Remember, Remember…

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…the 5th November.

My new novel, Southsiders is due for release on Bonfire Night and is available for pre-order right now at the introductory price of 99p. Southsiders is published by the wonderful Blasted Heath.

Product Description

Ray Spalding’s had enough of his wife, Paula. He’s left his home in Edinburgh’s Southside and headed for Belfast. It’s safer there.

Unknown to Ray, Paula’s also had enough of him. She’s not going back home. Not now, not ever.

Jesse Spalding wakes up one morning to find both his parents gone. And he can’t tell anyone or he’ll be taken into care.

As time passes and bills need paying, all Jesse can rely on are his wits, his friend Archie and his dad’s 1950s record collection.

Southsiders is a powerful short novel that follows the spiralling fortunes of Ray and Jesse, pushing father and son to their limits while they struggle against the odds in the darker shadows of two of Britain’s capital cities.
“The prose is tightrope taut and the plotting first class … a tense and thrilling novella” – Crimesquad.com on Mr Suit

“Grim, but really good” – Ian Rankin on Smoke

 

have you been scribd?

Wondering if this is any use to you. If you’re a Scribd subscriber, you can get many of my titles (and hundreds of thousands of others by a full and growing range of authors) from here.

If offers a service that rivals the Amazon KDP for ebooks and a subscriber can download as many titles as they wish for the price of $8.95 per month (around £6, I reckon).

You can get a free 30 day trial if you think it might be for you. I’m not sure it offers value to all, but it may well do to any voracious readers of ebooks.

Also in favour of Scribd is that it offers authors a reasonable deal. Yay. 🙂

Worth checking.

 

Free: Steal Softly Thru Sunshine

Steal Softly Thru’ Sunshine is free today and over the coming weekend.

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If you can remember the Sixties you weren’t really there, or at least that’s
what some people say.

Orinoco Pony, successful musician and the prince of psychedelia, remembers them all too clearly, in spite of doing everything within his powers to to blot them out.

While eloping with the love of his life as they attempt to elope to Paris, Pony crashes the car while tripping. Katya dies in the accident and he’s been on the run ever since, finally settling in to an isolated existence in California’s Big Sur.

The one loose end from the accident, Katya’s son, decides to investigate the truth behind his mother’s death and that of her killer after stumbling across a source of intriguing new information.

Part mystery and entirely engaging, the story burns slowly to its explosive and thought-provoking conclusion.

‘A literary novel which crosses the genres and simmers, bubbles and spits
throughout.’

Top Authors For Dunbar Event

It’s not often that you’ll find a lineup as good as this one outside of a book-festival. Not all at the one event. And it’s happening here in Dunbar at The Gibb Room, Dunbar Library on March 14th between 8pm and 10 pm.

As part of Scifest’s evening events, a panel of crimewriters will discuss the question, ‘HOW HAVE RECENT TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS CHANGED THE WORLD OF PUBLISHING?’.

I hope we’ll be discussing a number of aspects relating to this. When did the epub bubble begin to inflate? What is the role of the agent in a world where self-publishing has become well established? What has been the impact on the writer? The short novel, novella, novelette and short story seem to have made a big comeback – to what extent is this due to the ebook? How might a new writer best set off on their journey? How have the big and small publishers evolved in the past few years and have they finally caught up with the market? Is it better to self-publish or to hold out for a publishing deal? That kind of thing. If you have your own question, bring it along – there’ll be plenty of time for discussion from the floor, too.

A panel of some of Scotland’s finest crime-writers are gathering to discuss these issues.

The three guests have a range of different experiences and perspectives to offer:

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Doug Johnstone (GONE AGAIN [59P] and HIT AND RUN – an Amazon #1 best-seller) has been published via the traditional route by Faber and Faber Crime.

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Allan Guthrie has been published by the mainstream publishing houses (Polygon, Hard Case Crime, Barrington Stoke) as well as being self-published and setting up his own digital publishing imprint, Blasted Heath. He is among Scotland’s top experts in the field of ebooks and epublishing. His books include TWO WAY SPLIT, BYE BYE BABY (always free), KILL CLOCK,  and SLAMMER.

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Ed James comes from the self-publishing route and has had a good deal of success this way with his Cullen series (GHOST IN THE MACHINE [available free here via the link], DEVIL IN THE DETAIL et al). He has a new novel out very, very soon.

I’ll be hosting and trying to keep things moving along. In all honesty, with a panel of this quality I’ll not have to do much to keep things rolling. You might want a free copy of BEAT ON THE BRAT (and other stories)  as a warm up – if you do, it’s free for this weekend only.

Tickets for the event are £4 or £2 for the unwaged and are available at the library desk or by contacting Dunbar Library dunbar.library@eastlothian.gov.uk 01368 866060

I hope we’ll see some of you there.

Thanks.

New Award For Sweetheart

How To Choose A Sweetheart was awarded a coveted CROWNED HEART FOR EXCELLENCE by InD’tale magazine yesterday in its February edition.

The 5 star review said ‘A contemporary romantic comedy any romance lover will enjoy! A thoroughly delightful read.’

Also this week, the book picked up a 5 star review at the blog MeBookshelfandI.

The reviewer said: ‘Great characters, funny events and a brilliant story make this a must read.’

Which is fantastic and follows up other tremendous reviews from the back end of last year.

If you read it and have any kind words to share, please do – I’d appreciate it greatly.

 

Free Kindle Stocking Fillers

First of all, a thank you to anyone who has supported me over the year – readers, friends and community – every tiny bit of encouragement in any way matters a huge amount.

As you may know, I’ve taken a slight deviation over 2013. There was The Rocks Below, a mild, sci-fi romp set in Dunbar and then How To Choose A Sweetheart, a romantic comedy of all things.

Just now I’m back to some of my noirish sensibilities and am half way through a new novella that should be fun.

As a little Christmas offering, here are 3 books you can get for free for you kindle at Christmas.

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This first, Blackbirds (by Chuck Wendig) was one of my favourites of the year (It was also one of my favourite covers of the year, by the way). The gift is from the tremendous publisher, Angry Robot and there are some other £1 bargains for you once you’ve picked up Blackbirds for nothing.

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The next, With A Little Help From My Friends is by an East Lothian lady who has cerebral palsy. The things she’s had to go through have made it a long journey and this is the first part of her writing about it. It’s free for a few days and it’s rather inspiring.

And finally, my own Hymn From A Village is free for you tomorrow. It’s a big collection of my short stories. 51CDZAbWpgL._AA160_ (1)

Hope you enjoy them and that your Christmas is really lovely.

All the best,

DunbarNoir