbiot, The Geography of Hope by Chris Turner, and Ecoholic by Adria Vasil. In addition, Random House of Canada has purchased 65 digital readers for staff, significantly reducing the number of manuscripts printed in-house. It has also established a green committee, which has eliminated water bottles and plastic dishes at most company meetings and implemented the use of environmentally benign cleaning products.

“We are very happy to welcome Random House of Canada as to the community of bullfrogpowered organizations,” said Tom Heintzman, President, Bullfrog Power. “Random House of Canada has already taken important steps to reduce its environmental impact and Bullfrog is proud to be a part of its ongoing sustainability plan.”

Posted by: Julie Forrest - Online Marketing Coordinator, Random House of Canada

One of my favourite perks of working in publishing is meeting my favourite authors in person, and getting my books signed. August has shaped up to be a banner month. First I had the pleasure of meeting the marvelous Andrew Davidson, author of The Gargoyle. Andrew Davidson is awesome. Soft-spoken and modest, he took his time with each and every person who waited in the long line for him to sign their books. He patiently posed for pics with gushing fans like me.

A week later I met Andrew Pyper, at the TINARS launch of The Killing Circle. It was a great event, and the Gladstone ballroom was packed. Andrew is a funny guy, and not afraid to speak his mind. In conversation with Nathan Whitlock, he talked about the satirical elements of the book (it has a lot of fun with the CanLit scene) and confessed they were a little more prevalent in the first version of the novel. He reminded us that plot is not a dirty word—a book is more entertaining when stuff actually happens!

Do attend a TINARS event some time—they are a fresh, fun alternative to traditional readings. See you there! I’m the geek standing in line with my book and my camera.

Posted by: Michelle MacAleese - Editorial Assistant & Assistant to the Publisher, Knopf Canada

It was a road trip like any other (when three of the four travellers work for Canadian publishing houses). We hit the road to North Bay at 5 p.m. on a Friday, packing swimsuits, sunscreen and a good amount of reading material. The car radio didn’t work but we had other things to entertain us. Some of us were enjoying manuscripts from work while others became preoccupied with the latest US Weekly magazine but soon (as it usually does) the conversation turned to books and to forecasting this Fall’s bestsellers. (Yes, we’re a bit of a dorky crowd.)

Suspecting that we might spend some significant time on highway 400 getting out of Toronto, I had decided to pack an ARC of Tom Vanderbilt’s Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) and it did not disappoint. We found it a highly addictive book, decided it will sell many copies and could not stop talking about it for at least forty-five minutes (which, sadly, was how long it took us to get from the 401 to Canada’s Wonderland).

Traffic proved to be one of those books so full of fascinating details and insightful observations about everyday habits—all presented in a highly entertaining narrative—that you can’t help but read extended passages aloud to your friends in the car! We passed the ARC around sharing “Traffic reports” with our driver. Eventually she had to call an end to what became a rather heated debate about drivers who tap their brake lights frequently—are they nervous, unpredictable hazards on the road or cautious, repsonsible highway navigators who should be given a wider berth?—because it was distracting her from the road. We agreed to stow Traffic in the trunk (at least until the next Tim Horton’s pit stop).

Traffic goes on sale July 29. Michelle goes to North Bay as often as possible.

Posted by: Julie Forrest - Online Marketing Coordinator

I’m very lucky that part of my job is to give away good books to good people.

Last weekend I attended a conference for bloggers, and gave them a preview of a magnificent book that goes on sale on August 5: Andrew Davidson’s The Gargoyle.

By candlelight, we sipped wine, and nibbled hors d’oeuvres. We admired each other’s new tattoos, in the spirit of the book’s enigmatic heroine, Marianne Engel.

Our lucky door prize winner got to take home a fabulous set of gargoyle bookends (I really, really wanted to keep them for myself).

Yes, bloggers are all over The Gargoyle. Can’t wait to hear what they think!

Posted by: Anne Collins - VP, Publisher, Random House Canada

Some marvelous books have origins just as marvelous, and The Gargoyle is one of them.

The writer is Canadian, a young man from Pinawa, Manitoba, who until this book sold around the world last year had been making his living by writing educational materials in Japan for half of each year. The rest of the time he lived in his parent’s house in Manitoba, when he wasn’t in libraries exploring 14th century German mysticism, Dante, Japanese and Icelandic folklore, and the other lineaments of a story he was trying to get out of his head and onto the page. The story involved the love affair between a burned man in a hospital isolation unit and a schizophrenic sculptor named Marianne Engel, who was certain she had loved this man since he was a mercenary in the early 1300s in Germany. The burned man wasn’t so certain, and the novel is a long persuasion.

When the writer, Andrew Davidson, was done (at somewhere around the 300,000 word mark), he researched literary agents, and decided to send his manuscript to one of the best of them, a fellow named Eric Simonoff, who works at Janklow Nesbit in New York. Though the manuscript arrived unsolicited, the cover letter was so witty that Eric actually started to read the pile of pages, and kept reading until he was done. Then he took the time to send Andrew a fix note, telling him that he’d consider taking him on as a client if Andrew cut the book in half. In Eric’s experience, no new writer ever followed that advice, and so he did not expect to hear more from Andrew Davidson. But about six months later, a perfectly bound and typeset copy of The Gargoyle, an edition of one, landed on Eric’s desk.

I happened to walk into Eric’s office shortly thereafter, and Eric impulsively handed it to me as a fellow Canadian and publisher. The short version of this long story is that within days I had made an offer to publish The Gargoyle in Canada. Andrew and I worked then together on the final draft of the book—a total and complete treat for me, and not so bad for Andrew either—which Eric then sent to editors in New York and London in May 2007. Two more English language publishers—Doubleday in the US and Canongate in the UK—soon fell in love fiercely with the book and signed on, and in months 23 foreign languages publishers were also on board, all before pub date. I know why: The Gargoyle is a novel about love written in a way that not only hopeless romantics will adore, but that sneaks past the defences of people who think they will never fall for a love story. I won’t say more, because I hope you will read the novel too.

Posted by: Sheila Kay - Deputy Director, Publicity, Random House Canada

The date, Monday June 2nd, had been set MONTHS beforehand. The media schedule was, I thought, a model of balance and maximum coverage for maximum impact. (We publicists all dream of having the celebrity author to book media for, because it’s so “easy”, but in truth, in the end you make 5 or 6 people very very happy, and piss off a legion of others.)

The day had been planned to be respectful of how hard she’s worked to promote her book in the past month—just the previous Friday, she’d woken in Milwaukee, flown to Los Angeles to appear at Book Expo America (THE trade show for the publishing world)— signed books for an hour, attended one cocktail party, one dinner party and then caught the red eye back to New York!

So, wheels down 9:30 am— five interviews, and pre-sign books for evening event; with a lunch break, and another short end of day break before her evening event and flight home.

Well. After the second morning interview, Ms. Walters comments that there’s a long-ish lunch break - “let’s go somewhere for lunch—I almost never get to leave the hotel for lunch.” Ok—what would you like? It’s a gorgeous day—a patio, please, on a side street. We’re at the Soho Met, so Le Select is perfect. What a bonus—instead of just hustling her from one interview to next, here I am sitting with Barbara Walters on the first truly gorgeous day, having lunch on a patio.

Back to hotel to pre-sign books for Winter Garden event—Mike and Jennifer have a crew there to flap, open, slide, pull, box the books—it’s a well oiled machine. She’s asked where all she’s been on tour, what’s next, etc., and she answers “I can’t write and talk”. So we sort of chat around her. She finishes signing and says “Now I can tell you that I’ve been to 12 cities (rhymes them off, in order—I have the master schedule), and that I have to fly home tonight because I’m back on the View tomorrow for the first time in a month!”

After her last interview she decides she doesn’t need a rest before the event—let’s find another nice patio, have a small bite and a lovely coffee. Which we do, arriving at venue on time. The Winter Garden is sold out to the rafters, and word is that people are scalping tickets out front for $100!! She chats backstage with Heather Reisman, and then onstage with Heather Reisman, charming Heather and the audience.

The signing line after is incredible. So many women who get verklempt, saying they are in journalism because of her! Many people, aware that she has to leave, have bought presigned books, but still got in line for the chance to shake her hand!

She’s out the door at 9:15 pm, and in the air by 10 pm. And on The View the next morning at 11 am. And I am so glad I only had to try and keep up with her for 12-1/2 hrs—she is truly amazing!

Posted by: Holly Kent - Publicity and Marketing Intern, McClelland & Stewart Ltd.

I am nearing the end of my twelve-week Publicity and Marketing internship at McClelland & Stewart, and I’ll be genuinely sad to go. I work with some amazing, talented, and hilarious people, and as cliche as it sounds, I’ve learned so much. Today, for example, I learned that scrawling ‘write blog’ on a to-do list does not necessarily inspire creativity and wit, even after I’ve mailed all the book launch invitations, sent review copies to Vancouver, and filed this week’s press clippings.

You see, I wanted to write a little blurb describing my experiences at M&S thus far, but these experiences are never quite the same. I can spend full days keeping to myself, scouring newspapers for reviews of M&S titles and mailing review copies to journalists, but I’ve also attended some fabulous book launches and literary events. On my second day as an intern, Elizabeth Hay caught me when I slipped on the sidewalk on our way to a book signing; Michael Ondaatje was definitely standing outside my office a few weeks ago, while I pretended not to be flustered and star-struck. ‘Flustered’ and ‘star-struck’ are not desirable descriptions of publicity interns, but really, someone could have warned me.

Interning has been a bewildering experience. On one hand, I’m certainly an employee: I have my own projects, I go to meetings, in the mornings I gripe with coworkers about the TTC and the office coffee… but I am also very much a student here. Sometimes I’m sure I know exactly what I’m doing, and I’ll ask what I think is a very informed question (using publishing slang and acronyms whenever possible, of course) and I’ll learn that I do not, in fact, know what I’m doing, and this particular project is something I know nothing about. It can be humbling, to say the least.

There are times when it happens all at once: every mailing needs to be send out before 1pm, the press-releases need to be edited and printed right this moment, and there’s a list of 100 more people who need an invitation to that launch/ a copy of that galley/ a new press kit… followed by an event at night which makes both staying late and sleep not an option. It is these times, oddly enough, when I know I’m in the right area of publishing. I make my to-do list and get to it, and those are the days when I thrive.

Posted by: Holly Kent - Publicity and Marketing Intern, McClelland & Stewart Ltd.

I am nearing the end of my twelve-week Publicity and Marketing internship at McClelland & Stewart, and I’ll be genuinely sad to go. I work with some amazing, talented, and hilarious people, and as cliche as it sounds, I’ve learned so much. Today, for example, I learned that scrawling ‘write blog’ on a to-do list does not necessarily inspire creativity and wit, even after I’ve mailed all the book launch invitations, sent review copies to Vancouver, and filed this week’s press clippings.

You see, I wanted to write a little blurb describing my experiences at M&S thus far, but these experiences are never quite the same. I can spend full days keeping to myself, scouring newspapers for reviews of M&S titles and mailing review copies to journalists, but I’ve also attended some fabulous book launches and literary events. On my second day as an intern, Elizabeth Hay caught me when I slipped on the sidewalk on our way to a book signing; Michael Ondaatje was definitely standing outside my office a few weeks ago, while I pretended not to be flustered and star-struck. ‘Flustered’ and ‘star-struck’ are not desirable descriptions of publicity interns, but really, someone could have warned me.

Interning has been a bewildering experience. On one hand, I’m certainly an employee: I have my own projects, I go to meetings, in the mornings I gripe with coworkers about the TTC and the office coffee… but I am also very much a student here. Sometimes I’m sure I know exactly what I’m doing, and I’ll ask what I think is a very informed question (using publishing slang and acronyms whenever possible, of course) and I’ll learn that I do not, in fact, know what I’m doing, and this particular project is something I know nothing about. It can be humbling, to say the least.

There are times when it happens all at once: every mailing needs to be send out before 1pm, the press-releases need to be edited and printed right this moment, and there’s a list of 100 more people who need an invitation to that launch/ a copy of that galley/ a new press kit… followed by an event at night which makes both staying late and sleep not an option. It is these times, oddly enough, when I know I’m in the right area of publishing. I make my to-do list and get to it, and those are the days when I thrive.

Posted by: Julie Forrest - Online Marketing Assistant, Random House Canada

Last night I attended my first event as an employee of Random House, a reception for Sadie Jones, author of The Outcast.

This is my favourite recent read; the story is tragic and devastating, yet ultimately hopeful.

The novel has such a cinematic quality; I can’t wait to see it adapted for film (there’s a fantastic trailer for the book—see it here). I had a chance to chat with Sadie briefly, as she signed my book (she is lovely by the way). I mentioned a future film version of the novel, and we pondered the question, who could play the protagonist, Lewis? Our troubled hero ages from seven to nineteen during the course of the story. No one immediately comes to mind. Elle, a fellow blogger who attended the event with me, says it would have to be a newcomer. I’ve slept on it, and still can’t come up with anyone suitable; it will have to be someone young, and there should be a different actor for the child Lewis. I suppose time will tell—let’s just hope they don’t cast one of the usual suspects, like Leo DiCaprio! Lewis deserves more.

Posted by: Randy Chan - Associate Marketing Director, Random House of Canada Ltd

Runway models, a world-famous fashion journalist, oysters, and a custom cocktail called the Jeannetini—these are not elements you’d find at just any book launch. But to celebrate Jeanne Beker’s new book for young adults, Passion For Fashion: Careers in Style, the glamour dial was turned up several notches. The launch coincided with L’Oreal Fashion Week where Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square—normally a bastion of double-breasted suits and pleated trousers—was transformed into a tent-covered fashion runway over-spilling with fashionistas. My Tundra Books colleagues and I enjoyed the Diesel Kids fashion show where adorable children and tweens strutted their stuff (it was rumoured that Canadian model Stacey McKenzie’s niece was among them). Jeanne Beker then came blazing onto the runway, dressed in black mini-skirt and jacket (looking identical to the new Bratz Fashion Reporter doll made in her likeness). You know her moment has come when, after more than twenty years as the face of Fashion Television, she is immortalized as a Bratz doll!

After a few gracious words (where she gave a nod to Tundra publisher Kathy Lowinger), Jeanne was whisked away to interviews with international media and I was left admiring the fashion do’s and don’ts (trust me, a beaver fur hat should never be paired with shorts). My colleagues and I then feasted on oysters at Rodney’s Oyster Bar before proceeding to the after-party. Jeanne brought her closest friends and family together (including her adorable and elegant mother, and her two daughters) at swanky Atelier on King Street West where we sipped on Jeannetinis (vodka, Cointreau, lemon and orange juice—delicious) and watched performances by young dancers and singers. But by 10:30pm, this decidedly unglamorous publishing type had had his share of hobnobbing and so I jumped into a taxi for bedtime. Three lasting impressions from my wonderful evening: 1) my wardrobe needs a re-vamp; 2) book launches are so much better when they feature swag bags and satay beef skewers; and 3) Jeanne Beker is truly an inspiration. Passion for fashion indeed!

Posted by: Martha Kanya-Forstner - Editorial Director, Doubleday Canada

Four and a half years ago, on a sunny afternoon in June, my life changed. That day, on the back patio of a cafe in Toronto, I met Dr. James Orbinski. I had learned a lot about this remarkable man before that first meeting. I knew he had been active in Doctors Without Border/ Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) for over a decade; that he had been a humanitarian doctor in Somalia, Afghanistan, and during the genocide in Rwanda. I had read the eloquent and uncompromising speech he had delivered when, as international president of MSF, he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the organization. Still no amount of research could have prepared me for the man I would meet that day. James’s empathy, intelligence, generosity and warmth know no bounds. He embraces the world with a genuine passion that can’t help but inspire those around him. Yet behind the kindness of his eyes are memories of unfathomable human suffering and unimaginable human courage. It is these memories that James brings to life in his book An Imperfect Offering. These were difficult places for James to return to, and the book was not one that could be rushed.

In the time that it took for James to realize his story on the page, my colleagues were forced to listen to me rave about what I was reading and how James’s words were cutting me to the bone. Still I knew nothing I could tell them would come close to capturing the force of James’s work. There is a glorious intimacy that can exist between a writer and an editor, a private space where the possibilities of the text can be explored free from the expectations of others. I often experience a moment of sadness when a book is released from this secret world, but in the case of An Imperfect Offering that sadness was tempered by a deep desire to have as many people as possible know the importance of James’s message. Book publishing is a collective enterprise, so many people— from copy editors to designers, publicists to sales reps—invest their energy and talent in seeing a book through to publication. Imagine my joy when my colleagues began sharing with me their powerful reactions to James’s book. I am proud to share these impressions with you below. An Imperfect Offering will not only change the way people see the world, but the way they act within it. My colleagues no longer have to take my word for it, and come April 22nd neither will you.

“As I was working on James’s text, I was completely moved. I am proud to be involved in whatever way I can be with this book.” —Scott Richardson, Creative Director, Random House of Canada Limited

Posted by: Nick Massey-Garrison - Editor, Random House of Canada

I’m delighted that the advance copies of How Jesus Became Christian have just come in. It’s certainly not the first book about Christ or religion to have been published in the past few years. From The Da Vinci Code to the the polemics like The God Delusion or God is not Great, readers have been invited again and again to appraise one of the most complex and personal dimensions of their lives through the crudest of lenses.

What we thought when we first saw the proposal for How Jesus Became Christian was that people who take these things seriouly would leap at the opportunity to read something more nuanced—just look at the reception Tom Harpur’s The Pagan Christ recieved. Barrie’s book is much like Tom’s. Only, instead of Harpur’s liberal, skeptical view, Barrie offers an historically-based, Jewish perspective. As he puts it, Harpur “maintains that the myth became the person; I maintain that the person became the myth.”

Like Harpur, Wilson is a former Anglican priest; unlike Harpur, he later converted to Judaism. What we see in this book is an assessment of the historical Jesus that takes into account the often troubled relationship between Judaism and the western religion that grew out of it. As both Jew and Christian, Wilson is uniquely positioned to tell this story and understand its implications.

I have really enjoyed working with Barrie, and I know that he is eager to have his voice heard in the increasingly important dialogue that seeks to negotiate a path for intelligent people that accomodates both faith and reason. There can hardly be a better time for that to happen.

Posted by: Constance MacKenzie - Senior Marketing Director

The Book Lover’s Ball was held last week in Toronto and it was like an Oscar party for celebrity authors and Toronto’s social and corporate elite! In attendance were more than 60 celebrity authors, TV personalities and politicians, who came out to celebrate the night in black tie and flowing gowns all to raising money for The Toronto Public Library Foundation. We rubbed shoulders with David Miller, the Mayor of Toronto (who loved Jane’s beautiful jade gown), Oscar winning actor Graham Greene (who loved my shoes!), Mike Holmes of Holmes on Homes who graciously donned his trademark coveralls to strut his stuff on the catwalk for the book inspired fashion show, Andrew Pyper, who just finished writing his next book called The Killing Circle and it is rumoured to be AMAZING (really, we heard that repeated all night!). Then we found out that the author at our table, the award-winning mystery writer Peter Robinson, was presented with the Toronto Public Library Celebrates Reading Award! It truly was an unforgettable night of decadent food, glamorous fashions, cocktails and awards!

Constance MacKenzie (Senior Marketing Director) with Toronto Mayor David Miller and Jane Leaver (Sales Representative)

Constance with Oscar winning actor Graham Greene and Jane

Jane with Mike Holmes and Constance

Constance with Andrew Pyper and Jane

Ellen Seligman (Publisher, Fiction, & Senior Vice President, McClelland & Stewart), Maylin Scott (Assistant Manager, Library Sales & Academic), Peter Robinson the award-winning author of the Inspector Banks novels, Anne Stevens (National Library & Education Manager)

Posted by: Jennifer Herman - Marketing Manager, National Accounts

Steve Berry was in town with his lovely wife yesterday to promote his latest book, The Venetian Betrayal. The novel sets Cotton Malone on an action packed mission to find the lost tomb of Alexander before some really bad people do! Life as we know it is at stake! If you have never read any of Steve Berry’s fast-paced thrillers and you consider yourself to be a lover of thriller fiction I say “shame on you!” I loved the latest story (his writing gets better with every book) and was thrilled be able to have dinner with the Berry’s and other booksellers last night. Hearing about all the research that is involved in the craft of putting a novel like his together was fascinating. I am much more appreciative of his works. Where will the next adventure take Cotton? Wouldn’t you like to know!

Posted by: Brad Martin - CEO and President, Random House of Canada

Last year was one that brought many great successes. We had 99 titles on The Globe and Mail bestseller list last year, substantially beating the 79 we had in 2006. Of those, an impressive 14 hit the #1 position, compared to 11 the year before, and of these many were our own homegrown successes.

In 2007, our Charitable Donations focused primarily on charities and organizations related to our business, including literacy organizations, literary festivals and education programs. In 2007 we also began two new initiatives. I would like to thank you all for your support of our commitment to Indigo’s The Love of Reading Fund, which funds school libraries across the country that have almost no books. I have had the opportunity to witness the great positive impact this can have, and am very proud that Random House of Canada is contributing to this worthwhile cause. I would also like to mention the work we began this year with Read for the Cure, a charitable organization raising funds for cancer research through book clubs. We will be continuing our efforts with them in 2008.

As most of you are well aware, this past year was our most challenging in recent years, due to the pricing issue that we faced as a result of the higher Canadian dollar. I believe the rebates we offered our customers to help them lower prices for consumers was the right approach for us and helped to maintain our Canadian business.

As the fluctuations in the dollar continue, so too will this pricing issue remain with us. We have lowered prices substantially, and while I hope lower prices will lead to increased sales levels, they will have an impact on our sales and profit levels in 2008. This is certainly a challenge, but I believe we are equal to it. We have a great team of committed and creative people, and we surely have great authors who write wonderful books.

Posted by: Jennifer Herman - Marketing Manager, National Accounts

What do you get when you bring a former Prime Minister and Rick Mercer together?

Good laughs is what you get! I was fortunate enough to be in Ottawa the day Rick Mercer taped a segment with the Right Honorable Jean Chrétien that appeared on his show this past Tuesday. As a HUGE fan of the Rick Mercer Report it was a thrill to see how his skits for the show come together behind the scenes. I was at the bookstore in downtown Ottawa where they prepared the pump jack that the Prime Minister was to pull and the table where the “sign off” would occur. The two of them seemed to be having a great time putting these skits together. Of course regular folks in the store who had come to shop were quite surprised to see Mr. Chrétien and Mr. Mercer just “hanging out” at a bookstore. Many pictures were taken and more books signed. The end result for the television show was fabulous. And of course, no Random House authors were hurt in the making of this production!

Posted by: Lisa Charters - VP, Director Online Sales and Marketing

Last night I rubbed shoulders with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo and I actually spoke with Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino! Last night was the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) premiere screening of Reservation Road (Random House Films’ first production based on the book written by John Burnham Schwartz).

The movie is powerful and extremely well-acted (no surprises with this cast) and I particularly enjoyed watching the male leads in very emotional roles.

A bunch of us from Random House of Canada went to see the film. We sat 2 rows behind the stars of the movie and we went to the small exclusive after party in Yorkville (Empire) where the stars were again in attendance. I’ve never really been one for celebrity-watching or gossip but seeing movie stars up close is far more exciting than I ever imagined. I was also able to take a few pictures and for fun here they are for your viewing pleasure.

p.s. You’ll notice Paul Sorvino was there supporting his daughter.

Random House Staff with Mira Sorvino

Jennifer Connelly having a laugh.

Mark Ruffalo mixing it up.

Paul and Mira Sorvino, and Jennifer Connelly

Posted by: Pamela Murray - Managing Editor, Random House Canada

As the managing editor for the Random House imprint, I have a healthy number of titles to keep track of: from six years ago, when I started this job, to five years in the future (books that are still in the very earliest of planning stages) - my rough count is 248 folders, and counting. My email file folders, one for each book, are therefore more indispensable to my job than just about anything but my brain - and far more reliable.

Take one example: the file folder for The Head Trip by Jeff Warren. The first email came to me on December 9, 2004 when Anne Collins was getting ready to acquire this amazing book about consciousness from a young, hyper-energetic author with mad-scientist hair and a brilliant and funny spin on a fascinating subject. Today, just about two months away from when the book comes out this September, there are 333 messages files in the folder, from brief memos to long email chains.

Since I got to be one of the book’s main editors (along with Anne Collins here and Stephanie Higgs at Random US), there’s a LOT of communication with the author about matters big, medium and small. The topics cover everything from the author’s comic-style illustrations, dealing with major edits to the manuscript, helping Jeff create a teaser website for the book, and what the Arabic word for siesta is. There is a huge sub-folder just for blurbs, which are endorsements from people to whom we send advance copies of the book. Gratifyingly, we received messages full of praise (“audacious,” “hilarious,” “original,” “fun,”) that we’ve happily plastered all over the book’s very cool jacket.

The latest message came yesterday morning from the UK publisher - they’re publishing later in the fall. I can’t wait till the book comes out - if there’s one thing the monster file folder has proven, it’s that the conversation has only just begun.

Posted by: Michael Schellenberg - Senior Editor, Knopf Canada

Being an editor at Knopf Canada is a huge privilege. I will never forget the day when both Louise Dennys and Diane Martin phoned me to ask if I would come work with them. (The answer, by the way, in case you are ever asked, is “Let me check my schedule. What luck, I happen to be free.”). I was excited because Knopf Canada has very good international street cred. And I am thrilled to be riding on those coattails.

So far, I have been to Barcelona, Frankfurt, London, Jerusalem, Munich, Berlin, and New York. Nice work if you can get it. I’ve been part of the Random House Global Editorial Committee (GEC) from the beginning - simply put, a group of editors from the US, England, Germany, Spain, Australia, Japan and Korea who exchange information about projects that we’re passionate about. We have had summits in New York, London, Barcelona and even in Munich during last year’s World Cup (I was sadly not able to make that one – not much of a soccer fan anyway.) The meetings last a few days, and are very intense. But as each day comes to an end, there’s always one final bit of business to attend to - where to go for drinks and kibitzing. This is where the real “global synergy” takes place as far I am concerned.

When I received Doug Saunders’ new proposal for a book about the “great global migration” by the world’s rural populations into cities, my GEC “Spidey senses” began to tingle. This was a book that could travel. I reached for the phone and called Andrew at Vintage in the US (Scotch, straight up). He loved the idea. I immediately followed up with Jason in the UK (vodka stinger), Tilo in Germany (wheat pilsener), and Miguel in Spain (cava).

Lo and behold, when I presented my offer to Doug’s agent, he was surprised by a world offer with not only committed publishers in the five biggest territories, but with passionate editors at the top of their league. We struck a deal on the eve of the London Book Fair, and the book was a hit right out of the gate. Rights expert extraordinaire Jennifer (Chardonnay) returned from the fair triumphant with offers in hand from Holland, Australia, France, China, Norway with other countries clamouring behind them.

Is there a lesson to be learned here? An editor is only as good as his or her colleagues. And time spent with my drinking buddies can lead to something more than just a wicked hangover.

By the way, my preferred cocktail is a gin martini with a lemon twist, straight up - and who cares if it’s shaken or stirred, just set me up, and let me tell you about this great book I just read.

Posted by: Marion Garner - Publisher, Vintage Canada

I’ve been in this business for quite a while and I still get a quiet thrill when I see someone reading a Random House book. Yesterday’s commute in the first major snowstorm of the year was actually relatively painless compared to other days on the Toronto Transit Commission.

It was made even better when, en route to work on the subway, I saw a fellow passenger reading the Vintage edition of Anita Rau Badami’s stunning first novel Tamarind Mem. Coincidental, because one of my tasks for the day was to try and finalize the paperback cover for Anita’s most recent novel Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? On the way home, I spotted someone reading the Vintage Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. I know these books sell very well. I look at sales figures all the time. For some reason it still comes as a bit of a shock to see people actually reading them.

Posted by: Brad Martin - CEO and President, Random House of Canada

Yesterday, John Grisham came to town for the first time since 1992. After the reception held at the Random House Canada offices several of us took John out for dinner at Canoe. A high profile author deserves a high profile restaurant.

Now being from the South, John has been a lifelong fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, so their recent World Series victory featured prominently in the conversation at the table, particularly because John is a friend of the team’s manager, Tony LaRussa. We did, however, find time to talk about books, and John is currently reading the new Bill Bryson. Most of us at the table had also read it, so a recounting of the more hilarious parts of The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid lead to a great deal of laughter, which was somewhat disconcerting for a table of very conservative businessmen next to us who looked like they could do with reading a funny book.

We did get into a conversation at one point about John’s current book, The Innocent Man, which is a true story about a tragic case of wrongful conviction. John said that although he had been passionate about the subject and about the writing of the book, he couldn’t wait to get back to writing his legal thrillers, and that he had two great ideas that he was going to get to work on as soon as his tour was over. When pressed as to what these ideas might be he just smiled and said, “You’ll have to wait until Feb 2008 to find out.”

I for one can’t wait.