Today, those fine folks at #ScotLitFest – Scotland’s first virtual literary festival – were kind enough to host the cover reveal for The Beast on the Broch. With art by Dawn Treacher and design by Anne from Cranachan, I really couldn’t be happier with it – Dawn has really captured Talorca and the Beast, and I… Read More
writing
I’ve lost track of how many revisions The Beast on the Broch has gone through. It’s had the most complicated lifecycle of any of the novels I’ve written. I began the book in the autumn of 2013; I’d only managed a few thousand words when I had to take a break for personal reasons, so it… Read More
Testing times
These are testing times for kids. A couple of days ago, Abi Elphinstone (author of The Dreamsnatcher and The Shadow Keeper) took sample SATs tests for English and Maths and failed horribly. I made this for all the kids sitting SATs this week after taking a sample online test 😘 #SATS2016 #SATsweek #SATS pic.twitter.com/FlcASRfaYU — Abi Elphinstone… Read More
On the 25th of March, 2015, it was announced at a ceremony in Dundee that my book, The Wreck of the Argyll, had won the Great War Dundee Children’s Book Prize, and would be published by Cargo in September of that year. A year and a day later, on the 26th of March, 2016, it… Read More
I’ve been sitting on this news for a wee while, so it’s really nice to get it out in the open. I’m delighted to announce that I’ve agreed a deal with Cranachan Publishing for my next book, The Beast on the Broch. My book will form part of their Yesteryear series of historical children’s fiction,… Read More
Issue 3 of Shoreline of Infinity magazine is out now – and this issue contains Time for Tea, a short story by me, under the cunning pseudonym of J.K Fulton. (I decided to use a slightly different name for this story – J.K Fulton is the sci-fi short story writer, John K. Fulton is the… Read More
New Year status report 2016
I did an annual update for 2015 and 2014, so in that grand tradition, here’s the 2016 edition. So, did anything interesting happen this year? Let’s take a look. The Wreck of the Argyll This book started the year on the shortlist for the Great War Dundee Children’s Book Prize, and to my utter amazement,… Read More
The cover of my book, The Wreck of the Argyll, has a quote from the author and historian Allan Burnett: “An exciting and fast-paced spy thriller, The Wreck of the Argyll is my kind of story.” I’ve always been particularly pleased with that quote, for one reason above all others. Back in September 2014, I was… Read More
At just after 0430 on the morning of the 28th of October, 1915, the Royal Navy armoured cruiser HMS Argyll ran aground on the treacherous reef by the Bell Rock Lighthouse and was wrecked. That was one hundred years ago today. The Argyll had been undergoing a refit at Plymouth and was on her way… Read More
Back in June of this year, the nice folks at the Wigtown Book Festival invited me to come to their town and give a talk about my book, The Wreck of the Argyll. Now, I’m not at my most comfortable talking in front of an audience – anyone who was at the book launch will… Read More