Hello everyone, seemingly in the blink of an eye, 2022 is nearly over. It’s nearly Christmas, can you believe it?
2022 has been an amazing year for Beyond The Vale and me.
Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane
Book Fairs
March saw our first book fair of the year hosted at Book Dealers of Rivonia. Outside, we were blessed with good weather
July and with the threat of come cold weather, we moved the book fair indoors, to Karaglen Mall. With a rainy December we stayed at the mall, undercover and dry:
July in the mall
December – the Beyond The Vale authors table
Publishing
Beyond the Vale published 38 books during the year from 36 different authors! 20 non-fiction books ranging from memorials, biographies, Christianity through to dealing with teenage stress. 11 adult fiction books ranging from contemporary romance, detective thrillers through to fiction dealing with loss and hope. 4 childrens books, 2 fully illustrated aimed at younger readers and 2 aimed at middle grade/young adults and 3 poetry books with varying themes.
Just some of the books we have published this year.
Book shop
The book shop goes from strength to strength with more authors, more books, more variety and more choice. Not just Beyond The Vale authors, but other independent authors also share the shelf space.
Gaelan Wort dropped off a selection of his titles in October
Nikita Boshoff with her books in April
Launches
We have been proud to host seven book launches during the year. A big thank you to Cassandra, Stella, Kgmomtso, Rita, Fortune, Dumisani and Rabesh for sharing their stories with us.
Cassandra in August signing copies of her book “Arise”
Busi’s launch on 3 December for her book – View from the Transkei
Kgomotso’s launch in August, along with her presentation on the big screen
Writers 2000
Thanks to the Writers 2000 group for their continued support and giving budding writers around the local area an outlet for their creative writing and bringing their special guests including Hamilton, Toni, Sian, Nikita and Rob among others. I was invited to judge one of their categories for their annual awards in November.
Rob Randall speaking about his book “Fires of Canneto” in October
Hamilton Wende talking in September
Comicon
Comicon in September was one of my personal highlights of the year. Four days in September I stood at my stall as batman, spiderman, Neo from the Matrix, Mario and Luigi and a host of other awesome people in amazing costimes went past. The feedback about my books was amazing and I was so privileged to sell over 100 books while spreading the word of Beyond The Vale Publishing.
Thank you to Supergirl, buying both Alien Spy and Puzzle Train
School Talks
In 2022 I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at 4 schools:
June – Beaulieu Prep
August – Ridge School
September – Curro Vanderbiljpark
November – Holy Rosary School
These were great opportunities for me to discuss my books with the children and for them to find out more about the process of writing.
At Beaulieu Prep in June
At the Curro in September
Holy Rosary School
This was the single best morning of my entire year. Having met Mrs Meerholz purely by chance at Comicon, we partnered so i judged, edited and published the best stories in the grade 5 creating writing exercise. In November, I went to the school to discuss the competition with the girls and to announce the winners. What a morning!
At the Holy Rosary School explaining the judging process
My writing
Despite everything that’s been going on, I have still found time to write. I wrote 78000 words during 2022, focussing mainly on:
Alien Spy 2 – published in May
The Untimely Death of Barry Cobb – published in July
And Alien Spy 3 – due to be released early next year. The text is finished, I still have one or two lose ends to tie up before its ready.
It’s been an amazing 2022, thank you to all who have come along on this journey, especially my wife, Debbie and my right-hand woman – Rochelle.
Here’s looking forward to an even bigger and better 2023!
