After all those months of planning and looking forward to going, we've been and are home again, unpacking the pile of signed books and adding the new ones to their designated places on the shelves. It was a fantastic weekend. The good news is that there is going to be another one! Same weekend next year! I am tempted to book a room in the same hotel already.
So, to conclude my short pieces about the events we attended...
Event number 5 was on Sunday and called Wild Girls. It featured Karen Campbell and Denise Mina, and was chaired by Craig Robertson. What a fantastic event! Quite a lot of the time was spent discussing author gender and how female authors are perceived as crime writers. We were also treated to readings by both ladies from their latest books. The audience was lively and interested, so the questions for the authors flowed and the hour ended all too fast.
The final event was The Red Headed League, which included a reading of the Sherlock Holmes adventure with the same name. Ten of the authors who spoke during the festival had parts in the reading. It was superb.
Finally, this event was concluded with an award ceremony for the winner of the Glengoyne short story competion Worth The Wait that had been held prior to the festival. The winning story is first rate and has been published in an anthology of the best stories from the competition. It is available from its publisher, Blasted Heath.
The final award of the festival was given to the winner of the Scottish Crime Book of the year award. The short list of six (Charles Cumming – A Foreign Country (Harper Collins); Craig Russell – Dead Men & Broken Hearts (Quercus; Denise Mina – Gods & Beasts (Orion); Peter May – The Lewis Man (Quercus); Philip Kerr – Prague Fatale (Quercus; Will Jordan – Redemption (Random House)) must have been very difficult to choose from but the winner was Charles Cumming. Excellent choice.
I'll follow this post with links to various reviews and photos.
It is a real shame to be home and back to normal after such a great weekend. I have a whole year to start to look forward to the next one!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Bloody Scotland - III
Our third event was The Private Investigators and featured Gordon Ferris, Craig Russell and Russel D McLean. Another interesting event, looking at why these authors chose to write about PIs rather than police. The conversation was lively and the readings excellent. It was just a bit of a shame that it overran, so we had to hoof it down the road for our next event, that was 30 minutes later.
Our final event for the day was Island Crime with Ann Cleeves and Peter May. This was the event that I was looking forward to most and I wasn't disappointed. Both authors spoke about why they chose the Islands as the focus for their stories and how much of their own lives they had detailed in their work.
My paternal grandfather comes from Barvas, the town on Lewis where Peter May's story is based. It was a delight to finally meet the author of the books I love. Plus, he recognised me from my Twitter photo! That made my day!!
Man says he is also enjoying Bloody Scotland and now has a big heap of new authors to enjoy!
Our final event for the day was Island Crime with Ann Cleeves and Peter May. This was the event that I was looking forward to most and I wasn't disappointed. Both authors spoke about why they chose the Islands as the focus for their stories and how much of their own lives they had detailed in their work.
My paternal grandfather comes from Barvas, the town on Lewis where Peter May's story is based. It was a delight to finally meet the author of the books I love. Plus, he recognised me from my Twitter photo! That made my day!!
Man says he is also enjoying Bloody Scotland and now has a big heap of new authors to enjoy!
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Bloody Scotland - II
Our next event was The Big Debate. This featured Ian Rankin, Peter James, Stuart Kelly and Prof. Willy Maley. The subject matter was a highly entertaining and interesting look at why a Crime Fiction book has never been awarded the Man Booker Prize. Plenty of discussion for and against, including why literary fiction that includes crime has won the prize but isn't crime fiction!
I brought a pile of books with me to be signed and am doing well in that regard. Poor Man has bravely offered to carry the stash for me in his bag. Excellent!
So, we are now relaxing again, with more coffee, and waiting for our next session....
I brought a pile of books with me to be signed and am doing well in that regard. Poor Man has bravely offered to carry the stash for me in his bag. Excellent!
So, we are now relaxing again, with more coffee, and waiting for our next session....
Bloody Scotland
How wonderful to be able to escape for the weekend. Two whole days with no classes. Nothing to do except listen to fabulous authors, read, relax and enjoy the unexpected sunshine.
Bloody Scotland is Scotland's first crime fiction writing festival and I trust that it will be the first of many. It is being held in several venues in Stirling and is certainly well attended and buzzing. The full programme of events is pretty interesting and we are spoiled for choice.
This morning Man and I started off with Downloading the Detectives; a discussion between Allan Guthrie and Gordon Ferris concerning the phenomenon of the ebook. The event was attended by a number of other authors and it was interesting to see how they see the future of publishing going. The issue of sock puppets also raised it's head, along with quality control in a medium that makes self publishing much easier.
The audience asked plenty of questions and there was an opportunity for having books signed afterwards.
An altogether excellent start, followed by a wonderful opportunity to relax over coffee for an hour or so......
Bloody Scotland is Scotland's first crime fiction writing festival and I trust that it will be the first of many. It is being held in several venues in Stirling and is certainly well attended and buzzing. The full programme of events is pretty interesting and we are spoiled for choice.
This morning Man and I started off with Downloading the Detectives; a discussion between Allan Guthrie and Gordon Ferris concerning the phenomenon of the ebook. The event was attended by a number of other authors and it was interesting to see how they see the future of publishing going. The issue of sock puppets also raised it's head, along with quality control in a medium that makes self publishing much easier.
The audience asked plenty of questions and there was an opportunity for having books signed afterwards.
An altogether excellent start, followed by a wonderful opportunity to relax over coffee for an hour or so......
Friday, September 7, 2012
The Barber Surgeon's Hairshirt
A review for another book by the very awesome Douglas Lindsay. It features his hilarious character Barney Thompson and is definitely well worth downloading.....
The Barber Surgeon’s Hairshirt by Douglas Lindsay. 2011. Version 2-1-3. Blasted Heath. EPub. ISBN 978-1-908688-14-9.
This is the second in Douglas Lindsay’s series about his unfortunate, yet endearing, barber, Barney Thomson. An earlier version of this book was published by Piatkus in 2000, then by Long Midnight Publishing in 2003, and called THE CUTTING EDGE OF BARNEY THOMSON.
You have to feel sorry for poor old Barney Thomson, talented barber and human magnet for all things dark and gruesome. He has never killed anyone in his life but, wherever he goes, he ends of knee-deep in mangled bodies, with circumstances pointing its accusing fingers at him. All he wants is to cut hair and be left in peace.
This time, though, Barney is in serious trouble. There is a national manhunt out for him after he was caught disposing of suspicious-looking cut up body parts – his mother’s handiwork, it must be said. Instead of explaining the truth, Barney ups and runs and, with Glasgow’s finest police officers hot on his heels, he goes to ground in a monastery. Cut off from the world you would think he would be safe. And for a few weeks he is. But it doesn’t take long for the old curse to strike again and, as the monks start to die around him, it looks as if poor old Barney is in the frame again.
The attractions of this series featuring Barney Thomson are several. First, he is an endearing character and his painfully unfortunate skill of being in the wrong place at the wrong time is highly entertaining. Second, Lindsay has this uncanny knack of describing people’s behavior and customs that, again, is hilarious but also embarrassingly accurate. For example, the way that all the people who help the police with their enquiries load them up with cake and coffee in a bid to be hospitable and tell them they need “fattening up”. The general public’s ridiculous obsession with celebrity and glossy magazines plays a fairly prominent role too, as does the way public opinion about Barney is swayed by the gutter press that has him tried, blamed for things not even related to this case and then exonerated before he has even been caught.
If you like your noir crime fiction with a twist and are entertained by laughing at the more inane side of British society, then you will love this book and, indeed, all of the books featuring Barney Thomson. Long may he be free to continue to cut hair!
Very Highly recommended.
The Barber Surgeon’s Hairshirt by Douglas Lindsay. 2011. Version 2-1-3. Blasted Heath. EPub. ISBN 978-1-908688-14-9.
This is the second in Douglas Lindsay’s series about his unfortunate, yet endearing, barber, Barney Thomson. An earlier version of this book was published by Piatkus in 2000, then by Long Midnight Publishing in 2003, and called THE CUTTING EDGE OF BARNEY THOMSON.
You have to feel sorry for poor old Barney Thomson, talented barber and human magnet for all things dark and gruesome. He has never killed anyone in his life but, wherever he goes, he ends of knee-deep in mangled bodies, with circumstances pointing its accusing fingers at him. All he wants is to cut hair and be left in peace.
This time, though, Barney is in serious trouble. There is a national manhunt out for him after he was caught disposing of suspicious-looking cut up body parts – his mother’s handiwork, it must be said. Instead of explaining the truth, Barney ups and runs and, with Glasgow’s finest police officers hot on his heels, he goes to ground in a monastery. Cut off from the world you would think he would be safe. And for a few weeks he is. But it doesn’t take long for the old curse to strike again and, as the monks start to die around him, it looks as if poor old Barney is in the frame again.
The attractions of this series featuring Barney Thomson are several. First, he is an endearing character and his painfully unfortunate skill of being in the wrong place at the wrong time is highly entertaining. Second, Lindsay has this uncanny knack of describing people’s behavior and customs that, again, is hilarious but also embarrassingly accurate. For example, the way that all the people who help the police with their enquiries load them up with cake and coffee in a bid to be hospitable and tell them they need “fattening up”. The general public’s ridiculous obsession with celebrity and glossy magazines plays a fairly prominent role too, as does the way public opinion about Barney is swayed by the gutter press that has him tried, blamed for things not even related to this case and then exonerated before he has even been caught.
If you like your noir crime fiction with a twist and are entertained by laughing at the more inane side of British society, then you will love this book and, indeed, all of the books featuring Barney Thomson. Long may he be free to continue to cut hair!
Very Highly recommended.
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