I’ve put together a Spotify playlist of Scottish indie bangers from around the time the book was first published – Franz Ferdinand, Belle and Sebastian, The Delgados and much more. I’ve also chucked in a couple of tunes from the band I was in at the time – Northern Alliance – because why not, eh?
Feature in The Herald
I was interviewed for The Herald by Teddy Jamieson, who also interviewed me when the book first came out, so it was a crazy trip down memory lane for both of us. I look grumpy in the picture because it was absolutely freezing on Portobello Beach that day.
Tombstoning blog tour
Tombstoning has been on a lovely blog tour, thanks to Anne Cater for organising. It’s so weird seeing new reviews for a 20-year-old book, but it’s incredibly gratifying to read that the novel has stood the test of time. Huge thanks to all the book bloggers for their time and consideration in writing reviews.
My debut novel Tombstoning is reborn today. My publisher Orenda Books have produced a 20th anniversary edition of my first book, with a beautiful cover by Mark Swan and a fantastic introduction by Chris Brookmyre. Special thanks to Karen Sullivan at Orenda for making this happen.
You can buy the paperback here or at your local independent bookshop. You can buy the ebook here.
What is Tombstoning about?
Your best mate just fell off a cliff in mysterious circumstances. You were the last person to see him alive. What do you do?
If you’re David Lindsay from Arbroath, you leg it – and don’t go back. Not for fifteen years.
Then Nicola Cruickshank – yes, that Nicola, the girl you always fancied but never had the guts to speak to – gets in touch. She wants you back for a school reunion. At the very place it happened. Of course you say yes. Not to lay ghosts to rest, but because you still fancy Nicola.
The thing is, if you are David Lindsay, then returning to Arbroath isn’t going to bring closure. Because when someone else tumbles off the cliffs – an act the locals now call tombstoning – David has a choice: run away again, or finally find out why people around him keep dying…
What did people say about Tombstoning 20 years ago?
The book made a bit of a splash back in the day:
‘Very funny, with a touching and believable romance thrown in’ Kate Saunders,The Times
‘[A] pacy debut thriller. . . Johnstone skilfully coaxes the reader into identifying with these difficult-to-love characters and maintains the tension and drama’ Metro
‘[Leads] to comparisons with the Scots writer Christopher Brookmyre … with a touch of romance [and] a gripping action sequence in the final chapters’ Scotsman
‘Detailed and atmospheric descriptions … funny and sparky dialogue’ Sunday Herald
‘Excellently written, intriguing storyline, and different from anything else around. A very impressive debut’ Allan Guthrie
‘A brilliant new author … a rollicking tale of mystery set in Auld Reekie and the east coast town of Arbroath…’ The List
‘A vibrant and engaging debut, by turns humorous, irreverent and poignant’ Bill Duncan
‘A seductive and thrilling evocation of what lurks beneath the surface of small-town Scotland – or, indeed, small-town anywhere’ Christopher Brookmyre
Come and hear me and Chris Brookmyre talk about Tombstoning TONIGHT at the Portobello Bookshop. There will be banter and music and all sorts. Tickets here.
My debut novel Tombstoning is getting a new lease of life, a twentieth anniversary reissue by Orenda Books, complete with new introduction by Chris Brookmyre. I’ll be chatting to Chris about it at my local Portobello Bookshop on Wednesday 25th February. I suspect subjects will include Scotland’s drinking culture, school reunions, the misery of watching football at Gayfield Park and much more. There will also be a special musical performance that I’ve never done before. You can get tickets here and order special signed and dedicated copies of the novel from the bookshop’s website.
It’s the tenth birthday of Granite Noir, and this year’s festival is coming very soon. I’ll be therein Aberdeen on Friday 20th February talking to the lovely Bryan Burnett about two decades as a published writer. I’ll also be playing a couple of tunes as well, so consider yourself warned.
The good people of Edinburgh International Book Festival are running Paper Trails, a winter mini-book fest at Muirhouse Library, and I’m delighted to be appearing on Wednesday 11th February, chatting to Nyla Ahmad about twenty years of sweary nonsense. (Warning, this even will probably also contain vaguely relevant live music.) It’s FREE but ticketed, go here to sort yourself out.
Tombstoning looking pretty good for 20 years old! Love these new proofs going out into the world. Published 12th Feb by Orenda Books. Preorder here: geni.us/Mb0bqB
I am THRILLED that my second novel, THE OSSIANS, is getting a shiny new reissue in April next year by Orenda Books with a lovely introduction by none other than Val McDermid! It’s a wild ride of a book, for sure:
Connor is twenty-four, brilliant, broken, and out of control. He’s the swaggering frontman of The Ossians, a Scottish indie band on the brink of signing a major record deal.
Desperate to make their mark, they head off on a two-week winter tour across the cities and hinterlands of Scotland – a last-ditch attempt to find fame, purpose, and themselves.
But the tour soon spirals into a surreal, chaotic odyssey. From seedy bars and snowbound towns to a final, defining Glasgow gig, the band hurtles through a whirlwind of seagull massacres, botched drug deals, a mysterious stalker, radioactive beaches, bomb-testing ranges, epileptic fits, riotous Russian submariners, deadly storms, epiphanies, regular beatings and random shootings.
Raw, darkly funny and wild with energy, The Ossians is a gloriously anarchic story of rock’n’roll obsession, national identity and self-destruction, and what it means to belong – in a band, in a country, in a life unravelling at speed.
You can pre-order it here: geni.us/49IJe, or at your local indie shop. Looking forward to getting out and talking about this one again after all these years!
Finished a messy first draft of the next Skelfs book this morning. Still LOADS of work to do, but always happy to reach this stage. Ghost Notes, my 20th novel, will be published in August by Orenda Books.
Doug Johnstone 