Blog Tour - Dead & Talking
Book Spotlight
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Book Information
First he had to pay for his journalism course, so he became a civil servant. Literally the day he had enough for his fees, he packed it in.
Twelve years on from watching the film, he was a journalist at The Times and had a big hand in bringing down John Major’s government. News ambitions sated, he packed that in too.
Several years of working for Channel 4, ITV and the BBC as a senior producer saw him working across the world, but he eventually got fed up with asking bands how the new album was coming along, and packed it in.
He set up his own production company magnificent! in 2002 and simultaneously worked on the BBC Live Events team for another 10 years. But then six years of work on the Olympics came along, so he packed the BBC in. Again.
Des has jammed with many of his heroes from Paul McCartney to Brian Wilson, Queen to Nancy Sinatra. He has interviewed many A-listers, including David Bowie, Michael Caine, John Cleese and even Noam Chomsky.
He has directed/produced a fairly long list of people – Muse, Coldplay, Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, produced BBC3’s Glastonbury coverage for a couple of years, made films about leprosy in India, comedy shorts with Miranda Hart and Lenny Henry and played guitar for Chas and Dave at the Hackney Empire.
He has made 300+ short films for the Queen, MI5, the BBC, Sky, Discovery, EMI, the British Academy and dozens of authorities, charities and private sector firms. His most recent publication was a series of interviews with leading academics like Mary Beard on the state of the humanities which was published as a standalone magazine by the British Academy.
Fed up with travelling and determined to be a half-decent dad, he now works in London as often as he can. He runs the Young Directors Film School making movies with young people and is about to head up the Digital Film and Video MA at Tileyard. An avid musician and producer, he releases his third album as Romano Chorizo (he plays drums, bass, piano, guitar and really bad sax).
He hates to be pigeon-holed, thinks creativity is a learned state of mind and wishes they would teach people memory and learning techniques at school.
Dead & Talking is his first novel, the first in a series of Porter & The Gliss investigations.
Dead & Talking
by Des Burkinshaw
On my blog today I have the pleasure of
sharing with you.......
Dead & Talking
I would like to thank Rachel Random Resources and Des Burkinshaw for inviting me on the blog tour
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Book Information
If a ghost appeared from nowhere, rescued you from suicide and then ordered you to start solving crimes to help dead people, what would you do? When it happens to Porter Norton, he just wants to put his head in his hands and have nothing to do with it. But now he has to atone for the family curse that has seen all the men die at their own hands for five generations. The Gliss, the sarcastic spirit that rescues him, says he can now and see and hear the Dead - if he’s close to their remains. Porter has to use his unwelcome gift to clear up past injustices. Or else. Forced to investigate the murder of a WW1 British Tommy executed for spying in 1917, he begins to suspect the case has links to his own family history. Along the way, Porter enlists the help of a bickering group of misfits, who struggle to stay involved - because only fools believe in the supernatural, don’t they? Full of pop culture references, banter and twists, the story takes us from present-day London and Flanders to scenes from World War 1. As Porter, The Gliss, and friends, get deeper into the explosive case, they discover their own lives and sanity are at stake. An evil from WW1 pursues them all.
Purchase Links:
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Author Guest Post
The importance of research. by Des Burkinshaw
How many times has someone come up to you and told you they have an idea for
a book?
“I’ve got a great idea for a book. A man falls in love with a woman and their
family keep them apart.”
You look at them and wonder if they know what they’re saying. That “idea” is the
basis of West Side Story (and Romeo and Juliet of course), a chunk of Jane
Austen’s novels – damn, even most of PG Wodehouse’s novels. It’s more of a
theme than an idea.
You suggest to them that they bring specificity to it. Two CEOs of the world’s
biggest tech firms, fall in love, despite their corporate rivalry, and their
respective corporate families connive to keep them apart. Or maybe, Donald
Trump’s daughter and the son of the Venezuelan president become lovers and
cause a diplomatic crisis. I could definitely do something with either idea.
Once you point this out, the friend usually says something like, “No, I meant boy
falls in love with the girl next door type of thing.” I ask if her dad is a serial killer?
“No! Of course not!”
After sighing a lot, what I suggest to them is research. I gave one friend a book
about The Flying Scotsman, and he immediately changed his story to one of
romance based around the driver living in London, but whose lover lived in
Scotland.
When I started plotting my debut novel, Dead & Talking, I had an idea. A man is
saved from suicide by a strange spirit and is told he has to atone by putting right
some historical injustices. I remember thinking. Great idea.
Once I started plotting I immediately hit an obvious wall. WHAT INJUSTICES?!
Chance came to play a part. As a filmmaker, I was packed off to Ypres to make a
film about soldiers from the Commonwealth who fought for the French and
British during World War 1.
I knew quite a lot about World War 1 already but went to Foyles to pick up 10
interesting looking histories. From those books I wrote down maybe 100 points
of interest, little asides, which had nothing to do with the mainstream history of
that conflict. During the making of the film, I got to visit a few hidden locations. I
found out a few hair-raising facts of which I knew nothing.
All this research drove the plot massively. Once I knew my hero Porter Norton
had to solve injustices, I immediately thought of the ongoing controversy about
whether to pardon those executed for desertion. So I had a prototype victim but
what could have been the problem he faced? It was all in the research, but I would be spoiling the plot to tell you what I found. Suffice to say, the real history
informed the plot dramatically.
There’s a thing I do at the talks I occasionally give about my writing and TV/film
work.
I ask people to come up with a story logline. They have 2 minutes and then they
have to stand up in front of everyone and be judged. It’s a tough assignment and
most people come up with ideas as weak as the boy meets girl theme above.
I go through a dictionary, pull out 8 random words and do the exercise again.
“Come up with a love story about 2 lovers kept apart by family.” Then I give them
the 8 words. They’ll always be totally random – deer, xylophone, fracture, mouse,
banana, car, iridescent, blockbuster – and tell them they can use as many or as
few as they like.
Everyone gets scribbling and 90% of them come up with a specific storyline this
time: A deer and an elephant fall in love, but their doomed love is frowned upon
by the other animals at the zoo etc etc. We did one recently and it lead to the title
School of Fish in which a misfit starfish goes to study with proper fish at the
marine equivalent of Oxford Univerity. I think someone should make that
movie… Pixar? If you’re listening….
When you are struggling with a plot, or desperate for inspiration, remember that
research will free you up.
Dead & Talking – A Porter & The Gliss investigation is out on July 9 through
Amazon and Audible.
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GIVEAWAY
Win 3 x Signed Copies of Dead & Talking
(Open INT)
*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
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Author Bio
Born in the middle of the Summer of Love on a pre-fab council estate in Luton, teenage bitterness and a chance viewing of the Watergate movie, All the President’s Men, made him vow to become a journalist and bring down the government.
First he had to pay for his journalism course, so he became a civil servant. Literally the day he had enough for his fees, he packed it in.
Twelve years on from watching the film, he was a journalist at The Times and had a big hand in bringing down John Major’s government. News ambitions sated, he packed that in too.
Several years of working for Channel 4, ITV and the BBC as a senior producer saw him working across the world, but he eventually got fed up with asking bands how the new album was coming along, and packed it in.
He set up his own production company magnificent! in 2002 and simultaneously worked on the BBC Live Events team for another 10 years. But then six years of work on the Olympics came along, so he packed the BBC in. Again.
Des has jammed with many of his heroes from Paul McCartney to Brian Wilson, Queen to Nancy Sinatra. He has interviewed many A-listers, including David Bowie, Michael Caine, John Cleese and even Noam Chomsky.
He has directed/produced a fairly long list of people – Muse, Coldplay, Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, produced BBC3’s Glastonbury coverage for a couple of years, made films about leprosy in India, comedy shorts with Miranda Hart and Lenny Henry and played guitar for Chas and Dave at the Hackney Empire.
He has made 300+ short films for the Queen, MI5, the BBC, Sky, Discovery, EMI, the British Academy and dozens of authorities, charities and private sector firms. His most recent publication was a series of interviews with leading academics like Mary Beard on the state of the humanities which was published as a standalone magazine by the British Academy.
Fed up with travelling and determined to be a half-decent dad, he now works in London as often as he can. He runs the Young Directors Film School making movies with young people and is about to head up the Digital Film and Video MA at Tileyard. An avid musician and producer, he releases his third album as Romano Chorizo (he plays drums, bass, piano, guitar and really bad sax).
He hates to be pigeon-holed, thinks creativity is a learned state of mind and wishes they would teach people memory and learning techniques at school.
Dead & Talking is his first novel, the first in a series of Porter & The Gliss investigations.
Social Media Links –
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If you enjoyed My Post then please Share so we can get Everyone Reading and Talking about....... Dead & Talking by Des Burkinshaw
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