We see this as a relay – complete with dystopian baton-passing – more than as a straight race. After all, Margaret Attwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale came many years before Gillian Phillip‘s Bad Faith; and 1984 well before both. The theocratic premises are similar. In Bad Faith, there is a Putinesque collusion between the political leader and the One…
Gordon Brown’s stylish Craig McIntyre road-trip thriller rips along. It combines intrigue, action, sparky dialogue and the alarmingly possible. And that ‘alarmingly possible’ verges on probable given the twists and turns in American politics over the last few months. So we thought you might like a taster. Here’s the prologue + chapter 1. Enjoy. (Note that it’s a…
If washing powders can be ‘new and improved’, why not book covers? We’ve tweaked this one for the reprint. But now, if you hold it to the window, it’ll be so white that it’s blue… Did that ever make sense to anyone?
Great excitement at Strident towers… We’ve just heard that the ebook of Theresa Talbot‘s Penance is the #1 Best Seller on Amazon’s Religious Mystery chart! Congratulations, Theresa! You deserve to celebrate your success with a seat on a BBC sofa after that! (John Beattie, looking on, would appear to agree.)
We were excited to see The Irish Times covering the background to Theresa Talbot’s sparky crime novel Penance today. Ask most people and they’ll assume that all Magdalene Laundries were a) in Ireland and b) Catholic-run. Not so. Thus their headline – A Magdalene laundry that was neither Irish nor Catholic, and novel it inspired
Grab This Book has just posted this 5/5 review of Theresa Talbot‘s sociological crime novel Penance. Many thanks to the reviewer. Thanks also to Douglas Skelton for passing the book along, even with the odd name inscribed in it!
We’ve always loved the cover of this book – have a good look at what’s in the trees and you’ll see why. But what’s inside the cover is what really counts, and it’s one of the best dystopian novels we’ve read. The comes from the state-backed One Church that dominates politics in the book’s parallel…
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…
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…
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.
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…
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…
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.
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!
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.)
‘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…
The downside of being a traffic reporter must be that you lose the ability to use ‘I was delayed in traffic’ as an excuse for turning up late. But hopefully a short hop to Glasgow’s Mitchell Library from nearby BBC Scotland HQ will be straightforward for Beechgrove Potting Shed host and traffic presenter Theresa Talbot when she…
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…
Kirkland Ciccone‘s Catalyst Book Award winner Conjuring The Infinite is now available from all main ebook suppliers. So you can read it on your e-reader or tablet. [metaslider id=1354] If for any reason you can’t find the ebook, try using the ISBN (the book’s unique identifier) to search. It’s 9781905537686.
We’re thrilled for Kirkland Ciccone, whose debut Conjuring The Infinite has followed in the footsteps of Linda Strachan‘s Spider, which won the Catalyst Book Award in 2011. We don’t normally post full media releases here, but Kirkland is always good for a quote. Plus, this way you can find out what’s next from him. It has an extraordinary…
Kirkland Ciccone‘s debut novel Conjuring The Infinite has been lauded in the Daily Record newspaper, with the reviewer concluding, ‘I thoroughly enjoyed it and will recommend it to all my friends.’ We love it too. If Janne Teller‘s Nothing,or Gillian Philip‘s Bad Faith are your cuppa, Conjuring The Infinite will be right up your street.…
…you’re in for a big surprise. Because Kirkland Ciccone has been signing copies of Conjuring The Infinite, his YA novel. Run and you might just catch one on either the Strident or ‘Signed’ shelves in the festival’s bookshop.
Conjuring The Infinite author Kirkland Ciccone will be donning a Viking helmet and heading to Largs for the 2013 Tidelines Book Festival, which runs 31 Aug to 8 Sep. More info as soon as we know the precise date and time. Why the helmet? Because the book festival runs at the same time as the Largs…
Previous Catalyst Award-winner Linda Strachan on tour with her incendiary new novel Don’t Judge Me….Linda Strachan visits North Lanarkshire’s Caldervale High School
Watch it here: Trailer for the novels of Linda Strachan
Magick, madness and murder. They’re all coming this May. It’s going to be one of the books of the year. And here’s the man behind it all. Watch: Conjuring The Inifite…the trailer
We gave the cover of Kirkland Ciccone’s Conjuring The Infinite it’s first outing yesterday. We love the intricate artwork by Lawrence Mann and thought we’d share it with you. Look closely: the title is full of clues about the novel. And what a novel this is. Stylish and full of surprises. We think you’ll love…