Sunday 7 June 2009

New Names, Book Launches and Festivals

I had lunch on Friday at Babbity Bowsters with some of the lovely people at the CWA - Alex Gray, Caro Ramsay, Helen FitzGerald, Karen Campbell, John Dingwall (whose very intriguing sounding debut novel is currently with his agent) and former government spin doctor Frances Lloyd whose debut novel NEMESIS OF THE DEAD has just been published. Sadly, she has no website as yet, so no link in the sidebar. Good lunch, good company, good chat.

I've also added two new Scottish authors to the list. The first of these is Gordon Brown, whose debut novel, FALLING is out on Tuesday 10th June. The book looks good. "Charlie Wiggs is a quiet, unassuming accountant who has worked in a Glasgow firm for thirty years. When he agreed to look after a package for a work colleague he didn’t expect to be flung from the roof of a forty storey building. He didn’t intend to be caught up in a world of money laundering and blackmail. Nor did he ever think he would find himself being hunted by a vicious criminal gang." I just have one problem - his name. My Google Alerts are exploding. I put in search terms of 'Gordon Brown +Falling' - possibly a mistake this week.

Another new name to me is Colin Galbraith, whose paranormal mystery novella STELLA is published today.

It's a busy week for book launches this week. First of all, I will be through in Edinburgh for the launch of Tony Black's GUTTED on Tuesday June 9th at Waterstone's Ocean Terminal in Edinburgh.

On Wednesday, I will miss the launch of Gordon Brown's FALLING (which takes place in Borders, Glasgow, on Wednesday 10 June at 6.30pm) as I will be attending the book launch for Helen FitzGerald's MY LAST CONFESSION which is taking place Glasgow Watersones, Sauchiehall Street at the same time.

Talking of Helen FitzGerald, on Saturday morning I bought her debut novel DEAD LOVELY. By Saturday evening I had finished it. It's been ages since I have sat and read a book straight through like that. Deliciously wicked - chick lit meets CSI with a great dollop of very black humour thrown in.

And finally, another book festival for Scotland in Inverness, from 5th to 13th June, with crime fiction authors Karen Campbell and Sophie Hannah, plus a talk on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

4 comments:

  1. Oh, it's not that Gordon Brown?

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  2. LOL - since he may well be out of a job soon a career in fiction is a distinct possibility given MPs' expenses claims...

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  3. Thanks for picking up on my new book. Not much I can do about my name. When I set out to the write the book I decided I would stick with my real name - regardless - although it does generate more interest in book signings from some quarters. If you wnat more info on me or the book you can click onto www.gordonjbrown.com and I'll be happy to put a reciprocal link on the blog page back to bigbeatfrombadsville.

    Gordon Brown

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  4. Thanks Gordon - I hope the book is doing well!

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