Cover Story

Publisher Marketing: "We need to get you out of London, somewhere safe." "Witness protection?" "No, but this might be a good time to take a long holiday in the country." "I have a job, a home, I live in London. What do you mean go to the country?" When a body part turns up on the desk of London-based journalist Victoria Manders, it's not just her story that gets spiked. As parts of her interviewee are sprinkled around London, it takes little persuading to get her to leave town for a while. With the help of a paparazzi mate, Tory heads for deepest, darkest Cornwall to the head office of the legendary Compagne: lifestyle magazine of the rich, the famous and the mildly in-bred. There she discovers a baroque world away from her London life as she takes on the mantle of Managing Editor. As she attempts to drag the magazine and its staff into the 21st century, she can't help wondering if it wouldn't have been easier staying in London and letting the body parts pile up. Meanwhile, Sir Jesper Donaldson, Tory's new boss, has family problems: a son who has no interest in following his father's footsteps, a wife slowly relieving the family estate of its heirlooms, an elderly father secretly engaged to his lap dancing day nurse and a twin brother planning a coup d'etat. Cover Story is set in the extravagant world of a national society magazine, with a Society Editor who can spot a pleb at one thousand feet, a Gardens Editor with a secret passion for writing gay porn and a Weddings Editor obsessed with her own nuptials. Sharp-witted humour and observations combine with strong characters and an inescapably modern take on life both inside and outside the British gentry. Contributor Bio:  Smith, Katharine Katharine Smith, PhD, RN, is Assistant Dean for Program Evaluation at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where she has taught since 1991. Dr. Smith's research has included 15 funded grants. most of which focused on some aspect of teaching, advanced education, and nursing traineeship. Selected published papers include 11 articles, two of which focused on use of Meti-Man and Simulation. Professional presentations include national and regional posters and oral presentations, focusing on Simulation and Ethical Issues related to health care. Contributor Bio:  Clarke, Catherine Despite my love of the sea and the South West of the UK, I have tucked myself away in Shropshire - the largest landlocked county in the country - with my husband and our two children. I run a small publishing business - Heddon Publishing - providing essentially self-publishing authors with all they need to turn their story from an original, basic word processor document to a carefully edited, proofed and formatted book. I have met some fantastic people this way, and work with authors as close by as Shrewsbury and as far away as the Australian outback. Family comes first, business second, and after that I write as often as I can - not as often as I would like but I hope there will be more time for that later. I visit Cornwall as often as possible and it never fails to inspire me, which is why I set Writing the Town Read there. My second novel, which I am currently working on, is largely set in my home county of Yorkshire; however I can feel a trip to Cornwall is on the cards for some of my characters! I write books that I would like to read. I enjoy contemporary writers such as Kate Atkinson, Maggie O'Farrell and Anne Tyler. Not that I am putting myself up there with them in writing terms but I love the way their books don't really fit a particular genre, which I think is also true of my writing. Whilst I would love to make a living from my books, I write because I love writing and I need to believe in the story, themes and characters. I started Writing the Town Read while in my late 20s, before I became pregnant with my first child, and I think that this is reflected in the book. Looking Past I have written now that I am well into my 30s and a mother of two. I think these life changes are also represented by my writing. I hope to keep on writing stories and that the quality and the content grows and matures along with me. I hope I am still writing when I am 100.