BOOKWORMS AND VILLAINS

A WALK AROUND THE OLD STOMPING GROUND; ARUNDEL BOOKSHOP HOME OF THE BOOKWORMS A few weeks ago I took a walk around my local town of Arundel before visiting my cousin in the secondhand and antiquarian bookshop I helped to managed for 10 years. I like to pop in and catch up on new stock that has come in; it was always interesting when I ran the shop to discover some fascinating and fun books that people wished to sell, but I manage to curb the temptation to buy more books for myself now! The trouble with working in a secondhand bookshop is your wages can be transformed into books, and there is always the desperate need to snap up items you know don't come along very often. I bought many hundreds, if not thousands, of books for stock over the years that I worked at the bookshop and it was often quite nerve-wracking when rare books were brought in for sale. On one occasion a lady took me out to her car and I rummaged through several battered old boxes. I pulled out wha...

BOOK THREE 'BOOKWORM' SERIES 'Christmas at The Secondhand Bookworm' by Emily Jane Bevans I am pleased to be able to make available my third novel based upon my ten years working in and helping to run/manage three secondhand and antiquarian bookshops on the South coast of England. Book three takes place over Christmas and covers one week working in 'The Secondhand Bookworm' in Castletown. I had a lot of fun writing this book. Working in the bookshops over Christmas was always memorable and provided chaos, mayhem, bafflement and entertainment in the world of used and antiquarian book-selling. Snow in 'Arundel' where I worked for 10 years - taken during the events in chapter 5 In 'Christmas at The Secondhand Bookworm' we spend a week in the 'Castletown' bookshop with Nora Jolly leading up to Christmas. Here is my blurb: CHRISTMAS AT THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM Christmas has arrived and it's a week of mayhem in...

CHRISTMAS AT THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM Writing update - February 26th 2018 It's very difficult to write when you have flu! And it's frustrating to have to stop when you are on a roll and enjoying working on a novel. Hopefully I can get back to work on my third novel in my bookshop series as I'm feeling better this week. I have almost finished chapter eight which sees my main character, Nora Jolly, tugging on a novelty Christmas hat on Thursday afternoon as she prepares to remain open for some book-selling by candlelight in Castletown. Her colleague Roger is as grumpy as usual and not impressed with Georgina offering him a Christmas turkey hat to wear. The snow is still lingering but Nora and Humphrey's snowman in the yard has almost melted. The Duke of Sussex is due to turn on the Christmas tree lights in the town square and Nora is keen to see him again, keeping her secret meeting with him in the bookshop quiet from the day before when he took advantage of...

SAD LOSS OF A FORMER BOOKSHOP COLLEAGUE I was shocked and saddened to learn that Jason Hill of our hometown Worthing had been killed last week with his brother Stuart and Stuart's girlfriend in a helicopter accident at the Grand Canyon. Jason had dated our employer's daughter at Kim's Bookshop, where I ran the Arundel branch for ten years between 2002-2012, and had been a part of the bookshops for about four or five years back then. He was a major part of my bookshop experience and life for several years and I often thought of him as I wrote notes, planned my books and drew upon book selling memories with various colleagues. At the bookshops, Jason was easy going, hard working and so nice to work with. I always had a laugh with him and enjoyed the days we worked together in Arundel, Worthing or Chichester. Oftentimes, Lin, the owner and mother of his girlfriend Vicki, would commandeer him for 'calls days'. He carried hefty boxes of books easily, was pol...

'Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm' #sharethelove  While 'The Secondhand Bookworm' series of novels aren't romance stories, there's always room for a little hint of 'love' at the bookshop and what better accompaniment to begin writing and plotting book five in the series than a pack of 'Love Hearts'? I'm keen to get writing 'Valentine's Day at the Secondhand Bookworm' which will cover one week in the bookshop leading up to and including Valentine's Day. So while it's currently 'Valentine's season' I'm soaking up the atmosphere in the bookshops, digging out some memories and pondering the notes I made over Valentine's Days in the bookshops. I'm looking forward to getting writing on book five in my secondhand bookshop series of novels! The Secondhand Bookworm series of novels are available from Amazon on AMAZON KINDLE UNLIMITED and AMAZON KINDLE and PAP...

Z FOR ZACHARIAH CHAPTER 6 - NORA AND THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM Throwback to primary school reading in the 1980's While working on Chapter Six of my novel 'Nora and the Secondhand Bookworm' (book 2) I was reflecting upon a book I had read in school with my class; a book that freaked me out and has stayed with me my whole life. I like to include random things in my books and the event I was writing about in this particular chapter kept reminding me of my memories of 'Z for Zachariah' in a very tiny, random, subtle, tongue-in-cheek sort of way. I thought it would be a great chapter title and so it is. It's funny how certain books make a large impression upon you (Watership Down was another childhood trauma reading experience!). Z for Zachariah is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel by Robert C. O'Brien that was published posthumously in 1974. The name Robert C. O'Brien was the pen name used by Robert Leslie Conly. After the author's death...

"I like my dessert first. I had this flown in from San Francisco. It's Italian. Organic ice cream." - Justin Hammer, Iron Man 2 "I like to design my novel covers first. I designed these using Microsoft  Word. Beautiful book covers." - Emily Jane Bevans, author I know exactly how Justin Hammer feels. It could be said that the best part of finishing a novel is having your book cover designed and finished and looking just how you want it to. The finished book cover is like a dessert. And why can't  we have our desserts first? I am too impatient to wait until the end of my writing for the finished book cover, and I actually like the inspiration of the finished cover to keep me racing towards the end. So I plan, plot and design my novels and covers alongside one another. The Secondhand Bookworm series started back in 2007-2008 while I worked at a chain of secondhand and antiquarian bookshops in West Sussex. Originally I planned to write them,...