Daily Bookshot: The Hookline Novel what?!?

The Hookline Novel what?!?, originally uploaded by Robert Burdock.

Two days without a Daily Bookshot is fairly inexcusable so I thought I’d make up for that by giving you something a bit special today.

What you are looking at here is the winner of the 2008 Hookline Novel Competition – The China Bird by Bryony Doran (here’s her website). It’s a novel that centres around the theme of finding love and beauty in abnormality, and it’s one that promises to be both highly emotive and hugely memorable. Here’s the official blurb:

Seeing beauty in Edward’s twisted spine, a young art student begs him to sit for her. Dubious but flattered, Edward is awakened from years of apathy and experiences emotions he cannot suppress. But vulnerability can bring strength. This tale of secrecy, love and eventual understanding explores our perceptions of beauty and abnormality.

Wow, powerful stuff eh? But I see you squirming around there and I think I know why. You don’t know what the Hookline Novel Competition is do you? Well don’t feel ashamed about that, I’ll explain it to you.

The Hookline Novel Competition is the creation of small London-based publisher Bookline and Thinker Ltd, and it’s a book prize like no other. With this competition you won’t find any glory chasing multi-award winning novelists, and you certainly won’t find an overly pretentious crusty panel of judges. No Sireee!

What you will find is something wholly unique – a line-up of brand new writers, writers who are, or have, specifically engaged in a MA writing course at university, and their judge and jury are the real experts in the book reviewing ‘game’ – the indomitable and never easily pleased book group. Here’s an extract from Bookline and Thinker to explain it more clearly:

At Bookline and Thinker, we have launched a competition aimed at new writers, especially those who have committed time and money to studying creative writing at university. But rather than select a winner ourselves, we have turned the judging procedure over to book club members – those avid book consumers who meet each month to dissect, critique and enthuse over their monthly read.

That’s real innovation right there isn’t it? And I think Bookline and Thinker should get the recognition and exposure they deserve. How many other publishers put so much faith into such a virgin body of writers, and then turn over the final decision on what does or doesn’t get published to a number of book groups?

Of course the real proof of the pudding is in the eating, and without fully reading and reviewing this novel it’s hard to gauge just how successful this method of selection may be. However, for concept and innovation alone Bookline and Thinker get the thumbs up from me, and I’m certainly looking forward to finding out just how proficient the book groups can be. I’ll be back to let you know.