Blog posts
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To mark the publication of Call of the Isles – A Scottish Anthology by new Glasgow publisher Tantallon Tìr on Friday May 1, for which I was invited to write a short story, I am one the contributors who have given interviews offering an insight into my work. You can find it in the author…
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Call of the Isles – A Scottish Anthology is published by new Glasgow publisher Tantallon Tìr on Friday May 1. I am delighted to have a story included and you can read my review of the book in the Review section of my website
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Writing fiction throws up all sorts of interesting quandaries for the author such as how much, if any, of your characters can be based on real people, what can you learn by staring at trees when it comes to judging the amount of description you use, how do you avoid confusing your reader when it…
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He was the fearless whistleblower, the high-flying middle manager who revealed the truth behind the global worple sprocket (double flanged, single hinged) industry in his debut book The Diary of Ridley Pinstripe. From his account of the environmental impact on the industry when Witherings, the contractor used to manage the pot plants at headquarters, was…
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Delighted to report that Joffe Books, which is my publisher, has won Trade Publisher of the Year in the IPA Awards! The team deserve every accolade they deserve for their skill, energy and innovative approach to publishing.
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The DCI John Blizzard ebook box set (the first seven novels for £1.99, first published in December 2023 by the Book Folks, now a Joffe Books imprint), having rocketed up the best-selling charts on Amazon at the start of the week, has now been there for three days. It was number one bestseller in three…
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Some interesting findings from Writers of the West, a firm specialising in publishing and ghostwriting services in the USA, Canada, and Europe. Looking at what readers are buying in 2026, using data including that from Circana and NielsenIQ, Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Audible, BookTok, Kindle Unlimited and indie sales figures, they say that the leading…
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I don’t normally get political in my blogs, but I am making an exception for this, a call from the Society of Authors to candidates in the May 7 Holyrood elections in Scotland, where I live, to improve protection for those working in the cultural sector, including writers. The society says that at the core…
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If you enjoyed Booker Prize winner Shuggie Bain, you’ll want to see its creator Douglas Stuart when he appears on Thursday 28 May at Tyneside Cinema, courtesy of New Writing North. Douglas will be chatting about his highly-anticipated new novel John of John, a ‘tender and unflinching exploration of masculinity, sexuality and unspoken desires in…
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Here’s a brilliant idea. Faced with growing concern that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is drawing on writers’ work without acknowledgement, copyright permission or paying for it, the Society of Authors (SoA) has come up with a kite mark which identifies a piece of work as created by a human being. The Human Authored scheme helps identify…
John Dean - Crime Writer 