I’m excited to bring back author Julie Anderson for another Saturday night post!
Julie Anderson worked in Westminster and Whitehall for many years in a variety of government departments, including the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. This informs her successful political thriller series, beginning with ‘Plague’ (Claret Press, 2020), followed by ‘Oracle’ (Claret Press, 2021). The third in this series, featuring civil servant investigator Cassandra Fortune is ‘Opera’ to be published in September 2022.
Julie is also Chair of Trustees of Clapham Writers, the charity responsible for the annual Clapham Book Festival an annual celebration of reading in south London.
Her website is: www.julieandersonwriter.com
Twitter: @jjulieanderson/twitter
Pinterest:www.pinterest.co.uk/andersonjulie4
About Opera by Julie Anderson (Publication Date: 9/5/2022)
Truth Never Dies.
It had been solely personal. Not anymore.
Determined to lay the ghosts of her past, Cassandra Fortune asks a former head of GCHQ for help, only to receive a message from beyond the grave. A riddle to puzzle out and a murder to solve. She revisits an old betrayal in an ancient land, uncovering subterfuge and treason.
As Christmas approaches, a shadowy presence haunts her footsteps. His criminal network shattered, the diabolical Lawrence Delahaye is back. He wants what’s his.
What is real and what only appears to be? Who can be trusted and who is double-dealing? Cassie must find the truth. And survive.
Praise for its predecessors Plague and Oracle
If it’s excitement and mystery you’re after, try the bang up to date and very topical Plague. –Time and Leisure magazine.
A fascinating and authoritative insider view of modern power politics that is all too frighteningly prescient. – V.B. Grey, author of Tell Me How It Ends
A tense parliamentary thriller with the sour tang of authenticity. – Annemarie Neary, author of The Orphans
Few fictional scandals involving Parliament would surprise anyone these days, but Plague offers a humdinger. Literary Review
‘An intriguing tale of mystery, murder and high drama… Oracle brings you in to a world where nothing seems simple; the characters are vivid, their tense, pacy exchanges convey precisely the mood of the drama, and often, by dint of what they don’t say, the characteristics they perhaps would prefer to remain out of sight.’ Yorkshire Times
‘Plague was gripping and original, and Oracle is a masterful sequel. Fearless, frightened and foolhardy, the brave and clever Cassie Fortune is rapidly becoming one of my favourite literary heroines.’ Steve Sheppard, author of A Very Important Teapot.
‘Cassie Fortune is as fearless and shrewdly observant as any classic adventure hero. Will the Furies catch up with her in this very modern political thriller set amid the ruins of ancient Greece?’ V B Grey, author of Tell Me How It Ends
‘One of my must read books of 2021 so far. Highly recommended.’ Jacky Gramosi Collins aka Dr Noir
‘Tensions, murder, skilled plotting. Congratulations on a terrific read.’ Elizabeth Buchan bestselling author of Two Women in Rome.
Plague at Amazon
Plague at Bookshop.org
Oracle at Amazon
Oracle at Claret Press (Free postage UK only)
Opera available for pre-order soon.
Saturday Night Movie
A great feel-good film with the added bonus of fabulous music from the 1960s (I go around singing ‘Good morning star shine…’ for days after watching it) Aussie film The Dish is one of my personal favourites. It tells the story of how Parkes Observatory radio telescope in New South Wales relayed live pictures of humanity’s first steps upon the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Parkes Observatory is a real place and was, indeed, part of that mission. Scenes from the film, especially those which take place within the ‘dish’ of the observatory were filmed there. It sits in the middle of a sheep paddock.
The film is character-based and very funny. A lot of its humour comes from the cultural differences between the Aussie technicians and the visiting NASA scientist, but the film also accurately skewers the peculiarities and relationships of small-town life. I laugh out loud every time that Rudy (a young local man hired as ‘Security’ because NASA demands it) challenges ‘Who goes there?’ one night, only to have a sheep respond ‘Baaa.’ Or the shocked reaction of his sister, Janine, when she first sees him in his new uniform ‘A gun!’ she says, shocked. ‘Does Mum know you’ve got it?’ Plus, I defy anyone watching it to keep a straight face during the scene at the dance when the band plays the U.S. national anthem.
At heart this is a film about human imagination and ambition to do what has never been done before, from the Apollo mission itself, to the Aussie scientists who find themselves a crucial part of it. It captures the era perfectly, the fashions and music, and the social attitudes and essential hopefulness of that time. The writing is confident enough to play with political cynicism and to undercut it, not just in the moonwalk scenes. It is also based on fact – there really were high winds, gusting to 68mph and with the dish at 60 degrees inclination the technicians really did put life and limb at risk to get the pictures.
Get yourself some popcorn or a big bag of Cheezels, settle down and enjoy.
Saturday Night Book
So, for a Saturday night, how about a non-fiction choice that reads so well it could be fiction. Take a trip to Tinsel Town with William Goldman and his Adventures in the Screen Trade; A personal view of Hollywood (1984, Abacus). Goldman, a novelist and screen writer with Oscar credits including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Marathon Man and All the President’s Men, gives his own personal take on the film business and writing for the big screen in the 1980s. The title is a pun on Dylan Thomas’s Adventures in the Skin Trade. This book has become a classic since its publication. It is witty, insightful and very, very funny, even though the technology has moved on (this is before HBO, Amazon and Netflix) many of the basics – good writing, the ‘production’ team and getting the film made − are still the same. Goldman recounts his trials and travails working with Newman, Redford, Hoffman and many others, as well as great directors and cinematographers. Always he is anxious to point out that the resulting film is a product of teamwork, though there are a few egos to be negotiated along the way.
For folk who want to understand writing for the screen it is a treasure trove of knowledge, including an example in the final quarter of the book of one of his own short stories, as if adapted for the screen, with comments on how it would be delivered, by a top film designer, a cinematographer, a film editor, a composer and a director (George Roy Hill). In other words, a practical example of what happens in making a movie. This has changed the way I look at a film. Much of the book is, however, anecdote about working on some of the biggest (in terms of star power and budget) and most memorable films of the twentieth century. And some turkeys too. Very funny it is too, it’s a very enjoyable read (even my husband liked it).
And something else…
Given that my book choice was about films and film writing, my third suggestion is a piece of ‘pure’ fiction. Why not dip into Oracle, my latest published Cassandra Fortune book. Read the extract via the PDF embedded below (you can expand or download the copy of this PDF to take a better look!)
In addition, there are four digital copies of Plague, the first book in the series to be had, for free, in a giveaway. I’ll send you the mobi file if you win! Winner can be worldwide. Enter via Rafflecopter below. Giveaway ends April 25th.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Sounds like an intriguing book.
I love books that have more than one installment
The Blurb caught my interest .
The title caught my attention.