Comely Bank Publishing
  • Welcome
  • Blog/CBP News
  • Our "Collective" Authors
    • T D Burke >
      • The Man From Outremer
    • Gordon Lawrie >
      • Four Old Geezers and a Valkyrie
      • The Discreet Charm of Mary Maxwell-Hume
      • The Blogger Who Came in from the Cold
      • The Piano Exam
      • Recipes
      • 100 Not Out
    • Lucy Lloyd >
      • Russian Doll
    • Jane Tulloch >
      • Our Best Attention
      • Assured Attention
      • Christmas At Murrays
    • Roland Tye >
      • Weekender
  • Dean Park Press
  • Resources for Talented New Authors
    • Submissions
    • Style Guidelines
    • Formatting
    • Covers
    • Dealing with Writer's Block
    • Sequels Advice
    • A Guide to Scrivener
  • Bookshop
  • Info for Booksellers
  • Press & Media
  • Terms & Conditions
  • About Us
  • Contact
Community Publishing for the community

Blackwell's Writers At The Fringe

10/8/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureJane Tulloch
August in Edinburgh means "Festival", in this case "Festival Fringe". Blackwell's Writers At The Fringe is now in its 10th year, and hosted by the sublimely eccentric Ann Landemann the excellent Edinburgh bookstore allowed five more Scottish authors the chance to strut their stuff tonight.
 
First up was Willie Hershaw, erstwhile head of English at Beath High School in Fife, but now focusing on writing Scots poetry. For those of us familiar with the language, this was a major treat: this was precise, accessible, unaffected Scots, a far cry from some of Hugh MacDiarmid's more affected efforts. I liked Hershaw's very first poem about the wartime pit disaster in High Valleyfield and his observations on wildlife more than the longer Lockerbie poem he read later: the latter didn;t quite work for me. A nice translation of Prospero into Scots at the end worked well, though. Hershaw is funny, to the point, and should be watched out for.
 
Ever Dundas nor Charles McGarry both disappointed me somewhat. Dundas read from a child-centred fantasy book set in World War 2 and did almost nothing except read from her novel. Since the genre didn't interest me, I was never going have the opportunity to find her interesting either. On the other hand Charles McGarry came across as a little aggressive. He's written one crime novel, which took 5 years, but he spoke as if he were a superstar who'd written 25 or more. I wasn't sure about his writing style either. It seemed a little forced, too flowery: crime fiction is entertainment first, second and third. The reader should never be aware it's well written until long after the book's been put down. Perhaps both Dundas and McGarry were a little nervous.
 
Then we had Comely Bank Publishing's own Jane Tulloch. Jane has really grown in confidence, and despite admitting that many in her audience wouldn't really like her feelgood style, she came over well, read a couple of nice pieces from her new book, and generally picked up the pace of the evening well.
 
The last act was Willie McIntyre. By sheer chance I'd bought his new book as a present for my son's birthday the previous week, so I was doubly interested. A criminal defence lawyer himself, McIntyre's crime writing seems easy reading, occasionally amusingly politically incorrect (but not offensively so) and he came across as a man who writes for fun – something Tulloch had referred to earlier as well. McIntyre's readings were funny, and read well, too. Based on this alone, I'd recommend his books.

Gordon Lawrie, 10th August 2017

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    News

    Latest news from
    ​Comely Bank Publishing


    ARCHIVED Posts

    PLEASE NOTE That links in archived posts may no longer be valid

    August 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Picture
    Click here for more about author Roland Tye
    Picture
    Click here for more about author T.D.Burke
    Picture
    Click here for Gordon Lawrie author page
    Picture
    Click here for more about Jane Tulloch
    Picture
    Click here for more about Lucy Lloyd

    Picture
    proud sponsors of
    ​
    Friday Flash Fiction

    Picture
Picture

Website by Platform 36
Photo used under Creative Commons from gianandreap