Back from a fun weekend in Aberdeen attending the Granite Noir crime festival. First though, a word about trains: they are awesome. Scots complain a lot about the trains but, coming here after twenty-three years in the States, I have nothing but praise for them. Sure, they sometimes run late or get canceled, but they mostly don’t. They mostly run on time (to the minute) and, importantly, take you where you want to go when you want to get there. If Amtrak got only half the support British railroads (railways!) get, travel in America would be revolutionized.
I mention the trains because that’s how I got to Aberdeen in the first place. It took less than three hours. The route runs along the east coast of Scotland, around the firths of Forth and Tay, and then into northeastern Scotland with the icy blue of the North Sea for company. It’s the most spectacular train journey I’ve ever taken and, if you ever get the chance to do so, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Just make sure to sit on the right/eastern side of the train!
Aberdeen’s nickname is the Granite City (hence Granite Noir) because granite is the local building material, and it shows. All the older buildings are constructed with it, and many of the modern ones at least pay homage to the concept. I was expecting a grimly gray metropolis, but Aberdeen is nothing like that. The sun was shining and everything looked bright and crisp, even the seagulls that cruised low over the streets looking for scraps. I look forward to visiting again.
As for the festival, it was an absolute blast and, as usual, I couldn’t stop myself from buying books. All the hard work I put into reducing my TBR pile undone at a stroke. I shared a panel with Briar Ripley Page (The False Sister) and Maud Woolf (Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock). Both were delightful company, although I thought it was a little ironic that I, who consider myself a SF author with a sideline in crime, was the only one on the panel who’d written a straight up murder mystery. Briar’s The False Sister, is a horror story set in the past and Maud’s Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock is very much a sci-fi. Maud, indeed, was way more interested in Braking Day than A Quiet Teacher!
It never ceases to amaze me how receptive book festival audiences are to new(ish) authors. I’m still at the stage where I dread sitting down to do a book signing because I don’t think anyone will come. Once again, though, I was proved wrong. It was a joy to meet new readers and talk books and book writing with them. Also, I remain forever grateful that they are tolerant of my appalling handwriting!
I am looking forward to attending more festivals. Critical Death Theory is now at the publisher’s, being gone over by Editor Rachel. Fingers crossed she doesn’t hate it! Assuming no major rewrites, we look to be on track for a November 2024 release so, the next time I am on a stage, I should hopefully have a new book to talk about.