PETER COOKE – Author and Publisher

PUTTING THE STORY BACK INTO STATELY HISTORY

One of Yorkshire’s greatest mansions, Burton Agnes Hall, has enlisted Yorkshire romance and historical fiction author, Peter Cooke, to put the life back into history during a sizzling summer of stately events.

Burton Agnes Hall in Driffield is an Elizabethan marvel. Now home to the Cunliffe-Lister family they are extending their hospitality, history and stately delights to the public as this lived in home opens its doors and shares the family’s passion for English heritage.

From baked swan to desirable black teeth and fashion decreed by law, Peter will share Elizabethan life with the public through a series of talks around the life and times of a stately home in the Elizabethan period.

Much like his published books, Peter will illustrate how much of a soap opera the era was. From death plots to new world discoveries, extravagance and abject poverty, it’s hard to believe an era like this could have existed.

As an amateur historian, Peter is well versed on the dramas of the time. His knowledge is from years of research into Elizabethan times used to write his ‘Glassmaker’ series of books. The books are based on an entrepreneurial Murano glassmaker who becomes involved in the plots against Queen Elizabeth . Much like his talks, they present the thrilling side of the time, to create understanding and interest, whilst striving to maintain historical accuracy.

The public will have the opportunity to learn more about the life and

times of an Elizabethan, in the DiningRoom at Burton Agnes on

Wed 7th July,11th August and 1^st Sept at 2pm during Peter’s

scheduled 30 minute talks.

Peter Cooke says “Working with Burton Agnes Hall is a real privilege. It’s set to be a great run of events during the summer and using that to make history interesting is such a good way to preserve our heritage and culture.”

Blood-red passion, plots and intrigue is the sum of the latest book, Blood-Red Goblet, to be released shortly from author Peter Cooke, creator of the fast-paced Glassmaker series. The first of a quartet of romantic adventure stories in The Glassmaker Series, The Glass Dagger, was published in 2006, by Petan Publishing (www.petanpublishing.co.uk): second & third editions followed in 2007 and 2008. The Crystal Ship, first edition in November 2008 and Blood-Red Goblet will be launched in September 2010. The final book, A Shattered Crystal, will be published in 2011.

ENDS

For more information please contact Colette Lowe of the Caleb Group on 01924 386325 or 07946 508697 email on colette@caleb-group.co.uk

We are pleased to announce that Petan Publishing will be handling Yvonne Crabtree’s debut novel ‘For Pete’s Sake’. This is Yvonne’s account of living with Peter her son, who suffers from Downes syndrome. The book is drawn from the many anecdotes sent in to Yvonne by friends and family as well as stories from her own memories.

It is hoped to publish the book sometime in late September/ Early October, so please watch this space for updates.

I don’t consider myself to be unduly superstitious; apart from spilt salt over a shoulder and not walking under ladders, that is. However, recent events with a book I have just published have caused me to raise an eyebrow, or two (I’m no Spock though!). The book was originally published with a title that referred to a curse. The author, a friend of mine, decided to expand the book into a trilogy and wrote a further two books using the same characters. The later books necessitated some changes to the original ‘Curse’ book when it came up for reprint. After much discussion, it was decided to rewrite the book and to give it a title that followed the theme of the second and third book titles. That’s when the troubles started!

From day one I experienced problems in setting up the rewrite for publication. The document was in Microsoft Word 98 and my version is Word 2000. Not a problem, I thought complacently.  Little did I know. The main problems seemed to stem from the auto format, which even more so than normal, preceded to mess up things at regular intervals. Oddly enough, these problems were never evident in book two, which went through to publication with a minimum of problems, mostly self inflicted.

As the problems escalated, we started talking about ‘the curse’. Eventually, after much struggle and tearing of hair(see photo in biography for result!), it was ready for conversion to a pdf document for printing. It was at this point that ‘the curse’ really upped its game. If we thought the auto format was bad, the page set up proved even worse. Because a book is set with margins outside the normal print default, word kept on insisting on reverting to the default setting despite pressing the ‘Ignore’ facility.

‘The curse’ had now become ‘That b****y curse!’ After several faulty proofs, we finally arrived at a pdf which satisfied everybody. The pre-production staff checked everything, several times and so did the author and myself. With bated breath we went to print. Everybody agreed, the pdf was spot on. What a relief, we’d done it.

Until we got the books of course. As a final present, ‘that b****y curse’ had one last laugh. It managed to insert a blank page where none had existed before, throwing Part Five of the book on to the wrong page!

THAT B****Y CURSE!

Postscript. It took three attempts to  post this! True.

I’m delighted to say that Petan Publishing is launching the novel Riding the Wheel in Early August. This is the revised first book of Roz Colyer’s Trilogy, Closed Circuits, Cluttered Minds. The second book Wheels and Circles was published December 2006. The final book of the Trilogy, Full Circle, is planned for publication in September 2007.

These books are available from Liberato, who are the sole distributors. You can contact them via the Liberato link on the Blogroll.

Negotiations are underway with a Yorkshire writer about her debut book. We hope to make an announcement shortly.

See the Petan link on the Blogroll.