Brilliant! That's all that needs to be said about Wednesday night's launch of Defender of Rome and The Doomsday Testament.
They were sent out into the world on a tidal wave of good will thanks to the seventy plus friends and family who turned out at Blackwell's bookshop in Edinburgh. They came from a' the airts, as we say in Scotland: Jedburgh, Edinburgh, Glasgow and my neighbours from Bridge of Allan. But the prize for furthest flung has to go to my friend Derek who flew in from Delhi.
My speech was a mix of triumph and disaster. My jokes were actually quite funny, but I somehow managed to mislay page five and after a stuttering halt had to wing the rest. Funnily enough that got the second biggest laugh of the night. The biggest was for the mysterious bloke with a beard you could hide a badger in who appeared halfway through. Maybe it was Bob Low's younger, much more handsome brother.
I signed so many books that my wrist ached and I was still doing it when they started putting the lights out.
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| Bevvy of beauties: My mum, daughter Kara, Siobhan, Lorraine, Sandra and my sister Carol |
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| Our friends Pete and Maureen |
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| And Allison and Alan |
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| Lorna and Ross, my earthquake advisers |
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| Mum and my lovely wife Alison |
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| Siobhan and Carol, from Canada |
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| Standing room only |
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| In retrospect, the tie was probably a mistake |
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| James Douglas makes a late appearance |
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| I don't know about you, but he scares me |
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| The Gees and the Rintouls |
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| Lynne Hawley, Christine and Billy Piper and David Caperauld |
So thanks to everyone who came along and to those who couldn't make it, you missed a great night. Roll on next year!
7 comments:
.....I think the tie is perfectly alright. A maroon one would have been better. Where in australia can I buy a copy? And I'll need it signed of course. Hope all's going good.
Cheers
CP
Hi Doug, can it be that your email was hacked? I just got a mail from you (it is yours because it appeared in my contacts folder) telling me you were in Spain and had lost your wallet and needed some money. ;)
Yes, Gabriele, it has indeed been hacked. I've lost all my e-mails and contacts as well and now I can't send or receive them on that account.Trying to get BT to sort it out but they're as useful as a chocolate teapot. I'm glad you got in touch, because I need to send you a copy of The Doomsday Testament, to say thanks for your help. If you e-mail your address to dugjakson@aol.com, which I'm using for a few days I'll put it in the post
It's a Jethart Callant's Club tie, Colin, how could you improve on that? What are you up to in Oz?
Pretty certain the books will be on Amazon in Australia, tho I'm not sure the next time I'll be in Perth.
All's well. Surprisingly I haven't missed The Scotsman for even a single minute, who'd have thought?
I'm so glad you've put up a post about it, Doug. I wish I could've been there. That James Douglas looks a bit dodgy though, hope he didn't cause any trouble...
I finished Doomsday Testament today, as I expected, loved it. Right up there with another book I read last month - Defender of Rome.
Thank you, Doug, I will get back at you. Still that email or is the old one working again by now?
Amazon.de (who usually sends books two weeks before official release, much to the chagrin of GRR Martin whose book had a release ban and yet some 300 escaped) but they have Defender listed for Sept 27, despite it being out already. *sniff*
Probably best to use the dugjakson@aol.co.uk (not .com as I put earlier) Gabriele. I think Defender is listed for September in the US as well, no idea why. I'll be interested to see what you think of it. It's a very different beast from Hero of Rome, but it's had some very good reviews from knowledgeable people
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