My Books Have Made it onto a Few Lists!!!!

It's that time of year when bookbloggers begin to reflect on the reading they have done over the course of the year. Some tackle the impossible task (for me it seems impossible) of listing the books they esteem the most. I am thrilled to find my books sneaking onto a few of these lists. These are good book bloggers and they read a lot and they read a lot of great books so this is a supreme honour and my thanks go out to them not least because it might nudge someone else to search out my books and to read them for themselves.

First off is Susan Osborne at 'A Life in Books'. She had earlier blogged about "Hope Never Knew Horizon' and I was aware that she really liked the book. It made her list of top twenty or so books of the year. But better than that she has now listed it as one of the top three books she read in 2024!!!! And that is just amazing. Thank you, Susan.

https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/12/books-of-the-year-2024-part-four/

Another book reader, this time on instagram, earlier in the year read 'Blue Postcards' and 'With or Without Angels' and he said enough to tell me that he really enjoyed both books. Well, you could knock me down with a feather, because Bob of Bobsphere has listed 'Blue Postcards' as one of his top ten books of the year. That's a badge of honour well worth wearing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDd29fgI2cD/

And then today, Victoria Best, who blogs at 'Tales From The Reading Room' has posted her list of best books of the year and 'Hope Never Knew Horizon' is there as her best Literary Fiction read of the year! I look forward to her review of the book coming between Christmas and New Year, but she says already that the book is 'gorgeous' and 'stunning'. All good to know Victoria, thanks.

https://litlove.wordpress.com/2024/12/19/best-books-of-the-year/

NEXT!

 

This is my next book - out in late February 2025. It's already available through Net Galley and so reviews are beginning to trickle in. I'm still promoting the last book ('Hope Never Knew Horizon') so this feels a little surreal to be turning my attention to the next. But already have arranged two book talk events to launch 'WOMAN IN BLUE' and several book signing appearances. And a lovely book blogger called Susan who loved this book, and who has loved all the books of mine that she has read ('Hope Never Knew Horizon' is one of her top three books for 2024 and she reads a lot of quality fiction!!!), has expressed the hope that I might have yet another book out in 2026!!!! Well, just to say I am working on a couple of things just now so we shall see what happens with them. xxxx

Review of 'HOPE'

 I have had a lot of lovely online reviews for my wee book 'Hope Never Knew Horizon' and I am so grateful to those people who have said such wonderful things about my writing. Thrilled with these. And today another review is posted up - this one feels a little closer to home! Joanne Baird writes reviews on her blog portybelle... she's from Portobello in Edinburgh. The first crumpled and creased, black and white baby picture I have of myself was taken on the beach at Portobello... it's got my name pencilled on the back and it says '3 months' so may have been an August bank holiday or a weekend in mid-August.

Anyway, that's all by the by, except that it tells you why I am so delighted to get a five-star review from Joanne in Portobello. Thank you so much Joanne. xxxx

https://portobellobookblog.com/2024/11/16/hope-never-knew-horizon-by-douglas-bruton-bookreview-presstaproot/

Thank yous

Thanks to Linda (of Linda's Book Bag) who invited me to 'stay in' with her to chat about my newest book 'Hope Never Knew Horizon'. She is such a generous hostess and this was so much fun - tea and bakewell tart and book chat... it doesn't get much better than that!

https://lindasbookbag.com/2024/08/14/staying-in-with-douglas-bruton/

Thanks too, to Rosie Amber for her review of 'Hope Never Knew Horizon' - I feel blessed that such lovely people have said such good things about this wee book. Lots of blogger online reviews for this now. Thank you.

https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2024/09/10/%f0%9f%93%9aits-a-story-that-gets-under-your-skin-and-keeps-you-thinking-rosies-bookreview-of-historicalfiction-hope-never-knew-horizon-by-douglas-bruton-tuesdaybookblog/

And Thanks to Shawn (of Shawn Breathes Books) and Lindy (of Lindy's Magpie Reads) - two Canadian book bloggers who invited me to chat with them about 'Blue Postcards'. This was such a fun thing to do and I am thrilled that it has now been hung up on their respective blogs for all to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWH4S2ptZFw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqoZJ2LygCw

Almost forgot to mention the wonderful Kaggsy (of Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings). She had already written some wonderful reviews of my work - one about 'Blue Postcards' and one about 'With or Without Angels'. She loved them both and thinks the writing is wonderful. Now she has read 'Hope Never Knew Horizon' and she thinks this is brilliant too!!! In fact, she is so very flattering about my work that I can't help blushing a little. Thankyou Kaggsy!!

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2024/09/02/truth-i-see-now-is-something-altogether-different-douglasbruton-presstaproot/

LOTS TO REPORT!!!!

Where to begin?!!! Lots of nice reviews online for Hope Never Knew Horizon. 

Susan Osborne of 'A Life in Books' thinks it's one of her books of 2024!!! Wow! High Praise indeed! Great review here: https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/hope-never-knew-horizon-by-douglas-bruton-just-breathe/

Then the Historical Novel Society reviewed my book - this time Katherine Mezzacappa (see her book 'The Maiden of Florence')... another great review, she thinks the book 'extraordinary'... here: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/hope-never-knew-horizon/

Then Jackie Law at Never Imitate wrote another fantastic review... here: https://neverimitate.wordpress.com/2024/07/29/book-review-hope-never-knew-horizon/

And Joe Bedford wrote another positive review and posted it up here at Everybody's Reviewing: https://everybodysreviewing.blogspot.com/2024/07/review-by-joe-bedford-of-hope-never.html

Thanks so much to Susan, Katherine, Jackie and Joe. More reviews to follow!!!

Also, I did another wonderful ZOOM chat with Shawn (used to be Shawn The Book Maniac but is now renamed Shawn Breathes Books)... this time a three-way chat with Lindy of Lindy's Magpie Reads. And we were chatting about Blue Postcards which they'd read and both loved. This chat will be posted soon. Will keep you apprised of when exactly. But as a taster you can go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASJTIt-5lbA 

And at timestamp 33.22 on Shawn's chat you can hear Shawn tell you a bit about what he thought of my wee book... he even coins a new adjective 'Brutonesque'... how cool is that! Thanks so much for this to Shawn and to Lindy too.

And Fairlight Books just sent me a first squint at the cover for Woman in Blue... delicious!! Will share this when I can.

Isn't She Lovely!!!

 

Book news and book news!

So, I am still at the very early stages of doing promotion for my Taproot Press book, 'HOPE NEVER KNEW HORIZON'. It just got a great review by the Glasgow Herald where it was described as 'A book that glows with positivity, seeking out the magic and romance underlying the everyday'.  This was a book the idea for which arrived in the darkest days of Lockdown - I decided then that I wanted to write something with hope in it, something positive and nothing to do with the pandemic. It was just that thought for a long time till slowly the universe offered up full-of-hope stories for me to write.

Then today the Bookseller announced news about my next book, coming from Fairlight Books in early 2025. It is called 'WOMAN IN BLUE' and was inspired by Vermeer's wonderful painting, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter. This story came to me in a dream, or at least in the middle of the night when I woke up and it was still dark and I was somewhere between sleeping and waking, and the woman in the painting was talking to me... I put the bedside light on and made some notes in a notebook. And the whole thing was there and just needed to be written. I wasn't even looking for something new to write! And it will be a new book in February 2025!! Can't wait!

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THANK YOU, ANNIE

So I have received my first rating and review for 'Hope Never Knew Horizon' on Goodreads. It came from someone called Annie. She's already read four or five of my other books and consistently awarded them five stars and even reviewed the two most recent books ('Blue Postcards' and 'With or Without Angels') - lovely reviews btw. For 'Hope' she again thought it a five star read but it was her review that got my attention... just two words: 'Of course'!!! Annie now expects me to write five star work! That's something special. Thank you, Annie!

So Looking Forward To This!!!!!

 Looking forward to this event in July. Victoria MacKenzie's book is amazing - can't wait to talk to her about Julian of Norwich!!! It would be good if you could come along!!! xxx

CHELSEA ARTS CLUB!

 Last week I was at the opening of a new show at the Chelsea Arts Club in London. The work I was most interested in was the exhibition of the late Alan Smith's artwork 'The New World'. I had seen the work online and had been presented with an A4 portfolio of the work by Alan Smith's widow, Jill; but I'd never seen the whole work as Alan Smith had intended it to be seen (full-size). I was invited to the opening, which I was thrilled about. Met some lovely people there and was just a little overwhelmed. 

But I was also invited to the event held five days later, a more intimate event to celebrate the work of Alan Smith; not only was I asked to come to this, but I was also asked to speak and to do a reading from my wee book 'WITH OR WITHOUT ANGELS'. It was a fantastic day and afterwards we got to sit in the wonderful garden of the Chelsea Arts Club. A very special day indeed.

(Oh, and I met Tim Conrad who has turned my wee book into a filmscript!!!) 

THRILLED - naturally!!!

 I did a talk at the HNS annual Conference two years ago - which was a fab thing to do and they were all so lovely. So, when I heard they were running a competition for first chapters of a full-length novel I thought I should support this by entering. I have lots of unpublished novels on my computer so I chose one from way back (written at least fifteen years ago) and threw it in. So pleased to be shortlisted in the category. Thanks to HNS for this.

EXTRACT from my new book!!!

 My new book, 'HOPE NEVER KNEW HORIZON', is due to be released any moment now and today, posted up on the website Books From Scotland, there's an extract from the book to give you a flavour of the thing. The book is being published by Taproot press - it has now been printed and copies are being dispatched even as I type this. Eeeeeeeek!!!!!

https://booksfromscotland.com/2024/04/hope-never-knew-horizon-by-douglas-bruton/

REPOSTING - THE CREATIVE GENIUS

Some years ago I posted this link to a TED talk given by 'Eat, Pray, Love' author Elizabeth Gilbert. It's a fun talk about what I think of as the creative subconscious. It holds the idea that the creative genius is something beyond our control and so is something we cannot really take responsibility for. It's an interesting idea. Things happen in my writing - sometimes clever things and when I am called on to explain them I defer to my creative subconscious because that's the best explanation I have. And how do I access my creative subconscious? No idea. It either happens or it doesn't. I am not sure I have any control over it. This sort of fits with Gilbert's idea of how it works for her except she takes the creative force out of herself as a mysterious something in the air and maybe it helps her when she's writing and maybe it doesn't. Give this talk a listen. It's fun too.

https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_your_elusive_creative_genius

Thanks to The Book Maniac!

 Last year a Canadian book blogger by the name of Shawn Mooney (known online as Shawn The Book Maniac) bumped into my wee book 'With or Without Angels'. He held an online chat with a fellow book blogger Lindy of Lindy's Magpie Reads. I was so excited at their inspection of my book, not least because they both loved it. They had a good discussion about some of the finer points of the book and what I had written.

Then a couple of weeks ago Shawn contacted me to ask if I would be a 'mystery guest' on one of his Friday shows - just to chat about my writing and/or my reading. I am an English teacher by training and experience and if there's one thing that's true of many English teachers, they love to talk about books and writing. I leapt at this opportunity, even though I do find it hard to talk enthusiastically on ZOOM... needing the energy of the audience in the room with me.

On Thursday - 4pm our time in the UK and 10am Shawn's time, we had a zoom chat that was fun and easy and I got to be myself. Shawn said afterwards that I did not seem at all nervous... but I was!!!

On Friday Shawn posted the first half hour of this chat as part of his Friday Mystery Guest spot. He was so taken with everything I had to say - everything!!! - that he has decided at a slightly later date to show the full unedited chat on his Youtube page.

Thank you so much to Shawn - for being such an avid reader, for liking something I wrote and for extending an invitation to me to just talk... every retired English teacher's dream.

Oh and he announced in the zoom chat thingy that he and Lindy are going to read 'Blue Postcards' together and do another online chat about it... soon.

Here's the link to Thursday's zoom chat with Shawn: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW4CyuPfqF0

COVER REVEAL

Here's the cover for my upcoming new book and a link to the launch event. Cover design by the wonderful Anna Morrison; and some lovely endorsements on the cover. Can't wait for this book to be published - released on 18th April with a launch event at the lovely Golden Hare Bookshop in Edinburgh.

 https://goldenharebooks.com/products/hope-never-knew-horizon-launch-event-with-douglas-bruton-book-ticket-option?_pos=1&_sid=ed71a409a&_ss=r

First project of the year!!

 I have spent 8 days in January working on a brand new project - well, I say 'new' but it has been rattling around in my head for two and half years waiting for me to be ready. I have, as some of you know, set myself the target of completing at least 3 writing projects a year, so this feels like a good start. The working title for this one is 'DEAD BLUE WHISPERS' which I hope is suitably enigmatic. I wrote the first draft in five days and then reflected on what I had done... with some dissatisfaction I might add. Then looking back at an old notebook I realised I had left out a very important thread, so have spent the past three days putting that right. It clocks in now at 40,000 words and I like it a lot more.

THANK YOU SUSAN OSBORNE

 Susan Osborne's book site 'A Life in Books' reviews the books she reads throughout the year - and she reads and reads and reads. Earlier in 2023 Susan read and reviewed my wee book 'With or Without Angels' which she loved. At the end of each year Susan flags up what were for her the stand out books of the year - 20 books in 2023 and 'With or Without Angels' gets another mention as it was one of the twenty!!! Thank you Susan. I hope you get to read my new book in April 2024!

https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2023/12/books-of-year-2023-part-one/

Just Stumbled on this...

There's a lot written about Plagiarism... it's clearly a thorny subject, and complicated too. Here's an article that throws some light on it. I think there's sense in this article too - but then I would say that because it very much mirrors conclusions I have arrived at with my own wrestling of the subject. This is a very moving article too. Give it a read. Would love it if this got a comment or two here!!!

 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/11/22/something-borrowed-plagiarism

KAFKA - CENTENARY OF HIS DEATH

I write a lot and some of what I write gets published but a lot doesn't. Mostly that's OK. I don't dwell on the stuff that doesn't make it into print. I just move on and write something else, something new. Last year (2023) I completed four writing projects. That's one more than I set myself to do each year. One of these writing projects was accepted for publication within a week of being written; another took about six months to be accepted but it was at least accepted. Yet another is in a competition somewhere and I am waiting to hear about it before sending it off someplace else. And the fourth, I know, needs a serious rewrite; but that's OK too.

I have many novel-length works just sitting on my computer and I don't worry about that. I have no regrets about these foundered projects. Indeed I feel I'm very lucky to be published and to be read. So no regrets at all... well, except one.

Some years ago - is it really 16 years ago? - I completed a collaborative project with another writer. It was a six months long writing project, which is a lot longer than I spend on a writing project these days. I loved the experience of this collaboration. It took me to places I never would have gone on my own. This other writer loved it too. What's more, this other writer is an exceptional editor and rewriter. The work could have been astounding.

But soon after completion of the project we fell out, this writer and I, and the work got tossed into limbo. It is a work that this year would have had some significance, this year being the centenary of Franz Kafka's death. This work we completed may never ever see the light of day and, though I have come to accept that, it is nevertheless something I deeply regret. I return to the work often and every time I do I feel quietly sad and quietly heartbroken.