Oh no she doesn’t! Oh yes she does! (Well, it’s that time of year, isn’t it.) And good on Amy. We love it too. We’re talking book blogger Amy Powis here. She’s listed North of Porter by The Master of Oddness, Kirkland Ciccone, in her Top 10 reads of 2015. Kirkland and Porter are up…
A tree, some teenagers and some stuff thrown on the ground. We LOVE this trailer for Glyndebourne’s forthcoming operatic production of Janne Teller‘s awe-inspiring novel NOTHING. So simple, yet so effective. Just like the book itself. Tickets are on sale now for the performances on 25, 26 & 27 Feb. Click here to go to…
He’s also one of our favourite aminals. Aminals are, of course, animals that derive from 2 species. Can you guess which species feature in Hamley’s phylogenetic tree. Hamley is a bundle of fun. He crashes into Hugh Holman‘s The Almost Animals like a bowling ball into skittles. Which is your favourite aminal?
There’s been quite a bit in the media recently about knife crime, including this BBC report and of course the tragic events at Cults Academy near Aberdeen. It’s a problem that’s not going away, despite groups like Break The Chain working hard to help turn things around. Books can’t single-handedly solve the problem. But perhaps they can be part of the…
No, that’s not a typo! Talisman author Paul Murdoch is in Oxford today for the UK Final of the Kids’ Lit Quiz. And the Kids’ Lit Quiz is hosted by Wayne Mills, who is not from Oz, but from NZ – New Zealand. He is a wizard though, at least when it comes to young…
This from Mossneuk Primary School’s P7B class, writing in the new edition of Primary Times about the big launch of Paul Murdoch‘s Talisman at their school. The event included book trailers and a particularly good true story about a bear on the banks of Loch Lomond! Be sure to ask Paul to tell the tale if he comes to…
Theresa Talbot was a guest on BBC Radio Scotland’s The Janice Forsyth Show yesterday, talking about Magdalene Institutions and the writing of her sociological crime novel Penance. Interesting stuff. And if you click on this link you’ll be able to listen to the full interview.
This interesting and insightful interview with Penance and This Is What I Look Like author Theresa Talbot, this article also contains some excellent advice for aspiring authors. Many thanks to Vicki Goldman at Off-the-shelf book reviews for asking the great questions that generated Theresa’s answers.
Meet the inspiration behind the dragon,Shona, in D A Nelson‘s DarkIsle books. The trilogy has captivated readers worldwide, but starts in Scotland (where the books are widely read in schools and elsewhere). That’s where this massive stone dragon – constructed from the remnants of a disused railway bridge – sits above the dunes in Irvine Beach Park…
That’s Kirkland Ciccone‘s response to this great Bookwitch review of his new YA novel North of Porter. Has the Bookwitch got Kirkland sussed? For, like her, we’ve seen Kirkland carrying just the sort of D&G bag that protagonist Porter Minter cherishes. Though we haven’t seen Kirkland doing so since he finished writing the book. Was he merely…
Victoria Gemmell’s Follow Me has been described as ‘a striking debut young adult novel’ in The Herald/Sunday Herald by crime novelist Alex Gray in her end-of-year recommendations. It ‘has layer upon layer of mystery as a teenage girl struggles to find the truth behind her twin sister’s apparent suicide. The insight into teenage angst and…
Well, who would have thought it of respectable BBC broadcaster Theresa Talbot. Thankfully it’s literary crime and not literally crime. The Evening Times has the full details…
Today sees the publication of Hugh Holman‘s The Almost Animals. It’s a gem of a book aimed at reading age 7+ but which will delight ‘read to’ children from 5 upwards. We wonder what everyone’s favourite aminal will be. And that’s not a spelling mistake – we do mean aminal. Our particular favourite – apart from…
Everything’s going to be alright. Oh sorry, we’ve come over all Rod Stewart. No, tonight sees the launch of Kirkland Ciccone’s North of Porter at Waterstones in Glasgow’s Argyle St from 6.30-7.45pm. It’ll be a lot better than getting soaked at a firework display. We look forward to seeing many of you there. (Rod, you’re welcome too…
When crime writer Michael J Malone writes a review it’s worth paying attention – he knows his stuff. And he’s just penned one here about Penance by Theresa Talbot. Don’t forget, you can read the first couple of chapters of Penance here.
Kids’ Lit Quiz does what it says on the tin. It spans the globe and involves hundreds of schools in the UK alone. There are heats all over the country and they always include teams of authors and librarians as well as loads of pupil teams. The author teams are easy to spot: they’re the…
Nip over to Books From Scotland‘s Caledonia Noir issue and you’ll be able to read the first 2 chapters of Theresa Talbot‘s controversial new sociological crime novel Penance. Enjoy! And you’ll shortly be able to read an interview with Theresa, with insights into how the book came about. Watch this space!
Pupils in P7 at South Lanarkshire’s Mossneuk Primary School last week staged a fantastic launch event for Talisman, the first book in Paul Murdoch’s Peck Chronicles fantasy series. Paul dressed-up for the occasion – in a particularly cool T-shirt of the book. (His publisher was very jealous.) 2 impressive P7s acted as hosts, introducing the book…
Kirkland Ciccone had a big cover reveal at 1200 today for his forthcoming 3rd novel, North of Porter. We thought we’d join in. If you’re reading this, you’ve already seen it. A belated ‘Tada!’ to you. It’s less than a month now until the book itself makes an appearance. (Oooh.) And exactly 32 days and nights until…
It’s all go at East Kilbride’s Mossneuk Primary School, where preparations are in full swing for the launch of Paul Murdoch’s 9+ fantasy novel Talisman on 6 October. Primary 7s are doing the organising – fantastic preparation for their transition to secondary school next year. And they have everything under control. Chairing, reviews, trailers, posters,…
Look what we saw for the first time today. (No, not the sun.) Straight out of the box…and looking good for Friday’s launch at Waterstones in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street. (6.30pm, 2 Oct.)
Victoria’s forthcoming Young Adult novel Follow Me is a gem, something special. And there’s a great story to how it came about. You can read about it here on the Notes from the Blunder Ground blog.
‘A brilliant debut by a writer who spins an unputdownable tale.’ Denise Mina, two-time winner of the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year A controversial sociological crime novel inspired by the story of the riot that ultimately closed the snappily-titled Glasgow Magdalene Institution for the Repression of Vice and for the Reformation of Penitent…
Kirkland Ciccone will be running an Advanced Higher Creative Writing workshop this Friday (4th September) in Edinburgh. It’s part of a Creative Writing Conference run by Edinburgh University and will take place at Moray House School of Education in the city’s Canongate. Should be a lot of fun.
Fortunately we didn’t need to. But when we spotted Talisman author Paul Murdoch heading for Waterstones in East Kilbride, we nabbed him and ‘persuaded’ him to sign a few copies for us. The ‘persuaders’ fled their seats before they could be captured on film, but we caught brief sight of one of them as he made a break…
Endless Empress author Kirkland Ciccone was the talk of Edinburgh International Book Festival yesterday. His début appearance was noteworthy in itself, but something else also caught the eye. Sing along now…Where did you get that suit, where did you get that suit (and tie)? With such an eye-catching…
This cracker from great new talent Victoria Gemmell was inspired by her research into the Factory that Andy Warhol established. We suspect Follow Me will bring Victoria at lot more than 15 minutes of fame… What is the deadly allure of the Barn? 17-year-old Kat Sullivan has been devastated by the loss of her twin sister, Abby, the…
We spotted these and thought they were too good not to share. Kirkland’s books in Kirkland’s words… Conjuring The Infinite ‘…an eerie creepy kooky spooky thrill ride into the darkest realms of magick…and the fractured psyche of the teenage brain, complete with raining toad and a green fur coat of wrath.’ Endless…
This just in from a young reviewer named Buddy. He’s been lucky enough to have had early sight of Talisman by Paul Murdoch, the 1st book in the Peck Chronicles series. ‘Oh my gosh that was the best book ever! When is the next book out??? My favourite part was when Craig [ah, sorry, we…
Children’s author (and sometime rock musician) Paul Murdoch is set to take readers to another world in Talisman, the first novel in his new Peck Chronicles children’s fantasy-adventure series aimed at ages 9+. It’s officially published on 4 September but the books have recently arrived from the printers, so they’re available to order now. Paul recently…