Fiona Robyn's new novel: The Most Beautiful Thing

Fiona writes: I have something for you.

Meet Joe. 14 years old, obsessed with birds & the weather, and perplexed by humans. Spend the Summer in Amsterdam with his chaotic artist aunt Nel. Come back fifteen years later, witness a tragedy, and discover a secret which will change everything...

At the moment, you can read Joe's story for 99p / $1.49. Download your Kindle copy here in the UK and here in the US. If you don't have a Kindle (I'm a recent convert) you can get free software to view Kindle books on your PC or on your Android.

You'll be able to get a 'real book' copy in the next few weeks - we'll let you know when it's out (do sign up to our mailing list on the top right if you haven't already).

Thank you all for your support. It's very lovely to be a novelist again.

Not Everything is Impermanent

Woodsmoke Press is very pleased to announce that we will be producing a collection of Dharma teachings by David Brazier this year.

David Brazier (Dharmavidya) is a Buddhist teacher, psychotherapist and writer. He is head of the Amida Order.

This collection,  Not Everything is Impermanent, is for those interested in David's presentation of Buddhism, and also includes articles on life in community and writing on social and cultural engagement.

Back in the Summer Mat Osmond started collecting and grouping together various short writings by David and after a lull in activity we've now picked up the collection again.  Both Mat and David are looking through the collection again (as well as me and Fiona) making various changes and edits to make the collection more readable as a whole.

We'll bring you more news as soon as we have it. In the meantime do check out David's blog here: Dharmavidya, and his facebook page here: Writings from David.

The Most Beautiful Thing

Two summers in Amsterdam. Fourteen year old Joe Salt, obsessed with clouds and falcons and perplexed by humans. His aunt Nel, a chaotic artist with two lovers. Two summers, fifteen years apart. A family secret, which makes sense of everything, and which pushes Joe to breaking point…

It gives me great pleasure to show you a preview of the cover of Fiona's fourth novel, The Most Beautiful Thing.

One of the advantages of being half of the press, is that the author has a great deal of control of the cover of her novel. Fiona found the image, and suggested how the words should appear, I just clicked the mouse and pressed the keys.

This is the second book we have published together, but the first as Woodsmoke Press (although we may produce some second editions of older books, under this name). It all feels very exciting. I really enjoy the process of creating the whole artifact.

I've read the manuscript for TMBT and it's excellent. It's a real pleasure to help send Joe Salt into the world.

First words

Woodsmoke.Something that is beautiful in its transience. Something that is to do with the most primal act of creation - making fire. This act of creation also hints at what it is to be human. In creating fire we warm ourselves and fend off the dark - but there is a necessary act of violence at the heart of it. Woodsmoke, like the phoenix, rises from the burning deadwood.

Fiona and I first talked about creating an imprint after Fiona decided that she wanted us to publish her fourth novel, The Most Beautiful Thing, ourselves. Since then we've thrown back and forth possible imprint names, and the pros and cons of self-publishing.

A lot of the motivation comes from wanting to take responsibility for creating the artifact of the book, as well as the words. Some of it comes from frustration with traditional publishers. 

We were walking through Batsford Arboretum a few days ago when we settled on the name. Woodsmoke Press. 

As I write this Fiona is going through the manuscript of The Most Beautiful Thing with a red pen.

Watch this space...