Extra signed copies

Peter Gibbs was kind enough to call in today and sign most of the remaining stock of his excellent cricket novel, Settling the Score as the signed copies were nearly sold out.

So, if you missed the signing and would like a signed copy, do look in soon.

Score settled

Well here we are with a few more shots of the Settling the Score signing with Peter Gibbs including a rare shot of me. I'm usually behind the camera. The caps are all from Peter's cricketing days.

 Here we have proof that Peter can make cricket as interesting to American ladies as to English. (The lady in the pink hat is over from The States)

The gentleman below looks as if he checking the spelling.

We had a great day and I'm sure that everyone who has a copy of Peter's book will enjoy it.

Thank you Peter. It was a great day!

And I've just had the last of the sandwiches!

Peter Gibbs at number one

Because Settling the Score has been selling so well, we have placed yet another order.

We hope another pile will arrive tomorrow morning or else we may run short.

Apart from that, we think everything is ready for the signing. 

The shop has been re-arranged and, most importantly, sandwiches and cakes are organised.

So, don't forget, play starts at 10.30 am. If you can't be here, phone or mail us.

01608 652666 cotsbookstore@tiscali.co.uk

Cricketer's tea

Here's Peter Gibbs again with the ball driven past the bowler. Or do you think he missed it?

Well, whatever. You mustn't miss our Saturday Signing tomorrow morning at 10.30 am. (If you can't make it, book a copy)

A Cricketer's tea will be served and we have a pile more books coming in because it's already selling so well.

This excellent novel, based around a county cricket match, will make a great Chistmas or birthday present for anyone interested in the game.

If you're a fan yourself, do come along and have a chat to Peter Gibbs, who opened for Derbyshire.

Settling the Score - the window

Well, at last I did it. I remembered to fetch the camera in to work AND actually remembered to take the picture.

So that's our Settling the Score window.

Actually, only part of it. The book has been selling so well, we've had to snitch a few from the window to give to our customers.

20 more copies arrived today but with the advance bookings, they won't last long. I'll order some more tomorrow.

Peter Gibbs called in, as he'd promised, and entertained us with a few stories from the cricket field and from his life as a playwright.

Here he is, relaxing after a long innings.

Peter Gibb's web site

OK. So I promise that tomorrow, I will take a photo of our Settling the Score window.

Meanwhile, a little about the author, Peter Gibbs, can be found on www.petergibbs.net

Peter himself hopes to look in tomorrow from his home in Shipston on Stour so perhaps we'll have a photo of him too.

Settling the Score window

David did the window for our signing Saturday for 'Settling the Score' late today.

It was my intention to put a photo on the blog but, twit that I am, I'd left the camera at home.

However, that give me two opportunities to mention the signing for this excellent book by Derbyshire ex-opener, Peter Gibbs.

Sheep in the Window

Here's the window that got a bronze.

Tomorrow we'll get on with a window for our first book signing.

That's Settling the Score by Peter Gibbs.

We have the stumps, the pads, the bat and the ball, all from Moreton's wonderful  Toyshop.

We also have a wide brimmed cricket hat - one of mine.

There were 60 sheep in the window including our logo and an excellent cartoon by John Curtis.

The theme was sixty sheep because of the 60th anniversary of the Show.

We were told by the Health and Safety people to put a notice in the window advising people not to try counting the sheep.

They'd had reports of people being found on the pavement, fast asleep.


19/11/2012
I still have no idea why this post has generated such interest but while you are looking at it, let me take advantage. Please dig around this blog for items on a fantastic book called Justin Thyme and its sequel, Thyme Running Out. It really is the most excitingly different book I've come across. Go out and buy one - you'll see. The author is Panama Oxridge except he isn't really! We've had huge success with it so if you know a bookseller, tell them all about it.  
http://cotswoldbookstore.blogspot.co.uk/p/justin-thyme-story.html

Signing - Settling the Score by Peter Gibbs

Here's the first of our exciting September Signings, now that I have an image for the book and it's one for every cricket lover.

On the morning of 8th September, Peter Gibbs will be with us to sign his first cricket novel, packed with excitement and yet as authentic as another gaffe by KP.

Our review is here on the blog and there are others praising this book on the site of that minor competitor of ours, Amazon.

I'm looking forward to meeting this ex-Derbyshire player and asking him on whom he's based his fictional players.

Play will start at the usual 10.30 and lunch will be taken at 1 pm.. Sandwiches and tea will be available from 11 am!

An event and a book, not to be missed.

Settling The Score

There may be some older cricket fans reading this who remember a little gem of a play on television called Arthur's Hallowed Ground. Written by ex-Derbyshire cricketer, Peter Gibbs, it starred Jimmy Jewell as Arthur, the groundsman whose life's work is spent maintaining the perfect pitch on which to play cricket and then hating it when cricketers turn up to play on it, ruining his creation.

In Settling the Score, Peter gives us a similar character though only in a minor role. Here it is the three day game between an imaginary Derbyshire team and the home team, Warwickshire, which takes centre stage on the placid Edgbaston ground. That and the rivalry between two brothers vying for a place in the England team. Not so placid however, are the antics of the members of the team after each day's play. Set in the late 60s, when an evening at a strip club or drinking to the early hours was more common for professional players than perhaps it is now, there are fights and disclosures that play a major part on the field of play.

Peter pours all his knowledge of the game into this rare work (for there are few pieces of fiction in the cricket world) and the result is an engrossing novel based on a nail biting cricket match, determined by the off field events and revelations as much as the action on the field itself. The plot seamlessly joins the events on field and off and those who have played the game will recognise the truth of it. Those who follow the game may also recognise many of the characters (despite the usual disclaimer). Both will enjoy the vivid description of the play, the comical banter and the sometimes bitter rivalry.

If there seem to be the odd cliche here, it is because Heaven's only sport is made up of them. Impossible catches follow farcical run-outs, bad balls take wickets, good ones clear the ropes and a three day match boils down to the last half hour, the last over, the last ball. That's what makes cricket such a wonderful game and what makes Settling the Score such a wonderful book.

With the tension of a great Test Match, this is a first class read which every cricket lover should own. I for one, cannot wait for the return match.

WATCH THIS BLOG FOR NEWS OF PETER'S VISIT TO SIGN COPIES OF HIS BOOK