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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Rattles and Rosettes: SoF's first navel
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Ancient Mariner
Sip the ship
# 4
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Posted
By now * hope you will have seen Tim Pike's review of my novel.
* 'd be intrigued to know what others make of it. One of the reasons for Rattles and Rosettes was to return to my first love, the simple art of writing. Since the arrival of Facebook and Twitter, * have found the internet almost totally unsatisfying in delivering anything * am really proud of - or that might last more than a few nano-seconds. As the shiny new media stuff loses its long-term appeal, the ancient vehicle of the novel is something * have become increasingly intrigued by.
It's for you to judge whether * have succeeded or not, however. All crits - good and bad - will be well received on this thread. For overseas shippies in particular, a Kindle version is available.
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
[ 18. September 2014, 08:31: Message edited by: Firenze ]
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Ship of Fools' first novel, Rattles & Rosettes, is the tale of two football (soccer) fans: 16-year-old Tom in 1914 and Dan in 2010. More at www.rattlesandrosettes.com
Posts: 2582 | From: St Helens (near Liverpool) UK | Registered: May 2001
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Oscar the Grouch
Adopted Cascadian
# 1916
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Posted
Have finished reading it and enjoyed it immensely. I have to admit that it wasn't hard to please me, as the book is about
a) Supporting unfashionable football teams
b) The build up to the first world war and the social conditions of the period
Both of these subjects are very close to my heart. To have them both in one book was just spoiling me!
I guess I found the part of the story set 100 years ago the more satisfying. I just didn't fully connect with Dan Howard, although I appreciated the way in which he was a flawed character. Having said that, the points being made about the corruption of modern day football were spot on. The bits about the peculiar obsessions of long distance fans and their strange online personalities were also very familiar to me. (I used to post frequently on a football messageboard as Oscar the Grouch. When I went to matches and met up with other fans, people would still call me Oscar, even when they knew what my "real" name was. I kinda liked that!)
Thanks for writing it! It will stay on my Kindle and I will go back to it from time to time.
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Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu
Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
i am a rabid supporter of the BPL side based at White Hart Lane and occasionally coach the under-12s as part of my job as a supply teacher. I am starting it now though concurrently reading an unrelated tome for the Ship's book club. The era of the First War fascinates me as I have been following the centenary broadcasts on Radio 4. Furthermore, my own paternal grandfather was a Naval officer in that war. I have his sword somewhere, or my sister does.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Ancient Mariner
Sip the ship
# 4
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Posted
Release issued today
OPPOSING FANS UNITE TO PRAISE WW1 NOVEL
(LONDON -- 3.9.14) CHECKING THE WEATHER is a pre-occupation for John Kettley and Steve Browett.
For more than 30 years, Burnley fan John has charted thousands of meteorological highs and lows as one of the UK's best-known TV weathermen. Meanwhile Steve, co-owner of Crystal Palace and founder of the world’s leading fine wine wholesaler, Farr Vintners, keeps a keen eye on those warm and cold fronts crossing the vineyards of Europe.
Their respective clubs go head to head in the Premier League for the first time on Sat 13 September at Selhurst Park. Come rain or shine, both men will hope for a very different outcome, but they're united in endorsing a novel that brings the clubs together in a unique way.
Rattles and Rosettes follows a Burnley fan on the club's famous 1914 FA Cup run. Miner Tom, 16, dreams of playing football for Burnley and England against a backdrop of grinding poverty. He falls for a rich girl out of his league, suffragette Emily, and the young couple travel to the Crystal Palace, venue of the FA Cup Final. Months later, Tom finds himself in the trenches on the western front.
The book also tells the tale of Crystal Palace supporter Dan, 23, who runs a 60s covers band called Born Too Late. Dan looks back nostalgically to a golden age of football and music he has never known. Disillusioned by Palace's predicament in administration, he sets out on a one-man mission against modern football – a devotion that comes between him and girlfriend Sally, lead singer in the band. The two stories eventually intertwine.
'I really enjoyed Rattles and Rosettes and read it from cover to cover in three days this summer,' said Steve Browett, who with three other Palace fans – Steve Parish, Martin Long and Jeremy Hosking – bought the club out of administration in 2010. 'It’s a great story set in turbulent times with football as a connecting theme between two young men whose lives could hardly be more different. It’s very fitting that, a century after Burnley won the 1914 FA Cup Final at “the” Crystal Palace, they will return to South London on September 13th 2014 for a match in the Premier League.
'The book brings home how much life has changed in the intervening 100 years but a passion for sport, and especially football, continues to unite us.'
John Kettley also read Rattles and Rosettes on holiday, during a Mediterranean cruise.
'It is a compelling read and helped the sea days go much more quickly,' he said. 'The story was particularly poignant with the 1914-18 war about to break out following Burnley's FA Cup Final win. It reminds us just how very lucky we are in these supposedly less-troubled times – at least off the pitch!'
The novel's author, Steve Goddard, a freelance journalist and PR consultant, said: 'I hoped Nick Hornby would write a sort of Fever Pitch 2, documenting the effect on fans of post-Premiership football. He's shown no signs so I decided to have a go myself. Comparing the country prior to WWI with credit crunch Britain of 2010 seemed the most engaging way to do it. It also gave me an opportunity to research and interpret what happened on Christmas Day 1914 – and that famous match between England and Germany in No Man's Land.
'Rattles and Rosettes is designed to stir the passions of us all, on whatever terrace (those were the days!) who feel sold down the river by those in charge of our national game.'
Response from fans of both clubs - and readers without any club loyalty - has been overwhelmingly positive with 30 reviews currently posted on Amazon, 27 of them rating the book with five stars.
'So far, Palace fans have engaged even more with Burnley fan Tom in 1914 than their "own" fan Dan in 2010!' said Steve. 'I hope this shows the novel has an appeal transcending tribal loyalties. As fans, we have to fight for the soul of football and that is the driving theme of the book.'
Rattles and Rosettes is published by Ship of Fools Ltd, price £7.99.
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Ship of Fools' first novel, Rattles & Rosettes, is the tale of two football (soccer) fans: 16-year-old Tom in 1914 and Dan in 2010. More at www.rattlesandrosettes.com
Posts: 2582 | From: St Helens (near Liverpool) UK | Registered: May 2001
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luvanddaisies
the'fun'in'fundie'™
# 5761
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Posted
It seems a bit jarring reading a thread that is a promotion of someone's novel here. I know it's by Ancient Mariner, and he does the Ship's PR, but it does seem that you can't go more than ten steps on SofF before you fall over a writer, and they wouldn't be allowed to publicise their new works on a Heaven thread.
I'm sure it's a lovely book (the word football activated my apathy glands and made me glaze over though, so I probably won't be reading it, just because it probably wouldn't be for me), but it seems odd that it should be exempt from advertising rules about posts, and adopted as SoF's First Novel, when it was written by an individual, and so many of the members of the community here are published authors.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Posts: 3711 | From: all at sea. | Registered: Apr 2004
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luvanddaisies
the'fun'in'fundie'™
# 5761
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Posted
I'm sorry - the above should probably have been posted somewhere in The Styx, and not here. I was thinking aloud (is it still aloud if you type it?).
My apologies.
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (Mark Twain)
Posts: 3711 | From: all at sea. | Registered: Apr 2004
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Ancient Mariner
Sip the ship
# 4
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Posted
Happy to hear others' comments and respond accordingly.
I've sold approximately four copies of my novel so far to shipmates (hundreds, thankfully, through other outlets) so I'll not face financial hardship if the publishing of the first-ever Ship of Fools novel, by the co-editor of Ship of Fools is not deemed significant enough to be accorded a thread in Heaven.
Over to you...
[ 04. September 2014, 11:44: Message edited by: Ancient Mariner ]
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Ship of Fools' first novel, Rattles & Rosettes, is the tale of two football (soccer) fans: 16-year-old Tom in 1914 and Dan in 2010. More at www.rattlesandrosettes.com
Posts: 2582 | From: St Helens (near Liverpool) UK | Registered: May 2001
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ancient Mariner:
Rattles and Rosettes is published by Ship of Fools Ltd
I think this is the key thing. It's not just that the book is by Ancient Mariner, who does the Ship's PR. The entity that sponsors the boards, which are appended to the main site -- remember the main site? -- is the publisher. They can market their books on the boards, just like they can market their mugs.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
-- remember the main site? --
You've mentioned this before. I even remember you claiming there were other "sites" out there. You must have been eating too many Oglanuts.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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