IT MAY have arrived in a white van and not on a sleigh pulled by reindeer but the package which was delivered to Alan Somerville’s house this week could not have been a better early Christmas present.
For inside the box were 100 copies of Alan’s first formally published book, a collection of short stories, each with a ‘twist in the tale’. Entitled ‘The Turning Point’, this very readable book has a delightful mixture of stories involving a broken record or a pernickety ghost, a mysterious island, an old lady watching people go by, a strange banquet, a homeless girl, the President of the United States and how to win a race.
Alan has had two ‘modest’ short story collections published in the past, but as a member of Frome Writers’ Collective (FWC) he was able to call on the services of their Silver Crow imprint team to help him along the route from finished manuscript to a professionally-produced book which would grace anyone’s bookshelf.
A stalwart Merlin Theatre volunteer as well as being an FWC trustee, Alan has worked with the written word for much of life, including a lengthy spell in his native Tyneside as a copy editor and proof reader before moving to Frome in 1986 to join Butler & Tanner.
His more recent employment has been as a computer programmer and an examination board inspector but since retiring, he has been able to bring some kind of discipline to what he happily calls his ‘butterfly brain’ and has written short stories, poems, plays and children’s stories. He is now finalising a thriller which he is planning to submit to Silver Crow in the spring and, if that wasn’t enough, he is working on another novel too!
“I am a former copy editor but I had no hesitation in submitting ‘The Turning Point’ to Silver Crow for them to scrutinise,” he said. “I accepted their suggestions and with their endorsement, was able to go to the Self-Publishing Partnership in Bath who then designed the cover, got the book’s ISBN number and arranged for printing.
“Opening the box with the finished book in it was one of the most exciting events in my life!”
Silver Crow’s Gill Harry said, “The imprint was established in 2016 with the specific aim of providing FWC members with a middle path between traditional and DIY publishing, and we are delighted to have Alan’s book as the seventh we have helped launch. There are another three books in the pipeline and over a dozen more authors have been given advice and guidance on their manuscripts over the last two years.”
“The Turning Point” will have an official launch at Frome Library on Saturday 26th January at 10.30am. This is a free event and everyone is welcome to come along.
Pictured: At last, Alan Somerville can relax with a copy of his newly-published book, “The Turning Point”.