Thursday 26 September 2013

Special October Offer

To promote our launch of DEATH TRAIN (THE SERGEANT 1) we will be selling it across all platforms for just .99c from 01 - 13 October 2013And to remind you of what the book is about:
“If the Sergeant doesn’t stop those trains, D-Day goes down the drain!”
The speaker was Colonel Fairbairn, special OSS advisor to General Omar Bradley, at a tense meeting of SHAEF only days before the planned Normandy invasion. Thus began yet another do-or-die mission of the man called The Sergeant – C. J. Mahoney (Code Name: Parrot), a big, brawling career G.I. Mahoney was an almost perfect killing machine with an incredible knack for languages … and the Army’s heavyweight champion foul-up.
His assignment was to stop the personnel and supply trains crafty General Erwin Rommel had lined up to checkmate the assault he knew would come on Omaha Beach. His first try failed when a key bridge wouldn’t blow. Now, with Gestapo Colonel Richter on his trail, it’s last-chance time as Mahoney and a handful of maquis steal an explosives-laden train and head for a fateful rendezvous in a tunnel of death!

Friday 20 September 2013

OCTOBER COVERS REVEAL

We are please to announce the cover launch to our October titles.

Along with continuing our established series, October sees the launch of the wartime series THE SERGEANT by Len Levinson (see other posts on the books.

Sadly, October sees the end of David Stuart Davies' Sherlock Holmes series but does end on a high note. BRAND, CROW, FARGO, REAPER and The STORM Family marches on.

Thanks for your support. Mike

Wednesday 11 September 2013

A Coup for Ben Bridges



Now this is exciting news just in. The other half of Piccadilly Publishing, David Whitehead aka Ben Bridges, tells me that he is to be credited as an Associated Producer on the upcoming movie DAY OF THE GUN starring Golden Globe and Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts. The film is written and directed by Wayne Shipley. Mr. Roberts joins a cast of talented area actors including LaDon Hall, Jim Osborn, Jason Brown, Sam Lukowski, Erin Heilman, Susan Osborn, Brian St. August, John C. Bailey, Richard Cutting, Johnny Alonso, Raw Leiba, Earl Klemm, Jim Holland, Jerry Gietka, and Jonathan Ruckman.

Filmed largely on location in Maryland, "Day of the Gun" features scenic Montana locations shot specifically for this production. Principal photography will wrap on May 4, 2013. The premiere is planned for August 2013.

"Day of the Gun" is about a range war started over a barbed wire fence. Widow Maggie Carter threatens “there will be hell to pay” unless cattle baron Cyrus McCall takes down the wire that threatens her survival as a rancher. The conflict escalates when their children get involved and a mysterious stranger from Maggie’s past comes back into her life. Told in flashback by eighty-year-old former newspaper editor Simon Doubleday, Day of the Gun is set in Singletree, Montana, a 1890s mining and cattle town. Doubleday recalls the town’s glory days, full of life and hope - and heartbreak.

The picture promises to appeal to a wide audience of movie enthusiasts looking for action, intrigue, love, and a little mystery-- not to mention good old-fashioned storytelling.

And to cap it all, Ben is being allowed to novelise the script. And here’s a sneak preview of the cover:

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Tommy Lee Jones to write & direct "The Cowboys" remake


Reports say that Tommy Lee Jones will write and direct a Warner Bros. remake of the John Wayne western, 1972′s The Cowboys.
The plot follows rancher Wil Andersen, who has to recruit a crew of boys to help him drive his herd of cattle to sale when none of the local men will join him. They have to contend with a gang of cattle thieves – led by Bruce Dern (Big Love) – who are following them along the way. It is not known at this point if Jones will also star.
Tommy Lee Jones and westerns go way back – he stars as a claim jumper who helps escort a group of insane women from Nebraska to Iowa in most recent directing effort The Homesman; his 2005 film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada was a modern-day western revenge tale, and his directorial debut was a TV movie western, The Good Old Boys.
Jones’ path to stardom really began with his role in the famous 1989 TV miniseries, Lonesome Dove and he impressed as a tracker in Ron Howard’s The Missing and as a Texas sheriff in the Coen Brothers’ modern-day Cormac McCarthy western-noir, No Country For Old Men. He seems to really come alive these days in historical roles, like his firebrand abolitionist congressman in Lincoln, and while he’s always a solid presence, he appears to almost resent appearing in blockbusters like Captain America or Men In Black 3.
John Wayne’s name is even more synonymous with westerns than Clint Eastwood’s, having starred in more than 80 of them. While well-regarded, The Cowboys is not exactly a beloved classic on the level of True Grit or Rio Bravo, although it is notable for being one of the very few Wayne films in which his character dies at the end.
So if Jones is going to remake a John Wayne film, he’s smart to avoid the iconic classics, although the outraged fanbase of such things is not as big or vocal as some other genres. My dad hated the True Grit remake, though… so Jones might still need to be careful.
There is currently not release date available for Jones’ remake of The Cowboys, but stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. The Homesman is currently in post-production.

Source: Variety

Monday 9 September 2013

SUDDEN hits the Top Ten on Amazon UK


Great news to wake up to - finding that the September release of SUDDEN APACHE FIGHTER is #3, whilst SUDDEN AT BAY is #17 and SUDDEN STRIKES BACK is at #57.

When we first took on the series we spoke with Frederick Nolan (Frederick H Christian) on several things. Firstly, the cover: We wanted to get a modern take on the old classic style pulp western. Fred agreed: "I rather like the "Ranch Romances" feel of your Sudden covers -- they bring back memories of the original Newnes covers for the Oliver Strange titles, which were always 1930-ish, and remained unaltered even into the 1960s."

Secondly the language and about whether or not to "upgrade" the lingo for new readers, or to stick with Oliver Strange's archaic view of how they talked Out West. It was decided that we were going to leave it be - thinking of how many thousands of readers have gone before and not complained. That's the way OS wrote 'em.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, there have been a few comments in the feedback area ranging from 5 star:
"written in the original style of Oliver Strange, good story line and a moralistic outcome to the story."
to 1 star:
"Full of spelling and grammar mistakes. Very poorly edited. A five year old could have done better. Always loved sudden books but this one could have put off someone new to them."

Ouch.

We carefully go through each manuscript as if it was an original script. Part of the editing includes changing the UK spelling to American and keeping words such as "yu" rather than "you"; "shore" for "sure" etc. etc. So, perhaps it is the use of the vernacular, in the style of Oliver Strange, which looks somehow "mistaken" to today's modern readers?

Our aim is to do right by our authors and readers. We have no intention of knowingly publishing a book that is less than the best we are capable of.

HEAD OVER TO ED MARTIN'S NEW WEBSITE!!

PP's very own Ed Martin has just launched his new website, which is packed with his many stunning paintings ... including plenty of PP covers!

You can find it HERE.