New Contract!

Great news - Samhain Publishing accepted my proposal for a new novel. Now, I initially called it Sheep and Scrap Metal as a kind of joke, but my Samhain editor liked it, and it seems to have stuck. I was so inspired during our recent visit to the Isle of Arran that I drafted out a complete plot during the week we were there, which is unheard of - normally I like to agonise for a month at least. I've agreed a finish date of September and I'll keep you posted with any news about a publication date.

The contrasts of Arran were what set me off on thinking about plot. It's one of the most beautiful, magical places I've ever seen. Have a look at my website and the photos my clever webmistress has posted for me...

www.harperfox.net/inspiration/

(there's some images for Last Line there too), and here's another...



It's stunning, and yet most of the people I spoke to were holding down two or three jobs to make ends meet. The papers were full of adverts from farmers selling up their land, and the only industry that seemed to be thriving was tourism. We went there in February, and in between the blazing sunlight and glorious sunsets we had a couple of bitter, stormy days when it felt like the most unforgiving place imaginable. It made me turn over in my mind ideas about a young man called Nichol, who'd been happily enjoying bright lights and casual sex in Edinburgh until the death of his mother and elder brother summon him back to the family farm and his curmudgeonly old grandfather, who wants to die on the land where he's lived all his life. The farmhouse in the website gallery suggested itself as a perfectly gloomy and atmospheric backdrop, and I imagined Nichol struggling there, lonely and sinking under the weight of all the work, until one night he hears the sound of someone breaking into his barn, and goes out with his shotgun to find Cameron, a frightened runaway from Glasgow with a lot to hide.

I'm really enjoying writing this book. I adored writing Last Line, but I had to go into some very dark psychological places with Michael and John, and Cam and Nichol's problems, whilst fraught with their own kinds of peril, unfold a lot closer to the earth and nature.

Do have a look around the website. My webmistress has made it look great and I hope the pictures enhance Last Line for you and give you a tempting taster of Sheep and Scrap Metal. Enjoy! xxx