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Susie Wild Reviews The Good Son in Bare Fiction

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Another wonderful review of The Good Son, this time from Susie Wild in Bare Fiction Magazine. Read the whole thing by clicking the link.

‘A vivid, playful, fence-hurdling, page-turning act of cocky bravado and endearing imagination. Mickey is a shining star of a protagonist; charming, erudite, and warmly, infectiously funny.

…a startling debut, McVeigh proves he more than warrants the literary company he keeps. The writing is sharp and the voice, a difficult one to sustain over a novel’s length, rarely falters. With pages so full of heart and helter-skelter movement, it is no surprise to learn that he also has a background in theatre. The pages of his first novel are alive with sparky dialogue and this visual language, the brash and the subtle, the compelling, the compassionate.

An engaging storyteller, I hope to see more from Paul McVeigh…’

You can hear me read from The Good Son Thursday Dec 3 at Waterstones Piccadilly at 6.30. For tickets to the Word Factory salon at the Waterstones Xmas evening email piccadilly@waterstones.com .

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Waterstones Piccadilly Xmas Evening. Dec 3

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My final reading of this year is in the biggest bookshop in Europe (it’s also rather beautiful) Waterstones Piccadilly, London, on December 3 at 6.30pm. It’s part of their Christmas celebrations and Word Factory have been asked to do a literary salon. You can read more about it here and here.

These are the other authors and events appearing at this special evening…

Booker-winner Marlon James

Virginia Baily
Laura Barnett
Rob Biddulph
Jonathan Coe
David Downton
Miriam Elia
Cathy Galvin
The Gentle Author
Zoe Gilbert
Christopher Green
Professor Green
Dave Haslam
Christopher William Hill
Conn Iggulden
Little Atoms
Paul McVeigh
Irenosen Okojie
Chris Riddell
Kristina Rihanoff
Polly Samson
Alice Stevenson
Music & song with La La Piano Bar
Music & poetry with Brudini & Chip Martin
Quiz from the QI elves
Colouring-in The Menagerie with the O’Mara team
The Word Factory Salon
Pop-up cake stall from Bluebell Kitchen
Stories from the Petit Prance
Dance with Scott Cupit & Swing Patrol
Cocktails from Mr Lyan and the Society Club

It’s a free event – all you have to do is book your place by emailing piccadilly@waterstones.com. Hope to see some you there.

The Good Son reviewed on BBC Radio

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You can listen back to the wonderful review of The Good Son on BBC Radio Ulster by Mike Philpott on the Kerry McLean Show at 42.15 mins in.

“Heart-rending… It has everything… the casual brutality of the Troubles seems worse because it’s seen through this child’s eyes. It’s so real, one the best protagonists I’ve read in a long, long time… The last time a character had stayed with me like that was Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye.

One of McVeigh’s talents is he takes you from sadness to humour to horror to a whole range of other emotions quite often even in the space of one page which is not an easy thing to do.”

Listeners:

“A bitter-sweet experience… One I’d reccomend to all.”

“Amazing, disturbing, sad and funny.”

“It’s the story of every child. I really enjoyed it but it did make me cry.”

“A cracking read. One I’d definitely recommend.”

Amazing! Thanks everyone.

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That Killer First Page Sold Out – Special Guest Lucy Caldwell

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‘That Killer First page’ continues its sold out run as the last place went yesterday for this Saturday at Waterstones Piccadilly. My special guest is Lucy Caldwell​ winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize whose debut collection comes out with Faber next year. Lucy has also won… hold on to your seats… The George Devine Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Irish Playwrights’ and Screenwriters’ Guild Award, Richard Imison Award, Rooney Prize for Irish Literature & Dylan Thomas Prize. You are in for a treat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p033yt4m/player

Watch Lucy talk about short stories at The Small Wonder Festival this year.

Great fun at City Reads. See you in Hastings?

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Lots of fun reading at City Reads Brighton last night. Reading alongside a long list of wonderful writers.

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If you like live literature and you want to catch me reading you can come to Hastings on Oct 27 (my birthday) for my third Polari salon.  It ‘s always an excellent line up. I met comedian Chris Green year’s ago when I was writing and directing comedy in London. I watched his first show and gave him some directing notes. I wonder if he’ll remember me? I hope to see some of you there.

Polari Hastings