Latest News from Gardenia

I have now heard a few reactions from the first readers of News from Gardenia, I am more than thrilled to say they have, so far, been universally positive.

I am collecting Tweets from people who have read the book but I’ve made one fatal error. In my enthusiasm I have collected the Tweets, but failed to record the Tweeter.

If, by any chance you recognise the messages below please leave a comment and tell me your Twitter name and which message is yours and I will attempt to rectify the situation.

And if you are one of the billions of earth dwellers who hasn’t yet got a copy of News from Gardenia, you can still buy the hardback at Unbound. It will be available in July as a paperback just like any book. It’ll be in book shops and on Amazon etc, plus there will be Kindle/e-book versions and an audiobook.

Just as a taster the first 2 chapters of the audiobook are free, if you like it you can buy the entire audiobook for £5.99 ($9.60 or €7.30) from Audioboo

Twitter quotes

1. Loving News From Gardenia, @bobbyllew ! So glad to help make a hardbound copy possible.
2. Just finished @bobbyllew s News from Gardenia. Brilliant, really made me think + highly entertaining
3. @bobbyllew The only problem with News from Gardenia was... it didn't last for ever! Amazing story! Thanks Mr Llewellyn!
4. finished "News From Gardenia" by @bobbyllew last night. A fine piece of writing, and I'm guessing a real labour of love
5. @bobbyllew great book, glad I got involved. Where do I sign up for the next instalment? #goodread
6.  So proud I supported @bobbyllew News from Gardenia, it’s truly wonderful, optimistic and somehow feels entirely possible. Love it
7. @bobbyllew News from Gardenia. Great book. Loving it
8. @bobbyllew Have started reading News From Gardenia. Loving it so far.
9. @bobbyllew Loved NFG. Man arriving in the future's almost first thought "is sleeping with this woman cheating on my now dead wife?" Classic!
10. @Tomlynn88
11. @bobbyllew 3/4 through News From Gardenia and I'm torn. I don't want it to end, but I can't wait to finish so I can read it again! 

The last one is the only one I’ve remembered to record the Tweeters name. hashtag myfail.

News from Gardenia FAQ's

It’s been a joy seeing the Tweets from all the supporters of the book as they have received their copies, my tweet-stream runneth over.

I’ve also had many queries from people who have only just found out about it so I will endeavor to explain.

News from Gardenia was a crowd sourced publishing venture I did with Unbound which really is a little revolution in publishing. Authors pitch their book direct to readers, if you like the idea, you can pre-order or support the book before it’s completed.

When I started writing this book I really wanted to try a different approach to publishing, I’ve previously published 11 books through traditional methods with varying degrees of success, I wanted New from Gardenia to be very different.

I use a Kindle, so I wanted it to work on that (coming very soon) I also wanted it to be an audiobook (I listen to a lot of them) so I recorded it.

So, News from Gardenia is a proper, old school hardback, copies are available now through Unbound.

It is also an e-book, (yes, including Kindle) and an audiobook and both these formats will be released in the coming few days, but at present only through Unbound.

In mid July it will also be an old school paperback too.

All these various versions (paperback, e-book/Kindle) will be available through Amazon and similar online book distribution systems as well as in proper old school bookshops with shelves and assistants and tills and stuff in mid July.

The audiobook will be available very soon through Audioboo.

I will Tweet the links, I will post them here and on Google+

Once again I want to thank all the people who supported the book, without you, it truly would never have happened

News From Gardenia

Publishing a book is never easy, but publishing a book with Unbound has been easier and a pure joy.

Last night I saw the finished hardback version for the very first time. It is nothing short of beautiful, the wonderful folks who run Unbound have done an excellent job creating a really fine hardback book.

All the people who supported the book are listed in the back and the list is very long. I thanked the people who attended the book launch last night, but I’d also like to thank the many who couldn’t attend. It’s absolutely true that if you hadn’t supported the book it would not exist.

The hardback is available now through Unbound if you want to get a signed copy, but very soon it will be coming out as a paperback and will be in bookshops and on Amazon etc as normal.

There is a Kindle version and that will be available soon, also all other e-book readers will be supported. Not only that, there is an Audiobook version read by the author (that’s me) which will be available soon through Audioboo.

William Morris and Kelmscott Manor

I've just visited Kelmscott Manor in Gloucestershire, at one time the home of the artist, designer and socialist pioneer, William Morris. I wandered through this time capsule with the wonderfully knowledgeable John Mitchinson who knows a lot more about Morris than I ever will. 
As we wandered around this exquisite house I started to draw rather tenuous comparisons between my own life and his, rapidly realising there is a limit to how far I could stretch such vain notions. 

True, Morris had a legendary bad temper as wasn’t very good at relationships with women, two flaws I have also struggled with.

True he did throw a Christmas pudding through the kitchen window when it ‘wasn’t good enough,’ even at my most moody I’ve never done anything like that.

He struggled with the contradictions of life, argued that someone who was successful could still believe in and live by socialist principals and shrug off the pointy accusations of hypocrisy from embittered conservatives, something I’ve had to grow used to doing, but he truly lived what he believed and try as I might, I have resolutely failed to achieve such heights.
However the deep belief that it is possible to live together in a more comfortable, less competitive and cruel way does possibly illuminate a link.
Not for a moment would I compare my writing with his, *News from Gardenia* is at best inspired by the ideas he explored in his 1890 novel, *News from Nowhere* but I haven't tried to imitate his style or even his ideas.
However his book had a profound effect on my outlook which hasn't faded over the years and it's clarity of vision and strength certainly drove me to write mine. 
Gladly, I haven't experienced the withering decline from utopian socialism into reactionary conservatism so common among my generation, if anything the reverse has taken place. 

News from Gardenia is an unashamedly utopian story, set 200 years in the future where the human race lives in a very technologically developed world and yet in harmony with the planet they inhabit.

I am now anxiously awaiting the response to my book. I will hold the first copy this Wednesday and the book is launched next Thursday (19th April).
If it has one hundredth the impact Morris' writing had, I will be pleased.

The first run of the printed book is already sold, the audio version and the digital version will be available soon, it will be a Kindle book, an e-book and by mid summer, a paperback available in all good bookstores and online from Amazon etc.

More News from Gardenia

At last, the release date s nearly upon us.

I can now confirm that my new book, News from Gardenia will be published on Thursday April 19th, a little over 1 month late. Everyone who supported the book at Unbound will receive a lovely hardback first edition. I still haven't seen one in the flesh yet, but I have the galley proofs (that's an image of what the printed page will look like) and it looks gorgeous. I've also now seen the cover and for once, I'm thrilled to bits, it's fantastic, really captures the flavour of the book.

April 19th will also see the release of the audiobook and the Kindle and e-book versions.

For those of you who haven't heard me droning on about it for the past 4 months, News from Gardenia is a sci-fi story set 200 years in the future, but it's an optimistic, or if you like Utopian vision of what the world could be like.

All the technology described in the book is entirely feasible and based on what are now cutting edge and developing concepts and ideas. It is a world where nothing is burned to make anything else, where for most of the planet what we now recognise as economies and political systems have largely fallen away, where the need to grow food without destroying the place is paramount in everyone's life but where people have time, more time than any previous generation.

It is a technologically advanced world where nearly everyone is a gardener, a place where communications and learning are an essential part of life, but where everyone who can contributes to the common good without seeking recompense.

As I say in the book, it’s not very likely, but it is I believe, entirely possible.

The book will come out in paperback later this year and will be available at ‘all good booksellers’ and Amazon. If you want a first edition hardback, you can still get them from the Unbound page