Legend Press

12th December - Advent book of the day!

Each day of advent we are going to profile a different Legend Press book for sale! We want everyone to have a Legendary book in their stocking, so if you see something you like please order. The best selling book will be at the top of our Christmas tree on the blog on 25th December.

Everyone who orders a book from our site in December is automatically entered into a prize draw to win a hoard of Legend Press books!

Today's book of the day is Fire Horses by Mark Liam Piggott (apologies for the twee picture of Christmas horses, couldn't resist!)

Fire Horses tells the story of Joe Noone, a degenerate and enthusiastic explorer of the gutter, and his confused relationships with his friends and the women in his life. It sees England over the last 25 years through the eyes and lens of one disturbed individual, showing the country’s back streets, small towns and sleazy metropolitan underbelly.

Laced with dark humour and angry political asides, Fire Horses is an unflinching lesson in modern history. An epic love story about “ordinary” people, the novel demonstrates that the recording of history is no longer the preserve of the victors. Most of all, Fire Horses tells of the pain-inducing traps we can set for ourselves in life and the ways in which we try and escape them.

Order your copy of Fire Horses now - £7.99 

Lucy

ps. Mark Liam Piggott's fantastic new novel Out of Office is out on March 2010!!!!

Mark Piggott interviewed on Frank Mask

Mark Liam Piggott, author of Fire Horses has just been interviewed on literary site Frank Mask. Below is a taster:

How would you describe your writing style to someone unfamiliar with your work?

"The world I portray tends to be grim – squats, loneliness, squalor – but I want to write in a poetic, elegiac style rather than the “phony-phonetic” style used by all the writers who try (and fail) to copy Irvine Welsh. I wanted to show you can write about anything and make it seem beautiful – “the beauty of the kebab-strewn street” as I rather poncily put it."

Do you try your hand at other forms, such as poetry?

"I started out writing poems, or rather, first I wrote punk lyrics that became gradually more angst-ridden and pretentious. In my twenties I wrote quite a few, influenced by everyone from Yeats to Bukowski, but it sort of tailed off and I now write maybe one a year. I’ve had a couple published but don’t really send them anywhere. I suppose I try and get my poetic images into prose."

What genre of books do you like to read?

"I don’t really do genres, unless “literary” counts as a genre – I’m not really into straight thrillers, sci-fi or horror, though I’ve read books in all these genres that I loved. If I tell you the last five books I’ve read were Tim Winton (Breath), Chris Cleave (Incendiary), Roberto Bolano (2666), GG Marquez (Living to Tell The Tale) and a book of Hemingway’s short stories, maybe that gives you an idea."

To read the interview in full click here!

The site also has links to some fantastic short stories written by Mark, which are well worth a look!

Lucy

Mark Piggott house-swapping in Paris

Mark Piggott, author of Fire Horses, and Out of Office (out March 2010) has written a great article for the Times about house-swapping in Paris. Below is a taster:

Our Paris homeswap adventure begins ominously: Emma, our 5-year-old daughter, vanishes between the Metro platform and the train, and we haul her to safety. On entering the apartment, a lightbulb pops, and we’re plunged into darkness.

Finally, we’re about to take a stroll when our key snaps in the lock. We are locked out of a stranger’s apartment with no money and it looks like rain. Emma begins hopping about urgently: “I need a poo . . .”

After a swift search, we stumble across a town hall. Entering, I smile sheepishly at the receptionist: her eyes widen. Suddenly unable to recall even a basic civil greeting, the first French word I learnt at school springs to mind. Smiling cheesily, I point at my daughter. “Erm ... merde?”

The receptionist’s eyes widen further, but she appears to get the message. We manage to locate the caretaker, a fearsome woman in her forties, who, after asking some no doubt pertinent questions, gives us a key.

It feels odd, being in a stranger’s home like burglars, their photos and personal effects all over the place; we will never meet, our trains passed each other beneath the Channel. Home-swapping is increasingly popular not only because it saves on hotel costs, but also because by staying in someone’s apartment — a rather small apartment — we’re experiencing the “real” Paris, away from the tourist traps, buying groceries in local shops and doing our best to integrate.

First thing next morning, there is a knock at the door: it’s the caretaker. Wine bottles, we deduce from her animated gestures, are not to be thrown down the rubbish chute: the sound of bottles breaking echoed round the block late into the night. My wife is escorted to the recycling bins.

To read the article in full click here!

The Joys of Modern Living by Mark Liam Piggott

Sarcastic as we expect, Mark Piggott has written a great article for the Home Defence website, see below for a taster:

Books

In my 80’s squatter days I rather liked Ian McEwan’s short stories. Having read ‘Atonement’ (long, rambling, pretentious, dull, with absolutely no redeeming features) I swore I’d never read him again. On reading about ‘On Chesil Beach’ I briefly contemplated performing auto-lobotomy using an electric drill purely to expunge his name from my synapses.

Films

I once saw a film in which a pleasant young couple in 70s America came into all this money and weren’t sure what to do with it. In the end they heard a church bell and decided to give it all to the vicar. But even that pales into insignificance next to ‘Runaway Bride’.

Music

Anyone who says The Smiths, Joy Division and Radiohead are depressing utterly doesn’t get it. Hearing those bands is like finding your soul’s echo: someone else has been there, done that, felt the damn pain. If you really want to be depressed, listen to MC Hammer.

Poetry

As with music, people who claim Larkin, Plath or Bukowski are depressing don’t know the meaning of the word. Depressing poetry is bad poetry, and for bad poetry look no further than Andrew Motion, particularly anything that celebrates the monarchy. Go on: I defy you to read his rap poem commemorating Prince William’s 21st birthday without weeping bitter tears at the extent of man’s inhumanity to man.

My Crap Flat

Like most people I’ve lived in my fair share of dumps. For six months as a teenager I lived in a violent, alcoholic bloke’s cellar, and then for three years in a London squat. Actually it wasn’t even a squat; it aspired to be a squat. Before moving in we had to clean the stairs with a shovel; every window was broken by glue-sniffing lesbians (who lived there); and we had a dog that liked to eat your socks them vomit them up as you had breakfast.

All this was as nothing compared to the bedsit a mate and I shared above an Indian restaurant on the Holloway Road. There were no windows; every time you turned on the light maggots crawled to safety; and the toilet didn’t have a door, just a block of wood your mate had to put in place.

When drunk (which was often) putting “wood in th’hole” often proved too tricky so we started to urinate in empty cider bottles. After a year or so they began to mount up. The day I got the letter saying I was getting my own housing association flat I saw a bottle and without thinking took a deep draught then sprayed it everywhere. It seemed a good time to leave.

To read the article in full click here!

Lucy

Fire Horses - 'compelling read'

'Fire Horses' the fantastic book by Mark Liam Piggott has received an excellent review from fellow Legend Press author Andrew Blackman on theredroom.com.

'the book is a compelling read, both for the development of Joe through the decades and for the backdrop of Britain changing just as much in the same period. There are some great political comments - again, something I normally don't like too much in fiction, but here they really work well (perhaps because I agree with them!). In this book you can really feel Britain being ripped apart in the 80s, limping through the 90s, and sinking to such a new depth of banality in the Blair years that the only sensible response is to leave the country.

It's a bleak book but shot through with humour and hope. Joe appears to have 'given up' for much of his life, living on the dole and drinking himself into oblivion, but really he's like that because he hasn't given up, can't give up on his dream of a better life, a better world and finding love. He's self-destructive but I understand why, and although it takes him years to make progress, and he often goes back more often than forward, he does get there in the end, just about, having paid a huge price, and isn't that really how most of us live our lives?'

To read the review in full click here

Lucy

Mark Liam Piggott in the Times

One of our writers Mark Liam Piggott (author of the brilliant 'Fire Horses') had an interesting article published in the Times yesterday about the painkiller Vioxx:

When my father Michael was prescribed a new painkiller called Vioxx in 1999 he found it highly effective at reducing pain in his arthritic neck. Then, in 2004, aged 60, he suffered a near-fatal heart attack. During a life-saving angioplasty at a Dublin hospital a stent was inserted and now he’ll be on medication for the rest of his life. My father is convinced that Merck’s drug, Vioxx, is responsible — and he’s not alone.

For Gary Cummings, a former police officer, the heart attack also came out of the blue: “I’d served in the Police and Army for 30 years; I was in the Household Cavalry, worked in traffic patrol for 15 years and then worked with horses. I was fit and active — only 48.”

Years of horse-riding took its toll and Gary’s hip became painful; a hospital consultant recommended Vioxx in June 2002. That November he had a heart attack that almost killed him. He had angioplasties and a stent was inserted. Although still in his fifties, the attack changed him physically and psychologically. “I was shocked. I’ve never smoked, never taken tablets, always played rugby; my cholesterol levels have always been low and there’s no history of heart problems in the family. I’ve had health checks regularly all my life, you have to in my line of work, and no concerns had ever arisen.

To read the article in full click here

Lucy

Mark Piggott in the Times

Mark Piggott author of the brilliant Fire Horses has written a great article in the Times about youth gang culture taking over the parks of London. Below is a taster:

'On sunny afternoons, having collected the kids from school, I am sometimes coerced into making a minor detour through a nondescript North London park. The equipment is meagre and battered; there are so many stone steps and steep drops that the place resembles a game of Tomb Raider and, as nothing overlooks the playground, it is both a doggy convenience and a youth hangout.

Today, there are eight or more teenagers, mostly in hoodies, being noisy on the swings. Two women from a local action group are bravely asking the youths how the park could be improved. Then, politely, I ask one of these interviewees to move so that my five-year-old daughter can use a swing. He ignores me, so I walk up and ask again. He stands there for a moment, staring into my eyes with tedious insolence, before slowly moving back a step.

Most of the gang leave but this youth and his mate linger. The interviewers, oblivious to the rising tension, ask what improvements I would like to see as a father. Ignoring the leering elephant in the room (the park would be improved immensely if the yobs would go elsewhere), and louder than necessary (to show how down with the “yoot” I am), I express a wish that there were more facilities for older kids, so they didn’t have to hang around the playground.'

To read the article in full click here!

Lucy

Mark Piggott - Showbiz blog

Mark Piggott, author of the brilliant Fire Horses has been busy researching the latest showbiz gossip on www.homedefenceuk.com

Comedian Al Murray has discovered the unfunny bone?

 

A magistrate has condemned a man who failed to damage a car belonging to JK?

 

The cause of the big bang has been discovered?

 

 

"A judge has slammed an Okehampton man for failing to damage a Ferrari belonging to big-hatted popster Jamiroquai.

According to magistrates Bob Thompson, 32, was seen not vandalising one of JK’s many high performance motors despite knowing it belonged to the pint-sized singer.

“I do feel ashamed of myself,” admitted the defendant. “I was in this hotel bar when this short, ugly, talentless bloke with a hat the size of a hay-bale came in for a drink.”

“It soon became apparent by his offensive personality that I was in the presence of chart-tastic moron JK. When I looked outside I saw one of his flash motors and for some reason something didn’t snap.

“I will always regret not damaging a car belonging to JK. I’ve learned my lesson and now I’d like to put an end to the matter.”

Lucy

Order your copy of Fire Horses now - £7.99 

Mark Piggott new website

Mark Piggott author of the brilliant Fire Horses has launched a new website www.markpiggott.com

The website gives information about Mark's writing and journalism, including review of Fire Horses and a specially selected soundtrack that accompanies Fire Horses.

1982: Uncertain Smile (The The)
1983: Hand in Glove (The Smiths)
1984: The Killing Moon (Echo & the Bunnymen)
1985: A Pair of Brown Eyes (The Pogues)
1986: This Boy Can Wait (Wedding Present)
1987: Wonderful Life (Black)
1988: Fine Time (New Order)
1989: She Bangs the Drums (Stone Roses)
1990: Step On (Happy Mondays)
1991: Unfinished Sympathy (Massive Attack)
1992: Two Worlds Collide (Inspiral Carpets)
1993: Sometimes… (James)
1994: Cigarettes and Alcohol (Oasis)
1995: The Universal (Blur)
1996: Street Spirit (Radiohead)
1997: Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve)
1998: This is Hardcore (Pulp)
1999: Moving (Supergrass)
2000: It’s a Beautiful Day (U2)

The website also shows Mark's TV appearances in the 1980s which are well worth a look!

Lucy

Mark Piggott in the Guardian

A feature by author Mark Piggott has been posted on the Guardian website this week. Below is a taster:

"A teacher who was suspended after writing a book featuring some of her pupils has received widespread backing from her students.

More than 250 youngsters walked out of lessons last week holding banners and chanting slogans in support of Leonora Rustamova who was suspended after publishing Stop! Don't Read This! about a group of pupils she had taught.

The protest at Calder high school in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, stopped when police arrived and warned pupils they were playing truant.

Rustamova's supporters insist she only wrote the book to encourage pupils to read.

One of the pupils featured, Travis Downs, said: "A lot of books we are asked to read just don't seem relevant. So when our teacher asked us what would make us more likely to read a novel, we said one that has us in it. We asked her to write the book and helped make it as realistic as possible."

In the book, Downs is described entering the classroom "like a stranger enters a saloon, like he's expecting loaded guns under the tables … When he comes in chin down, looking at you from under his eyebrows you can expect a list of swearwords like he's got them belted into an AK47.""

To read the article in full click here!

Lucy

ps. Mark is the author of Fire Horses which is available to buy from the online shop.

Order your copy now - £7.99 

Mark Piggott on the View from Here

An excellent article written by Mark Piggott, author of Fire Horses has been published on The View from Here website. Below is a taster:

"One day last summer someone texted to say they’d just seen my novel in a bookshop. Leaving work early I tubed it to Camden and walked slowly into Waterstones. I’d fantasised about this moment for so many years that I wanted to savour every moment. There it was: “Fire Horses”. Holding it in my hands I closed my eyes in supplication.

It’s tempting now to look back over my life and see everything as part of some inevitable destiny. But until last year, even with a few short stories and poems published, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever have a full-length work of fiction accepted. All I had was an instinct, an excuse: if you fill your life with experience, you might have something to write about.

‘It was exciting, alone with the lightning...’

I wrote this rhyme as a ten-year-old only child, wandering the slopes and streets of what was then a grimy mill town to which mum had fled, leaving Manchester for a tumbledown wreck on the hills. For companionship I wrote poems and jokes, peppering my imagination with imaginary enemies; creating alternative realities to those bleak, Wuthering moors.

When mum re-married we moved to the backside of town and I became one of the park hoodies, drinking cider, taking drugs, fighting for kicks: young people haven’t changed as much in 25 years as the media like to pretend. At the comp where I’d learned to survive by acting stupid my English teacher asked if I’d ever considered writing for a living; I hadn’t, the very idea seemed bizarre.

Like a lot of disaffected people I started to like the idea of becoming a writer but I was deemed too disruptive to stay on at school. Having left home that same summer I was sleeping in cellars and on sofas, sharing damp rooms with friends. Unable to find work or sign on I turned more and more to crime and started to get into trouble with the law. Eventually I took to supplementing the pittance I got from a training scheme tending Sylvia Plath’s grave by nefarious means.

Fortunately by then I’d met Linda, a local mum who took me in as part of her family. When Linda moved to London she asked if I’d like to come: I didn’t have to think for long. I was 18 and wanted to see 20."...

To read the article in full click here!

Order your copy of Fire Horses now - £7.99 

Lucy

An alternative Sports Personality of the Year from Mark Piggott

Some, like myself, may have spent a recent Sunday evening watching the annual TV-fest that is the Sports Personality of the Year (well, I flicked to other channels several times - where was their feature on the mighty comeback of Leicester City?).

While not a bad year for British sport, I have at times wondered about the name of the prize (and also about some of the previous winners...), and our very own Mark Liam Piggott, author of the fantastic FIRE HORSES, has offered his own alternative selection, the Sporting Non-Personalities of the Year

Feel free to add your own thoughts and candidates...

Tom

No flicking - Mark Liam Piggott

Mark Piggott author of the fantastic Fire Horses has written a humorous blog on satirical website Home Defence UK, here is a taster!

The thing I resented most about working for a living was missing all that lovely TV. Getting sacked gave me control over my own remote. Immediately I invested in cable, my window on the galaxy. Having spent years on the dole, it didn’t take long for me to get back into a familiar routine: Wake up, bedroom telly on, quick Tommy Tank over Lorraine Kelly, mop up just in time for breakfast with Matthew Wright.

Back in the Eighties we only had the test card for company, or, if that wasn’t available, Sons & Daughters. Cable TV has changed all that. Now you don’t have just three channels of cack at your fingertips, you have three hundred - all at some point showing David Dickinson.

Take Kilroy (pur-lease!) The only way I can spend thirty seconds in his company is by imagining his entire audience are auditioning for a role in some bizarre orgy. I thought he’d been permanently removed to the Hezbollah Channel yet here he is on Boondocks TV, still giving the camera that weird intro at the start:

“You drink turps - and you’re a pilot?" ...

Lucy

Tonight at Stoke Newington

  

Mark Piggott and Nick Griffiths will be talking this evening at Stoke Newington Bookshop (159 Stoke Newington High Street) at 8pm tonight. Mark will be signing copies of his fantastic novel Fire Horses and Nick will be signing copies of the equally brilliant 'In The Footsteps of Harrison Dextrose'.

Hope to see some of you there!

Order your copy Harrison Dextrose now - £7.99 

Order your copy of Fire Horses now - £7.99 

Lucy

Fire Horses in first ever View from Here Magazine!

Mark Piggott's interview with View from Magazine has now been published in their first ever printed magazine. The magazine gave a great review of Mark's fantastic book Fire Horses read here!

This brilliant magazine is only available in America at the moment, but it will hopefully be coming to the UK soon. Preview the magazine by clicking here

Order your copy of Fire Horses now - £5.99  Remember you can read the first chapter of all Legend Press books now on the online shop.

Lucy

Piggott now in the Times...

A few days after writing a brilliant piece in the Guardian (asking why do we need literary agents, and the debate is still raging in comments left), Mark Liam Piggott, author of the unforgettable FIRE HORSES, is now in The Times, with the banks this time the subject of his ire.

And having just had a meeting to discus my own personal finances I can empathise! Very tricky times at the moment and the banks, more interested in their disappearing profit lines, don't seem to be doing much to make it much easier for the public.

But, what money we do have we should spend wisely so would strongly suggest ordering a copy of the brilliant FIRE HORSES below – is even at a special web price of £2 off and definitely value for money!

Order your copy now - £5.99 

Mark Piggott in the Guardian

It was great to switch on the computer this morning and see a fantastic blog on the Guardian website by our own Mark Liam Piggott, author of the frankly unforgettable FIRE HORSES. Mark asks what is the point of literary agents - having had two and then found success without one. He raises some very interesting points and I can see the comments are already starting to a fascinating piece. Please read and leave your own view on the debate.

From our side we have a fantastic relationship with several agents who are great to work with, though we have signed several of our most successful books from authors agent-free (we always recommend that they check contracts etc with the Society of Authors). This is extra interesting when considering many publishers no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts.

While there is still a role for good agents, I completely agree that their position in the industry will change. Publishing itself will be undergoing a necessary sea-change and, one of the more traditional elements, the world of agenting will need to redefine its role to survive.

But enough serious chit-chat, it's a sunny Friday, and you need to buy Fire Horse now at a fantastic £2 off discount:

Order your copy now - £5.99 

Tom

Mark reviewed in Time Out

Mark Piggott's fantastic novel 'Fire Horses' has been reviewed in Time Out. View by clicking here

Mark will also be appearing on radio tomorrow night from 11:30 on Resonance FM 104.4 FM.

Order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

View from Here goes into print with Mark Piggott...

Literary on-line blog View from Here has gone into print, but only in America at the moment. However, Mark Piggott's extensive interview on the blog last month had now be viewed on the online preview edition by clicking here.

The website offers book reviews, author and industry interviews, creative goals, inspiration for writers and original short fiction, brought to you by an international team of writers.

Lucy

Fire Horses shortlisted for 5 Live Book of the Month

After an excellent review in Time Out last week, Fire Horses by Mark Liam Piggott has been shortlisted for 5 Live book of the month. This well-deserved accolade is just one of many exciting recommendations the book has had since publication.

Mark will be returning to his home town Hebden Bridge to do a reading and signing session in the local bookshop at 10th August.

If you have not had a chance to read this fantastic book, then why not order a copy now!

Order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Mark Piggott week at the View from Here Magazine

The View from Here online Magazine, are having a week of postings about Mark Liam Piggott and his fabulous debut novel Fire Horses - with a review and two part interview to be published. There is also a competition to win a signed copy of Mark's book later in the week!

The first part of Mark's interview is available to read now, with the second installment to follow on Friday. Here's a tasty:

What's your ideal night out/in?

Out: a pub with friends, solving the world’s problems with humour.

In: a meal with my wife and kids, then they go to bed without a fight leaving us to drink wine and watch something funny. Boring, eh?

No I don't think so, but then I'm 41 myself! What's your favorite program at the moment?

Peep Show – absolutely brilliant writing, acting and above all its concept – that we all have this image of us that we think is how others see us and its poles apart from what they do actually see. I mean, I look like an angry, yobbish Northerner, whereas in fact I’m only an angry, yobbish Northerner on the outside – inside I’m crying.

Order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Fire Horses - 'Shiny stuff from rubbish - go buy it and see for yourself'.

Another excellent review for Mark Piggott's debut novel Fire Horses has just come in from Revish.com.

"As a debut novel it shines, both in the quality of the writing and the insights into mankind and modern history."

"Blur's, Modern Life is Rubbish, sums up this book well. Yet despite this, or because of this, there is hope and redemption threaded throughout the book. Mark Piggott shows us the rubbish, but embraces it and produces art and a life for Joe that has beauty once Mark has shown you how to look."

To read the review in full click here.

Order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Piggott's Porkies (or not as the case may be)

Piggott's Porkies #5: Is Piggott Batman?

Long before his novel, Fire Horses, reached the shops, Piggott was actually in the movies. In fact he even appears in the first Batman film, as he himself here explicates now below this point:

“Me brother in law was a driver at Pinewood right, and he asked if I wanted to help out on’t first Batman film (1989). So there I was driving around in the Batmobile. If you look closely, you can see me standing on the bonnet in that crowd scene.”

Sadly, Piggott’s movie career was short-lived.

“I had to call it a day ‘cos Kim Basinger, who played Robin, wouldn’t stop hassling me for me autograph and that. She were parked outsider me trailer day and night pestering me for me phone number – but she got nowt.”

Order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Coverage from Mark's home town

It seems Fire Horses is a bit of a hit already in Mark's home town. Coverage for the book has been splashed all over www.hebdenbridge.co.uk. Mark will hopefully be returning to the town in the next month or two to promote the book further. Thank you for everyone who came to watch Mark at Borders Oxford Street last night. If you couldn't make it down, they have a few signed copies left, so go down and grab your copy before Tuesday when Mark will be appearing in the London Paper!

Order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Mark Piggott at Borders Oxford Street TONIGHT 6PM

Mark will be talking and signing copies of his fantastic debut novel 'Fire Horses' tonight at Borders Oxford Street at 6:30pm. The book is getting lots of exciting coverage - and Mark has just been interviewed for the London Paper so look out for that in your papers next week! I thought I would slip in a nice picture from Mark's launch on Tuesday night! We had the launch at London Met University, and much fun was had by all!

Order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Fire Horses launching in style

The frankly magnificent FIRE HORSES by Mark Liam Piggott hit the bookshops on Saturday and included in Blackwell's Summer Read Campaign, along with cover quotes from Jonathan Trigell and John King, we have extremely high hopes for this unforgettably brilliant novel.

And to celebrate its launch, we have an event tonight at London Met University on Holloway Road, London and this will be followed by two major book signings - at Borders on Oxford Street, London (this Thursday - 5th June) and at the flagship Waterstone's, 14-16 Bold Street, Liverpool on Saturday 14th June.

If you do one thing over the next two weeks I would make sure you make it to one of these events. Fire Horses has launched. And as I know you won't be able to wait, you can order at just £5.99 right now:

Order your copy now - £5.99 

More press for Fire Horses...

Mark Liam Piggott's debut novel 'Fire Horses' has been getting more publicity this week from the local press, in the Hebden Bridge Times and the Islington Gazette. Mark commented about Islington:

"When you say Islington, everyone thinks of sun-dried tomatoes but some areas are a very different world."

Fire Horses is launched on 31st May, but is available for pre-order now. Mark will be reading and signing copies of his book at Borders on Oxford Street on 5th June at 6:30pm.

Pre-order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Piggott's Porkies (or not as the case may be)

Piggott’s Porkies #4: Piggott’s mad auntie cleaned up the Thames then turned into a carrot

It is perhaps little wonder that Piggott is a total genius, because he comes from a long line of geniuses (surely genii? Ed). In fact his aunt was responsible for cleaning up the Thames, shortly before turning into a human carrot. Piggott fills us in:

“Me auntie Brian was this mad professor right, and in the Sixties she invented this chemical that cleaned up the Thames, which is why today you can walk across from Wapping to Westminster on the heads of gallivanting sea horses.

“Trouble was, she really WAS mad, and became obsessed with eternal life, so she drank gallons of carrot juice every day. In the end she went orange – apart from her hair which went green – and expired from t’osmosis. We buried her standing up.

“I tried to sue her grocer-cum carrot dealer for her untimely demise - but I got nowt."

Mark Liam Piggott's novel 'Fire Horses' is out on 31st May.

Pre-order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Piggott's Porkies (or not as the case may be)...

 

 

Piggott’s Porkies #3: The day Piggott shared his sausage with the queen…

 

Despite coming from an ancient, distinguished lineage, even “Fire Horses” author Mark Piggott couldn’t believe it the day he shared his sausage with the Queen on a Scottish beach. Piggott takes up the story:

 

“Me dad had this old hut on this Scottish island called Raasay right, used to belong to Joe Strummer. Anyroad one day we were driving down’t other end of the island and saw’t royal ship Britannia.

“Next thing we’re sat on this beach eating sarnies and in comes t’queen in a little rowboat surrounded by armed minders. As we sat there she comes up bold as brass and asks if she can have a bloody sausage! We had to say yes or her minder’s’d’ve shot us in cold blood.

“When we got home I invoiced Her Majesty for’t sausage – but I got nowt.”

Pre-order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Piggott's Porkies (or not as the case may be)

Piggott’s Porkies #2: Is Piggott “grandson of Jack the Ripper”?

Though he doesn’t really like to talk about it, “Fire Horses” author Mark Piggott is the grandson of William Piggott, who in 1888 was arrested on suspicion of being Jack the Ripper. Piggott takes up the extraordinary story:

“I come from a right East End family like, and me granddad was nicked covered in a bloody apron crouching over’t body of one o’t victims. He got off by saying he were drunk and they put him in’t asylum. If you don’t believe me, do a google. I tried to turn granddad in for the reward money - but I got nowt.”

Pre-order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

And the author of the week is...

Congratulations Mark Liam Piggott for winning Author of the week! How do you feel?

Seriously I’m honoured, chuffed, and I’d like to thank my fans, my family, my hairdresser, my non-existent agent... (blah blah blah, continues in this vein for several pages)

Describe your book in 10 words?

Devastating, sleazy, nightmarish, graphic, picaresque – “savage whimsy”. (Sub-Harrison Dextrose.)

If your novel could have a theme tune what would it be?

“Always look on the bright side of life...”

Tell us one fact about yourself that we won't believe?

Every one of my “Piggott’s Porkies” is a lie. (Or are they? Don't ruin it!)

If we weren’t asking you questions right now, what would you be doing?

Making the kids’ tea. I wish they’d stop screaming, I can’t concentrate.

Who would play you in a movie of your life?

Kerry Katona.

Fire Horses is out on 31st May.

Pre-order your copy now - £5.99 

Fire Horses and views from the office

How nicer everything is in the sun. And in the spirit of openness (don't want the hubbub of Legend Press to be considered some dark unrecognisable place where strange things happen), here are a couple of pics for you. Firstly, the first finished copies of the fantastic FIRE HORSES by Mark Liam Piggott arrived yesterday. We are really excited about this amazing novel and the copies look great, if we may say so ourselves (in fact designer Gudrun Jobst deserves virtually all the credit).

Those who have spend time feeling our books recently (don't worry, you don't have to name yourselves) will have noticed the fancy embossing on the last two. These small publishers doing things the big publishers do... But I love it though people here are worried that I'm becoming obsessed and will shortly insist everything around me is also embossed. Wouldn't rule it out at the moment.

And secondly, the famous Legend Press Bestseller Chart (well, before authors start counting down, they are ordered in publication date and there is no sales indication on list but that's how I think all the bestselling charts should read anyway). The drawing is mine - a man reading a large book. Not sure a career in arts awaits but you never know.

Maybe more pictures to follow, if I don't spend the rest of the week out in the sun.

Tom

Piggott's Porkies (or not as the case may be)

 

In the run up to the publication of Mark Liam Piggott's book 'Fire Horses' on 31st May, we will posting a number of statements about Mark on the blog, it's up to you to decide whether you think it is a porkie or not!

Number one: Piggott inspired a Mike Leigh film???

According to some unreliable sources, Fire Horses author Mark Piggott was the inspiration for “Johnny”, the reprobate character portrayed by David Thewlis in Naked, Mike Leigh’s harrowing film about London lowlife (1993). Piggott himself takes up the story:

“I used to be friends with this lass right, and then by chance she got the flat directly above mine on this estate in the Cross. At the time she was Mike Leigh’s house-keeper, and told him all about this angry young Manc... Next thing I know out comes this film, Naked. I couldn’t believe it – I never got royalties, or nowt.”

Lucy

Mark talks to WriteWords about Fire Horses

Read Mark Liam Piggott's interview with WriteWords. Mark talks about his soon to be published novel 'Fire Horses' (out on 31st May), the process of writing and his favourite authors.

Tell us what kind of responses you get from audiences\ readers.
'Friends say I write stuff that’s too close to the truth; my family would probably say I rewrite history. Both are right'.

Pre-order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Mark 'bit of an 'erbert' Piggott...

As we wait the launch of 'Fire Horses' by Mark Liam Piggott on 31st May, Mark is getting some interesting press coverage! Mark's English teacher from Calder High School offers a charmy, but affectionate comment on Mark:

"I remember he was not a great lover of school and I'm afraid school didn't much love him either because in all honesty he could be a bit of an 'erbert. "

Read the article in the Halifax Courier here. Mark sent us this link simply stating 'what a cheek!'

And you can currently pre-order a copy of 'Erbert Piggott's book at half-price as part of our amazing Summer Sale:

Pre-order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

Mark Piggott to talk at Ted Hughes Festival...

Mark Piggott will be speaking at the Ted Hughes Festival on 25th October at 12pm. The festival, in Mytholmroyd, Halifax where Ted grew up is set to be a big event on the literary calender this year from 22nd-28th October. Other writers speaking at the event include Andrew Motion, Keith Sager and Glynn Hughes. Mark will be reading from his novel Fire Horses published on 31st May.

Lucy

Releasing 'the Horses'

There are moments when it strikes me how strong our list of titles are for the first half of this year. Whether luck or judgement who knows but, while still a huge amount to do, the potential is very exciting. One of these novels is the fantastic FIRE HORES by Mark Liam Piggott, which launches 31st May. We're already in the process of confirming a range of nationwide bookshop promotions and media coverage. And as a taster, here's a great piece published last week by Manchester University, where Mark completed a MA in Creative Writing.

Hopefully amazing times ahead for Mark and Fire Horses.

Tom

Fire Horses -- a new novel for Legend Press' 2008 list

Fire Horses is the story of Joe Noone, a degenerate and enthusiastic explorer of the gutter, and his confused relationships with his friends and the women in his life. It sees England over the last 25 years through the eyes and lens of one disturbed individual, showing the country’s back streets, small towns and sleazy metropolitan underbelly.

Laced with dark humour and angry political asides, Fire Horses is an unflinching lesson in modern history. An epic love story about ‘ordinary’ people, the novel demonstrates that the recording of history is no longer the preserve of the victors. Above all, it is an examination of the pain-inducing traps we can set for ourselves in life and the ways in which we try and escape them. 

Writing has caused Fire Horses’ author Mark Liam Piggott a lot of pain but he also names it as his saving grace, his last excuse, his way out of whatever mess he was in at the time. It’s simply the only thing he's ever wanted to do (apart from play for Man Utd), and he would recommend it he says – but only a bit.

As well as writing novels, Mark writes features for the nationals, including The Telegraph, Guardian, and Independent, and he has also had short stories published in several collections. He completed an MA in novel writing at the University of Manchester in 2006.

Fire Horses, his first novel, charts a contemporary history of England using everyday characters; ordinary lives and loves are told in such a way that they are compelling, interesting and important. The novel opens in Spain , 2007, as Joe’s 40^th birthday looms and he encounters a face from the past: Tony Clegg, his oldest friend and bitter rival. Tony’s appearance forces Joe to look back over his life, from small town dreamer to big city loser, from bohemian film-maker to his final sell-out. Poetic language is used to describe the mundane and the ugly, in a style the author calls ‘savage whimsy’. His writing also depicts ‘straight’ male friendship in a way rarely represented in fiction.