Why is my post a day late this week? This should give you a clue.
My mate Caroline and I had been planning the day for ages, it involved her driving to my place for a scrummy meal, then we'd get a train to New Street, and a tram to Edgbaston which should have been a short walk away from the Midland Arts Centre. It seems the universe had other plans involving a couple of dodgy tyres, a babysitting malfunction, my abhorrance of driving around Birmingham and - well, I don't have to explain about how easy it is to misread a map, do I?
Anyway, I turned up late and missed nearly all of the introductions, but I got there in time for some fun stuff - each author had spoken of various favourite things, and they put the vote to the audience about which was our favourite biscuit. The four choices were: Custard Creams, Chocolate digestive, Garibaldi and Jammie Dodgers - which way would you vote? Can you match the biscuit to the author? At the end of this post, there's a little more about each of these awesome guys to help you make your decision.
But after that ignominious start, the whole thing turned into simply the best author event I've ever been to (and I've been to quite a few), with four genuinely nice guys sharing a bunch of good stuff about their writing journeys. They gave stacks of rock-solid advice to the many aspiring writers in the audience, and there were absolutely no dull bits where you just wanted people to get on with it. I was thrilled to speak to all four during the break and confess to fan-girling when I got a couple of hugs. Just wish I could have stayed for the after-show party, but the last train wasn't gonna wait.
Here's a little bit about each of them.
Keith A Pearson
A self-professed writer of vaguely believable novels with his mix of humour, intrigue, and general weirdness. His most popular character is the politically-incorrect Clement - a double-denim wearing gangland fixer who claims he died in 1975, and now spends his days seeking redemption whilst struggling to cope with twenty-first-century life. But for me,
The Strange Appeal of Dougie Neil is one I'll be reading at least once a year from now on.
Check out his website -
www.keithapearson.co.uk
Adam Eccles
A cynical tech-nerd hermit, Adam's lived in the west of Ireland for the last twenty five years.
With long career in technology, he's an avid time-travel fan as well as having a life-long love of comedy, and you can find elements of all these things in his stories.
All of his novels are winners, especially the fabulous game-based
System Restored, but the most recent release,
Frequency Shift, involving Bletchley Park, is definitely in my top ten books of all time.
Check out his website -
www.adamecclesbooks.com
Adrian Cousins
Having served his time in retail management (Sainburys proper lost out when he retired), Adrian is now the author of believable, witty time travel novels - with dollops of humour, a smattering of romance, and liberally sprinkled with mystery. The popular
Jason Apsley series is currently awaiting the fifth release, but my favourite is definitely the fabulous force of nature that is
Deanna - in a fun-packed trilogy featuring a ghostly duo righting wrongs.
Check out his website -
www.adriancousins.co.uk
Jason Ayres
He left a career in market research to be a journalist, and has subsequently written a stack of humorous novels with science fiction elements, including time travel and alternate realities. The thirteen books in the popular
Time Bubble series include travelling both forwards and backwards, exploring changes in the timeline via the multiverse, and offering people second chances in life. My personal favourite was
Rock Bottom - it was good to finally read the circumstances leading to Kay's predicament, and who doesn't love a redemption story or a strong female character? This one had both.
A podcaster and ex-DJ, his love of food led to a stint as Britain's official sausage taster a decade ago. Check out his website -
www.jasonayres.co.uk
And now, a shameless plug (as my mate JA Andrews would say) for my own TT series. Because I can never stick to one genre (blame being borderline on the spectrum!) I've mashed it up with
Big Bang Theory,
Dungeons & Dragons and a hint of
Stranger Things. Anyway, from now till the end of October when book 4 comes out, the first three are all offered at discounts - more in the next post. The first book,
Time and Time Again, is only on offer for a couple of days before returning to full price.
