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Yes, imagine! And then make it, and give me cash! Chris at Adarna SF has posted a thoughtful review of Coffin Dodgers, for which I’m very grateful. I think the criticisms are spot-on too. Despite these hiccups, I really commend Gary Marshall for coming up with a well-written (and well-edited) debut mystery. There are moments… [more]
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Me, on Techradar: In times of great excitement, I like to paraphrase Noddy Holder – and today is one of those times. Ready? So here it is, Merry Christmas Everybody’s Having Fun Apart from all the Android firms Who are probably chucking themselves off bridges right now [more]
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I received an email from Amazon this morning: during a quality check they’ve spotted a major, show-stopping problem with the Kindle edition of Coffin Dodgers, and I must fix it as soon as possible. The problem? A single typo. [more]
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Chuck Wendig wrote this post for writers, but I think it’s relevant to any kind of creative activity: Suddenly Old Mister Doubt is jabbering in your ear. You’re not good enough. You’ll never make it, you know. Everyone’s disappointed in you. Where are your pants? Normal people wear pants. …self-doubt is the enemy of the… [more]
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A lovely piece by Taylor Parkes on the genius of Half Man Half Biscuit: Even now, there’s still this perception of Half Man Half Biscuit as a comedy band: a post-punk Grumbleweeds, the indie Stilgoe. No group in history can have been so woefully misunderstood – Half Man Half Biscuit are, in fact, an antidote to… [more]
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I was at a book reading by Christopher Brookmyre and Mark Billingham a few weeks ago, and Billingham described some of the angry letters he gets from readers outraged that he uses the odd swear word – but not, it seems, outraged by some of the absolutely appalling things his villains do. It seems to… [more]
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I love REM, and while I’m not surprised they’ve split up – that’s been on the cards for a decade, maybe more – it’s still a wee bit sad. Unless there’s a reunion tour somewhere down the line I won’t get to see them live again, and there won’t be any more records as weird… [more]
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I thought it might be an idea to do a huge ebook-advice post based on the various discussions we’ve had here and on other sites, so that’s what I’ve done: an enormous A to Z of ebook publishing aimed at would-be ebook publishers. If there’s anything I’ve missed or got hopelessly wrong, I’m sure you’ll… [more]
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No, not Lulu the loud Lennoxtown song-shouter – I mean Lulu.com the print-on-demand publisher. The service’s new ebook wing offers “a best-in-class Word to ePub converter”, a 90/10 royalty split and distribution to other platforms such as the iPad and the Nook. It sounds very like Smashwords: it’ll provide you with an ISBN, act as… [more]
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I stopped smoking two years ago today. I don’t miss the cigarettes, but I do miss being thin. [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
