At the beginning of January 2012 I made my 1000th sale of ‘In Many Ways’. You may be thinking to yourself that’s not a huge amount really. In comparison to Stephen King or Ian Rankin…it’s paltry. However, I am not an established author. I don’t have a huge publishing house and a publicity team and all the other things they have. I have me, my family and friends (who have been immense), Dave Lyons at Raven Crest Books, and the word of mouth of those that have bought the book and enjoyed it. For those reasons, I am immensely proud and incredibly grateful to have made that many sales – paltry or not.
And now for chapter two…
In the next few weeks I will be publishing my next novel. It will be called ‘Pandora’s Pitbull’ and is an apocalyptic thriller with elements of horror and political satire thrown in for good measure.
Just like ‘In Many Ways’, it is mainly set in Scotland. It follows a string of seemingly disparate characters, whose fates interweave as they deal with the fallout from a scientific experiment that goes horribly wrong. Dark, humorous and violent it is definitely not one for the kiddies!
In the lead up to the launch, I will be posting a series of flash fictions on the website. These will give a flavour of the story and introduce you to some characters that will appear in the novel. The first one is called ‘The Short History of a Ned’ and features a character called Dougie McNally. Be warned: it is a bit bleak and features some strong language – no surprises there then, I hear you cry!
(For my non-Scottish visitors and readers, Neds are the Scottish equivalent of white trash or Chavs)
I hope you like these mini-stories. If you do, please leave a comment to that effect – it would be much appreciated.
Pandora’s Pitbull is straining at the leash. It should break free soon…
