Tallis Steelyard x 2

Two new Jim Webster publications is a cause for smiles. They always entertain.

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Book description

More of the wit, wisdom and jumbled musings of Tallis Steelyard. Not only have we got Gentlemen behaving badly, we see Port Naain by starlight and meet ladies of wit and discernment. There are Philosophical societies, amateur dramatics, the modern woman, revenge, and the advantages of a good education. All human life is here, or at least such of it as Tallis will admit to.

My review 

Another great set of stories as told by jobbing poet Tallis Steelyard. Fights abound and artists and poets are not the least amongst the fighters. I love these stories and sometimes think if someone were to drop me anywhere in Port Naain I could find my way, well, not home, but at least to Tallis and Shena’s barge. Jim Webster always gives us humour, wit and a wisdom he wears lightly. People like him should be running the country.

And another!

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Book description

We continue to explore the wit, wisdom and jumbled musings of Tallis Steelyard. In this invaluable publication Tallis Steelyard discusses the ways in which a writer can bring their work to the attention of the masses and more importantly, sell the book to them. As well as this, we have the importance of getting home under your own steam, music and decorum, brass knuckles for a lady, and of course, a few simple spices. 
Surely this is the one essential book that every aspiring novelist should both purchase and study

My review -

Another set of stories from Poet Tallis Steelyard. Amongst other short tales, he advises on selling your written word. The world, even the invented world of Tallis and friends, has much to say on this. As we know, people you’ve never heard of will offer you a book on how to sell your novel and get rich. Jim Webster has once again sorted the gold from the dross and presented it as stories. There’s a lot of truth in them!

About the author

Jim Webster is probably fifty something, his tastes in music are eclectic, and his dress sense is rarely discussed in polite society. In spite of this he has a wife and three daughters.
He has managed to make a living from a mixture of agriculture, consultancy, and freelance writing. Previously he has restricted himself to writing about agricultural and rural issues but including enough Ancient Military history to maintain his own sanity. But seemingly he has felt it necessary to branch out into writing SF and fantasy novels. 
He lives in South Cumbria.

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Just a thought

Some say life is the thing, but I prefer reading ― Ruth Rendell

A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World

C A Fletcher has created a horribly believable petering out of humanity and here, almost at the end, is a very memorable story.

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Book description

My name's Griz. 
I've never been to school, I've never had friends, in my whole life I've not met enough people to play a game of football. My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, before all the people went away, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs.
Then the thief came. 
He told stories of the deserted towns and cities beyond our horizons. I liked him - until I woke to find he had stolen my dog. So I chased him out into the ruins of the world.
I just want to get my dog back, but I found more than I ever imagined was possible. More about how the world ended. More about what my family's real story is. More about what really matters.

My review 

I love this book! It takes a while to get used to not having speech marks but it soon becomes like the chatting of a young friend. About a third of the way through I feared it would run out of steam but it picked up again and right the way through to the end it was an exciting and sometimes surprising read. It brilliant portrays a dystopian future but one far less bleak than The Road (although I loved that too). The dog plays a significant part in the story but mainly it’s the strength of will and resilience of one young person against a very sparsely populated country. So few people, in fact, that a stranger is treated with suspicion. It’s a one-off. Do read it.

About the author

C. A. Fletcher has children and dogs. He lives in Scotland and writes for a living.

I received a review copy of this book from Amazon Vine.

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Just a thought

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future ― Ray Bradbury

A Wolf at the Gate

Second in the Orkneyinga murder mysteries by Lexie Conyngham.

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Book description

Ketil had not intended to return to Orkney, but when you work for Thorfinn Sigurdarson, you obey orders. Thorfinn wants him back to help with a visiting Abbot from Saxony, escorted by an old colleague of Ketil’s. Then people who know the Abbot start dying, and Ketil must once again work with his friend Sigrid to find out why – and to face dark memories from his own past.This is the second in the Orkneyinga Murders series.

My review - 

This is a second outing for Ketil and his childhood friend Sigrid. Ketil had been called back to Orkney when the bishop of Colonia and his colleague and follower Otto arrive. There’s a death soon after and the victim knew the bishop. All communication between the groups is complicated by the need to translate. It’s a really interesting puzzle as so many people could have so many reasons to want the victim dead – and then there are more deaths. Is it the same killer? This story is well set in time and place and the little details make it come alive. Sigrid, a worker in wool, is teaching someone nailbinding. I had to Google it. You can see YouTube videos. I love this little detail bringing Viking life to my own living room.

If you love mysteries if you’re fascinated by history, or if you’re partial to a little yarn-craft, this book will delight you. It’s a whole lot of story for your money.

About the author

Lexie Conyngham is a historian living in the shadow of the Highlands. Her Murray of Letho novels are born of a life amidst Scotland's old cities, ancient universities and hidden-away aristocratic estates, but she has written since the day she found out that people were allowed to do such a thing. Beyond teaching and research, her days are spent with wool, wild allotments and a wee bit of whisky. 

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Just a thought

Wear the old coat and buy the new book ― Austin Phelps

Fear in the Lakes

Third in Graham Smith's 'lakes' series and they go from strength to strength.

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Book description

A case with no leads.
A victim with no enemies.
A killer with no conscience…

When Detective Beth Young is called to investigate a victim with multiple broken bones, nothing prepares her for what she finds. James Sinclair is fighting for his life, and Beth can’t shake the idea that the nature of his injuries suggest someone with a personal grudge against him.

But James’s devastated wife Laura insists that her kind, softly-spoken husband is a man with no enemies. She was the one with the fiery temper, but James was so calm, she’d never once managed to provoke even a cross word from him in their eight year marriage. And he was the same with everyone – she can’t name one person who might want to hurt him.

But she knows virtually no details about her husband’s childhood or his life before he moved to the Lake District as a young man, and Beth feels sure that the key to finding James’s attacker is hidden in the secrets of his past. Who was he really? And what is the significance of the coded messages that Beth finds hidden on his laptop?

Then two more bodies are found in one of the deep, picturesque lakes that the area is so famous for, exhibiting similar injuries to the ones James Sinclair suffered. How are they connected? And how many more people are at risk?

Beth knows she is in a race against time to hunt a vicious killer who is both elusive and incredibly dangerous. A killer who knows what James did in the past. Who likes to be one step ahead. But who – if they realise they’re being hunted – might come for Beth next…

My review -

A man is found in his own bedroom with multiple shattered bones, to the extent that he needs his arms and leg amputated. It’s a puzzle for Beth and the team to find out who did it and also why. More bodies – different wounds but there seems to be a connection. When a series of emails appears, all written in code, Beth is in her element. There’s more about her own life, and the race is on to find the perpetrator before there’s another set of crushed limbs. It’s an exciting story, a real puzzle with an unexpected ending. This series is going from strength to strength. Highly recommended.

About the author

Graham Smith is a time served joiner who has built bridges, houses, dug drains and slated roofs to make ends meet. Since Christmas 2000, he has been manager of a busy hotel and wedding venue near Gretna Green, Scotland. 

He is an internationally best-selling Kindle author and has six books featuring DI Harry Evans and the Cumbrian Major Crimes Team, and four novels, featuring Utah doorman, Jake Boulder. His 'Lakes' series which has three novels featuring DC Beth Young has received much critical acclaim.

An avid fan of crime fiction since being given one of Enid Blyton's Famous Five books at the age of eight, he has also been a regular reviewer and interviewer for the well-respected website Crimesquad.com since 2009

Graham is the founder of Crime and Publishment, a weekend of crime-writing classes which includes the chance for attendees to pitch their novels to agents and publishers. Since the first weekend in 2013, ten attendees have gone on to sign publishing contracts.

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Just a thought

Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth.
― Khaled Hosseini

The Stranger Diaries

This is a stand-alone from Elly Griffiths and it kept me reading till late!

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Book description

A dark story has been brought to terrifying life. Can the ending be rewritten in time?

This is what the police know: English teacher Clare Cassidy's friend Ella has just been murdered. Clare and Ella had recently fallen out. Found beside the body was a line from The Stranger, a story by the Gothic writer Clare teaches, and the murder scene is identical to one of the deaths in the story.

This is what Clare knows: No one else was aware of her fight with Ella. Few others have even read The Stranger. Someone has wormed their way into her life and her work. They know her darkest secrets. And they don't mean well.

This is what the killer knows: Who will be next to die.

My review - 

I do love a bit of gothic and this combined a short ghost story from a previous era with a modern day murder mystery. The story is told from three points of view – Clare, a teacher, Georgia, her daughter and Harbinder Kaur, the DS looking into the murder of a friend of Clare’s. I enjoyed this aspect as we got to see what each thought of the other and how they interpreted what had happened. The ghost story ran through the narrative and was told in its entirely at the end. The main story centred on the school where Clare taught and Georgia was a pupil. It was the former home of the author of the short ghost story and the mixing of the two was, for me, really well done. There are more bodies and it’s down to Harbinder Kaur and the team to discover the murderer. I honestly never guessed. A great book.

About the author

Elly Griffiths was born in London. The inpsiration for her books about forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway came from her husband who gave up a city job to train as an archaeologist. Elly lives near Brighton but often spends holidays on the wild Norfolk coast. She has two children and a cat.

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Just a thought 

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book. 
― Henry David Thoreau

XX

Short in name, long on ideas, XX is the first novel of Angela Chadwick.

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Book description

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO FOR A CHILD OF YOUR OWN?

When Rosie and Jules discover a ground-breaking clinical trial that enables two women to have a female baby, they jump at the chance to make history.

Fear-mongering politicians and right-wing movements are quick to latch on to the controversies surrounding Ovum-to-Ovum (o-o) technology and stoke the fears of the public. What will happen to the numbers of little boys born? Is there a sinister conspiracy to eradicate men at play?

In this toxic political climate, Jules and Rosie try to hide their baby from scrutiny. But when the news of Rosie's pregnancy is leaked to the media, their relationship is put under a microscope and they're forced to question the loyalty of those closest to them, and battle against a tirade of hate that threatens to split them apart...

My review 

The premise of this book is a scientific advance which allows the ova of two women to be fused to create a new life, the so-called ovum to ovum fertilisation. It has that speculative, science-fiction sound to it, which initially drew me to the book. It’s not high on science, though, but is very good on social analysis. Jules, a journalist, and Rosie, working in a bookshop, apply to be in the first group and are successful.

When they do a test and find that Rosie really is pregnant, their own feelings are different from one another. Worst of all, someone leaks their names to the media. What follows is persecution by so many groups, religious, political, and many more. Will this see the end of baby boys? Will men be a minority? This was what fascinated me about the book. This in-depth but gripping analysis of what it meant to the two women, their families, friends, and the wider world. It was utterly engrossing and I loved it.

About the author

Angela Chadwick trained as a journalist and worked as a reporter before becoming a communications manager within higher education. XX is her first novel.

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Just a thought

We owe it to each other to tell stories ― Neil Gaiman