Waterstones Signing - Saturday, 28th November

Hello all you slightly glum Swans fans,

I hope you've managed to catch some of my recent ForzaSwansea posts on Yahoo! Sport (follow me on Twitter as I announce all the new posts there).

Just a quick note to say I'm signing copies of both the Swansea City Miscellany and Swansea City's Greatest Games in Swansea Waterstones this Saturday morning. If you're looking for a Christmas gift for your Swans-loving dad, mum, brother, sister, uncle or best mate, the Miscellany is a great stocking filler!

And if you have bought a copy beforehand and want me to sign it, just bring it down and say hello.

I'll be there from 11am - hope to see you there!

Cheers, Chris

Swansea City Miscellany - Book signing at Liberty Stadium

My second book, the Swansea City Miscellany, is now available from all good bookshops, online, and direct from the club shop.

I will be at the Liberty Stadium club shop from 1-2pm tomorrow ahead of the Everton match, signing copies of the book which is £9.99 (a bargain for the hours of entertainment you'll receive!)

Visit the official Swans website for more details on the launch.

If you're around the stadium, please pop in and say hello!

NEW BOOK: The Swansea City Miscellany

Welcome to the long-awaited announcement of my new book, the Swansea City Miscellany!

 

After the success of Swansea City's Greatest Games last year, I decided it would be fun to tackle an equally challenging project, although in very different ways from the first book.

What the hell is a miscellany, you ask? Essentially it's a little encyclopedia of everything Swansea City; club history, player profiles, top ten lists and unique records, along with funny stories and memorable trivia, all rolled into one easy-to-pick-up read. The kind of book that would be a great friend on a long train journey or a short bathroom break.

Our genius chairman Huw Jenkins has contributed a foreword to the book, while there are some excellent nostalgic photos throughout.

The Miscellany will be available from the start of next week, although you can pre-order it on Amazon. However, as a Swansea City fan, I recommend you purchase it directly from the club shop as the club will benefit from the sales.

A signing at the Liberty Stadium club shop and Waterstones will be announced very soon.

Cheers!

Chris

Swansea City's Greatest Games - The Top 50

There can be few clubs with a more colourful history than the Swans and this book records some of the club's greatest moments on the pitch. This wonderful trip down Swansea City's memory lane is essential reading for the Jack Army, of all ages and generations!" - Kevin Johns, Club Chaplain

It's been over three months since Swansea City's Greatest Games was released (yes, time does fly!). And it's only now I'm realising that I've not yet put the complete contents up online.

If you've not yet bought the book, it contains 50 of Swansea's finest matches, starting with their very first one in 1912, right up until the end of last season. There's at least one game from every decade, although some eras warrant more focus, such as John Toshack's blistering rise through the leagues in the early eighties, and - of course - the Premier League era.

The book is still available on the official Swansea City website and worldwide on Amazon. If you are in Swansea it can also be found in Waterstones, WHSmiths, HMV and an array of independent book shops.

Here's the list of 50 excellent Swansea City games, spanning more than 100 years (and 200 pages):

1. v Cardiff City 1912
2. v Pontypridd 1913
3. v Exeter City 1925
4. v Arsenal 1926
5. v Bury 1932
6. v Newport County 1949
7. v Cardiff City 1949
8. v Coventry City 1951
9. v Leicester City 1956
10. v Sunderland 1958
11. v Cardiff City 1960
12. v Liverpool 1964
13. v Preston North End 1964
14. v Newport County 1970
15. v Tottenham Hotspur 1978
16. v Rotherham United 1978
17. v Chesterfield 1979
18. v Preston North End 1981
19. v Leeds United 1981
20. v Stoke City 1981
21. v Manchester United 1982
22. v Liverpool 1982
23. v Cardiff City 1982
24. v Sliema Wanderers 1982
25. v Huddersfield 1994
26. v Cardiff City 1998
27. v West Ham 1999
28. v Rotherham United 2000
29. v Hull City 2003
30. v Cheltenham Town 2003
31. v Yeovil 2003
32. v Bristol City 2005
33. v Carlisle United 2006
34. v Leeds United 2007
35. v Cardiff City 2008
36. v Cardiff City 2009
37. v Norwich City 2011
38. v Nottingham Forest 2011
39. v Reading 2011
40. v Arsenal 2012
41. v Manchester City 2012
42. v Liverpool 2012
43. v Queens Park Rangers 2012
44. v West Bromwich Albion 2012
45. v Chelsea 2013
46. v Bradford City 2013
47. v Valencia 2013
48. v Cardiff City 2014
49. v Napoli 2014
50. v Aston Villa 2014

Swansea City's Greatest Games - Launch photos

Friday night saw the successful launch of my first book, Swansea City's Greatest Games, in Waterstones Swansea.

(Picture: South Wales Evening Post)

After some brilliant anecdotes and a wonderful introduction from Swansea legend Kevin Johns, I took to the stage to read the book's first chapter before talking about the writing process. I then signed copies, before heading off for a lovely pint of beer.

Here are a few photos from the event, taken by various people to hopefully give you a taste of what it was like.

You can buy your copy from Amazon (or the Kindle version for half-price) or Waterstones (in store and online). If you are currently reading it, please let me know how you are enjoying it. Cheers!

The legendary Kev Johns introducing me (Picture: Becci Thomas)

Me giving my speech (and not messing up too much...) (Picture: South Wales Evening Post)

  The crowd gather for the signing (Picture: Becci Thomas)

Another of the crowd as my hand began cramping up... (Picture: Becci Thomas)

It seems I wanted something over there... (Picture: Becci Thomas)

(Picture: Becci Thomas)

It's almost here... Swansea City's Greatest Games!

Hello there. Hope you're enjoying this fine Sunday.

Right, that's the pleasantries out of the way, let's move onto the main event!

As you may now know, Swansea City's Greatest Games will be available to purchase from this Wednesday (October 1st). The book is a 208-page thriller, charting 50 of the Swans' finest ever matches from their 102 year history.

The book is available to pre-order on Amazon and Waterstones and will be in shops next week. Thanks to the beauty of the internet the book is also available in countries across the world, so all you American, Italian, Spanish and Australian readers should be able to get your copies without having to fly to Swansea...

Meanwhile there will be a book launch this Friday, October 3rd at Swansea Waterstones. If you want to meet me, I want to meet you! Books will be available to purchase and you will get the price of your ticket back as a discount on the book.

More details about the launch can be found here, but there are limited tickets at £3 each, available from Waterstones.

For more details, please get in touch with Waterstones on 01792 463567 or give me a shout via the contact form.

I'd also love any feedback on the book, so feel free to get in touch after you've read it. Cheers!

Swansea City's Greatest Games: The Book

It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce that my upcoming book, Swansea City's Greatest Games, is available to pre-order from outlets such as Amazon and Waterstones!

"...essential reading for the Jack Army, of all ages and generations!" - Kevin Johns, Swansea City club chaplain

The 208-page hardback book brings to life fifty of the Swans' most intense, emotional and thrilling games from across their 102 year history.

The book starts with the very first game in 1912 before moving through the decades right up to the current day. As you can imagine, there are plenty from the Toshack years and the Premier League era to get your teeth into.

There are fresh interviews with former players and a brilliant picture section, while Swans legend Alan Curtis has provided the foreword.

For someone like me who is a stringent perfectionist, I can say I am very happy with how it's all come together and I'm sure any true Swans fan will love it!

The book will be in stores from 1st October 2014, but is available to pre-order now.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the book! If you have any questions please get in touch via the contact form or on Twitter, or leave a comment below.

My Swansea City book!

Hi everyone, Chris Carra here. Fear not, there will be another Blogger Q&A session soon, along with my season review after the Sunderland game this weekend.

Before that, I want to draw your attention to a project I've been working on since February (the one which has eaten up the majority of my time). I've been writing a new book called 'Swansea City's Greatest Games' which will tell the stories of - as the title suggests - 50 of the greatest games in Swansea's history.

It will be published later this year by Pitch Publishing and should make a brilliant read because the content is astounding. Swansea City have played some absolutely incredible games in their 102 year existence and the best ones will be documented in detail in the upcoming book.

Naturally the cup finals, successful promotion attempts, incident-packed and goal-saturated games will all be included, but - as I'm still writing the book - I'd be very keen to hear any suggestions to games that I should be checking out

If you have any suggestions to games that I definitely need to include, please leave a comment below, drop me an email via the contact form on this website, tweet me or even send me a Facebook message.

I will keep you updated, but for now many thanks for reading and keep an eye out for a new blog post very soon!

Cheers, Chris