The Moose Road trip

Back to the comfort of good old Hebdonia. The trip to London was a great success. Stephen Clayton and I along with the Judith his wife did a whistle stop tour of a few independent bookshops who are supporting The Exclusively Independent promotion http://www.exclusivelyindependent.com/ The sun was cracking the flags and our first port of call was Bookseller Crow on the hill. We dropped in and spoke to Jonathan, the owner and quickly found out what a passionate bookseller he is, which is reflected in a wonderfully eclectic and contemporary selection of books, including a great childrens selection. The art of being dead was on display, in full view and some retail chains I won't mention, OK I will, Waterstones, could learn a thing or two about selling new books. You can't sell them if the public can't see them. Rocket science I know, but I'll send a few of them on a course. The next stop was Dulwich books, again, passionate booksellers and Ray there had chosen Steve's book as he was on the EI panel.
On to Hammersmith library for the big event. The crowning glory in the Bluemoose World tour of libraries .Sixty people turned up to listen to a varied array of talent and different stories from the six authors there to read form their newly published novels. All very exciting. There was a Q and A about indie publishing and a vibrant and hopefully informative evening was had by all.
The following morning and it was on to Housmans bookshop on the Caledonian Road. It's a must visit shop, next door to Kings Cross and so for all those travellers heading up to the North East and Scotland give Starf**cks a miss and pop into a wonderful indie bookshop.
The lasting impression is that we still have fantastic independent bookshops run by brilliant booksellers who are passionate about books and the written word. Long may they continue.
So it's back to Hebden, shoulder to the wheel with its Astral tar and feathering, Holistic knee capping and I must remember the cats in for it's annual MOT and colonic irrigation. God its a poetic life, it really is.