Author launches book to audience of 4,000 penguins

Talk about a cold audience.

Author and explorer Patrick Woodhead traveled to Antarctica to launch his latest book -- in front of 4,000 penguins.

“It’s the only book launch I’ve done where everyone turned up in black tie,” he joked in a release. “There was a lot of penguin queue-jumping at first, but then they became more orderly. Without any competitors, I’m feeling really confident about topping the chart in the Antarctic best-seller lists!”

Woodhead, who runs an Antarctic adventure company, is the author of the thriller “Beneath the Ice,” out Jan. 1 in the U.K. by Arrow, part of Cornerstone Publishing, which is part of Penguin Random House. His book is set in Antarctica. Here’s the premise:

“Two kilometres beneath the frozen ice caps of Antarctica lies a lake, unfrozen and perfectly preserved for twenty million years. Luca Matthews has been tasked by MI6 officer Kieran Bates to lead a team of scientists to the site to discover what secrets lie trapped below.

“But Bates has a secret of his own, and his actions are not going unnoticed. When mining investigator ‘Bear’ Makuru cannot reach Luca, she starts to dig into Bates’ past – uncovering a plot more sinister than she could ever have imagined.... Luca has only eight days to work out who he can trust. Antarctica is shutting down for the winter and if he doesn’t get out now, he never will.”

Did the penguins like the book? Hard to say, but they did pose for a picture with the author.

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