The Tom Holt FAQ, everything about the english author

The FAQ is maintained by Nick Boalch N.G.Boalch@durham.ac.uk
The Faq is posted by Nick monthly to Alt.Books.Tom-Holt

Archive-name: books/tom-holt-faq Posting-Frequency: Every 30 days Last-modified: 2001/09/18 Version: 3.0 alt.books.tom-holt Frequently Asked Questions Nick Boalch (n.g.boalch@durham.ac.uk) Version 3.0 (September 18, 2001) >> This ASCII text version of the alt.books.tom-holt FAQ is compiled from >> LaTeX source and loses a certain amount of formatting and emphasis in >> the translation. The FAQ is available in other formats which do not lose >> these features, including DVI and PostScript, or you can compile your own >> version from the LaTeX source into whichever format you require. See >> section 6.2.2 for details of where and how to obtain these files. >> This Usenet version of the FAQ has the quoting character ">" added before >> each section heading, so that they will be marked out, particularly in >> newsreaders which colour quoted sections of messages. > Contents 1 - What's new & to-do list 1.1 - What's new since the last update? 1.1.1 - New from version 2.9 to version 3.0 1.1.2 - New from version 2.8 to version 2.9 1.1.3 - New from version 2.7 to version 2.8 1.1.4 - New from version 2.6a to version 2.7 1.1.5 - New from version 2.6 to version 2.6a 1.1.6 - New from version 2.5 to version 2.6 1.1.7 - New from version 2.4 to version 2.5 1.1.8 - New from version 2.3 to version 2.4 1.1.9 - New from version 2.2 to version 2.3 1.1.10 - New from version 2.1 to version 2.2 1.1.11 - New from version 2.0 to version 2.1 1.1.12 - New from version 1.5 to version 2.0 1.2 - To-do list 2 - About Tom Holt 2.1 - Biographical information 2.2 - Bibliography 2.2.1 - Novels 2.2.2 - Verse 2.2.3 - Omnibus editions 2.2.4 - Short stories 2.2.5 - Collected short stories & amalgamated drivel 2.2.6 - Anthologies featuring Tom Holt 2.3 - Contacting Tom Holt 3 - About the newsgroup 3.1 - When was the newsgroup created? 3.2 - Are there any rules on the newsgroup? 3.3 - Does Tom Holt post here? 3.4 - What, /the/ Tom Holt? 4 - Frequently asked questions 4.1 - Who is Tom Holt's cover artist? 4.2 - Why are some books copyrighted to Kim Holt? 4.3 - How do we address Tom Holt? 4.4 - What are the future/forthcoming books? 4.5 - Why are so many characters called Jane? 4.6 - Are there any Tom Holt websites? 4.7 - What about other online Holt-related resources? 4.8 - What's all this about earwigs? 5 - Mistakes 5.1 - The Flying Dutchman 5.2 - Maria's Desk 6 - About this FAQ 6.1 - Who to blame 6.2 - Obtaining the FAQ 6.2.1 - Plain text 6.2.2 - LaTeX, DVI and PostScript 6.2.3 - HTML 6.3 - Copyright notice > 1 - What's new & to-do list > 1.1 - What's new since the last update? > 1.1.1 - New from version 2.9 to version 3.0 New URLs for obtaining the FAQ -- the old ones should continue to work for a while thanks to the wonders of .htaccess, though. Added a new mistake as section 5.2 -- thanks to SHS, who actually sent me this in May 1999! > 1.1.1 - New from version 2.8 to version 2.9 Finally put in a proper description for Paul Bines's Tom Holt page (thanks for your patience, Paul!). > 1.1.2 - New from version 2.7 to version 2.8 Updated the information for "Nothing But Blue Skies" and moved it into section 2.2.1, since it's now been published. Updated section 4.4 with some more information about "Falling Sideways" and details of "Little People". Added ISBNs for the paperback versions of "Olympiad" and "Valhalla" to section 2.2.1. > 1.1.3 - New from version 2.6a to version 2.7 Added the Copyright notice. Added the "X-Disclaimer" header (to the Usenet version). Altered the "Summary" header (in the Usenet version). Added some more information about the "The Flying Dutchman" error to section 5.1. > 1.1.4 - New from version 2.6 to version 2.6a Tidied up some formatting and fixed some errors in the source that caused problems when translating into text and HTML. More spelling and grammar errors came to light and were fixed. > 1.1.5 - New from version 2.5 to version 2.6 The FAQ has now been entirely converted to LaTeX, so it can now be generated in all the necessary formats from just one source file. As you can imagine this makes my life immeasurably easier. I also took the opportunity to correct some spelling and grammar errors. > 1.1.6 - New from version 2.4 to version 2.5 Replaced the bare URLs in section 4.6 with brief descriptions of the contents of each website. Fixed all the bugs I inadvertently introduced in version 2.4 while fixing all the previous bugs :) > 1.1.7 - New from version 2.3 to version 2.4 Added several Tom Holt related web pages to section 4.6. Removed the parenthetical commentary from all of section 4, because it was beginning to really annoy me and because it made any of my comments that were over a paragraph long look really silly. Added URL for the newsgroup's control message & charter to section 3.2. Spaced the contents nicely. Did some tidying of grammatical, spelling and layout errors. Added information about the #holt IRC channel. > 1.1.8 - New from version 2.2 to version 2.3 Things about earwigs. Don't ask. Also considered adding things about trifles but decided to wait, pending further investigation. > 1.1.9 - New from version 2.1 to version 2.2 Updated section 4.4 with details of what Tom is /actually/ working on currently, as opposed to what he was working on a year ago. Also moved the "Tom Holt Omnibus 1" from section 4.4 to section 2.2.3 because it's now been published. Clarified section 3.2 so you don't have to go looking for the charter in the control message. I've now also verified all of the ISBNs in section 2.2 (at long last!). > 1.1.10 - New from version 2.0 to version 2.1 Updated section 2.2, moving various books previously listed incorrectly under 'forthcoming' to the Bibliography, and updating their ISBNs. Added the "Tom Holt Omnibus 1" to section 4.4. Changed some URLs. Fixed the Posting-Frequency auxiliary header so it's actually correct. > 1.1.11 - New from version 1.5 to version 2.0 The FAQ has just received a total update, resulting in the new version number 2.0. All the URLs have been checked and altered, and information about newly published and forthcoming books has been added to sections 2.2 and 4.4. The FAQ is now being autoposted from MIT, so should be out every month on a regular basis, rather than when I remember it. > 1.2 - To-do list With the LaTeX version of the FAQ now complete, all our formatting and conversion worries should be over. However, the bibliography (section 2.2) is now slightly out of date, and I have some new ISBNs to add. > 2 - About Tom Holt > 2.1 - Biographical Information Tom Holt (i.e. Thomas Charles Louis Holt) was born in London on the 13th of September 1961, and studied at Westminster School, Wadham College, Oxford, and the College of Law. He produced his first book, "Poems by Tom Holt", at the age of thirteen, and was immediately hailed as an infant prodigy, to his horror. At Oxford Holt discovered bar billiards: When I was at university there was a pool table in the room behind the bar. We found that if we stuffed newspaper in the pockets, we could play all day for free. So we did, when we should have been working. The result of all this indolence was that when we came to take our final exams, the boys & girls who'd avoided the bar and stayed in the library working like hell all passed with flying colours; while the rest of us, who'd done nothing but play pool and have a good time, also passed with flying colours. So let that be a lesson to you. At once he changed from poetry to comic fiction, beginning with two sequels to E. F. Benson's "Lucia" series, and continuing with his own distinctive brand of comic fantasy in (so far) nineteen books. Among those he has written two historical novels set in the fifth century BC, the well-received "Goatsong" and "The Walled Orchard", and has collaborated with Steven Nallon on "I, Margaret", the (unauthorised) autobiography of Margaret Thatcher. Among his favourite authors are Damon Runyon, Ernest Bramah, and P.G. Wodehouse (in that particular order). Thinner and more cheerful than in his youth, Tom Holt is now married to Kim, and lives in Somerset together with their daughter. Since he is an amateur engineer, among those items that bring joy into his life are two major things: his Myford ML7 and Bridgeport universal mill, and with these fine lathes he produces (according to himself) huge piles of iron filings. His interest in music is filk music, medieval music, and classical jazz. B. de Ventadour, G. d'Ussel and B. Marti (all French) are his three favourite bards from the 12th century. And one last startling revelation: Before getting a real job as an author Tom used to be ... wait for it ... a tax lawyer. No comment by me on this, but see also section 4.2 ;) > 2.2 - Bibliography > 2.2.1 - Novels "Lucia in Wartime" (1985) ISBN 0-060-55003-1 ISBN 0-333-40247-2 "Lucia Triumphant" (1986) ISBN 0-060-96196-1 Sequals to E.F. Benson's "Lucia" series. Both are now sadly out of print but occasionally become available at booksellers. "Expecting Someone Taller" (1987) ISBN 1-857-232181-3 All he did was run over a badger - sad, but hardly catastrophic. But it wasn't Malcolm Fisher's day, for the badger turned out to be none other than Ingolf, last of the Giants. With his dying breath, he reluctantly handed to Malcolm two Gifts of Power, and made him ruler of the world. But can Malcolm cope with the responsibilty? Whilst averting wars, plagues and famines, he also has to protect himself against gods, dwarves, valkyries and other nefarious manifestations of the Dark Ages - none of whom think he is right for the job... "Who's Afraid of Beowulf?" (1988) ISBN 1-857-23196-1 (pb) Well, not Hrolf Earthstar, for a start. The last Norse king of Caithness, Hrolf and his twelwe champions are woken from a centuries-long sleep when Hildy Fredriksenn, archaeologist of the fairer sex, finds their grave. Not only that, Hrolf decides to carry on his ancient war against the Sorcerer-King. In a mixture of P.G. Wodehouse, Norse mythology and Laurel and Hardy, Hildy and her Viking companions face such perils as BBC film crews, second-rate fish and chips and the Bakerloo Line in their battle against the powers of darkness. "I, Margaret" (1989) ISBN 0-333-49776-7 (pub. Papermac) The unauthorised autobiography of Margaret Thatcher, as told to Steve Nallon with Tom Holt. "Goatsong" (1989) ISBN 0-312-03838-0 "Goatsong" is out of print in a single edition, however the new edition of "The Walled Orchard" contains "Goatsong" as well. "The Walled Orchard" (1990/1997) ISBN 0-751-52138-8 (pub. Warner) This new edition of "The Walled Orchard" also contains "Goatsong". Athens is at the middle of her golden age; Pericles is busy building the Parthenon, Sophocles, Euripedes and Socrates are writing words which will live forever, and Eupolis is hearding goats on Parnes. Unfortunately, Athens is also embarking on the Peloponnesian War, which she will eventually lose... "Flying Dutch" (1991) ISBN 0-356-20111-2 (pb) ISBN 1-857-23017-5 (hb) (out of print) It's amazing the problems drinking can get you into. One little swig from the wrong bottle and you go from being an ordinary Dutch sea-captain to an unhappy immortal, drifting around the world with your similarly immortal crew, suffering from peculiary whiffy side effects. Worst of all, Richard Wagner writes an opera about you. Little does Cornelius Vanderdecker, the Flying Dutchman, suspect that a chance encounter in an English pub might just lead to the end of his cursed life, one way or another... "Ye Gods!" (1992) ISBN 1-857-23016-7 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23080-9 (pb) Being a hero bothers Jason Derry. It's easy to get maladjusted when your mum's a suburban housewife and your dad's the Supreme Being. It can be a real drag slaying fabulous monsters and retrieving golden fleeces from fire-spitting dragons, and then having to tidy your room before your mum'll let you watch "Star Trek". But it's not the relentless tedium of imperishable glory that finally brings Jason to the end of his rope; it's something so funny that it's got to be taken seriously. Deadly seriously... "Overtime" (1993) ISBN 1-857-23039-6 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23126-0 (pb) Only in a Tom Holt novel can you discover the relationship between the Inland Revenue, the Second Crusade and God's great plan to build starter planets for first time life forms... It all started for Guy Goodlet somewhere over Caen. One moment he was heading for the relative safety of the coast, aware that fuel was low and the Mosquito had more than a few bullet holes in it. The next, his co-pilot was asking to be dropped off. This would have been odd if Peter had still been alive. Since he was dead, it was downright worrying. But not quite as worrying as when Guy found himself somewhere in the High Middle Ages - rather than in 1943 - in the company of one John de Nesle. Unsurprisingly, Guy's first thought was to get out and home sharpish. But then he saw John's sister, Isoud, and somehow found himself agreeing to help John, also known as Blondel, in his quest to find Richard Coeur de Lion... "Here Comes The Sun" (1993) ISBN 1-857-23125-2 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23187-2 (pb) The sun rises late, dirty and so badly in need of a service it's a wonder it gets up at all. The moon's going to be scrapped soon and a new one commisioned - but then, they've been saying that for years... All is not well with the universe, and though there's a hell of a tidying up job to be organised after some carelessness with earthquakes and tidal waves, surely it's crazy to get mortals to run the show? Things may be bad, but isn't that going to extremes? The irrepressible Tom Holt hits the mark yet again with a dazzling foray into fantasy ... of the hilarious kind. "Grailblazers" (1994) ISBN 1-857-23192-9 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23191-0 (pb) 'The Holy Grail and the Wholly Inept' Fifteen hundred years have passed and the Grail is still missing, presumed ineffable; the Knights have dumped the Quest and now deliver pizzas; the sinister financial services industry of the lost kingdom of Atlantis threatens the universe with fiscal Armageddon; while in the background lurks the dark, brooding, red-caped presence of Father Christmas. In other words, Grailmate. Has Prince Boamund of Northgales (Snotty to friends) woken from his enchanted sleep in time to snatch back the Apron of Invincibility, overthrow the dark power of the Lord of the Reindeer and find out exactly what a Grail is? And just who did do the washing-up after the Last Supper? Take a thrilling Grailhound bus ride into the wildly improbable with Tom Holt. "Faust Among Equals" (1994) ISBN 1-857-23265-8 (pb) 'Well I'll be dammed...' The managment buy-out of Hell, wasn't going quite as well as planned. For a start, there had been that nasty business with the perjurors, and then came the news that the Most Wanted Man in History had escaped, and all just as the plans for the new theme park, Eurobosch, were under way. But Kurt 'Mad Dog' Lundqvist, the foremost bounty hunter of all time, is on the case, and he can usually be relied upon to get his man - even when that man is Lucky George Faustus... Exuberant, hell-raising comedy from Holt at his inventive best. "Odds & Gods" (1995) ISBN 1-857-23266-6 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23299-2 (pb) ISBN 0-001-04889-9 (audio casette) 'Odds and Gods - a simply divine comedy' It's a god's life ... at the Sunnyvoyde Residential Home for retired deities. Everlasting life can be a real drag when all you've got to look forward to is cauliflower cheese on Wednesdays. For a start, there's a major techincal problem with the thousand-year-old traction engine which has been lovingly restored by those almighty duffers Thor, Odin and Frey ... the damn thing actually goes. And then there's Osiris, pushed one tapioca too far by a power-crazy gods on with friends in very smelly places, and forced to set out on a quest which will test his wheelchair to the very limits. Only one thing might save the world from an eternity of chaos ... dentures. It's true. Honest to god. "Djinn Rummy" (1995) ISBN 1-857-23329-8 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23363-8 (pb) 'In an aspirin bottle, nobody can hear you scream.' Outside an aspirin bottle, however, things are somewhat different. And when Kayaguchiya Integrated Circuits III (Kiss, to his friends), a Force Twelve genie with an attitude, is released after fourteen years of living with two dozen white tablets, there's bound to be trouble. Take, for example, Jane. All she wanted was to end her miserable life in peace, with a minimum of fuss, in the privacy of a British Rail waiting room, but now she's got herself a genie for company. Lucky old Jane. Lucky, that is, until the apocalypse rears its ugly head. "My Hero" (1996) ISBN 1-857-23365-4 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23387-5 (pb) 'Sharp, sparkling and seriously funny' Writing novels? Piece of cake, surely ... or so Jane thinks. Until hers start writing back. At which point, she really should stop. Better still, change her name and flee the country. The one thing she should not do is go into the book herself. After all, that's what heroes are for. Unfortunatly, the world of fiction is a far more complicated place than she ever imagined. And she's about to land her hero right in it. "Paint Your Dragon" (1997) ISBN 1-857-23433-2 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23456-1 (pb) The cosmic battle between Good and Evil ... But suppose Evil threw the fight? And suppose Good cheated? Sculptress Bianca Wilson is a living legend. St George is also a legend, but not quite so living. However, when Bianca's sculpture of the patron saint and his scaly chum gets a bit too 'life-like', it opens up a whole new can of wyrms ... The Dragon knows that Evil got a raw deal and is looking to set the record straight. And George (who cheated) thinks the record's just fine as it is. Luckily for George, there's a coach-load of demons on an expenses-paid holiday from Hell who are only too happy to help him. Because a holiday from hell is exactly what they're about to get. "Open Sesame" (1997) ISBN 1-857-23476-6 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23556-8 (pb) Just because he is a character in a book, Akram the Terrible doesn't see why boiling water must be poured over his head again. Meanwhile, Michelle gets a shock when she puts on her Aunt's ring and her computer and television start to criticize her for past misdemeanours. "Wish You Were Here" (1998) ISBN 1-857-23555-2 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23687-4 (pb) It was a busy day on Lake Chicopee. But it was an eclectic bunch of sightseers and tourists that had the strange, local residents rubbing their hands with delight. There was Calvin Dieb, the lawyer setting up the property deal, who'd lost his car keys; there was Linda Lachuk, the tabloid journalist who could smell that big, sensational story; there was dumpy Janice DeWeese, who was just on a walking holiday but who longed for love. But most promising of all, there was Wesley Higgins, the young man from Birmingham, England, who was there because he knew the legend of the ghost of Okeewana. All he had to do was immerse himself in the waters of the lake and he would find his heart's desire. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. "Only Human" (1999) ISBN 1-857-23693-9 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23949-0 (pb) A gag about God regarding the pursuit of happiness as something to be done with a fly-swatter resulted in this book. Something is about to go wrong. Very wrong. What do you expect if the Supreme Being decides to get away from it all for a few days, leaving his naturally inquisitive son to look after the cosmic balance of things? A minor hiccup with a human soul and before you know it you're on the road to chaos. "Alexander at the World's End" (1999) ISBN 0-316-85058-6 (hb) ISBN 0-349-11315-7 (pb) This is the sequal to "The Walled Orchard" and "Goatsong". The story of two men, one of whom conquered empires, one of whom tackled the drainage problems of a small village. Their paths crossed only briefly, but the encounter changed their lives forever. The first was Alexander the Great, the second, Euxenus, philosopher and tutor to the young Alexander. "Snow White and the Seven Samurai" (1999) ISBN 1-856-23898-2 (hb) ISBN 1-857-23988-1 (pb) Once upon a time (or last Thursday, as it's sometimes known) the wicked Queen had a fully functioning, if antiquated, Mirrors system, and all was well in the kingdom. Then the humans hacked in and the system failed. Fairytales may never be the same again... "Olympiad" (2000) ISBN 0-316-85390-9 (hb) ISBN 0-349-11316-5 (pb) Tom writes: "Olympiad" is my two cents' worth for the Millennium; I got the idea when I realised that we only think it's going to be 2000 next year because the Christian church fixed the date of the birth of Christ in accordance with the Roman system of recording history by time elapsed since the (mythical) foundation of Rome by (two brothers who never actually existed, called) Romulus and Remus, which in turn was fixed by reference to the Greek system of recording history by time elapsed since the (legendary) foundation of the Olympic Games by (the entirely fictitious half-god half-human hero) Hercules in 776BC (except, of course, it wasn't 776BC then, it was the First Olympiad, only it wasn't, because there were no records at all in 776BC, since writing wasn't even invented till about fifty years later...); in other words, our entire concept of history is based on misunderstandings of some very old fairy-tales, which is what prompted me to make up some more untrue history, as if there wasn't enough already. Basically, it's a book about lies, legends and historical fact, and how there's really nothing to choose between them. Two thousand, seven hundred and seventy-six years ago, a group of men ran between too piles of stones, and invented history. The first ever Olympic Games in 776 B.C. were apparently so memorable that all Western chronology is based on them. But all we know about them is the name of the man who won the race. Over two and a half millenia later, it's about time somebody told the story. "Valhalla" (2000) ISBN 1-857-23983-0 (hb) ISBM 1-841-49042-3 (pb) "Valhalla" is about a bunch of people who get what they deserve in the afterlife... more accurately, it's about the way we see ourselves, and the problems we create for ourselves by not facing up to who we really are. Actually, it's about 22 cm x 14 cm x 3cm, assuming you're buying the hardback. When great warriors die, their reward is eternal life in Odin's great hall, Valhalla. But Valhalla has changed and like any corporation has adapted to survive. Unfortunately nothing could have prepared it for the arrival of currently-dead cocktail waitress Carol Kortright, who is not at all happy. "Nothing But Blue Skies" (2001) ISBN 1-841-49040-7 (hb) This was listed in previous versions of the FAQ as "The Portable Door", which was the working title. There are very many reasons why British summers are either non-existent or, alternatively, held on a Thursday. Many of these reasons are either scientific, dull, or both - but all of them are wrong. The real reason is, of course, irritable Chinese Water Dragons; of which estate agent Karen is one. Tom writes that this is about "love, authoritarian government and the British love/hate relationship with their bloody awful weather". > 2.2.2 - Verse "Poems By Tom Holt" (1973) ISBN 0-718-11181-8 Tom's "Infant Progidy" poems, published when he was at the tender age of twelve. Now out of print. "Bitter Lemmings" (1997) ISBN 1-870-82438-5 (spiral) (pub. Beccon Publications) An anthology of Holt's filksongs. 39 songs including some wicked second and third level filks. All to well known folk/filk tunes, so no music provided. > 2.2.3 - Omnibus editions "Tom Holt Omnibus 1" (2000) ISBN 1-841-49025-3 (pb) "Flying Dutch" (q.v.) and "Faust among Equals" (q.v.) collected together in one volume. > 2.2.4 - Short stories "Igor" & "The God Who Came to Dinner" Two short stories, available absolutely free from Calle's Tom Holt website at http://www.edlin.org/holt/. > 2.2.5 - Collected short stories & amalgamated drivel "Holt, Who Goes There?" (1998) (no ISBN) (pub. British Fantasy Society) 'Be afraid ... be very afraid ... as you enter a Neverland of Tom Holt's own devising.' Tom Holt presents a selection of musings, writings and stories guaranteed to raise a smile. Discover for yourself Tom's views on writing, conventions, marmalade; and find out just how easy (!) it is to write fantasy, taken from his regular column in the British Fantasy Society's Newsletter. Including two rare short stories, "Holt, Who Goes There?" is the perfect antidote for the autumn blues. Limited edition, 300 copy, signed and numbered 48pp chapbook. Can be ordered by sending email to: syrinx.2112@btinternet.com. > 2.2.6 - Anthologies featuring Tom Holt "Heroic Adventure Stories" (Date unknown) ISBN: Unknown An anthology with tales from the rise of Ancient Greece to the fall of Ancient Rome. Tom appears with the story "No Place Like Home". "The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy" (1998) ISBN: 1-85487-530-2 (pb)(UK) ISBN: 0-78670-533-7 (pb)(US) A compendium of comic fantasy writing. Most of the stories are modern, with many especially written for this collection. The book also includes classic reprints and rare gems from comic fantasy's roots in past years. Tom appears with the story "Pizza to Go". "Shakespearean Whodunnits" (1997) ISBN: 1-85487-945-6 (pb)(UK) ISBN: 0-78670-482-9 (pb)(US) Crimes-a-plenty tumble out of Shakespeare's plays. Suppose, for instance, that Friar Lawrence isn't available to explain the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, and that Capulet or Montague engages someone to investigate their deaths? How about King Lear: he is convinced that Cordelia is alive at the end of the play. Is the corpse Cordelia or someone else? What has happened? How did Falstaff really die in "Henry V" and who was behind his humiliation in "The Merry Wives of Windsor"? Did Cleopatra really commit suicide, or was it a set-up? Who, exactly, is the sinister visitor conjured up by Caliban in "The Tempest"? In their ingenious tales, the likes of Falstaff and Hamlet, as well as the Bard himself, are set in hot pursuit of fresh clues and new solutions to some of the bloodiest plots and nastiest deeds hidden in Shakepeare's plays. Tom Holt appears with the story "Cinna the Poet". > 2.3 - Contacting Tom Holt You can contact Tom by email at lemming.co@zetnet.co.uk, or through his publishers, Orbit, through their web site http://www.orbitbooks.co.uk/ > 3 - About the newsgroup > 3.1 - When was the newsgroup created? The proposal for alt.books.tom-holt was discussed in alt.config in June 1998 and again in August 1998, prior to the control message being issued on 28th August 1998. > 3.2 - Are there any rules on the newsgroup? All that is asked is that posters maintain sensible netiquette. The charter sets out guidelines for on-topic posts: basically anything to do with Tom Holt, Tom Holt's works (novels, short stories, filks and so on) and Holt-related fan activity. The charter for alt.books.tom-holt is contained in the control message that created the newsgroup, and can be found in a number of online charter repositories (for example in ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/control/alt/), if you want to read it in its entirety. > 3.3 - Does Tom Holt post here? Yes. Tom Holt has supported the newsgroup from its inception and is a regular poster. So is his Mum, in fact ;) > 3.4 - What, /the/ Tom Holt? Yes, the Tom Holt. Honest :) > 4 - Frequently asked questions > 4.1 - Who is Tom Holt's cover artist? Tom writes: When I changed publishers from Macmillan to Orbit, they commissioned Kirby covers for the hardback of "Flying Dutch" and the paperbacks of the first two. They stayed with Kirby for "Ye Gods" and the hardback of "Overtime", then commissioned a brilliant artist called Steve Lee to do the paperback of "Overtime". Steve's designs went down well with the book trade, so they reissued the backlist titles with Lee covers (this means " Expecting Someone Taller" has had 3 different paperback covers; the ghastly one put on it by Macdonald when it first came out, the Kirby effort and the Steve Lee version) Steve did all my jackets down to "Open Sesame"; at that point there was some sort of falling-out between him and the Orbit people, and he isn't going to do any more (a pity, if you ask me) For the "Wish You Were Here" hardback, they've taken an entirely different approach; I'm slightly underwhelmed by the WYWH cover, but from what I've seen of the roughs for the next one, "Only Human", I think they may well be on to something. > 4.2 - Why are some books copyrighted to Kim Holt? Tom writes: Shan't tell, so there. It is in fact a tax dodge. > 4.3 - How do we address Tom Holt? Tom writes: 'Tom' will do just fine. Compared to some of the things I've been called over the years, it's almost a compliment. > 4.4 - What are the future/forthcoming books? Tom writes: At the moment I have one finished book ("Nothing but Blue Skies") which will be the next book to be published, and one I'm still writing ("Falling Sideways"). I'm trying to figure out how to pitch an idea I've got for another historical novel in such a way that my editor won't have me thrown out of the building. That's about it, really. Details of these forthcoming books: "Falling Sideways" No ISBN or publication date yet. Tom writes that this is "a simple love story about a boy, a girl, cloning and the true meaning of kissing frogs, a gentle, sentimental love story about a man and the frog (make that frogs) of his dreams". "Little People" No ISBN or publication date yet. The working title of this novel was "Here be Dragons". Tom writes: With luck it'll be a grim battle between good and evil fought out against the stark backdrop of the British shoe industry. Most of the characters are six inches tall, if that makes it any clearer. > 4.5 - Why are so many characters called Jane? Tom writes: The female lead in "Flying Dutch" was called Jane (a) after a friend of my wife's, an accountant, who's called Jane (and is nothing at all like the character in the book) (b) because it seemed to suit her - straightforward, quite strong, dysbimboesque, but with subliminal associations of (i) plain Jane (ii) the dashing & adventurous heroine of the old comic strip (iii) me Tarzan, you... By the time I finished FD, I was using the name Jane as mental shorthand for that kind of female character; and since it's a character type I find useful, I stuck with the name. Female leads who don't follow that pattern get called something else; Michelle in "Open Sesame" was a bit too mimsy to be a Jane, Bianca in "Paint Your Dragon" needed to be rather more glamorous, & so on. I called the female #2 lead in "Wish You Were Here" Janice, because she's almost a Jane - by learning and suffering she moves towards acquiring Janity. The other reason is because it annoys the hell out of my mother. > 4.6 - Are there any Tom Holt websites? "The Tom Holt Webpage" (Calle Aasman) http://www.edlin.org/holt/ Calle's webpage is the definitive source for all things Holt-related. Includes a biography, complete bibliography (probably the best anywhere), plus many extras such as a random Holt quotation generator and some of Tom's short stories to download. Well worth a visit. "Tom Holt" (Orbit Books) http://www.orbitbooks.co.uk/orbit/orbit_author_th_index.asp The generic page about Tom created by his publishers. Contains a brief bibliography but is generally not particularly interesting. "Tom Holt Bibliography" (Uwe Milde) http://www.rumil.de/holt/ Complete Tom Holt bibliography. There's not a great deal more I can say. It does exactly what it says on the tin... "Tom Holt page" (Paul Bines) http://members.netscapeonline.co.uk/paulbines/TomHolt.htm A general Tom Holt page, containing an illustrated bibliography, an interview with Tom and links to other resources. "Alt.Books.Tom-Holt page" (Dragonprince) http://my.genie.co.uk/dragonprince/ Rather than a site about Tom, these pages are dedicated to the abth newsgroup, and especially to any alt.books.tom-holt meets going on around the world. Read the reports! See the photos! > 4.7 - What about other online Holt-related resources? There is an IRC channel where you can chat to like-minded Tom Holt fans and alt.books.tom-holt regulars, the #holt channel on Espernet. Espernet servers are listed at http://www.esper.net/, or you can connect to irc.esper.net on port 5555 to be assigned to a random server. For those new to IRC, http://www.irchelp.org/ can provide some helpful information and hints, and also lists IRC clients for various platforms. > 4.8 - What's all this about earwigs? God only knows. It's a craze or something. You should be aware that earwigs are potentially harmful Class-A drugs, which you should avoid at all costs. If someone offers you earwigs, JUST SAY NO! > 5 - Mistakes > 5.1 - The Flying Dutchman Belsambar has pointed out that the Flying Dutchman appears in "Flying Dutch" as Julius Albert Vanderdecker, but cameos in "Faust among Equals" as Cornelius Vanderdecker. Apparently Tom didn't notice this one either. Additionally, as you can see from section 2.2.1, the back cover blurb from the book also has the poor man down as Cornelius Vanderdecker. Rereading, I notice that his name even changes about inside the book; cf. "You really ought to write to your uncle, Cornelius" in chapter nine. > 5.2 - Maria's Desk Steven H. Silver has noticed that in Only Human, in the scene where Maria is cleaning out her office (p.261 in the UK hardback edition) she walks in to find removal men taking away her desk. Later on the same page, she has to climb over the same desk to retrieve the painting on the wall. > 6 - About this FAQ > 6.1 - Who to blame This Frequently Asked Questions List was written and is maintained by Nick Boalch (n.g.boalch@durham.ac.uk), although credit for large parts must go to Calle Aasman (emsworth@gmx.net), who supplied (and continues to supply) most of the information for the biography and bibliography, meaning that all I had to do was format it and add a few comments, saving me huge amounts of time. If you have a query about the contents of the FAQ, or would like to see something added, please email me. > 6.2 - Obtaining the FAQ > 6.2.1 - Plain text The FAQ is posted automatically to Usenet by the MIT FAQ server every 30 days, appearing in the newsgroups alt.books.tom-holt, alt.answers and news.answers. It is also available in plain text from FAQ repositories all over the world under the archive name books/tom-holt-faq. Try: * http://users.durge.org/~ngb/scribblings/abth-faq.txt * ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/books/tom-holt-faq > 6.2.2 - LaTeX, DVI and PostScript These are the preferred formats for the FAQ, since it loses certain formatting in the conversion to text and HTML. They are available from: * http://users.durge.org/~ngb/scribblings/abth-faq.tex * http://users.durge.org/~ngb/scribblings/abth-faq.dvi * http://users.durge.org/~ngb/scribblings/abth-faq.ps > 6.2.3 - HTML The FAQ is available in HTML format from: * http://users.durge.org/~ngb/scribblings/abth-faq.html * http://www.faqs.org/faqs/books/tom-holt-faq/ It is also available in various other online FAQ repositories and on Holt-related websites, but to ensure you fetch the latest version you are advised to use one of the URLs above. > 6.3 - Copyright Notice (c) Copyright 1998-2001 by Nick Boalch. All rights reserved. The right to redistribute this document by electronic means is freely granted so long as the document is redistributed unedited and in its entirety. No part of this publication may be transmitted in any other form without the prior permission of the author.

Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer:
Nick Boalch <N.G.Boalch@durham.ac.uk>

Last Update July 28 2001 @ 00:39 AM

The Tom Holt FAQ

Quote from My Hero