I love books. I often say that’s why I became a writer – I’ve always loved books, so wanted to ‘make’ one that was by me.
There’s something particularly special about hardbacks. I suppose it’s something to do with them having more substance, more durability. Those front and back covers can’t get creased or torn. Or it’s because of a favourite childhood memory. Every Saturday morning, I would walk into Burry Port, go to the newsagent, and, if I had saved enough pocket money, I would buy a Bancroft Children’s Classic hardback book. Books like ‘Little Women’, ‘Arabian Nights’, ‘The Last of the Mohicans’. The spines were red and yellow – no dust jackets – and stood out among all the magazines and other books around them. Why our small, local newsagent had decided to stock them, I’ve no idea. Only that I was glad he did.
And I’m glad – very glad – to have had stories featured in two hardback editions this year.
The first was ‘Botanical Short Stories’, which I’ve featured here before (April 4th).
And now, I have a story in a new anthology, ‘Stranger’, published by Sans.Press.
This is an Irish publisher, with regular call-outs on different themes, to feature in their beautifully-produced anthologies – in this case, based around … strangeness. My story, ‘Haire’, is a shape-shifter tale (as so often the case with hares), though it is also quite personal. Amazingly, it began as a story about Melangell, the Welsh saint and protector of hares, then shape-shifted into something quite different. Strange, you could say.
Hardback is not the only available format – there are also paperback and digital editions.
But in addition to the hard covers, this version is digitally ‘signed’ by all the authors, making it, I think both innovative and rather special.
And something else that’s good – a tree is planted for every copy of the book sold.
Thank you to the sans.Press team for choosing my work and giving me a second hardback for ‘my’ bookshelf.
‘Stranger’ is available here: (This is for the paperback version.) https://www.sanspress.com/shop/p/anfd-gjbrl
As for my Bancroft classics, I have a feeling they are on my sister’s bookshelf. I’ll have to check that out…!