Thanks to Pam Reader for including The Good Son in her Top 12 Novels of 2015 list on her fantastic blog. A lovely way to start the year.
“If you choose to invest in The Good Son, you can do so in the knowledge that you are in the hands of an accomplished storyteller. Prepare to laugh and cry as Mickey Donnelly takes hold of your heart and never lets it go until the last page.”
I’m teaching a new class. Here’s the details. I hope to see some of you there.
Those Killer First Chapters – Getting the attention of agents and editors
Waterstones Piccadilly, Saturday, 6 February 2016 from 10:00 to 17:00.
Focus:
How to launch your novel
What a first chapter tells us
Writing fiction with emotional impact
How to show AND tell
Talking to your reader
Using Dialogue
Getting the attention of agents & editors
About Paul
Paul McVeigh’s debut novel ‘The Good Son’ was shortlisted for The Guardian’s ‘Not the Booker Prize’. It was a Gransnet Christmas read, Wales Arts Review Pick of the Year and one of ELLE Magazine’s Books of 2015 alongside Anne Enright and Ali Smith. This debut novel is on its second print, the audio book is about to be released and rights have been sold to France and Germany.
Paul’s short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies and been commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and read on Radio 5. He is co-founder of London Short Story Festival and Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s leading short story literary salon. He is also been a reader and judge for national and international writing competitions. Currently, he’s judging The Penny Dreadful Novella Prize alongside Guardian First Book Award-winner Colin Barrett and Costa shortlisted Sara Baume,
Reviews:
“Heartbreaking, gripping” The Guardian – “Excellent” The Independent – “Funny, moving, poignant. Brilliant.” Metro
“Darkly hilarious. One of the most charming and edearing characters I’ve come across in a long while.” ELLE Magazine
“Funny, shot through with streaks of aching sadness.” Patrick Gale
“A work of genius from a splendid writer.” Pulizter Prize-winning short story writer Robert Olen Butler.
“Absolutely loved it. The voice of that story so arresting.” Jackie Kay
“Beautiful and very moving.” Booker shortlisted Alison Moore
“(one of) Ireland’s most exciting and talented writers. Incredibly moving; poignant but utterly real, funny and beautifully observant.” BBC Radio
Paul’s ‘That Killer First Page’ class on submitting short stories to journals and competitions has sold out in Bath, Belfast, Brighton, Cork, London and Melbourne.
Comments on Paul’s classes:
“Practical, insightful application of knowledge to writing.”
“Fantastic! Practical, targeted advice like this is wonderful!”
“This was my fav course yet! Informative, entertaining, and engaging. Hard to beat!”
Places are limited. Book here.
*For concessions please contact Paul paulmcveighwriter@live.co.uk
17 August 2014, London
I’m reading at a fundraising event in Kinvara, Co Galway, alongside some amazing writers. Hope to see some of your there. I’ll also be running a class that day in Kinvara – check under my classes section 🙂
Writers – start 2016 by planning your submissions to competitions and lit mags or browse some great links about writing in Word Factory’s essential monthly round up. This monthly round comes from my blog for writers – follow it if you would like to be updated during the month and get the information when posted.
Get writing! Get submitting! Get published!
Good luck!
A lovely way to end the year by making it onto Simon Savidge’s Best of Year list; in some mighty fine company too. Here’s what Simon had to say…
“If I told you that you should really read a book set during the Troubles in Ireland which throws in poverty, religion, sexuality and violence, both domestic and political, you would probably look at me in horror, which is why The Good Son is such a brilliant book. It has all of those elements in their unflinching rawness and yet with Mickey’s voice and cheeky sense of humour McVeigh gives us an image of an incredibly difficult and fractured time in some sort of rainbow technicolor whilst with a very black and white viewpoint. It is something I have not experienced before and I thought it was marvellous. It also gives us hope.”
Simon writes the influential Savidge Reads blog and is also the founder of The Green Carnation Prize. Head over here to read his other favourite books of the year.
“Paul McVeigh’s The Good Son gave us one of the most engaging protagonists of the year in 10-year-old Mickey Donnelly, who occupies a space between whimsy and horror in Troubles-era Ardoyne.”
The sensational Irish writer Lisa McInerney (The Glorious Heresies) choses ‘The Good Son’ as one of her picks of the year in the Irish Independent. Have a look at the top picks from the cream of Irish authors including Colm Tobin and John Boyne.
Hope you’ve had a great Christmas.
Well what a ride it has been. This year The Good Son was shortlisted for The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and selected as Best of 2015 by The Reading Agency, Wales Arts Review and ELLE Magazine.
This is me reading from the first chapter at Word Factory, filmed for the first time. It was quite an informal affair with lots of friends and colleagues in the audience, as you will see (I’m Associate Director at Word Factory).
I hope you enjoy it.
The Good Son is one of ELLE Magazine’s Best Books of the Year! along with Louise O’Neill, Benjamin Wood, Ali Smith and Kate Atkinson. Stoked!
“blackly hilarious… one of the most endearing, charming characters I’ve come across in a long while”
Howdy folks! The great news is that The Good Son has sold out and is going to a new print run – Huzzah! There aren’t many copies around. Amazon and my publishers Salt have sold out, as are Easons Bookshops in Northern Ireland.
There are some you can order from Waterstones bookshop in Piccadilly, Waterstones online and Blackwells online. And of course still available on your Kindle/Reader.
If you already have your copy you’re now in possession of the First Edition! Thanks for making The Good Son a big success.
Book blogger, reviewer, author and founder of The Green Carnation Prize, Simon Savidge, gives a wonderful review of The Good Son on his blog.
“The Good Son is such a brilliant book… unflinching rawness… something I have not experienced before and I thought it was marvellous. It also gives us hope.
McVeigh does many wonderful things with The Good Son and first and foremost of these is the character that he has created with Mickey. McVeigh excels in the use of light and shade within his writing… incredibly powerful… Whilst many novels of the Troubles would make them the main focus and give you them in all their rawest and most shocking detail, I think McVeigh gives you something far more clever and intricate… no word is wasted, no sentence unplanned… ”
You can read he whole interview by clipping the link at the top. You can also listen to my interview with Simon in his podcast ‘You Wrote The Book‘.
Paul McVeigh 