I spent Friday in Cheltenham where the Festival of Literature is in full swing. The main reason that I went is because David Barnett (who should be familiar to you from his Guardian articles and the Gideon Smith books) was going to be there. He has a book coming out next year from Trapeze, a new imprint being launched by Orion. The fiction editor is Sam Eades, whom some of you may remember from her time as a publicist.

David’s book, Calling Major Tom, is not being marketed as science fiction, despite the fact that it involves a voyage to Mars. Nor is it being marketed as alternate history, despite the fact that it involves a British space program. It isn’t exactly being marketed as comedy, though it does appear to be very funny. Mainly it is about people. If you want to know more, I bagged an interview with David which I’m planning to use on Ujima nearer the publication date.

The other two Trapeze authors on show were Sarah J Naughton whose Tattertale is a move from YA into psychological thrillers, and Peter Dunne whose 50 Things is derived from a blog he wrote giving fatherly advice to his children.

They made for a very interesting bunch. Sarah is very much a “writing novels is my job” person who religiously produces 500 words a day. David is much more of a “journalism is my job and I’ll write fiction when the muse strikes” person; while Peter was all, “I wrote a blog, and to my surprise someone offered to publish it”.

Anyway, it was a fun day out. It was great to get to meet David at last, and lovely to catch up with Sam. It was also great to spend the day hanging out with book people.