In an announcement suitable for Halloween my debut novel, Tombstoning, is back from the dead. The book was first published in 2006, so next year will be its twentieth birthday. To celebrate, my fantastic publisher Orenda Books are reissuing it with a lovely new cover and an even more lovely introduction by none other than Chris Brookmyre. What is the book about, you ask?
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…
The book is off on a wee adventure around the internet, stopping at the following places on its blog tour. Can’t wait to see what the blogging community makes of it.
I’m launching my nineteenth novel into the world TONIGHT at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. I’ll be chatting to wonderful author Rachelle Atalla, and playing a couple of tunes as well. Plus probably raising a glass into the bargain, let’s be real. And obviously I’ll be signing copies afterwards and blethering to anyone who will listen. There are still a few tickets here, hopefully see you there.
The Transcendent Tide – the third instalment of my Enceladons trilogy – is out today, and I can’t wait for folk to read it. It’s definitely my most ambitious novel to date in a number of ways, and hopefully readers will agree that I’ve honoured the first two books in the series and given the characters a fitting ending.
You can buy the paperback here or at your local independent bookshop. Or you can buy the ebook here.
…but what is it about?
Good question.
It’s been eighteen months since the Enceladons escaped the clutches of an American military determined to exterminate the peaceful alien creatures.
Lennox and Vonnie have been lying low in the Scottish Highlands, Ava has been caring for her young daughter Chloe, and Heather is adjusting to her new life with Sandy and the other Enceladons in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Greenland. But fate is about to bring them together again for one last battle.
When Lennox and Vonnie are visited by Karl Jensen, a Norwegian billionaire intent on making contact with the Encedalons again, they are wary of subjecting the aliens to further dangers. But when word arrives that Ava’s daughter has suffered an attack and might die without urgent help, they reluctantly make the trip to Greenland, where they enlist the vital help of local woman Niviaq.
It’s not long before they’re drawn into a complex web of lies, deceit and death. What is Karl’s company really up to? Why are sea creatures attacking boats? Why is Sandy acting so strangely, and why are polar bears getting involved?
Profound, ambitious and immensely moving, The Transcendent Tide is the epic conclusion to the Encedalons Trilogy – a final showdown between the best and worst of humanity, the animal kingdom and the Encedalons. The future of life on earth will be changed forever, but not everyone will survive to see it…
What people are saying about it
Just in case you needed swaying, the book has already had great reviews from Scotland on Sunday, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express and New Scientist.
Also, a bunch of lovely authors have said very kind things about it:
‘An affecting and thought-provoking read. Johnstone’s worldbuilding is top notch in this pacy eco-alien tale of peril and hope’ Tendai Huchu
‘Surprising, compelling and out of this world’ Ann Morgan
‘A delight! We need more novels that take on human exceptionalism with such gusto’ Ever Dundas
‘A brilliant novel, handling complex themes … a timely meditation on man’s destructive nature’ Ambrose Parry
‘Wonderfully drawn … a serious critique of the state of the world today in a tense thriller anchored in the lives of ordinary people’ James Oswald
‘Powerful, profound, prescient and pacy … A brilliant near future tale, told beautifully, and sure to appeal to sci fi and thriller fans alike’ Lyndsey Croal
Doug Johnstone 