May 2019 – Page 2 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Blog Tour Calendar: ‘The Comedy Club Mystery’, by Peter Bartram

Publication Day Review: ‘The Lost Shrine’, by Nicola Ford

With bonus review: ‘The Hidden Bones’, by Nicola Ford

Late last year I bothered Allison & Busby for review copies of some of there books, and I’ve been trying to work out how to fit them into the blog ever since. Well, today is publication day for The Lost Shrine, thus I have decided to do a joint review post in celebration.

Nicola Ford is the pen name of archaeologist Dr Nick Snashall, who is National Trust Archaeologist for the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site. She has a two book deal with the publisher and I hope she’ll get another because the Hills & Barbrook series has only just started getting wind in its sails.

On to the reviews. The Hidden Bones is only getting a short review because I want to focus on The Lost Shrine.

Autistics and the arts

I have a new book, called Naming Adult Autism: Culture, Science, Identity by James McGrath, (book review coming at some point) who is a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University. In the opening chapter he makes the very good point that, despite the efforts of Simon Baron-Cohen and his AQ test (2001) to make it so, a lot of autistic people aren’t particularly interested in STEM subjects and really like the arts.

I’ve just done the AQ test to help with some research at Canterbury Christ Church University and it was striking how obvious the bias against the arts – including reading fiction and appreciation of theatre – is in that test. If you enjoy fiction it counts against you. McGrath wrote an article on the subject – to which Baron-Cohen responded with what can only be described as a mealy mouthed Tweeted attempt at making his highly reductive ‘hyper-systematizing’ hypothesis relevant. It’s obvious from listening to actually autistic people that he’s way off the mark and I don’t understand how he is considered an expert.

Almost every autistic person I have interacted with either in person of online is highly creative, and many love fiction. Whether it’s making YouTube videos or writing, Auties are artists or appreciate fiction.

Here’s a list I can think of from memory:

Making videos about Thomas the Tank Engine,
creating and appreciating video games
gardening and garden design
writing,
drawing,
cat-inspired images and turning them into jewellery or domestic art,
photography,
creating videos about autistic life and experience,
appreciating films,
crafting – tactile textile crafts seem really popular,
poetry,
drama and theatre

I don’t understand why the ‘researchers’ who are pathologising us with reductive criteria are allowed to define what it means to be autistic.

Why aren’t clinicians who work closely with auties saying ‘hang n a minute, that’s not my experience says’? Since ‘researchers’ won’t listen to us, why aren’t the people they WILL listen to supporting us?

Why are our voices being ignored?

Right, rant over, I’m going to shower, at some point, read a crime novel and go to craft club to finish work on a crocheted Moomin I’m making for my sister. Armed with my headphones and sunglasses, of course.#

Ooh, in case anyone needs them, Boots do sunglasses that block peripheral sunlight and fit over ordinary glasses for £25. Been a right life-saver for me, no more squinting and eye pain from too much sunlight.

Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award Shortlist Announced

This morning on the festival website.

https://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/uncategorized/shortlist-for-theakston-old-peculier-crime-novel-of-the-year-announced/

The short list has some fabulous books, none of which I’ve read yet, unfortunately.

Belinda Bauer – Snap

Steve Cavanagh – Thirteen

Mick Herron – London Rules

Val McDermid – Broken Ground

Liam McIlvanney – The Quaker

Khurrum Rahman – East of Hounslow

I did start reading Thirteen but it was a netgalley download and not a blog tour book, so it got put to one side. I’m sure I saw a copy in the charity shop last week, so I’ll get that.

Having read the summaries on the website, I think I’m going to try to get hold of a copy of each of the books so that I can talk intelligently about them at the awards ceremony.

I forgot to mention that. Because I got my PIP back pay, I’ve booked myself a holiday to Harrogate. I’ve been to the town before but not the Crime Writing Festival. The first event I’m going to, on the Thursday evening, is the awards ceremony. I’m really looking forward to it, but fear my anxiety will make it impossible for me to speak to anyone, or that I’ll say something stupid.

As I said, I’ve been to Harrogate before so I know the train route (tickets bought and collected from the station already) and I’m getting taxi to my hotel – nothing fancy, just the Premier Inn – so I won’t get lost. I’ve got a map to get from my hotel to the Swan Inn where the festival takes place, so I won’t get lost. I made plans and got everything organised as soon as possible because it helps with my anxiety if I know what, where, when, how and why.

I have everything planned out. I have two full days of writing goodness on the Friday and Saturday, a couple of things on the Sunday morning and then all of Sunday afternoon to decompress – by which time I expect to be completely peopled out – before I make the trip home on Monday afternoon. I’m hoping to do some exploring, because I’ve never really had the chance on the few occasions I visited a former-friend in Harrogate before. There was always something planned every day, and a lot of that was sitting around watching films.

Back to the books.

I like the sound of Bauer’s Snap and McIlvanney’s The Quaker, both based on unsolved crimes. Of course, I definitely need to read McDermid’s novel, and Thirteen. East of Hounslow and London Rules aren’t my usual reading matter, but I’ll definitely give them a go. I haven’t got a clue when I’ll fit them in, since June is a busy blog tour month (six so far), but I’ll try.

And now, back to my reading.

Bye

Review: ‘Blood List’, by Ali Carter

Published By: Troubador Publishing
Publication Date: 11th October 2018
Format: Paperback
I.S.B.N.: 978-1789015706
**Amazon:** https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-List-Ali-Carter/dp/1789015707/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_3?crid=IUBF9P3IFD1W&keywords=blood+list+ali+carter&qid=1556291195&s=books&sprefix=blood+list+%2Cstripbooks%2C144&sr=1-3-fkmrnull

BLURB

Think the Lake District is a lovely place to visit? Think again. A Psychological & Chilling Thriller set in and around the fictional town of Kirkdale in Cumbria. One by one the young women of Kirkdale are being found grotesquely murdered, with no clues as to why.

Lying between the great lake Kirkwater and the base of Kirkby Pike, although beautiful, Kirkdale isn’t exactly the most exciting place on the planet. But after young reporter Jenny Flood moves into the relaxed Cumbrian town, it sets a catalogue of events in motion that brings this comfortable community to its knees.

When middle aged G.P. Charlotte Peterson discovers Jenny has followed her from Bradenthorpe, six years after a fling with her philandering doctor husband Miles, it stirs deeply buried mental health issues from her youth. In the run up to the Kirkdale country show, the arrival of this third and most recent adversary triggers the already edgy and emotionally scarred Charlotte into finally stepping over the edge. Her longing to destroy Jenny has been on a slow and very resentful burn for years, now the reality of achieving that presents itself as a genuine possibility.

Can journalist Andrew Gale protect new colleague Jenny, girlfriend Gina and her best friend Molly from the psychotic GP’s insane agenda? How will sarcastic ex Met. Officer Harry Longbridge deal with Andrew’s continued interference?

Then there’s the unexpected arrival of an American mystery woman. And just who is on the Blood List?

Cover Reveal: ‘The First Lie’, by A.J.Park

Book Spotlight and Extract: ‘Wolves At Our Door’, by Soren Paul Petrek

Summary:
The Allies and the Nazis are in a deadly race to develop the ultimate weapon while supersonic V-2 rockets rain down on London. Madeleine Toche and Berthold Hartmann, the German super assassin who taught her to kill, search for the secret factory where Werner von Braun and his Gestapos masters use slave labor to build the weapons as the bodies of the innocent pile up. The Allied ground forces push towards Berlin while the German SS fight savagely for each inch of ground.
Finding the factory hidden beneath Mount Kohnstein, Hartmann contacts his old enemy, Winston Churchill and summons Madeleine to his side. While she moves to bring the mountain down on her enemies, Hartmann leads a daring escape from the dreaded Dora concentration camp to continue his revenge against the monsters who ruined his beloved Germany.
Together with the Russian Nachtlexen, the Night Witches, fearsome female pilots the race tightens as the United States and the Germans successfully carry out an atomic bomb test.
Germany installs an atom bomb in a V-2 pointed towards London, while the US delivers one to a forward base in the Pacific. The fate of the Second World War and the future of mankind hangs in the balance.
Information about the Book
Title: Wolves at our Door (Madeleine Toche #2)
Author: Soren Paul Petrek
Release Date: 15^th January 2019
Genre: Thriller
Page Count: 364
Publisher: Éditions Encre Rouge

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43803960-cold-lonely-courage

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-Lonely-Courage-Novel-ENC-ROMANS-ebook/dp/B07MTML6CJ

Review: ‘White Gold’, by David Barker

Blurb
VENGEANCE ALWAYS HAS A PRICE
Sim Atkins, Overseas Division agent, returns to Earth, having saved the Moon base from a deadly terrorist plot (see Rose Gold). All Sim can think about is finding the criminals responsible.
But his fury and lust for revenge are put on hold when a nuclear warhead is stolen by Terra Former leader Matthias Larsson. Can Sim and his colleagues track down the terrorist cell and disarm the device in time?
White Gold is the gripping finale in the compellingly original Gaia Trilogy, page-turning thrillers that provoke as well as excite.

Blog Tour Calendar: ‘Blood List’, by Ali Carter

Extract Post: ‘Retriever Of Souls’, by Lorraine Mace

Retriever of Souls

Brought up believing that sex is the devil’s work, a killer only finds release once he has saved his victim’s souls. Abiding by his vision, he marks them as his. A gift to guide his chosen ones on the rightful path to redemption.

Detective Inspector Paolo Sterling is out to stop him, but Paolo has problems of his own. Hunting down the killer as the death toll rises, the lines soon blur between Paolo’s personal and professional lives.