… that Averell Harriman, FDR’s lend lease representative in England, put his privileged position with Winston Churchill in jeopardy when he began an affair with the very much younger Pamela Churchill, the prime minister’s daughter-in-law?
—From Citizens of London: How Britain was Rescued in Its Darkest, Finest Hour by Lynne Olson

Excerpt from Citizens of London:
Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt had first met at an official dinner in London during the waning days of the Great War. Then an assistant secretary of the navy, the thirty-six-year-old Roosevelt had come to the British capital as part of a European fact-finding tour. Although charming and good-humored, he did not cut a particularly impressive figure at this early stage of his government career. To one of his colleagues in Washington, he was “likable and attractive but not a heavyweight.” According to former secretary of war Henry Stimson (who more than thirty years later would be appointed to the same post in Roosevelt’s cabinet), he was “an untried, rather flippant young man.” Unabashed by such criticism, Roosevelt always sought to be “the life of the party” and “never happily surrendered the limelight to anyone.” But on the evening of July 29, 1918, the limelight at the dinner at Gray’s Inn had been commandeered by a man who was also accustomed to being the center of attention and whose ego was, if anything, even larger than Roosevelt’s. MORE…

… that JFK and the CIA sought advice from Ian Fleming on how to deal with Fidel Castro? —From Red Heat: Terror, Conspiracy, and Murder in the Cold War Caribbean by Alex von Tunzelmann

Excerpt from Red Heat

Earlier that year, Ian Fleming, the author who had created James Bond, went to a dinner party in Georgetown hosted by the presidential hopeful, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy had long been a fan. In 1957, his wife, Jacqueline, had given a copy of From Russia with Love to Allen Dulles, saying, Here is a book you should have, Mr. Director.”77 From then on, it had become a tradition that Dulles and Jack Kennedy would exchange copies of Bond novels as they appeared, Dulles adding comments in the margins. The director of the CIA was not present at this particular dinner party, though at least one other agency official was.

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I deal with the producers at various radio & tv shows, booking guests, all the time — that’s my job — but I didn’t expect to be doing so on my vacation!

A few weeks back the Canada AM producer called and asked “Did I hear that you and some friends will be in London for the Royal Wedding? Canada AM will be coming from London all that week — would you like to be on the show?”

I replied that I was certain my two friends would be DELIGHTED to be on the show. And as their publicist I would have to accompany them. Which is how we managed to be backstage at the media centre across from Buckingham Palace on the Wednesday before the Wedding. Security was very strict getting into the media centre, and once inside, finding the CTV office was another challenge. The place was a virtual village — studios, portables, canteens, trucks, generators, and cable EVERYWHERE.

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… that in Traditional Chinese Medicine foods are classified by affinity for specific organs? Sour foods are associated with the liver; salty with the kidneys and bitter with the heart.
—From Inner Beauty: Looking, Feeling and Being Your Best Through Traditional Chinese Healing by Xiaolan Zhao

Excerpt from Inner Beauty:
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the body’s balance depends on consuming the right amounts of various types of foods. MORE…

Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul tells an intricate story about the miscarriage of justice in the case of one man’s death in a shipping yard in New Brunswick in 1985. The novel is a meticulous study of the various half truths, political machinations and outright lies that lead to the unfair incrimination of one man, Roger Savage, in the death of Hector Penniac, a promising young Micmac man from a local First Nations reserve.

Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul will be available wherever books and eBooks are sold on May 10, 2011, but we’ve got a sneak peek for you:

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UK author Martyn Bedford was in Toronto last week to help build buzz for his first YA novel, Flip. Flip could be described as a male Freaky-Friday, but to do so would be to reduce it, as this book is so much more than that. It’s about what makes you who you are, and asks questions about identity and belonging; questions that often arise as young people mature into adults. It’s dark and funny and was one of my favourite reads this Spring. (Hopefully that whet your appetite to read the first chapter of Flip!)

Martyn was a hugely likeable, well-rounded, fun and thoughtful author, who charmed everyone with his genuine interest and enthusiasm. This isn’t his first book – Martyn has written five novels for adults, but he told us that writing for young adults is his new passion and something he wants to concentrate on now. Here are some pics from our fun but exhausting day – of Martyn signing the author wall at Mabel’s Fables book store, and signing books after being treated to tea and scones at The Flying Dragon book store.

Martyn summed up his trip to Canada in a blog post entitled “Not the Royal Wedding”, stating that he had a good time, but:

“Of course, as a Brit abroad, I fielded plenty of questions about The Big Day back home and had to rein in my republican antipathy to the wedding (and to the monarchy as a whole) for fear of coming across as the grumpy, unpatriotic curmudgeon that I am.”

Didn’t I say he was a charmer? You might also enjoy reading about how he was dragged into the world of websites and tweeting on online self-promotion by his publishers in “Not the Home Page“.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Justice Department Operative

Personal details:

• Parents: Forrest and Peggy Jean Malone, father lost at sea aboard USS Blazek
• Ex-wife Pam Gauldin, son Gary (though later revealed not to be his biological son)
• Born and raised Catholic, though no longer practicing
• Has an eidetic memory
• Fear of tight, enclosed spaces

eBook Original Shorts

• Currently romantically involved with Cassiopeia Vitt

Appearance:

• 6’0”, athletic 190 lbs
• Burnished blond hair
• Green eyes

Career:

• Attended Georgetown University Law School
• Earned a Juris Doctorate degree while stationed with the JAG corps at the Pentagon
• Naval academy graduate, top one-third of his class
• Six years with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps
• Received 8 commendations for meritorious service but turned them all down
• Promoted twice, achieved rank of Commander before retiring
• Obtained pilot’s license and underwater diving certification

Interests:

• Swimming, horseback riding
• Books, reading, owning and running his rare book shop
• Foreign languages, now fluent in over a dozen, including Arabic

Ambitions:

• To quietly enjoy his retirement and his books without getting mixed up in any more international adventures

Prospects:

• Danger always finds Cotton.

A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to attend a reading by three fantastic novelists, among them Miriam Toews, reading from her brand-spanking-new novel, Irma Voth. Miriam is no stranger to readings and book launches, and she spoke and read with so much charisma, humour, and ease that you really couldn’t help but fall in love with the book. But outside of how impressive Miriam was (and is), what really struck me was the part of the book she chose to read: she read from the beginning, right from page one.

In my experience, this is a rarity, especially from fiction writers. A lot of authors choose to read the funniest, or the most climactic, or most disturbing portions of their books in order to get the biggest reaction from their audience, to get across the tone, style, or content of the novel, or simply because those are their favorite parts of their books. But really, what better place to catch your audience’s interest than at the beginning?

A novel’s opening pages are arguably its most important part, because they have to draw the reader in as quickly as possible and pique the reader’s interest enough to propel him or her through the hundreds of pages that follow. An effective opening also sets the book’s tone and style, and lets the reader know what to expect from the rest of the novel. So assuming your novel has such an opening, why not read from there?

Miriam’s reading certainly caught my attention, and I’ll be picking up and reading Irma Voth at my next opportunity. And I implore all you novelists out there to give it a try: at your next reading or book launch, try starting from page one.

Traditional book publishers have been timid when it comes to working with graphic novels. Why the hesitation? Perhaps it is because the process and presentation is different from what they are used to dealing with. So many pictures! So few words! Where to start?? Who does what?? The important thing to remember is that as with all books, a team is available to make the project the finest it can be.

The pictures and words in a graphic novel are equally important and as such, both should be treated with the same amount of attention and care. Not used to working with images or artists? That’s where your friendly neighbourhood Graphic Designer can lend a hand. Designers have a deep appreciation for the language that is created through the relationship between carefully selected images and minimal text. Our ability to analyze and communicate with other visual thinkers makes Designers valuable assets when it comes to graphic publishing.

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