Hat Trick for October - Jan Edwards


Three things to celebrate this month
Firstly the pARTyLines Literary Caberet on Tues 8th Oct at The Old Joint Stock Pub & Theatre.  This was organised by Writing West Midlands as part of the Birmingham Literary Festival.
The range of performances was tremendous and depth from performance poetry to prose and songs
You will notice I am not in the photo…  
There is a reason for that. Those who know me well may recall that this is the third occasion when I have been called upon for curtain calls and the cry of ‘she’s in the bar’ has gone up. Its becoming something of a habit!
It sounds bad – but hand on heart I had one drink all evening and happened to be at the bar buying it at that very moment.  In my defence if the nerve wobbling act of reading to a full house (standing room only) and little old me being sandwiched in the running order between two professional actors didn’t earn me a large G&T I don’t know what would. But hey – no big deal – I was there and had a wonderful time.
The drive home was... interesting.  M6, M6 Toll and M42 all closed at crucial junctions with next to no signage, which doubled our one hour journey time… Midlands people will recognise my pain but I shan’t bore the rest of you with the gory details.
The second event was the annual Ghosts at the Gladstone evening at the Gladstone Museum in Stoke-on-Trent. This is (I think) the fifth GATG that we have taken part in, and  possibly the most successful to date. Another full house (we had to put out more chairs) and a fabulous array of spooky readings. A bit of an IT glitch when the antiquated *sound and vision* at the Museum refused to play nicely with the fabulous graphics that had been prepared - but we coped. (I am in this picture (above) but then the Gladstone doesn't have a bar.)
In passing – if you have not been to the Gladstone it is worth a look. Finest historic collection of porcelain toilets you will find anywhere in the world!
The third event may not have quite the same news value to the world at large, but I have been celebrating the first draft of my next crime book with extreme vigour!
This had been an odd year, following on from an odd year before that, and coaxing this book to its conclusion has been felt positively  Sisyphean at times and there was more than one occasion when I wondered if it would ever get written at all!  But its done - first draft in the bag!
Okay - I have the rewrites to plough through, and that is a fresh hell in its own right,  but Listed Dead : Bunch Courtney Investigation #3 now exists and on course for launch next spring.  I shall now go and lie down in a darkened room for a bit…
***
To read more about Jan Edwards and the Bunch Courtney Investigations click  HERE


In Her Defence is available through most leading booksellers in print and digital formats.   AMAZON (PAPER)   US  / UK/  /  AU INDIE BOUND / BOOK DEPOSITORY  / WORDERY /  Waterstones  /  Foyles Barnes & Noble  / Digital sources: Kindle  US / UK / AU/   Apple/  Nook  / Kobo  
Indie Bound /Book Depository /Wordery Digital sources:

Winter Downs : Amazon (paper and kindle)  US  / UK/  /  AU Apple /  Barnes and Noble Nook  /Kobo / Kindle' Overdrive
Listed Dead (mock-up cover on right of banner above) will be available in early 2020.

Comments

Ah Jan, I sympathise with your zero road signage... I seem to be one of the few people who still relies on actual road signs to tell me where I am going. On a drive across country this summer, more than half the important signs (on A roads approaching roundabouts and junctions) were obscured by bushes or trees, and some of the signs that I expected to see on B roads just didn't seem to exist... what is happening to road signage? I keep a road map in the car, but can hardly be expected to map read and drive at the same time! I know a lot of people use satnavs, but I don't have one and prefer to take the road less travelled...

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