Buy one, get one free!

Christmas is coming, and, err, I’m getting fat. With that in mind, and before doing anything silly like eating less or exercising more. I’m trying to create more room in my cramped house my rationalising my bookshelves.

A while ago, I bought some books at the closing down of a bargain bookstore. They’d always sold a lot of remaindered poetry from the likes of Faber, Cape, Picador and Bloodaxe, and there were quite a few volumes worth having, but you basically had to buy a box at a time, for a fiver. So I did. Trouble is, there were quite a few books in there that I already had, and a few more that I didn’t really want.

So, until Christmas, anyone buying a copy of Troy Town through this website (£9, including postage and packing) can also have one of the collections absolutely free. I’ll send you the full list of what’s available when you enquire, but some of the poets include Don Paterson, Neil Rollinson, Jean Sprackland and Ruth Padel.

Just post a comment below if you're interested, nd I'll get back to you. Oh, and don't worry if it takes me a while - I'm going to be all over the place for the next couple of weeks.

More reviews

Catching up on the blogosphere after a computerless few days, I came across this on Matthew Stewart's excellent Rogue Strands.

I'm much indebted to him for his very positive assessment, and I only hope I can live up to it! But, never one to let a plug like that go begging, I'll also take this opportunity to remind you that Troy Town is available here or direct from me (email me at the link on the right), and that I also have a very few copies of Making The Most Of The Light left (but going fast).

Raw Light spotlight

Jane Holland has very kindly published The Memory Of Water, one of the poems from Troy Town, as part of her season of other poets at her Raw Light blog.

It has already featured fine poems from Katy Evans-Bush and Rob Mackenzie (whose book The Opposite Of Cabbage is just out), and I can't help being slightly envious of Katy that she managed to supply a poem of that quality that hadn't made it into her very fine book Me And The Dead!

There are plenty more poets to follow, too, so keep an eye on Raw Light...

Another review

Swiss-based American poet Andrew Shields has posted this really fine review of Troy Town over at his blog.

I've mentioned before that the best review you can get, I think, is one that alerts you to things that you'd never noticed before (or were only subconsciously aware of) in your poetry, and this certainly does that. In fact, the more I read it, the more I think Andrew's last line pretty much sums up the main concern of most of the poetry I've written up to now - the desire to be in several places (or times) at once.

Incidentally, you can catch Andrew reading, along with Alan Gay, Jane McKie and Tim Turnbull, at the Great Grog in Edinburgh, this Sunday evening. Admission is £3, £2 for concessions.