One does not simply walk into replacing Jon Weir as one’s publicity manager…

Jon Weir, was a publicity manager like no other. Whether in his endless energy on tour, his fierceness with hotels on behalf of authors, his endless list of contacts, his friendships with everyone in the genre, his frankly alarming knowledge of obscure geek TV or in his undying love of Wonder Woman, he was… well he was very much Jon Weir. But in a very much Jon Weir moment Jon has followed his heart and gone to live in Dublin with his better half. And we wish him every well.

So, who could possibly step into those shoes? Well, once we’d all met Sophie Calder it was pretty obvious that there was really only one person who could and that person was called Sophie Calder. Onetime publicity manager for our friendly rivals at Titan books, Sophie arrives at Gollancz with an enviable track record. And having been thrown in at the deep end with three hundred people attending a signing for Scott Lynch and Pat Rothfuss at Forbidden Planet on her second day in the job has already shown that she is profoundly unflappable.

Anyone watching the genre scene will have noticed Titan elbowing their way into the upper echelons of genre fiction publishing in the last few years. Not least amongst their achievements has been turning Jack Campbell into a massive bestseller of military SF and breathing new and vital life into Kim Newman’s awesome tales of the Undead Count Dracula and his progress through the 20th century. And in that time who has been guiding their publicity efforts? One Sophie Calder. Coincidence? We think not.

Even as I write Sophie has moved smoothly on from the epic signing that filled the shop to sorting publicity plans for our authors, arranging to meet them wherever she can and hoovering up Gollancz titles at a superhuman rate.

She’s organised, enthusiastic and brilliant and hopefully you will get a chance to meet her soon if you are in the habit of attending conventions and signings. In the meantime you can follow her on twitter (@SophieSFF). But right now? Please welcome the newest member of the Gollancz team.