Unfortunately books go out of print. There’s an interesting article by Ann Jungman about why this happens (and particularly why so many children’s titles disappeared during the corporate takeovers of the 1990s) here. Her publishing house, Barn Owl, aims to return some of these lost books to our shelves.
In the meantime, what’s a poor author to do? While it’s true that writers need money, books need readers even more… So after much thought I’ve decided to let some of my out-of-print titles loose on the Web. I’m also going to post my favourite never-made-it-into-print titles.
I love feedback, so contact me if you enjoy any of the stories here.
48 Hours with Franklin
Described in The Scotsman as “by far the funniest book ever to win the Fidler Award for new writing”, 48 Hours with Franklin is aimed at 9–10 year olds and was published by Blackie and Puffin in 1993.
Franklin Falls Apart
This is the sequel to 48 Hours with Franklin. It was published by Dutton in 1995.
Franklin Comes Unstuck
The third and final instalment in the Franklin Files… It may take me a while to get all of this uploaded, so bear with me.
Serious Stuff
This short story was broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland and was a runner up in the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday Short Story Competition in 1997. I’m very fond of it – it’s all about being a frustrated artist, which is something I know about! Not really suitable for young children (it’s a bit sad at the end), but young teens and adults should get what it’s about.
Jack and the Bean
This was originally a story told by a character in a novel that I never finished. It made me laugh when I reread it recently, so I decided to post it here.
Scrobbler!
This is aimed at 6–7 year olds and is great fun, but somehow never found a publisher. Does anyone remember Boglins – the rubbery toys with goggly eyes that used to be everywhere in the mid-nineties? Well my son had a Boglin but he lost it at the railway station and we couldn’t find it anywhere. Now you could tell from the expression on that Boglin’s face that he was a real baddie. A real trouble-maker. So I thought, ‘there’s an idea’ and I wrote a story about a creature called the Scrobbler that escapes from its sensible owners and runs amok through the town, doing the awful things our Boglin would have done if it had been alive.
The Bogey Man
Too scary to be a picture book, but I like it…
Coming soon
Star Child
This is my favourite picture book text, but I’ve never been able to find a publisher for it. I’ll post it here just as soon as I can work out a minimal way of illustrating it.