And now we how the second question in my launch week competition. If you missed the first question scroll down a couple of posts and check that one out first.
Question number two…
Which Joseph Heller novel features the travails of the “first-ever Jewish Secretary of State”?
Keep watching this space for further questions! Details of where to send your answers will be provided later this week.
A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.
To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.
A few days ago I asked for questions relating to my writing and, more specifically, If I Never. A number of you kindly contributed questions and here is my response to the first of those. The recording is a little naff in places (I’m just getting the hang of these podcast things!), but I hope you nevertheless enjoy it.
A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.
To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.
Launch week has kicked off to a really incredible start. Amazon.co.uk has already sold out and if you’re desperate to order If I Never online I’d currently recommend The Book Depository. Amazon.co.uk will no doubt be restocked very, very quickly, however. And, of course, I’m available (or my book is!) in good High Street bookstores etc.
As part of launch week I am, as promised, running in conjunction with my publisher, Legend Press, a competition to win Legend Press books. Over the next week or so there will be a number of questions — all inspired by my writing influences — and out of those with the correct answers a winner will be randomly selected by the ladies and gentleman at Legend.
I have been told that the questions are rather difficult and was going to make them easier. However, I tested them on my father and he came back with the correct answers very quickly. He Googled them. Fairly safe to say that many of you will do the same so they’re remaining difficult!
Question number one…
Which (living and working) American author frequently uses the following motifs in many of his novels: prostitutes, bears and absent parents?
Keep watching this space for further questions! Details of where to send your answers will be provided later this week.
A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.
To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.
Okay. It’s official. I’m nervous. I’m excited, too, of course — not to mention grateful and pretty optimistic. But most of all I’m nervous.
Tomorrow, in case you’re one of the few people who don’t know, will see the launch of my debut novel If I Never. It’s been a long, long road (with many a winding turn… sorry), but finally the day is here. A time for celebration, indeed, but also, it seems, a time for unexpected nerves!
I keep flashing on the backstage footage of one of those Elvis concerts from the 70s. The man himself explaining in voice-over how he feels — saying that someone could come up to him and tell him that his head’s just exploded and he wouldn’t know, that’s how focused and anxious he is. And I can empathise. All that work, all that preparation is now heading out to hundreds of shops around the country — reaching, potentially, thousands of people… tens of thousands, given time… dare I even think hundreds of thousands? And it’s all out of my hands, now. Nothing can be changed. Nothing can be taken back. It lives or dies on the reception it receives, always assuming it receives any at all!
And today that has really hit home. I’ve spoken little. I’ve tried to read to take my mind off it (that was never going to work, was it?!) So strange, in fact, was my mood that I even avoided the Jamesons! Shock! Horror!
But as of now I’m putting all that behind me (no, really, I am!) Tomorrow the eight days of celebration and “events” start here, on Twitter and on Facebook to mark the launch of If I Never. Don’t expect dog acts, drag acts or pyrotechnics. Although all those things are well within my powers (my legs look great in heels… when I remember to shave them), it’s going to be a much more relaxed affair — competition, podcasts and, more than likely, much larking about. I want to enjoy it as well, so I’m determined not to be too anal about it. It’ll happen how it happens, and I’m sure a fair amount of plonk will be consumed in a good many locations — virtual and otherwise — around the country. In fact, I demand it! 😉 Drink, toast my absolutely spiffing novel, fall down and then take a photo of your inebriated self drooling all over If I Never. The best photos will be featured on my website 😉
So, if you’ve already ordered If I Never — or are about to dash out and buy a copy — I sincerely hope you at least find something to enjoy in it. It was a world I enjoyed inhabiting during the ten months it took to write, and even the rougher characters are very special to me. I hope you find in them what I found.
A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.
To buy your copy of If I Never, please click here.
During the If I Never launch week, I plan on answering as many questions about the writing of the novel itself and my approach to writing in general. I will also, if asked, discuss the writers who have influenced me and the various other ways in which life/art impacts on my work.
So, if you would like to ask a question, now’s your opportunity. If possible, please ask the question here rather than on Twitter, Facebook etc.
Fire away!
A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.
To pre-order your copy of If I Never, please click here.
I think everything is just about in place for the “eight day extravaganza” that will mark the publication of If I Never. I still have a few things to sort out but I at least know what I’m doing, now! Always a good start, I find.
I am, however, looking for a couple more blog interviews — the more original the line of questioning, the better! (As long as it concerns writing, books and If I Never, naturally!) So, if you have a blog and would like to get some questions over to me, please let me know.
A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.
To pre-order your copy of If I Never, please click here.
I’m currently getting everything in place for launch week. By way of a test, could you please listened to the file in the player below and let me know if you can hear everything okay?
A sample chapter of If I Never can be read here.
To pre-order your copy of If I Never, please click here.
Now available—THE LEGACY OF LORNA LOVELOST Click here to buy THE LEGACY OF LORNA LOVELOST
Read your free sample chapters here.
THE REALM OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS is now available through Amazon and all good bookstores. Click here to buy THE REALM OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS
Read your two free sample chapters here.
CHILDREN OF THE RESOLUTION is now available from Amazon and all good bookstores. Click here to buy CHILDREN OF THE RESOLUTION
Read your two free sample chapters here.
IF I NEVER is published by Legend Press and is now available from Amazon and all good bookstores. Click here to buy IF I NEVER
Read your two free sample chapters here.
