From the blog of award-winning Australian author Mark Dapin
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Fantastic news for the thousands of overseas readers of this blog: King of the Cross is now available from amazon.co.uk at the I-lose-about-ten-dollars price of £4.99. It's being sold as "used-like new" from Oswaldley Bookstore, but all copies are actually new and Oswaldley is my mate Roger. Other dealers stock it, but only Roger's are new. Buy it for your friends and family in the UK for Easter (it's more traditional than a chocolate egg) or pesach (it tastes better than a burnt offering). It's the ideal gift for birthdays, weddings, funerals, Anzac Day, Liberation Day (Italy) and the May Day holiday.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Cross-Mark-Dapin/dp/1405039620/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1303030550&sr=8-3
And if you are a young adult, or used to be a young adult, or know somebody who's a young adult, you should also buy Roger's own book, Echo McCool, Outlaw Through Time.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Echo-McCool-Outlaw-Through-Time/dp/1908105267/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303030961&sr=1-1
Imagine the thrill of owning two books by people who used to live in the same house. You can't buy that sort of experience.
Well, obviously, you can. But you couldn't until last week.
http://markdapin.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-thing-thats-happened-in-uk-since.html#comments
Fantasy novel Echo McCool, Outlaw Through Time; in the TOP 40 Goodreads.com "Best Books of 2011"
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Echo McCool - Author's debut book in top ten list
A BEVERLEY author has just seen his first published work named as one of this year’s top ten books.
Roger K Driscoll’s children’s book Echo McCool Outlaw Through Time was picked out for praised by independent literature comparison website www.goodreads.com
The children’s fantasy novel aimed at nine to 12-year olds is also now on sale at WHSmith book store in Toll Gavel, Beverley.
Mr Driscoll from Curlew Close, Molescroft, said: “I’ve been scribbling for years but this is the first one that’s been published, it took a lot of practice.”
The author grew up in the Beverley area and was inspired to write because of his enjoyable childhood playing out from dawn till dusk.
His story about a magical medieval girl linking up with a 12-year-old runaway is set in a mythical place called Oswaldley.
“Oswaldley is really Beverley, Witch Wood is Burton Bushes and Hazelby is Driffield. I don’t have any children myself and it’s difficult to say why I chose to write children’s books, they chose me.
“I think it depends on what sort of time you had when you were that age. I had a great time.
“I lived not far from where I live now and we used to play out all the time. I don’t think that happens so much.
“Sometimes we went raking off for miles.”
Mr Driscoll is a former legal executive who was made redundant in 2008 and used his redundancy money as an “advance” so he could take time out to write.
He was able to secure a deal with Grosvenor House Publishing, one of the directors of which is the respected Yorkshire author GP Taylor.
He said: “I wouldn’t say my career has ended but it’s on hold. It was difficult to do both at the same time because legal work is quite taxing. You end up shoe-horning in the writing.”
Whatever happens, anyone who enjoys Echo McCool Outlaw Through Time can be assured there is a sequel on the way.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Friday, 3 June 2011
Echo McCool - "Author's book praised on literature website"
BEVERLEY author Roger K Driscoll has seen his first published work named as one of this year's top ten books.
Echo McCool Outlaw Through Time was praised by independent literature comparison website www.goodreads.com
The children's fantasy novel aimed at 9 to 12-year-olds is now on sale at WHSmith book store in Toll Gavel, Beverley.
Mr Driscoll, of Curlew Close, Molescroft, said: "I've been scribbling for years, but this is the first one that's been published."
The author grew up in the Beverley area and was inspired to write because of his enjoyable childhood.
His story about a magical medieval girl linking up for adventures with a 12-year-old runaway is set in a mythical place called Oswaldley.
But the author said: "It's based on Beverley and the East Riding. I've used different place names, but they're all linked to this area. "Oswaldley is really Beverley, Witch Wood is Burton Bushes and Hazelby is Driffield."
The book is published by Grosvenor House Publishing, one of the directors of which is respected Yorkshire author GP Taylor.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Echo McCool - Beverley Guardian 13 May 2011
Losing his job helped Roger realise dream
REDUNDANCY forced a Beverley man into realising a life-long dream of becoming an author.
Roger Driscoll’s first book, Echo McCool, Outlaw Through Time, is now rated as one of the top 10 best reads of the year by the website www.goodreads.com.
The book is the tale of Echo McCool, a magical, medieval girl with attitude.
In her own time, Echo escapes death from a poisoned arrow and hides inside a hollow oak tree. She lies dormant for hundreds of years, until the present day when she is awakened by Jason Fleeting, a 12-year-old runaway from a children’s home. Together, they set out to solve the murder of Jason’s mother and to rescue his kidnapped sister.
Roger’s work is heavily influenced by 1970s TV writer Richard Carpenter, who created series including Catweazle and Dick Turpin.
After some success in England when he was first published in January, Roger’s Amazon rating in America started to go up.
More recently, the book was rated in the top 10 best books of 2011 by the users of American site goodreads.com.
“That was quite unexpected,” Roger said. “I thought it would start in my own back yard and spread out, but it’s done the opposite and really taken off in America.”
Roger said being made redundant from a large law firm in Hull was the push he needed to finish half-written manuscripts he was storing under his spare bed.
“Trying to write on a weekend and evening takes its toll. Being made redundant gave me the chance to write full-time, which is so much better for me,” he said.
Roger first became interested in writing after meeting a children’s author whilst on holiday as a child in the Yorkshire Dales.
“I thought ‘that’s the life for me’,” he said.
However, Roger turned to law, although he did complete some writing work during this time and sent it off to various publishers.
“It’s very difficult in this country to get taken on by the big guys, so many people aspire to do it,” he said.
Roger eventually had success with Echo McCool, Outlaw Through Time, seeing the book picked up by Grosvenor House Publishing, a small company based in North Yorkshire.
He is now working on the sequel to Echo McCool, Outlaw Through Time and also plans to write a short novel.
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