#Fahrenbruary Guest Post: My Favourite Queer Crime Reads by Derek Farrell @DereklFarrell @FahrenheitPress #LGBTHM19 #LGBT

Way-heeeeeyyyyy and welcome to the hairiest book blog this side of Yetisville, where, I am led to believe, there is an even hairier book blogger. Mind you, Yetis are not really known for their literacy and reading skills so I don’t think I have anything to worry about. But, in the spirit of inclusiveness, I wish them all the very best.

Today is the 14th day of #Fahrenbruary which just happens to be Valentine’s Day, or Fahrentine’s Day, if you will.

Haha, Fahrentine’s Day? Geddit? Fahrentine? It’s a mix of Fahrenheit and Valen… No? No-one? Oh come on! *sigh* Ok, maybe that’s a Fahrenpun too far. Be like that then *sulks*

Okay, sulk over.

Now, Beardy Fact Fans, Fahrenbruary (or, to give it its old, boring name, February), is also LGBT History Month; a month long series of events that looks at the history of, promotes awareness of and acceptance towards, the LGBT community. It is also a celebration of all things Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, with events up, down and across the country, in schools, colleges, Universities, libraries, the local bakers, the putting green, roller rink, jumble sales, tiddly-winks tournaments, retirement homes; you name it it’s there, anywhere and everywhere.

In this spirit, Derek has written a post where he discusses his favourite Queer Crime reads, and his reasons for choosing them. There’s some great sounding books and authors in here, none of which, I’m ashamed to say, I have read (though I do have Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr Ripley” on my shelf as I love the film and the book was begging me to buy it in my local bookshop. Would’ve been rude not too, wouldn’t it?). I will hang my beard in shame, but after reading Derek’s post I fully intend to look into these further and I shall lift my beard once more.

Derek is of course the author of his own Queer Crime series: the sublime and wonderful Danny Bird mysteries (Death Of A Diva; Death Of A Nobody; Death Of A Devil and the soon to be released Death Of An Angel), all published by Fahrenheit Press. Danny comes home one day to find his boyfriend shacked up with the window cleaner (no, seriously). He turns around and leaves, and in the process leaves his old life behind, losing everything that he knew and had worked hard for. A sheer coincidence leads him to the Marquess Of Queensbury pub in South London, where he spontaneously applies for the bar manager vacancy, and lo and behold, he finds himself with a pub. Sadly this pub is also owned by the local crime lord “Chopper” Falzone, which is a shame. This is just the start of Danny’s problems. Of course, you’ll have to read the books to find out what those problems are 😉

Anyway, that’s quite enough of my prattling and general guffery. So, without further ado, or further adon’t, I’ll hand over to Derek.

Enjoy 🏳️‍🌈 TBBB. X

 

#Fahrenbruary Guest Post: Couples On The Run who inspired Back Door To Hell, by Paul Gadsby. @PaulJGadsby @FarenheitPress

Hello you lovely, lovely people, and a very warm welcome to my little beardy blog.

How are you all doing? Really? Well I hope that that clears up very soon. Otherwise all okay? Excellent.

Now, in case you didn’t know, #Fahrenbruary is in full swing; the month long celebration of all things Fahrenheit Press and Fahrenheit 13. Yesterday (if you’ve been following along sequentially) I posted my review of Back Door To Hell, a gritty, tense, couples on the run noir thriller by Paul Gadsby.

Here, via the magic of the internet, is a link to that very review…. LINK.

It’s clever that, innit?

A little while ago I asked Paul Gadsby to write me a piece about what inspired him to write BDTH. And do you know what? He agreed and did…. did.

So, dear reader read on as Paul discusses his favourite novels featuring a couple on the run that inspired his new noir thriller…

 

 

Deep Dirty Truth – Steph Broadribb @crimethrillgirl @orendabooks @annecater #TeamLori

 

When I agreed to review Deep Dirty Truth for this blog tour I couldn’t wait to get started. My gibber glands were excitedly secreting gibber juice at a rate I have never experienced before. I was seriously in danger of over gibbering and passing out with all the anticipation.

But there was a problem.

I discovered that I just didn’t have the time to read and review this book. What was I thinking in accepting this tour? What was I going to? I couldn’t let Karen Sullivan, The Lovely Steph® and Anne Cater down.

My gibber glands went into reverse and I suffered what can only be described as ‘reverse gibberage’ and I despaired.

For days I wailed, and, after a cleansing saline flushing of my gibber-pipes, I wondered what I could do to fulfil my responsibility. Eventually I came to the inevitable conclusion: I would have to ask someone else to review this book and post their review as a guest post.

I started to ask around the bloggersphere for someone who could do this book justice. Someone who could get right into the deep dirty truth of what this book was all about. To my utter and crushing disappointment no one answered me. Not one person. Eventually I got to the very end of my contacts, and then I got to the very end of my emergency contacts. No one. After going through all of my emergency emergency contacts, and then exhausting everyone down my street, even flagging down a coach-load of pensioners on an outing to a matinee showing of the Chippendales, I came to the inevitable conclusion…

… I would have to ask him.

I went to the little box mounted on my bedroom wall; the one protected by super toughened, military grade glass, took out the special diamond tipped ultrasonic hammer, sent a silent prayer to the Lord, Freddie, and switched it on. The little thrum vibrating down the handle from the hammer head tickled my hand as I raised it to the glass and struck it.

The glass shattered, revealing behind it a safe, the combination to which was itself locked away in a safe deposit box in Hong Kong. I had arranged to have it couriered to me earlier, so armed with the code I opened the safe. Inside was a little toughened titanium box, locked with a key that was itself locked away in a safe guarded by a highly venomous Black Mamba snake that only one person in the world could safely wrangle. That person, RIP, sent me the key by secure courier and with it I opened the box.

Inside was a number. A phone number.

I dialled it with sweating hands and a terrible sense of dread and trepidation.

It was engaged.

Of course it was. That is because I was dialling the only other person I knew who loves, er, I mean, admires, Steph Broadribb as much as me:

The Beardy Book Blogger.

May your lord have mercy on your reading souls.

 

But first, a word from the blurb:

 

“A price on her head, and just 48 hours to expose the truth, and save her family…

Single-mother bounty hunter Lori Anderson has finally got her family back together, but her new-found happiness is shattered when she’s snatched by the Miami Mob, who they want her dead. But rather than a bullet, they offer her a job: find the Mob’s ‘numbers man’ – Carlton North – who’s in protective custody after being forced to turn federal witness against them. If Lori succeeds, they’ll wipe the slate clean and the price on her head – and those of her family – will be removed. If she fails, they die.

With only 48 hours before North is due to appear in court, Lori sets across Florida, racing against the clock to find him, and save her family…”

 

‘In Conversation with’….The Beardy Book Blogger. Who?

Mooching around the blogosphere I have noticed that one of the most popular post types seems to be the Blogger Q & A. Now, I’m not well known enough yet to be invited to take part in one of these things, and I am actually much too shy to ask to be invited when one asks, so I thought why not do one of my own. Me interviewing myself.

So I messaged myself.

I waited. No answer.

I messaged again. Then I remembered that I probably wouldn’t answer quickly as I’d be too busy procrastinating over whether the request was genuine or some scam or other.

So I checked out my blog, thought it looked ok – well, it looked daft if I’m honest, but that’s ok because I do like a bit of daft – and I replied.

I got back to myself surprisingly fast with the following questions, or more of a rambling chit chat, which I now present to you.

Enjoy and maybe you’ll learn something about The Beardy Book Blogger 🙂

The History Of The Book – A Complete and Factual Account. Part 1.

When I sat down to think about what kind of post I could write for my blog I was a little stumped. What I asked myself, what, I asked myself again in case I hadn’t heard myself, could I possibly write about that would be meaningful, insightful, intelligent – make a statement?

Then the light bulb came on.

It wasn’t an idea that came to me, it was just the timer switching the light on, but it did illuminate my bookshelf and the books upon it. Looking at them I thought, “where did all of these books come from? What is their story? What is the history of books?”

And then it came to me…..

Why don’t I write a post about my bookshelf? How shiny it is in the lamp light. How the grain really brings out the books? But then I thought, nah, that would be too totes emosh for everyone to read. So I thought on, and then something that I thought earlier came back to me….

Now, I’m no histographer, but I do know what the internet is, so I thought, how hard can it be to research and write a complete and concise history of the book-ed word? Well, I tried and discovered a ton of interesting facts that I just had to share with you all.

And so, I implore you to read on and found out wot I did find out as I present to you, in several parts-yet-to-be-decided…

THE COMPLETE AND ACCURATE HISTORY OF THE BOOK