This week’s Weekly Geeks challenge asks: tell us about a book (or books) you have been meaning to read. What is it? How long have you wanted to read it? And, why haven’t you read it yet?

Top of the list is….

Redemption Falls by Joseph O’ Connor


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I decided to read Lizard, by L. Schick (her debut) after reading what Scott Pack and Caroline Smailes had to say about it, (especially about it apparently winking towards Kafka) and I'm glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

In short, it's about a young girl, Eliza Young, who discovers one day that her leg has developed scales, yes, the sort lizards have. She goes to work as an au pair for a family on a sunny island where she come across a lizard civilisation. The story is about Eliza's struggle to understand and cope with her new leg, this new civilisation and, ultimately, herself.

Now, as a novella, it isn't perfect. It is, in parts, a little confusing - but I must say that I think that's a big part of its charm in that it reflects Eliza's own confusion - so it's a small critisism. What I liked most about it though was the voice: new, fresh, intelligent, convincing and not at all self conscious. And it's fun.

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Elizabeth McKay lives in Ayrshire and has been writing for about twelve years. She works part-time as an admin assistant in a day centre for adults with learning disabilities and writes the rest of the time. As well as short stories she has also had a number of features published in magazines. She has several stories awaiting publication, mainly in Woman's Weekly and Fiction Feast.


My first sale was...
To "Best" in 1997. It was the first story I ever submitted to a magazine and I naively thought everything I sent out after that would be published. It was another five months before I made my next sale!

My family think my writing is...
A good thing although I expect they’re as surprised as I am that it’s taken off as well as it has.

The best/worst thing about writing short stories for magazines is...
The best thing for me is when someone says they’ve read one of my stories and enjoyed it (well, they would say that, wouldn’t they!) The worst thing is when people ask when I’m going to write a ‘proper book’ as if short story writing is second class. (And the scariest thing is how the market for magazine stories is shrinking at an incredibly fast rate.)

Long hand first or computer?
Either, depending on how much time I have. If I’m short of time I write long hand and transfer/edit onto my laptop later. If I’ve got more time and know exactly where the story’s going I’ll write straight onto the screen.


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One of the most depressing books I’ve ever read, and also the most haunting. The Road stays with you long after reading for the sheer bleakness of this compelling, post-apocalyptic novel. It reminded me in part of the novella The Mist by Stephen King, in that there is no explanation of the events that have rendered the world a dying, burnt husk, lifeless and grey. Instead, it focuses on the unnamed central characters, a father and son, in their journey south, avoiding cannibals and torture, to find food and hope...

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Just spent a week in Great Yarmouth. Had loads of fun with Matthew and his new chair. It certainly made the holiday a lot easier not having to push his old thing around. I should have included a picture of us in the Corn Mega Maze because there’s no way we could have ever taken his old chair in there. It was full of bumps and furrows, and we managed to get completely lost...

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A Saturday morning question for you, dear readers.
What is the plural of synopsis?
Or, what is the collective noun for synopsis?

Post your answers here, they don't have to be sensible.

The best will win a virtual trophy.

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One or two people have described my book as ‘gripping’ or mysterious. I’m not relating this in order to show off but because it’s about time I did a proper blog post about writing, so I thought I’d describe my process of building up tension and mystery.

Plot events, however exciting, don’t create much mystery on their own...

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Picture this – or rather me - last week, swimming in an idyllic cove (see photo) along one of the quieter parts of the Southern French coast. The sea had emptied due to an approaching (or so it seemed) evening thunderstorm. I marvelled at the distant forks of lightning, whilst my children swam out further to rock-pool. They had worked out an ingenious way of transporting their fishing nets by wearing the luminous net as a cap, as the long wooden handles rode the waves, trailing down along their backs. Struggling with the increasing depth of the water, my youngest eventually passed me his rod and I wore it in the same style as I swam out. The locals looked on in amusement.

Yet they had probably already chuckled. On unpacking my beach bag I’d discovered to my annoyance, that I’d forgotten my bikini bottoms. My husband had passed me his spare Speedos, insisting I’d look okay. Desperate for a swim I obliged, grinning as I came over all Daniel Craig and strutted into the brine in said swimming trunks.

Then whilst treading water as I chatted with my dad, something suddenly struck me, and our hoots of laughter echoed around the bay as I broadcast an imaginary – but perfectly feasible - newspaper headline:

“WASHED UP ON FRENCH BEACH, ENGLISH WOMAN STRUCK BY LIGHTNING, DRESSED IN MALE SPEEDOS, WITH A FISHING NET JAMMED OVER HER HEAD.”



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I've not written in my blog for a while. I know, I know, I am a lazy blogger! The major news recently is that I managed to finish editing the draft of my novel and it's presently under my agent's scrupulous eye. Anxiety is the name of the game here, as any writer worth their fingertips will tell you...

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For many writers Synopsis is a dirty word. And who can blame us? We're regularly told that we can't sell a book without one. This is told to us by people who in the same breath wish us to know that writing a synopsis is harder than writing a novel (it isn't and if it is then you're doing it wrong). Most agents insist on one. Some insist that it fits on one page which adds to the stress. To top it all, sooner or later we find out from a published friend that most agents and publishers don't even bother reading the damn things, or certainly not until they're read enough of the manuscript to be interested in the broad story outline.

I put the phrase 'the dreaded synopsis' into an anagram engine and it fed back Depressant Hid Sod Ye.

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