Lovely weekend away - great friends, great hotel, great time all round, and we can all claim to be experts on gin distilling now! Unwilling to let the weekend end too soon, N and I stopped off on our way home at Polesden Lacey and enjoyed a wander around the house and garden there. No joy in their second-hand bookstore, but there was an exhibition in the house of Luke Adam Hawker's recent work (see his website here). We'd met Luke before at a Craft show (I think at Hever) and bought his first book 'Together', along with one of his artworks (of doors), so very pleased to take the opportunity to get his new book 'The Last Tree'.
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.
