Hornblower Press

24/09/2024

Hornblower Press is seeking poetry submissions for an Anthology of Ripon Poets.. If you live in the area, have a connection to the area, or have a poem about the area, send it in! (Details below.)

03/09/2024

Congratulations to local author, Kate Messick, on publishing her next book, Silent Jay: The Worst Guide to Collecting Dragons. And extra congrats on all the fantastic reviews!

Silent Jay: The Worst Guide to Collecting Dragons eBook : Messick, Kate: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

07/08/2024

Thank you to Nancy Stroer and Kirsty Collinson for helping me kick off the literary walks branch of Hornblower Press, starting last Sunday with the Bronte Waterfalls Walk in Haworth. My running commentary on the Brontes may need work, but luckily, the scenery spoke for itself!

09/07/2024

Happy 15th Birthday to The Little Ripon Bookshop -- support your local bookstores!

25/06/2024

Congrats to Nancy Stroer for publishing her excellent debut novel, Playing Army.

". . . a captivating read that serves as a reminder of what has changed and what hasn't for women in the military." -Daria Sommers, Writer/Filmmaker, Lioness" . . . a page-turner that kept me hooked from the beginning." -Daniella Mestyanek Young, author, Uncultured"Whether readers are officers, enli...

12/06/2024

Congratulations to Caroline Matusiak for publishing her first book of poetry, The 36 From Ripon. You can buy a copy from The Little Ripon Bookstore or via the publisher: https://radiusonline.info/project/the-36-from-ripon-by-caroline-matusiak/
Proceeds go to the Ripon Poetry Festival, so you'd be getting a book of beautiful poetry and supporting future poets!

The 36 bus from Ripon is my favourite writing retreat. Here my poems are imagined, pondered and crafted. This collection of 36 includes poetry inspired by the Ripon area and other places further afield.

01/05/2024

Happy May Day! Here is a May Day story to commemorate the occasion, by local author, Maggie Cobbett.

Miss Murdoch told us that May Day is celebrated around the world as a festival of happiness and joy at the coming of summer. Then she threatened to skin us alive if we put a single foot wrong in front of the parents.

17/04/2024

The 7th Ripon Poetry Festival is now open for submissions. I am honoured to be one of the judges for the adults competition/anthology this year. You can pick up an entry form at the Little Ripon Bookshop.

18/03/2024

First lines: Here is another in our budding series on fantastic first lines.

14/03/2024

Yesterday, Nancy Stroer hosted an excellent writing workshop for women veterans. She is a contributing author to this book and shared several passages from it -- very funny and/or moving writing.

Forthcoming in November 2023: Offering an explosive mix of nostalgia, insight, humor, and wisdom , more than 100 emerging and established w...

04/03/2024

I just finished reading this beautifully written book by Tim Bryant: The Bird in Your Heart. https://a.co/d/gnJRL3E (US) or https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bird-Your-Heart-Tim-Bryant/dp/B0C1J3FG33 (UK)

I've been working with Tim on edits for his next two upcoming novels, and highly recommend this one -- its combination of rich setting, local flavor, endearing characters, humor, and beautiful language is pure magic. Here's the blurb to describe it better than I can:

"Reminiscent of Don’t Stop the Carnival—the Herman Wouk novel Jimmy Buffet liked so much—The Bird in Your Heart is the quirky tale of an Atlanta advertising executive, who divorces, loses his job, and returns to his family’s ancestral home on a South Carolina sea island. He plans to sail off to see the world but his mother is going blind and the old place needs huge repairs.

Low Country traditions, Gullah culture, and oddball island ways create a Low Country tangle described as 'like a Sue Monk Kidd book and a Pat Conroy book had a baby and then THAT baby grew up and had a baby with a John Kennedy Toole book.'

Just right for beach, boat, and book club people."

The Bird in Your Heart

26/02/2024

First lines: I don't have any free stuff to peddle this week, so will start a recurring (if sporadic) feature of intriguing first lines.

19/02/2024

Ripon-area writers and poetry lovers: Write-on Ripon! is hosting an Open Mic Night at Claro Lounge this Thursday (22 Feb) at 7:30 p.m. Anyone and everyone welcome to read and/or listen.

05/02/2024

More freebies: This Jane Friedman class about pitching your book is on 16 Feb -- and did I mention it's free?

There’s an art but also a science to writing an effective pitch or book proposal that begins with a simple foundation, or what agent Lucinda Halpern calls the 3 keys: having a “big idea,” a platform from which to share the message, and, of course, distinctive writing. Lucinda's techniques come...