A parcel reached the nest of the Cockatrice yesterday, containing reviewers’ copies of my two latest titles. The first is Gwyriad: Poems by Nigel Jarrett, sharp and striking in its poetic technique, reflecting on class, industrial heritage, and industrial decline, family and local history, and the history of the former Pen-y-Fal Psychiatric Hospital. The second is River of Hope by Roger Granelli, a novel set in what was then the French Congo at the lepers’ hospital run by Albert Schweitzer. It’s something of a treat, this novel, at once eminently readable, with a fast-past story, and an intricate portrayal of its African, European and American characters at the end at the end of the imperial age. The books are for sale from the Cockatrice shop, and will be made available by major booksellers over the coming days.
Cockatrice Books will be a low-profile endeavour for a while. For health reasons, I will not be considering new manuscripts at present, nor doing as much to promote existing titles as I would wish. All the Cockatrice writers, including myself, appreciate blog posts, Goodreads or Amazon reviews, social media shares, and purchases.