1024px-Cherry-Pie-SliceVery pleased to read a warm review of The Stillman in NorthWords Now. A fantastic magazine, showcasing writers and artists from the north of Scotland. Well worth a look, check out the link.

And it seems The Stillman has even made it to the USA, with the Midwest Book Review calling it a ‘literary masterpiece’. Jings and crivvens! The MBR’s based in Oregon, almost Twin Peaks country. I expect a call from David Lynch about movie rights any day now.

Working the distillery warehouses I passed my day with Hollywood dreams. Lynch fitted the pressing dark. It was hard not to drift out of normal focus, like the opening sequence in Blue Velvet, white picket brightness and all-American familiarity, the camera panning across a manicured lawn, right into the grass itself and then a sudden seethe of scrabbling beetles. Highland noir is made for him; a decrepit caravan down a remote track but you know someone’s in there, Jim Reeves on the jukebox in a deserted pub, the loaded silence of an empty corrie when it feels like something’s not quite left yet. Less cherry pie than macaroni though…