They (I’d like to meet ‘they’ someday, have a few choice words for those vacillating piss-takers), have decided that it’s no longer 10,000 steps a day that will help extend the ‘health span’ (no point extending your lifespan if you can’t get up off the toilet). Magic number is now 8,000 steps, briefly lifting heavy things three times a week and prioritising sleep. Am an expert at one of those so far. Resistance training is the new black...

The paperback of Son of September is here — two hundred and six pages, a spine with the title on it, for those of you who told me you wait for paper. UK: https://amzn.eu/d/03ZpHOjs US: https://a.co/d/09rLIwhJ The Kindle edition follows on September 1st. Pre-order that version if you prefer. There's an acknowledgements page in the back, and you're on it. It thanks the readers and editors of ABCtales, who have read me for years and made room for...

Our Story and Poem of the Month for July, very kindly chosen by Mark Say:

Cathy Rentzenbrink is described on the cover as a Sunday Times bestselling author. True. It reminds me of a phrase Carl Macdougal copy and pasted onto all of his books. Something from Billy Connolly that described him as a great writer. It you’ve got it, flaunt it. Often now, authors aren’t selling books but brands. Her memoir The Last Act of Love was a breakout hit. In Rentzenbrink’s memoir she described the devastation of her elder teenage...

Hey everyone, I received this great review of my new novel Family Man from a book reviewer on Instagram. If you fancy checking out the novel yourself. Family Man can be ordered from Amazon, Waterstones, Blackwells and many others. Cheers Book Review: We follow Aldo, a family man who also happens to be Edinburgh's top man, a working class mafia boss. He is feared all over with important contacts worldwide. He thinks nothing of ridding the world...

What does your summer reading tell about you? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd69glgl2jzo I’m grumpy. I had to search for the translator’s name. It wasn’t included on the cover or listed in the first few cover pages of the English paperback of Mariana Leky’s international bestseller released in 2021. It was translated from the German for Bloomsbury by Tess Lewis. Translation is an art. Her name should have been on the front cover, not the...

Lammas weekend. The first of the Celtic harvest festivals and the fields are being gleaned, leaving stubble for when the geese return. One of the times of the year when getting stuck behind a tractor on the way into or back from the big city, Aberdeen, is pretty much guaranteed. Usually, it’s not a big issue being in the slow convoy, open windows wafting in the scents of summer, it's quite life affirming. Not so on Tuesday. Am a sucker for money...

It’s over 20 years since Francine Prose published her guide for Reading Like a Writer , which I try to. It’s for people that love books, which is me too, and for those that want to write them. Yes, exactly. Prose is an antonym. Re-reading Reading Like a Writer reminds me of so much that I’ve already forgotten, but I’ve already forgotten it, again. Reading is mostly what I do. But Prose as a bibliophile is at genius check-mate level. Slow down...

Went to Huntly on Monday to see ‘The Odyssey’ again. It is a bum-numbing almost three hours, but I wanted to rewatch the Circe scene and experience that soundtrack again. This is a big screen movie, so all those millions allegedly watching on X, missed a treat, big time. While in Huntly, bought a book about Rhynie. A mystical area of Scotland, with geology found nowhere else on the planet. Famous for Pictish forts and standing stones, including...

I'm very pleased to announce that J. Oliver Padgett who writes on ABCTales as SoulFire77 has a new book coming out.