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#HistFicThursdays - Historical Fiction on Your Doorstep

 Today's blog is a bit of a challenge... Next week, there is an exhibition in Thurso Art Gallery (it's the back room of the library, for any people in the area who are are interested in going along!) entitled Caithness Connections . I've had a little sneak peek on social media and been amazed by the variety of ideas the artists have used to consider the theme. It set me thinking about how differently people see their home, and how greatly it differs to how other people see it. Caithness is not a well-explored area, either in tourism (although this has improved since the NC500 route became popular) or in the arts, as its near neighbour Orkney. This is not always a bad thing - the Orkney which exists now is a far cry from the one I knew as home in my childhood thanks to the insane amount of cruise ship traffic, but when you say Caithness to most people from outwith Northern Scotland, most of them have no idea where it is if they've even heard of it. A few years ago, I wro...
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The Importance of a Yearly Review

 Crowvus is a small company, and there is no legal requirement for us to produce an annual report. That aside, it's both beneficial and gratifying to recap the year and revisit our aims and goals. It's gratifying because you can celebrate the parts that you got right through the year. And it is so  important to take a step back and look at your achievements. In 2025, we sold a record number of books, built the newsletter to a surprising number of subscribers (if you'd like to subscribe to our monthly newsletter, then head over here !) and we had a phenomenal number of entries for the Crowvus Ghost Story Competition. Wow! What a year 2025 turned out to be! It's beneficial because it helps you gain an understanding of the business. Because of the records I insisted on keeping through the year, I now know the percentage of our readers who shop at Amazon, and percentage who prefer paperbacks to ebooks, and the country where we sell the most books. All of this information we...

#HistFicThursdays - New Year's Resolutions

 Happy New Year, Readers! New Year (only last week) seems like an eternity ago. The reason being that we have been snowed in for almost every single one of those days. For me, this has been amazing. I love winter (it's my favourite season) and we managed to build snowmen, go sledging, and have all kinds of wintry fun and games. Because of this, it seems like ages since I drew up a few ideas for new year resolutions. I'm not very good at sticking to my resolutions, but I'm hopeful that I might manage more than a week with this year's! They are not all to do with writing (I'm determined to get better posture, too), and they are more long-term aims and goals than anything I will slog away at all year round, but here are one or two of them... Firstly, I want to finish writing the first draft of The Nobility of Caledon , which is Book 5 in the Caledon series. Book 3, The Strength of Caledon , will be launched in August this year, so I really need to get a move on with co...

GIVEAWAY: A Chilling Gothic Horror Anthology

... Our focus book this week is Beneath a Darkening Sky by Judith Crow This collection of gothic horror short stories is a thrilling and terrifying compilation, designed to send shivers down your spine while getting you turning the pages. We love this book because it contains ten brilliant stories that will stick with you long after you've read the final page. But you needn't take our word for it! Here what other readers are saying on Goodreads: "I was so excited to read each one and had a tingly feeling before and after each one. I loved the whole book and was sad when I was on the last story." "I like how quick these stories are, snippets but full stories in their own right. Well written, engaging and thought provoking. Loved it!" "I loved these books flow of the stories and the writing gripped me from the off. I really enjoy fairytale retelling and these were very clever with ghostly folklore and supernatural events woven into them." "I rea...

2026 - The Year of the #CrowvusReadingChallenge

We couldn't do what we do without our readers. Thank you so much for supporting us over the years. In return, we've created this fun little reading challenge which will hopefully help you discover and rediscover some amazing books. All you have to do is use our hashtag #CrowvusReadingChallenge on your reviews of the twelve books listed. You don't have to do them in the order we've put, and you don't have to wait a month between. All you have to do is share them by the end of 2026. Next January, we'll draw one reader at random and reward them with a £30 voucher for their favourite bookshop. Happy Reading!

#HistFicThursdays - Inspirational Series - The Box of Delights

Kay Harker and Cole Hawlings Picture accessed via BBC  There are few things more Christmassy than the opening few bars of the theme tune to The Box of Delights . In fact, the tune is based on Victor Hely-Hutchinson's Carol Symphony and had been used in radio adaptations of the same novel years earlier than the 1984 television series. Clearly, everyone already knew that you just couldn't improve on that sound to evoke the magic of Christmas which - for me and for many - is so wonderfully explored in John Masefield's story. As a viewer, one of the things I enjoy most about the television series of The Box of Delights is the acting. Child actors are precarious things: too sweet and they're almost unbearable to watch, not sweet enough and they're unbelievable. They must walk that fine line between the two, and it is a perilous one! Most young actors fall into the first category, where their on-screen presence is almost dangerously saccharine.  Not so the child actors ...

#HistFicThursdays - Annie's Day by Apple Gidley - Guest Post

Today's #HistFicThursdays blog is a fantastic guest post from  Apple Gidley ,   as part of her  Coffee Pot Book Club  tour! Read on to find out about her treasure hunt of research and how she used it to bring her new book, Annie's Day , to life. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb War took everything. Love never had a chance. Until now. As an Australian Army nurse, Annie endures the brutalities of World War II in Singapore and New Guinea. Later, seeking a change, she accepts a job with a British diplomatic family in Berlin, only to find herself caught up in the upheaval of the Blockade. Through it all, and despite the support of friends, the death of a man she barely knew leaves a wound that refuses to heal, threatening her to a life without love. Years later, Annie is still haunted by what she’d lost—and what might have been. Her days are quiet, but her memories are loud. When a dying man’s fear forces her to confront her own doubts, she forms an unexpected frie...