OK so, my review of Lucy Ellmann’s Mimi (Bloomsbury) appeared in the Independent on Sunday at the weekend there. It’s a kind of feminist romantic comedy, I guess. With plenty of bite. A lot of nice writing and very funny in places, but I thought it kind of fell apart in the last third. Hey, just one person’s stupid opinion, right?
Aye so, I might have mentioned once or twice that my new novel, GONE AGAIN, is out 7th March. Anyway, proving that bloggers are always ahead of the game, no less than FOUR of them slung up reviews of the book around a week ago, all of them more or less going bananas over the damn thing. Here are some deets, dudes:
The blogger who popped my review cherry, as it were, was The Book Boy. Declaring me ‘a maverick’ (I hope he means a la Top Gun), he then went on to claim: ‘In this book Doug quite happily takes you to the edge of a cliff and pushes you over the edge with a dark smile on his face.’ I’d just like to state I have never been found guilty of literally doing that. Thanks, Mr Boy!
Next to tip a kindly nod at the book was Samuel Best over on his blog. Claiming to have read it in one sitting, he went on to claim: ‘Johnstone’s previous novels have all been high-speed journeys into a variety of different shitstorms, but this one is darker, more brooding, and more emotionally trying than the rest.’ I’m all about the shitstorms, Sam!
Throwing her hat into the reviewing ring next was Rush Hour Reads, who claims to have only stopped reading to eat and sleep. That’s the kind of dedication you just don’t get in the New York Times, Ms Reads! And she thought ‘Doug Johnstone’s style is brilliantly raw’. Well, if that don’t beat all. I did make these britches myself out of twine, which is pretty raw.
And last but not least for now, Raven Crime Reads gave the book a lengthy going over, describing it as ‘a pitch perfect examination of familial relationships’ before casually chucking the word ‘compelling’ at the poor, unsuspecting reader. Very kind indeed.
Huge thanks to all who took the time to engage with the book, let’s spread the word, eh? Hopefully more reviews to come soon.
Dx
I was/am in a band called Northern Alliance, along with Craig Smith and Viv Todd. Between 2003 and 2007 we released four albums, some of them on Fence Records, all of which got some very nice reviews, and went down pretty well with punters. You can now nip over to our Bandcamp site and download these albums on a pay-what-you-like basis. We were kinda lo-fi, I guess. People compared us to Mazzy Star and Sparklehorse, that sort of thing, and called us ‘sleepy’, but I don’t think we spent more time sleeping than average humans. Less, once the kids arrived.
Here are some nice quotes:
‘Northern Alliance merge the dissolute melancholy of Arab Strap with the smudged alt folk of Sparklehorse… superb.’ Scotland on Sunday
‘Gloriously ramshackle, heartbroken and drunkenly swaying, but that’s exactly where their charm lies.’ Kerrang
‘This trio are a thing of real texture and beauty’ The List
‘Genuinely affecting with a heart as heavy as the sun.’ Metro
You can find out the whole crazy, rock’n’roll story over at the band’s website, www.lowfidelity.com, which has just had a wee spring clean. It’s not the whole story – it won’t tell you which band member is allergic to strawberries, or which one had a collapsed lung, or which one had a nipple ring for ten years. That stuff is for the pub.
Anyway, fill yer boots with the music if you want. And do let us know what you think. There are rumours that we’re going to make some new music this year, but then that rumour has been kicking around for years, so I wouldn’t pay it much mind.
Cheers,
Doug x
Here is my review of Sheila Heti’s How Should a Person Be? that appeared in The Scotsman recently. As you’ll see from my review, it was a pretty strange book – at times horribly pretentious, other times oddly profound. Either way, it was very navel-gazing.
Here is my review of Mark Binelli’s excellent The Last Days of Detroit (The Bodley Head), which appeared in the Big Issue magazine a while back, but has only recently made it online. Thought this was a fantastic piece of non-fiction, very scary though. Some of the stats about levels of deprivation were rather mind-boggling.
Midfield maestro Billy Letford clashes with Joe Dunthorne
Here is a brilliant, brilliant half-hour Radio 4 documentary made by Joe Dunthorne about the England Writers Football Team’s visit to play the Scotland Writers Football Team in December.
Sure I’ve mentioned it once or twice, but I was playing that day, and we won 4-2. Anyway, it was a fantastic weekend, and this documentary is a great tribute to the sporting nature of proceedings. I think you can hear me shouting something in the background at some point. You should listen out for Graham Joyce’s hilarious German shower anecdote, worth listening to for that alone.
Had a fantastic weekend with the English lads, and we’re heading down there for a rematch sometime in the spring, details tbc.
Folks,
I have a NEW BOOK COMING OUT on 7TH MARCH.
It’s called GONE AGAIN and, as you can see, it has a beautiful, beautiful cover.
We’re having a LAUNCH EVENT at BLACKWELL’S, SOUTH BRIDGE, EDINBURGH on THURSDAY 7TH MARCH, 6.30pm. Please come. I will be reading and chatting and juggling. Maybe not juggling. Then we’ll go to the pub, all of us.
Here’s the blether about the book:
**
‘It’s just to say that no-one has come to pick Nathan up from school, and we were wondering if there was a problem of some kind?’
As Mark Douglas photographs a pod of whales stranded in the waters off Edinburgh’s Portobello Beach, he is called by his son’s school: his wife, Lauren, hasn’t turned up to collect their son. Calm at first, Mark collects Nathan and takes him home but as the hours slowly crawl by he increasingly starts to worry.
With brilliantly controlled reveals, we learn some of the painful secrets of the couple’s shared past, not least that it isn’t the first time Lauren has disappeared. And as Mark struggles to care for his son and shield him from the truth of what’s going on, the police seem dangerously short of leads. That is, until a shocking discovery…
In the tradition of The Vanishing and Tell No One comes a brilliant, guess-until-the-very-end psychological thriller.
‘Moving and fiercely gripping, Gone Again hurls you along with a series of whipsmart twists that leave you breathless. Calling to mind the best of Harlan Coben, Johnstone shows us how quickly an ordinary life can take one dark turn and nothing is ever the same again.’ Megan Abbott
‘A quite literally heart-pounding thriller. I was turning every page with an irresistible mixture of dread and compulsion.’ Chris Brookmyre
**
If that doesn’t entice you, let me tell you that there is also a lot of Star Wars chat in it, a restraining order, the tooth fairy, pints of blood seeping between the floorboards, guns, a chase on Porty Beach, constipation, a playground punch up, dead bodies and chapped lips.
Early warning – this book is apparently making some people cry.
So come to the launch! Enjoy! Ask questions! Drink wine! Heckle!
Hopefully see you there.
Cheers all,
Doug
The best thing I read this month
However, amongst them were a desire to read more books NOT for review (I read virtually none last year outside of my reviewing list), read more screenplays and watch more films.
So, in a slightly OCD way, I’m keeping a note of what I’ve seen/read this year. Here’s January’s offering. Some of the books are re-reads, some old, some not even out yet. Some of the films are re-watches, too. I’m planning on a fair bit of screenwriting this year, so am immersing myself in it all, hoping some of the magic will rub off.
Anyway, here’s January’s list below. All thoughts welcome:
Books read for review
Mark Binelli, The Last Days of Detroit
Chloe Hooper, The Engagement
Warren Ellis, Gun Machine
Erin Kelly, The Burning Air
Belinda Bauer, Rubbernecker
Derek B. Miller, Norwegian By Night
Dave Eggers, A Hologram for the King
Books read not for review
Tony Black, Long Time Dead
Sara Gran, Come Closer
Helen FitzGerald, The Cry
Chris Pavone, The Expats
George V Higgins, The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Sara Gran, Dope
Films watched
Moon
Wind Chill
Defiance
Ecstasy
Knowing
Inglourious Basterds
Source Code
Fracture
Moonrise Kingdom
Weekend
Paul
Django Unchained
Lawless
The Adjustment Bureau
Tell No One
Scripts read
Source Code
Groundhog Day
Insomnia
Amour
OK, so here’s my review of Belinda Bauer’s Rubbernecker in The Independent on Sunday last weekend. Lots of good writing, but I didn’t find it very gripping, I’m afraid.
Folks, my fifth novel, GONE AGAIN, is out soon (7th March, to be precise)! If you’re a book blogger, reviewer or some such, and you’d like a copy, drop me a line and I’ll have Faber sling a copy your way.
Here the chatter from the back cover:
‘It’s just to say that no-one has come to pick Nathan up from school, and we were wondering if there was a problem of some kind?’
As Mark Douglas photographs a pod of whales stranded in the waters off Edinburgh’s Portobello Beach, he is called by his son’s school: his wife, Lauren, hasn’t turned up to collect their son. Calm at first, Mark collects Nathan and takes him home but as the hours slowly crawl by he increasingly starts to worry.
With brilliantly controlled reveals, we learn some of the painful secrets of the couple’s shared past, not least that it isn’t the first time Lauren has disappeared. And as Mark struggles to care for his son and shield him from the truth of what’s going on, the police seem dangerously short of leads. That is, until a shocking discovery…
Spread the word, people!
Dx
Doug Johnstone 