Tag Archives: Sam&Sam

From the diary of a writer-publisher: 13

18 December It feels like a new record: a week has passed since our, in their own words, ‘very striking’ advertisement of George Calderon: Edwardian Genius appeared in the TLS, and it hasn’t brought us a single sale! The line between self-justification … Continue reading

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From the diary of a writer-publisher: 12

26 September Today I suddenly realised what life under Black Crow reminds me of: living in the Soviet Union. It would be unfair to compare Britain at the moment to the view from a window in Moscow University’s Stalinist hostel … Continue reading

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‘We need each other…’

John Polkinghorne, physicist, priest, Fellow of the Royal Society and Founding President of the International Society for Science and Religion, will be 90 on 16 October. Patrick Miles recently interviewed him by Skype in his care home. Patrick Miles: Our … Continue reading

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From the diary of a writer-publisher: 11

1 August It is now seven weeks since I submitted to The Spectator my 1500-word piece Save it for the (American) nation! How British archives fail us, so I fear they have missed an historic opportunity… It’s been delightful corresponding … Continue reading

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‘People are reading an awful lot…

…and many booksellers are doing mail order,’ writes Susan Hill in The Spectator. I should say they are! Click the prompt at the bottom of this post to buy my blockbuster biography from Sam&Sam while stocks last! Obsessed with self-image, … Continue reading

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From the diary of a writer-publisher: 8

13 March Within seven hours of my last post going up, the organisers of the 2020 conference of the British Association of Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) emailed everyone to say they were calling it off. Only an hour … Continue reading

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Bloggering on!

It is such a long time since I blogged, that followers would be excused for forgetting why the previous post has been up for five weeks. The reason is that we have been preparing for Sam&Sam’s Moscow-Cambridge stall at the … Continue reading

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Resolution

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR SUBSCRIBERS, OTHER FOLLOWERS, AND CASUAL VISITORS! 2019 was a good year for Calderonia, with a slight increase in views despite the fact that the book has now been out for sixteen months. … Continue reading

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A signing

Alison baked a perfect Victoria sponge and last Wednesday we took it along for tea with John Polkinghorne and his carer. He likes a nice cake (foregrounded in the photograph below). The five of us had a very lively conversation … Continue reading

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Guest Post: Alison Miles on ‘What Can We Hope For?’ from the edge of the epicentre

John Polkinghorne lives near us and we have known him for many years. In 2015 the Church Times published an interview in which he answered questions about science and religion put to him by my husband, Patrick. It celebrated John’s … Continue reading

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Guest Post: Sam2 on… ‘How to Typeset A Second Book’

The final act of Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev concerns a boy and a bell. In this hour-long conclusion to the film, the son of a deceased bellmaker persuades his village that the father bequeathed to him a secret bellmaking recipe. He … Continue reading

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Publication!

All of a sudden things went right with Amazon, and we have received our first customer copy of What Can We Hope For? Dialogues about the Future. The book is ONLY available from Amazon, i.e. by print on demand. This … Continue reading

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…and two back covers

By the time you read this, Sam&Sam’s new book should be available through Amazon. No, I can’t say that… The penny has finally dropped: having Amazon print your book is a complete, utter, irreparable and gut-wrenching break with the previous … Continue reading

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A tale of two front covers

By the time you read this, Sam&Sam’s new book should be available through Amazon. I say ‘should’ because publishing a book through Amazon has been yet another fresh learning curve for us and sometimes we just had to wait to … Continue reading

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The ‘mystery’ Misses and Misters

The academics are off campus now until September/October, when Sam&Sam plan a new marketing storm in their direction, so we are concentrating on selling boxes of six copies to more bookshops. If you know any near you who might be … Continue reading

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From the diary of a writer-publisher: 3

14 May I gather, from a reliable source, that access to Calderonia has been blocked in Russia (I nearly said ‘the Soviet Union’). This would explain why no Russian viewers have featured in the stats for months. One can only … Continue reading

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