Planet Earth 2.1?
For some reason these scenes didn’t make the final edit for the BBC’s Planet Earth II. No idea why. Perhaps they’re saving them for the director’s cut?
The Genesis connection
Genesis and Phil Collins have been in the news and on TV screens these last few nights. Just for fun we’ve looked at which of our book titles relate to Genesis songs. (We haven’t stretched to Phil Collins songs yet.) One is fairly obvious. The other link is more tenuous and, as it doesn’t relate…
Theresa Talbot talks about Penance on Pulse 98.4FM
Great in-depth interview with author Theresa Talbot about penning her sociological crime novel Penance. Gives a real insight into her lead character Oonagh O’Neil, along with very useful advice for aspiring authors. Our favourite line (talking about trying to find an agent/publisher): ‘You can be the best peach in the box… Some people just don’t…
A wolf isn’t just for Xmas
Although it LOOKS quite Christmassy (unless you’re in Scotland, in which case snow can mean it’s Winter, Spring or Autumn…), this gem from Emma Barnes is actually an all-year-round story. It won the Fantastic Book Awards. And rightly so. It’s insightful (especially about adults) and heart-warming. Adults: beware of lumps forming in your throats if you’re reading…
Strident to carry Neetah Books list
PRESS RELEASE For immediate release Strident to carry Neetah Books list Independent Scottish publisher Neetah Books is partnering with fellow independent Strident Publishing as it launches its list. Neetah specialises in books by well-known Scots. Its first was Habbie to Jeely-Eater, the humorous and poignant autobiography of Alexandria-based minister Ian Miller, known, amongst other…
The Robertsons – back in print
Good news if you, or someone you know, is a Robertson, or a descendent of one. The Robertsons: Clan Donnachaidh in Atholl has just come back into print. It’s a meticulously researched history of the clan written by its current chief, James Irvine Robertson. The clan includes Duncans and Reids in addition to Robertsons. You…
What is a ‘Fencible’ regiment?
It’s short for ‘Defensible’ (despite the swapping of the ‘c’ for the ‘s’). This is a great insight into the massive social upheavals that impacted Scotland in the late 1700s, seen through the eyes of some of those charged with keeping the peace. They were not always a cohesive group… “The worthless infamous Macdonell of…
Who flew first? The Wright Bros or Preston Watson?
It’s a mute point. The Wright Brothers of the US are renowned for having made the first flight, but could that be down to them having had better spin-doctors (and a controversial agreement with a museum)? Did a young pioneering Scot, Preston Watson, actually beat them to it? Alastair Blair and Alistair Smith’s fascinating biography of…
Hugh Holman wows at Edinburgh International Book Festival with The Almost Animals
It wasn’t easy getting close enough to grab a photo of Hugh Holman at Edinburgh International Book Festival today. There were so many pupils carrying pictures of their own made-up aminals (mixed-up animals) that he was much in demand, with lots of signing of The Almost Animals being done. A big hello to St Cuthbert’s…
Is Kirkland Ciccone responsible for fish falling from the sky?
It’s a standing joke at Strident HQ that if there’s something mad in one of Kirkland Ciccone‘s ‘mondo weirdo’ YA novels you can bet your life it will pop up in real life. There’s an Elvis impersonator in the brilliant Endless Empress. He’s…dangerous. And as we were editing the book this BBC report popped up. An…
First words
#1 in an occasional series… Original cover (left) and how it looks now (right):
How many suns are there in a star system?
The strange world of Denthan, which Paul Murdoch has created for The Peck Chronicles adventures (9+), has 2 suns shining down on it. Unusual? Apparently not. As Bill Bryson explains in his brilliant A Short History of Nearly Everything: ‘Most star systems in the cosmos are binary (double-starred), which makes our solitary sun a slight oddity.’ So there you go. Once…
Coming soon…
No, we won’t be supplying free samples of the pie with the book…! This is a beautiful, fun, heart-warming and educational picture book, the first in a new series. Click here for more details. (No worms were harmed in the writing of this book.)
You can now buy our books online via MyBookSource
You can now buy all of our books direct from our distributor through their online MyBookSource store. Click here for more details.
Strident & Librario agree integration of lists
Strident Publishing and Librario Publishing have agreed to integrate their lists as Librario’s Mark Lawson retires from trade publishing. The deal is expected to give Librario’s authors of fiction and non-fiction titles greater exposure in the UK and overseas. Strident publishes children’s, YA and adult titles, many of which are award-winning or have been short-listed/long-listed; Librario’s…
Into Africa?
Click here for a few of our best titles about Africa. Whether it’s conservation, politics or history, we’ve got it covered.
‘Terribly gripping’: Follow Me
We love it when Bookwitch enjoys one of our authors’ books, as here with Follow Me. Victoria Gemmell‘s YA novel is a cracker. It’s unsettling and insightful. Actually, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it allows insight. It doesn’t tell us things, it shows us them (the best writers do), leaving the interpretation to us.…
‘Refugee’: Children’s Word of the Year
The BBC’s Newsround has announced that ‘refugee’ has been deemed the Children’s Word of the Year. That comes after OUP analysed 120,000 stories written for BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words competition. In October, we published a children’s book (7+) about a very unusual refugee – Angle the crocogator – who has to leave Nowhere to go to Elsewhere. It…
Paul Murdoch on Stones tour!
Yes, author, songwriter, singer and guitarist Paul Murdoch is living the dream – he’s on a Stones tour. Okay, so it’s not the Rolling Stones. We’re talking standing stones. (What Mick Jagger & Co will become in the next few years?) Paul’s inspiration for The Peck Chronicles came partly from regular visits to the ring of…
New & improved PENANCE
If washing powders can be ‘new and improved’, why not book covers? We’ve tweaked this one for the reprint. But now, if you hold it to the window, it’ll be so white that it’s blue… Did that ever make sense to anyone?
New Peck Chronicles trailer
Paul Murdoch‘s Citadel and Tyrant will both be launched on 3 March. This will give you a feel for what to expect…
Penance #1 in Amazon chart
Great excitement at Strident towers… We’ve just heard that the ebook of Theresa Talbot‘s Penance is the #1 Best Seller on Amazon’s Religious Mystery chart! Congratulations, Theresa! You deserve to celebrate your success with a seat on a BBC sofa after that! (John Beattie, looking on, would appear to agree.)
PENANCE in The Irish Times
We were excited to see The Irish Times covering the background to Theresa Talbot’s sparky crime novel Penance today. Ask most people and they’ll assume that all Magdalene Laundries were a) in Ireland and b) Catholic-run. Not so. Thus their headline – A Magdalene laundry that was neither Irish nor Catholic, and novel it inspired
Yay! YA+ 2016: Kirkland Ciccone, Victoria Gemmell & Cathy MacPhail to appear
3 of Strident’s authors – Victoria Gemmell (right), Catherine MacPhail (below) and Kirkland Ciccone (left) – will all be appearing at the 2016 Yay! YA+ festival on 21 April. It’s the festival’s second year, with Cumbernauld Theatre (between Glasgow and Stirling, 1 minute from the M80) again hosting. Tickets are available as of NOW. Go to www.YayYA.co.uk…
PENANCE author Theresa Talbot on TV
Theresa Talbot was on STV Glasgow yesterday talking about the inspiration behind her sociological crime novel Penance, which has been causing a stir. Here’s the link to the STV Player – start at 32:58 in. TV was something new for Theresa – her natural environment is radio, thus her humorous memoir This Is What I Look…
Strident and Olida reach agreement on integration of lists
MEDIA RELEASE Release date: 21 January 2016 Strident and Olida reach agreement on integration of lists Strident Publishing and Olida announce today that they have agreed terms that will enable Olida’s authors to integrate their titles into Strident Publishing’s list. Olida and Strident’s lists both comprise adult and children’s fiction, as well as some…
Mondo weirdo YA & loud shirts
DO NOT ADJUST YOUR COMPUTER. It’s only one of Kirkland Ciccone’s shirts. (You may, however, need to wear your sunglasses. Even Kirkland needed to.) Yes, the man who invented the ‘mondo weirdo YA’ genre has been interviewed again. This time by Christina Banach. It’s an insightful and amusing piece. So sit back, learn and laugh.
Paul Murdoch: World Book Day availability
Paul Murdoch is the author of Windscape (9+, written under his Sam Wilding pen-name), Talisman (9+, book 1 in The Peck Chronicles) and the forthcoming Citadel and Tyrant titles (books 2 & 3 in the series). He also writes for adults and younger children. He’s an accomplished presenter who has visited many schools and libraries, deploying an…
Janne Teller NOTHING event – London, 8 Feb
Fancy hearing from one of the most interesting authors writing today? Nothing author Janne Teller will be in conversation with literary critic Paul Binding at Kensington & Chelsea’s Town Hall (Hornton St, W8). The event comes ahead of 2 world premières – Glyndebourne putting on Nothing as an opera in February while Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre are…
Q. Which Strident author is in the new Star Wars?
Is it: A. R2D2 B. Harrison Ford C. Hugh Holman Somehow we don’t think you’ll find that one too difficult! And the X-wing? It’s his mode of transport. (In the film, not in real life…)