Another 5-Star Review for ‘Fergie’s Finest’ on Amazon

The great reviews for Fergie’s Finest continue to roll in.  Amazon now has seven four-or-five star reviews and an average rating of just over 4.5/5.

You can purchase your copy of the book here.

And you can read all the other reviews here.

Pics from the Leeds Book Fair

I performed a reading and signed copies of my books at Leeds Book Fair at the St. John’s Centre, today. Here’s some imageroonies:

Bites of Fiction: Two of AJ Kirby’s stories picked up by Alfie Dog

Two of AJ Kirby’s short stories have been picked up for publication by Alfie Dog Fiction. ‘History and Her Story’, published for the first time in print and e-version, and ‘Every Generation Throws a Hero Up The Pop Charts’ are the stories in question. Watch this space for publication dates.

Alfie Dog Fiction brings you the very best short story downloads for most ereaders. We have hundreds of individual short stories, collections and other ebooks. All our stories are reviewed and  edited before being brought to you, the reader. We only select the best and at Alfie Dog Fiction you can be sure of a good read.

To find out more, visit their website here: http://alfiedog.com/

AJ Kirby Performing @ Leeds Book Fair, Friday 26th June

I’ll be wearing my Dog Horn Publishing hat (they took my stories for two anthologies, Cabala and Bite me Robot Boy, and I came runner-up in their 2011 Fiction Prize) on Friday (26th July) when I perform at the Leeds Book Fair. Here’s the poster:

And here’s the gen on Leeds Book Fair:

“We are proud to present Leeds’ first indie book fair for independent publishers, bookshops and authors in the UK. This public event will take place in the heart of Leeds at St. Johns Centre and the Arch Cafe between the 26th and 27th of July 2013.

Our theme, for this first year, is Worldwide and Alternative literature. The book fair aims to bring diverse literary cultures together and celebrate literary diversity. There will be an obvious emphasis on translations – Literature across frontiers show that only 4.5% of the worldwide literature is available in English. Our guests will also represent the rich and diverse subcultures that have settled in the United Kingdom.” 

Read more on their website here: http://leedsbookfair2013.com/

 

July Book of the Month: Tea at the Midland by David Constantine

My book of the month for July is Tea at the Midland and Other Stories, a powerful short fiction collection from the masterful David Constantine (why is it I keep nearly writing Paddy Considine here?).

You can read my full review of the book on The Short Review website here: http://thenewshortreview.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/review-of-tea-at-the-midland-by-david-constantine/

And here is a brief excerpt:

“‘I like being slant on to habitual lives, he says, I like walking through a town when people are going out to work, I like walking on their streets, and out. That pace of change is right, no faster than a man can walk, then truly the eyes and the mind and the heart will take things in. Why should you hurry even through ugliness? You should come among beauties very gradually. That is why I like climbing rivers at their vilest, to see where they began.’

The above quotation, from the story Romantic, the final piece in David Constantine’s resolutely excellent collection Tea at the Midland: and Other Stories, recalls the work of another famous Salfordian LS Lowry and his ‘slant-on’ views of the industrial north with its ‘matchstick men’ and ugly, primitive chimneys. Like Lowry, Constantine is an artist whose work is instantly, disarmingly accessible. On face value the stories in this collection – in which the stories hang so well together they might have been carefully selected by some master curator – are simple and engaging. The writing is stripped-back, the paragraphs economical. The sentences are sometimes stark. Not a word is wasted.”

Freebie Friday and ‘Courtesy of the Management’ Saturday

My fantasy novella, Ace Cameron and the Red Peril is free on Amazon today, and tomorrow.

UK readers can get their hands on a copy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ace-Cameron-Red-Peril-ebook/dp/B00865VYV0

US readers can get their hands on a copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Ace-Cameron-Red-Peril-ebook/dp/B00865VYV0

Grunts and Germs: News of a new AJ Kirby short to be published

The Germ magazine have snapped up (or should that be been infected by) the writing of AJ Kirby. They’ve accepted my new short, ‘The Mystery of the Grunty Man’, for publication in their late September 2013 issue. I’ll bring you all the usual links etc nearer to the time so you can wrap your reading gear around it.

The Germ magazine “are a new print periodical of fresh, sincere, aesthetically stimulating verse and prose”. Have a shuffties at The Germ magazine here: http://germ-magazine.com/

“My favourite Sein und Werden issue in a long time” – B. Drew Collier on the ‘Not Quite Human’ edition

Sein und Werden’s Not Quite Human issue has received an excellent review on the B. Drew Collier blog ‘The World is a Text’. He describes it as “my favourite issue in a long time.” There’s a nice mention in there for my dark comedy piece ‘Death by Insurance Salesman’ too, which makes it well worth a read in my eyes!

You can read the full review here: http://bdrewcollier.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/not-quite-human.html

And you can read the Not Quite Human issue of Sein here: http://www.kissthewitch.co.uk/seinundwerden/summer13/index.html

Fergie’s Finest features in Writers’ News magazine

Fergie’s Finest features in the August edition of Writers’ News magazine. The article tells the full story of the ‘white-knuckle ride’ which was the last week before the book finally hit the shelves.

 

‘My First United Game’. My Article posted on the Stretty News blogsite

I’ve penned a piece about my first ever United game (at the tender age of seven) on the Stretty News United blogsite here: http://strettynews.com/author-of-fergies-finest-my-first-united-game/

And here’s an excerpt:

“Until I was about seven, football didn’t really feature in my list of priorities. (Doubtless this state of affairs delighted my United-obsessed Dad.) If that flag you always used to see at Old Trafford used to read ‘United, Kids, Wife – In That Order’, when I was a kid – at the risk of this sounding like a piece of Peter Kay nostalgia-propaganda – my priorities were probably ‘Star Wars, The A-Team, The Dukes of Hazard’. Sure I collected football stickers – obsessively too – but I also collected Return of the Jedi stickers and Back to the Future stickers.

My first appearance at Old Trafford changed all that. It was 18^th January 1986. The Pet Shop Boys were number one in the charts with West End Girls and the 24^th Space Shuttle, Mission-Columbia 7 was making its return trip to Earth. Wayne Rooney was still in nappies (he was three months old, so he had an excuse then).”

And here’s how you can get your hands on more of my football writing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fergies-Finest-Fergusons-First-ebook/dp/B00CPPNTJ2