You can’t fail to have noticed that the next book in the Touchstone saga is out this summer – BRIGHT STAR RISING – where Buffalo Bill meets the Peaky Blinders and the Wild West spills out onto the streets of Victorian Birmingham.

Thinking of how to do something different with the launch, I hit on the idea of a location from the book. Getting 100 Lakota braves to ride down New Street (as Buffalo Bill did in 1887) was a bit beyond my budget, but what if I could stage a launch event somewhere more achievable, like St Mary’s churchyard, or… well, look at that… how about the Moseley Dovecote?

It’s a location that has featured throughout the Touchstone series, as the mysterious source of Kath Bright’s power, and there were a few key scenes in Touchstone Season 1 that took place in the Dovecote grounds. And with Bright Star Rising, the whole narrative leads to a climax at the Dovecote. So there it was. That was my location.

The lovely ladies of The Moseley Society were very keen, even though they’d never heard of me or my books. And so, last night, they kindly hosted what must be just about the most perfect book launch this summer.

A great little crowd of Touchstone fans, good friends and New Street Authors gathered for Pimms and beer, roamed the gardens, explored the dovecote itself, and sat on the grass to listen to me read a chapter from the book and then get down to a Q&A hosted by ‘professional geek’, John Godbold of 10th Planet and Fantom Events, who’s much more used to interviewing Time Lords.

A lovely evening in a beautiful location and, as John put it, ‘an absolutely lovely evening. Relaxed, informal, well organised… and oh sooooooo Moseley!’

A video of the evening is forthcoming, but till then here are some pictures.