10 Random Observations from the Edinburgh International Book Festival (So Far)

1. Jens Lapidus is not only a brilliant thriller writer, but a very lovely bloke.

2. The Elsewhere collection is a thing of real beauty.

3. Irvine Welsh is a sweetheart.

4. The staff get nicer and more helpful every year.

5. Ewan Morrison needs to get back on the booze, he has too much energy sober.

6. David Vann appears to have a really fucked up family.

7. It’s great to see a bookshop full of people buying books.

8. They still need to get beer in the yurt.

9. Literary Death Match organiser Todd Zuniga looks like Shelley Duvall (his words not mine, and he’s right).

10. The Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference is really not my cup of tea. Lots of self-important hot air, IMHO.

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Books I reviewed in June AND July (and some I didn’t manage to)

Aye so, I’m waaaaay behind with these updates, but here’s a big old list of books I’ve reviewed in the last two months, and some I wanted to read but never managed to. Links to reviews where possible.

JUNE

Chris Brookmyre, When the Devil Drives (Little Brown)for Scotland on Sunday
Harry Belafonte, My Song (Canongate)for Big Issue
Andrew Blackwell, Visit Sunny Chernobyl (Random House)for Big Issue
David Vann, Dirt (William Heinemann)for Independent on Sunday
Bonnie Campbell, Once Upon A River (Fourth Estate)for The Herald
Eric Berkowitz, Sex and Punishment (Telegram) – for Big Issue, not online
Robert MacFarlane, The Old Ways (Hamish Hamilton) – for Big Issue, not online

JULY

Cathi Unsworth, Weirdo (Serpent’s Tail)for Independent on Sunday
Denise Mina, Gods and Beasts (Orion)for Independent on Sunday
Kerry Hudson, Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma (Chatto & Windus) – for Big Issue, not online
Kirsty Gunn, The Big Music (Faber) – for The Edinburgh Review, not online
Julia Heaberlin, Playing Dead (Faber) – for Big Issue, not online
Sarah Moss, Names for the Sea (Granta)for Big Issue
Steve Boggan, Follow the Money (Union Books)for Big Issue

And all those bloody books that I haven’t had a chance to read yet:

Richard Ford, Canada (Bloomsbury)
Sjon, The Whispering Muse (Telegram)
H.J. Hampson, The Vanity Game (Blasted Heath)
Arnaldur Indridason, Black Skies (Harvill Secker)
Stuart Evers, If This Is Home (Picador)
Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Canongate)
Thomas Enger, Pierced (Faber)
Ned Beauman, The Teleportation Incident (Sceptre)
J.J. Connolly, Viva La Madness (Duckworth)
Jay Stringer, Old Gold (Thomas & Mercer)

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It’s all happening. Kind of.

Folks,
Bits and bobs and odds and sods to tell you about, so let’s crack on:

1. Edinburgh Book Festival Event next week
I’m appearing with Jens Lapidus at Charlotte Square next Friday 17th August at 8.30pm. Just finished Jens’s novel Easy Money which totally blew me away – he’s a million-selling Swedish writer, also a celebrity, a defence lawyer and (one for the ladies) annoyingly handsome. Honoured to be sharing a stage, and looking forward to this event immensely. Details of tickets etc are here.

2. Bloody Scotland event next month
I’m absolutely delighted to be appearing at the inaugural Bloody Scotland – the country’s only crime writing festival, no less. It’s all in Stirling, and my event is being billed as ‘Bad Boys’ (presumably nothing to do with the Will Smith movie) alongside the excellent Craig Robertson and Gary Moffat. It’s Saturday 15th Sept, 6.30pm, and as everyone knows, Saturday’s night’s alright for fighting, so expect extreme violence. Probably. Details here.

3. Loads more events
St Andrews, Newcastle, Glenrothes, Stirling, Edinburgh all in the pipeline. Check dates here.

4. Tombstoning and The Ossians out now
Both my first two books have been given a new lease of life as Faber ebooks. Find out what Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin and Chris Brookmyre liked about em by clicking here.

5. Second Lives
Very proud to have a short story included in Second Lives, a joint book project between British and American writers. My story is called ‘I’m Yours To Knock Around’ and is as cheery as that sounds. Find out all about the book and the project here.

6. Elsewhere
Also thrilled to have a story, ‘Surtsey’, included in the Elsewhere project, a collaboration between the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Cargo Publishing and McSweeney’s. 50 writers with stories in four volumes of gorgeously designed booky goodness. Check out the whole thing here.

7. Smokeheads out in Germany
Those lovely people at my German publishers btb have now published Smokeheads, my first book in translation! I’m well excited. Here’s hoping it flies off the shelves over there, eh? It even has a glossary of whisky terms in the back of the book – aw, bless em. Check it out here, if you speak German.

8. Amazon #1 Bestseller Hit & Run still out there
Of course I couldn’t leave you without plugging this, could I? Click here for purchasery.

9. And announcing Gone Again
My next novel is called Gone Again and is coming out with Faber 7th March 2013. Got a rough cover, nothing final, but it’s looking amazing! I’ll be boring the teats off you about it in due course, but meantime, the blurb is already up on Amazon:

And that’ll do for now, eh? See you in Charlotte Square!

Doug x

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Fast-talking sweaty Scotsman talks shite shocker!

Ha ha! Here is me, talking to Matt Thorne for a Fiction Uncovered thing. I’m talking fast, looking sweaty, and saying some pretty stupid things. All in all, a cracking success! Enjoy, if you can.

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Awesome @McDroll review!

Aye so, the rave reviews of Hit & Run keep on trundling in. This time round, McDroll loved it on her excellent I Meant To Read That blog, describing it as ‘dark, violent and thoroughly enjoyable’. Yowzer, thanks!

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The 10 Best Books of the Year so far

We’re past halfway through the year. So here are my favourite books of the first six months of 2012 in chronological order, with links to reviews where possible:

Frank Bill, Crimes in Southern Indiana (William Heinemann)

Shalom Auslander, Hope: A Tragedy (Picador)

Ron Rash, The Cove (Canongate)

Kevin Barry, Dark Lies the Island (Jonathan Cape)

Kathleen Jamie, Sightlines (Profile)

Ewan Morrison, Tales From The Mall (Cargo)

Megan Abbott, Dare Me (Picador)

Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

David Vann, Dirt (William Heinemann)

Bonnie Campbell, Once Upon A River (Fourth Estate)

Some brief stats:

7 Americans, 2 Scots, 1 Irish

7 novels, 2 non-fiction, 1 short stories

6 men, 4 women

If I was to pick a favourite at this point it would be Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, a quite remarkable literary thriller. Read the review if you want something slightly more eloquent.

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Do you want to review The Ossians?

Hey folks, I’m back again! This time, my second novel The Ossians has also just been published as an ebook by Faber Crime. You can download it here. If you’re a gen up blogger, reviewer etc and you want a review copy then drop me a line and it shall be yours. Anyone else who reads it, please do slap a review up on Amazon, spread the word, all that guff. Below are some of the nice things people have said about it. Cheers!

‘A powerful and moving commentary on the country and its defining myths.’ Ian Rankin

‘In it’s fledgling quest towards independence and political maturity, Scotland is no longer a child but an unruly, confused and passionate adolescent. The Ossians, a drug-fuelled, counterclockwise state-of-the-nation rock n roll tour, captures where we’re at better than any modern novel I’ve read.’ Irvine Welsh

‘The Ossians is a gripping, compelling, roadtrip around modern Scotland in the company of a drug-ravaged, arrogant, untamed visionary.’ Niall Griffiths

‘A rock odyssey so exhilaratingly authentic, you can hear the chords and smell the vomit.’ Christopher Brookmyre

‘This is Spinal Tap for Scotland’s lost generation. Johnstone has taken a small story of a small band lost in a small country and created an epic.’ Ewan Morrison

‘Packed with seedy, sticky bars, sullen punters and morose reflections in deteriorating weather, there is an atmospheric beauty to The Ossians.’ The Independent on Sunday

‘The authentic ring of a man who’s been there.’ The Guardian

‘Johnstone is good at describing the excitement, boredom, sniping and bonhomie of a touring band at the transit-van end of the career arc.’ The Times

‘Doug Johnstone has got the tone of this just right. One for the young hipsters and the old rockers.’ Scott Pack, The Friday Project

‘Entertains in the uncharted corners of an unseen Scotland.’ The List

‘A Blast.’ Scotland on Sunday

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Do you want to review Tombstoning?


Hey folks, my debut novel Tombstoning has just been published as an ebook by Faber Crime. You can download it here. Are you a bona fide blogger, reviewer etc? Do you want a review copy? Then drop me a line and it shall be yours. Anyone else who reads it, please do slap a review up on Amazon, spread the word, all that guff. Below are some of the nice things people have said about it. Cheers!

‘A seductive and thrilling evocation of what lurks beneath the surface of small-town Scotland, or indeed small-town anywhere.’ Christopher Brookmyre

‘Excellently written, intriguing storyline, and different from anything else around. A very impressive debut.’ Allan Guthrie

‘I’ve also just had the pleasure of reading a brilliant new author’s debut novel. Check out Doug Johnstone’s Tombstoning for a rollicking tale of mystery set in Auld Reekie and the east coast town of Arbroath.’ Vic Galloway

‘A vibrant and engaging debut, by turns humorous, irreverent and poignant.’ Bill Duncan, author of The Wee Book of Calvin

‘A splendidly old-fashioned thriller, often very funny, with a touching and believable romance thrown in.’ Kate Saunders, The Times

‘Detailed and atmospheric description, funny and sparky dialogue.’ Shirley Whiteside, Sunday Herald

‘A pacy debut thriller. Johnstone skilfully coaxes the reader into identifying with these difficult-to-love characters and maintains the tension and drama. He also pulls off a trick many experienced authors can’t manage – convincing descriptions of sex.’ Nadine McBay, Metro

‘Tombstoning has a friendly, pacy tone which has led to comparisons with the Scots writer Christopher Brookmyre, with a touch of romance and a gripping action sequence in the final chapters.’ Susan Mansfield, The Scotsman

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‘They said Tammy, stand by the JAMMs.’

Friday tune time. Woke up with this in my head for some reason. Awesome.

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Shortest review ever!

Got the shortest review ever in The Evening Standard the other day. It is here. If you can’t be arsed clicking, it’s basically a one-paragraph summary of the first three chapters, then this: “Fast and exciting.” Thanks, William Leith, it is fast and exciting, isn’t it?

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