Monster Books UK

17/11/2024

To die, to sleep – To sleep, perchance to dream – ay there’s the rub. For in this sleep of death what dreams may come
W Shakespeare, Hamlet

The Good Snooze Guide of Great Britain by Robin Bennett available on Amazon for Christmas.

A love song to sloth.

https://amzn.eu/d/3dP0UY7

10/11/2024

One for your Christmas list! The Good Snooze Guide of Great Britain, by Robin Bennett.

This small tome is a celebration of taking it easy, of loafing about but it’s also a chance to write about some of the nicest spots in Britain. So, it could be considered a guidebook – but for lazy people.

In his quest for the ultimate nap, Robin Bennett (and sometimes his dog) take us the length and breadth of our beautiful island: from Hadrian’s Wall, to Snowdonia, the Houses of Parliament – the seat of democracy (for a seat), perfect beaches (Scotland), Home Counties backwaters and a library.

Published as a traditional hardback, it spans a year. Month by month, each snooze is graded by essential criteria such as weather, length of nap, dreams, revelations and comfort scale. There are fieldnotes, too, describing the places in more detail, some history alongside observations about sleep now and in the past.

The Good Snooze Guide of Great Britain: The British Isles through a pleasant haze

21/09/2024

Ladies and gentleman, to mark International Translators Day on 30th September, Aktuel Translations gives you The Linguist’s Lexicon (second edit). A book of Multi-Lingual Neologisms compiled and edited by Aktuel’s Managing Director, Mr Charlie Homewood and yours truly.

In this international lexicon learn the collective noun of librarians (in French), how to describe the type of blister caused by wellies that eat your socks (in Bosnian), or the adjective for distracted driving whilst looking for a place to p*e (in Spanish).

The Linguist’s Lexicon has come amongst us to celebrate the elasticity of language around the globe; the sheer flexibility of words in the eyes of the beholder, the simple pleasure of shaping new meanings and fashioning the tools to describe those aspects of EXPERIENCE – the common condition – that have as yet gone undescribed, uncatalogued and, thus, suffered in silence.

Or it could all just be the innocent fun of making words up, making existing words fit uncatalogued conditions and generally messing about with semantics.

“It is hard indeed to notice anything for which the languages available to us have no description.”
― Alan W. Watts

19/07/2024

This, folks, is the brand spanking new, hot-off-the-Mac cover for

The Good Snooze Guide of Great Britain, by moi

An earnest and selflessly researched homage to generally loafing about. Or a guidebook … for lazy people. Or, quite possibly, both. Detailing some of the best places to practise the art of falling asleep whilst the world about you frets and toils. Including a train ride, an isolation tank, cricket match, at least one library, several stunning views and the Houses of Parliament.

Mentally and physically pleasing artworks by the deceptively-talented-yet-quite-relaxed-himself, Jude Bennett Esquire.
I give you the British Isles, through a pleasant haze.

Out 15th November, in very good time for presents.

Important Commercial Message from the Publisher:
All preorders to receive a signed hardback and (optional) message for the loafer in your life, including if that’s you. Email [email protected] and reserve your very own, personalised copy. Once you’ve woken up properly.

20/04/2024

Well this is quite cool. My documentary of a number of years ago on how a nation of bankers, shopkeepers and football hooligans came to lead the world in fantasy writing is now on Amazon Prime for your viewing pleasure.

A documentary about how it came to be that British writers lead the world in fantasy writing and what that says about us as a nation in a wider context.

09/04/2024

Space Dragons in Italian! Out now https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CZXZ6XY8 Translated by Francesca Scaccabarozzi "Ci sono i draghi... nello spazio! Un’avventura mozzafiato, narrata con umorismo e ardore."

06/03/2024

Small Vampires, Vol 1, Picus the Thief (Picus le Larron) out this week in French. Another book very dear to my heart. This was the second book I ever wrote (and finished) and the start of me taking writing semi-seriously. Winner of the Writers News Prize, oh 2007? 'Turn your gaze to a half-remembered world of childhood that exists below the tall grass and flowering hedgerows. Look very carefully and you may be able to trace the remains of minute pathways through the undergrowth, leading to small mounds of dry foliage in curious, deliberate shapes – Leaf Castles! These are perhaps the last visible remains of the Hidden Kingdom.' . Cover illos Rob Rayevsky, design, Nick Gorman.

21/02/2024

First of my titles that are coming out in translation this year. Fairytales and Other - Märchen und andere Geschichten, in the German version (in hardback with Amazon). Short stories wot I wrote at the tender age of 23. Beautifully illustrated by Sasha Magan and translated - equally exquisitely - by Muriel Magon. Perhaps callow but definitely from the heart. And it's apt that it should be the first in this series, as it was written at a time I was reading a ton of old French and German books. In translation, needless to say ... I was tilting at stories you think you should already know, from Grimm or La Fontaine, (perhaps with British Irony thrown in).

05/02/2024

New Book Consultancy with a unique insight on how to get published and (crucially) make enough money doing it so it all feels worthwhile.

It’s hard enough to get published but the majority of authors find they make so little money from their books and spend so much time marketing themselves on social media for so little return they end up disheartened by the process.

After over twenty-five years working on both sides of the fence – as a publisher and author – I find I have a fairly unique perspective on writing books that will sell to publishers, retailers and, most importantly, to readers.

If that is of interest, pop along to

https://robinbennett.net/book-consultancy

or drop me a line on [email protected]

Learn more about Monster Books, a small independent publishers. We sell creepy children, teen & YA books that will keep you turning the pages late into the night!

22/12/2023

Delighted the Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year is keeping up its standards. Won by ‘Danger Sound the Klaxon! The Horn that changed History’. Previous winners: ‘Is Superman Circumcised?’ (I’d say no) and ‘Cooking with Poo’. (Thai for 'Crab' apparently, so that's alright, then)

18/12/2023

My Space Dragons book display at the Hong Kong Science Museum as part of their “Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination” exhibition. This is really cool and not just because I'm in it - huge international cultural icon that I obviously am - but I like the idea of real science doffing it's [ ... fill in whatever scientists wear on their heads] to comedy Science Fiction. Amazing cover by the amazinger Becky Thorns.