Radio Interview 30 September

I'll be interviewed about If It Falls tomorrow, 30 September 2008 at 3pm on the Sue Dougan Afternoon Show.
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire 96 & 95.7fm

Playing with the 'big girls'

I am going to be on two panels at this year's YLAF (York Lesbian Arts Festival) 24-26 October 2008:
http://www.ylaf.org.uk/book-festival-programme.html
with the likes of Val McDermid, Manda Scott, and Stella Duffy! Get me!

I'm doing another local reading tomorrow, 26 Sept. at St Columba's in Cambridge.

Thank you to everyone who has said such nice things about If It Falls. I am working on a new novel, but I haven't got too far yet.

I'm the centre fold!

There is a feature in today's Cambridge Evening News on If It Falls. If you're not able to get a paper copy, you can read the story at: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn%5Fnews%5Ffeatures/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=344989

National Geographic

If you are interested in finding out more about Guatemala and the Maya indigenous people, the National Geographic magazine currently has a special issue out all about the Maya. Check out: www.ngm.com/maya

And speaking of reading material, hopefully the feature on If It Falls will be in the Cambridge Evening News on Monday 1 September 2008. To check the online version go to: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk

It's gone transatlantic!

If It Falls is now available in the USA from www.amazon.com

Still waiting to hear about various other things, so watch this space as they say!

Oh so Hollywood!

Just had my press shots taken, darling! People in the street were watching - so celebrity!! Interview for the feature next week.....

Success!

Thank you to everyone who came to my book launch on Friday and made it such a success. Around 35 people were there and asked lots of interesting questions. Someone even compared my style of writing to Hemingway! If you missed it, I'll be reading again on 26 Sept. in Cambridge, watch this space for the details.

Later this week, the Cambridge Evening News will be interviewing me for a feature. I'll let you know when it's going to appear in the paper.

A very happy, but tired, Naomi

small steps...

A few bits and pieces to report - York library, and some Essex libraries are going to get copies of If It Falls. If you'd like your local library to stock it, just contact them, they seem pretty amenable to getting a copy if someone requests it.
The publisher still seems to be having some difficulties in getting books out, but hopefully it is just teething troubles. Fingers crossed that they will arrive for the launch on Friday!
Anyway, I will be feeling very smug and literary when I'm signing books on Friday with the Mont Blanc fountain pen my sisters bought me to celebrate my success - might as well enjoy my five minutes of fame to the max!

Waterstones Launch

It's all official - If It Falls will launch at Waterstones in Cambridge at 6.30pm on Friday 1 August 2008.
There will be reading, Q&A, and signing.
You can get tickets from Cambridge Waterstones either before the event or on the night.
Hopefully see some of you there.

Diva!

Yes folks, I'm on the Books page of DIVA magazine talking about what is on my bedside and what I'm reading. It's the August issue, but out already.

Launch

Well, my novel is officially launched today. Doesn't feel that much different to any other day really! But the press releases will go out today, so I'm expecting requests for interviews and reviews to come flooding in!!

Oh wow!

I was just checking Amazon for something else, so I casually typed in If It Falls and it is already there and can be pre-ordered. So go order it people!!

The title

Someone has asked me what the title means, and why I chose it. I originally thought of the title in Spanish - Si se cae. This is a bit difficult to explain - in Spanish, if someone drops something, you don't say 'I dropped it' you say 'it fell'. In other words, it is not your fault, stuff just happens. This is kind of the feeling I wanted for Raphael - it's not his fault, things just happen to him, and that could be said of Guatemala in general, though of course the roots of the civil war can be traced to a particular fault.

So that was how I ended up with the English version, If It Falls. I'm not especially good at thinking up titles, and I wasn't sure this title was right, but most of the people who read drafts of the novel said they liked it, so it stuck!

More exposure!

You can now catch me on the website of my alma mater Manchester Metropolitan University, English Department in the 'published students' section (see my links).

My publisher says everything is on track for the launch on 23 June, but with less than a week to go I must confess I'm a bit nervous about it all.

More breaking news as it arrives!

What's it all about?

Can't believe I haven't actually told you what the book is about!

If It Falls is the story of Raphael, a journalist haunted by his past. Raphael and Josue are both in love with the same woman, Lola. So how do they cope when she is killed? Josue is beaten by the police and later arrested for her murder, while Raphael thinks the best of everyone but himself. He is tormented by guilt that he survived the war, but his wife and son didn’t. Add to this the murder of another journalist, and a sinister ex-military police officer in a corrupt state, and you have the making of a psychological, character-driven thriller.

If It Falls is set in Guatemala in the late 1990s, at the end of the civil war. Naomi lived in Guatemala between 1993 and 1996, working with the Presbyterian Church of Guatemala. In 1995, a colleague and friend, Rev. Manuel Saquic, was kidnapped and murdered. Although the novel is a work of fiction, it is inspired by Naomi’s time in Guatemala, and the murder of Saquic is included in the novel (with names changed)

Praise so far:
“I am intrigued by this story, not simply because it is well written, but because of the command of another language and culture so easily displayed amongst the seductive elements of the narrative. Death, war, bereavement, sex, relationships, politics and the voice of the disenfranchised – it is all combined in a relentless journey of discovery.”
Velvet magazine

How to get hold of a copy

OK, everything is still on schedule for a 23 June 2008 launch.
After that the book will be available from www.amazon.co.uk and you should be able to order it from any bookshop in the UK. (I actually get more royalties if you order it at your local bookshop and you don't have to pay postage)
Details on when and how it will be available in the US to follow.
Look for me from early July onwards in the August issue of DIVA.

I should be doing a reading in Cambridge in the not too distant future, and another in September - watch this space!

Spooky!

My novel, If It Falls, alludes to a real murder of a friend of mine in Guatemala in 1995 - Manuel Saquic. I was just googling him and was reminded that he was abducted on 23 June.... my novel is due out on 23 June - spooky or what?!

Just testing

Getting going with blogging again (see my previous incarnation at pattynazo.blogspot.com) in anticipation of the publication of my first novel If It Falls in late June.
Watch this space for more news!