One New Book, One Forthcoming

In December, I was asked by the British Library "Tales of the Weird" imprint to write an Introduction to The Luck of the Town, by Marion Fox, scheduled for April 2026. The timing was short, but the introduction was finished in January and the book is now out.  The cover went through some variations, but the finished version, embossed, is quite nice. I copy it below, and also the rear cover, which gives a a good blurb for the book (written not by me, but by the editor at the British Library). Click on the images to make them larger. 

 

And another book to which I have contributed has just been announced for publication in January 2027, nicely in hardcover and a more affordable trade paperback. It's available for pre-order at the publisher's webpage. I've requested that they add a table of contents to the page.  My contribution is "A Checklist of the Published Writings of Richard Adams."  It is divided into five sections: Books; Stories; Nonfiction; Juvenilia; and Selected Interviews. I was surprised that no one had ever attempted such an Adams bibliography before. 

 

Plague Dogs - The Heartwood Institute

The Heartwood Institute, the name used by Jonathan Sharp for his retro-electronica music, has previously released highly evocative imaginary soundtracks to Penelope Lively's children's novels Astercote (1970) and The Whispering Knights (1971), among other haunted and beguiling work. I greatly enjoy these wistful and atmospheric compositions, with their affinities to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and all those ancient mysteries books of the Nineteen Seventies. 

His latest release, from Folk Police Recordings, is a tribute to Richard Adams' The Plague Dogs (1977). In an interview for the label, the musician explains that with The Heartwood Institute he is 'trying to capture a mixture of melancholy, hauntology and rural darkness'. The inspiration for the new album came from an enthusiasm for Adams' work but more particularly the setting for the novel in rural Cumbria, remembered from his own childhood, 'from the craggy and mysterious fells to the gentle hills and pastoral farmland.' The pieces make use of field recordings made at some of the locations in the book. 

Plague Dogs is available as a compact disc in a limited edition of 200 copies and also as a digital download. Pre-orders are available now for late April release. 

Proceeds from the album will go to Animal Rescue Cumbria.