David Roy's Blog

The story so far

I don't put much on here these days because no one reads it. Anyway, here is a round-up of my life as a writer.

The first thing I ever had published was an article in a student magazine (The Fly) in 1994. After a few lean years - probably twenty-six - I was able to contribute to 'The Groundcrew Boys' published by Grub Street.

Shortly after that Adam Gardner and I set up Hobart Books to publish two of my books, 'Smoke Without Fire' and 'Absent Victim'. We went on to publish a few more of my titles and books by other authors.

Recently I had another book, 'The Plaster Saints' published by London-based Chiselbury Publishing. Let's see how that goes.

And next up is a submission to Bookouture, about whom I know little. I'll let you know how that goes too.

A nice review for Brownlow

BROWNLOW CHECKS IN
By Judy Upton
Hobart Books, £9.99
When Shoreham writer Judy Upton
brought out her first Brownlow novel
– 2022’s Sniff Them Out, Brownlow,
which introduced pet detective Sophie
Gorrage and her specialist sniffer dog – she
certainly introduced a new twist to the
cosy crime genre.
This second book, although entertaining,
is not quite as much fun as the first –
possibly because once the novelty wears
off, chasing after missing pets is never
going to be as psychologically challenging
and jeopardy-laden as a human murder
inquiry, ‘cosy’ or not.
Nevertheless, when two pampered cats
are snatched on successive nights from a
very upmarket cat hotel in Sussex, the trail
leads the sleuths to Paris, where Sophie
and Brownlow’s activities soon come to the
attention of some unscrupulous criminals.
With no real connection to be made
either between the two thefts or to the
threatening suspects – and results
urgently called for by both the owners
and Sophie’s client – the hotel proprietor,
the pressure is on – slightly.
A gentle read – perhaps what’s needed
if you’re still recovering from the excesses
of the festive season

2024

Well, I bet you've all been wondering where I've been for almost two months.

No, I didn't really think so. Anyway, as recognition of the fact that no one reads this I have decided to make entries much less frequently. However, there are some interesting things on the horizon for Hobart Books, not least our increasing cooperation with another small publisher, Chiselbury Publishing of London.

Chiselbury was established by Stuart Leasor, son of author James Leasor, with the aim of republishing his father's books. Since then he has taken on many other authors. The precise nature of the cooperation between the two companies has not been finalised but by combining our different strengths and addressing our different weaknesses, we hope to become more than the sum of our parts.

The big news for Hobart has been the success of An Unconventional Mind, written by eighteen-year-old Grace Roy. A 'hug in a book'
it is a humorous take on a serious subject: that of mental health. Grace has already featured in a number of newspaper articles and an interview with her will be shown on the BBC next month.

These are exciting times. 2024 is going to be our year.

An Unconventional Mind

My daughter Grace has written a book. An Unconventional Mind was written during her stay in an eating disorders unit. In the midst of despair and seeming hopelessness, she was able to gather her thoughts sufficiently to create a unique self-help book aimed at people whose lives are difficult for whatever reason.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unconvention...

Seaton's Orchid

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seatons-Orch...

'Hardy opens a revealing window into the ills of Empire and the savagery that mankind can so easily revert to and delivers a true punch to the gut, with fascinating echoes of his Writers Guild screenplay for TABOO, the sequel of which many of us are still eager to see, and the murky jungle epics of Joseph Conrad.'
Maxim Jakubowski, Crimetime
“A finely-paced and haunting story of a man – himself haunted and unsettled by the events of his past – coming to terms with the growing disorder of a world between the wars starting to fracture around him and already drawing towards its own unhappy conclusion. Part Joseph Conrad, part L.P.Hartley, Seaton’s Orchid will appeal to fans of both.”
Robert Edric, prizewinning author

SEATON’S ORCHID from Chips Hardy, co-creator with his son Tom Hardy of the acclaimed TV series “Taboo,” is a powerful, provocative and emotionally raw character portrait of a man haunted by a crime against nature, denied redemption, confronted by polite society, and forced to reconcile memories of a self he can no longer recognise.

Set between WW1 and WW2, SEATON’S ORCHID tells the story of the enigmatic Captain Ainsley Seaton – a retired, much decorated professional solider, amateur explorer and artist living a reclusive life in Highleigh, a charming English village in West Sussex.

Seaton’s quiet existence is shattered when his well-buried past is unexpectedly resurrected over dinner by a shadowy Church diplomat, who seems to know more about Seaton’s history than he does. Forced to re-open chapters of his life that he has been at such pains to forget – from the phantasmal, savage events that unfolded in the deep jungle of the North-West Amazon to the horrors of the Western Front – Seaton withdraws into characteristic seclusion. But the diplomat refuses to let matters lie, and for his own secret purpose will stop at nothing to get to the truth; a truth which reverberates through the village itself, and beyond, with devastating results.

Chips Hardy has written successfully for television, theatre, film and publication. SEATON’S ORCHID reflects upon many of the preoccupations he developed in the acclaimed TV series “TABOO,” which he co-created, wrote and produced with his son, Tom Hardy, and which earned him the Writers Guild of Great Britain award for Best Long Form TV Drama. Here he expands upon his investigation into dislocation and social dysfunction, the dark processes of Empires and their institutions, and the quest for personal redemption for those who have crossed a line of no return.

What the critics said about Hardy's ‘Taboo':

Dark, brooding and consistently brilliant.
The Observer
Taboo is a work of Wicker Man genius. Taboo might be full of grime and torment but it’s also dry-witted, shot through with sharp and knowing one-liners.
The Guardian
The best thing on television…Taboo has a strong plot at its dark heart. You want to know what will happen next, which is refreshing.
The Sunday Times
Dark, compelling and often haunting... one of the more unique and thoughtful offerings of the new year.
Los Angeles Times
A swaggering brute of a costume drama.
Daily Telegraph
One of the most extraordinary, subversive, dramas British television has ever produced.
Daily Mail
Taboo takes the grim and distant world of 19th century London to extremes of darkness and wonder…. If Charles Dickens had been a TV scriptwriter, then he might have come up with something like this.
Daily Express
If you like your historical fiction grim and your cobblestones dirt-caked, if you don’t mind looking into some of humanity’s bleaker facets, this one’s for you.
Boston Globe
It is filled with darkness, danger and mystery, and has a level of quality and import not often seen in television miniseries.
San Francisco Chronicle

Smoke Without Fire Review

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 24 July 2023
Verified Purchase
Anyone who is even slightly interested in the state of the education in Britain today needs to read this. The day to day life of a teacher in a 'failing' school is simply shocking. The lack of support from higher authorities is incredible. The number of jobsworths who follow a dogma without any interest in actually doing their job - namely educating children is unbelievable.
The first half of this book can only be described as harrowing. Each page stuns.
Yet the strength of character of the author shines through. He will not give up in his search for justice. If only there were more like him the education sector we would not be in the mess we are today.
I strongly recommend this book.

Dear Goodreads

Another morning spent selling books. For an outlay of just £10 I made a profit of £0 minus expenses.
It's not going well. Hobart Books began life with the intention of harnessing the support of Britain's local bookshops. With few exceptions this has not happened. Sales on Amazon are a trickle and sales at my book stall are less than that.
How can I keep going but equally, how can I give up?

Review

Best book I've read
February 12, 2023

| Verified Purchase
I absolutely loved this book. Shame it was only 300+ pages...I would have happily devoured 3000 pages. Totally engrossing, brilliant style. Fair play sir, you have this writing malarky sorted.
View this book’s reviews on Amazon.

I've put this book on Amazon just to gather reviews before it is officially published. So far this is the only review but if I died tomorrow - and I hope I don't by the way - then this is a fine testament to the fact that I can actually write.

Onwards

For the last few weeks the Hobart Books International Roadshow has managed to sell no books. Zero. I know that success breeds success but I am just being honest here and since no one reads this anyway it hardly matters.

Nothing works. But not one to be put off by an unending stream of failure I will keep going, reinforcing failure as some wise person once said.

My next attack on the world of publishing is a car boot sale this Sunday. Hoping that I can't sink much lower, I will rebuild the stillborn Hobart Books' empire from there. I have already ordered a gazebo in preparation for the Artisan markets I am going to attend in future.

This isn't what I imagined...

Brighton Fringe

Review
If you know Judy Upton as a playwright you might have an inkling what to expect in this debut novel Out of the Frying Pan, published by Hobart Books. Witty, observant, self-deprecating, very funny, full of subversive glee, with its own moral field. Anyone remotely right-thinking might feel nervous.

Upton made her reputation with a string of plays at the Royal Court (especially), Paines Plough and elsewhere, before several successful Radio 4 plays, including most recently I Know Where the Bul-Bul Sings in 2021. That play, where a young woman’s arrested on terrorist charges on returning to the UK for fighting with the Kurdish Women’s Liberation Army, quite clearly refuses to draw consolations from government or even British morality.

Whereas that play’s deeply serious, Out of the Frying Pan smiles a lot more. You realise straight away that though Brighton sculptor and daytime cleaner Yvonne (‘Vonnie’) Sharpe has just witnessed a bank robbery, been made to lie on the floor, and the robber’s had to carjack her flatmate Gina after his bike’s failed – well, Vonnie’s determined to rescue Gina, yes. But she can’t help see the world through a large if invisible pair of comic specs.

The police quickly fade (as we know only too well) and it’s up to Vonnie – and her recruited arty friends – to crack the case. This expands the comedy as shape-shifting meditations, and places with lightly-altered names so Brightonians will really get a few more laughs. There’s Bridie the actor drawing of course on everything theatrical Upton’s ever known (great rehearsal scenes, auditions where because of the director bringing in children everyone reverts to Shirley Valentine monologues, much else) cash-strapped musicians (classical Sol, also a neuro-diverse obsessive price-checker and pop-gig oppos with whom he has nothing in common), filling in Arts Council forms (lovingly lampooned) and make up a roster of investigators checking petrol stations and the like for signs of Gina or her car.

By this time Vonnie’s moulded the kidnapper’s head from memory. Everyone seems drawn to it. Perhaps he’s just a confused boy. Those cheekbones. Like Upton’s prose: well-defined, ever-alert, but always profiling a solid world. And charaters with heads if not feet of clay.

How many artists does it take to solve a kidnapping? asks the strapline. First thing to say is that though the dialogue’s as Sharpe and engaging as you’d expect from a dramatist, Upton particularly relishes description, lateral side-swipes at everything Brighton, official, art-bullshit and anti-people (the government). Indeed, to a fault, since Upton released from pure dialogue mode, releases a coruscation of description that makes you put the book down to laugh, relish and make a cup of tea. Or something stronger.

First knocked down are the police. Not that they do anything stupid, just draw blanks. So encountering an irritating London TV researcher for Sex on the beach (who doesn’t know you ‘get pebbles up (your) arse’) she responds the only way she a. She hands over DS Nelson’s card (she has the number already) “‘Oh gosh, you’re a police officer’ she squeals ‘Oh I’m definitely sure we’ll be in touch.’” Only on the next page encountering a sour checkout woman at a patrol station who admits “’One woman offered my boss offered a pot-bellied when er hard was declined.’ ‘He didn’t take it.?’ ‘He didn’t.’ ‘Shame, Probably been a lost faster on that till you than you.’”

These are early on, and the tempo and texture of the novel changes. Much of the first 100 of the 286 pages enjoy shape-shifting rituals and – always – a clear-sighted plot where Gina’s plight is coloured by those concerned with finding her or – as with Connell, Gina’s father and dodgy fish and chip owner. Ransome notes arrive. He’s got criminal connections, surely. It takes a break-in to a solicitor’s office to work out anything remotely related, but you’d not quite guess why.

Upton’s plot is ingenious. For a start the initial kidnapper’s swiftly found, and after quite a few confrontations, stand-offs and a growing alliance, Vonnie realises several things. Whist the arty people gradually fade out – except with Gina’s friend sexy Benito whom Vonnie can’t quite banish from her fantasies – more urgent passions including terror for Gina, take over.

But no-one flagged up in this fiendishly clever story is wasted. We miss the artists’ roster but they’ve done their work (particularly Sol, the keenest drawn alongside Bridie), the kidnapper – he comes early on so he’s no plot-spoiler – becomes an equivocal lead investigator. But what did he do with his cash? And why does he think this is a desperately amateur job? Vonnie believes him. And why are Connell and his henchman so shifty yet so confused? No don’t even think I’ve given away the plot. The last 60 pages are so compelling you have to read them in one go. Before that you read tranches of 50 pages and only put the book down to take in the jokes and twisty fun.

There’s more to this novel than a comic clever romp. It’s socially very acute, believes in a very individual, restorative justice for the oppressed and badly-used, in redemption at a price, and in its desires is as antinomian and heedless as Wuthering Heights. But funnier. And even Nellie Dean doesn’t give so many tips about how to professionally clean a house. Everything here is authentically sourced, even if you reckon even Upton couldn’t have done it herself. But then, I’d put nothing past this extremely gifted writer. Her plays too are not only being revived, Upton’s writing more of them.

Hobart Books are making a name for themselves publishing fiction by dramatists. Robert Cohen’s debut novel Architecture for Beginners is being published, as is Upton’s second novel. Once you’ve read this, you’ll want that too.

Published March 30, 2023 by Simon Jenner