Shelf-ish Opinions

There are two responses I tend to get from people when they find out I write. Most of them assume that, as jobs go, it's far more glamorous and better paid than it actually is. The second response, meanwhile, is usually a double query: 'What have you written?' and 'Is it in the shops?'.

That latter question has become something of a bane to me. To date the stories I've had published are mostly for Big Finish in the UK and Morrigan Books. While BF tend to be reasonably well represented in UK bookshops, your chances of finding, say, my last Short Trips story in a bookshop over this way are slim to non-existent. And with Morrigan still a growing company (and therefore still working on their distribution) the best way to get any of the stories I've written is to order them online.

Now I like to trawl bookshops for my purchases where possible, but if online's the way to go I have no problems with that. For most people who ask me, however, this seems to be something of a problem: I can see their eyes glaze over as soon as I mention buying from websites. For them, bookshops convey legitimacy: if it's not on the shelf in a shop, it doesn't exist.

Which is why I'm dead chuffed that Morrigan have completed the next step in their distribution plans and sold Voices into Perth's Fantastic Planet bookshop. I'll be able to direct people to a real-life shop, into which they will be able to wander and physically touch the book. Yes, it's real: pick it up, read the back. Riffle the pages. Sniff it.

Then buy it. It's really rather good, you know.