Dan Smith's Blog, page 23

Author Event 25th August 2010

It's not enough for writers to just write these days. No, no, we have to crawl from our darkened rooms from time to time, pale-skinned and blinking in the harsh light of day. This is a thing that terrifies us. We have to … talk to people.

OK, well, so it's not really all that bad. On the whole, I reckon we writers are a fairly social lot and there's nothing we like better than people telling us they've enjoyed reading our books. After all, why do we publish if not for other people to enjoy...

A new writer to watch …

I found out on Monday that DRY SEASON was reviewed in the Mail on Sunday. I didn't manage to see it at the time, but I now have a cutting and here it is …

Four stars out of five is pretty good and 'haunting stuff from a new writer to watch' sounds good. We might be seeing that quote again.

I'll be at City Library in Newcastle tonight talking about the book and showing a few pics of the peple and places that inspired the book. Show up if you dare. If not, I'll post some pics and a link to the...

The Boy From Brazil

Phew.

I've finished the edits for DARK HORIZONS, and it's looking good.  Set in Sumatra, it's going to take you somewhere you've never been before and then … well, there's nothing like a bit of death to spice things up, is there? Anyway, it's fantastic to see the book coming together – there's the copy-edit to go and covers to finalise, but we're getting closer to seeing it in print. In fact, it's already appeared on Amazon and Waterstones as a pre-order, and there's an intriguing synopsis on ...

Being 40

I said to my wife that I haven't blogged for a while and felt the urge to share something but wasn't sure what.

'Have you blogged about being 40?' she asked.

Oh, so now we really get to it. So this is what matters is it? I'm 40. Well, OK, so what? In the famous words of Alfred E Newman …. 'What, me worry?'

You know, I'm not sure what the fuss is all about, but there is something deep down – something dark and irrepressible – that's telling me I should feel...

'A perfect poolside companion'

This review of Dry Season just appeared in North East Times.

So there you go – and if you haven't got your copy and you live in Newcastle I know for sure that Dry Season is in the 3 for 2 at Waterstones. Grab your copy now!!

My red box of memories

Not so much a red box of memories as a black and grey box of memories. The old fishing box that my brother and I used in Brazil has been sitting in my parent's loft for a while now, so I thought I'd dig it out and have a look through it. I was tempted to give it a clean, but I rather like that it's still covered in dirt that's come straight from the banks of the Araguaia river. It's like having a little bit of Brazil right here in the house.  And when my wife suggested I throw away the empty ...

Accent Magazine

For anybody who's interested but missed it, here's the '15 minutes with …' article from this month's Accent Magazine.

A cheesey Picture

Passing Waterstones in Picadilly last week, I thought I ought to pop in and make sure they had a copy of my book. They had two. They must have sold the rest of them. I imagine it was a big pile, and that they'd just sent in the order for some more. Anyway, my wife dutifully turned it cover out and put it on full display on one of the tables. Here's a cheesey pic of me pointing at my book, just in case there's any doubt about who wrote it.

After that, we went to Portobello Road market which...

Brit Writers' Awards

Well, the Brit Writers' was a slightly surreal experience, but not a bad one by any means. The venue was great – IndigO2 – and someone had gone to a lot of effort and spent a lot of money to make it a special occasion. All of the awards but one are for unpublished writers, which is a great chance for people to get a little recognition and encouragement for what they're doing. Mind you, there were a few speakers who seemed a little bitter about the 'traditonal' publishing houses and their...

Spleenal

I had a message from someone I used to work with a long time ago. Nigel Auchterlounie – yep, that's a real name. We worked together at a … well, I suppose it was a design company. Anyway, I haven't seen him for a long time but I was looking at one of his graphic novels the other day – 'Gone' – and then he just kinda popped up on my blog. Nigel describes himself as 'some sort of artist or something, with problems and issues.' Oh yeah and He 'draws stuff'. So I went over to his blog thinking...