Weekly Blog - Monday 16th February
After a one-week break from blogging duties to concentrate on birthday celebrations, I’m back with a vengeance with a bumper issue!
First up, another great review for Justice For All, this time from the highly influential CrimeSquad website. I’m really excited about this one, as CrimeSquad are major players in shaping on-line opinion with regards to crime fiction. Their site receives a huge number of hits per month, and visits continue to grow at an exponential rate. The review likens JFA to ‘a powerful, racing machine’ and states that it ‘revs up in the first chapter and roars through the rest’, and as I’d set out to write a fast-paced book, these comments were particularly pleasing. The review closes by saying:
‘As a debut, Justice for All certainly works and is an excellent start to laying the foundations for what must surely be a marvellous writing career.’
High praise indeed! Visit www.crimesquad.com to read the full review.
Time for an update on books two and three in the Hunter series – Blood Law and The Beholder. Final amends have been made to the manuscript for Blood Law (tiny stuff mostly, like taking out the odd word or comma), and it’s now ready to go to print. Next up will be the grand unveiling of the cover art - stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks. With regards to The Beholder, that’s now in the hands of my agent, Broo Doherty, for comments before it goes to my publisher. Thus far Broo says that she’s hooked, and she’s particularly impressed by the gut-wrenching violence!
On the gig front, I’ve been busy – first with Alkaline Trio at the UEA closely followed by the latest NME tour. Alkaline Trio were recommended to me by my regular gig-buddies Jay and Chris, (the very same Chris that designs and maintains this website!), as they’d seen the band at last year’s Reading Festival on one of the smaller stages and had been suitably impressed. They’re one of those bands that I’d been aware of for years without ever having actually heard anything by them, and as they were a cracking live act, I’m now having to make up for lost time. For the uninitiated, they’re like early Green Day, but a little more earnest (in a good way!). And special thanks to the UEA staff who were very understanding about the fact that I’d somehow managed to lose my tickets for the gig (never happened before, and will never happen again!), but let me and Lisa in anyway.
The NME Tour featured four up and coming acts: Florence and The Machine, White Lies, Friendly Fires, and Glasvegas. I only caught half of Florence’s set, but wow, did she have a powerful voice. Kudos to the harp player who was manfully trying to compete with her vocals – I never heard a note mate, but I’m sure you were a mean plucker. White Lies were up next, and after all the recent hype in the national press, they didn’t disappoint. Lisa had marked them down for future stardom when she caught them at the Latitude festival last year (I was otherwise engaged at the Harrogate Crime Writing Fest at the time), and there’s little doubt that they’re headed for the big time. Like so many other modern bands, they take their influences from 80’s synth bands, but they add a muscular layer of guitars that elevates them over much of the competition.
Friendly Fires had the main support slot, and while they’re not my kind of music (bit too poppy/dancey for my liking), they were good at what they did and by the end of their set were staring to win me over. The critically adored Glasvegas had the coveted headline slot, and it’s fair to say that they divided opinion amongst those around me. Some people found them a little dull, while others (myself included) revelled in their wall of shimmering guitar noise and epic sense of scale. All in all, a top night.
Cheers,
Steve
What’s Steve been listening to this week?
To Lose My Life – by White Lies
All Boro Kings – by Dog Eat Dog
Let Me Come Over – by Buffalo Tom
First up, another great review for Justice For All, this time from the highly influential CrimeSquad website. I’m really excited about this one, as CrimeSquad are major players in shaping on-line opinion with regards to crime fiction. Their site receives a huge number of hits per month, and visits continue to grow at an exponential rate. The review likens JFA to ‘a powerful, racing machine’ and states that it ‘revs up in the first chapter and roars through the rest’, and as I’d set out to write a fast-paced book, these comments were particularly pleasing. The review closes by saying:
‘As a debut, Justice for All certainly works and is an excellent start to laying the foundations for what must surely be a marvellous writing career.’
High praise indeed! Visit www.crimesquad.com to read the full review.
Time for an update on books two and three in the Hunter series – Blood Law and The Beholder. Final amends have been made to the manuscript for Blood Law (tiny stuff mostly, like taking out the odd word or comma), and it’s now ready to go to print. Next up will be the grand unveiling of the cover art - stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks. With regards to The Beholder, that’s now in the hands of my agent, Broo Doherty, for comments before it goes to my publisher. Thus far Broo says that she’s hooked, and she’s particularly impressed by the gut-wrenching violence!
On the gig front, I’ve been busy – first with Alkaline Trio at the UEA closely followed by the latest NME tour. Alkaline Trio were recommended to me by my regular gig-buddies Jay and Chris, (the very same Chris that designs and maintains this website!), as they’d seen the band at last year’s Reading Festival on one of the smaller stages and had been suitably impressed. They’re one of those bands that I’d been aware of for years without ever having actually heard anything by them, and as they were a cracking live act, I’m now having to make up for lost time. For the uninitiated, they’re like early Green Day, but a little more earnest (in a good way!). And special thanks to the UEA staff who were very understanding about the fact that I’d somehow managed to lose my tickets for the gig (never happened before, and will never happen again!), but let me and Lisa in anyway.
The NME Tour featured four up and coming acts: Florence and The Machine, White Lies, Friendly Fires, and Glasvegas. I only caught half of Florence’s set, but wow, did she have a powerful voice. Kudos to the harp player who was manfully trying to compete with her vocals – I never heard a note mate, but I’m sure you were a mean plucker. White Lies were up next, and after all the recent hype in the national press, they didn’t disappoint. Lisa had marked them down for future stardom when she caught them at the Latitude festival last year (I was otherwise engaged at the Harrogate Crime Writing Fest at the time), and there’s little doubt that they’re headed for the big time. Like so many other modern bands, they take their influences from 80’s synth bands, but they add a muscular layer of guitars that elevates them over much of the competition.
Friendly Fires had the main support slot, and while they’re not my kind of music (bit too poppy/dancey for my liking), they were good at what they did and by the end of their set were staring to win me over. The critically adored Glasvegas had the coveted headline slot, and it’s fair to say that they divided opinion amongst those around me. Some people found them a little dull, while others (myself included) revelled in their wall of shimmering guitar noise and epic sense of scale. All in all, a top night.
Cheers,
Steve
What’s Steve been listening to this week?
To Lose My Life – by White Lies
All Boro Kings – by Dog Eat Dog
Let Me Come Over – by Buffalo Tom
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