Shit like this isn’t meant to happen on Christmas Day, I thought. It should be all Tonka toys and The Wizard of Oz on the telly, not piss artists and pederasts.
(Excerpt from If I Never.)

Yes, I know Christmas comes earlier every year — but in the crazy and competitive world of publishing, a little forward planning is, I think, vital. It’ll therefore come as no surprise, I’m sure, to those of you who already known me that I’m now preparing for the Christmas If I Never push.

Naturally, this isn’t something I can do on my own. As I’ve said many times before, success where first-time novels are concerned — especially those published by independent publishers — is highly dependent upon word-of-mouth, the goodwill of those who have read the book and enjoyed it. This is, therefore, a gentle reminder that If I Never is the perfect stocking filler. If you’ve read the book and enjoyed it, why not buy another copy for a friend or family member? Drop me a line, even, and I’ll arrange a personalised, suitably Christmassy inscription. Hell, even if you read the book and hated it — buy it for someone you don’t like!

Also, for the techie types among you, it may interest you to know that the electronic, EPUB version for the Kindle and Sony Reader etc should be out later this month.

This apart, please don’t forget to let me know what you think of If I Never. Maybe write a review on Amazon? It all helps — and, joking aside, your continued help and support is truly appreciated. Cheers!

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2009 Gary William Murning

I recently did an interview with the very impressive disability lifestyle magazine Able. The short interview and extremely perceptive review of If I Never is featured in this month’s issue.

Click here to enlarge the image.

I’m still making slow but steady progress. Feeling a great deal better, but still very conscious of the fact that it doesn’t do to push too hard at this stage. The list of good wishes grows ever longer and, once again, I’d like to say thank you; it really does mean a lot. I will chat to you all individually once I’m up to it, but, in the meantime, know that your thoughts have helped considerably and, as ever, are appreciated.

Whilst I have a little energy to spare, I’d also like to mention a few If I Never related bits and pieces that went live whilst I was in hospital.

The first is a thoroughly enjoyable interview I did with Mike from The View from Here (the print version is available early next month, I believe.) Part One can be read here, whilst Part Two is available by following this link.

Secondly, an interview I did with Nick Daws – lovely guy and very generous with his time and writerly information!

Finally… an announcement. I’ve been given permission from my publisher to post this ahead of the official announcement later next month but around mid-November If I Never will be available in e-book format, for the Sony Reader, Kindle etc. Not sure how well it will take off but I’m suspecting it may work well for some of my techie American friends. We shall see.

Tempted to buy myself a Kindle, now!

As some of you already know, up until last Tuesday, I was, as they say, “incapacitated”. About a fortnight ago, early hours of Monday morning, I awoke vomiting blood — after passing the dreaded “black stool” the day before (sorry about the detail, but it saves having to fill in the gaps for people individually… it’s surprising how many people are fascinated by blood and stool ). My father immediately dialled 999 and I was admitted to accident and emergency.

To cut a long story short, it turns out I’d had a stomach bleed (we think.) A few minor ulcers that didn’t really explain the huge drop in my haemoglobin level — something that it is now believed was a false reading — but, we assume, something that could explain the bleed I did have.

I won’t dress it up; it’s been a pretty tough couple of weeks for me. Endoscopies, blood levels all over the shop (top up the potassium, down goes the phosphate — you get the picture), a central line put in my neck (the carotid artery, I believe) when getting blood in through the existing line became untenable and my signs were so screwed up they couldn’t get a line in anywhere else (this was an especially enjoyable process involving a mini scanner and what felt like a hand drill going into my neck… even that took four attempts!)… and, of course, numerous other indignities to boot, such as catheters etc!

It’s fair to say, I don’t think I’d have managed it had it not been for the constant support of my parents — who were there for me throughout the whole process, questioning when I couldn’t and generally keeping me strong and sane. Love you, guys!

Also, of course, the staff of The James Cook University Hospital were — for the large part (I’d be lying if I said there were not one or two nurses I didn’t get on with quite as well) — were quite wonderful, and I would just like to take this opportunity to thank them for their help, care and expertise. I know quite a few of them will possibly be dropping by because, naturally, my father never being one to miss an opportunity, whilst attending to his other fatherly duties, also managed to push my book quite heavily! (At one point he was — I kid you not — heard to say “Just think, one day you’ll be able to hold the book up and say, ‘I took his catheter out.’”!)

So how am I now? Improving — quite considerably. I’m still extremely weak and very much doubt that I’ll be back up to speed up for a week or two, yet, but I’m on the medication for my stomach and already feeling the benefit (no acid reflux whatever I eat!) I will try to respond to everyone individually when I can but, in the meantime, thank you for all the kind thoughts and good wishes. They’ve meant a lot. Truly.

Today I was featured in the local free paper — great coverage, so should hopefully generate even more interest!

If you’re someone visiting my website for the first time after reading the article, please feel free to comment or ask questions. I don’t bite.

Well, not often

(To enlarge the image, click here.)

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Today my parents happened to call into the Teesside retail park branch of Borders – the way you do, when you happen to be the parents of an extremely talented author   (And, before you ask, no, they haven’t any other offspring!) You can imagine their delight when they discovered that If I Never already has its own very prominent and quite flash display.

My father, ever prepared for such circumstances, whipped out his camera and took a few photos.

The If I Never book display.

Sandra, my mother (left) and and Teresa, the Sales and HR Supervisor (right), lending my gritty novel a touch of elegance.

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Today I found myself (okay, not me personally — I was sat at home, taking a breather and reading Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum) — sandwiched between Dan Brown and Nick Hornby in Mcloughlin’s bookshop in County Mayo. My source informs me that it’s actually doing very well for a ‘noob’, thanks, I hasten to add to the excellent efforts of the chaps at Mcloughlin’s themselves, who have been simply wonderful — pushing the book at every opportunity. Cheers, guys!

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

Once a novel has been launched — with all the excitement of people actually receiving their copies and starting to talk about it — there’s a period (which I’m now beginning to enter) when the author starts to wonder if the initial momentum can be maintained and built upon.

I still have a few things ahead of me. More interviews, promised reviews and so on and so forth. But I’m constantly looking for opportunities to discuss If I Never and promote it.

With this in mind, I thought I’d use this post to suggest a few ways that you, my readers, can help — always assuming you want to.

So, if you’ve already read If I Never and enjoyed it, or if you are just interested in what I’m doing and would like to learn more, here are a few suggestions:

• Are you a blogger? I’m always interested in discussing my work and the part it plays in my life. If you’d like to interview me, I’d happily consider it — no blog too small! In this game, it’s the enthusiastic one or two the can make a significant difference.
• Do you run a small press publication? Would you be interested in reviewing? Contact me and I may be able to arrange a review copy. Failing that, once again, I’ll gladly consider taking part in an interview.
• Have you finished reading If I Never? If so, not review it on the Amazon, The Book Depository and Waterstones websites? If you feel comfortable doing this, please bear in mind these few reviewing tips: 1) Pay particular attention to spelling and punctuation. A review that reads “dis buck woz ded gud” probably isn’t going to do the book a lot of good 2) You’re addressing potential readers, not the author. “Oh, you are simply amazing, Gary,” isn’t appropriate. Send comments like that here 3) Try not to give anything away; if you do, however, include a spoiler alert at the beginning of the review.
• Do you write for a college magazine, the parish magazine or any other small, local publication? A free paper? Once again, I love discussing my work and sharing my thoughts on writing, literature and, well, pretty much anything.
• Are you a member of book group? If so, drop me a line here and I’ll do my best to talk my publisher into giving a discount on orders over a certain number of books.
• If you use the Good Reads website or similar, why not discuss my novel there?
• If none of these things apply or appeal to you, but you still want to help, don’t worry — you still can! Word-of-mouth is incredibly important. Books like If I Never (i.e. books without the huge marketing budget of Dan Brown) rise or fall on people telling their friends about it. So, if you’ve read it and enjoyed it, talk about it.

And, finally — thank you for taking the time and interest. Your help and support is, as ever, greatly appreciated.

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2009 Gary William Murning

Today I’m going to revisit the earlier questions in my If I Never competition and give you the final two questions. Once you have your answers email them to me by clicking here and, once I’ve sorted them, I’ll send those with the correct answers over to my publisher who will then randomly draw the winner out of a hat — or something suitably hat-like. Competition closing date is Friday the 11th of September. Good luck!

1) Which (living and working) American author frequently uses the following motifs in many of his novels: prostitutes, bears and absent parents?

2) Which Joseph Heller novel features the travails of the first-ever Jewish Secretary of State?

3) Which 1962 novel, set in an asylum, explores the possibilities and effects of subtly coercive discipline and the emasculation of men in society?

4) “I was looking for a quiet place to die. Someone recommended Brooklyn, and so the next morning I travelled down there from Westchester to scope out the terrain.” The opening sentence of which 2005 postmodernist novel?

5) A black, chemical cloud and a professor in Hitler’s Studies. Which National Book Award (US) winning novel and author?

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2009 Gary William Murning

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Katie McCullough (sans quiff, alas)  with her copy or If I Never –  the novel by that Gary William Murning bloke.

A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.

To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.

© 2009 Gary William Murning except for photograph.