Today dear readers you are in for a treat. I have something exciting to share with you as well as a review.
Books on the Hill Publishing is creating a project that will make exciting, good quality fiction accessible to a minority group, currently not provided for by today’s UK traditional mass book market. Check out the video below.
Books on the Hill is passionate about helping people who have dyslexia, or have any difficulty with reading, to access the joy of good fiction. There are great books out now for children with dyslexia, with specialist publishers like Barrington Stokes and mainstream publishers such as Bloomsbury doing their part. However, there are sadly very few books for adults with dyslexia in traditional mass market publishing.
The idea that when you become an adult there are no dyslexic accessible printed books to read is ridiculous, to be blunt. BOTH Press, which aims to fill this gap, is a project from Book on the Hill, which is a dyslexic friendly independent bookshop set in Clevedon, North Somerset. They are passionate about helping people who have dyslexia, or have any difficulty with reading, to access the joy of good fiction. They aim to make exciting, good quality fiction accessible to those not currently provided for by today’s traditional mass book market. They are working with talented and award winning authors to achieve this.
With your help through the whole process of the Kickstarter, they aim to publish and print 8 titles of dyslexic friendly books for adults. Their long term goal is to continue publishing good quality adult fiction to produce a wide range of books for people who have challenges when reading.
Their initial target is 3 titles with successive stretch goals to get them to the magical 8. Of course they want to do more and if by your support they really go over their target, they will produce yet more stunning books with great authors.
They launched the Kickstarter project on 2nd April 2021, to run for 30 days, with the focus on paying for the printing of the books that they will publish. Click here to find out more.
Isn’t that just amazing news dear readers? As a writer who is dyslexic it gives me hope that our voices will be heard. That there are people out there fighting and supporting us to help tell our stories. YAY So happy about this!
I have been lucky enough to be sent one of Books On the Hill’s 8 titles of dyslexic friendly books for adults to read and review, The House On The Old Cliffs By Adrian Tchaikovsky. A big thank you for my copy, always appreciated. And also to the wonderful Anne to take part in the tour and sharing of this fantastic project.
The House On The Old Cliffs
Doctor Hendry, a known pseudo-historian has gone missing. His employers want answers.
Michael is offered a job that pays ten times what he would get standing outside a club, knocking people over. On reaching the London office of the law firm, Branmer & Stokes, four other professionals are waiting. Two mercenaries, Shaw and Kelling, with broad minds and little scruples. Cohen, a paranormal investigator and Doctor Furrisky from the University of East Anglia’s department of history.
Together they are given one job. Find Doctor Hendry in his home on the remote clifftop. They find more than they bargained for or even comprehend.
About the Author
Adrian Tchaikovsky is an award-winning British fantasy and science fiction author. He is a keen live role-player, occasional amateur actor, and has trained in stage-fighting. He has written over 20 novels and won the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Children of Time and the 2017 British Fantasy Award — Best Fantasy Novel for The Tiger and the Wolf.
My Review
A group of professionals are called together to help find Doctor Hendry, a known pseudo-historian who has gone missing. They have one week to find him. Among the rabble are two mercenaries, Shaw and Kelling. Cohen, a paranormal investigator. Doctor Furrisky from the University of East Anglia’s department of history. And finally Michael who spends his nights standing outside a club knocking people over. Together they set off to Scotland to investigate Dr. Hendry’s house that sits upon the cliffs. They quickly learn that this case is far from the ordinary and becomes more disturbing the more they uncover.
The narrative follows Michael and his personal experience of the whole expedition. The reader gains a deeper insight into the mystery and suspense of the case. On arrival Michael notices that the house sits upon some cliffs and becomes instantly on edge as heights are not his thing. He can see that half of the garden has already tumbled off into the sea. He senses something amiss from the moment they step inside and observes the others. Shaw and Kelling are trigger happy and appear unbothered while Dr. Furrisky is more on edge and shaky yet interested in Dr. Hendry’s discoveries in his study. Cohen knows that there is something more foul at play and keeps his theories silent until the time is right. A strange unwanted feeling stalks the characters throughout the house leading them to question how far they are willing to go to believe the horrifying truth that lies beneath the house.
Tchaikovsky’s writing immerses you throughout with chilling imagery and a haunting feeling that you are not alone. You slowly feel the hairs on the back of your neck creep up as you tiptoe around Dr. Hendry’s house. There are skulls and bizarre skeletons hanging all over the place. You feel an instant chill when you discover that his clothes, shoes and wallet are still there. With each page turn you dive deeper and deeper, wanting to know more but also at the same time scared of what you might see. My heart was pounding the whole time, I was freaked out! And yes dear reader, that is a good thing!
I give The House On The Old Cliffs By Adrian Tchaikovsky a Five out of Five paw rating.
This is gripping storytelling at its finest as Tchaikovsky plays upon the characters’ and reader’s fears, feeding into their imagination and the dread of what lurks beneath the waves. I loved every second and yearned for more.
Links
@aptshadow
@booksonthehill
Hop hop wiggle wiggle
Bunny’s Pause 
Thanks so much for supporting this project x