Gareth Williams's Blog, page 4

Podcast - featuring an interview with me

Late last year I was interviewed at length by Kristal Fleming for her The Book and Life Podcast. It was a marathon session and she warned me it wouldn't be out until April of this year. Well, time flies!

Kristal is a Scottish writer with a deep interest in what makes authors tick.

You can access the podcast on Spotify via this link:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6dBJzggJevg8WyABseq50W?si=ebea9d49cc964e3a

I would like to thank Kristal for taking the time to put this podcast together and for buying several copies of my books! I wish her well in all her upcoming endeavours.

4 April Author takeover day

I am taking over Lynda's Book Reviews and News facebook page today between 8.00am and 6.00pm. Hope to see you there. I will talk a bit about my books and a bit about me. Hopefully there will be something interesting about living on the Isle of Skye, plenty of questions to answer and an ebook giveaway.

https://www.facebook.com/562788411/videos/881913752892727/

Hill House - A Charles Rennie Mackintosh tour de force

On my way back to the Isle of Skye from the Scottish Association of Writers annual conference, I stopped off at Hill House near Helensburgh (image above of the house when newly built).

It was my first visit since the controversial 'box' was put in place to protect the saturated building from further deterioration and to buy time for it to dry out. The original building materials having proved inadequate for the weather in the West of Scotland.

As an historian, I was apprehensive about what I would find. First impressions as I approached were not particularly positive (see the image below)! In fact, I found myself preparing for the worst.

However, I was soon to change my mind. I found the house intact beneath its off-putting exoskeleton. More than that, I was afforded an improbable tour of the exterior from every angle.

I was able to appreciate details I had never even noticed when the house was open to the elements. I found myself looking at Hill House with the eyes of its architect. I walked above the roofline, peering through first-storey windows and photographing every chimney ( my wife Helen's obsession!).

I will post about the fabulous interiors another time but in one modest room, The National Trust for Scotland posed a question for every visitor to answer. I am going to repeat it here for you to think about.

Once the planning permission for the box ends - what should be done?

Apply to keep the box permanently to protect the building from water ingress. Remove the box and add sills and other (drainage) features that would help with preservation but alter the original design. Remove the box and let the weather do its worst.

I can smell spring coming!

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Even up here on the Isle of Skye, hints of spring are afoot. We have had Snowdrop Day at Dunvegan Castle and seen the first brave daffodils in sheltered spots. We have even sighted the sun once or twice.

I have been away in France so my blog has rather taken a back seat since the New Year. But I am back at my desk regularly now, working on a redraft of my fictional biography of William Augustus Bowles.

I am also trying to engage with potential readers in other ways. Today, I am talking and reading to the Skye branch of U3A (university of the third age). I have also produced an article on ReadersMagnet in their Authors' Lounge.

You can go straight to the article here:

https://www.readersmagnet.club/needing-napoleon-by-gareth-williams/

Next month, I am attending the Scottish Writers' Association annual conference near Glasgow where I will share a display with Scottish History Writers zoom group and have my books for sale.

There are also some new reviews and interviews in the pipeline which I hope to be sharing in the next few weeks.

I have been accepted to write an article for The Historical Times Special Edition on the Myths & Legends of Skye which I am excited about, although the deadline is tight so I really must get on with it!

I have entered a couple of competitions too and will let you know if I have any luck. I wish everyone the very best with their current projects, whatever they are.

Happy New Year!

Just a quick post with my book-related New Year resolutions.

Get book three of The Richard Davey Chronicles out in paperback and e-book. Polish my fictional biography of William Augustus Bowles and approach agents. Decide what to do with my triple-timeline murder ghost story set on Hadrian's Wall. Continue research for my magical realism tale set on the Isle of Skye (a request from a prospective agent).

See if you can guess which title belongs to each book... Captain Liar, Murder at Vindolanda, Rescuing Richard, Untitled.

Hanging out with the Hebridean Baker

Season's Greetings from the Isle of Skye. Recently, I was lucky enough to catch up with Coinneach Macleod at the Isle of Skye Candle Company where he was chatting and signing books.

Having both been featured by the West Highland Free Press in the same article, it was great to meet up. He has certainly been on a whirlwind since his recipes and stories started getting attention. Millions of views, book tours of the USA and Australia, and TV shows too! It's a long way from a little village in the south of Lewis thinking of ways to preserve family stories and recipes.

He was completely down to earth, charming and he even sang a Gaelic song. He is a natural storyteller and really got me in the Christmas mood. He was kind enough to ask about my books. I could not claim the same success, but he was happy to receive a signed copy of my second book in The Richard Davey Chronicles, Serving Shaka and pose for a photo!

Thinking of Christmas

If you are wondering about books to buy a loved one for Christmas, you could do worse than follow the advice of the West Highland Free Press!

https://www.whfp.com/2022/11/21/why-its-important-to-shop-locally-this-christmas/

I fear the text isn't very clear, but I have copied the text below the image. To see what they have to say about Needing Napoleon, find the section highlighted in bold type below.

Give the gift of reading this Christmas It’s the time of year again when everyone loves the gift of a book. Easy to buy, easy to wrap and easy to treasure and enjoy, they are the perfect Christmas present. So this year don’t give only any old books. Give some of the books written and published locally by our superb assembly of northern authors and Highland enterprises.

Frank Rennie has followed his award winning story of Galson in Lewis with the definitive volume on one of the most famous residents of our croftlands. ‘The Corncrake: An Ecology of an Enigma’ is a characteristically scientific but personal account of the challenging times which now face the little bird that kept us awake at night.

Tom Morton’s ‘It Tolls For Thee: A Guide to Celebrating and Reclaiming the End of Life’ falls into the category of most unlikely Christmas book from the most unlikely author. The multi-talented Tom tells of how his own brush with the reaper led him to the appreciation that “our love for the lost remains, even as we move on and age and grow. This is what funerals are about. They’re about love.”

Ghillie Basan is an established food writer who lives in the Cairngorms. A life of worldwide travel has been reflected in her numerous previous cookbooks. Back home, in ‘A Taste of the Highlands’ she offers us the familiar story of being unable 30 years ago to buy an aubergine, feta cheese or olive oil. That has changed, of course, but so has people’s diet. Locals and visitors alike now expect to eat the food of the land. In the Highlands that means a reversion to shellfish and venison - albeit prepared occasionally with olive oil, aubergine and even feta cheese.

Top tip: pair ‘A Taste of the Highlands’ with Coinneach MacLeod, the Hebridean Baker’s latest for the gourmet in your family.

For gripping fiction you should look to Skye author Gareth Williams’ ‘Needing Napoleon’, an original feat of imagination and an irresistible adventure that spirits the reader from present-day Paris to the battle of Waterloo and beyond.

In similar territory, Angus MacDonald’s epic Ardnish series offers compulsive reading throughout the winter and into the spring.

The ‘Eliza Ross Collection of Original Highland Airs collected in Raasay in 1812’ is a volume for the lovers of both music and island history. Elizabeth Jane Ross was born in India in 1789. Both of Elizabeth’s parents died in India. The orphaned child was sent back to Britain, where she was adopted by her uncle, James MacLeod of Raasay. As a young woman in her teens and early 20s Eliza began to transcribe the songs, fiddle tunes, bagpipe and piano music which formed the soundtrack of her life in Raasay, from the moment she was woken by pipes to the hour that she drifted to sleep in Raasay House with the adults still singing and playing below. That music is now available to us all.

Talking to literary agents

I was lucky enough to get a session with two well-established literary agents yesterday. We talked about my current project featuring William Augustus Bowles and discussed ways to market my existing publications.

They gave me lots of good advice but stressed that the single most effective thing is to increase the number of reviews on Amazon.

So, this is to thank every one of you who has posted a review for Needing Napoleon and a plea for the rest of you to please post a review. You do not have to have bought the book or ebook on Amazon, just have an Amazon account that you use a bit.

If anyone has read Serving Shaka, it would be lovely to see some reviews appear for it too.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read my blog.

Coming soon, a special pre-Christmas blog!

Roger Hutchinson

I am rather excited at the moment. Next week, the writers and readers group which I now chair - The Skye Reading Room - hosts Roger Hutchinson as guest speaker.

I heard Roger talk about the craft of writing way back in 2009 and I am still following some of his tips to this day. It will be marvellous to welcome him back to Portree. I know he has spoken to great effect to our group on several previous occasions.

For those of you who don't know Roger's work, here is a very brief summary. He was a journalist of the West Highland Free Press and still produces a regular column for the paper. He has written at least 15 non-fiction books including Polly, The True Story Behind Whisky Galore and Calum's Road, as well as The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker: The story of Britain through its Census, since 1801.

He is currently working on a much-needed history of his home island, Raasay.

He will be speaking about his craft, and the research process with particular reference to this latest project.

I thoroughly recommend his books for a thoughtful, well-written insight into myriad subjects.

Taking it in my stride

Unfortunately, I have just discovered there is going to be quite a long delay before the third instalment of the Richard Davey Chronicles makes it into the world, contrary to this advert that recently appeared in History Today magazine.

It is a combination of things, but I have decided to be philosophical about it. Serving Shaka has barely sold at all, so there seems little point rushing out a third book in the series.

Of course, I am hoping that, as more people finish Needing Napoleon they will buy the second book. Allowing more time for this to happen should mean there are more people ready to snap up Rescuing Richard when is does appear in 2023.

I have to remind myself that the first book only came out in November 2021, the second in March 2022, so they are still younglings!

Meanwhile, I am forging ahead with a Roman ghost story set at Vindolanda - a fort near Hadrian's Wall where I volunteer at the archaeological dig. I will be using my next visit in late Spring 2023 to check a lot of details. That should mean the book is finished before the end of 2023.

Finally, my thanks to all my kind friends/relatives who read the first draft of my fictionalised biography of William Augustus Bowles. You have all helped me think more deeply about the structure of the story and the depiction of certain characters. Opinion was polarised, so some of you will probably not like the finished article, but that doesn't mean I am not incredibly grateful for all the time you took reading and giving me feedback!