Guests – Page 2 – Grab This Book

Book Chains 2.1 – Derek Farrell

A couple of years ago I started a Q&A feature which I called Book Chains. The idea was that I would chat with a guest and ask my guest to nominate the next guest – chaining together a sequence of interviews.

I broke my own chain when work interfered with blogging and my planned interview with Derek Farrell (as nominated by Mark Hill) never saw the light of day.

Until Now.

Book Chains is back – this is the second chain (as I broke the original) and it only seemed right that I begin afresh by FINALLY catching up with Derek Farrell.

Hi Derek. My first Question is always the same, I ask you to introduce yourself and give you the floor to shamelessly promote your books…

Hi. I’m Derek Farrell, and I write The Danny Bird Mysteries, which are a series of contemporary crime novels set in London and centering around the Grimiest Gay Bar in the world.

I grew up in Dublin a couple of streets from the Guinness brewery, but moved to London many years ago, and have lived in – and fallen in love with – most parts of the city over the years, while still managing to hold down a range of jobs as a Burger dresser, Banker and David Bowie’s paperboy. And now I wrangle Danny and the gang at The Marq.

Next I have to ask for another introduction – can you tell us about Danny Bird?

Danny Bird is an everyman character. He’s smart and he’s loyal and he’s funny. And he has a very developed sense of justice and a pronounced aversion to injustice, which makes him a great detective to have in a series like this. Unlike certain other detectives, he’s not always entirely convinced of his own ability to navigate the world, which is why he needs his family and his friends around him. I very much wanted to make Danny – right from the start – part of a community; someone who wasn’t a lone wolf, but who was loved by – and loves back – people.

Death of an Angel sees Danny drawn into the centre of events for reasons he doesn’t immediately understand. Is it more fun to screw with your character and place them under suspicion than having them take the “outsider looking-in” approach to an investigation?

Oh, always. I think we’ve all been unfairly accused of stuff in our lives. And outside looking in gives you the option to walk away. Unfairly accused tends to suck you in so that you either prove the accusation unfounded or you’re haunted by it – and the repercussions – for the rest of your life.

Is it fair to say that your books offer readers an alternative to the domestic thrillers where families with 2.4 children keep their secrets securely hidden behind their privet hedges? Why do you feel there a reluctance for publishers to look to different family or social dynamics in the books they release?

Actually, all my books are about family secrets, in one way or another. Danny’s family is a really close unit – his dad is a huge part of the first couple of books, his nephews are fan favourites, and as we progress, the rest of his family are becoming more present in the stories; on top of this he has his found family too – Caz, Ali, Nick and so on – and so I’m fairly happy saying that at the heart of every Danny book is family or community. I’ve talked before about how Death of a Diva was dismissed by some in the industry as “Too gay,” “Too camp,” etc, but to be honest, I think most industries – especially those in the creative space, where success is dependent on so many variables – tend to look for something that resembles something else that’s already been successful, hence the reluctance to put investment behind a book with a more overt LGBT lead than the average Dan Brown. But things will change.

The “Death Of” series now comprises four books, Death of an Angel reaching readers within the last few weeks. Is there more Danny to come or would you consider a stand-alone story at some point?

There’s more. Number 5 is currently Death of a Title Pending, but is well under way, and number 6 has a slot in the diary. In between I’m going to work on something else – a non Danny novel, with crime and dark secrets at its heart, but that’s all I’m going to say about any of those projects for now.

When Death of a Diva first released was it always your intention to go on to develop a series of books?

One of my totems all along, to be honest, has been the Tales of the City books by Armistead Maupin. I loved the idea of exploring London at first and possibly the world through the eyes of these characters, and of their family becoming family to the readers over time, but honestly, when Diva was written I had no idea it would ever be published. My approach was to write really detailed character sketches for each of the characters (including the pub itself) and so by the time I started the book I already knew their life stories, their familial relationships, what they loved in and wanted from life, and what terrified them. So – as a result – I had a bunch of ideas for other stories in my head which had come out of their histories. But when I pitched Diva to Fahrenheit press I hadn’t got beyond a plot sketch for Death of a Nobody.

They, of course, asked if it was a series, and I said “Oh yeah. Absolutely. Second one’s almost done,” then wrote furiously in terror they’d ask to see it.

Your publisher, Fahrenheit Press, are one of the most vocal and…lets go with edgy… publishing houses on Social Media. They have their devoted following of Fahrenistas. Likewise, Karen Sullivan’s Orenda Books have a very dedicated fanbase amongst bloggers and readers. Do you feel Indy publishers have to operate as a more supportive network and does that make it more fun?

So my only direct experience is of the indie publishing world, but I have friends who are published across the spectrum from self to indie to trad to big 5 to Thomas & Mercer, and almost every single author I have met has been welcoming and funny and humble and I can not thank the universe enough for getting me to this place. My husband and I were talking a week or two ago. Many people know that Diva was accepted for publication a few months after my mother died, and that her death was an almost impossibly dark time for me. I really didn’t know how I’d go on from that, and my husband commented on how from so much darkness this brilliance has come: I’m making art that people have fallen in love with, “And you’ve found your tribe,” he said, smiling.

And I knew exactly what he meant.

Writing – making any art and putting it out into the public sphere – is scary. It really is. But being surrounded by other people who are doing it – who are succeeding and failing and trying – is an amazing and genuinely beautiful thing. And getting to do events – in the next few months I’ve got a panel at Newcastle Noir with some great mates, I’m reading from Danny at Noir At The Bar in Newcastle, and I’m part of a Polari Salon in Morecambe – is brilliant because everyone – readers, bloggers, authors, publishers, editors – gets along, has fun, and makes amazing memories (none of which can ever be written about. Them’s the rules.)

Lets do a few quick fire questions.

Where was your first author appearance?

Iceland Noir. Reykjavik. 2016. I was on the Swearing panel with Val McDermid, Craig Robertson, James Law and moderated by Grant Nicholl. The other three ate me alive.

Your bookcases are on fire and you can save one single book from your collection – which book?

The Aztec Skull by Anthea Goddard. I read it when I was 8 or 9, and then borrowed it from the library every month for about a year. A few years ago I got an old copy via EBay and it still makes me cry when I read it, but it’s out of print now so would be hard to get hold of.

Lord of the Rings. Epic fantasy classic or load of old tosh?

Not for me, thank you. I love me some epic fantasy – the Dorian Hawkmoon / Count Brass books by Michael Moorcock are some of my favourites of all time, but they are all story, and I find LOTR, well, isn’t.

Beyoncé or Kylie?

Kylie. Every time. Her mere existence makes me so happy.

Last film you saw at the cinema?

Captain Marvel. I loved it – it had a plot and didn’t spend an hour and a half referencing other MCU movies I couldn’t remember seeing.

First record you bought?

First one I loved: The OST of My Fair Lady with Audrey and Rex on the cover. First one I bought: The 7” single of Mama Mia by Abba (I was 7 years old so probably bought with birthday money). I still have the single cos I am an inveterate hoarder.

Give me an unpopular opinion which you will argue blind to defend?

David Bowie’s 80s output wasn’t as bad as people think it was.

Huge thanks to Derek for taking the time to answer my questions. He has a lush new website where you can discover more about the man himself (and I am sure his books get a mention or two as well). https://www.derekfarrell.co.uk/

Derek has very kindly nominated my next guest. If this new Book Chain is to continue beyond a single “link” then his nominated author will need to agree to chat with me. Fingers Crossed!

Category: Guests | Comments Off

October 29

A Series Business – Mason Cross

Regular visitors will know that I love to read about recurring characters and watch their story develop over a number of books. This feature, A Series Business, was created so that I could ask authors to discuss all their books and try to put the focus on the wonderful back catalogue available for readers.

Today I am joined by Mason Cross, author of the Carter Blake books.

I never begin with a question. Could I ask you to introduce yourself and ask you to ensure you take full advantage of this opportunity to plug your books?

Thank you! I’m from Glasgow and I write American thrillers, just to confuse people. The first Carter Blake book, The Killing Season, was published in 2014 by Orion, and so far there have been four more Blake books: The Samaritan, The Time to Kill (aka Winterlong), Don’t Look For Me and Presumed Dead.

I live outside the city with my wife and three kids, and I procrastinate a lot.

As the purpose of A Series Business is to discuss the Carter Blake books could you now introduce us to Mr Blake?

Carter Blake is a freelance person locator. He finds people who don’t want to be found. That can be almost anyone, from a spree killer roaming across several states, to a missing person thought long-dead, to someone who’s on the run with a shipment of stolen diamonds. He’s not tied down to any one city or supporting cast, so he gets to explore the map quite a bit.

Had it always been your intention to build a series around a recurring character?

Yes. I knew publishers liked series, and a lot of the books I liked to read featured recurring characters. I think one of the reasons they’re popular is that the reader can see the character develop over a number of books, even though each one has a self-contained story. Readers like to check in with an old friend who they’ve been reading about for years.

Have you a character path mapped out and are you building up towards key events? Or is the future for Blake still unclear, even to you?

Nope. It’s a mystery. I had the key events in the first three books roughly mapped out before I wrote them, but I’m not sure what the future holds for Blake. I think if I had too rigid a plan it would probably get stale, for me and the reader. That said, there are some characters from previous books I definitely think Blake will meet again.

Have you written anything thus far in the series which you now wish you could undo?

Kind of… he doesn’t have a passport, and is on a No Fly list, which means no trips overseas for the time being. I don’t think there’s anything too major though.

Do you include “spoilers” from earlier stories in subsequent books? If I were to be reading out of order could I possibly learn of a character death or a murderer’s identity which was a twist in an earlier story?

There might be the odd small spoiler, but hopefully nothing to spoil the enjoyment of earlier books. Although Blake’s story is a through-line, the books are designed to be read as self-contained stories. As long as you know Blake looks for people who don’t want to be found, that should be all the information you need to start reading any of the books.

Do your characters age in real time, living through current events and tech developments or are they wrapped in a creative bubble which allows you to draw only on what you need for the latest book?

Real time. Each book takes place in the year it’s published, and I always know the exact dates when the action unfolds, down to the average temperature and what time the sun sets in that location on that day of the year. It’s much easier to keep things consistent when you know when the books happen in relation to each other. I actually enjoy the challenge of keeping up with new technology. A few years ago people thought the mobile phone would kill the thriller, but it hasn’t happened. I think there are always ways to make technology work in the service of your story.

Do you have ideas for a book which just don’t fit in the Carter Blake world? Is there a standalone story crying out to be written?

Yes, and I’m writing one just now in fact! I like done-in-one stories, and it’s been fun to write something completely different. In each of the Blake books I’ve had a point of view character who is, for want of a better word, the ‘normal person’ – the audience stand-in. The book I’m working on just now has a protagonist very much like those characters.

Can a Carter Blake novel end in a cliff-hanger?

Not a cliffhanger per se, but certainly with unresolved questions. The current one, Presumed Dead, ends with something big unresolved, even though the mystery itself is solved.

Colin Dexter famously killed off Inspector Morse. Agatha Christie wrote Poirot’s death and then released dozens more Poirot stories before Curtain was published. Will there ever be a “final” Carter Blake story?

There’s a rumour that John D. Macdonald wrote a final Travis McGee novel that has never been published. I do love the idea of having a final story under wraps so you know where everything’s going to end up.

It’s nice to think of having a closing chapter, but I don’t know if it’s advisable. Mark Billingham says readers wouldn’t be particularly bothered if the author died, but they would be really pissed off if the hero of the books dies.

My thanks to Mason for joining me today. You can order all of the Carter Blake books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mason-Cross/e/B00FWO52KC/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1540843330&sr=8-1

Category: Guests, Uncategorized | Comments Off

August 3

A Series Business – Michael J Malone

A brief return for my “A Series Business” feature but a very welcome return of Michael J Malone to Grab This Book. Michael is republishing the first two books in his excellent Ray McBain series and I thought this would be a good time to look back at when that first story was written and consider how Ray (and Michael) took the stories forward.

Before I share our conversation it is important to know that the first book in the Ray McBain series is Blood Tears which (at time of writing) can be purchased AT NO COST here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Tears-McBain-ONeill-Novel-ebook/dp/B07F2R3R9H/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

The first in a series of books with D.I. Ray McBain – a Glasgow detective who turns to his best friend, Kenny O’Neill when he goes on the run after he becomes the prime suspect in a grisly murder.

An old man is found murdered in his Glasgow flat. DI Ray McBain is called to the scene and is the first to notice that the man’s wounds mirror the Stigmata. The police quickly discover that the victim is a former janitor who worked in several care homes where he abused his charges. Is someone taking revenge thirty years after the fact?

McBain, as a child was a resident of Bethlehem House, a Catholic run care home where the murdered man worked and early on in the investigation, McBain decides to hide a crucial bit of evidence relating to his stay in the convent orphanage.

When his superiors find out, McBain becomes the prime suspect in the case and has to make a decision which will leave him on the run and alone, trying to solve the murders and, at the same time, the puzzle of his past – a past that is pushing into the present with a recurring suffocating dream of blood and feathers that descends on him every night.

And without further ado…Mr Malone on McBain.

I never begin with a question. Could I ask you to introduce yourself and ask you to ensure you take full advantage of this opportunity to plug your books?

My name is Michael J Malone. I’ve published 9 books (so far) and 2 collections of poetry (ditto). I live in Ayrshire. I’ve touched on issues over my career like mental health, homelessness, PTSD, male spousal abuse, child abuse in Catholic homes, the evils of colonialism – while along the way getting to exercise a few demons, kill a few people and have a few laughs. I write the McBain and O’Neill novels, set in Glasgow and I’ve also written a few standalones – The Guillotine Choice, A Suitable Lie, House of Spines – and September’s release is called After He Died.

As the purpose of A Series Business is to discuss the DI Ray McBain books could you now introduce us to Ray?

Ray was one of those gifts from the sub-conscious that arrive on the page as if fully formed. He rose in the police rank fairly quickly due to his work-ethic and intelligence. He’s also a product of his background – he was in one of those Catholic homes I mentioned in the previous question – and that has left him with (I hope) an interesting collection of baggage. He can be abrasive, doesn’t suffer fool gladly, and has an issue with food.

Had it always been your intention to build a series around a recurring character?

No. I just had an ambition to finish a novel that I had started. An idea that came from a dream. And in that dream I wrote a full novel- but could only remember one central image from it when I woke up. A naked man in front of a mirror. He’s holding a scalpel in one hand and with the other he places a white featureless mask over his face. Then he takes the scalpel and makes an incision on the lower eyelid of one of his eyes, presses the mask close to allow a tear of blood to slide down the white cheek of the mask. That went on to be the opening scene of Blood Tears.

That the characters I wrote about in this book came back was a surprise to me.

Have you a character path mapped out and are you building up towards key events? Or is the future for Ray still unclear, even to you?

I have no clue how I’m going to finish the book when I start writing it, so I have no hope of even considering a long term character arc. So yes, his future is unclear. I’m in awe of writers who can do that and wish I was more like them.

Have you written anything thus far in the series which you now wish you could undo?

Good question – and no. What has happened has happened for a good reason, to undo that might mean the earlier work is in some way weaker. I think you have to write the current book in a bubble – make it the best book you can make it – leaving everything on the field of play as an athlete might say. Holding back so it suits later work? I can’t work like that.

Some authors are clearly skillful planners and can do that, but so far it’s beyond me.

Each book in the series can be read on its own. But unfortunately there are moments which have serious consequences on Ray that can’t be avoided as a “spoiler” in the next book, or it wouldn’t make sense. The series reader would be scratching their head and asking WTF? – particularly in the last couple of books in the series.

Do your characters age in real time, living through current events and tech developments or are they wrapped in a creative bubble which allows you to draw only on what you need for the latest book?

I’m one of those writers who struggle with timelines. There’s something about numbers that leave me as if partially blind. But my answer is kinda, and kinda. As I’ve hinted earlier Ray goes through some serious shit, and that has consequences – if not, what is the point – no one could deal with what he does and come out the other side unmarked. To answer your question then, he does age, he is affected by events, but he also lives in a bubble.

My approach when writing these books has always been that he is a man who just happens to be a policeman. So this means he has a life outside of the job – and that means – to me at least – the books are more than being about the puzzle of the whodunit. And I hope this makes him more interesting to the reader (I always prefer that kind of approach) and that brings with it those pesky consequences that have to be observed or the whole thing just doesn’t make sense.

You have written several stand alone titles, do you come up with an idea and decide if it is suitable to build it around Ray or does the publishing cycle dictate when a Ray story has to arrive?

The publisher dictates which is which. My standalones are published with Orenda Books. The McBain and O’Neill novels are published with Saraband. McBain and O’Neill are distinct enough in my mind that if an idea arrives it is intrinsically linked to those characters –whereas the standalones rise in my imagination completely separate from that.

Can a Ray McBain novel end in a cliff-hanger?

(NB – I am avoiding spoilers but I know the answer to this)

It certainly can. Wink. *taps side of nose* I’ll say no more. Other than to say that one reader wrote to me after reading the book with the cliff-hanger to say that her response was the most visceral reaction she’d ever had to a book. Which is nice.

Jeez, I don’t know. There’s certainly more mileage in there, but I’m giving him (and me) a break at the moment while I concentrate on the standalones. The events of the last couple of his novels are such that he can’t go without a lapse of time to lick his physical and mental wounds. It would feel disingenuous to carry on without observing that. And to be honest, any ideas I’ve had recently are ones that wouldn’t suit him. It’s as if he’s gone quiet in my mind and he’s sitting in a corner, comfortable, resting, recuperating, waiting for the right idea to come along.

I do enjoy writing about his and Kenny O’Neill’s world, so I hope that he’s not too silent in my imagination for too much longer.

My thanks to Michael. That description of the “mask scene” in Blood Tears chills me!

All Michael’s books can be found and ordered through this handy wee link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-J-Malone/e/B009WV9V4Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1533234860&sr=8-2-ent

The Blood Tears blog tour continues…

Category: Blog Tours, Guests | Comments Off

July 4

Straker’s Journey – Paul Hardisty

Welcome to the latest leg of the Claymore Straker journey – as brought to us by Paul Hardisty. We began our trip with Liz Loves Books before moving to Off The Shelf Books then to Espresso Coco. All those names link to you the journey and I’d highly recommend lingering on each blog once you have caught up with Straker and exploring the other content shared by Liz, Victoria and Dave.

Today we are concentrating on book three – Reconciliation for the Dead and I pass you to Mr Hardisty:

In the third instalment, Reconciliation for the Dead, I wanted to tell the story of how Clay comes to be the deeply disturbed man we meet in the first two books. Essentially a prequel, it opens in 1997, in the aftermath of events in Cyprus. Determined to somehow atone for the sins of his past, Clay has returned to South Africa to testify to Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Rania has returned to Paris, married, and is again working as a journalist. As Clay testifies, we are drawn back to 1980. Clay is a twenty-year old paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in the Border War in Angola. All his illusions are shattered when he comes face-to-face with the real reasons for the war, and finds himself complicit in the most unspeakable atrocities. As with the other books, I was going for realism and historical accuracy.

Reconciliation for the Dead is published by Orenda Books and is available in digital and paperback format. Here is the overview…

Fresh from events in Yemen and Cyprus, vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker returns to South Africa, seeking absolution for the sins of his past. Over four days, he testifies to Desmond Tutu’s newly established Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recounting the shattering events that led to his dishonourable discharge and exile, fifteen years earlier. It was 1980. The height of the Cold War. Clay is a young paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in Angola against the Communist insurgency that threatens to topple the White Apartheid regime. On a patrol deep inside Angola, Clay, and his best friend, Eben Barstow, find themselves enmeshed in a tangled conspiracy that threatens everything they have been taught to believe about war, and the sacrifices that they, and their brothers in arms, are expected to make. Witness and unwitting accomplice to an act of shocking brutality, Clay changes allegiance and finds himself labelled a deserter and accused of high treason, setting him on a journey into the dark, twisted heart of institutionalised hatred, from which no one will emerge unscathed.

Order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reconciliation-Dead-Claymore-Straker-Hardisty-ebook/dp/B01MTVTHRN/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1530726066&sr=1-3

Category: Guests | Comments Off

June 24

Mark Brownless Q&A – The Hand of an Angel

Yesterday I shared my review of the darkly chilling The Hand of an Angel. If you missed that then you can catch up here.

This weekend is the blog tour for The Hand of an Angel and I am thrilled to be joined by author, Mark Brownless, as we chat about the nature of his story and consider why hospitals can be perfect settings for creepy tales:

The Hand of an Angel does get very dark in places. I had a quick check on Amazon and spotted it is ranked in Science Fiction and Fantasy classification and also Medical Thrillers – could consideration be made to class it as a Horror tale?

The book does cross a few genres, which creates its own challenges when trying to categorise and promote it for the reader – Sarah Pinborough has had huge success of late by doing this, however. There are science fiction elements, but it’s more ‘fictional science’ rather than spaceships and aliens.

Essentially The Hand of an Angel is a psychological medical thriller. It plays with the idea of reality – what is real? Do we believe all the main character says he’s seen when he has his near death experience, or is it the product of an oxygen-starved brain?

I’ve always been fascinated by unexplained phenomena like near death experience in this case, alien abduction, Nessie and Bigfoot. These type of themes lend themselves to the horror genre from the fear of the unknown, and I agree, that late on there are some more horror-type elements in the book. When I wrote the ending I had Stephen King in mind with some of his big set pieces like at the end of It and Needful Things. The tension building over the last few chapters, and the increasing presence of Hoody has that supernatural element as well. I hope people find it satisfying.

Much of the story is set around a hospital. All those rooms, all those corridors, the strange contraptions and the ever present presence of illness and even death. Does a hospital make a great setting for a thriller? As a supplemental question…are there too few medical thrillers?

Oh yeah, hospitals make great locations. I had to build my own hospital in The Hand of an Angel, because I didn’t know of one that had all the elements I needed for the story. If we are talking about scary hospitals, one has to think of Victorian asylums. I had great fun in writing about the old parts of ‘my’ hospital and trying to make them have that kind of feel in the type of bricks used and the design of the corridors, etc. The hospital is such an integral part of the story that I’ve always felt it’s a character in itself – the old and the new struggling with each other, the underfunded research wing that hasn’t even been completed, in contrast to the ostentatious atrium foyer and glass roof.

I’m not sure if there are too few medical thrillers. I love Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta books, but there are a lot of others in that pathologist / post mortem sub-genre. I think a medical thriller has to be intrinsically medical – it can’t just be a story that happens to be set in a hospital or with doctors and nurses, so in that sense there may be too few. There are a lot of good medical thrillers out there, though, and I hope mine measures up.

The one element I found most disturbing in The Hand of an Angel was the transformation in the lead character, Tom, through the story. Is it fun to build up a character to then break him down or did some guilt creep in?

The book starts off slowly with us getting to know the family at the centre of the story. I really want you to get to know them, to share some experiences with them almost as if you are part of their family. As a kid I read a lot of James Herbert. His book, The Magic Cottage, spent the first hundred pages or so building the relationship of this couple in their holiday home. I loved it and actually didn’t like it when Herbert started to pull the rug out from under them. So yes, I want you to like Tom and Sarah and the family, and I want you to be annoyed with me when bad stuff happens. Because it does.

What comes next from Mark Brownless? Is there a work in progress which you can chat about?

Well I’m just about to upload the second of my Locksley short story series to Amazon for pre-order. It’s a re-telling of Robin Hood and arose from a challenge in a writing group about getting a short story written, edited, with a cover done and on pre-order within a month. I want Robin to be real and grounded, to be someone who doesn’t really have a choice with what happens to him, and to be driven by doing what is right. I’m hoping to release a chapter a month for the next few months, each with a cliff-hanger ending like those old Saturday morning serials.

My next novel again looks at reality, but this time in the form of memories. Can you trust them? Can you rely on them? And what happens when you find out that your memories aren’t quite what you thought. I decided to revisit memories and incidents of childhood, but as an adult looking back from present day. Earlier on I was talking about unexplained phenomena, and The Shadow Man will follow this theme by having a background of spontaneous human combustion, and lean a lot more to horror than The Hand of an Angel. I’m hoping to have The Shadow Man available by the end of the year.

Huge thanks to Mark for finding time in his busy week to answer my questions. The Hand of an Angel is available to order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hand-Angel-shattering-thriller-heart-stopping-ebook/dp/B077Y83GT1/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529830185&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hand+of+an+angel

Category: Blog Tours, Guests | Comments Off

May 11

A Series Business – Marnie Riches

Regular visitors to Grab This Book will possibly have worked out that I very much enjoy books which feature recurring characters. I love to see characters develop over time and I look forward to regular reunions with Jack Reacher, Charlie Parker, The Ankh Morpork City Watch and many, many others.

While writing reviews of new books I sometimes worry that we lose sight of the other books written by the author we are championing that day. This is particularly important where we are singing the praises of book 4 in a series but glossing over the earlier parts of what is essentially the same tale!

So A Series Business was born (with thanks to Kate at Bibliophile Book Club for the name). My hope is that I can chat with authors about writing recurring characters, planning for a long-game and give them a chance to showcase ALL their work and not just the latest release.

My first guest is Marnie Riches:

I never begin with a question. Could I ask you to introduce yourself and ask you to ensure you take full advantage of this opportunity to plug your books?

I’m Marnie Riches, the author of two best-selling crime-fiction series. Before I wrote crime, I wrote for children and penned the first six books in HarperCollins’ children’s series for 7+ year olds – Time Hunters. Before I wrote for children, I was a professional fundraiser but have also been a trainee rock star, a low-rent Sarah Beeny and a pretend artist. Before all that, I grew up on one of the roughest estates in Manchester but went to Cambridge University to study Modern & Medieval German & Dutch – a must for any author whose characters are continent-hoping Europhiles!

My debut thriller was The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die – the first outing for Georgina McKenzie, a criminologist and all-round kickass young woman who has come to navigate the international underbelly of the modern world in a bid to fight traffickers, gangsters and murderers. With some autobiographical nuggets hidden in her backstory, this series has grown to incorporate a further four titles, the latest being The Girl Who Got Revenge: a twisty, fast-paced tale where guilty war-time secrets collide with the horrors of contemporary people-trafficking and the hot topic of illegal immigration. My debut won a Dead Good Reader Award in 2015 for having the most exotic location, and it seems Amsterdam, Cambridge and London is a perennially popular trio of settings for crime-thrills, as readers have stayed with me for the ride.

My second series is set in Manchester and is a rather different gritty and gripping saga of Manchester’s crime families. Born Bad was released in 2017 and The Cover-Up followed in January 2018, bringing a slice of Mancunian gangland to the publishing world – and I’d know! I grew up in the armpit of north Manchester. What I don’t know about the city’s sink estates isn’t worth writing about.

As the purpose of A Series Business is to discuss the George McKenzie books could you now introduce us to George?

Georgina McKenzie is my response to Stieg Larrson’s character, Lisbeth Salander. I had read the Millennium Trilogy avidly at a time when I had been hoping to become a children’s author. But I found Scandi Noir and surly, no-bullshit Salander in particular so captivating that I decided back in 2010 that I would write my own response to Scandi Noir with my very own heroine. She would be so recognisably like every woman and yet, so much…better. George is from the mean streets of South East London but has shrugged off her urban-ghetto-beginnings to gain a Cambridge University education. Through sheer hard work and determination, she carves a career as a criminologist for herself – able to understand how the criminal mind works, thanks to her shady past. It is her Erasmus year in Amsterdam that first embroils her in a tricky case of serial murder. When she and Inspector Paul van den Bergen meet, their chemistry binds them instantly, and there begins a side-line for George where she is drafted in as a consultant to help the Dutch police on the trickiest of trans-national trafficking cases and hunts for dangerous killers. When a twelve year old Syrian girl is found dead in the back of a heavy goods vehicle in the Port of Amsterdam in The Girl Who Got Revenge, George is called on yet again to help piece together a terrible puzzle.

Had it always been your intention to build a series around a recurring character?

Yes. I guess it must have been. I think when you have a character with such a rich backstory and complicated, dysfunctional family life (which may or may not be inspired by my own family *coughs*), further adventures simply present themselves. A good, believable lead character should always drive the plot and with George in the driving seat, it felt natural to buckle up for a journey that would take me to some unexpected places. I do love series and I think readers do too. After all, it’s great to finish a book that blew you away and find there are more to read!

Have you a character path mapped out and are you building up towards key events? Or is the future for George still unclear, even to you?

With the fifth George book having just published, the future for George is very unclear. The Girl Who Got Revenge is getting great reviews and has appeared only three years since the publication of The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die and The Girl Who Broke the Rules. In that time, however, George has aged by ten years. I felt that as I was ageing – and my life has been really fraught with melodrama over the last few years, so I feel like I’ve crammed a good decade of living into a shorter time-frame – George needed to age too. So, where I take her next will depend rather on what happens in my own life. George McKenzie is not me, but she and her stories rely on whatever mayhem is happening in my life to inform her fate, I’m afraid! Change is always afoot…

Have you written anything thus far in the series which you now wish you could undo?

No. Actually, I haven’t. I’m very happy with the path that George has been following. If Jo Nesbo can bring Harry Hole back for sequel after sequel, George can do anything, armed only with hairspray, blister plasters and sanitary products!

I try hard to avoid spoilers to ensure that people can safely read the series out of sequence. My various editors have always pushed me to include more detail for readers coming fresh to the series, and I have resisted including too much for that very reason and also the fact that it feels like an information dump, to me. I do weave in just enough detail so that it’s easy to get a handle on who’s who, though. I allude vaguely to what has gone before but I hope I never reveal twists or identities. It’s a difficult stunt to pull off, five books in!

In my Manchester series, there is such a big twist at the end of Born Bad which informs the story of The Cover-Up that I had to work really hard not to ruin the experience for readers. The blurb on the back cover of The Cover-Up gives a momentus happening in Born Bad away, but it was just unavoidable! The main twist should still come as a surprise, though.

Do your characters age in real time, living through current events and tech developments ore are they wrapped in a creative bubble which allows you to draw only on what you need for the latest book?

No, as I mentioned earlier, George and Van den Bergen have undergone an accelerated ageing process. I have to say, it’s far more satisfying in terms of drawing the character arcs for the series if you move people’s personal relationships and ages on. You change as a person as you get older and that impacts on your relationships, your priorities and how you behave. The Manchester series follows a more realistic timeline, though. There was almost a year between the publication of those books and that’s about right for how time elapses for Sheila O’Brien, Gloria Bell and the lovely Leviticus Bell.

Can a George McKenzie novel end in a cliff-hanger or does each story demand a resolution?

Well, I know readers don’t generally like cliff-hangers, but in a long running series, you have to put one in sometimes to keep yourself, as a writer, wanting more and to keep the reader hooked. I do tend to resolve each distinct story in the course of a novel, but it’s George’s journey that I can play games with because that’s a continuing and evolving thing. There’s an almighty cliff-hanger at the end of The Girl Who Walked in the Shadows. Naughty, I know, but I just had to!

Having seen how other authors have killed off their main characters and have then had to back-track because their publishers have demanded a further instalment in the series, I would say it’s unlikely I’d ever kill George or Van den Bergen off. I love them too much. I have no compunction in axing characters from my Manchester series, because that’s how gangland works in real life. Gangs go to war and there are always casualties, after all. Manchester’s recent history is littered with anecdotes about players who have been gunned down in cold blood. But with George…I want to keep the door open for her. She’s too interesting and loveable not to!

Huge thanks to Marnie for taking time to join me today. You can find all Marnie’s books through the attached link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marnie-Riches/e/B00WBJZ364/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1526028951&sr=1-1

Category: Guests | Comments Off

February 20

Mystery Writers – Linden Chase

Some of the authors I enjoy reading are not real people. Okay, that’s not entirely accurate – some of the authors I enjoy reading are not published under their real name.

When I say I enjoyed a book by Robert Galbraith or by JD Robb or by John Sandford I also know that those authors are simply pen-names which the authors have decided to use on that particular novel.

Robert Galbraith may be the most famous of the three names listed above and the reasons for his creation are fairly well known. However JD Robb (with over 40 futuristic murder mysteries under her belt) is best known as romance novelist Nora Roberts. John Sandford (creator of over 20 Lucas Davenport “Prey” novels and the successful Virgil Flowers spin off series) is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist.

I wanted to ask some authors who have become a “mystery writer” why they have assumed a secret identity. My first guest, Linden Chase, has kindly slipped out of the shadows to answer some of my questions.

First I should clarify that I do not want to know your real identity. However, I would be keen to learn if your real name is a closely guarded secret or do you think it may be fairly common knowledge (but you are not making any efforts to confirm/deny/share)?

I don’t believe very many people at all know who Linden Chase actually is. A few fellow writers, who I meet every month to talk over each other’s works in progress know, but they are all sworn to secrecy. I am certainly not advertising who I am and it is fair to say I am trying to keep it secret.

What prompted you to write under a second name? Have you perhaps switched to a different genre?

Linden Chase writes particular kinds of stories. They are gritty, a little gory and decidedly sexy in places. I don’t write this kind of book under any other name. Linden has a very particular voice. My other writing incarnations – and there are at least three currently – also have a particular voice and a particular audience.

If you were previously published did you approach publishers you had already established a relationship with?

No. I am unusual in that my main occupation is writing. Of course there are mega best selling authors, who have homes in several countries, but the majority of writers are what is termed ‘mid-list’. To make a living as a mid-list author you need a number of books on the market at one time and no publisher wants a glut of one author. Spreading your eggs among several baskets or books among several publishers has become common for those of us who primarily make our living from writing.

Also, sadly, there is expectation in publishing that writers will write only in one genre and this is passed along to readers. There’s a famous phrase ‘give them more of the same but different’ which is all too true. Names become associated with not simply genres but with types of books – whether it’s the alcoholic detective with a failing personal life, the happy ever after romance or the rugged bounty hunter who always gets his man. You will even see that covers from similar types of stories (albeit by different authors) are becoming the same. Romance covers often include pastel colours, figures drawn in a particular way and the same type of font for the similarly places titles. Ghostly mysteries (at least recently) had greenish/grey covers often with ivy covered garden gates. The theory is the time-poor book buyer will gravitate towards books that look the same and have similar kinds of story. It’s all packaged neatly and allows little room from the truly innovative – in my opinion.

But then you have writers like me who have a great many stories to tell. I’d studied broadly and worked in a number of different areas. I choose the best voice to tell my story – but I don’t simply have one voice. Also what I write and what I want to write changes with my life experience. As I grow so do my stories.

Does keeping your identity a secret then create challenges in marketing a new novel? For example if you have a healthy Twitter following have you had to “reset” with a second account and start afresh?

I’ve tried that and honestly running more than one twitter account at the same time is hard! You also run the same risk as you do when you have several messenger windows open, of posting the wrong thing to the wrong place! Generally I chose a different form of publicity for each alias and focus on that.

Does the “real you” take a hiatus while the pseudonym is publishing/promoting their novel or do you have to adopt multiple roles and write two books in a very short space of time?

I am all of my different aliases – in a good way! Clarity in narrative is essential, so I confine my story to the voice it needs. I prefer to write different books at different times. However, when you have been using one alias for a long time, and featuring the same characters in a series, it is very easy to fall back into the right style. Rather like meeting old friends at the pub. Typically when you are doing publicity for any book you wrote it so long ago -publishing is slow – that you always struggle to remember the story!

Time to get in some plugs…will there be future titles we can look forward to from your pseudonym or have they been retired for the present time?

Linden Chase has written Killer Instincts and Killer Intent. The final Killer book – and last in the Tranquillity series – will be out shortly.

As Linden slips back to Tranquility Island I would like to thank her for breaking cover to join me today.

Killer Instincts and Killer Intent are published by Fahrenheit Press and can be purchased here:

Killer Intent: http://www.fahrenheit-press.com/books_killer_intent.html

Killer Instincts: http://www.fahrenheit-press.com/books_killer_instincts.html

Category: Guests | Comments Off

December 19

Christmas With Susi Holliday

Earlier this month I shared my favourite reads of 2017 (which you can see by clicking…here.

When I first read The Damselfly I knew it was a strong contender for one of my favourite reads. Closing out the Banktoun Trilogy I loved returning to the fictional town which I felt I knew oh so well. Add in a cracking murder mystery tale and some cameo appearances from characters I never expected to see again and I was a happy reader.

You can read my review of The Damselfly…here.

Spinning forward to the end of the year, Susi’s second book of the year The Deaths of December was a gripping serial killer thriller which ripped up the idea of a cozy Christmas tale. THAT review is…here.

As we are rushing towards Christmas Susi has been giving some thought to presents and has come up with this handy shopping guide:

Top 5 Best Christmas Presents for a Bookworm

5. A Reading Journal

Lots of people are keeping track of what they read now, whether it’s by writing reviews or creating virtual bookshelves online, but there’s something nice about keeping a handwritten record – and there are some lovely journals out there too. Or, if you can’t see what you like, you could buy a fancy notebook instead and write a nice inscription on the inside cover to tell them what it’s for (most bookworms are fans of stationery too, so you can’t lose with this). Thrown in a funky pen, and you’re sorted.

4. A fluffy blanket

So that they can curl up on the sofa, surrounded by books, of course!

3. Personalised accessories

Mugs, bookmarks, t-shirts, tea towels, eReader cases, posters, cushions, candles, tote bags – there is so much available now, in high street shops as well as online. Pick something with a book that you know your friend is a huge fan of (or maybe a quote from one of their favourite authors), and you’ll be on to a winner.

2. Tickets to an author event

Most readers love to hear authors speak about their work, so if you have a friend who has never been to an event like this, have a look at the events programme at your local bookshop or library – maybe go and see an author whose work you’ve never read . . . and if you buy a ticket for your friend, you have to buy one for yourself too, so you can go with them. Result!

1. Books

Honestly. You can’t really go wrong with a book. Well, except when you buy a romance novel for a hard-core sci-fi fan. You could play it safe with a voucher from your favourite book shop instead – preferably one with a café, then you can make a day of it with books, coffee and cake 🙂

Before she goes we also have a little time for some Christmas themed questions from Susi:

Favourite Christmas Song

Possibly a toss-up between Stop the Cavalry and Wombling Merry Christmas.

Favourite Christmas Drink

Mulled wine or Bailey’s Hot Chocolate.

Favourite Christmas Happy Movie

Home Alone.

Favourite Christmas Scary Movie

Gremlins.

Favourite Christmas Movie-that-is-always-on-at-Christmas

Clash of The Titans.

Favourite Christmas Book

I really loved Tammy Cohen’s “Dying for Christmas”.

Favourite Christmas Memory

Having a quiet one in a tiny fishing village in Madeira, just me and my husband, waking up and looking out at the sea, having no one around and enjoying complete relaxation.

Favourite Christmas TV Moment

Anything that happens in Eastenders is bound to be hilarious and horrific. I don’t think anyone in Albert Square has ever had a Merry Christmas.

Favourite Christmas Tradition

Leaving out sherry for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph.

Favourite Christmas Cracker Joke

What lies at the bottom of the sea and shivers?

A nervous wreck.

So there you have it – Wombles, happily watching a child left alone by his family at Christmas and misery for the people of East London. Throw in a flying horse being captured by one of the lawyers from LA Law and we are just one terrible cracker joke away from the perfect Christmas at Chez Holliday. Thanks Susi x

Category: Guests | Comments Off

December 17

Jacqueline Chadwick

When drawing up my list of favourite books of 2017 I knew that Jacqueline Chadwick was going to feature. I knew that from half-way through her debut novel In The Still.

There was actually only one point where I contemplated not including In The Still in the list and that was when I finished her second book: Briefly Maiden (how to choose between two cracking reads?)

It has been far too long since I had the opportunity to chat with any of the authors who have featured on my blog so I was thrilled that Jackie agreed to join me for a natter about her writing and all things Ali Dalglish…

First Question is never a question — this is where I ask you to introduce yourself and give your books a plug.

Well, first and foremost, I’m a mother of two, wife of a firefighter and a dog lover. I’m originally from Stirling in Scotland and I grew up in Birmingham England. I was a child actor and during my career I played a couple of well known bitch roles on TV. I left acting when I was 25, homeschooled my kids and found some time for writing here and there. When I turned 40, I bought a secondhand desk and decided to write novels. I haven’t looked back since.

Published by Fahrenheit Press in July 2017, my debut novel is In The Still where we meet Ali Dalglish living a life she resents. Having stepped away from her career and having immigrated to Canada, Ali’s marriage is crumbling, she is lonely and depressed. When the body of a young woman is discovered on a trail near her home, Ali finds herself embroiled in the case and, given her expertise and experience, is left with no option but to embark upon the hunt for the killer alongside her accidental sidekick, the loveable Marlene McKean. It is a dark and twisted tale and I hope it entertains the reader from the first page to the last.

Briefly Maiden, the sequel to In The Still, is also published by Fahrenheit Press and finds Ali back in the role she loves. This time she is working alongside the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Incident Squad investigating a series of murders in the otherwise charming town of Cedar River. Ali and her partner, Inspector Rey Cuzzocrea, discover the victims are all linked to a paedophile ring and, as a result, the line dividing good and bad becomes blurred as they are tasked with apprehending a perpetrator they suspect to be a victim intent upon vigilante justice. There is a blossoming romance for recently divorced Ali, the introduction of a couple of key characters in the series and an ending that should leave the reader eager for book 3.

Tell us about Ali Dalglish – how would you describe her to someone yet to read In The Still and Briefly Maiden?

Ali Dalglish is bloody fantastic. She’s intelligent, funny, caring and driven by a need to protect the vulnerable. She’s Scottish, mouthy and not afraid to pepper her superior vocabulary with inventive swear words. Her marriage is a disaster, she frequently struggles to maintain a healthy work/life balance. She has fought — and continues to fight — a long, arduous battle with severe mental illness. Ali is the kind of woman we all either want to be or want by our side. She’s forthright and takes no shit, she refuses to be bracketed, objectified or intimidated and she is blessed with a mind that makes her a formidable foe to anyone daring enough to wander into her arena.

How much of Jacqueline Chadwick is mirrored in Ali?

Too much. I swear as much and fit into polite society just as well as she does. I suppose Ali is my way of ranting about everything that pisses me off. She’s a gazillion times more learned than I (I know that because of everything I have to research just to fit her wealth of knowledge as seamlessly as possible into her dialogue and also because I use words like gazillion).

We know that Ali had a very successful career in the UK prior to her decision to relocate to Canada – is there any chance we may one day see a story featuring a younger Ali – one based in the UK?

Ha! I’m writing book 4 in the series right now. It is set in Britain, but it’s not a prequel. Over the course of the series, I’m excited to drop in morsels of information about Ali’s past since it was less than functional and, perhaps, not dissimilar to the kind of childhood that could just as easily have set her on a darker path, the kind of path chosen by the predators she hunts. The great thing about having a character that had established herself professionally in Britain and then later in Canada, is that I am able to cross the pond to write and that is a satisfying and more affordable alternative to actually jumping on a flight myself whenever I’m homesick.

I need to ask about the old day jobs…how does appearing in two of the UK’s most watched TV shows prepare you for writing dark and gritty crime thrillers?

I’m having a giggle as I answer that one because being in British soap was no preparation whatsoever for anything at all in life. Wow, that was a weird trip. I can’t imagine what it would take to stay sane in that industry longterm. I stuck it out for a decade and a half but I just wasn’t the kind of puppet an actor is expected to be. I’m not very good at shutting my mouth and being what someone else tells me to be. It’s simply not in my nature and I never did feel very comfortable with it all. Honestly, I barely remember that time now, it’s just something I did as a child and as a young woman. I would have nightmares — actual wake-up-sweating-and-shaking nightmares — for the first few years after I left because I’d dream of being back in front of the camera. Give me a quiet room, some paper and a pen and I’m me.

Can I ask about your “Path to Publication”? (it gets capitals). Does Chez Chadwick have a drawer crammed full of rejection letters or did you ace it and get picked up in record time?

I’ve had a few false starts in writing. It has always been my goal to write for a living and so I do have a healthy amount of rejection slips although I’d never keep the buggers so, no, there isn’t a drawer stuffed with them. Rejections get deleted or binned as soon as they are received so that I can go on deluding myself into thinking I have something to offer. I was lucky with Ali Dalglish, I wrote the first three novels in the series before I let anyone read them and I sent them off to the publisher who terrified me most and felt out of reach: Chris McVeigh at Fahrenheit Press. I knew that if my work was shit, he’d tell me. Thankfully, he liked the books (all except the original ending to In The Still which he told me, in his own inimitable way, to scrap) and I’ve been lucky enough to join the Fahrenheit Press family and get on that particular thrill ride.

Rumour has it that there may be a third Ali Dalglish book on the horizon — can you share any sneaky hints?

I Loooove book 3 in the series. It’s called Silent Sisters and it addresses a problem I care about very much. It takes place in and around an Aboriginal reserve on Vancouver Island and, I hope, will bring attention to the very real issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls and the indifference the subject seems to inspire in political leaders. But there are two major elements to the story and so it satisfies the insatiable itch that Briefly Maiden left me with. It is gruesome and dark, twisted and grim because, in my humble opinion, murder and abuse should be nothing but those things, we should feel sickened and touched by the telling of stories that, no matter how bleak, are nothing close to the horrors of the real world.

And to wrap up, some quickfire questions:

What was the last book you read?

I reread ‘It’ by Stephen King after I went to see the movie (I forgot how long that sucker is).

City Break or Beach Holiday? (and where is the dream destination)

Definitely city, I would love to take my family on a European tour before they’re so grown that it would be sad to go away for a month with Mum and Dad.

Did you ever get “star-struck” when meeting someone famous?

I’ve been to two Billy Connelly concerts and finding myself in the same room as ‘the big yin’ takes some beating.

Favourite pizza topping (and be warned that answering ‘pineapple’ will probably spark some twitter carnage)

I’m like Kevin in Home Alone; I want a plain cheese just for me.

What do you miss most about the UK?

Irn Bru, tattie scones, square sausage, not having to explain my humour and Sunday lunch over a pint in a proper pub.

Huge thanks to Jackie for taking time to answer my questions. I don’t have the words to tell you how much I have enjoyed her books and it is a real thrill to be able to share our chat.

In The Still and Briefly Maiden are published by Fahrenheit Press and you can order both books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jacqueline-Chadwick/e/B074JCXLRD/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1513554879&sr=8-1

Category: From The Bookshelf, Guests | Comments Off

November 9

Neil White – Lost In Nashville

I am delighted to welcome Neil White back to Grab This Book.

Neil’s new book, Lost in Nashville, was published on 8 November and takes the reader on a nostalgic road-trip as a father and son go traveling through the life of the one and only…Johnny Cash.

As is always the case when someone reveals a favourite artist there is one question which must be answered.

I’ve been asked to pick my favourite Johnny Cash song as part of the lead-up to the release of Lost In Nashville, my novel about a father and son who travel Johnny Cash’s life and songs in some effort to reconnect. When I apply my mind to it, it seems an almost impossible task. Try looking across a sun-dappled meadow and being asked to pick your favourite flower.

I don’t know when I realised I was a Johnny Cash fan, because he was very much the soundtrack to my childhood, my father blasting him out whenever he put music on. Eventually, it seeps into you and becomes part of you.

What I do know is that Johnny’s music covers such a wide spectrum and that they all have their own particular appeal.

There are the early Sun records, raw and young, and then there are the songs about the wild west and cowboys. Historical songs were a common feature, and a lot of my knowledge of American history is down to Johnny’s songs. Like, who assassinated President Garfield, or the story behind one of the men hoisting the US flag at Iwo Jima, Ira Hayes. Tales of the American west and its characters, from the legendary cowboy figures to the stories of great Native Americans, they were all handed down to me by Johnny Cash, the son of a sharecropper from some small dusty Arkansas town.

Johnny wasn’t just about history to me though, because he sang about hardship and the lost lives of those who ended up on the wrong side of the law. The raw energy of the prison concerts sent shivers down my young spine, Johnny singing tunes that spoke to them, was in their language, tales of murder sung to whooping audiences of murderers that sparked an interest in criminal law. I ended up a criminal lawyer and an author of crime fiction. Johnny shaped me as well as entertained me.

That is why it is so hard to choose a favourite song, because they cover so much and all spark different emotions.

I’m going to settle on one though, because I’ve been asked to choose, and that song is Orange Blossom Special.

The reasons are numerous, but most of all because it’s a great song, Johnny’s version of an old fiddle tune about a train that ran from New York to Miami. There is a story about how it was written, but I’ll leave that for the book to explore, but the story centres on Jacksonville, Florida, and it does for me, in part.

I’ve picked the song partly because of the rhythm. It’s about a train and the rhythm of the song captures it perfectly, from the whistle-wail of the mouth organ to the way the steady pluck of the guitar matches the wheels on the rails. It’s impossible to listen to it without imagining the train hurtling south.

Another reason is that it was the song that turned my father on to Johnny Cash, and without that, my musical education would have been much different.

A final reason is that the album of the same name created a romantic image that stayed with me, of cruising the wide open plains on an old boxcar, feet dangling, the country moving slowly by. The album cover shows Johnny sitting on top of an old boxcar, looking into the far distance, and in my head he’s looking towards the prairie, of distant opportunity.

I know the reality of boxcar living was less romantic, hopping from train to train looking for work, town to town, dodging the beatings from the guards, but the romance of carefree travel is one that stayed with me.

Back to Jacksonville, pivotal for the story of how the song came about, and I was there once, travelling from Tampa to New Orleans by train. There was lay-off of about eight hours, and I spent it on Jacksonsville station, unaware of its place in the song, watching long lines of freight trains going past and thinking of how great it would be to hop on and rumble into the distance, my mind on that album cover.

For all of his great songs, Orange Blossom Special gets the top spot.

Lost in Nashville is published by Manatee Books and is available in paperback and digital format here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Nashville-Neil-White/dp/1912347008/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510267687&sr=8-1&keywords=lost+in+nashville&dpID=51TrbUTk2JL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

Lost in Nashville

James Gray is a lawyer and his life is a success. Or at least, he thinks it is, but something is missing – a bond with his father, Bruce. Bruce Gray is old, retired and estranged from his family. He spends his time drinking and drifting in the small seaside town in England that James once called home. James decides to take Bruce on a road trip, to try and connect with his father through the one thing that has always united them: a love for Johnny Cash and his music. Together they travel through Johnny Cash’s life; where he grew up, the places he sang about – a journey of discovery about Johnny, the South and each other. Always fascinating, an evocative and emotional road trip, Lost In Nashville will captivate you, inform you and along the way may even break your heart

Category: Guests, Uncategorized | Comments Off