I'm feeling the need for another prize draw after all that Booker excitement and I hope all the books have now arrived on winning doormats (William don't panic, The Secret Scripture only just sorted, sorry your address got lost in my 650 emails after France)
You may recall my trip to meet the Oxford Writers and the prize draw here for signed copies of their first anthology of short stories The Sixpenny Debt with a promise of more bounty to follow.
Well the bounty has arrived in the shape of their second anthology The Lost College and other Oxford Stories. It looks just as tantalising and with an equally delectable cover and a fine foreword by Colin Dexter.
Colin hones in on the difficult territory of the second book, the hurdle that so frequently incurs penalty points but not so the Oxford Writers,
'our talented writers have collectively cleared the hurdle with stylish assurance'
and across a wide range from,
' humour and satire to psychological insights; from 
l
history old and new, to romance and reflection...spookery and science fiction too.'
I've had a read and believe me, anyone who loves Oxford will walk the streets of the city through the pages of these stories.
Bless them all, they've sent us a prize and just look at this, it's perfectly splendiferously gorgeous.
Lots of author signatures and Colin Dexter's too. Lovely to see old (as in previous) online acquaintance Margaret Pelling in there, Gina Claye and Mary Cavanagh too. I loved Mary's novel The Crowded Bed and can't wait for her next A Man Like Any Other, The Priest's Tale.
Jane Gordon-Cumming also in there and what excellent news after such a huge disappointment last Christmas, her lovely novel A Proper Family Christmas is back in 
print in
plenty of time for this year's festive season.
Names in comments as usual for that fine specimen of a signed copy of The Lost College.Rocky will assume donnish mantle, possibly a gown and select in a week or so's time and we will post worldwide as always.
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