Wednesday 22 February 2017

John Keats gets Stuck and the Suffolk Anthology Birthday Party




















Meanwhile, Algernon, Reverend Hawker and Mavis have something to tell you:























I will be signing copies of The Life and Times of Algernon Swift at The Suffolk Anthology bookshop in Cheltenham on Saturday, 25th February, as part of its 2nd Birthday celebrations. There will also be free tea and coffee in case Algernon’s wit is too dry.

The Suffolk Anthology is at 17 Suffolk Parade, Cheltenham, GL50 2AE (and adjacent to the wonderfully-named Daffodil Street!) Hopefully see you there! 

Monday 13 February 2017

Flowers, chocolates, puns ...


... are all anyone wants on Valentine’s Day.  













And the best thing about giving a book of puns (as Algernon says) is that if you can’t give it to your beloved, you can always give it to your shelf.

Thursday 9 February 2017

The Life and Times of Algernon Swift is out today!




















and, as you can see, Mavis and the Reverend Hawker have already got their copies.

As well as being an ordinary sensible sort of book that can be seen around town in a jacket, and which, when it takes its rest, does so under the covers, The Life and Times of Algernon Swift is also available as an e-book for one’s Kindle.

Hard as it is to imagine anyone as stalwartly stuck-in-the-mud, as retrospectively-fixated as Algernon engaging with the tidal wash of digital media, here he can be seen struggling to keep up to date with the technology:















Continuing this unwonted technological excursion, here I am (via BBC iplayer) talking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s Nicky Price about the book, and also choosing some records and being unnecessarily pedantic about The Clash.
(3 weeks remaining to listen)
while here I am giving a brief introduction to the book on Head of Zeus’s YouTube channel (with some dancing girls in the background).

I’ll be also signing copies at Stroud Booskhop on 11th February from 11am, and at the Suffolk Anthology Bookshop in Cheltenham on 25th February, also from 11am.



Sunday 5 February 2017

Algernon Swift’s run-up ...


... promises to be shorter than Bob Willis’s. 
But, in case you are not on Twitter (@hawkerspot) or Instagram (@billjonesauthor), here are the cartoons from last week featuring Algernon and his surprise on discovering a book has been written about him.

















And here is a tidy crowd of Algernons sitting in the Stroud Bookshop window ahead of a book signing on Saturday 11th February (11am).


















More cartoons to come next week, featuring not only Algernon but his troubling beloved, Mavis,
Oh! Mavis!



















 and the dependably unreliable Reverend Hawker ...