Blog
Scotland’s last surviving glacier lasted into the 1700s, research shows
My new novel, The Atholl Expedition, asks a question: when did the last glacier in Scotland die? Was it thousands of years ago in the prehistoric past, as is commonly believed, or did a glacial mass survive in one of the remote and secret recesses of the Highlands, away from
Focused writing apps for Windows 8
2017 note: I no longer use Windows and don’t really recommend any of these apps. I’m leaving the post up purely for historical interest. Windows 8 is a controversial subject at the moment. More and more of us are using “post PC” devices instead of traditional computers, both
1759 – the point of divergence
Some of my readers have speculated whether The Only Genuine Jones and The Atholl Expedition share the same fictional timeline. My first book is set in 1897 and features dramatic changes to historical events, including an attempt on the North Face of the Eiger several decades before its actual first
Mountain Classics – The Mountain Men by Alan Hankinson
The Mountain Men: A History of Early Rock Climbing in North Wales by Alan Hankinson This series of articles showcases gems of mountain literature, both established classics and more esoteric titles. Alan Hankinson was one of the UK’s foremost scholars of British mountaineering history. He published a number of
Defeated by Lochnagar but inspired by Balmoral
Wham! The gust of wind punched me in the chest, lifted me off my feet, and hurled me twenty feet back through the air to land, dazed, on a snowbank. I struggled to get up again but the force of the wind was relentless, pushing me back step by step,
The best Android apps for writers (part two)
In the first blog post in this series, I discussed some of the key apps I use on my Android devices to help make my job easier. I looked at Evernote, Google Drive, and Draft. These are no-nonsense, practical tools for creating content and storing information, and I commend them
The Atholl Expedition Featured on UKHillwalking.com
An extract from my new novel, The Atholl Expedition, has been featured on the popular walking and climbing news website UKHillwalking.com. You can read the extract here. Click here to buy the book on Kindle. Don’t forget that the paperback version is coming soon!
2013 – my year in review
So, my first full year as an author of mountain fiction has come and gone. Much has happened in 2013, and in this post I’d like to share some of my high points. January In January I returned to Glencoe (a former home of mine) to record a radio
The Atholl Expedition in paperback – a work in progress
The response to my new book, The Atholl Expedition, has been overwhelming so far. It has stayed in the top fifteen mountaineering books on Kindle since it was published, briefly occupying the coveted bestseller position on Christmas Day. Plenty of readers are snapping up the book on Kindle, but to
The Atholl Expedition is off to a great start
I pressed the “publish” button on Christmas Eve, and sent the Kindle version of The Atholl Expedition out into the wild. My plan was to spend the day monitoring, responding to comments and questions, and generally doing “book launch” stuff; however, fate had another game to play. The storm overnight