On Writing
by Cameron Alam Once upon a time, I thought historical fiction was written the way a house is built, brick by brick, word by word, the author using her mortar of craft to adhere words together into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into chapters as the story is formed. When I sat down to write…
February 2023
Hello, dear subscribers. We’re repeating ourselves here, but February has been as action-packed as usual! Our next books are out in April: Anangokaa by Cameron Alam on April 3, and Joseph Horowitz’s The Marriage: The Mahlers in New York on April 29. Both are available for pre-order, and will be strong additions to the collections of…
January 2023
Without standing up, he lifted the book from a stack on a chest next to his chair. “What a coincidence. I’m sure you know that today would have been Mozart’s birthday: January 27, 1756.” The Girl with Twenty Fingers Hello all, and congratulations on making it through January – it wasn’t too bad, was it?…
December 2022
Well, first and foremost: MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone! We hope you are having a lovely festive season. Some of you may be without water or electricity due to the recent weather emergencies; some may be affected by the emotional overload these holidays bring; others may be struggling for a million different reasons. Let’s seize this…
November 2022
It’s November, and the biggest, most seasonal, news is that our Small Business Weekend/Civilized Saturday/Cyber Monday/Not Black Friday (!) sale continues through this Sunday, December 4. All of our books are 25 percent off. FYI: books make excellent gifts 🙂 . The next bit of good news is that Elizabeth Auld’s long-awaited translation of Lucien…
Twenty Fingers for One Dollar
By Kate Mueser “So, is it autobiographical?” Those who know me well will ask that question when they read my debut novel, The Girl with Twenty Fingers, about an American used-to-be pianist in Germany who plays Mozart’s works for piano four hands with an elderly German man. “Absolutely not!” I would reply. “But Kate,” they…
October 2022
October 17 was the publication of Ioulia Kolovou’s novel The Stone Maidens, followed by a reading and discussion with Zoë Strachan at John Smith’s bookshop at the University of Glasgow. Thanks to all who attended this great event—our first in-person launch! And to who all who have purchased copies: it’s a gripping multi-generational saga of…
Ma Chère Maman—Mon Cher Enfant
by Elizabeth Auld What does French baroque music have to do with letters from World War I? The answer is not obvious but, in this case, one of simple coincidence. Two scholars of the French Baroque from both sides of the Atlantic become friends; finally, their spouses meet. The rest, as far as this book…
September 2022
September, where to begin? How about with Melanie McGee Bianchi’s The Ballad of Cherrystoke and Other Stories being named a Distinguished Favorite at the NYC Big Book Awards! Blackwater also dipped its first toe into the digital world with an eBook to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Iain MacDonald’s award-winning novel I Piped, That She…
