Falkirk Herald - 27th Sept 07

Let's have a big "awwwwh" from the crowd (squints in the darkness to see if there's more than a couple of you out there to warrant using the word "crowd") at the sight of my godson, Luke, just finishing reading Digging Deeper.

"It's right blooming good,' said Luke, 'Not wanting to give too much away ... but I especially liked the grizzly murders and stuff!"

Not my words folks, the words of possibly my youngest fan. Politicians kiss babies to boost their popularity so if you haven't bought a copy already, here's hoping that the sight of Luke will urge you to do so. I defy you to ignore his cuteness ...

I would like to thank Mel who went into her local Waterstone's to try and buy a copy of 12 Months (which is listed on Waterstone's in-store system and website) only to be told that there was something "abnormal" with the publisher (that's me that is! How very dare they). The upshot of this is that Waterstone's - despite having the name and contact details of the publisher (ME!), my website address and having me listed on their system - were unable to get Mel a copy of 12 Months because it is not possible to obtain a copy through their supplier. (Not that I'm moaning about obstacles in my way again you understand). However, another friend of mine called Claire pointed out to me that Borders (in Glasgow at least) have an "independent author section". I rang the branch and asked how an idiot like me might take advantage of this. They are currently not taking on any more stock due to an impending stock-take but may be interested in October. In the meantime, I have taken the opportunity to pen a little email to Borders head office in London. It goes a little something like this ...

Hi. I am a self-published author with 3 books to my name which are all listed on websites such as Amazon, Watersone's, WHSmiths etc. The problem I have is getting them into the High Street. I used to have a good relationship with Ottackers who stocked my books in various stores on a sale or return basis which worked very well until Waterstone's got involved and now there is no policy/facility to stock books written by local/independent authors. I was able to stock my 1st book through Borders in Bournemouth who were local to me at the time. My question is ... is it possible for me to sell my books through Borders and if so, how do I do it? Is is a central thing through yourselves (which is where I have the problem with Waterstone's because everything has to come through Gardeners/Bertrums who aren't interested in small fry like me) or can I trudge from store to store in the hope that some of your stores may take pity on me and try a few of my books? I'd be grateful if you could let me know.
Regards
Lee Crompton

I'll keep you posted.

I'm pleased to announce that The Linlithgow Bookshop (funnily enough, in Linlithgow) have agreed to stock all three of my titles. Their address is ...

The Linlithgow Bookshop

48 High Street

Linlithgow

EH49 7AE

http://www.thelinlithgowbookshop.com/

It's a lovely shop so if you're in the area why not pop in and have a browse.

Happened to discover the American version of Strictly Come Dancing earlier today (Gemma actually discovered it, not me). Two words ... absolute rubbish. Whilst Bruno and Len are on it, there were no Bruce or (I hate to say it) Aileen. The judging panel are therefore sickly sweet, so much so that the 2 dances I saw, everyone gave both couples 10's. Now I'm no expert, but seeing as how I didn't know which one was the celebrity and which one was the professional before they shook their booty, it was fairly obvious within seconds of them hitting the floor. I'm just saying, I don't think you'd see the 10 boards so liberally used in the British version.

Also forgot to mention that Prince ... as expected ... was AMAZING! I was rung by Mills as we were waiting to go into the gig to say that their 2nd nipper had been born. BRILLIANT! I even managed to get rid of my spare ticket to gay man after hearing his gay friend in the lobby on the phone to him saying there was no way he could get him a ticket. Bish bash wallop, I produce my spare one. We of course later met the man because he was sat with us. He was chuffed. One downside to the evening however was Dave (aka Alan) attempting to add humour to the evening by clapping out of time to the majority of his hits (Prince's hits, not Dave's, who to my knowledge doesn't have any). The gay man sat/stood next to Dave (aka Alan) had disappeared before the end of the gig. Now, this could just be a coincidence ... then again?!?!?!

I don't really want to say too much regarding the after-show party. My expectations were low anyway. The thought of actually seeing Prince up close and personal in an intimate gig would have been a dream come true and even the chance of seeing him play the guitar for a couple of minutes would have been worth it. The problem came when I met the rest of the people there who clearly knew more about this type of thing than me. He'd done a 2 hour after-show set on the night before and even crowd surfed. There had only previously been one occasion when he'd not shown at all ... and even then his band came out for a bit and that was a midweeker anyway. So my expectations went through the roof. I nearly wet myself, only to be told whilst were in the queue by the arena staff that Prince had released a statement to say that he was categorically not turning up tonight (Saturday 11th Aug) and neither were his band. This had never happened before apparently, so much so that people were allowed to change their tickets to another night which was f**k all use to us of course because we were flying to India the following day, so we went in anyway ... secretly hoping it might have been a double/triple bluff. It wasn't, and seeing the intimacy of the venue made it all the more harder to swallow. So why Prince was in a strop I don't know, he even finished on a strange song ... Love Bizarre was from a Shiela E album of the mid 80's. Whilst Prince also sang on the record and I think he wrote it, it's certainly not what you would call one of his hits and not meaning to sound snobby, I doubt half the audience would ever have heard of. That said, other than Dave's absurd clapping, Prince's after-show strop and me nearly crying when he opened the show with Purple Rain ... it was a belter of an evening.

Forgot to mention my celebrity spot. I say "my" spot, it was really Gemma's when we were sat in a taxi at Edinburgh airport having arrived back in India.

"Ooh look, it's that bloke off the telly you don't like," she said. Whether it was hearing this remark or seeing Gemma pointing at him that forced him to turn his back on us I don't know, but he turned it nonetheless.

Before you ask, no I didn't leap out and thrust a copy of one of my books into his hand (although I probably would have done if I had any on me) and furthermore Gemma is right, I never liked him on the telly because he always appeared so dramatic about everything. (Hark at me not liking drama queens!) Anyway, I happened to see an edition of Coast on the BBC a few weeks back based in the Channel Islands. I wouldn't normally watch this kind of programme but "it" and "he"were both actually very good but I clearly hadn't updated Gemma with this information ... not like me to be judgemental either!

No, your eyes don't deceive you, this is indeed a picture of the one and only Bill Bryson thumbing through a copy of Worlds Apart by yours truly.

It's been handed to him by Ash (who features in the book ... in the Cook Islands ... yes, Cook Islands Ash ... that's him on the left) at his graduation (that's Ash's graduation, not Bill's)

As to whether or not he's read it, I don't know. Maybe I should drop him a line and try and find out ...

So Digging Deeper is officially OUT!

Big thank you to all those who have ordered it already. Some of you have even read it!!! The feedback so far has been excellent, so thanks.

The website has been overhauled to welcome this new arrival and the Falkirk Herald have just been round to interview me regarding my latest offering.

I'd like to thank Mark Radcliffe, Suzanne Carlsson, Jenny Prowse for reviewing the book and a special thanks to actress Philippa Marshall who not only reviewed the book but recorded a podcast of the opening chapters which is now available for download from the website.

The "news" has been slack, granted, but let me try and explain. I'm now back from holiday in India and only managed to come down with a "bug" when I got back. So I've been ill, but other than that had a fantastic time.

The South was not nearly as harsh on the senses as the North, but it was still very much India where everything is done to an extreme. Visited tea plantations, many temples, an orphanage, did jungle treks, had leeches on me and on a whim, had a suit made 3 hours before leaving to return to the UK, delivered to our hotel room in person by the nice man in the shop.

When I got back, Digging Deeper was waiting for me ...