Bad Blood by Julie Shaw Blog Tour

Today is my turn on the Blog Tour for Bad Blood by Julie Shaw, her newest novel which is now available to buy in paperback or kindle edition.





I have had the pleasure of reading this book already, you can read my review here.







Welcome Julie, thanks for stopping by and taking the time out to answer some questions for us.



1. Hi Julie, welcome to So Many Books So Little Time. This is your first Blog Tour if I am correct, how are you finding it?

I am really enjoying it. It’s especially interesting to answer the numerous questions I have been asked as it gets me really thinking about why I write the things I do.


2. I have read one of your books before Bad Blood, your settings are always in lower class gritty scheme settings, what draws you to these and do you think you will ever branch out from them?

I was actually brought up in very similar circumstances to a lot of my characters. By that I mean on the same estates, had very similar friends, and had family members who lived through very difficult circumstances. Since being very young I have tried my hand at all genres, and many different styles of writing, but I’m much more comfortable writing about the grittier, seedier side of life. Will I branch out? Maybe, I don’t know at the moment, but what I do know is that I feel much happier writing about the tougher side of life.


3. The character Lizzie, page 30 had me horrified, without spoiling it for others, how did you manage to come up with her and that scene? Creative genius or tapping into a true event?

Oh dear, unfortunately I have known many Lizzie’s in my time. Her character is an amalgamation of quite a few women I knew over the years. That scene was also easy to write as that was very definitely a true scenario, believe it or not.


4. Who inspires you to write?

Lots of people actually. As a child I would lose myself in any books I could get my hands. A story took me away from everything and I could be anyone and anywhere I wanted to be. If I had to choose an early writer that made me think ‘yes! I want to do this!’ then it would have to be Enid Blyton – I thought she was simply incredible. These days however, my hero is Kimberley Chambers. Her characters are so bad, I just love them! Now she really does tell it like it is!


5. What are your three top favourite books of all time?

I hate this question J I have so many that I love and I always feel horribly guilty about the ones I don’t mention. Also, my answer may surprise you. Okay, so the number one spot has to go to Mr Shakespeare himself with Romeo and Juliet. My first ever tragic love story. I was blown away by it. The number two spot would go to Roots by Alex Haley – another book that helped form my opinion on the world, and last but not least, They Put Me Inside by Tony Grestone – a book I read as a young teenager that really did change me.



6. What is next for Julie Shaw? Do you have another book in the process already?

I have just handed in Blood Sisters, which I’m sure you’ll like if you enjoyed Bad Blood, and I am just about to start writing a sequel to Bad Blood in fact. We don’t have a definite title for it yet, but I’m hoping it will be Sins of the Father. Watch this space J


7. Where can fans find you?

Facebook is simply Julie Shaw, though I also have a page especially relating to my books, and that is Canterbury Warriors. My Twitter is @jueshaw


8. Anything else you would like to add or tell readers about yourself?

I think I have gone on for long enough lol, but I do really appreciate all of my readers and particularly you fantastic bloggers who spread the word. Thanks again J xx



And up for grabs is 1 paperback pre-loved copy of Bad Blood, as always, use the Rafflecopter below to enter, this giveaway will run for 1 week.

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Talk of The Toun by Helen MacKinven Blog Tour

Having to post this a wee bit early due to the fact I am working tomorrow, my slot for the blog, and won't be home til after 8pm. So here goes, also, I have my ARC copy, now signed, to give away as part of the tour, I will list this once I get home from work. That will be the 6th of November after 8pm UK time so make sure you stop by to enter.





Tell me a bit about you?

I’m 47 years old and so I was 17 in 1985, just like the main characters Angela and Lorraine. My childhood was spent in Bonnybridge, famous for UFO sightings and I went to high school in Falkirk so the setting for Talk of the Toun was easy to recreate from my own personal experiences. After watching one too many episodes of Escape to the Country, three years ago I moved to a three hundred year old cottage in a small rural village in North Lanarkshire to live with my husband. I have two grown-up sons but I have filled my empty nest with eleven chickens, two dogs and two pygmy goats.



For the last ten years I’ve enjoyed writing flash fiction, short stories and I’ve completed three novels. My debut novel, Talk of the Toun, is the first of my novels to be published. In 2011, I took a career break to go to Stirling University to do an MLitt in Creative Writing but I’m now back on the road with my day job which involves travelling all over Scotland to deliver maths training for teachers so I have to fit my writing into days off and school holidays. Why did you choose Scotland and that time period for your book?

I wanted to write the type of book I love to read and my favourite writers, such as Janice Galloway, Anne Donovan and Jackie Kay, have set their books in Scotland and given a ‘voice’ to working class characters and this inspired my own writing. The advice often given is, “write what you know” so being a teenager in the 80s in central Scotland meant I could write a credible story.



There are a fair few characters, how did Senga come about, is she based on anyone you know?

The story is entirely fictional – nothing that dramatic happened to me growing up! But I did have a very close relationship with my gran and spent a lot of time with her in the same way Angela gravitates to her gran for support and guidance. My own gran died nine years ago and I still miss her dearly, she was funny without realising it, kind-hearted, a bit vain like Senga and had a white poodle too. But she wasn’t a pet psychic or an extrovert like Senga although she did give me plenty of inspiration and ideas for humorous scenarios. The book’s dedication is, “In memory of my gran, Ella, who taught me the meaning of unconditional love” and I know she’d be proud of me achieving my dream of being a published novelist.

Does it surprise you that Senga seems to be the favourite character? Who is your favourite character in the book and why?

Not really as she’s mine too! As my own relationship with my gran was full of love and laughs it meant I could create a character very loosely based on fact so I think that’s why the character connects with readers. I hoped folk would warm to her and I’m chuffed she’s your favourite too. I would love to see a book about Senga and I am sure I am not alone, is it something you would consider? I had never thought of doing another book with any of the characters but who knows, maybe if I get more interest in Senga I’ll consider writing more adventures for her and Bimbo.



You have captured the mid-80s amazingly, I found myself transported back to many memories I had long forgot. Was this something you meant to do?

Yes, I wanted the setting and time period to feel real so I needed to incorporate cultural references such as fashion, TV programmes, pop songs, food, household décor and gadgets from the era that would trigger the sense of the 80s. I’m blessed (or sometimes it feels more like a curse!)with a really good memory so lots of the details came back to me but the internet was invaluable to check my facts as there’s nothing worse than reading a book and seeing errors littering the page.



What research did you do to capture such an accurate portrayal of the people and times you write about?

There are a lot of websites with themes such as, ‘I love the 80s’ so I spent time reminding myself of things like clothes and makeup that were popular. I also signed up to the Pinterest website which is a great source of inspiration with thousands of boards full of images from the 80s. I set up my own boards for the book, one with images specific to Talk of the Toun and one for general 80s images if readers are interested to see the visuals related to the story. https://uk.pinterest.com/helenmackinven/



What is next for Helen MacKinven?

I’ve been busy with the pre-publication build-up for Talk of the Toun and my day job so I haven’t managed to do much writing on my next project. But I’ve made notes after a bit of research and written a few thousand words on a new novel. This book (if I finish it!) is set in Airdrie after the referendum result but with a local historical event related to the Leningrad Siege weaved into the narrative. Where can readers find you, ie twitter, facebook, website? I blog regularly at helenmackinven.co.uk and can be found on Facebook and on Twitter @HelenMacKinven



You can find my review for Talk Of The Toun here http://www.alwaysreading.net/2015/10/talk-of-toun-by-helen-mackinven_12.html Talk of the toun is now available to buy, kindle £4.99 or a paperback copy at £9.99







I also managed to get to the book launch for this last night, in case you missed it you can see the post and pictures here