Paperbooks

Author Blog: Gary Davison

Paperbooks author Gary Davison has been busy over the last week helping to promote Legend Press novel If I Never by fellow North-east author Gary Murning. He has related his busy day in a brilliant blog on his website http://gary-davison.com/ so we thought we would share it with you today. Thanks Gary for your help, you are a star!

I’ve been slinking around town buying dodgy looking golf swag and giving fliers out for my writing pal, Gary Murning.

Gazza is always up to some promotional activity and I’m on his team this week and have the job of dishing out fliers around Newcastle.

First up was the cookie shop in Monument Mal. ‘No bother, love, stick a couple on there.’ ‘You’re a gem, cheers.’

Next up on the hit list was the earring place at the end of Monument Mal. No one around, so I slipped a few on the counter, and made my escape, feeling very Bansky like.

After that, I thought I best get some in a book shop, like he told me to do. This was a secret mission and I was improvising - leaflet dropper on the edge.

Into waterstone at the heart of the books in Newcastle centre, where I was met with open arms, showed through to the executive lounge and given a cup of coffee, meal, signed autographs, and the New York girls were in, so… Hardly. Here’s how it went,

‘Hiya, you alright?’

‘Very well, thanks. How can I help you?’

Out come the leaflets. ‘My mate’s wrote a book, you stock it here, and he’s after a bit of promotion, is there any chance…’

Shakes her little head and it drops off. I hand her her head back and she continues. ‘Sorry, I don’t think we’re aloud..’

‘Read it. It’s a good story, and he can’t get around the stores himself. It’s only five or six copies.’

Over to the manager, who I recognise from when we launched Streakers and took over the place. Does he recognise me? What do you think? YES! It’s that twat that keeps turning his books face out over every time he comes in. Yip, it’s me, and I’m not leaving until I drop these leaflets.

‘I’m sorry, we can only put stuff out produced by Waterstones.’

‘Five copies. Come on, have a look at it.’

We settled on having them spread about the staff room, and I daringly left one on top of the 3for2 pile. Absolute rebel.

Next stop, TK Max. The security guard stops me at the door. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

‘I’m going in there.’

Grabs me by the scruff of the neck. ‘You’re neither two foot one or seven foot, and from what I can see your arms are the same length. Therefore there is nothing in here for you.’

I sneaked back in and tried some well dodgy t-shirts on for my golf trip to Portugal. Colour blind doesn’t come into it. I keep telling everyone, forget the fact it’s purple or illuminous, it’s the texture of the cloth on the skin. That’s what counts. Looking a twat, means nothing.

I left a leaflet in the changing room.

Finally, with my trump card, I thought: Big Issue Seller. At this rate I could be on the next episode of The Apprentice. Get to the seller, slip him an extra 50p when I buy a copy and give him some fliers. Bought the copy, reached in my pocket - no fliers left.

Not to worry, it wasn’t  too shabby.

Oh, I nearly forgot. The wide-boy trying to get me to sign up to giving a monthly donation to charity for kids. What a laugh. He was giving me his leaflet and I was trying to give him mine and he was moving his hand away like I was handing him a piece of shit. In the end he took mine and i took his and we went our separate ways. He was git, I could tell.

Have a nice weekend everyone and get Gazza’s book bought if you haven’t already done so, it’s a sound read.

Lucy

Fat Tuesday today! I'm getting hungry already!

Today is Fat Tuesday, an annual festival to celebrate the anniversary of Gary Davison's first published novel!! Wikipedia seems to think differently:

Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday" (in ethnic English tradition, Shrove Tuesday), referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which started on Ash Wednesday. Related popular practices were associated with celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. Popular practices included wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, sports competitions, parades, etc. Similar expressions to Mardi Gras appear in other European languages sharing the Christian tradition. In English, the day is called Shrove Tuesday, associated with the religious requirement for confession before Lent begins.

I hope everyone is looking forward to pancakes this evening. Paperbooks will be using Delia's finest recipe. Click here for details!

Lucy

Gary and Jon launch short short story comp!

Gary Davison has launched a short story competition on his website www.gary-davison.com with Jon Haylett. Gary asked Jon to look at 4 pictures and make up a story title and first line for each one. The titles are:

Flight of the Wombat

The Doctor

Love is Blind

The Dancer

To view the photos and find out how to enter click here!

Lucy

Author feature - Jon Haylett

 Jon Haylett author of the brilliant Black Mongoose has been featured on fellow Paperbooks author Gary Davison's website www.gary-davison.com

As well as writing two brilliant novels, Jon Haylett is an award-winning short story writer, winning the Bridport International short story prize and the 2004 Royal Society of Literature vs. Pritchett Memorial Prize.

Gary asks : How do you approach writing a short story?

Jon  -  "Setting about writing a short story is very like setting out to have a baby. Obviously you’re not going to get anywhere without having all the necessary plumbing, like a basic command of the English language, imagination, a pen and paper or a computer you can work. After that, things become much more complicated. Everyone knows that a woman responds to the right atmosphere – candle-light, a decent wine, a few well-chosen sweet nothings and a look of lap-dog fascination with every word she utters. Similarly, the creative brain needs…. pampering. Frustratingly, you can then bang away for hours trying to think of something but produce nothing of any great consequence. As a lubricant, I strongly recommend a good bottle of St Emilion, and something special in the way of malt whisky.

I never know when I’m absorbed in the creative process whether what I’m doing is going to result in anything. Conception, when it finally happens, can be anywhere – out in the fresh air, in bed, on the patio, or on a pebble beach – but you don’t know that it’s viable: it’s a little, pink, wriggling thing. I have heaps of embryonic stories kicking around in my mind, and a load more gathering electronic dust in a folder called ‘Short Stories – Pending’, most of which are never going to develop into anything.

People who set out to have a baby don’t realise how hard they have to work. So it is with a story. Each word, each phrase, every punctuation mark has to be scrutinised, tweaked, considered and reconsidered. Once the story is ‘finished’, I go over it, and over it, until I’m sick of it. Then I get other people to read it – mostly my poor family – and then I edit it again; and again."

To read the interview in full click here!

Lucy

Jon Haylett and Gary Davison

Gary Davison, author of the brilliant Fat Tuesday is doing a four part feature on fellow Paperbooks author Jon Haylett on his website http://www.gary-davison.com/.

Below is a taster, Jon's answers are in green:

'What would you say to ………… if you could have a face to face with them for thirty seconds. Here are his answers:

Simon Cowell

Hi, Simon - I know you must be someone excruciatingly famous because that’ll be why Gary’s introduced us but… I’m sorry…., I’ve never heard of you. Could you give me a potted life history in 30 seconds… or, even better, less?

Katie Price (AKA Jordan, the glamour model)

[I've heard of her]

Hi Katie - in these deflationary times it must be wonderful to have such substantial, portable assets. Heard you wrote a novel and sold 300,000 copies in the first 6 weeks. I’m badly in need of your advice. Are you free for a couple of hours one-to-one? Or is it two-to-one?

Zimbabwe Head of State, Robert Mugabe

So the white man gave lithe and beautiful Zimbabwe back to you, young, fresh and so, so full of promise - and you promptly raped her. Now you ask us for £11 billion in aid, no strings attached, as a minimum amount to repair the damage while, at the same time, squabbling over who gets the latest consignment of brand new Mercedes Benzes - E280s at $50,000 a throw. Take a hike.'

To read the blog in full click here!

Blog from Gary Davison

I was down London yesterday for a meeting with the Paperbooks gang. It was a great meeting and it was nice to see everyone and the new offices, and the hustle and bustle of the place, deals going on all over and not a second to spare. We nipped across the road and discussed my new book, out on the 29th June 2009, and promotional ideas etc, before finishing the meeting as we always do - in the bar. It’s a fantastic buzz being a part of Paperbooks, they’re so young and fresh and innovated with their ideas, and it gives me a lift every time I go down.

But that aside, after the successful chat and a pint in The Dirty Dick, I was well and truly shafted. Stiffed. Up the Khyber. Up the Swaney. Legs well and truly buckled.

It wasn’t the fact I had to pay fourteen quid for parking at Newcastle train station. It wasn’t the fact I booked the tickets late and got nobbled for two hundred large. It wasn’t even the fact I nipped on an earlier train home and was relieve of another fifty-nine quid (a favour that one, he could have charged me £125 - I would have struggled not to loose it at that point, I reckon). No, what got me, and not just once, but twice, was I got caught short getting off the train at Kingscross and had to pay 30p for a slash. 30p for a slash! I looked around for the sign that said, To fully off load £1.00 - no matter weight or velocity.

More fool me, after the swift pint, I got caught again. A Geordie in the capital. I might as well have pulled them down when I left the house and be done with it.

Gary

Fat Tuesday - Gary Davison

Gary Davison, author of the fantastic 'Fat Tuesday' with a festive offering for the day:

You didn’t know? Today is Fat Tuesday. Street parties around the world. Pancakes in Newcastle and the Champions League on TV. Sydney will be manic, along with New Orleans. And in the fiction world, my book should rocket up the charts, and rightly so. My Fat Tuesday party is the mother of all festivals, with a sprinkling of the 1990s rave scene. Well worth a gander if you haven’t already. Do I have no shame? I think this post answers that in full.

Gary

Order your copy now - £7.99 

'Fast and dizzying' - Fat Tuesday

Fat Tuesday by Gary Davison has had an excellent review on the View from Here Magazine website. Here is a taster:

'In a book that sets a cracking pace from the very beginning and spares little time (thank goodness) for long bouts of introspection, the description of Fat Tuesday shows Gary Davison at his most dynamic. He paints a vibrant picture of the masquerade, of the exuberance of the crowds and the wildness of the festivities, which I found infectious and made me wish it might have been sustained a little longer, before Spencer’s past begins to catch up with him in the final third of the novel ...part of the charm of Fat Tuesday is that it’s a fast-paced story about a rapid journey and that neither lingers over-long in any one place. Gary Davison has achieved a startling sharpness in his writing. It’s fast and dizzying and wonderfully wild, and I’m looking forward to the publication of his second book.'

Lucy 

Gary Davison: 'a young Bukowski'

 Fat Tuesday by Gary Davison has got a fantastic review on Scott Pack's blog Me and My Big Mouth - below is a little snippet:

"Not every book can be great literature, but it doesn't mean they can't be good fun. I whizzed through Fat Tuesday in two quick sittings.  It is short, fast paced and a thoroughly enjoyable romp.  It won't change my life but it was fun while it lasted.

Spencer inherits a fortune from his arsehole of a father but turns his back on it and buggers off to Australia.  There he falls in with a bunch of loveable slackers.  They all work at the local supermarket and, more out of boredom than anything else, decide to rob it.

It isn't spoiling anything to let you know that all doesn't quite go to plan.  Where would be the fun in that?..."

To read the full review click here

Order your copy now - £7.99 

Lucy

Author Post: Gary Davison

I went down t’the London yesterday with my mate to buy a VW Golf off a Romanian bloke called Gab who reckoned he arrived in the UK on a sports visa as part of the olympic swimming team twelve years ago after he stopped boxing at his father’s request, otherwise he would have been boxing in the olympics too.

The vendor was running two hours late, and I’d arranged to meet Tom, my publisher, at some stage, so I dashed over to Islington (I think), racking up cab fares like a mad man, and Tom and I plonked ourselves in a cafe and caught up on book stuff.

‘Come on, Tom, give it to me straight, is this thing selling or what? Am I a failure or a winner? You heard about the film deal yet? Tell me you have for Christ’s sakes!’

I let go of his lapels at this stage and we had a nice chat about how things were going with paperbooks and legendpress, and to sum up, Tom and the team are doing pretty well in testing times for us all. Book sales are good and there’s plenty going on and Tom, as always, is working 20 hour days rushing from one place to the next. On a personal note paperbooks are doing great by me and I’m booked on another book signing this Saturday at Waterstones in Middlesborough, I’m doing a talk at Leeds Uni next week and I’m at a book club in December.

One of things that came up in the meeting was whether or not I should have an agent? No, not for all the TV appearances, red carpet moments, no, no, not that. An agent looking for deals for me that go alongside the publishing deal I already have. Tom thought it a good idea, but then maybe not. Me, I’m not sure, after all I’d have to give them some of this hard earned cash. Can an agent help an already published author, or are they no use??

We finished our little meet talking about the dodgiest thing in London at the moment: Tom’s full length coat. Say no more on the subject, except Tom claims he found it and when you see the size of it you’ll believe him!

Our Romanian-swimming-boxing-car salesman arrived two hours late and didn’t have the full log book as it was at the DVLA getting the private reg switched over, but we could take the little green bit at the bottom. The deal was getting done in a MacDonald’s carpark over a big Mac meal and din of cockney accents all sounding very puka to us geordies.

After god knows how many phone calls to friends back home, plenty of kicking of the tyres going on, my mate weighed over 10k in cash and after another two hours in traffic droping our new mate off, we set sail for home. A nice peaceful six hour drive.

Gary