Oddly Quiet

It was very, very quiet in the Gordon-Smith homestead last night.  Jenny was out at a party and Lucy’s gone to university.  Now don’t get me wrong;  I want her to go to uni, but it’s such a weird feeling to know that she’s not just out for the evening but actually living somewhere else.  The whole process is a bit weird. There are some sort of everyday-ish experiences that are well covered in fiction; meeting the man or woman of your dreams (there’s a whole genre devoted to that!) the family novel, where it’s the ups and downs of family life (The Family At One End Street is one of my favourites) moving to a new house or a new country and there’s plenty more.  But I can’t think of a single book which covers the experience of parents suddenly bereft of their offspring because they’ve gone to Uni.  Going to uni, yes, but for those of us “Who also serve who only stand and wait” as the Poet Milton would put it – no.

And it really is quiet.

Paperbacks!

I’m delighted to say that the paperbacks of A Hundred Thousand Dragons and Off The Record have been released.  I saw them both in Waterstones yesterday (and it’s a very nice feeling to see your book on the shelves, I can tell you!) so you can, of course, get them from Waterstones or, as the phrase goes, from any good bookshop.  They’re “Trade” paperbacks, which means they’re sold to the trade or, as we usually say, to bookshops.  Trade paperbacks are bigger than mass-market paperbacks and have superior paper and binding.  They are, more or less, a hardback book but in a stiff paper cover and, of course, they’re cheaper than a hardback.

Amazon.co.uk have them both in stock. Amazon.com (USA) have A Hundred Thousand Dragons. Presumably Off The Record will be coming soon.  However, although A Hundred Thousand Dragons is available from Amazon.co.uk, it takes some finding, for some mysterious reason, so here’s the link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hundred-Thousand-Dragons-Haldean-Mysteries/dp/1847512534/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1315765321&sr=8-4

The Amazon.com link is:

http://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Thousand-Dragons-Haldean-Mysteries/dp/1847512534/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315766046&sr=1-11

The Amazon.co.uk link for Off The Record is:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Off-Record-Jack-Haldean-Mysteries/dp/1847513042/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315765495&sr=1-7