Fiction & Events
This month I’ve unexpectedly stumbled on two novels featuring photography to add to my growing blog category ‘photography in fiction’. These writers are less well-known than Theroux or Boyd but there are points of similarity worth mentioning. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children which I was given as a gift, follows William Boyd’s idea in … Continue reading More Fiction and Photography (#PhotographyinFiction 3)
Like most Scots of his generation, D.O. Hill was a great fan of both Rabbie Burns and Sir Walter Scott. Several of his and Robert Adamson’s compositions recreated characters from Scott’s novels (like this one from The Antiquary) and he was an illustrator of both writers, spending quite some time in Ayrshire prior to publishing … Continue reading For Burns Night: D. O. Hill, Rabbie Burns and the Lass of Ballochmyle
Today I’m delighted to welcome again someone whom I first interviewed here when my blog was a mere babe in arms. Since then he has completed four (?) books that I can think of to my measley two. But the reason (or excuse) for his appearance today is publication of his very latest offering – … Continue reading The Truth about Archie and Pye by Jonathan Pinnock
I have a soft spot for books about Roman Britain which I think has more to do with reading Rosemary Sutcliffe than studying Tacitus (yes, I did that too, once upon a time!) So it’s a pleasure to welcome Scottish writer Nancy Jardine to talk about researching this fascinating era. Thank you so much for … Continue reading History, Fiction and Archaeology. Nancy Jardine talks about Scotland in the First Century A.D.
Memoir is a genre which I like to dip into from time to time, my favourites to date being Tim Lott’s The Scent of Dried Roses and Lorna Sage’s Bad Blood – both moving and memorable in different ways. Today I’m inviting Clare Best, Linen Press’ latest author, to talk about her memoir The Missing … Continue reading The Missing List: a memoir by Clare Best
The old home town was not looking the same when I arrived at Dunfermline Bus Station (why do they keep moving it?) last Saturday morning for the second Outwith Festival. ‘Reminds me of the Gala Day,‘ said my old school friend Marilyn when we eventually caught up with each other, and yes, there was that buzz … Continue reading Past meets present at Dunfermline’s new arts festival: #iamoutwith
Last year when I noticed a new competition from Bath Flash Fiction called Novella in Flash (2019 entry here), I thought straight away of my St Andrews 2016 collection ‘In Sunshine and in Shadow’ which with some stringent editing could have qualified. But in the end I was too busy expanding this into the novel … Continue reading Novella in Flash – Three Men (and one writer) on the Edge
