Happy Halloween! Alex Breck’s Banter Podcast Show is LIVE!

Alex Breck's Banter Podcast Show

We’re LIVE! The Brand New Alex Breck’s Banter Podcast Show!

 

If you’ve got a moment or two I’d be well chuffed if you could pop over to my new podcast show on iTunes and give it a listen.

I’ve recorded three shows for the moment. The first show is a general get to know me episode and the next one introduces one of my biggest literary characters, Ridge Walker. You’ll hear me read from a chapter of the first Ridge Walker adventure thriller, He Who Pays The Piper.

Halloween Cat

The third show is all about the madness that is NaNoWriMo, an annual event that begins tomorrow!

It’s called National Novel Writing Month.

The challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

Halloween NaNoWriMo

Before you recoil in appropriate Halloween horror – that’s only 1,667 words a day.. which doesn’t sound too bad when you say it quickly!

It’s free to enter and the feedback and support you get from other participants is out of this world. If you think you’ll be the only person you know doing it – think again – there are over 300,000 people taking part across the globe.

Living in a remote part of Scotland I love the online camaraderie and I honestly credit NaNoWriMo with giving me the push that I needed to get my writing off the ground way back in 2012.

Don’t worry about other people reading your stuff – it’s totally private and no-one need ever see your work if that’s what you want.

The feeling of achievement on November 30th when you’ve uploaded 50,000 words is incredible. Add to that the fact that you’ve now got the bare bones of a fully fledged NOVEL!

So go on! What are you waiting for!

My NaNoWriMo name is wordspinner7 and so don’t be shy – look me up and be my nano buddy and we can push each other to greatness!

This is a pic of me and a Halloween buddy who looks a little worse for wear. That’s me on the left in case you didn’t know!

halloween pals

Happy Halloween and I hope you’re having a chilling evening!

My latest devilishly hot thriller – THE DEVIL YOU KNOW – is out now in paperback – http://bit.ly/devilyouknowbkuk
Or Kindle – http://bit.ly/devilyouknowkuk  Imagine
#thedevilyouknow

 

 

 

Bought The Piper’s Lament yet?

This second Ridge Walker novel is also available in print form here musical the pipers lament

 

Find me on Facebook

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Enjoy your reading and writing!

Alex x

 

 

 

My Review of The Girl On The Train

The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I arrived late to the party with The Girl On The Train and I had heard so many great things about it that it was inevitable that it wouldn’t live up to the hype. But that said, it is still a great book and one where you tend to read each page more quickly than the one before which must be a good definition of a page-turner.
Rachel is an unlikely heroine and not particularly likeable but there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve written stories in the same way. The reader gets a frisson of redemption when the protagonist comes good in the end. But there’s very little to feel good about at the end of this tale and I was left feeling a little empty and jaundiced.
The style of the book didn’t suit me but I did like the way the author portrayed the setting and the idiosyncratic ways of the outer-London environs. The film is set in the States and so I’ll be interested to see how well it translates whenever it makes its way up to the Scottish Highlands.

View all my reviews

the girl on the train

If you like reviewing books yourself then I’d love to garner a few more for my brand new thriller The Devil You Know. Like The Girl On The Train it features an unlikely and unlikeable hero but keep reading!

It’s currently on Amazon for 99p / 99c so go on, buy the ticket, take the trip.

 

Imagine waking up today to find yourself on an unknown island, with no idea how you got there? Would it be heaven? Or maybe the other place…

‘As she emerged from the edge of the forest, she could see better what the lie of the land looked like. Down below her she saw one of those beaches that she’d only seen in movies. Right now, it looked like one of the most perfect things she had ever seen. The sun glinted off the deep blue ocean with little snowy flurries sticking their heads up for a few seconds in a futile race against the wind.’


– ‘The Devil You Know‘ by Alex Breck

 

 

 

Bought The Piper’s Lament yet?

This second Ridge Walker novel is also available in print form here musical the pipers lament

 

Find me on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

 

 

Enjoy your reading and writing!

Alex x

New ‘Alex Breck’s Banter’ Podcast Show Coming Soon

Are You Ready For Alex Breck’s Banter?

Alex Breck's Banter Podcast Show

So, after some great feedback from subscriber peeps, I’ve decided to launch a podcast show!

It’s going to be called ‘Alex Breck’s Banter’ and my intention is to broadcast only a few times a month, maybe two or three times. The content will be fun, irreverent at times but hopefully it’ll also give you useful stuff which may help you on your journey to being a writer. I might try and interview some writers if I can coax them into it!

Hopefully, you’ll get an insight into the ‘writer’s life’ whatever that might mean and more than anything else you’ll get to know me better.

I won’t bombard you with tons of episodes and I definitely will not be using the podcast as a means of spamming you with endless commercial ‘opportunities.’

For my overseas friends and those of you unfamiliar with the word ‘banter,’ here is the Oxford Dictionary definition.

Firstly it can be used as a noun: The playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks.

Example – there was much good-natured banter in the bar last night.

And it can also be a verbExchange remarks in a good-humoured teasing way.

Example – I hope that I’ll be bantering with my audience at times.

So watch out for Alex Breck’s Banter in the very near future!

Be afraid, be very afraid!

Have I told you about my latest thriller?

It’s based in the Scottish Highlands, mostly on an uninhabited island. – ‘The Devil You Know‘ by Alex Breck

What Other People

Have Said About

‘The Devil You Know’

 

“A moving, gripping and at times disturbing thriller with the rich scene setting we have come to expect from Alex Breck. A real page turner, it keeps you guessing the outcome till the very end.”

 

 

Alex x

goodreads

 

PS: I brightened up the colour scheme too after feedback but please let me know what you think!

Bought The Piper’s Lament yet?

This second Ridge Walker novel is also available in print form here goodreads

 

Find me on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

 

Goodreads – I recently discovered Goodreads. Have You?

I’ve recently discovered Goodreads and yes I know I’m (fashionably) late to the party but I’ve no idea why it’s taken me so long to jump on board.

For authors it’s a brilliant platform to get your books some much needed oxygen plus find some people to review your work. For those of you who just want to read good quality books then again this site is a treasure trove.

Obviously, I’m bound to be interested in Scottish based crime books and particularly if they feature the Highlands as does this one here. I also read Peter May’s Coffin Road a few weeks ago and you’ll find my review on Amazon and also here on Goodreads

Here is the latest book I’ve read on Goodreads and it’s a cracker!

 

SearchSearch by D.K. Bohlman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excellent caper with PI Calum Neuman chasing through the Scottish Highlands in a generally fast-paced thriller which keeps the reader entertained! DK Bohlman gives us some well observed character observations and he has a sympathetic eye for location. This novel would be a prime candidate for a television series and the ending certainly hinted at the possibility of a second outing.
For me, the middle section of the book plateaued a little and I found the story becoming too bogged down with unnecessary wordage and I feel a stricter edit might have been advisable. But for that, I would have awarded this fine story a 5 Star rating and it has certainly been one of the most enjoyable reads of the year! Without spoiling the suspense, I loved the deliciously nasty main baddie and Calum was a character I would enjoy reading about again in another Scottish thriller like Search.

View all my reviews

My latest thriller is a Scottish thriller and is ALSO based in the Scottish Highlands, in this particular case an uninhabited island. – ‘The Devil You Know‘ by Alex Breck

What Other People

Have Said About

‘The Devil You Know’

 

“A moving, gripping and at times disturbing thriller with the rich scene setting we have come to expect from Alex Breck. A real page turner, it keeps you guessing the outcome till the very end.”

 

 

Alex x

goodreads

 

Bought The Piper’s Lament yet?

This second Ridge Walker novel is also available in print form here goodreads

 

Find me on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter