THE DRAW HAS NOW CLOSED –
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!
The winners will be announced shortly.
I’m delighted to announce that Bloomsbury are now taking over publication of all the Medicus books.
This means that the first four books, originally called “Ruso and…” in the UK, will be renamed. Each book in the series will have only ONE title everywhere – hooray!
This is how it’ll work…
As there are four books being renamed, I’m celebrating by giving away a free signed copy of any book in the picture (your choice) to each of four lucky winners. Winners’ names will be drawn from this fine Roman re-enactors’ hat late on 30 April.
The cat will NOT be in it, no matter how hard he tries.
Please send me your name and contact details by 30 April to enter the draw. (Your details won’t be passed on to anybody else.)
Ruth Downie 
Congratulations – in one fell swoop Bloomsbury becomes your publisher and clarifies the multiple title issue.
(I had to take a quick break and look up the origin of the term ‘one fell swoop’)
What does this mean for the jacket designs?
Thank you Ray. At the moment the jacket designs will be the same ones as in the States, designed by Bloomsbury US – tho’ there is talk of a rethink. I guess it’ll depend on how well they do.
Must now go and look up “one fell swoop”…
I agree that consistency is good and that two titles per book was confusing, but I think I preferred the British titles. The American titles are more concise and snappy, but they’re also more cryptic, and don’t mention Ruso. But I suppose what matters is that the author should be happy with them. Readers will get used to them, whatever they are. An author/publisher with a whimsical turn of mind might experiment with random titles: “Cow pats in summer”, “Donkey rising”, “A turn for the verse”, “Splodge”, and so on.
There really should be a poem called “Cow pats in summer” – written by the lost cousin of Rupert Brooke and John Betjeman, perhaps. “Donkey rising” – yes, it sounds as though it could be an inspiring work. And I think “Some disgruntled evening” has yet to be written.
I’m reading Winston Graham’s ‘Ross Poldark’ and the character Jud calls them ‘cow-flops’, which I think is much more descriptive!
Absolutely! Maybe it’s a Cornish thing.
I’d love to be in the drawing (about as much as Tilla would love to have your beautiful mouse-repellant cat)!
Barbara Krooss
Thank you Barbara, your name will be in the hat! I’ll be having a word with the cat, but he rarely listens. (Incidentally, I’ve noted your contact details but have removed them from the comment so they’re not publicly available.)
Hi Ruth I’d have to check which ones I already have, one with your signature I won in a CLASP raffle some years ago, before saying which I want but that might be academic anyway. Hope all is well with the two of you. New book done? Andrew, who’s back in the UK while we’re in Lanzarote, would want me to add his regards. Regards Tony Kesten
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No worries Tony, if your name comes up you can decide later. All well here thanks, and presumably all well with you since you’re in Lanzarote. First draft of new book is done, which is… quite a long way from ‘done’ really. Good wishes to Andrew.
I have all your books in every available medium, so I will let some other deserving soul have a chance not that I ever win anything ). Just wanted to say congratulations on having a publisher pick them up. I hope there will be many, many more books.
Thank you so much Lora, and apologies for the slow reply.
congrats and I look forward to more Ruso and Tilla. I hope this will help a broader audience get to know your books!
Thank you Ashley. :-l
Oh whoops, sorry, that was supposed to be a 🙂 – I’m not very good at typing with no keyboard.
Congratulations, Ruth, what excellent news. Please put my name in the hat for any but the first in the series (which I already have.) I’m glad the books will all have the Latin titles, and I love Jonathan’s idea of random titles: “Ode to a Nightshirt” might appeal to lovers of romantic poetry, or how abut an Elizabethan science fiction play, “The Merchant of Venus”? And somewhere there must be an undiscovered first draft of Eliot’s “The Waistband”…
Thank you Jane, your name is indeed in the hat. The titles made me laugh! Why indeed has no-one written “Ode to a nightshirt”?
Your book Medicus is already on my “to be read” book pile. I am in the last stretch of grad school and am reading so many books and journal articles along with primary sources on a daily basis that pleasure reading is almost a thing of the past. I look forward to the soon to be end of my grad school experience, a hopefully full time job in my field (History) and a time to enjoy all of your books.
Best wishes for the final stretch, Deb – and I hope you enjoy ‘Medicus’ and much else when you finally get time to relax!
These books are on my TBR list, they sound fascinating! 🙂 I’d love a chance to win a signed copy, but before I enter – is this open for anyone or only residents of certain countries?
Hi Ulla, No worries, I haven’t put any restrictions on who can enter or where they have to be. Good luck!
That’s very kind of you, thank you so much. 🙂