It was quite a moment on the writer’s journey this week when I finally found a couple of copies of SEVEN DIALS in my local Waterstones. I have been pestering the store manager and her staff for a while, but among THOUSANDS of other titles, there it was

Seven Dials has been out for a few weeks, and the reviews are starting to come in on Amazon and Goodreads. If you enjoyed Seven Dials, please do share your feedback with others. Even if it didn’t strike a chord with you, then share a review - it makes all the difference. Some recent gems:

"Seven Dials is a work of great imagination, taking the reader to all sorts of unexpected places. I am sorely tempted to become a Questor!"

I went to Sidmouth, East Devon yesterday to give a talk about Severe Dials. My thanks to Tanya and Hannah from Sidmouth Library for a full room, lots of discussion about hidden history, the lost past, a royal Mint in Exeter, and more questions than I could answer.

I was in Soho yesterday, having an early Christmas lunch with two university friends —enjoying a thirty-plus-year tradition always full of laughs. We were in The Union Club on Greek Street, just a few yards from Seven Dials. The original idea for the book Seven Dials stemmed from a much more sober lunch with a literary agent about ten years earlier.

It’s a great feeling when I see Seven Dials somewhere obvious - like a bookshop, or being read on a train, but when you see it in cool places, or an unexpected setting, it’s a particular thrill. This week, Seven Dials is on display (and signed) at the world-famous Stanfords Map and Bookshop in Covent Garden, in the lounge at The Conduit Club, and nicest of all in the beautiful Covent Garden Hotel (on Monmouth Street, one of the actual Seven Dials)! and even just received in Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.

Seven Dials is now out in the wild, and readers have started sending in pictures… from Cape Verde, Wilmington, Delaware in the US, a beach in the Caribbean, Dublin, Melbourne, Exmouth, and somewhere on the underground, in the air on planes, on trains, and automobiles.

The reviews are just starting to dribble in, so please if you do read the book and want to share a view - please do leave a review on Goodreads, Amazon, or where makes sense to you.. If you have any questions (and there may well be many) I am always happy to correspond via john@thequestor.com

So, SEVEN DIALS, the first book in a series featuring the “Questors,” a global network of alternative-history sleuths, is published and starting to appear and be read! Thanks to Mihaela Motica for striking a pose!

Well the Quest has well and truly begun! I seemed right to launch the book in the place where it all began, so we gathered in the bookstore of Seven Dials Market, in Seven Dials, for a night of conversation, fun, food and puzzles. The venue was buzzing, the talk was probably overlong, but the reading was canned, and no one seemed to mind. Getting to this point has been my own personal quest in 2025. The number one question I got all evening was “when’s the next one”…I guess that means people liked the idea and are intrigued to here more. In the meantime, the story of the past, the present and the puzzle of Thomas Neale, is now out there in the world, and I can’t wait to hear what the guests and other readers’ reaction. Thank you to Mihaela Motica for the reel.

Seven Dials is officially published today. I am incredibly thrilled with the result, especially the stunning production design by Hannah Dakin and her team at Troubador. Thank you to everyone who helped me to get to this stage!

New book promotion on social media is a whole new world! We put together another version of the UNBOXING video, explicitly designed for an attention-scarce, super-fast swiping next-generation media.

The books just arrived from the publisher, which is great because we have the book launch in about 10 days (28 October) from now.

The Kindle and e-book versions of SEVEN DIALS are now available for pre-order on Apple Books, Amazon, and other platforms.

Last week, Seven Dials went to print, featuring spot UV on the front and back covers, as well as a beautiful inside cover with a colourful re-rendering of Edwards Pierce’s extraordinary design for the Sun Dial Pillar.

I always liked the way you could listen to the soundtrack of a movie before it was released, so here is the Soundtrack to Seven Dials. You might notice that much of Neale’s story is accompanied by Chelsea McGrath, a fantastic American musician whom I listened to on endless repeat while writing the book. The cello, arrangements, and vibe - notably ‘Narrow Time’ (which became a kind of theme for Neale)- seemed to work perfectly amidst the fires, candles, and dust motes of Neale’s worldYou can download the playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0uzRe8WmbCKH3tmnb983QR?si=2354a185fbda4865

So, SEVEN DIALS, The Past, The Present and The Puzzle of Thomas Neale is signed off, passed for press, and on its way to the printers.

In 1694, Thomas Neale established the first national lottery, called the Million Adventure Lottery. The case still exists but my request to see it was strangely refused.

An introduction to an extraordinary new novel Seven Dials by author John Dore. It was the weekend, I had not shaved or glammed up for the video. But you will sense my excitement from the off.

You won’t Thomas Neale on LinkedIn or featured in the pages of Forbes or The Financial Times, but his invention, productivity, and impact would make modern influencers shudder.

4 months to go! A new teaser video released today. Inspiration for the teaser came from an early reader: “It’s like Wolf Hall rewritten by Christopher Nolan, rich with historical detail, charged with mystery, and haunted by time itself.”

In the coming days and weeks, you will begin to see an online campaign featuring various media assets: posts, reels, videos, and more, to promote Seven Dials. You haven’t met Neale, Alison, or our full cast in person yet (though the book is published in October), but if you are at all intrigued, our media campaign over the coming months will hopefully whet your appetite further. But amongst an array of wonderful characters, who do you trust?