Sarah Dobbs's Blog, page 13

Manchester launch of Killing Daniel – the postapocalypse

I had 1.1 glasses of something alcoholic. And I woke up at 12.30 the next day. Always been a bit of a lightweight in this sense. Still, in my favour, I think it’s also because these things (and the build-up to them) are peculiarly tiring.

And now it’s all over.

Still, we had some lovely readings from Unthology 3 to start the night. Debz Hobbs-Wyatt read from Theory of Circles and AJ Ashworth read from Monolith. I noticed AJ wrote ‘Beware the Monolith!’ in her copies when people came to get the book signed and I thought – I need one of those. I think I wrote something lame like, enjoy the book, a lot. So sorry.

My Uncle Michael suggested I think about changing my name. Just a thought, he says. Sarah-Jane Dobbs. Which is my twitter account, but that’s because some other Sarah Dobbs (how dare she) who likes werewolves got there first.

I suppose it does feel peculiar that it’s all done and dusted. But there’s now the next book to focus on, and the one after that and so on…

I hope it’s the start of something. And thank everyone who’s supported it so far.

A nice little adjunct, is that the next day, Killing Daniel was out of stock on Amazon. It’s a temporary phenomenon, but if you would like a signed copy of the book before Christmas, I now have 6 left. You can also order from the publisher on information@unthankbooks.com. If you do want the book from me, just send a paypal payment or £12.99 to dobbs_sarah@hotmail.com or just fling me an email.

Below be photos, to prove (to myself) that I’m not making it all up.

Thanks so much everyone! And now, onwards… back to slouchy pants, back to tapping away at odd hours of the morning. Can’t wait

my Dad!

x

The Lemonade Girl – or a long-winded way of saying how funny life is.

When I get any time, ever, to think clearly, I suppose things are … that word? When things connect naturally? Not serendipitous. Synchronicity. If that’s the spelling

My uni was Salford and the launch for Killing Daniel is in Salford. Unthank published this novel and they also published an extract from the would-be second novel that I always wanted to be the second novel years ago. It’s in Unthology 1 and was begun in 2010 in a tiny flat in the duff side of Walkden, oft-drug-raided (not mine) joyful little place.

And then, The Lemonade Girl started from a short story (Ghost in the Mechanic) that was broadcast on BBC7 in 2007. That story was written after finishing at Salford in 2005, redrafted on my MA at Lancaster in 2006, which made me think, hey I could do a PhD. Which was Killing Daniel.

Many of the people I met along the way will be at the launch on Thursday. Rodge Glass organised a really fun event at Edge Hill recently, where David Vann came to speak. Hearing how long novels languish in drawers, little paper hands drawn delicately over their cover-sheets in an anguished manner, is bloody useful. How things often look like a straight line to readers, but are often anything but.

So I think much more strongly now that this ‘second’ novel will be the second, even though there have been about three contenders since. A little sample lies beneath.

(If you’d like to come to the KD launch. Details here)

She looks around. This is the place.

The clientele are a who’s who of hicks. Guts resting on spade-wide thighs. Thighs on candy-apple red seats. Plastic getting hot, cooking up their unwashed jeans. Feet stupid and sweating in dumb, dull boots. Bear paw hands. The women that mirror them in the booths. Cheeks bloated and eyes getting obliterated in fat and age and sourness. Fat put there by their menfolk, or their own sad-sack lack of life.

 

Review: ‘Killing Daniel’ by Sarah Dobbs

Review: ‘Killing Daniel’ by Sarah Dobbs.

The form (but not the quality) of ‘Killing Daniel’ is what I would describe as a “train crash”. The story starts with two disparate characters, living in the same time, but separated by gulfs of distance and society. These characters are an English woman called Fleur and a Japanese woman called Chinatsu. Having met in adolescence, they think about one another and look forward to a nebulous idea of reunion. The plot advances in opposing directions, one starting in Salford and the other in Japan.

The characterisation of both Fleur and Chinatsu is detailed and fascinating. This is a profoundly female book.

By William Thirsk-Gaskill

Read more…

The femme fatale, evil and Killing Daniel

IS GENRE CRIMINAL?

Sarah Dobbs

What's the point of genre? Perhaps the most immediate answer is that it helps agents, publishers and booksellers to get the book to the reader. In the past, I've liked it for its time-saving qualities. You want to read science fiction. You go to the small island wedged between vampires and travel guides. You pull out a decent Ian (M) Banks and you're on your way. An interesting aside on the apparent growth of the science fiction section - vampire books do not constitute sci-fi (well, not most of the time).

Initially, I was quite irked at the suggestion that my novel, Killing Daniel, belonged in the crime genre.

Read more here...
http://www.unthankbooks.com/node/46

‘Killing Daniel’ by Sarah Dobbs

‘Killing Daniel’ by Sarah Dobbs.

This is a superbly written book.� It is fast paced and very gripping.� Within the first few pages I was hooked and when I wasn’t reading it I found myself thinking about the characters and the storyline.� I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.�

Read more…

via ‘Killing Daniel’ by Sarah Dobbs.

Killing Daniel launch #1 – Photos and Fun. Full stop.

I’m a fan of photos. I have that thing of my mothers that made her hoard plastic bags at the bottom of every wardrobe door. Stuffed with photos. Photos at the beach with ice cream and pigtails and my cousins and brother. Present piles at Xmas, through the years, cats. Dogs. Relatives. It’s a good flipping job things are digital these days, because I live in a tiny flat and I’ve got millions of the suckers.

Here’s a selection from the Norwich launch of Unthology 3 and Killing Daniel.

I surprised myself by not being falling-over twitchy nervous and being able to listen to the other wonderful readers – Sandra Jensen, who is just cool, right?, CD Rose (funny man destined for Russia a few hours after his reading!), Sharon Zink in her kitten shoes and The Ashley Stokes who is possibly a magician as he can do everything.

I’ll save the nerves for the Manchester launch. Nothing like having to swear in front of your parents eh?

Please come if you can, it’s destined to be a fun night. We’ll be drinking, reading and hopefully running out of books on 13 December, King’s Arms, Salford. Kicking off at 7.30pm.

We’re also celebrating (Northern-style) the launch of Unthology #3 and happy to announce that AJ Ashworth will be reading from her story ‘Monolith’.  Debz Hobbs-Wyatt will also be reading from ‘A Theory of Circles’. Both beautiful and intriguing stories from Unthology 3. The latter was nominated for a Pushcart Prize! Reviews here -http://rumandreviews.com/2012/11/19/unthology-no-3/

There’s an event page here if you want to sign up!

https://www.facebook.com/events/304332339672605/

Anyway, piccies. Courtesy of @TommyCollin

It was fun. Full stop.

You can order Killing Daniel and Unthology3 for £10 direct from Unthank – email information@unthankbooks.com

Shock and Circumstance

A review of Killing Daniel by Max Dunbar @3am Magazine

This is a very dark and frightening novel, told in short chapters and brief sentences, that pass like the shivers of bad dreams. Protagonist Fleur is living in an abusive relationship in Manchester: she manages to escape her scumfuck boyfriend, only to fall into a series of nasty and inconclusive one-nighters with various men picked up in Oxford Road bars. (One memorable opening gambit: ‘Have you ever fucked in a meat freezer? My kid brother’s a butcher. I’ve the keys to his shop.’) She has a counterpart in her old Japanese penpal Chinatsu, locked in an arranged marriage to the sociopathic Yugi, a businessman who is terrified of intimacy with his wife and gets his real satisfaction from the sadomasochistic domination of prostitutes. The novel follows the expected convergence and parallels.

Read more…

Shock and Circumstance.

Guest Post by the talented writer Sarah Dobbs

I’m interviewed here by Debz Hobbs-Wyatt

Guest Post by the talented writer Sarah Dobbs.

via Guest Post by the talented writer Sarah Dobbs.

Out Now! – (plus freebie)

Given that it’s been such a long process, ‘out now’ feels like it’s been A Long Time Coming.

But yes, Killing Daniel is, in fact, OUT NOW.

To celebrate, I’m giving away a nice, shiny copy of the novel to the first person picked out of the hat (Tesco carrier bag) at midnight (well, 12.01). To enter, simply reblog this post or follow me on Twitter @sarahjanedobbs and RT this status:

Killing Daniel @UnthankBooks is out now! Win a shiny signed copy by RTing between now & midnight. Good luck! http://goo.gl/jaTPM

Good luck! And thanks to everyone who has shared and supported us so far!

Sarah

x

UPDATE: 6/11/12 (just)

Thanks to everyone who entered the @KillingDaniel competition. We had about 50 entries, excluding my mum. The winner was… dun dun DUN @great_tea.

The publishers have very kindly said that everyone who did enter is allowed the book at 23% off. I know this because I asked my brother how to calculate the figures and he’s a genius. Anyway, that’s good. Killing Daniel for a tenner, plus free postage.

To get it for this price, you need to buy direct from the publishers:

www.unthankbooks.com/node/23

Simply email information@unthankbooks.com with your order and mention that you entered the  competition… I’ll back you up!

x

News, Reviews and Oslo, baby

So, Killing Daniel is out on Monday. Bang! Fireworks and all that. The build-up is starting to get quite exciting with fortune cookies afoot at the Norwich launch which takes place on 9 November to kick off the Unlit Festival!

I’m escaping the country tonight for a weekend in Oslo. The excitement is all too much! No, it was booked ahead.

The day I get back the book will be properly pre-orderable. Although I know people who pre-ordered theirs ages ago have them already! I’ve actually signed one. That’s a weird feeling. As are the reviews. I thought it would be difficult to take, but there aren’t any (yet) they make me want to curl up, strain out my writerly ambitions, and become a police woman. Or something like that. You know, something sensible.

What it has made me do, and reaffirmed, is a drive to keep changing and improving. Writing evolves as you do, I reckon and any critiques fuel this desire in me. We had a visiting writer at Edge Hill recently, Joe Stretch (very funny) and he said that all novels are imperfect. I picked up on this perhaps because I hope it’s true but it also makes sense. There are many novels I’ve loved – Troll, Johanna Sinisalo, Electricity, Ray Robinson, Sleep with Me, Joanna Briscoe etc, but none were exactly, precisely as I would have wanted them. For me, this reader. 

You can read a compilation of all the recent reviews about Killing Daniel here, and see what you think. Thanks to everyone who’s been kind and nice. Please leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads if you have the time – it helps! Honest!

More news soon about the Manchester launch, which will take place at the King’s Arms, just in time for Xmas. I’ll have to bring some mulled wine.

x

 

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