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About mxpublishing

Steve Emecz is the MD of MX Publishing, which is the world's leading Sherlock Holmes publishers. He has written himself with several non-fiction books and two crime thrillers under his belt.

The Most Important Book On Sherlock Holmes And Arthur Conan Doyle of 2011?

05 Sep

An Entirely New CountryAlistair Duncan has a very hard act to follow with his new book, An Entirely New Country. His last book, The Norwood Author won the 2011 Howlett Literary Award (Sherlock Holmes book of the year) and was widely recognised as one of the most important Conan Doyle books in recent times due to the new information Duncan uncovered during his meticulous research.

The challenge is that Conan Doyle is one the most written about authors in history, with literally hundreds of biographies about the great man. To find genuinely new information means delving into local archives which was the secret to the success of the book on the Norwood period. Duncan admits that he couldn’t create these ground-breaking books without the significant help from local library staff.

What adds to the importance of this book is the timing. The book covers the ‘Undershaw’ period, the time Conan Doyle spent in the home that he himself designed. The house faces destruction by developers and The Undershaw Trust is working hard to save it. Judging by the tens of thousands that visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum every year, and the millions of new fans that the BBC’s Sherlock and the new movies have generated, there is plenty of scope for restoring this important building and creating a larger exhibition for Sherlock Holmes.

The Sherlock Holmes Society of London’s Roger Johnson makes strong reference to this in his notes about the new book:

“It was evident from his first book Eliminate the Impossible that Alistair Duncan writes well, that he writes with knowledge and enthusiasm, and that he thinks about what he writes. His subsequent books, Close to Holmes and The Norwood Author, did more than just confirm that impression: they established him as an important commentator on Arthur Conan Doyle and his famous creation. After exploring the years when Conan Doyle lived in Norwood – surprisingly neglected by previous biographers, even though it was then that he became truly famous – Mr Duncan has turned his attention to the author’s next decade, perhaps the most turbulent of his life. Undershaw, the house that Conan Doyle had built at Hindhead, was his home from 1897 to 1907. He wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Nigel, The Return of Sherlock Holmes and much else at Undershaw. The house saw the end of his first marriage and the beginning of his second. He was resident here when he became Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Yet, despite its cultural and architectural importance, Undershaw currently stands empty, vandalised and neglected. Read An Entirely New Country and you’ll understand just why the Undershaw years were so important.”

The most important book on Conan Doyle in 2011? – undoubtedly.

The biggest Holmes seller this Christmas will probably be The House Of Silk – the new Holmes ‘official’ novel from Anthony Horowitz and we understand too well the importance of pastiches as the most popular form of new Holmes books for publishers. However, we hope that at least one person that reads An Entirely New Country has a spare £million or two to invest in preserving an important part of Conan Doyle’s history before it is lost forever.

 
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Posted by on September 5, 2011 in Book Reviews, Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle

 

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Excitement Builds for the Rugby World Cup 2011 and Reminds Us Of The History of Rugby

03 Sep

A week before the Rugby World Cup 2011 and we can see what a huge commercial event is has become. A quick visit to the official website Rugbyworldcup.com and right there on the home page are not only the tickets – a semi-final ticket if you can get one has a face value of $300-$800 – but the merchandise too. If you want an All Blacks official jersey that will set you back a cool $180. That makes £40 for a premiership football shirt look like a bargain.

It wasn’t always this way. There was a time when to play for your club and your country was the main reward. It seems a long time ago, and well in fact it was. You have to go all the way back to the 1880s and 1890s when the debate about professionalism in rugby raged – not just about wages but a host of subjects. It was around then that we saw the break in the codes and it is fascinating to read the arguments, many of which will be replayed in bars and pubs around the world in the coming month. A rugby expert and close friend of Arthur Conan Doyle’s (creator of Sherlock Holmes) Bertram Fletcher Robinson fortunately put together a wonderful book bringing together the writings of all of the experts of the time called ‘Rugby Football in the Nineteenth Century’ and last year we re-published it (original copies had become very rare and sold for over US$200) with additions from modern-day commentators. The new version went down a storm and was nominated for Rugby Book of The Year. It prompted us to get more involved in rugby history and in October, in the middle of the World Cup we publish our second club history – Sunderland RFC entitled ‘One Among Many’. The first was from one of the oldest clubs in the world Clifton. Entitled ‘For College Club and Country‘ it was a wonderful project to be involved with and enabled us to meet several ex-England players and captains at the launch at the club. Sunderland’s launch comes up in a month’s time – again at the club.

These club histories remind us that rugby is a wonderful community sport and that there is more to the game than TV rights, tickets and merchandise. They are wonderful books to do as a publisher as they are full of both sport and local history, covering a dozen decades and with hundreds of photographs through the ages. The books mean a lot to the local fans, but are widely read by rugby fans all over the globe.

The Rugby History book from the 19th Century shows how much else has changed too – we particularly like (remember, written over 100 years ago) that differ ever so slightly from the modern game;

  • On Drinking –“Let a man satisfy his natural thirst by all means but – and on this I must insist – let him give up the drinks in between meals”.
  • On Training – “Early rising which means being down at a quarter to eight, so that there may be time for a sharp walk before breakfast at 8.30. That morning walk is of great importance. I don’t believe in running hard or taking any violent form of exercise. The short, quick walk is the best “pipe-opener” with which to start the day”. 
  • On Refereeing Decisions – “Should he make a mistake, ‘tell a lie and stick to it’ is the only policy possible”. 
  • On Rugby Balls – “Do not have a fresh ball for every match. The larger clubs have realised that a ball that has been frequently used is, if well cared for, far superior for passing, kicking, and dribbling than a new one”. 
  • On Weapons (from the rules of 1893) “No one wearing projecting nails, iron plates, or gutta percha on any part of his boots or shoes shall be allowed to take part in a match”.
There are dozens more gems in the book and, like us, you will no doubt wish that some of the traditional elements were still around.

As a little celebration of the World Cup, and a gentle reminder of the history of the game, we’ve put together the Rugby World Cup 2011 History pack featuring all three books – even the Sunderland one that won’t be released to the public for another month. You can get the package exclusively from our various websites MX Publishing UK (UK and Europe), MX Publishing USA and Sydney Passengers Australia. Type the code ‘rugby‘ at the basket to get a hefty discount as a reader of this blog.

Have a great World Cup.

 
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Posted by on September 3, 2011 in Rugby History

 

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The most exciting time for Sherlock Holmes fans and book publishers in modern times?

30 Aug

There is a real sense of excitement amongst Sherlock Holmes fans as we enter autumn 2011. The filming of the new series of the BBC’s Sherlock promises the next episodes in the spring, and teasers for the new Guy Richie film ‘A Game of Shadows’ get shared almost the instant they are made public.

It is wonderful time to be a Sherlock Holmes publisher as well. The resurgence of Sherlock Holmes through the films and BBC series has created a whole new era of fans, and has meant that we will end up having published around twenty new Holmes related books in 2011, including those from a dozen new authors. To put that into context, in previous years, that would be more books than we would publish in total. We have a host of new books coming out in the next couple of months all of which are listed below, but first a quick summary of what has happened this year so far.

It certainly has been our best year in the Holmes genre. We were privileged in the spring to have two of our books shortlisted for the 2011 Howlett Literary Award (Sherlock Holmes Book of the Year) and for The Norwood Author (Alistair Duncan) to have won it. The other shortlisted MX book, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Devon did Paul, Brian and Sadru proud getting nominated. The book also got nominated for Devon

An Entirely New CountryBook of the Year. Sherlockian history is where we started as a Holmes publisher and remains central to our publishing strategy. Any Sherlockian interested in Conan Doyle will have already added Alistair Duncan’s fourth book An Entirely New Country to their Christmas list. It comes out early December and covers the time ACD spent at Undershaw – the timing being important as Undershaw faces destruction [you can find out more at the excellent website Save Undershaw]. A big thank you in particular to Alistair, Paul and Brian. Having three of the most important Holmes historians in our fold is a very important part of MX’s progress in the field.

History is vital, but as you can imagine it is the new mysteries and pastiches that are proving to be our best-sellers with their wide appeal among Holmes fans old and new. Both short-fiction and novels are proving popular, with short-fiction probably the higher sellers as they are often seen as the most accessible.  The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes (Tony Reynolds) is our top seller with more than half of the sales on Amazon’s Kindle. Another new short-fiction collection The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes (Gerry Kelly) came out at the end of May and is starting to get a following as well.

Murder In The LibraryFollowing the launch of our US office and website our US author base grew significantly this year. Felicia Carparelli’s Murder in the Library is a modern mystery set in Chicago which has just been picked up for translation into Italian, and Kate Workman’s first (of five so far) novel Rendezvous at The Populaire tackled the tough type of pastiche, the cross-over with Holmes taking on The Phantom of The Opera. The next in the series from Kate, I Will Find The Answer sees The Phantom return and the introduction of Dr.Jekyll. A more traditional pastiche, is Keiran McMullen’s excellent Watson’s Afghan Adventure which has drawn a big fan base for the high level of military detail – his blog, and especially his series entitled ‘The Many Watsons‘ has been extremely popular. Molly Carr took a brief break from the Watson and Fanshaw series (The Sign of Fear and A Study in Crimson) to deliver In Search of Dr. Watson a very detailed biography. The next in her female Sherlock Holmes series is due out in the spring.

ShadowfallTracy Revels from South Carolina pleasantly shocked many Holmes fans with her fantasy pastiche Shadowfall – the dark story surprising many as although it is a fantasy pastiche, it’s quite dark and has already become one of our bestsellers – helped by a very haunting cover. In June we were joined by Dr.Dan Andriacco with a real treat in Baker Street Beat. Not only a book, but a quite wonderful blog [BSB Blog] it’s a collection of in his own words ‘scribblings, ramblings and general Holmes stuff’. The book contains not only a very strong pastiche, but advice on how to write your own. The London Society described reading the book being like “chatting over a drink with a knowledgeable fellow Holmesian.” High praise indeed.

June also saw the most important mystery of all finally put to rest. The Case Of The Grave Accusation tells the story of the real life murder accusation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes and undeniably father of all modern crime fiction. Told in the form of a very funny pastiche, where Holmes and Watson travel forward in time to clear the name of their creator, the book also includes all the evidence required to finally refute the terrible charges that ACD committed murder, adultery and plagiarism of his close friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson. A wonderful collaboration between cartoonist Dicky Neely who wrote the original pastiche and esteemed historian Paul R Spiring make for mandatory reading for all Holmes and ACD fans.

So what’s coming up this autumn? Well, a good mix of new authors and new titles from existing authors. First up on the 5th September is A Case of Witchcraft coming from an expert on witchcraft, Joe Revill who weaves a great pastiche in with his specialist subject of the occult. Also in September (20th) is an epic, and we don’t use the term loosely, Barefoot on Baker Street. Charlotte Anne Walter’s debut novel covers the entire life of workhouse orphan Red who, during her tough and crime filled life encounters Holmes while she is working for the criminal mastermind Moriarty. Simply stunning.

October sees the first book with MX from an established Holmes bestselling writer Thomas Wheeler. We are so happy to get this one as its pretty special. See The London of Sherlock Holmes is a mammoth 400 page opus that includes every single London location related to the Holmes stories, as well as a full character listing. The really clever part of the book, is that it includes street level co-ordinates and Googlemap links so that all electronic versions will enable the reader to ‘walk in the steps’ of Holmes at all the locations. Google’s streetview means that you can jump into any of the locations from the stories and see the real life London streets in front of your eyes – understandably this book took Thomas years to put together and will we are sure become an invaluable exploration tool for all Holmes fans.

On the 2nd November a new author arrives called Gerry O’Hara with his debut Holmes novel Sherlock Holmes and The Affair In Transylvania. Calling Gerry ‘new’ is a little misleading as Gerry is a former film producer with literally hundreds of film and TV credits to his name, including episodes of The Avengers. This is one of three books Gerry has out this year including his autobiography entitled ‘She Called Me Mediocre’, the title having come from Joan Collins with whom Gerry worked. You may not be surprised that there is already film company interest in his take on Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. He has a detailed website showing all his projects at GerryOHara.com.

9th November sees Dr.Dan follow up the success of Baker Street Beat with his debut novel – No Police Like Holmes. It’s not a pastiche, but a modern mystery and the introduction of a new hero Sebastian Mcabe. Holmes fans are going to love (or hate) the first outing as it takes place in a Sherlockian event (deerstalkers and pipes abound) where there has been a murder and Dan pulls no punches with the Holmesian stereotypes that are the prime suspects of the foul deed – very, very funny.

A big thankyou to the growing fan base of the Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle Books group on Facebook and the tens of thousands of fans on Twitter. You make us smile every day ladies and gentlemen and we look forward to delivering quality Holmes fiction for decades to come.

 
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Posted by on August 30, 2011 in Book Publishing, Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle

 

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No Police Like Holmes debut novel from bestselling Sherlock Holmes author Dan Andriacco

19 Aug

Dan Andriacco’s first book in June this year has been a big hit with Holmes fans around the world and the blog of the same name Baker Street Beat has thousands of visitors. Dan refers to both as ‘various Sherlockian scribblings and ramblings’ and the book’s mix of pastiches, radio plays, articles and stories written in the style of a highly articulate fan, is the only book we have that only has 5 star reviews on Amazon, eleven of them at time of writing. What will be interesting is to see the reaction of his growing Holmesian fan base when they read this, his debut novel, and realise that the target of both the murderer, and Dan’s sharp wit, is Holmes fans themselves.

Set in a small town in America that is hosting a major Sherlockian event, Dan captures the essence of Holmes mania and weaves into a murder mystery an extremely funny look at Sherlockians. You will certainly recognise several of the characters and may even see a bit (or a lot) of yourself in one of them. The ‘hero’ of the story, Jeff Cody, is faced with several Sherlockians as murder suspects and competes with his brother-in-law Sebastian to solve the mystery.

Especially as it’s his first stab at a full length novel, Dan has had some help from leading Holmesians on going through the book, and the way he paints the obsessive Holmes fans has been described as “spot on”. As Dan says on the book’s back cover,

“This satirical romp takes Sherlock Holmes seriously, but not Holmesians”.

Lets not forget that this is as much a self-reflection as anything, and in fact you could argue the book is semi-autobiographical. So is No Police Like Holmes like looking in the mirror for Dr.Dan? The grinning photo of Andriacco adorned with deer stalker and magnifying glass on the back cover certainly suggests that.

We’re sure Holmes fans will react with the same passion as they have done to Baker Street Beat –

“If you don’t read any other Holmes pastiche this year, please, please read the short story The Peculiar Persecution of John Vincent Harden which has to be the closest in tone and content to a Holmes work that I have read in a long time.”

“Andriacco’s passion for the source material is readily apparent and is much to my great enjoyment matched by his ability to expertly convey itself in his scribblings. From radio to print Andriacco’s stories both at once pull the reader in to a familiar world and at the same time provide new adventures for us to experience. This most excellent collection has rightfully earned a center shelf location in my collection.”

“No Police Like Holmes” is in fact part of a quote from E. W. Hornung the author of the Raffles series, a fact spotted by an eagle-eyed Rachel Klingberg on the Sherlock Holmes Books Facebook group which now has members from over 30 countries around the world. The full quote being;

“Though he might be more humble, There’s no police like Holmes.”

The book comes out on November 9th and as always, Amazon UK is the first bookstore to have it – that’s what you get for being a London based publisher. The other bookstores will surely follow soon and US fans can get it direct from the publisher at MX Publishing USA. As always we’ll set aside about twenty pre-publication press copies for visitors to our site that will be sent out in October.

Dan will be appearing in person alongside many Holmes legends at Gillette to Brett III Nov. 11-13 in Indiana and will have some copies there to sign. Holmes fans that manage to get one of those signed first editions make sure you keep them safe, we have a feeling this one is going to be a bestseller.

 
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Posted by on August 19, 2011 in Book Launches, Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle

 

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Which Sherlock Holmes Story Should Guy Richie Make a Film of Next?

14 Aug

With four novels and over fifty short stories there are lots of Sherlock Holmes tales to choose from to make into films. A recent article from Alistair Duncan argues that the obvious choice is Black Peter. You can read Alistairs article here – Which Sherlock Holmes Stories Are Cying Out To Be Made? .

You can vote for your own choice in the Sherlock Holmes Books Facebook Poll – at the time of writing ‘A Study In Scarlet’ has a healthy lead.

 
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Posted by on August 14, 2011 in Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle

 

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The Bookbag Reviews Shadowfall a novel of Sherlock Holmes

08 Aug
Shadowfall

Shadowfall

It’s a rare Sherlock Holmes novel that gets 4.5/5 stars from The Bookbag, but we already knew Shadowfall is a rare gem. The reviewer says that the sequel is going to be on his ‘most wanted list’ and he’s not the first to say that;

“You remember Sherlock Holmes, yes? Deerstalker, pipe, leetle grey cells… (Oh, sorry, that was Poirot, but same kind of deductive ability), naked winged-woman on, or at least floating above, the sofa in Baker Street… wait a minute? Seriously?

Well, ‘seriously’ is probably not the word to be used to describe this delightful pastiche, but I can happily tell you that mixing Sherlock and Watson with Titania, Spring-Heeled Jack, Charon, and other lesser known tales works surprisingly well. Chiefly this is because Tracy Revels manages to capture the tone of Arthur Conan Doyle’s originals fairly faithfully, just with the twist that Sherlock is only half-human. And looking at his detective skills, it’s a wonder we hadn’t figured that out before.

The characters come at us fast and furious here, and part of the pleasure is there’s no need to spend any time establishing them. We know what to expect from Holmes and Watson, Revels shows us enough to realise that this is still the recognisable duo, despite Watson’s shock at finding out about his friend’s true origins, and that allows the majority of the book to be spent throwing ever-more bizarre obstacles at the pairing and watching them stretch themselves to their limits trying to overcome them. Full marks, as well, for a Watson who is significantly more of a man of action, as in the original stories, than the bumbling fool found in some of the pastiches……”

To read the full review you can visit The Bookbag site.

Shadowfall is available in paperback from all good bookstores including Amazon, in Amazon Kindle, Kobo and iBook (ipad/phone) format. You can follow Tracy Revels Blog for her latest news.

 
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Posted by on August 8, 2011 in Book Reviews, Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle

 

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The Bookbag Reviews The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes

07 Aug

Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock HolmesTo get a four star review from The Bookbag is impressive, and all the more so if it is your debut book. Gerry Kelly gets a very solid thumbs up for his collection of new Sherlock Holmes stories;

“I’ll spare people the details of Holmes and Watson as crime-solvers – I’m assuming anyone likely to pick this one up is probably familiar with the Victorian duo. This is generally very faithful to the Arthur Conan Doyle originals and the best stories in this set of thirteen sound authentic enough to take their place alongside some of the canon.

The strong points of the collection are numerous, chiefly being an excellent attempt at capturing Conan Doyle’s style of writing which makes Kelly’s Watson convincingly close to the original for the most part. There’s also some ingenious plotting in some of the stories – my personal favourites being The Mayfair Strangler, The Mysterious Death of the Kensington Verger, The Mystery of the Locked Study, and The Adventure of the Black Arrow. Holmes is also given plenty of opportunities to dazzle both his companion and the reader with observations about people he’s only just met, which were always some of my favourite moments in the original stories and raise just as much of a smile here…”

You can read the whole review at The Bookbag website.

The Outstanding Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes is available through all leading bookstores worldwide including Amazon, via Amazon Kindle, Kobo Books, and iBooks (iPad and iPhone) and various other formats. If you’d like to stage one of the stories as a play you can get in touch with Gerry through us here.

 
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Posted by on August 7, 2011 in Book Reviews, Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle

 

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The Secret of the New Amazon Kindle is revealed – ‘Operation Sandwich’

07 Aug

Operation SandwichWe’ve this week uncovered Amazon’s secret weapon in the eBook reader land grab. It explains why the new Kindle reader is selling in its droves and why the other eReader manufacturers need to retaliate very quickly.

Code named ‘Operation Sandwich’ it’s a devilishly clever new tactic in the battle for ereader supremacy – read more.

 
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Posted by on August 7, 2011 in Book Publishing

 

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The Bookbag Reviews Book of Advanced Driving Skills For Young Drivers Using NLP

07 Aug

You have probably heard it said that there are several skills that are important especially for young drivers that they don’t learn as part of passing the physical and theory driving tests. The Bookbag reviews a new NLP based book that addresses these key mental skills that scores an excellent 4/5 stars from them:

“It’s always struck me that the most difficult time for young drivers is that period just after they pass their driving test. Someone has told you that you’re an OK driver, right? But you’re out there, all on your own, without anyone to explain those odd things which you still haven’t come across or to be the extra pair of eyes. You’ve got a sense of freedom, but somehow it’s a little bit daunting. Judy Bartkowiak offers something a little bit different. It’s not another book about road signs, driving etiquette and stopping distances – it’s some ideas for getting into the right mindset to absorb the new experiences and learning some skills which might help you in other areas of your life too.

The book is based in the principles of NLP ( Neuro Linguistic Programming) – but don’t let the words put you off, not least because this isn’t a programme which is going to be pushed at you but rather the thinking which is beneath the words in the book. I found the principles of NLP most useful where they helped me to understand how I learn and even for someone many multiples of the target age group this is a skill which I can apply in other areas of my life. So – think of this book as something which will prompt you as to the ways in which you can become a better driver, but might also have applications in other areas such as exams or sport…..”

To read the full article visit The Bookbag website. The book is available from all good bookstores and formats including Amazon UK, and Amazon Kindle,.

 

 

 
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Posted by on August 7, 2011 in Book Reviews, NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)

 

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The Bookbag Reviews Rendezvous At The Populaire A Novel of Sherlock Holmes

06 Aug

Rendezvous at the PopulaireAs a publisher, when you get the email from The Bookbag saying that the latest review of one of your books is ready, there is a mix of excitement and trepidation.

Excitement as are one of the biggest and most respected review sites in the UK, trepidation as they are tough and it’s always a defining moment clicking that link.

The good news for Rendezvous At The Populaire is that the book gets an overall thumbs up which is great news for a pastiche as they are difficult to deliver in a way that appeals to everyone.

“All in all, though, this is an interesting take on this pair of iconic characters which will appeal to the vast majority of fans of either of them. Above average Sherlock Holmes novel which has enough to be a definite recommendation to fans of the great detective or the Phantom of the Opera.”

To read the full review – visit The Bookbag site.

 
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Posted by on August 6, 2011 in Book Reviews, Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle

 

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