Hello… I'm still reading Morrissey, but by way of update, here's Friday's newsletter. Oh and look at this lovely cover:

Can you drag yourself away from the Morrissey autobiography? Me neither. I just opened a bit towards the end and he was describing Elton John as "down to earth". My mind is just spinning. And I don't care that there are no paragraph breaks until page 9. Those first few pages are lovely. Proper writing.

But let's face it, love Morrissey as I do and much as I owe a big part of your career to him (no Morrissey, no Crap Towns), he does get rather tiring, after a while. You've got to take a break. Meanwhile, if you don't like Morrissey (I've heard there are such people!), you're going to need to have something else to read. If only to take your mind off all the other people reading him. So I now propose a palette cleanser. Can you guess what's coming? That's right! We've got a new short story in the Singles Club and it's bloody good. It's by Jon Fortgang and the fact that you haven't heard of him doesn't suggest ignorance on your part, it suggests a giant cosmic imbalance. Jon Fortgang (and I am one of the few people to have known this all along, since I was once, years ago, lucky enough to be one of his editors on FilmFour.com) writes beautifully. His prose is always clear, always incredibly easy, but also always surprising and unusual. I can't quite explain why beyond the alchemy of writing, but luckily I don't have to because you can pick up his story The Last Eight Minutes Of Light in our store, for just one pound and see for yourself.

Tasty cover too! Forgive a bit of back-patting, but I have to say, our designer is pretty amazing.

Elsewhere, I'd love to be able to tell you about the Eleanor Catton Booker winner, but like just about everyone else in the country, I haven't read it yet. Maybe when I finish Morrissey. Sounds like a pretty good one though, doesn't it? It can only be better than Bone People…

Talking of glamorous literary events, meanwhile, Galley Beggar press held a showcase in The Big Green Bookshop during the Wood Green Literary Festival on Saturday. We had readings from Eimear and Andrew, alongside a good clutch of our Singles Club authors and a sneak preview of next year's release from Jonathan Gibbs. I felt very proud to be associated with them all. Each and every one was brilliant…

But that's probably enough news for now.

Oh yes! One more thing, we got a lovely review from Everlasting Lane from my favourite sweary reviewer, the incomparable booksandswearing.com:

Child narrators usually piss me right off, but Peter along with Anne-Marie and Tommie did not make me want to stab anyone. It's a fucking miracle that not one of three children in a story made me want to kill myself. Remarkable, really. They are thoughtful children, and led by Anne-Marie, who is your standard young and clever girl character they made a great team and learn a lot about themselves and each other.

This is a story of many things: adventure and coming of age, but predominantly for me it was about secrets and magic, and how childhoods shape what we believe and what we become because of it.

I thought this was a lovely story. I loved the sense of adventure and I loved how it felt magical throughout. It really captures the innocence and excitement of being young and exploring the unknown, and I'd like to read more by this author.

Recommended if you like stories about love, friendships and can remember what it is like to be enchanted by the world.

Glorious.