Cinnamon Press: small miracles from distinctive voices
Dateline: Derby, 1/10/2018 . . .
Prosecco as you come through the door …
lurid T-shirts featuring the cover of the book …
a documentary cameraman and a group of helpful assistants …
fresh pizza delivered mid-reading …
Not your average Cinnamon launch? Not your average Cinnamon book … even if it is published by our Liquorice Fish Books imprint. Ashley Lloyd Smith's Pizza with Jimbob & Twoforks is a delirious, stream-of-concept-caper through the fringes of everyday reality, contemporary art, moral crisis and cheesychips.
A well packed Waterstone's Derby (if you get chance, go there — the building alone is worth the visit) thoroughly enjoyed readings from Nigel Hutchinson and Ashley's very own publicity agent, and one-man Lloyd Smith Glee Club, Kyle Norbury, together with the aforementioned light refreshments, but they were tickled several shades of pink by Ashley's dynamic, Norma Desmond-style first landing reading from the novel — a great evening.
As local writer and organiser, Mike Murray says in his review of the book:
[it's] a joy ride with a not-to-be-trusted self-questioning narrator, events that spin the room […] and a senseless sense of everything else […] Too few British writers seek to take an idea and really go there, it is an American thing to be so adventurous, but it is a delight to have one of our own at last. Search this one out …
Our thanks to Waterstone's Derby, Ashley's legion of willing helpers, and big congratulations to Ashley ☺