…Big Tam, aka Sir Sean Connery, he of the 00-something fame, would no doubt raise both his eyebrows at the lack of a Very SCOTTISH Blog Tour…nonetheless, being of a marginally more polite persuasion than he..we lads from the Govan Dockyards area ALWAYS say ‘excuse me’ as we deliver the signature ‘Glasgow Kiss’ head butt…and having spent 10 years of my early adulthood in London (I professed myself there as a missionary)..I am behoven to indulge the following request :
… I was nominated for ‘A Very British Blog Tour’ by fellow novelist, Susan Buchanan – http://susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk
The idea is to visit the blogs of, and show support to, the talented group of writers I’ve nominated for this award, so we can learn a bit more about them and what makes them tick. We all answer the same questions, but of course our responses will be quite different.(Unless, of course, some latent plagiarism lurks as yet undiscovered …a-hem..)
By the way, we British have certain conventions, traditions, and procedures that are expected. There is a dress code in the reading of this British blog and you are expected to comply with it.
For example…
Scottish Gentlemen will, of course, wear the kilt, other Gentlemen will wear suits, white shirts and dark ties. (Military ties are expected wherever possible). Ladies will wear dresses (one inch above the knee, no higher, no lower) and floral summer hats.
A break for TEA and cucumber sandwiches is expected at some stage and is permissible (now that IS likely to happen)
The list at the bottom of the page is not a queue. It is an invitation and you are expected to accept that invitation and support the home-grown product. Now then, let us proceed in an orderly fashion. As you know, we are all very boring and staid in Britain, aren’t we?
Well, there’s a myth about the British and your starter for ten Stuffy, class conscious, boring, staid! But is this still relevant in today’s world? Let’s find out from our wonderful writers what they feel about it.
On with the show!
Q. Where were you born and where do you live at the moment?
A. I was born in the same street as the ‘other’ well-known Glasgow worthy, Sir Alex Ferguson, in the Scottish shipyards area of Govan, Glasgow sixty-five years ago, but it only seems like a half dozen decades and a half since…
Q. Have you always lived and worked in Britain or are you based elsewhere at the moment?
A. No. After leaving Glasgow at 16 for Tobermory in the Scottish Hebridean island of Mull, six wonderful years were spent among the islanders before the adventure south to London. Ten years there was enough. The next port of call was Asia, initially in Hong Kong, but 25 years later, the residency certificates had included Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong again, and Manila in the Philippines…I realised after about 4 or 5 years out of the UK that I was toast, I could never be comfortable back there .. 9 years ago, I moved to my current location of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, here in The Middle East…
Q. Which is your favourite part of Britain?
A.Impossible to think of anywhere more close to my heart than Mull…the beauty of the island changed every day, relatively unspoiled by humanity’s over-indulgent interferences…the people also were truly magnificent..the kindness shown to a callow youth from Govan was immeasurably generous… unforgettable characters all of them…
Q. Have you ‘highlighted’ or ‘showcased’ any particular part of Britain in your books? For example, a town or city; a county, a monument or some well-known place or event?
A. The central character in The Violin Man’s Legacy and Vengeance Wears Black hails from Govan, and I give some insight to the rough life of his father sixty years ago, when money was tight, and belts were even tighter…
Q. There is an illusion – or myth if you wish – about British people that I would like you to discuss. Many see the ‘Brits’ as ‘stiff upper lip’. Is that correct?
A: There may be a very thin layer of what used to be called ‘the upper crust’, whose face from the nose down was steeped in starch, but most of that has probably gone now…I’ve mingled with expatriate Brits all over the planet, and they are great ‘mixers’…
Q. Do any of the characters in your books carry the ‘stiff upper lip’? Or are they all ‘British Bulldog’ and unique in their own way?
A. Major Julian (Jules) Townsend in my books, is a former SAS commando officer, and is the coolest guy in the world, emotionally and metaphorically…I suppose he’s the closest I get with the archetype, but he’d bust yer balls if he thought ye were having a go at him…
Q. Tell us about one of your recent books
A. Both of my books to date, and the next three (one is WIP 25K+ words so far) are centred on the three ex-SAS guys with their own specialised security outfit. They engage in black operations when they need to, in order to sort out the international baddies who somehow always come into their crosshairs…there’s plenty of action, international locations and pace to all of my writing…
Q. What are you currently working on?
A: As noted in the last answer, Savage Payback is work in progress… I’ve also spent a LOT of time ‘building the platform’, getting connectivity as broad as possible through the social networking channels…I also have a blog, which (somehow) gained a Blogger of the Year Award last December…I really enjoy doing that…
Q. How do you spend your leisure time?
A: I watch soccer, the English Premier League, on television. Here in Abu Dhabi we get EVERY game live. As a youth I played professionally in Scotland…the love of the game has never left me…although it has to be said, some of the dying swans and ballerinas who seem to have crept onto the football pitches these days are not the kinda guys that used to kick me up in the air…
Q. Do you write for a local audience or a global audience?
A. At first I wrote just because I wanted to fulfil a life-long ambition ‘to write a book’…the astonishing success (at least, to me) my books have enjoyed in the last 18 months (60,000+ downloads on Kindle), and the positive reader feedback I’ve had, have me a tad more conscious that people who like this stuff are actually prepared to pay for it…so I try to keep honest by writing stuff that I like to read myself, and trust that others globally will also like it….
Q. Can you provide links to your work?
ARE YOU KIDDING!!!! Thought ye’d never ask ! Here ye go :
Links for THE VIOLIN MAN’S LEGACY
UK http://amzn.to/10wo0ha
US http://amzn.to/10wnMXB
Links for VENGEANCE WEARS BLACK
US http://amzn.to/W59BB3
UK http://amzn.to/13yV1YX
Canada http://amzn.to/14gODEZ
Links for THE BLOGGER”S GUIDE TO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
UK: http://amzn.to/W58SzQ
USA: http://amzn.to/UNjx1M
I have also tagged the following people in this, who hopefully will be doing their own VERY BRITISH blog posts!
I will attach their posts to mine, as soon as they have done them!
http://davidmcgowanauthor.com
http://dsbutlerauthor.wordpress.com
http://www.ericjgates.com
http://aly3008.blogspot.com
http://mikethomasauthor.wordpress.com
http://janewenhamjones.wordpress.com
http://www.rogermorris.co.uk
Like this:
Like Loading...
Seumas Gallacher 