http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/ The Sandstone Blog en webmaster@sandstonepress.com Copyright 2014 2014-11-25T14:14:29+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/11/2014/outdoor_focus_loves_rattlesnakes_and_bald_eagles/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/11/2014/outdoor_focus_loves_rattlesnakes_and_bald_eagles/ Outdoor Focus has reviewed Rattlesnakes and Bald Eagles by Chris Townsend with great enthusiasm. You can take a download of the magazine here: http://goo.gl/QsDnM2 and it is well worthwhile as Chris Townsend features prominently. Not to test your patience though, here is the review below. It’s over 30 years since wilderness trail expert Chris Townsend hiked the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, from Mexico north through the Mojave Desert and over the Sierra Nevada to the Canadian border. It was a hike, as he describes in this entertaining and long overdue account, he knew he… 2014-11-25T14:14:29+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/11/2014/jane_verburg_reviews_john_mcpake_and_the_sea_beggars_for_northwords_now/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/11/2014/jane_verburg_reviews_john_mcpake_and_the_sea_beggars_for_northwords_now/ Jane Verburg, author and poet, has contributed this review of John McPake and the Sea Beggars by Stuart Campbell to the latest issue of Northwords Now. It is a superb review and puts Jane in the same camp as so many other reviewers who perhaps do not all have her poetic gifts. If you follow the link you can access the latest issue of Northwords Now and read the whole magazine. It is always worthwhile. I loved this book.  Every brush stroke, in every corner of its canvas is rich and funny; painted with craftsmanship… 2014-11-21T12:42:27+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2014/identity_and_the_author_in_scotland/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2014/identity_and_the_author_in_scotland/ The Scottish Association of Writers held its annual ‘Write Up North’ event at Inverness Town House on Saturday 25th October. Sandstone Press Managing Director, novelist, essayist and poet, Robert Davidson was invited to give the keynote speech. Ladies and gentlemen, etc. My name is Robert Davidson and I am a writer, editor and publisher located in Highland Scotland. That is my personal identity statement, as chosen by me. These days I try to avoid all other labels. When asked to provide this keynote speech, ‘Identity and the author in Scotland’ quickly presented itself as a likely keynote for… 2014-10-30T16:01:19+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2014/a_world_without_hiding_places._sarah_moss_rteviews_the_surfacing_in_the_gua/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2014/a_world_without_hiding_places._sarah_moss_rteviews_the_surfacing_in_the_gua/ Sarah Moss has published this perceptive and highly appreciated review of Cormac James’s The Surfacing in The Guardian. The last expedition of Sir John Franklin has been lost for over 160 years, but the search continues. A Canadian team this summer found the hull of one of Franklin’s ships, the Erebus, reported abandoned in 1848. Franklin and his men were looking for the last section of the Northwest Passage, where British governments since the 16th century had hoped to find a quick trade route to the fabled wealth of east Asia. Like hundreds before them,… 2014-10-18T14:37:42+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/a_superb_novel_jackie_mcglone_meets_cormac_james_in_the_herald/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/a_superb_novel_jackie_mcglone_meets_cormac_james_in_the_herald/ The Sunday Herald has published this superb interview/review of Cormac James and The Surfacing. Jackie McGlone is widely recognised as one of the most perceptive critics in Scotland. Just as Cormac James began publicising his superb novel, The Surfacing - set in 1850 on board a British ship searching for survivors from polar explorer Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition - it was announced that Canadian divers had found one of his ships entombed at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. So, smart timing for the marketing of a new book, albeit an exceptional one? Or is the… 2014-09-21T10:07:50+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/david_hennessy_interviews_cormac_james_in_the_irish_world/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/david_hennessy_interviews_cormac_james_in_the_irish_world/ David Hennessy has published this illuminating interview in The Irish World with Cormac James on his amazing novel, The Surfacing, already in reprint from Sandstone Press on the day of its release. The week after the announcement of the discovery of one of the two British explorer ships led by John Franklin that vanished in the Arctic more than 160 years ago, Irish author Cormac James releases his book The Surfacing which deals with the extended search for Franklin. Cormac’s tale is more concerned with the human motives of those who volunteered to go… 2014-09-19T14:09:19+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/the_drum_tower_gets_a_starred_review_from_kirkus_magazine/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/the_drum_tower_gets_a_starred_review_from_kirkus_magazine/ Kirkus Magazine in the USA has given our October title, The Drum Tower, a starred review and sent congratulations. Family secrets, letters to a ghost father, and the Simorgh, or mythical Bird of Knowledge, inspire this lyrical tale set in Tehran on the eve of the Iranian Revolution. When bitter, resentful matriarch Khanum-Jaan deems her 16-year-old granddaughter, Talkhoon, to be insane, she banishes her to the basement of Drum Tower, the family’s estate. Talkhoon spends her days avoiding the lustful advances of her uncle Assad, grieving her beloved Baba-Ji’s comalike state, and contemplating her mother’s mysterious, long… 2014-09-15T09:17:28+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/the_boston_review_interviews_peter_ross_on_daunderlust/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/the_boston_review_interviews_peter_ross_on_daunderlust/ The Boston Review has published this article by Stephen Phelan in which he speaks to Sandstone author Peter Ross about his book, Daunderlust, as well as a number of other Scottish people in the run up to the Independence Referendum. Edinburgh smells of sea salt and brewer’s yeast. The Scottish capital is a touristy city, pretty as a snow globe and purveyor of the most superficial brand of Scottishness at its romantic, historic center—toffee, whisky, tartan, bagpipes. Beyond the well-preserved world heritage sites of its gothic Old Town and neoclassical New Town, it is also… 2014-09-14T19:58:47+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/national_geographic_interviews_peter_ross_on_daunderlust/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/national_geographic_interviews_peter_ross_on_daunderlust/ Peter Worrall has interviewed Peter Ross for Book Talk on National Geographic‘s web site. Peter gives some splendid answers to a very engaged interviewer. Say the word “Scotland” and most of us think of heather-covered Highlands, tartan, and whiskey. Peter Ross, a columnist for Scotland on Sunday, takes us behind the clichés to reveal a country full of singular characters and hidden communities outsiders rarely glimpse. Here he introduces us to an aria-singing fish-and-chip shop owner in Glasgow, takes us inside communities of Benedictine monks and long-distance truck drivers, and explains why next week’s referendum… 2014-09-14T15:17:46+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/publishers_weekly_reviews_the_hunting_dogs/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2014/publishers_weekly_reviews_the_hunting_dogs/ Our friends at Dufour Editions have sent us this short but appreciative review of The Hunting Dogs, published in America’s Publishers Weekly. Chief Insp. William Wisting started his career by solving the murder of Cecilia Linde, a girl who went missing and was found dead 12 days later. Seventeen years afterward, in Horst’s engaging third mystery featuring the Norwegian policeman to be published in English (after Closed for Winter), the media accuse Wisting of planting a cigarette butt with DNA evidence at the crime scene in the Cecilia case and failing to take the statement of… 2014-09-13T09:52:26+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2014/cool_precision_draws_you_on_the_irish_times_reviews_the_surfacing/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2014/cool_precision_draws_you_on_the_irish_times_reviews_the_surfacing/ First to review The Surfacing is Arminta Wallace in the Irish Times. The recent blustery weather has provoked a chorus of laments about dark evenings, winter just around the corner, and the need to scrabble in the wardrobe in search of long-forgotten items of clothing such as socks and long-sleeved T-shirts. What is wrong with these people? Don’t they realise that wind and rain provide the perfect excuse for closing the door, lighting the lamp and curling up with a good book? Autumn brings a steady stream of new titles drifting on to our shelves.… 2014-08-29T08:23:13+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2014/bookbrunch_anticipates_the_surfacing_by_cormac_james/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2014/bookbrunch_anticipates_the_surfacing_by_cormac_james/ Bookbrunch has published this anticipatory piece for what will be one of the year’s big literary hits, The Surfacing, the second novel from Cormac James. Sandstone Press has found itself with an unexpectedly topical novel - THE SURFACING by Cormac James. A long time in the writing,The Surfacing is set in 1850 as the Impetus and her crew are searching for the Arctic explorer SirJohn Franklin, who disappeared with two ships and 128 men during his voyage to discover the Northwest passage. It is a totally male world - until a pregnant female stowaway is… 2014-08-28T10:08:05+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/alison_napier_reviews_the_stillman_for_northwords_now/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/alison_napier_reviews_the_stillman_for_northwords_now/ Alison Napier has delivered this penetrating and appreciative review of Ton McCulloch’s The Stillman to Northwords Now. Many books have made me shiver over the years, some with terror at a shocking denouement, others with delight at an unexpected thrill, and a few because I was sitting in a draught.  This book made me shiver with cold, for no one does the Full Scottish Winter better than Tom McCulloch.  Jim Drever is the Stillman, the distillery worker who looks after the nine copper-pot stills and creates the perfect whisky in his ‘meditation of machinery’. … 2014-07-29T08:20:05+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/flanagans_run_reviewed_in_independent_on_sunday/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/flanagans_run_reviewed_in_independent_on_sunday/ The Independent on Sunday has published this brief but appreciative review of Tom McNab’s Flanagan’s Run Flanagan’s new print run As one of Britain’s leading national athletics coaches, Tom McNab was rarely seen without a stopwatch. Now 80, his sense of timing prevails, for his 1982 widely acclaimed global bestseller Flanagan’s Run, one of the outstanding sports novels, has been republished in paperback (Sandstone Press, £8.99) to coincide with the Commonwealth Games. Set in 1931 at the height of the depression, the story covers an epic 3,000-mile foot race across the United States, from Los Angeles to New… 2014-07-29T08:11:54+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/tom_mcnab_tells_bookbrunch_about_flanagans_run/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/tom_mcnab_tells_bookbrunch_about_flanagans_run/ Tom McNab was asked to provide this article on the origins of Flanagan’s Run by Bookbrunch, one of the principal online trade journals. As you will see, he has done a great job - and Flanagan’s Run is one of the altime great page-turning yarns. As all eyes turn to Glasgow, coach Tom McNab stands on the starting blocks with a reissue of a novel that was a bestseller three decades ago. I was, from the outset, a late developer, in that I wrote my first novel Flanagan’s Run at the age of 46, after 14 years… 2014-07-24T09:51:50+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/helen_puttick_previews_doctors_line_in_the_herald/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/helen_puttick_previews_doctors_line_in_the_herald/ POET Robert Burns described a very early bowel cancer screening programme in verse, according to a former Scottish Chief Medical Officer. Helen Puttick previewed the launch of Sir Kenneth Calman’s A Doctor’s Line in The Herald in an article that actually doubles as a very interesting review. In Burns’s poem Death and Dr Hornbook, a less than responsible medical man smells samples sent to him in cabbage leaves to diagnose disease and “what will mend it”. Sir Kenneth Calman, who became CMO for the Scottish office in 1989, says… 2014-07-21T07:12:50+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/gripping_and_gritty_russell_maclean_reviews_the_hunting_dogs_for_the_herald/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/gripping_and_gritty_russell_maclean_reviews_the_hunting_dogs_for_the_herald/ New crime reviewer for The Herald, Russell MacLean, thinks Jorn Lier Horst’s The Hunting Dogs is ‘gripping and well executed’ with a ‘gritty atmosphere and good sense of pace’. We agree! The Hunting Dogs by Jorn Lier Horst is another in the increasingly long line of Scandi-crime contenders. Horst is the winner of the Glass Key award for best Nordic crime novel in 2013 and the Golden Revolver for top Norwegian crime novel. High praise indeed, and certainly his ability with funereal atmosphere and subtle, deliberate plotting are on evidence in this latest… 2014-07-13T10:26:10+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/a_funny_emotional_work._buzz_books_reviews_the_stillman/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/a_funny_emotional_work._buzz_books_reviews_the_stillman/ Buzz Books has published this strongly appreciative review by Keira Farrell of Amazon Rising Star Tom McCulloch’s The Stillman. A dark, compelling read, Tom McCulloch’s The Stillman is perfect for a cold, lonely evening when you’re not quite sure where your life is going. During the worst winter in years Jim Drever, stillman at a Highland distillery, has just turned 50 and is feeling disconnected from his life. A strike is on the horizon, his marriage is collapsing, his wife is focused entirely on their daughter’s wedding, and his teenage son’s behaviour is becoming very… 2014-07-09T05:55:28+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/linda_spalding_describes_her_visit_to_hay_on_wye/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/linda_spalding_describes_her_visit_to_hay_on_wye/ Linda Spalding here describes her visit this year to Hay on Wye. Published in Shiny New Books it gives quite an insight into what is good about these events for teh authors. The Hay Festival is mythic to Canadians. What I mean is that we all covet an invitation. Mine came by email a few months before the event so I had time to relish the imagined readings I would hear and writers I would meet. I tried to imagine a lot of audience adulation after my own reading, lines of book-buyers and the… 2014-07-07T13:03:32+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/vivid_and_compelling_victoria_best_reviews_when_lilacs_last_in_the_dooryard/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/vivid_and_compelling_victoria_best_reviews_when_lilacs_last_in_the_dooryard/ A new, rather brilliant literary web site, Shiny New Books, has just published Victoria Best’s warm review of When Lilacs Last in teh Dooryard Bloomed by Bradley Greenburg. One of the best experiences in reviewing books is when a book for which you have no particular expectations turns out to be both engrossing and surprising. Bradley Greenburg’s debut novel of life in a small frontier town in Indiana, riven by social conflict between the blacks and the whites, is both a slice of forgotten history and a profoundly compelling story of one family’s determined… 2014-07-07T13:00:49+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/one_of_the_best_scandinavian_crime_novels_ive_read._mrs_peabody_investigate/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/one_of_the_best_scandinavian_crime_novels_ive_read._mrs_peabody_investigate/ That great crime fiction web site, Mrs Peabody Investigates, has reviewed Jorn Lier Horst’s The Hunting Dogs and appreciated in no inconclusive fashion. Jørn Lier Horst’s The Hunting Dogs (trans. by Anne Bruce, Sandstone Press, 2014) comes to us already garlanded with prizes – it won the 2012 Riverton/Golden Revolver Prize and the 2013 Scandinavian Glass Key. I’m not remotely surprised, as this eighth novel in the William Wisting series (the third to be published in English) is one of the best Scandinavian crime novels I’ve read. Much has been made of Horst’s extensive… 2014-07-05T05:59:58+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/brave_vulnerable_and_fiercely_intelligent._jane_housham_reviews_the_sister_/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2014/brave_vulnerable_and_fiercely_intelligent._jane_housham_reviews_the_sister_/ Jane Housham has published this admirable review of Lynne Alexander’s The Sister in The Guardian. In this admirably sustained exercise in imaginative biography, Lynne Alexander explores themes of women’s ill health and “madness” as responses to the suffocating strictures imposed on them by 19th-century society. More particularly, Alice is portrayed as an immensely bright, imaginative young woman brimming over with words and stories but whose voice is only ever heard, dimly, when her ideas are taken up and developed by her adored brother Henry. Worse still, she, along with her intimate friend Katherine Loring, is cruelly used… 2014-07-04T16:13:33+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/humanity_dignity_and_self-determination._alastair_mabbott_review_john_mcpak/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/humanity_dignity_and_self-determination._alastair_mabbott_review_john_mcpak/ Alastair Mabbott has published this fine, half page, review of John McPake and the Sea Beggars in The Herald. Stuart Campbell’s mighty novel is written (and published) to last as Mt Mabbott makes clear. John McPake hears voices in his head, voices which crowd out his own. The most benign and level-headed is the Narrator, who tells the story for our benefit, and for John’s. But John is also plagued by the Academic, who comments on the historical accuracy of John’s delusions; the Bastard, who ceaselessly goads and belittles him; the Tempter, who gives him… 2014-06-28T06:32:24+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/...this_illuminating_critical_biography._alan_taylor_cries_hallelujah_in_th/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/...this_illuminating_critical_biography._alan_taylor_cries_hallelujah_in_th/ Alan Taylor, one of Scotland’s leading literary critics, has published this excellent review of A Broken Hallelujah in The Herald. When I first became aware of Leonard Cohen in the 1960s he was known, even to his fans, as Laughing Len. It was not a nickname I thought fair and I used to argue vehemently it was unjust. But, privately, I had to concede the Canadian minstrel was not the kind of singer-songwriter to send you on your way rejoicing. With a voice that was deeper than a bottomless pit and lyrics that were on… 2014-06-28T06:29:17+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/great_herald_review_for_the_stillman/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/great_herald_review_for_the_stillman/ The Herald has published this short but appreciative review of Tom McCulloch’s The Stillman. Having published many poems and short stories, Tom McCulloch unveils his first novel, which is narrated by Jim Drever, a master malt-maker who works in a Scottish distillery. He has just had his 50th birthday, his marriage has long since lost its spark and his two kids are like strangers to him now. If Drever seems detached from his own life, it may have something to do with his mother having walked out when hew was just four and this has affected his relationships… 2014-06-24T09:08:46+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/the_herald_warmly_reviews_when_lilacs_last_in_the_dooryard_bloomed/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/the_herald_warmly_reviews_when_lilacs_last_in_the_dooryard_bloomed/ The Herald has given Bradley Greenburg’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed this warm appreciation. The end of the American Civil War, and the subsequent abolition of slavery, radically altered the economic landscape of the Southern states. Bradley Greenburg’s debut novel tells the story of the fictional McGhees, a black family who decide their best hope for a decent future is to move out of the South entirely. Scouting ahead, the father, James, finds what he hopes will be a conducive spot in Tippecanoe County, Indiana (where the author grew up), and uses his… 2014-06-24T08:54:07+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/will_leave_you_raring_for_more_jeremy_megraw_reviews_the_hunting_dogs_for_c/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2014/will_leave_you_raring_for_more_jeremy_megraw_reviews_the_hunting_dogs_for_c/ Jeremy Megraw has contributed this fine, detailed review of Jorn Lier Horst’s The Hunting Dogs to Crime Fiction Lover web site. It’s good to see this series, and this fine author, finding their readership in English language literature. Written by Jorn Lier Horst — The Norwegian detective William Wisting is an upright, honest, and morally unambiguous good cop with an impeccable career seeking truth and justice. So it comes as a backhanded slap when his own department is accused of corruption, and worse, of planting evidence. The news comes from his daughter, Line. She’s… 2014-06-23T08:08:25+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2014/omplex_and_full_of_tension_bob_cornwell_reviews_the_hunting_dogs_for_crimet/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2014/omplex_and_full_of_tension_bob_cornwell_reviews_the_hunting_dogs_for_crimet/ This first, glowing reviews of Jorn Lier Horst’s latest William Wisting novel, The Hunting Dogs, has been posted on that fine web site, Crimetime. We feel confident that it will be the first of many. Jorn’s growing fan base will be glad to hear that another great title ids on the way and that The Caveman will be out next February from the same team. Jorn Lier Horst’s terrific new police procedural, the third to be published in English and winner of the 2013 Glass Key, gets off to a cracking start. Chief Inspector William Wisting,… 2014-05-28T11:23:23+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2014/the_vulpes_libris_review_of_daunderlust/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2014/the_vulpes_libris_review_of_daunderlust/ That ace reviewing site Vulpes Libris has read Daunderlust, loves it, but wants to read more about women. The Scots word ‘to daunder’ is to take a wee walk, a leisurely stroll. This book collects 42 of Peter Ross’s feature articles from Scottish newspapers into a very readable book where he daunders about modern Scotland. There are some women in the book, two even become the subjects of two good stories – barmaid Val of ‘Val at the Crown and Anchor’ and professional cleaner Marie in ‘Extreme Cleaners’ – but mostly, this is a book… 2014-05-26T11:27:41+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2014/edinburgh_book_review_loves_jorn_lier_horsts_closed_for_winter/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2014/edinburgh_book_review_loves_jorn_lier_horsts_closed_for_winter/ Edinburgh Book Review thinks the world of Jorn Lier Horst’s Closed for Winter . William Wisting has seen a lot of crime scenes in his days as chief inspector, but never before has he faced a mystery which raises so many questions which shake him to the core. In Closed for Winter, an idyllic hamlet of holiday cottages in Vestfold on the rugged Norwegian coast becomes the scene for a gruesome murder, which leaves the local police department with more questions than it can answer. With several cottages having been… 2014-05-23T09:59:12+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2014/read_it_and_weep_tears_of_sadness_joy_and_laughter_scottish_field_reviews_d/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2014/read_it_and_weep_tears_of_sadness_joy_and_laughter_scottish_field_reviews_d/ We are highly delighted to reproduce this review of Peter Ross’s Daunderlust from the June 2014 issue of Scottish Field. Five stars A beautifully eclectic and eccentric collection of stories about Scotland that is rarely seen by the average visitor (or by many who have lived in the country all their lives) and certainly has never been mentioned in Visit Scotlands ongoing campaign to promote Scottish culture and encourage tourism in this Year of Homecoming. But, like it or not, this is the real Scotland. Oh yes, we still have the glorious vistas, the incredible wildlife, astounding… 2014-05-17T10:54:45+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2014/heather_dawes_fine_review_of_its_a_hill_get_over_it_for_outdoor_times/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2014/heather_dawes_fine_review_of_its_a_hill_get_over_it_for_outdoor_times/ Artist, cyclist, runner, climber and author Heather Dawes has contributed this highly intelligent review of Steve Chilton’s now classic It’s a Hill, Get Over It to Outdoor Times. The most recent reprint of It’s a Hill, Get Over It is now departing the warehouse. FELL RUNNING is a low-key sport*.  That is one of the main attractions for many of us - the minimalism and lack of bullshit.  Compared to triathlon, adventure racing and similar multi-sport events that venture into the mountains, you don’t need… 2014-04-03T09:47:42+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2014/heck_of_a_guy_reviews_a_broken_hallelujah_by_liel_leibovitz/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2014/heck_of_a_guy_reviews_a_broken_hallelujah_by_liel_leibovitz/ Liel Leibovitz’s A Broken Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen’s secret chord has received this excellent and warm review from Heck of a Guy - the other Leonard Cohen site. Out already in North America, fans on this side of the water have to wait until May 15th. It will be worth it! Full Disclosure: I read this book in pre-publication form and offered notes to the author, who has retaliated by writing extraordinarily nice things about me in the acknowledgements and… 2014-03-31T11:46:37+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2014/fast_and_light._the_london_mountaineer_reviews_higher_ground/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2014/fast_and_light._the_london_mountaineer_reviews_higher_ground/ The London Mountaineer is first to publish a review of Martin Moran’s Higher Ground: a mountain guide’s life. The review is signed simply BM, but BM knows the hills and also understands a great book. Many of us will be familiar with Martin Moran as author of the definitive Alpine Club guidebook The 4000m Peaks of the Alps – Selected Climbs. Some may have been inspired by The Munros in Winter, Moran’s 1986 account of the first completion of all 277 Munros in a single winter with his wife Joy, which Jim Perrin described as the best guidebook… 2014-03-11T15:21:35+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2014/we_are_about_to_be_treated_to_another_classic_series_-_bay_magazine/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2014/we_are_about_to_be_treated_to_another_classic_series_-_bay_magazine/ Bay Magazine, February 2014 When you review crime fiction from around the world, the one region you cannot possibly ignore is Scandinavia. Swedish and Norwegian authors in particular have proved popular with British readers in recent years with Henning Mankel, Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo all establishing themselves as household names in this country. One of the latest authors to hit the British market is the Norwegian, Jorn Lier Horst with his Chief Inspector William Wisting series. On the evidence of Closed for Winter, which is the seventh book in the series but only the second to be translated into… 2014-02-26T11:03:05+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2014/not_a_wasted_page_wowasis_travel_blog_raves_about_ron_mcmillans_yin_yang_ta/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2014/not_a_wasted_page_wowasis_travel_blog_raves_about_ron_mcmillans_yin_yang_ta/ Ron McMillan’s 2010 Asian crime novel, Yin Yang Tattoo, has just received this rave review on the WoWasis Travel Blog. Probably because Thailand is such a draw for literary expats, there’s a dearth of well-written hard-boiled fiction situated in other Asian countries, Korea being no exception. For that reason, we here at WoWasis were particularly interested in Ron McMillan’s Yin Yang Tattoo (2010, ISBN 978-1-905207-31-2).  McMillan’s not a veteran writer. It’s his second book, and his first based in Asia.  And it’s a good one, written as though he’d been in the writing game for a… 2014-02-01T09:46:21+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/the_south_china_morning_post_interviews_julian_lees/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/the_south_china_morning_post_interviews_julian_lees/ Julian Lees has given this splendid interview to the South China Post. It discusses the complicated family backgound that feeds so strngly intohis novels, The House of Trembling Leaves and The Fan Tan Players. HAPPY CAMPER My mother’s maternal grandfather was a high-ranking [Russian] Cossack general who served under the tsar. In 1917, with the Bolshevik revolution escalating, he was forced to flee Russia with his family. They went first to Harbin and later Shanghai, where he worked as a doorman at the… 2014-01-31T08:37:20+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/fresh_review_for_its_a_hill_get_over_it_by_steve_chilton/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/fresh_review_for_its_a_hill_get_over_it_by_steve_chilton/ Scotland Outdoors have given Steve Chilton’s “It’s a hill, get over it” a brief, but rave review in their winter edition. “With a stylish cover and a great title taken from a slogan the author spotted on a runner’s T-shirt, this exhaustive homage to fell running promises much, and delivers. Written with a real love for the sport, it inevitably majors on its stronghold, the Lake District, but also covers Scottish races such as those on Ben Nevis and Jura, and celebrates some of our greatest athletes, such as Angela Mudge, of Carnethy Hill Runners, who has won championships all… 2014-01-13T20:16:48+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/the_scots_magazine_reviews_the_tailor_of_inverness/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/the_scots_magazine_reviews_the_tailor_of_inverness/ The brief but warm review of Matthew Zajac’s The Tailor of Inverness has appeared in the January 2014 issue of the Scots Magazine. Zajac’s account of his father’s past makes riveting reading, as he tells of his life on a farm in Poland, his capture by the Soviets in 1939, his release and integration into the British Army and his eventual settling in Glasgow in 1948, joining his brother. How he became a tailor in Inverness is the culmination of an incredible story as the author’s thorough investigation bears fruit. 2014-01-09T10:47:25+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/calum_macleod_loves_closed_for_winter_and_the_woman_who_walked_into_the_sea/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/calum_macleod_loves_closed_for_winter_and_the_woman_who_walked_into_the_sea/ Crime fiction expert, Calum MacLeod has published this doubly excellent double review in the Inverness Courier. IT looks as though every publisher in Britain wants a slice of the Nordic Noir pie, but Dingwall-based Sandstone Press have picked themselves a particularly succulent piece in Jorn Lier Horst, a serving senior police detective in the Norwegian city of Larvik. So too is his series hero William Wisting, a widower with a steady girlfriend and a loving journalist daughter. Wisting is a thoughtful professional in the Scandinavian model rather than the damaged cop so beloved of the… 2014-01-07T12:32:12+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/midwest_book_review_finds_closed_for_winter_riveting/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2014/midwest_book_review_finds_closed_for_winter_riveting/ Our colleagues at Dufour Editions have sent across this first American review of Jorn Lier Horst’s ‘Closed for Winter’. It’s from the Midwest Book Review in Oregon. The first review to be posted on this web site this year is pretty glowing, we think you will agree. Prices for the States but you can purchase on this side of the Big water in all the usual ways. Synopsis: Ove Bakkerud, newly separated and extremely disillusioned, is looking forward to a final quiet weekend at his summer home before closing for… 2014-01-03T09:56:01+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/11/2013/simply_intoxicating._americas_library_review_loves_the_woman_who_walked_int/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/11/2013/simply_intoxicating._americas_library_review_loves_the_woman_who_walked_int/ We are grateful for our colleagues at Dufour Editions for eliciting and sending this glowing review of The Woman Who Walked Into The Sea from one of America’s premier magazines, Library Review. A rugged corner of northern Scotland and its wild seas draw oceanographer Cal McGill to meet fellow beachcomber Duncan Boyd, who has collected something rare that Cal wants to research. Wrong beach, wrong town; Can has inadvertently stumbled into a place that harbours deep secrets. Once upon a time, a local rich man, trapped into a lackluster marriage,… 2013-11-12T20:25:08+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/11/2013/simon_savidge_reviews_and_loves_anywheres_better_than_here/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/11/2013/simon_savidge_reviews_and_loves_anywheres_better_than_here/ Co-founder and Director of The Green Carnation Prize, Simon Savidge has read, and loved, Zoe Venditozzi’s Anywhere’s Better Than Here and posted this superb review. Something I often think about is how many books there are that go under the radar every year and how can we rectify this? See, I do have deep moments, here I should mention that I spent 30 minutes wondering what might happen if gravity suddenly failed the other morning, deep indeed. We have great initiatives for neglected classics like… 2013-11-07T10:24:18+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/the_bookbag_gives_six_out_of_five_to_linda_spaldings_masterpiece_the_purcha/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/the_bookbag_gives_six_out_of_five_to_linda_spaldings_masterpiece_the_purcha/ Ami Johnson at The Bookbag has read and loved LInda Spalding’s masterpiece, The Purchase. In an aside to the main review (below) she adds this in summary:  ‘The haunting story of an early American Quaker family that kept me up all night till I’d read it. This 6-out-of-5 book is as gut-wrenching as it is beautiful and won’t let you go, even if you wanted it to.’ Who could say more? 1798: Daniel Dickinson moves his five children and 15-year-old second wife away from te Pennsylvanian Quaker community he used to call… 2013-10-30T14:44:00+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/press_release_from_the_blake_friedmann_literary_agency/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/press_release_from_the_blake_friedmann_literary_agency/ Sandstone Press Acquire Striking Arctic Novel By Cormac James Posted at 7:43AM Friday 18 Oct 2013 Robert Davidson has agreed Sandstone Press’s first deal with the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency, for a breathtaking literary historical novel by Irish writer Cormac James. Currently titled THE SURFACING, the novel is set largely on board a ship in the 1850s, searching for Franklin’s lost expedition. It’s a challenging and dangerous endeavour in a very male world – that is until Morgan, the second-in-command of the Impetus, realises there is a pregnant stowaway on board and that he is the father. It is too… 2013-10-18T05:58:36+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/chris_townsend_reviews_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_scotland/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/chris_townsend_reviews_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_scotland/ Chris Townsend, author of Grizzly Bears and Razor Clams and the coming Rattlesnakes and Bald Eagles (both Sandstone Press), has not only read The Ancient Pinewoods of Scotland but made an overnight visit to one of the less known locations, at Lower Dulnain in the Monadhliath Mountains. This tremendous review of Clifton Bain’s classic on Chris’s hugely popular blogspot Chris Townsend Outdoors is the result, and it contains a description of his visit. I like trees and… 2013-10-05T09:27:33+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/part_travelogue_part_history_part_biography_._._._and_deeply_moving/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/part_travelogue_part_history_part_biography_._._._and_deeply_moving/ This super review by Susan Welsh was published in The Press and Journal, naming “The Tailor of Inverness” by Matthew Zajac as Book of the Week. True Story - unravelling the past in search of the truth in “The Tailor of Inverness” The decision to turn the remarkable story of his father’s life into a play paid of handsomely for Inverness-born actor and producer, Matthew Zajac.The play, “The Tailor of Inverness”, won numerous awards and touched many hearts as it revealed the wartime experiences of his father who grew up in a farm in Eastern Poland, which led… 2013-10-03T09:06:38+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/mackenzies_chilling_debut_publishers_weekly_reviews_the_interpretations/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/10/2013/mackenzies_chilling_debut_publishers_weekly_reviews_the_interpretations/ Our colleagues at Dufour Editions in the United States have sent this brief, but highly positive, review of David Shaw MacKenzie’s The Interpretations in America’s Publishers Weekly. MacKenzie’s chilling debut is as much a novel of a small town struggling to retain its identity in rapidly changing times as it is a murder mystery. Even after the Dalmore, Scotland, police conclude that Tom Kingsmill committed suicide by jumping off the Duie Bridge during a nighttime two-and-a-half mile race, Tom’s friend Mike Delvan is convinced that’s not the case. Tom’s disappearance—in addition to… 2013-10-02T08:09:48+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/beautifully_done_and_highly_recommended._the_daily_mail_reviews_the_marryin/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/beautifully_done_and_highly_recommended._the_daily_mail_reviews_the_marryin/ Victoria Moore has published this brief, glowing review of Eve Harris’s The Marrying of Chani Kaufman in the Daily Mail Baruch Levy has successful older brothers and red blotchy skin. Chani Kaufman is slender and pretty, but a little bit too spirited and unconventional to make the perfect bride. When Baruch catches sight of her he is immediately captivated, and determines that she will be the one for him - whatever his mother says. And his mother does, it turns out, have quite a lot to say, both to… 2013-09-14T08:38:03+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/scottish_fields_bright_review_of_the_sunlit_summit/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/scottish_fields_bright_review_of_the_sunlit_summit/ Scottish Field has published this highly positive review of The Sunlit Summit in its September 2013 issue. This Biography of William ‘Bill” Hutchison Murray is an invaluable reminder of the impact made by this goliath of Scottish mountaineering. As a POW in Italy, Murray wrote his first classic book, Mountaineering in Scotland, on rough toilet paper, only to have it destroyed by the Gestapo. He rewrote it in 1947, following it up with the equally celebrated Undiscovered Scotland, but arguably his greatest achievement as a climber was to be second in command of the 1951… 2013-09-09T07:42:56+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/humour_abounds_but_so_do_pathos_and_anger._the_guardian_reviews_chani_kaufm/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/humour_abounds_but_so_do_pathos_and_anger._the_guardian_reviews_chani_kaufm/ Catherine Taylor has published this perceptive review of The Marrying of Chani Kaufman in The Guardian. In the last few years two novels about very different Jewish communities have been published to acclaim: Francesca Segal’s elegant, Costa-winning The Innocents, an update of Edith Wharton transplanted to the surface liberalism of affluent north London, and Anouk Markovits’ I Am Forbidden, a powerful, harrowing account of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect. Eve Harris’s first book, longlisted for the Man Booker prize, lies somewhere in between. The serious subject at its core – the semi-arranged marriage of two young… 2013-09-06T10:50:15+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/a_plea_to_change_the_future.publishers_weekly_reviews_the_folded_man/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/a_plea_to_change_the_future.publishers_weekly_reviews_the_folded_man/ We thank our American colleagues at Dufour Editions for bringing this review of The Folded Man, published in the prestigious Publishers Weekly, to our attention. In Hill’s frightening dystopian vision of Britain’s near future, the state has collapsed, leaving marauding vigilante nationalist gangs to ravish the northern post-industrial wasteland. Our guide to a grim 2018 is Brian Meredith; broken, disabled, and a junkie, he is “half a man with itches to scratch,” a noirish protagonist perhaps who perhaps transforms into a merman. When his dealer friend Noah recruits him in the… 2013-09-04T14:31:50+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/a_superb_superior_historical-literary_novel._lesley_mcdowell_reviews_the_pu/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/09/2013/a_superb_superior_historical-literary_novel._lesley_mcdowell_reviews_the_pu/ This brief but glowing review of Linda Spalding’s The Purchase has been published in The Herald by the highly accomplished critic, novelist and non-fiction author Lesley McDowell. Sandstone Press will release The Purchase in November. In Spalding’s superb, superior historical-literary novel, the “purchase” is that of a slave boy by a Quaker widower, Daniel Dickinson, in 1780s Virginia. With five children to care for, and a hasty marriage to a young servant, Daniel’s conflict between religion and his needs is played out against an intriguing, yet moving, tale of… 2013-09-01T09:05:32+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/undiscovered_scotland_reviews_the_sunlit_summit/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/undiscovered_scotland_reviews_the_sunlit_summit/ That great gathering of all things Scottish and good, Undiscovered Scotland, has posted this brilliant review of Robin Lloyd-Jones’ biography of W H Murray, The Sunlit Summit. ‘Undiscovered Scotland’ is, of course, the title of the second of Murray classic narratives following Mountaineering in Scotland. William Hutchinson Murray lived from 1913 to 1996. One of the greats of Scottish mountaineering, he did as much or more than anyone else to popularise Scotland as a walking and climbing destination to the generations following World War II. In the… 2013-08-27T11:40:12+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/he_is_teh_new_nesbo_dagbladet_norway_assesses_jornlier_horst/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/he_is_teh_new_nesbo_dagbladet_norway_assesses_jornlier_horst/ In Norway, reviews are beginning to appear of Jorn Lier Horst’s new novel, The Caveman. Praise is fulsome as the progress that began with Dregs (Sandstone Press 2012), and continues with Closed for Winter (coming in October this year) and his incredible The Hunting Dogs (next year), work on translation begins soon), is being maintained at an extraordinary level. here is what Torbjørn Ekelund (translated by Anne Bruce) has to say. HE IS THE NEW NESBO Jorn Lier Horst shows that he is among the country’s foremost crime… 2013-08-26T07:35:17+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/an_optimistic_compassionate_story._sue_fox_reviews_the_marrying_of_chani_ka/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/an_optimistic_compassionate_story._sue_fox_reviews_the_marrying_of_chani_ka/ Sue Fox has published this review of The Marrying of Chani Kaufman in the Sunday Express. Looks like she enjoyed it! Longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, The Marrying of Chani Kaufman, by former teacher Eve Harris, is one of those books you cannot put down. Set in a watchful, gossipy, claustrophobic Charedi (Orthodox Jewish) community in north London, Harris has cleverly structured the plot to give different points of view. It is a device that makes you care much more about the characters. As we learn more about… 2013-08-20T11:49:30+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/unapologetic_unvarnished_and_undisguised_gerald_kaufman_on_the_marrying_of_/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/unapologetic_unvarnished_and_undisguised_gerald_kaufman_on_the_marrying_of_/ Gerald Jacobs, writing in the Jewish Chronicle,  discusses the two books by Jewish authors which have reached this year’s Man Booker longlist, including The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris, published by Sandstone Press, and puts them into a historical literary context. Both the two novels by Jewish authors on the Man Booker longlist announced last week depict the claustrophobic anxieties of a young heroine locked within a powerful family hinterland. In Charlotte Mendelson’s Almost English, sparked by memories of her Hungarian grandparents, the family is, as… 2013-08-09T06:41:56+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/undiscovered_scotland_discovers_hamish_browns_anthology_of_tom_weir/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/undiscovered_scotland_discovers_hamish_browns_anthology_of_tom_weir/ That excellent web site on all things Scottish (but especially the outdoors), Undiscovered Scotland, has posted this warm review of Hamish Brown’s wonderful anthology of writings by Tom Weir. Few people who love the mountains and wild places of Scotland won’t have heard of Tom Weir. Many will remember him from his TV programme “Weir’s Way”, screened between 1976 and 1987, while others will known him from four decades of contributions to “The Scotsman” magazine. But how many of us can claim to know all of Tom’s many different facets? Very few… 2013-08-09T06:37:41+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/a_simply_stunning_story._utter_biblio_reviews_the_marrying_of_chani_kaufman/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/a_simply_stunning_story._utter_biblio_reviews_the_marrying_of_chani_kaufman/ Utter Biblio has reviewed The Marrying of Chani Kaufman with great perceptiveness. Eve Harris’s real and her living characters, ‘pulled at me while I was away’. There are some devastating moments that occur within this Jewish community. Harris’ novel revolves around the premise that religion, while comforting and pleasing, can also be constricting. Many of the people that appear are desperately unhappy with their lives and the outcome of their religious choices. Eve Harris spends much of the book showing the reader something to cause happiness and joy and… 2013-08-04T12:55:33+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/scots_whay_hae_has_loved_anywheres_better_than_here/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/08/2013/scots_whay_hae_has_loved_anywheres_better_than_here/ Scottish Arts web site Scots Whay Hae has published this fine review of Zoe Venditozzi’s Anywhere’s Better Than Here. Once In A Lifetime: A Review of Zoe Venditozzi’s Anywhere’s Better Than Here… Zoe Venditozzi’s Anywhere’s Better Than Here is a novel with a premise which will be all too familiar to a lot of readers. Anyone who has ever been in a relationship which has lost its vitality, or which has become merely a mutual existence, will recognise all too clearly the situation which unfolds. As Woody Allen’s Alvy… 2013-08-04T12:37:22+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/the_independent_salutes_sandstone_press_and_we_salute_back/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/the_independent_salutes_sandstone_press_and_we_salute_back/ Many thanks to the Independent on Sunday for this powerful endorsement of Sandstone Press. Congratulations to the small independent publisher Sandstone Press, which has been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize for the second time in two years, this time for The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by the debut author Eve Harris. Their previous long-listing was in 2011 for Jane Rogers’ The Testament of Jessie Lamb, and the publisher has gone from strength to strength since then, in partnership with Faber Factory Plus and with the support of Creative Scotland. They plan to bring… 2013-07-28T13:52:53+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/the_rainy_uncomfortable_scottish_version_of_romance._caroline_knight_review/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/the_rainy_uncomfortable_scottish_version_of_romance._caroline_knight_review/ Caroline Knight has warmly reviews Zoe Venditozzi’s Anywhere’s Better Than Here on the web site Dead Curious. Here is what she has to say. To the unappreciative and disinterested eye, Anywhere’s Better Than Here might be just another work of modern Chick Lit – lining up to be drowned and forgotten in the sea of pastel paperbacks like it. But this is anything but whimsical and clichéd: another re-telling of the modern day fairytale of princes (Mr Right) and castles (a Notting Hill mansion) and pretty dresses (insert fashion designer… 2013-07-20T12:07:48+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/chris_mcivor_author_of_in_the_old_chiefs_country_interview_in_the_john_ogro/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/chris_mcivor_author_of_in_the_old_chiefs_country_interview_in_the_john_ogro/ Chris McIvor, now Save the Children‘s representative in Egypt, is home in Caithness and has given this interview to the John O’Groats Journal and Caithness Courier, both published and printed by our neighbours in Dingwall, Scottish Provincial Press. As well as his first title, A Bend in the Nile, and the recent, In the Old Chief’s Country, Chris mentions his next Sandstone Press book, the concluding part of his trilogy id memoirs, 2013-07-19T06:26:55+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/an_absorbing_and_original_work._dolly_delightly_loves_matt_hills_the_folded/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/an_absorbing_and_original_work._dolly_delightly_loves_matt_hills_the_folded/ Dolly Delightly, writing on Book Mee . . . has contributed this fine, preceptive review of Matt Hill’s The Folded Man. Available as both paperback and ebook. The cover of Matt Hill’s debut bears a quote by Stephen Fry, which tells us that the work within captures the “smell and essence of Britain”. This is a considerable claim but one that rings entirely true, despite the book’s post-apocalyptic premise. The Folded Man offers a frighteningly plausible rendition of the future, bleak and disturbing.  The city is Manchester, the… 2013-07-17T10:59:31+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/mardi_stewart_reviews_white_river_in_earthlines_review/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/mardi_stewart_reviews_white_river_in_earthlines_review/ Mardi Stewart has contributed this fine review of Jamie Whittle’s White River to Earthlines Review, published by our friends at Two Ravens Press. We open with their introduction of this very gifted woman. Dr Mardi Stewart studied at the Universities of Stirling and Glasgow and has a special interest in women’s writing and nineteenth-century poetry. Passionate about language and the power of words, Mardi is a regular contributor to Pleiades, Newbooks Magazine, The Literateur, and other literary magazines and ezines. She currently works as a private tutor. Mardi… 2013-07-11T11:43:34+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/allan_massie_reviews_the_interpretations_in_the_scotsman/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/allan_massie_reviews_the_interpretations_in_the_scotsman/ Allan Massie, novelist, critic and journalist, has contributed this appreciative review of David Shaw Mackenzie’s The Interpretations, to The Scotsman. David Shaw Mackenzie’s second novel begins with an assault, followed by another and then by a police siege in which the perpetrator of these assaults is shot. This is followed by the mysterious disappearance of the first victim. The general opinion, and the police view, is that he has committed suicide by jumping off a new bridge over a firth – a bridge which has already seen others leap to their death.… 2013-07-10T14:28:41+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/three_superb_reviews_and_an_interview_with_zoe_venditozzi/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/three_superb_reviews_and_an_interview_with_zoe_venditozzi/ ‘A gripping read’ is how Rowena McIntosh assesses Zoe Venditozzi’s superb Anywhere’s Better Than Here in The Skinny. Perceptively, Rowena notes the importance of the mother/daughter relationship, hinting subtly at the book’s depths. Shortlisted for the 2010 Dundee International Book Prize, Anywhere’s Better Than Here is the story of Laurie, whose life has met a dead end at just twenty four. Working in a call centre and living in a grotty flat with her gaming-obsessed, unemployed boyfriend Ed, Laurie is unfulfilled and jaded. In an effort to inject some excitement… 2013-07-05T06:22:57+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/el_comandantes_farewell_tour_the_new_york_times_reviews_king_of_cuba/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/07/2013/el_comandantes_farewell_tour_the_new_york_times_reviews_king_of_cuba/ The New York Times has published this fabulous review by Andrew Sean Greer of ‘King of Cuba’ by Cristina Garcia. Andrew Sean Greer’s latest novel, “The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells,” has just been published. Sandstone Press will be releasing ‘King of Cuba’ across Great Britain, Ireland, Europe and the Commonwealth excluding Canada (who will get the American edition from our respected friends at Scribner). It’s a superb read. Fictio cedit veritati. Fiction yields to the truth. This phrase, learned in his Jesuit-­educated youth, passes… 2013-07-02T14:27:23+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/wonderful_characterisation._the_woman_who_walked_into_the_sea_reviewed_in_t/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/wonderful_characterisation._the_woman_who_walked_into_the_sea_reviewed_in_t/ David McLaughlin has contributed this fine review of Mark Douglas-Home’s second Sea Detective novel, The Woman Who Walked Into The Sea, to the Scots Magazine where you can read it in July. Mark Douglas-home does two surprising things in The Woman Who Walked into the Sea . . . he creates an intriguing new twist in the detective genre and he creates characters so real you alternately want to offer them a word to the wise, invite them home for comfort and coffee, or help them into the sea with a hearty shove! Cal McGill is the Sea… 2013-06-23T09:01:52+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/passion_and_lovely_images_scottish_field_reviews_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_s/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/passion_and_lovely_images_scottish_field_reviews_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_s/ Scottish Field of July 2013 has published (will be publishing) this brief but glowing review of The Ancient Pinewoods of Scotland. A fascinating insight into 38 of Scotland’s ancient pinewoods, with a discussion of how each wood was formed, plus maps and travel notes for those wishing to visit and walk in these beautiful forests. The first few chapters of the book talk about the history, present and future of the forests, as well as the wildlife found within them. The author’s passion for his subject – he has recently toured all 38 pinewoods relying on public transport,… 2013-06-23T08:57:33+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/an_outstanding_debut_nina_allen_reviews_the_folded_man_in_the_spiders_house/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/an_outstanding_debut_nina_allen_reviews_the_folded_man_in_the_spiders_house/ ‘I spent the final thirty pages of this book on the edge of my seat.’ So writes Nina Allen on The Spider’s House Science Fiction web site. It’s a super review, one of teh first to really get its head round Matt Hill’s The Folded Man, now available in both paperback and ebook. The Folded Man is the debut novel of Matt Hill, a writer currently based in London but born in Manchester, and it’s clearly Manchester his heart is closest to, because it is Manchester that provides the backbone,… 2013-06-17T17:51:14+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/scotland_outdoors_pronounces_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_scotland_summer_favou/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/scotland_outdoors_pronounces_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_scotland_summer_favou/ Scotland Outdoors, that tremendous online asset to our outdoor culture, has pronounced Clifton Bain’s ‘The Ancient Pinewoods of Scotland’ the magazine’s Summer Favourite. We are very pleased and hope you will rush to pick up your copy at your local bookstore. It left the warehouse in great numbers on publication and continues as, to risk an outdoor metaphor, a steady stream. Don Currie’s review is a brief one, but it says enough, and we LOVE it! The muted tones on the elegant cover give no hint of the vividness… 2013-06-15T06:20:04+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/sooner_or_later_the_ineffective_aspects_of_our_society_end_up_on_the_police/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/sooner_or_later_the_ineffective_aspects_of_our_society_end_up_on_the_police/ As you will know by now if you follow Sandstone Press, Jorn Lier Horst has won another Norwegian prize for his crime novel, ‘The Hunting Dogs’, which Sandstone Press will publish in the Spring of 2014. ‘Closed for Winter’, which won the Norwegian Booksellers Prize, comes first in October (it too is a super read). When Sandstone’s Managing Director Robert Davidson wrote to congratulate him, Jorn Lier Horst replied with this remarkable letter. We are happy and proud to be associated with this author and this kind of thinking and writing. 2013-06-11T12:59:30+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/bizarre_and_depraved_the_skinny_looks_at_the_folded_man/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/06/2013/bizarre_and_depraved_the_skinny_looks_at_the_folded_man/ That popular and sensitive weathervane of all cultural matters, The Skinny, has reviewed Matt Hill’s The Folded Man. Kristian Doyle sees it as ‘well realised and oddly captivating’ while also applying the more colourful adjectives we selected for our title. Actually, we are inclined to agree with them all, but please do read it and judge for yourself. Remember, it is available as an ebook as well as a paperback. Matt Hill’s debut novel - a dystopian satire in the sharp, graphic style of transgressive fiction, with a protagonist who… 2013-06-03T15:10:53+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/stay_true_to_oneself_the_new_straits_times_reviews_the_house_of_trembling_l/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/stay_true_to_oneself_the_new_straits_times_reviews_the_house_of_trembling_l/ Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal has contributed this fine article on The House of Trembling Leaves and its author, Julian Lees, to the New Straits Times. We are delighted to see that the book is available at Kinokunia and MPH Julian Lees’ The House Of Trembling Leaves is yet another showcase of his innate sense of bygone eras, writes Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal. WRITING a novel, confides author Julian Lees, is never easy. “You have to have an iron will and the discipline and… 2013-05-29T09:03:46+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/a_refreshingly_modern_hero._crime_fiction_lover_reviews_the_woman_who_walke/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/a_refreshingly_modern_hero._crime_fiction_lover_reviews_the_woman_who_walke/ That electrifyingly good crime fiction web site Crime Fiction Lover, (the site for die hard crime), has just given Mark Douglas-Home’s The Woman Who Walked Into the Sea this superb review. The second sea detective mystery is available as a paperback and an ebook, as is the first book, The Sea Detective. It’s probably a bit easier for a journalist to launch a career in crime fiction. After all, they’ll be familiar with the editing process and are used to seeing… 2013-05-28T06:48:11+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/kimbofo_reviews_jammy_dodger_on_reading_matters/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/kimbofo_reviews_jammy_dodger_on_reading_matters/ The influential book blogger Kimbofo has posted this brilliant review of Jammy Dodger on the Reading Matters web site on the day before the Desmond Elliott Prize short list is announced. Tomorrow, the shortlist for the 2013 Desmond Elliot Prize — an award for new writers — will be announced, so what better time to review Kevin Smith’s Jammy Dodger, which is on the longlist? Black comedy Set in 1980s Belfast, this debut novel is a darkly comic tale about an audacious literary hoax that goes awry. The narrator is bohemian slacker Artie Conville, who… 2013-05-23T08:50:22+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/praise_for_leslie_symons_to_ride_the_mountain_winds/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/praise_for_leslie_symons_to_ride_the_mountain_winds/ In October 2013, Sandstone Press will issue Leslie Symons tremendous history of aviation in the word’s mountain regions. It is an original viewpoint and a tremendous read, as the list of appreciative quotations assembled below attest. This list, with possibly one more addition, will be the first words the reader encounters on opening the book and lead into the main text. To Ride the Mountain Winds Leslie Symons ISBN: 9781908737410 40 black and white, and colour photographs Paperback RRP: £9.99 Having spent forty years climbing on the world’s mountains, I enjoyed enormously Lesley Symons’s… 2013-05-17T05:07:59+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/ray_collier_reviews_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_scotland_for_the_highland_news/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/05/2013/ray_collier_reviews_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_scotland_for_the_highland_news/ The Naturalist Ray Collier has posted this fine appreciation of The Ancient Pinewoods of Scotland in the Highland News. Evidently, Clifton Bain’s book works as well at local level as it does with its overall conservation outlook. There have been a few books published in recent years about these woodlands often referred to as the Old Forest of Caledon. For me, this is the best of the books on this subject and really only matched by The Native Pinewoods of Scotland by H M Steven and A Carlisle, published… 2013-05-03T04:24:16+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/a_novel_worth_being_passionate_about._daniel_ellis_reviews_the_folded_man_f/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/a_novel_worth_being_passionate_about._daniel_ellis_reviews_the_folded_man_f/ Daniel Ellis has provided this, absolutely stonking, review of Matt Hill’s The Folded Man in Litro Magazine. We predict it will be the first of many. The book will be on the shelves on Thursday 16th May. “Saturday. First light is a fresh yolk dashed across the Pennines - an orange line that turns the edges of morning pink. But there’s always a fragility to sunshine over the moors - a pregnancy. Because for everyone here, everyone nearby, warm weather on these hills is just weather waiting to relapse.” The Folded… 2013-04-29T10:51:39+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/susan_maclean_at_the_little_reader_library_enjoys_the_house_of_trembling_le/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/susan_maclean_at_the_little_reader_library_enjoys_the_house_of_trembling_le/ Susan Maclean at The Little Reader Library has reviewed The House of Trembling Leaves with great warmth. We agree that we have picked a worthwhile book here, as does Julian’s growing fan base. For readers not familiar with the Japanese invasion of Malaya during the second world war, or the results of Chairman Mao’s teachings on the Chinese living in Malaya during the 1950s, or the Dhali Llama’s flight from Tibet when that country was sealed up by the Chinese in the late 1950s; this is a… 2013-04-29T07:34:41+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/amy_chew_interviews_julian_lees_for_malaysias_the_sunday_star/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/amy_chew_interviews_julian_lees_for_malaysias_the_sunday_star/ An author dips into his deep roots in this region to tell an engaging tale set in colonial Malaya. FORMER stockbroker turned author Julian Lees has an innate sense of bygone eras that he evokes effortlessly in his writing, perhaps because his own life is steeped in history that stretches from Russia and China to Hong Kong. The great-grandson of high-ranking Cossack general Vassya Trofimov, who served the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, the Lees family’s history is full of colour and drama, which he pours into his novels. Lees’ maternal ancestor escaped to China shortly before the Bolshevik… 2013-04-29T07:04:30+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/seattle_backpackers_magazine_has_warmly_reviewed_grizzly_bears_and_razor_cl/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/seattle_backpackers_magazine_has_warmly_reviewed_grizzly_bears_and_razor_cl/ Grizzly Bears and Razor Clams, Chris Townsend’s colourful account of his 1200 mile walk along the nascent Pacific Northwest Trail is exciting comment in two countries as this review in the Seattle Backpackers Magazine demonstrates very well. The Pacific Northwest Trail is not a day hike. The 1,200-mile trail runs between the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast and includes national parks, national forests, forest service roads, state highways and trails, some abandoned or forgotten. The hike is guaranteed to test this author’s mettle as it includes cross-country… 2013-04-25T19:58:21+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/t_jefferson_parker_meets_richard_godwin_at_the_slaughterhouse/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/t_jefferson_parker_meets_richard_godwin_at_the_slaughterhouse/ In advance of Sandstone’s publication of ‘The Famous and the Dead’ by the great Californian author, T. Jefferson Parker, another fine crime writer, Richard Godwin, has conducted this illuminating interview. You can find the original on the web site ‘Chin Wags At The Slaughterhouse’ which, we think is a stunning name for a crime web site. Richard Godwin is the author of ‘Apostle Rising’, Mr Glamour’ and the forthcoming (in the US) ‘One Lost Summer’. T. Jefferson Parker is the critically acclaimed author… 2013-04-18T14:48:03+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/the_new_northwest_passage_is_favourably_reviewed_in_the_scotsman/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/the_new_northwest_passage_is_favourably_reviewed_in_the_scotsman/ This short but appreciative review of The New Northwest Passage by Cameron Dueck appeared in The Scotsman of Saturday 13th April 2013. First conquered in 1906 by Roald Amundsen, a truly epic undertaking, the fabled Northwest Passage been traversed several times since then – and with growing ease now that global warming has opened up clear water. The scramble for the Arctic has brought with it opportunity and turmoil. It’s also thrown into relief the kind of problems we may all be contending with sometime soon. In this account of… 2013-04-14T12:05:27+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/a_classic_whodunnit_allan_massie_reviews_the_woman_who_walked_into_the_sea_/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/a_classic_whodunnit_allan_massie_reviews_the_woman_who_walked_into_the_sea_/ Reviewing in The Scotsman the distinguished novelist, Allan Massie, has warmly and appreciatively welcomed ‘The Woman Who Walked Into The Sea’, the second Sea Detective novel by Mark Douglas-Home. A couple of years ago, after a distinguished career in journalism, Mark Douglas-Home changed tack and wrote The Sea Detective, an accomplished crime novel, with an unusual investigator, young Cal McGill, an oceanographer. Though Cal is the hero of this sequel, it is a rather different sort of book, the solution of the crime drawing… 2013-04-13T10:34:00+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/grace_holiday_interviews_kevin_smith_about_his_novel_jammy_dodger/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/grace_holiday_interviews_kevin_smith_about_his_novel_jammy_dodger/ Grace Holliday has posted this interview with Kevin Smith, author of Jammy Dodger on her wordpress site. Grace is a remarkable woman as you will see form her biography. Q: Thanks for talking with me, Kevin. So, what exactly is Jammy Dodger all about? A: Jammy Dodger is a profound masterpiece about the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist Russia… wait, no sorry, that’s War and Peace. My book is about two young magazine editors trying very hard to avoid the ‘real world’ in conflict-torn Northern Ireland… 2013-04-11T13:45:15+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/undiscovered_scotland_is_impressed_by_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_scotland/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/04/2013/undiscovered_scotland_is_impressed_by_the_ancient_pinewoods_of_scotland/ The first glowing review of Clifton Bain’s ‘The Ancient Pinewoods of Scotland’ has arrived on the internet. Ken Lussey at Undiscovered Scotland is obviously impressed. We think that others will be too. Please do look out for more reviews and for the book, which should be on the shelves on the third Thursday of the month. All books have a beauty and a magic about them: but some are far more beautiful and magical than others. “The Ancient Pinewoods of Scotland” by Clifton Bain is a wonderful book that… 2013-04-08T18:28:47+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2013/refreshing_margot_kinberg_discusses_jorn_lier_horsts_dregs/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2013/refreshing_margot_kinberg_discusses_jorn_lier_horsts_dregs/ On her web site Confessions of a Mystery Novelist, Margot Kinberg reviews more closely than most, taking particular note of characterisation and place than most observers. She is a fine critic as well as a fine writer. Most recently she has reviewed Dregs, the first William Wisting novel by Jorn Lier Horst to appear in English. We are very happy to direct you to her article and her web site, and to point out that the next title in the series, Closed for… 2013-03-27T09:22:27+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2013/two_superb_us_reviews_of_king_of_cuba_by_cristina_garcia/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2013/two_superb_us_reviews_of_king_of_cuba_by_cristina_garcia/ Our colleagues at Trident Media in New York have forwarded the first two, superb, reviews of Cristina Garcia’s King of Cuba, published in hardcover in the USA by Scribner. These short reviews bring the essence of Cristina Garcia‘s art into close perspective. We are honoured to be publishing this fine novel in early 2014. The first review is from the American library magazine Booklist. García’s tremendous empathy for her characters is the magnetic force of her fiction, and her lifeblood theme is the scarring legacy of oppression… 2013-03-19T08:51:32+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2013/unique_brave_and_sensitive._the_marvellous_prose_of_julian_lees/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2013/unique_brave_and_sensitive._the_marvellous_prose_of_julian_lees/ Chrissie Walker has contributed this warm review of The House of Trembling Leaves to www.mostlyasianfood.com. The title is available in hard copy and ebook all over the world. It’s unique, brave and sensitive. The House of Trembling Leaves takes us to the Malaya of the 1930s to introduce us to the main characters. It’s a time of political and social upheaval and change, and Lu See escapes from the prospect of a distasteful arranged marriage to the assumed calm of studies in England. Sum Sum is a… 2013-03-14T09:59:04+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2013/rescue_is_just_part_of_the_story/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/03/2013/rescue_is_just_part_of_the_story/ We thought you might like to read Jamie Andrew’s foreword to the paperback edition of To Ride the Mountain Winds by Leslie Symons. Jamie’s rescue is featured in Leslie Symons’ book, as you will see below. He is also the author of the memoir, Life and Limb. RESCUE IS JUST PART OF THE STORY Jamie Andrew, author of Life and Limb It is early morning on the 31st of January 1999 when the helicopter arrives. Swaying and lurching in the powerful gusts and updraughts that batter it… 2013-03-12T10:57:14+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2013/a_charming_unusual_story_the_bookbag_loves_the_house_of_trembling_leaves/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2013/a_charming_unusual_story_the_bookbag_loves_the_house_of_trembling_leaves/ The Bookbag web site has given The House of Trembling Leaves this tremendous review. After his success with The Fan Tan Players it looks like his new title (out Thursday 21st February) is going to take Julian Lees to a new level. The House of Trembling Leaves will be available as an ebook in just a few days. To many it may just be another skirmish in the longstanding clan war in the Malaysia of 1936 but the explosion destroys Lu See’s village dam… 2013-02-20T21:40:34+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2013/.sara_garland_and_the_excellent_read_that_is_the_house_of_trembling_leaves/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2013/.sara_garland_and_the_excellent_read_that_is_the_house_of_trembling_leaves/ Sara Garland has contributed this glowing review of ‘The House of Trembling Leaves’ by Julian Lees to Book Diva. We hope you will click on and further explore their web site. As an avid reader, I’m always in search of that novel that offers something a bit different, but which is also captivating. The House of Trembling Leaves gave me the sense that I was onto a good read from the very first pages. The short prologue sets the Malaysia scene, with highly likeable and engaging characters, that are… 2013-02-12T08:05:02+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2013/sandra_ireland_reviews_site_works_in_dundee_university_review_of_the_arts/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/02/2013/sandra_ireland_reviews_site_works_in_dundee_university_review_of_the_arts/ Sandra Ireland has contributed this perceptive review of Robert Davidson’s Site Works to Dundee University Review of the Arts “On a wind lashed coast in the far north a group of men assemble on a construction site. The Ness and Struie Drainage Project will dominate their lives for the next few months as they toil through the daylight hours and into the night, endure hardship and conflict and –mostly- survive.” So begins the blurb for Site Works, a book which will suck the reader in as surely… 2013-02-11T15:49:37+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2013/anywheres_better_than_here_reviewed_in_dura_by_elizabeth_rogers/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2013/anywheres_better_than_here_reviewed_in_dura_by_elizabeth_rogers/ Elizabeth Rogers has read Zoe Venditozzi’s Anywhere’s Better Than Here with a very warm appreciation indeed. Here she publishes her views through DURA, Dundee University Review of the Arts. The web site itself presents a particularly clean and easy reading experience. It would be worth a visit even if it did not feature Zoe Venditozzi’s fine novel. Shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize in 2010, Zoe Venditozzi’s Anywhere’s Better Than Here lives up to the expectations created by such a nomination.  The novel tells the story of Laurie, a… 2013-01-09T10:17:16+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2013/my_kind_of_guy_carolyn_lanier_falls_for_the_seadetective/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/01/2013/my_kind_of_guy_carolyn_lanier_falls_for_the_seadetective/ Carolyn Lanier over at iloveamysterynewsletter.com has fallen in love with The Sea Detective. Wait until she hears that Cal McGill will be back later this year! The horrors of the sex-slave trade are visible in the lives of two young women. One used up like a Kleenex and tossed out to sea, the other tormented for two long years before pulling off a grisly escape, only to appear dirty and desperate at the door of Cal McGill. Cal McGill is a part time PhD student and oceanographer living in Scotland but connected worldwide through the internet… 2013-01-07T15:31:59+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/12/2012/the_guardian_readers_select_jammy_dodger_by_kevin_smith/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/12/2012/the_guardian_readers_select_jammy_dodger_by_kevin_smith/ In their issue of between Christmas and New Year (Saturday 29th December), a very special issue, The Guardian invited its readers to comment on their favourite books of the year. Nigel Townson’s contribution from Bucharest, in Rumania, is featured below. Kevin Smith’s Jammy Dodger (Sandstone Press) is set in 1980s Belfast and recounts the tribulations of two twentysomething editors of a struggling poetry magazine. This hardly sounds like a barrel of laughs, but Jammy Dodger is rib-achingly funny. I’m not in the habit of laughing aloud when reading, but I… 2012-12-30T10:37:27+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/12/2012/kobo_ebook_promotions/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/12/2012/kobo_ebook_promotions/ We are very pleased to announce that the following titles are all available as Kobo Christmas promotions from 25th December to January 8th. 9781905207527 Tell Me Where You Are - Moira Forsyth 9781905207817 The Sister - Lynne Alexander 9781908737090 Jammy Dodger - Kevin Smith 9781908737007 Ever Fallen In Love - Zoe Strachan 9781905207886 Hartsend - Janice Brown 9781905207831 The Sea Detective - Mark Douglas-Home 9781905207794 Dregs -… 2012-12-25T11:58:23+00:00 http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/12/2012/typesetting_the_never_ending_pursuit_of_excellence/ http://www.sandstonepress.com/blogs/sandstonepress/12/2012/typesetting_the_never_ending_pursuit_of_excellence/ At Sandstone Press we take great pride, and go to endless trouble to ensure that our books are as easy to handle and as easy on the eye as they can be made. To this end we engaged, a number of years ago, John Hewer of Iolaire Typesetting in Newtonmore, to set all our hard and paperback books (the designers do the picture books). Ninepins, by Rosy Thornton, was one of them of course. Only yesterday Managing Director Robert Davidson received this email from Richard Sutton of Huntington in New York, an author who really… 2012-12-18T14:23:28+00:00