Non cliff jumping with new Author Alex Gunn
ALEX GUNN – Of course, hard to imagine why anyone wouldn’t!
ALEX GUNN –Unfortunately not – they probably wouldn’t have gotten on with the dog! Besides, their propensity for adventure and mischief may have been a little too much for me to deal with. My friend’s hamster escaped his cage one time then turned up about a week later covered in fluff (thankfully no worse for wear)! I’m sure he had a great time, but that sort of thing would be too much for my heart to take…
ALEX GUNN I did take some inspiration from my own experiences and people in my life when writing the characters and storylines, though I’m happy to say that some of the more harrowing experiences were embellished for the sake of drama! Thankfully my wonderful father (with his own years of writing and editing experience) helped to temper that streak in me and help make it a little more grounded. Nonetheless, I like to think that it presents a reasonably realistic picture of small-town life in the nascent years of social media, and I’m hoping it will be as much a learning experience for any readers as it is an enjoyable one.
ALEX GUNN – –My first two years of secondary school were at Arbroath High School, followed be a move to Bell Baxter High School in Fife at the beginning of my third year. I can’t say I had the easiest time at either location, as while I managed to form little pockets of friendships my somewhat bohemian personality was not always well-received by my fellow students.
Arbroath in particular was not the easiest time for me, often feeling like the butt of others’ jokes and not quite knowing how to fit in with my peers.
Bell Baxter, by contrast, was an interesting setup as the school was located in a smaller town with many students bussing in from smaller surrounding villages, meaning I had to share two trips a day with other Newburgh students (many of made it their business to make these journeys rather unpleasant for me). Nevertheless, I managed to make some pretty special friends and while I can’t say I miss school an awful lot, it was my later teen years where I finally started to feel a sense of belonging and change because of them. This notion of having come out the other end of a challenging childhood is something I have tried to reflect in Soft As Nails, as I fervently believe that no one need be defined by their early years and we all have the chance to do better for ourselves.
ALEX GUNN —Ah… I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that as like most authors and creatives I’m actually very shy and humble.
But yes, I’ve done a few Edinburgh performances in my time, largely as part of local theatre company Cat Like Tread who specialise in Gilbert and Sullivan performances, as well as a three-week run of Avenue Q in 2022 because my friend couldn’t do it and they needed someone else who could sing in a decent American accent. I’m still not totally sure how I managed to do that alongside my day-job but now I can legitimately add “professional puppeteer” to my CV so I’m not complaining.
ALEX GUNN —As long as you tell everyone how great I was then please do! And tell your friends: I’ve never performed to an all-hamster audience before and we could probably make a killing since we could fit loads more of you into the seats!
ALEX GUNN –A nice walk along Victoria cliffs (dog optional) was something that always helped clear my mind back in the day, and I heard other (braver and more reckless) people would recommend cliff jumping if you were feeling especially adventurous!
Once you’ve worked up an appetite there, you simply must head down to the harbour to get yourself some Arbroath Smokies – I promise you’ll never go back to regular fish!
If you’re looking for even more adrenaline, enjoy watching the Red Lichties play a game of footy as Gayfield Stadium and finish the day off with some arcade games at the nearby Pleasureland (gosh, I’m getting all nostalgic just thinking about it).
Hoping to use the no doubt resounding success of my first published work as a springboard into other creative works, including another book I have started, a webcomic series, and some poetic endeavours if I have any time left over! I’ll also be sure to let you know about my next festival performance: every ticket sold helps convince my castmates that I’m just as popular and talented as I have convinced myself I am! Watch this space…!
Scotland . . . 2005
The Rainbow Parliament sits in Holyrood. Myspace and MSN Messenger are kings.
And 16 year old Trey Weaver, expelled from school in an east coast town after letting himself be provoked into a series of violent attacks on his fellow pupils, is hoping to start a new life when he moves with his mother and stepfather to the bigger pond of Glasgow.
When Trey gets to know Tess Granger, the daughter of a local bar manager, he dreams that things might finally be on the right track. Tess is tired of being lusted after for her looks, and Trey seems – well, there’s something about him. A bit different.
But there’s a serious complication in the formidable shape of brutal gang leader Jonathan “Nails” Milburn, who is estranged from his father and lives in a nearby squat with his addict sister Karen. Nails has his own designs on Tess, and he’s not keen to take no for an answer.
The scene is set for a titanic struggle between Trey and Nails, which for better or worse will change the lives of all the major players forever.
Meet the Author
Alex Gunn was born in Arbroath in Angus, Scotland in 1989 and spent his formative years there before moving to the North Fife town of Newburgh with his family in 2003. He was educated at Inverbrothock Primary School and Arbroath High School, and latterly at Bell Baxter High School in Cupar. Although not based in major population areas, these are two of Scotland’s biggest comprehensive secondary schools, drawing from diverse and difficult catchment areas.
Alex completed an honours degree in Politics and Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh in 2011, and worked at a number of jobs reflecting his interest in neurodiversity before undertaking postgraduate studies and training as a social worker specialising in the protection of children. He is currently employed in a senior role by the City of Edinburgh Council, and in his spare time enjoys among other things video gaming and performing in musicals at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Soft As Nails is Alex’s first novel. The first draft, loosely based on his experiences at secondary school, was completed in the summer of 2006, as he was awaiting the results of his SQA Higher Grade exams. It underwent several revisions over the following few years, but then things happened, as they do, and it’s taken until now, nearly 20 years later, to revisit the project and get it into a state fit for publication.
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