Win with music and words

Do you want to win a signed copy of a limited edition of my crime thriller, Snowflake? Read on or click here to find out how you can get your hands on a copy.

A couple of years ago the Mann Booker prize winner and American writer George Saunders interviewed the Grammy Award winner, Jason Isbell. Literature meets music.

Listening to the interview, I was struck by the fact that both talked about trying to find the right word to convey their message whether in the written word or in a song.

Saunders is better known for his short stories. I love short stories and already have a number written. I’ll come back to them in another blog though.

I also have a varied taste in music. Last year I saw Isbell play with his band the 400 Unit at Black Deer Festival in Kent, UK @blackdeerfest. His music is of that genre known as Americana. More than country, it incorporates R&B, bluegrass and folk at times. Every song I listened to, whether Jason Isbell’s or another artist’s, told a story.

So I’m going back to the festival this year at the end of this week to see how Americana can tell a story in a short space of time. Maybe we will bump into each other there, and if we do quote the last line of the first chapter of my book, Snowflake, to me and I will send a signed copy of a limited edition copy of it to the first 10 people who get it right. The whole of the first chapter is found here.

In the meantime, enjoy the Black Deer Festival. And if you think Americana isn’t your thing, take a breath find a playlist, crank up the volume and you never know. You might just find a story in a song that you had not expected to find.