Today I was lucky enough to do a school visit as part of my travels. I was treated to a music performance, some singing, and then as a special bonus, one of the school pupils read me her book (in English) 'The Little Match Girl'. She read it brilliantly, and we talked a little bit about it afterwards. We agreed that the story was a little bit sad, but she explained that it had 'touched her heart'. I commented that she'd picked a very good book by a very famous author, and we borrowed a phone from the school head to look up online some of the other stories he had written, and sure enough, she knew some of them as well.
Ian Fleming publications released the first chapter of the forthcoming Felix Leiter book on Tuesday this week. They could have waited for a day and released it on Fleming's (117th) birthday, but never mind. Their post includes both the first chapter and the author, Raymond Benson, reading it. I am reminded of this post from 2023 when I was pleased to report on a successful eBay purchase from Mr Benson. Last year, I was able to repeat the trick by purchasing, directly from the author, another set, this time of the US first edition signed paperbacks of his Bond works. As for The Hook and the Eye, I don't think I'm going to sign up for the digital serialisation, but will look forward to the hard copy later this year.