Nigel Bird's Blog, page 61

One Man's Opinion: BOOZE AND BURN by CHARLIE WILLIAMS

Before the main event, a mention for my current read.  WEE ROCKETS by the excellent GERARD BRENNAN is a real joyride of a book.  It's published by BLASTED HEATH and it's free today, so I'd get over there and get a copy if I were you.  You won't regret it, I promise.  
Now on to CHARLIE WILLIAMS.
 
I loved DEADFOLK, the story of Royston Blake’s adventures in the town of Mangle.  I loved it so much that I didn’t’ feel able to move on to BOOZE AND BURN for fear it might just not do Blake justice.  Now I’ve been there, I realise I needn’t have worried.  All I’ve been doing is wasting time.The other issue that can spoil a follow-up book is the over-doing of the references to the previous work.  Charlie Williams kicked that one in to touch early on as Blake addresses the reader and says of Deadfolk:
‘You what?  Forget it pal.  I ain’t telling you that story no more.  I’ve told it enough times already – especially to the cops and I’m sick of it.  You want to know about the guns and chainsaws, go ask someone else.  Everyone knows around here.'
Perfectly handled.
In Royston Blake, I reckon we have the world’s finest unreliable, first-person narrator.  He’s a warts-and-all story-teller who’s neither afraid to embellish or to cut himself to the quick (then again, Royston’s not afraid of anything).
He’s back on the door at Mangles’ premier drinking establishment (Hoppers), throwing his increasing weight around as only he can.  It doesn’t take long for the new equilibrium of Mangle to be disturbed when a new face arrives in town.  Not only is the guy an outsider, he’s soon to become the owner of Hoppers  and the supplier of a new kind of sweet/drug to the young of the town.
One of the gang of young is Mona.  She’s had a personality change since being introduced to the new drug and she’s fallen for the supplier.  Mona’s father, Doug, employs Blake’s services to sort out the guy, which is the point at which the story explodes.
I’m so impressed by Charlie Williams.  He’s created an even more special book in Booze And Burn than he managed in Deadfolk.
Blake’s character is even sharper as are those of the others in the cast.  Blake’s a real rogue – the cleanest term I can think of to make sure this doesn’t offend the Amazon boards – but he’s immensely loveable with it, for reasons I don’t entirely understand.  Many was the time I wanted to put my arm around the guy (metaphorically, of course, as my arms would need to be twice as long to do the job) and have a whisper in his ear – “You don’t want to be doing that, Blake.” Or “Why don’t you try saying it this way instead?”  Not that he’d listen.
The plot here is developed and a perfect pace.  It becomes fairly complex, but is always easy to stay with.  There are plenty of cliff-hangers to keep a reader interested. The turns of phrase are superb and Williams is a master of the simile – “[I]wanted nothing more than the comfort of clean sheets and a firm mattress, though...the mattress were about fifty year old and as firm as an old man’s tadger.”
Blake’s is also a master when it comes to shoving his boots into his own mouth.  Here, he’s trying to make his recently attacked girlfriend feel better about some damage to her face – “ ‘Reckon you won’t be doin’ much more strippin’, I says, giving her a friendly smile. ‘Less you wears a paper bag.” ‘
All in all, Booze And Burn shines a light onto things we might rather not see, then throws in a magnifying glass to make the focus more unpleasantly clear.  Britain at its worst can have a defensive, island mentality, compounded by small-town attitudes, brutally sharp tongues and minds narrower than barges.
For me, the book takes the Ghost Town of The Specials, the darkness of the Thatcher years, the cultural highs of Clint Eastwood and Minder and uses the energy to create the most wonderful set of characters imaginable.  Blake would have no problem wrestling any Spitting Image character to the ground, knocking the hardest from Viz to the ground, out-seducing Lady Chatterley's lover or drinking Homer Simpson under a table.  It’s funny, powerful, clever, brutal and a total joy from opening to close.
Royston Blake – Cheers.

One Man's Opinion: LOST THINGS: A NOVELLA (AN ORIGINAL SHORT STORY)

Lost Things was described as a short story when I bought it, which has now been corrected to 'A Novella (An Original Short Story)'.  It's an important distinction in so many respects, not that the quantity matters when a work is this good. It's superb.

The opening is straightforward enough. A couple of young guys are walking home after a night out when they ate attacked. In an act of self-defence one of the muggers is killed. Evan and Peter spend a while working out whether they should call the police or not. Thing is, they both have plenty to lose.
 
From this point on Rector really turns the screws and sends his main character through the mincer. It's tight, uncomfortable and tense and puts me in mind of some of the best noir writers of all.
 
Outstanding.

And the best thing of all?  I got myself a ticket to see the man himself at the 'Bloody Scotland' festival later this year and this book leaves me with no doubt that I made the correct decision when I did. 

One Man's Opinion: OLD SCHOOL by DAN O'SHEA

Dan O'Shea's collection OLD SCHOOL from Snubnose Press is well worth a read.  The work has a natural feel to it and there's also a huge range of subject-matter.


His first section deals with middle-age.  

The opener is a reflective piece about a childhood incident, one that's helped to shape a life .

You'll meet meths addicts here, men facing tough decisions, hit men and guys trying to find different ways out of the holes in which they find themselves.  You'll even find Shakespeare, no less.

The Golden Years brings a change of flavour, but continues with O'Shea's sharp, hard-hitting work.  There is a slight change of gear, here. O'Shea captures some of the physical hardships of old age, but blesses his characters with tough minds and wills.  

One particular tale has us visit to an old-people's home allows us to meet and ex-cop who has his interest in the world rekindled when a new guy is wheeled onto the block.  It's a quality piece which could easily be much longer, though is hugely satisfying in this small bite.

After the great starters and a fabulous main course, O'Shea still has the generosity to offer up a couple more as a fine dessert.  

I'm looking forward to more short fiction from this guy for, unlike many of his creations, I know there's plenty of life left in this old dog.

One Man's Opinion: HARVEST OF RUINS by SANDRA RUTTAN

One of the lovely things about holidays is having the time and the mental space to read.  



I've read some cracking books over the last fortnight and I'll be telling you about them here over the next few weeks.  There was only one (I think) that I gave up on early on and the rest all had me in some way or other.


I'll start with my thoughts on the first book I chose to read - the Kindle really paid dividends in this respect - Sandra Ruttan's HARVEST OF RUINS published by Snubnose Press.

This book has a great opening.  It’s like crashing into a swimming pool from the flumes into deep-cold water as it takes a little time to find orientation.

On the surface, this book is a courtroom drama, a very good one at that.

Hunter is a detective and she’s on trial for setting in motion a chain of events which led to the killing of Tom, her partner at work and also her partner (even though he’s married to someone else) in her personal life.  The story opens with Tom being shot by his own daughter, Vinny, who puts a serious full-stop on the arguing of her estranged parents.

Sandra Ruttan uses a number of methods to reveal the story behind the killing, one which followed the deaths of a number of teenagers in the area.  She uses the courtroom, a diary, Vinnie’s work from English class, conversations with colleagues and a series of dreams she’s been having from Vinnie’s perspective. The range is big, and I was concerned that it wasn’t going to hold together; it turned out I was wrong to be worried as each of the fragments remains solid.  It’s a credit to Rattan that she not only holds all the pieces together, but that she creates genuine tension and a powerful desire to find out the true facts in a way that I can only resort to cliché to report that I found page-turning.

To leave it there wouldn’t do the book justice.  It examines some of the sensitive aspects of parenting, friendships and growing u with real skill, tenderness and insight.  How vulnerable the young can be and how far the grown-ups of this world will go to cover up the vulnerabilities that linger.

Whether you enjoy a police-procedural, a courtroom drama or a more serious examination of life and its relationships, this is likely to be a book for you.

Why Pulp Ink 2 is the Place2Be

I'm back.


Two weeks in Italy with my children, sunshine and books and I'm home.


Things aren't entirely back to normal yet and I don't really want them to be for now.  Better if the Venetian images can blind me for a few more days yet.


It's a fast moving world.  Things change.  One of my favourite new additions to the world it the sequel to Pulp Ink, Pulp Ink 2.   


There are many reasons that you should buy this, and here are a few:


it's the follow-up to Pulp Ink.


the stories are brilliant.


the writers are fantastic.


it's been published by Snubnose Press.


Chris Rhatigan is a great editor (I've loved working alongside him again, and look forward to the next time)


and the profits from our side will be going to charity.


Here's what I wrote in the intro:

When dealing with young people, schools have a huge responsibility.  There are so many pressures relating to academic performance that they sometimes need support to ensure they carry out other no-less significant responsibilities, such as with regard to pastoral care.

Within any population of youngsters, there will be issues that arise and need attention.  Teachers, bless them, have many strings to their bows, but when it comes to therapeutic approaches, they may be left-wanting, not least because of the pressures on their time.

Place2Be offers a solution to such problems and that's why all the proceeds from Pulp Ink 2 will go to help this wonderful organisation.

By working with pupils, their families and teachers, Place2Be achieves results that the curriculum couldn't begin to manage.

The approaches are varied, depending on the needs of a child.

For the most significant in terms of need, those who are the most damaged, a full year of weekly counselling sessions are offered within a therapeutic environment is offered.  As relationships are built, so is confidence and self-esteem.  Families and teaching staff are included in the support so that progress can be continued outside of the therapy room.

There's also the offer of Place2Talk.  It's open to all the children in a school so that they can discuss any situations that might be troubling them.  This can lead to mediation sessions or group work where appropriate.

The Place2Be staff also run circle-time sessions for classes to develop 'emotional literact' and respect for selves and others.

It doesn't stop there.

Working with children who have a range of difficulties is hugely challenging for staff.  Place2Be offers them the opportunity to talk about their own issues and keep them on track, thus helping to maintain high standards of pastoral care and education.

On top of that, all therapists have their own counselling sessions to make sure that they understand the significance of what is happening and to ensure they aren't pulled under by the tow of their pupils' needs.

The therapists work on a voluntary basis.  The core staff and organisers can't.  As with all great initiatives, there's a funding aspect related to its maintenance.

I'd like to see Place2Be grow so that it's in every school.  Our children deserve that.

By purchasing Pulp Ink 2, you'll be helping kids along on their way.  And that's a wonderful thing.

Pulp Ink 2 is available as a Kindle ebook (US)or in print.  Go celebrate.

And tomorrow's post won't be entirely unrelated to this one - a review of the novel 'Harvest Of Ruins'.  The links may become clear when you read what I thought of it.

Nice to be back.

Now where's that umbrella?

One Man's Opinion: THE STORM WITHOUT by TONY BLACK

Tony Black’s book ‘The Storm Without’ takes a slight deviation from the police procedurals he’s been releasing of late.
It’s tells the story of a man returning to his home town of Ayr, having made decisions in the past that leave him unsure of his direction in life.
As he arrives in the town, he sees a familiar face, that of an ex-girlfriend.  She’s waiting at the bus stop, so he pulls over to offer her a lift.  The old chemistry hasn’t completely gone and they end up going for coffee.  Turns out her son is being charged for murder and that he needs some help to prove his innocence.
The good news is that our man Doug Michie is a seasoned hard-man who has spent time in Ulster working for the RUC in Belfast.  It means that when the trail leads him to some powerful and dangerous people, he’s not entirely out of his depth.
There are many things in this book that will seem familiar to fans of lone-wolf detectives and private-investigators.  These will make you feel very much at home.  You may get whiffs of Ken Bruen  or fleeting moments of déjà vu from older stories. 
How then, does Black make his character stand out from the rest? 
Michie is partial to Robbie Burns.  He knows his work and likes to quote him from time-to-time to illustrate his thinking.  He’s also a guy who pays attention to the world and will use the things he remembers to illustrate his points.  And he’s a pretty reflective sort, finding that returning to his home town raises questions about his life, his value to the world and his mortality.
It’s also slightly different in that this was first released in serial form.  This has some impact on the style and means that new chapters occasionally revisit previous ones to make sure the reader is clear about where they are in the story.
Telling a story in the first person isn’t an easy thing; Tony Black pretty much gets the balance of introspection and action right.
‘The Storm Without’ is another example of Black’s talent and it’s a rather pleasing tale.  If you’re short of holiday reading this summer, this book will certainly help to fill the hole.A welcome edition to the Blasted Heath collection.

It's available in kindle format (Amazon US and Amazon UK) as well as a paperback.

And a wee reminder for you that you can still pick up a copy of Pulp Ink for nothing just now:
Amazon UK  Amazon US

Thanks to all those who've supported the collection so far.

KING INK

First of all, thanks to all who downoaded With Love And Squalor over the weekend.  It's the first time I've really had any success with a promotion and hit 3600 giveaways in the end.  3400 of those were in the US, so a special thanks to those across the water.

Next, big congratulations to Chris La Tray who has won the Watery Grave Invitational competition for the second successive year.  You'll be able to read his winning story over at The Drowning Machine some time soon.  Thanks to all involved in setting that up, putting up the prize money and judging - it's appreciated.

Apologies, slipped in here, to anyone who uploaded In Loco Parentis and found there were a number of mistakes.  The print and kindle copies have now been corrected and if you need me to make amends, let me know and I'll send over a PDF.  I'd also like to thank Nicola Rain Jordan for her help in spotting the errors and also in helping me to correct them.  I found that I'd uploaded the wrong file and also that the right file still needed further work.  It was a long week, I can tell you.

To the main focus for me today.

Next week (all being well) the follow up to Pulp Ink will be released.  It's going to be published by Snubnose Press and there'll be a paperback copy available also.  Thanks to Everyone involved in getting that up, but for now I'd like to single out Eric Beetner and R Thomas Brown for the their work on the cover and getting the Createspace file together. 

We're creative types at heart, so we thought we'd go for a left field title to the follow up and call it Pulp Ink 2.

To celebrate and to get the publicity campaign off to as good a start as we can manage (Pulp Ink 2 is a charity fundraiser and we want it to do incredibly well) we're giving away copies of Pulp Ink this week.  To get yours you can go to Amazon in the US or the UK via the links and download. 

It you already have a copy you can tell your friends, Tweet, Facebook, send telepathic messages, click the Like button when you get there (not sure why that works, but you could try) or even leave a short review about it. 

If you haven't read it, I'm going to say that you really should.  It's a brilliant collection and it's a great appetiser for what's about to come.

Thanks all.

nigel

One Man's Opinion: QUINTESSENCE OF DUST by CRAIG WALLWORK

Kuboa Press have a really great ethos.  You can pick up the books in a lovely pocket-sized paperback format for buttons or you can download them for free over at Smashwords.  It may not make economic sense, but I find it refreshing that the financial aspects of writing can be left aside from time to time just to get work out there because it deserves to be read.
One such book is the short story collection by CraigWallwork entitled ‘Quintessence of Dust’.
It’s a collection of huge variety which is linked by the author’s style and faint echoes of theme that bring some overlap within the diversity of subject matter.
You’ll find out about Minotaur and a new labyrinth, a magical wall of photographs, how demons can help win a woman’s heart, the consequences of having a small neck and about the digging of holes amongst other things, holes being one of those recurring themes in the book.
The concept behind each tale suggests to me that Wallwork is a hugely creative thinker.  Must have been a day-dreamer in classrooms.  Is the kind of person who is able to take any thought to its extreme in order to find out ‘what would happen if?’ Again and again he produces ideas that are highly original and left of left field.  You never know what’s coming next.
My favourite pieces in the collection are the openers.   
‘Night Holds A Scythe’ is the first.  I’d recommend the book just to get you to read this one.  It’s beautiful and painful at the same time.  A father is flying with his daughter trying to find safety.  The problem is that, because of a deadly virus, the only way for them to stay alive is to stay awake.  I guess it’s a straightforward concept, but it’s what Wallwork does with it that counts.  It tapped into many of my own insecurities about being a human and a father.  What wouldn’t I do to keep my children safe?  How awful would it be to sense their inevitable destruction and to be the only one in a position to take any action at all?  It’s tense and difficult, yet it is gentle and soft, the looping theme of alphabet cards that structures the unfolding of a family’s world.  ‘E’ is for excellent. ‘O’ for outstanding.  ‘L’ is for lump in the throat.  ‘X’?  ‘X’ is for X-factor, that feeling I sometimes get in the core of my body after a brilliant tale – a cross between awe, defeat, admiration and pain. And ‘B’ is for buy it.
‘Railway Architecture’ is a little less intense, but is superbly penned.  It’s a moral tale about a man who has never been comfortable with others even though he’s a student of human behaviour.  He’s found a passion for the making of fine chocolates and sets about using his skills to win over the heart of a beautiful lady colleague.  Problem is, he happens to be married.  Wallwork takes the idea and turns the world on its head.  I loved it.
These are my picks because they moved something within me.  They struck a chord with me given the experiences I’ve had and the person I’ve become.  Pick this up and it’s likely you’ll find you pick different stories – a G where I’ve picked a C minor, or an F sharp instead of my B flat.
Let me know.
And a few free things to finish, including some of my own work for chilrend and some of my more grown-up poetry.  A couple of them won't be free for a couple of days, but keep checking if you're intrested.

First off, Steal Softly Thru' Sunshine by Kitty Wakes, the story of the decline of one era and the confusion of another as the hippy movement limps back into the mainstream.

You can get Len Wanner's beast of an interview with Ian Rankin for free over at Blasted Heath if you follow the link and enter 'stirling' in the discount code box.

Should you have young children to entertain, you might take a free download of either The Day My Coat Stuck On My Head, Little Grey Cloud, Gran or The Funfair.

And if you like poetry, Busted Flat is also free in a couple of days.

And the winner is...

And the winner is...

Before the announcement, here's the drum-roll.

I'm looking at the glass and wondering about the half-full, half-empty thing.  The glass doesn't appear to have enough liquid in it to get to half-full.  As I imagine it, there's about a shot of whisky's worth contained in a pint-jar.  In terms of promotion, I guess that's about all I can stretch the success to, but I'm a happy chap on this one.  Half-full is my conclusion.

That's half a pint of whisky.

Better still, something I can actually drink.  Half a pint of strawberry milkshake.

The positive I'm taking is that 3 people out there want copies of In Loco Parentis enough to expose their Limerick writing. 

And I'm to pick a winner.

I've just been on a 3 day course about the role of support for learning teachers in a changing world.  It was all very exciting and occasionally challenging.  I'd go as far as to say that the email-link I established on Monday to let me know about Postman jobs in my town doesn't feel so important a life-line now as it did when I set it up.  Maybe I can rise to the challenges ahead and make a difference.  That's what I'm intending to do when I start the new school year, anyway.  The only issue will be the response of the more conservative (and teachers often have a conservative view of the world, no matter what they say.  Don't be fooled by the propaganda, think about the way we've all maintained the establishment views and risen through the establishment to get our positions).  I'll be hoping to work with the fresh and enthusiastic as well as the radical (they do exist) to try and catch a little of what they have.

A part of that will be to continue to do what I've [hopefully] always done, which is to celebrate effort. 

As soon as I saw there were 2 Limericks to choose from, I knew that I was going to send them both copies.   I decided at that point to send books to whoever entered and hoped the promotion wasn't too successful.

Clearly it wasn't.  Which is kind of a blessing - I don't have to shell out more than I can afford.

David, Kyle and Thomas, thanks for the support and for providing some entertainment.

I'll be sending the books out to you as soon as I have a postal address.

Bless you all.

Nicola Rain, if you want one, I'll send one to you, too.  Just send me your address.  I know you've read it because your review was tremendous.  Maybe you could send the address with your 'Dancing With Myself' interview.

Before I go, a little mention for Chris Holm following the review I put up of Dead Harvest yesterday.  I was fair chuffed to see my name in the acknowledgements, so thank you.  The first paragraph of those acknowledgements is special and I doubt you'll see many better.  I feel a post coming on.

And thanks also to Tony Black, Blasted Heath and McNidder + Grace.  Tony's clearly been busy.  In my post this morning (and that makes me think I wish I was out there in the rain delivering rather than having my stomach churn already at the prospect of a stressful couple of weeks to end the term) was a copy of 'The Storm Without'.  It looks great.  Earlier in the week I had a copy of the Kindle version of the same book and am making it my next read (how could I not given such generosity?).

Signing off.

x

One Man's Opinion: DEAD HARVEST by CHRIS F. HOLM

There’s a lot of class in the writing of Chris F. Holm.  Read his short works in ‘Eight Pounds’ or his entry in ‘Pulp Ink’ and that will become immediately obvious to you.
Stepping up to writing a novel that’s going to engage and maintain the interest of the reader is a different matter entirely.  I was confident Chris was going to pull it off, but one can never be sure.
Apart from loving the author, I must say that it was the cover on this book that clinched my purchase.  It’s retro-chic with scratches to boo.  It shows a guy reaching into the chest of another man within a circle of light.  If I had a pound for every person who came up and expressed an interest in it and then told me they thought it was a second-hand classic, I’d be at least £20 better off.  Maybe I should have charged.
The story is slightly outside my usual reading selections in that it involves souls and heaven and hell.  Quite something to attempt as a debut novel, that’s for sure.
Sam Thornton is the protagonist.  He’s a collector.  He picks up the souls of the damned and delivers them upon request.  I suppose he’s a kind of bounty-hunter of sorts, only there’s no bounty and the guilty are always going to be unsuspecting.  The book opens with him at work, the inspiration behind the cover image.
Job done, Sam’s given another job. 
This time it’s to collect the soul of a young girl who’s brutally murdered her family. 
Problem is that when he reaches in to take her, he senses that she’s innocent.  That being the case, he decides he needs to go against his bosses and save her – taking back an innocent soul will spark off a major war between Heaven and Hell, so it’s imperative that he does the right thing.
The right thing’s not easy to fathom, however, and it’s made a lot more difficult given that when he runs away with the aforementioned girl he becomes the most wanted of the police, the angels and demons alike.
What follows has the feel of a classically, hard-boiled, detective story that is full of the supernatural and has the energy of a chase thriller.  And you know what? Chris pulls it off really well.
There’s a lot of information to take in at various points about the types of spirit entities that exist.  Like pieces in a chess game, each has its own moves and rules.  Some need bodies.  Others have no free-will.  They have different strengths and weaknesses. 
Thankfully, these points are made with as little fuss or strained exposition as it’s possible to imagine.  Sam keeps having to explain things to the girl he’s helping and to some of the people who help him along the way.  What is important is that the rules were set and remained consistent, so that there was no confusion as the plot unfolded.
Another aspect of the tale, possibly my favourite one, is the story of how Sam became a Collector in the first place.  It’s woven through the chase tale and gives the inhuman collector a very human feel.  It’s a short story of sorts and I’ve already pointed out that Chris is an artist in that field.
I found the book to be extremely entertaining, often gripping and always kept me on my toes.  I was also very satisfied and rather surprised by the resolution of the book.  Which makes it a damned good read.
The good news is that this is the beginning of a series and the opening of book 2 is at the back of Dead Harvest.
My advice is that you should pick up a copy of this opener and I’m pretty sure you’ll give the follow-on serious consideration when it’s released.