Belle and Finn wish you a happy and peaceful festive season - and here’s to a better year for us all!

LIMITED-TIME OFFER! libro.fm/nairnbooksho... Get 2 free audiobooks! Promo code: SWITCH @libro.fm #audiobooksarebooks #nairnbooks #nairnbookshop #indiebookshop #independentbookshop #bookrecs #ʙᴏᴏᴋsʙᴏᴏᴋsʙᴏᴏᴋs

Thrown out of his family for a crime he didn’t commit, Gil becomes model and muse to the great Pieter Bruegel. But in Bruegel's world politics, art and religion are explosively combined and soon love and vocation are also at war My new novel The Bruegel Boy is published today! buff.ly/vbnyB0Y

The Book of Secrets, winner of the Gold Dagger for best crime novel of 2025, is 99p on kindle for a limited time. Sorcery, mystery, sisterhood. Based on a real poisoning case from 17th century Rome. www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Secrets...

Eek!

Bruegel was drawing. ‘Mind you, I sometimes think that all you’d actually see would be Icarus’s heel, and a ship gone past without even seeing him, and a ploughman.’ He reached for the small book he kept for notes. The Bruegel Boy: 6 Nov @hollandhousebooks.bsky.social buff.ly/Jpm9R0g

‘Useful phrases for the murder mystery writer abroad’ (my cartoon for this week’s Guardian Books)

'One friend was advised to retire a series because the average rating slipped below 4.2 stars. Every keyboard-licking troll who fires off a volley of one-star ratings for their own strange & probably sad reasons, has the power to affect a writer’s career” www.thebookseller.com/news/authors...

Brand new for everyone: the pick of the Itch of Writing Ask Me Anything chats. This one includes herding subplots, rewriting in third person, and knowing when you’re finished. buff.ly/RRLMcIu or search this itch of writing substack

'A story which is full of over-explaining will make perfectly good sense, but it will feel very ploddy, even lifeless - and it’ll almost certainly be longer than it needs to be' buff.ly/jcTAfcw

Seen on the other place:

Seen on the other place:

Seen on FB:

#MyShopLife25 www.facebook.com/thenairnbook...

What the heck, Starbucks?? There can be no justification for these crimes against coffee. None.

A ‘memory’ post that came up in Facebook: incredible to think how much has changed:

Newest!

From Twitter:

Just finished the new @sirbenfro.bsky.social Inspector McLean book, and it's another great entry in the series. If you like the idea of a Scottish Police procedural with a supernatural edge, I can't recommend these books highly enough a.co/d/iFqsVI0

Seen on the Other Place:

😂🤣😂

Stumbled on this series by chance after recovering from a vicious migraine, and can’t recommend it highly enough. Marinelli is brilliantly horrifying in a deranged, Olivier as Richard III kind of way: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Hmm. I suspect we can’t really put the genie back in the bottle. And rather than stupidity, I’d say ignorance. But if we really want to address this, I’d say we need to ensure that ignorance isn’t rewarded, and learning and achievement becomes properly valued again.

Wise words from Emma, as always. And yes, I am definitely struggling right now with a bad case of ‘what’s the point’?

Fascinating thread - are we becoming a ‘tl:dr’ species?

Pass it on. #StandWithUkraine

I mean, it’s worth a try ..,

Wise words as always:

I will never allow AI to replace human narrators on any audiobooks of my work. I’d rather not have an audio book. Human made art is an endangered species, & too many of its custodians are already enabling its demise for profit margins. EVERYONE SHOULD CARE ABOUT THIS. Art Is Humanity.

For my German-speaking friends, because goodness knows, we all need a laugh right now:

What a week to have a book out about political corruption and powerful, abusive men! At least in my novel they get their comeuppance. My first Anna Sharpe thriller. Out today in all formats in the UK, and in eBook and audio in the US. #NotesOnADrowning annamazzola.com/notes-on-a-d...

Neil’s right, of course. He usually is. But how do we fix this? *Can* it be fixed?

Happy publication day, Anna! 💙💛🎉📚🥂

New public post on This Itch of Writing: The Four Horses of Success, and how to drive your chariot. “Sometimes Hard Work surges ahead, sometimes Talent wants to charge off at a right-angle, sometimes Persistence goes lame, sometimes Luck baulks completely.” emmadarwin.substack.com/p/the-four-h...

Here we go again …

Terrifying. But accurate:

New on This Itch of Writing for supporters: “Humans are storied creatures, so humans will have opinions about your story” 5 reasons not to tell people you’re writing a book & 5 reasons to tell them. https://buff.ly/3VfBPzY Still 20% off for new subscribers: https://buff.ly/4eIPV3I

It was … a small but select gathering in the end 😉 But a warm welcome and great conversation.

Getting to grips with psychic/narrative/emotional distance is possibly the single biggest gift you can give your writing. (after the right notebook, and a good chair, obv…) . This recent Itchy Bitesized post is a round-up of the concepts and my posts about them. https://buff.ly/3UE5ulv

Nice walk along the Ness today - and saw a robin!

@samtongeauthor.bsky.social Hi Sam!

So I’m choosing a new paint colour for the hall and trying to write a book while it feels like we’re entering the second Dark Ages. And no one seems to know how to stop it happening. Except that the world is burning around us, so I suppose it may be a relatively short decline …

Hi folks, still on the other place for now but gradually making the move. If you know me, give me a wave!