Headline #NewVoices2018 #RooftopBookClub and #ThePsychologicalThriller, Waterstones Piccadilly

I’ve been to two excellent book events this week.  Tuesday night saw me at Headline’s offices at Victoria Embankment for their Rooftop Book Club/New Voices 2018 event.

Introduced by Georgina Moore (@PublicityBooks) and chaired by Joe Haddow (@schmotime), the panel consisted of debut authors Nick Clark Windo (@nickhdclark), Phoebe Locke (@phoebe_locke), Karen Hamilton (@KHJAuthor) and Guy Gunaratne (@guygunaratne)

Wine, lots of book talk and a fabulous goody bag – what a great evening and it was good to catch up with fellow blogger Jacob Collins (who blogs over at Hooked on Page One) – we didn’t recognise any other bloggers – if there were any, although the event was well supported as always.  The only book available to buy was The Feed, as this was due to be published in a couple of days, the other books not being released until March onwards. I was delighted to get my copy signed by Nick and as my goody bag contained a lucky dip copy of The Tall Man, I asked Phoebe to sign this.

Joe Haddow, Nick Clark Windo, Phoebe Locke

Phoebe Locke, Karen Hamilton, Guy Gunaratne, Georgina Moore

Goody Bag with proof copy of The Tall Man

The next night, Wednesday 24th, saw me at Waterstones Piccadilly for their Psychological Thriller event, with authors A J Finn (@AJFinnBooks), Ruth Ware (@RuthWareWriter) and chaired by Stephanie Merritt (@thestephmerritt).  One of the first things that Stephanie did was to ‘out’ A J Finn – as Daniel Mallory. I’m not giving away any secrets here as it has been widely reported online and in magazines that the name A J Finn was deliberately chosen as a gender neutral name because the author worked in publishing as an editor, and with only a few males in the industry, he would soon be rumbled under his own name.  In fact all the authors publish under different names – Stephanie is also author of several historical fiction novels under the pseudonym of S J Parris and Ruth Ware has also written YA books under a different name.  I didn’t take notes and my memory is rubbish so I’m going to even try and recap on the questions and answers but it was a fascinating hour or so with a glass or wine, spent in the company of these three excellent authors.  I already have a signed hardback copy of The Lying Game but I did buy a copy of The Woman in the Window which AJ Finn kindly signed.  I do also have a proof copy which he also signed so look out for a giveaway on the blog soon.  There weren’t any copies of Stephanie’s book available to buy but this is published in March.

Stephanie Merritt & A J Finn

A J Finn & Ruth Ware