illustration by Mitch Blunt
Aye so here is my Big Issue column, reviewing When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow (Miyuki Books) by Dan Rhodes and Judith Schalansky’s The Giraffe’s Neck (Bloomsbury). Very good but very different, and one of them is almost certainly libellous.
Following hot on the heels of my recent interview in The Puffin Review, they’ve got a cracking review of Gone Again up on their site now. ‘This was a refreshing change from the tired crime staples of tough cops and sleazy characters, and shows the bravery and confidence of the author,’ they say, and who am I to argue?
I was recently interviewed by Gemma Fraser for the Edinburgh Evening News, where I talked about Kurt Cobain, feeling old and my obsession with obituaries, all of which led to The Dead Beat being what it is. Read all about it here.
Three weeks until publication and we have the first review of The Dead Beat, by Bethany Anderson over at Subtle Melodrama. And it’s a cracker, Ms Anderson describing it as ‘funny, moving, exciting and, as always, Johnstone really brings the city of Edinburgh alive’. Cheers, Bethany!
Let’s hope it’s not the last good review, huh?
Dx
I had a good old blether with the inimitable Ryan van Winkle for a Scottish Book Trust podcast. Here it is here. Lots of chatter about The Dead Beat, suicide and mental health issues, grunge and cassette tapes. If you like that kind of thing.
I was interviewed a wee while ago in The Puffin Review about all sorts of stuff, from football to self-publishing, from music to muses. Click on the link to read the blether and swearwords.
OK, so here’s a bit of fun. My new book, THE DEAD BEAT, has a thread of early 90s grunge and alternative rock running through it, even though it’s mostly set in present-day Edinburgh. The reason for that will be obvious once you read it.
Anyway, I’ve put together a Spotify playlist of tunes by bands mentioned in the book. Some of the bands even have cameo appearances in there. Here’s the playlist. Turn it up, motherfuckers.
Dx
Here is my Big Issue column reviewing Michio Kaku’s The Future of the Mind (Allen Lane) and The Undertaking by Audrey Magee (Atlantic). Two very different books, but both intriguing in their own way.
Aye so, I recently reviewed A Million Ways to Die in the West (Canongate), the debut novel by Seth MacFarlane, he of Family Guy and Ted fame. The review was in The Independent on Sunday. The book was funny as far as it went, but I didn’t much see the point of the novelisation, and looking at the trailer for the movie above (NSFW, by the way), the film looks much funnier.
Dx
Here’s a cool wee highlights video of last week’s Speakeasy event at The Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh. Loads of talented folks, then me bringing up the rear, so to speak. Enjoy!
Doug Johnstone 
