Bottoms up at the launch of This Way Up

So my new book, This Way Up, was launched at the wonderful Book Lounge in Roeland Street on Tuesday night.

If you haven’t been, and you like books, I highly recommend it. (My bank manager would tend to disagree, but don’t listen to him, he’s a complete shoe and book bigot!)

So there I was sitting up on the stage next to the ever-gorgeous and fabulous Sarah Lotz (here’s photographic proof:)

That’s Sarah on the left, me on the right.

And she was grilling me furiously on writing This Way Up, my life and influences – you can always count on a crimi writer to get to the bottom of things. Speaking of the bottom of things, we were about four minutes into my grilling when Verushka, the superhero from The Book Lounge (who organised the whole event) crept up to the stage and handed me a little handwritten note, scribbled on a small scrap of paper.

I stopped mid question and ran my eye over the note.

I panicked and looked up.

The audience were looking back at me curiously.

I had no other choice than to readjust how I was sitting, and then read the note aloud.

Here’s the note:

Fan-fricking tastic. It doesn’t get more glamorous than that!
(*note to self: learn how to sit up on stage in a dress, without said dress riding up too high!*)

Liesl Jobson is a master photographer and is the amazing woman from bookie webiste BookSA, who had kindly come to take some pics of the launch. She took the amazing pics from last year’s launch too. But last night she clearly got more than she bargained for. That’s why some photographers ask for danger pay!
Kudos to her for a) taking amazing pics, and b) not showing anyone my panty!

I think it was a really cool launch, with a lot of laughs. I’m told the snacks were fantastic (thank you Verushka), the whisky was smooth (thank you Johnnie Walker), and I threw in a bit of panty, just for good measure!

This Way Up, is a romantic comedy about Stella, who manages to get herself in an awful lot of trouble in a very short amount of time. She’s a sex agony aunty for a trashy magazine, when all she wants is to be taken seriously. She’s also a newlywed, and one of pair of twins, from a bit of a big, crazy family. And to be honest, she really doesn’t know which way is up!
It should be available at all good book stores from this week. (R200)

At the same time, double celebration, because we also launched the reprint of my first novel, A Million Miles from Normal at a smaller size and with a new cover (R130), which should also be available from all good book stores. It’s a fun, light read about Rachel Marcus, a Joburg girl who finds herself living in New York City, trying to make sense of a life that is literally a million miles from normal.
Here are both covers, one more time, just for good measure, and so that you can read the back cover blurbs should you feel the desire. Just click to enlarge.

Thanks to everyone who came, supported and had a couple drinks, and have bought or will buy my books, and thanks to Penguin SA, especially my fearless editor, James, and Mervyn and Verushka and the team at The Book Lounge, and to Sarah Lotz and to brave Liesl Jobson and Ben at BookSA and to my family and all my friends – real, virtual and imaginary – your support and encouragement helps make the words come.

And now we wait for people to read it and hope like hell they like it!