It's after 12 o'clock so saying that at 16.30 probably means I will now have bad luck for the next seven years. So it was ingrained in me as a child and so I will think for ever more. Can it be that we are in July already? Doesn't seem five minutes ago we were taking down the Christmas tree. But July it is and we've gone past the mid-year mark. It's been quite a busy last couple of months for us here at Biteback Towers and we're probably all in need of a jolly holiday but work on we shall and bring you the books to enjoy on your holiday! So what's coming up?
It's been featuring in The Sun all week long so if you haven't heard about Tango 190 already where have you been? On this day last year Raoul Moat was released from Durham Prison. Within forty-eight hours he had shot his ex-partner and brutally murdered her new boyfriend. In the early hours of 4 July Police Constable David Rathband was gunned down while sitting in his patrol car. He was blinded for life and, as I'm sure you remember, one of the biggest manhunts in police history began, culminating in Moat's death six days later. Tango 190 is PC David Rathband's story in his own words and is a stonking good read - it's out next Tuesday.
As one of Britain's premier political publishers we of course have political and current affairs titles aplenty. Inside the Pakistan Army is perhaps more relevant now than ever. On 2 May 2011 Pakistani General Ashfaq Kayani, the Chief of Army Staff, stood exposed before the world as either incompetent or complicit in harbouring a mass murderer. US Navy Seals had undertaken a major covert operation on Pakistan soil, killing Osama bin Laden under the noses of the Pakistan Army. Incredibly, bin Laden's compound was on the doorstep of the prestigious Pakistan Military Academy, yet the first the Pakistanis knew of it was when the Americans picked up the phone some hours later. So is the Pakistan Army a reliable ally in the War on Terror? No other writer - Pakistani or foreign - can answer this critical question more clearly than Carey Schofield. No other writer knows these men better. For five years this remarkable woman travelled everywhere with them, witnessing operations, eating in the mess halls and speaking to everyone from President Pervez Musharraf down to the youngest soldier. This book is a telling insight into the heart of the War on Terror.
Back on British soil MP Kwasi Kwarteng and Jonathan Dupont ask why do we spend so much time in traffic? After Peak Oil, do we face the prospect of Peak Travel? Does climate change mean no more foreign holidays? Gridlock Nation is essential reading for anyone who has ever sat in traffic or waited for a train - it looks at the timeless problems faced in transport, from traffic jams in Rome to Victorian road rage. It examines the potential of dazzling new innovations across the world, from the private sector revolution to Google's new driverless cars. Britain needs a new revolution in transport - or gridlock will soon bring the country to a halt!
Biteback are also here to bring you the best tales from the world of espionage. Franco's Friends (and check out that cover - our designer, Designer Nam, is a genius) tells one of the great untold stories of the Second World War. With a cast list that reads like a who's who of British intelligence, author Peter Day reveals how MI6 helped orchestrate the coup that brought General Franco to power - it's full of the bribes, the plots and the ups and downs all made in the name of securing British interests. Well worth taking with you on holiday - even if the only reason is that if the sun's not shining the cover on this book will brighten up your day.
Well someone from Biteback who has been taking a holiday is Miss Katy Scholes - back in the blogseat next week (we hope). I dread to think what tales she will have to tell. I don't want to giver her any ideas but she deserves a book of her own...