• With a little help from your friends

    Writing can be a lonely experience, especially if you are an aspiring writer finding your way and beset by questions. Are you doing it correctly? How do you know you are doing it properly? Who do you ask if you suspect that you’re not doing it properly? Maybe you would benefit from bringing in some…

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  • Location, location, location

    Picture: Kirkcudbright by John Smith Crime fiction author John Dean has written before about the importance of a strong sense of place for crime fiction writers and reflecting that theme is the success of the website www.tripfiction.com, which allows readers to track down books by searching for favourite places rather than favourite authors. The result…

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  • New look for A Flicker in the Night

    Joffe Books, which recently bought publisher The Book Folks, has continued its relaunch of John Dean’s popular Detective Chief Inspector John Blizzard crime fiction series. The relaunch of A Flicker in the Night, which tells how the detective and his team try to track down a deadly arsonist, includes a new cover for the ebook…

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  • Will the real Jack Harris please step forward?

    The origins of fictional characters has always fascinated me, particularly the extent to which many creators draw on real people as a starting point. I talk to a lot of authors and many of them freely admit that some of their major characters are partly taken from real life. I have no problem with that…

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  • Starting out again

    Starting out again

    So how does an author cope with beginning work on a new novel, when they are confronted by the dreaded blank page? As he starts work on his new book, crime writer John Dean relies on a tried and trusted process. If you are an aspiring writer, you may find his description of the process…

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  • Debut novella goes on Amazon Kindle Unlimited

    Author Malcolm Beadle’s new novella Koki can now be acquired on Amazon Kindle Unlimited. The novella, which tells the story of a Vietnam War sniper who paints his face as a clown before he goes hunting his VietCong victims in the jungle, is available to purchase  in ebook Kindle and paperback format on the book’s…

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  • Why a tree can teach authors a salutary lesson

    Here’s a salutary lesson for all those writers who, like me, would ideally prefer to use plenty of description to describe places in their writing. Think of a tree in a park. Done it? I am pretty confident that you will have and that, even though you were only asked a millisecond ago, you can…

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  • New cover for relaunched Death List

    Death List has become the sixth DCI John Blizzard crime novel by John Dean to be given the Joffe Books relaunch treatment, including a distinctive new cover for the ebook. Joffe Books recently took over publisher The Book Folks and has embarked on a major campaign to breathe new life into the backlists of many…

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  • The value of reviews

    The value of reviews

    I am very grateful to the growing number of people who have been writing such positive reviews for the DCI Jack Harris ebook boxset (nine novels for just 99p, the Book Folks, a Joffe Books company). I value positive reviews, of course I do, but negative comments have a role to play if they are…

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  • A report into Scotland’s public and school libraries has underlined their importance to the communities they serve. The Scottish Book Trust’s survey of 2,000 library users, carried out in partnership with the National Library of Scotland, the Scottish Library and Information Council and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland, found that…

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