Just sent off an entry to the Scottish Book Trust for their ‘The Book That Changed My Life’ initiative. thought it worth posting on the site:

The Book That Changed My Life

I’m sitting on the edge of my Gran and Grandpa’s creaking old brass double bed It fills every inch of the room and it is where I will divvie up the Scottish Cup tickets for the North East of Scotland for the nineteen seventy six cup final between Rangers and Hearts (3-1 in case you wanted to know) – my Grandpa was connected to the Scottish Football Association. It’s the late summer of nineteen seventy-five and I’m three floors up on the corner of Cross St and Mid St in Fraserburgh and the smell of the fish gutting factory is heavy in the air. I’m thirteen years old and I’ve just finished ‘Tom Swift and His Cosmotron Express’. Tom and his friend Bud Barclay have just seen off the evil VIPER and I’m clean out of books. I’ve read every Hardy Boy, Tom Swift and Famous Five book going and my Gran walks into the room

‘I’m going to the library. Do you want anything?’ she asks.

‘A book,’ I mumble.  I’m so a teenager.

An hour later she returns and drops James Herbert’s The Fog on the bed. I pick it up and read the first line – “The village slowly began to shake off its slumber and comes to life.”

Life changed.

People lopping off other people’s private parts – blood – violence – SEX. I was hooked and the fact I read it from cover to cover that afternoon and went out the next day to get James Herbert’s first book – The Rats – told me that Tom and the Hardy Boys were history.

Since that moment I can’t remember a day that I haven’t had at least one book on the go – more likely three or four. I was, and still am, a book junkie.

It is all so prescient now – right now – as I’ve just had my first novel published – Falling – and I can trace it all the way back to that day in Fraserburgh. Without my grandmother’s efforts to please her eldest grandchild I reckon my life as a novelist would have been stillborn.

Thanks Gran.

I’m putting an article into the local magazine (my g76) on a regular basis and thought it worth sharing the first one.

A Brown View on Life.

1. ‘Stuff.’

It’s nearly Christmas and for many people it’s time for the attack of the ‘pressie panic.’  What should I get for Gran? Does my son really need an X Box, a Playstation AND a Wii? When will I start shopping?  A friend of mine is a Christmas Eve shopper; in fact it’s now a matter of pride that he waits until the last possible moment to buy anything as he knows it winds up his partner.

This got me round to thinking of Christmas presents that stand out. Presents that I really appreciated. And that’s where I started to struggle. I’m not being ungrateful but presents that I remember with affection are a bit thin on the ground and that’s a bit of a worry. So I talked to my wife about it and the conversation shifted to all the stuff we have bought over the years and what items we value. We started to draw up a list and it took on an interesting slant.

Take for example the double, collapsable buggy that we bought when our youngest was a few months old. It was a star – three trips to the US and my eldest, by now five and the size of a seven year old, happily flopped into it with his sister when the going got tough at Disneyland. Designed for a a couple of light babies – good for ten times that. Brilliant. Or the fold away cot that is still in use today with my brother’s newborn – fifteen years after we bought it – a multi coloured gem that has provided a string of children with a play area and bed non stop since the day it was removed from its box and shows no signs of being retired to the bin just yet.

What about the folding card table that we inherited from my mother in law. Forty years old, cheap as chips when it was bought, repaired within an inch of its life and now serving as a table for the barbecue food – genius. Then there’s my waterproof radio for the bathroom. Shaped like a penguin; eyes for tuning and sound, bow-tie for selecting FM or AM, mouth for speaker -  it has faithfully worked for years whether it is in the shower with me singing or sitting in the rain as I repair the garden fence. And, to top it all, bathroom radios recently won the award for the most useless item in the house. Voted on by WHO? Useless! My penguin is crying at the insult.

So what will I be looking forward to this Christmas? A thigh massager for the car? A holographic picture frame that changes colour? A four foot high Rubick’s cube? I have no idea but, as you open your presents this year, just take a moment to think about the stuff that has made a difference to your life. The stuff you look at and think – now that is a great thing to own. I bet you’ll be surprised.

Been down and dirty with the keyboard working on the next novel and a burst of short stories for various competitions. Win or lose I’ll post them up to the site once .

I went to the UNICEF Crime Night last night at Hillhead Library. The night featured Helen Fitzgerald, Caro Ramsay, Karen Campbell and Alex Gray – really interesting night and all in aid of UNICEF – see http://www.unicef.org.uk/regions/products/index.asp?product=31.

I also picked up the runners up prize in the short story competition. It is called I Scream, ‘Ice Cream.’ and I’ve posted it to the short story section.

Just went to Weegie Wednesday last night – excellent. Met up with Helen Fitzgerald who was really nice and it turns out our kids are in the same year at the same school – spooky

It is Weegie Wednesday this Wednesday at the Universal Bar in Glasgow. It is always a good night and I’m looking forward to this week as it is a crime night. If you are interested you can find more out at Facebook -http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101857616173&ref=search&sid=1582261177.1051786058..1 or at http://weegiewednesday.webs.com

I’ve uploaded a very old short story. I can’t remember what inspired it but there is something that I like about it. It’s not a crime story although there is a death (in fact there are three deaths). Then again when I read it again maybe it is a crime story.

Anyway let me know what you think.

Just been to see Crime Time at the local theatre – Denise Mina, Helen Fitzgerald, Karen Campbell and Louise Welsh. It was a good night and all four were v interesting.

Great news. Waterstone’s have just agreed to take the book across all their Scottish stores from the end of this month on their ‘Buy 3 for 2′ offer – on top of Borders listing the book on their ‘buy one get the second half price’ deal across Scotland things are picking up momentum with the book.

I’ve uploaded an old short story that has been sitting on my hard drive for years. In fact so long that the original had a reference to a video recorder and if I remember correctly video recorders were still expensive and state of the art when I wrote this. I’ve changed the reference to a DVD player but maybe it should have been a V+ box – but a DVD player will do.

Let me know if you enjoy it.