A head full of adventure/A handbag full of custard

A new blog post by Kirkland Ciccone is a moment to savour. In this latest instalment: It’s ‘Oops!’ time as 2 award-winning authors lock themselves out of a launch event… A few tasty lines from forthcoming novel North of Porter How running down a street with a rolling pin can affect your dress-sense Find out who’s creating fabulous covers for…

The Almost Animals

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be publishing this gem in October. The Almost Animals by Hugh Holman tells the tale of Angle the crocogator’s search for acceptance in Elsewhere. (Angle is the green one on the top ledge, under the WELCOME TO NOWHERE sign.) We adore this book. It’s quirky, uplifting and poignant, with that underdog-deifies-the-odds cleverness…

Is this just fantasy?

It’s a question Freddy Mercury used to ask. It’s also one that the BBC’s Nick Higham raised when interviewing Kazuo Ishiguro recently about his new novel, Buried. (You’ll find the interview at the end of this post.) And it’s a question we’ve often asked about Gillian Philip‘s Rebel Angels series – Firebrand, Bloodstone, Wolfsbane and…

When Kirkland met Janice

Most ears in Scotland were glued to radios at 1545 today for Kirkland Ciccone‘s spot on BBC Radio Scotland’s Culture Studio programme, hosted by Janice Forsyth. Okay, that’s not all true. People didn’t actually glue their ears to their radios. For those in the know, the big question was: would Kurt be with Kirkland? Kurt Cobain,…

Keeping good (BBC) company

Theresa Talbot, Kirsty Wark, Christopher Brookmyre and James Naughtie. All on the same pavement at the same time, and all in Pitlochry. Ok, they’re not there in person. Not yet. But they will be soon – Winter Words at Pitlochry Festival Theatre runs 13-21 Feb 2015. Theresa will be main attraction at the Literary Lunch…

Danger, danger, danger!

At a recent event at Waterstones in Glasgow’s Argyle Street, their children’s bookseller Lana noted a resurgence in rip-roaring adventure novels. It seems book-buyers are embracing jeopardy again. At Strident we like a good dose of danger and get our kicks not on Route 66, but from reading Matt Cartney’s Danny Lansing Adventures series. Few characters take risks like…

Icefall in Bookwitch round-up of 2014

The Bookwitch’s year-end round up has been posted. It’s like an advent calendar without ads…or vents. And – just like those little venty windows – it’s always a joy to open. All the more so (for us anyway) for it making mention of Gillian Philip‘s rather brilliant Icefall. https://bookwitch.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/best-of-2014/ For the uninitiated, Icefall is book 4 (the final…

Confessions of a Kirkland

Read the hilarious new Scottish Book Trust: Author Confessions…with Kirkland Ciccone and you’ll find out which actor Kirkland Ciccone thinks looks just like him (its not who you might imagine!) as the Conjuring The Infinite and Endless Empress author bares his soul.

Kids’ Lit Quiz

Young people know too much these days. That’s what Linda Strachan, Matt Cartney, Cathy MacPhail, Kirkland Ciccone and Keith Charters found out when they competed in author teams at recent heats of the Kids’ Lit Quiz – the KLQ. There were lots of prizes on the day, but had their been £1 for each time an…

Danny’s back!

Danny Lansing, that is. For his 3rd adrenaline-fuelled adventure, The Curse of Can-Balam. Although it’s a wonder he’s still with us given given the extremes of jeopardy he experienced in The Sons of Rissouli and Red, White and Black. The new book will be available from 31 October. Yes, Halloween. Well, it had to be…

Punk rock, not disco…

…but with a bit of grunge thrown in, because  Conjuring The Infinite and Endless Empress author Kirkland Ciccone appears to have kidnapped the ghost of Kurt Cobain and whisked him off to the yurt at Edinburgh International Book Festival, as you can see in this great new video: Kirkland is off to collect the Catalyst Award…

Kirkland Ciccone’s ‘Teen Titles’ interview

We’re big fans of the Teen Titles review magazine, and they’ve very kindly allowed us to reproduce this hilarious interview with The Supreme Master of Weirdness , a.k.a. Kirkland Ciccone. Teen Titles Kirkland Ciccone interview There are so many quotable lines. Our particular favourite involves Tracy Beaker, but then there’s the one about the cow… There’s also…

ICEFALL now also available as ebook

Icefall – the breathtaking 4th book in Gillian Philip‘s Rebel Angels series – is now available as an ebook as well as in paperback. [metaslider id=1734]   If you haven’t read any of the series yet, our advice is this: before you start, tell your friends (and even your family!) you’ve gone on holiday for a few…

Lee and the Consul Mutants – free sampler

Nothing in life is free. Or so they say. But they’re wrong. Because here’s a free sampler for Lee and the Consul Mutants, the first book in the hilarious Lee series. Lee and the Consul Mutants extract chapter 2 Lee and the Consul Mutants extract chapter 2 If you don’t know the story, it starts with…

Matt Cartney: Action Man

Is it a bird, is it a plane…? Actually, it’s probably Matt Cartney researching his next Danny Lansing Adventures novel. Matt may not have the Swivel Eyes of the Action Man below, but he’s got a lot more get up and go, as demonstrated by this short film. (Click link to view. You should be taken…