Stirling's 'Bloody Scotland'

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Bloody Scotland is the name of Stirling's annual crime fiction festival which I've often thought of going to in person and indeed it was one of the things high on the list for after the Ph D. As things turned out my first chance to go would have been in 2020 and we all know what happened then. And 2021 was little better from that point of view. They held a blended festival which meant it was available to attend in person and to view on line and having looked at the brochure I thought 'what the heck?' and purchased an Access All digital pass, which meant I could watch as much as I liked on screen and what I didn't see at the time I could access on their you tube channel up until the end of September. It was good value, or at least I got good value from it. 

The big draws  for me were Mick Herron and Elly Griffiths, but there were plenty of other names about that I thought might be of interest. I didn't in the end manage everything but I did manage all the ones I particularly wanted and a few that I was curious about, some of which were more interesting than others.And some which were quite boring to be honest. Not all writers are entertainers in person!

Elly Griffiths was a delight. She was on a two woman panel with Lin Andersen and it was a warm conversational and collaborative time, which is more than could be said for most of the other sessions. I find somewhat to my surprise that I have not already  been enthusiastically recommending Mick Herron's Slough House books which I discovered earlier in the year here on the blog. I  immediately devoured the series to date with the result that I am now left hanging on for the next one which isn't due until who knows when; certainly not this year and possibly not next either. He was surprisingly 'ordinary' in conversation but there was some interesting background stuff about the books. Two sessions I didn't expect to enjoy were with Kathy Reichs and Karin Slaughter and yet I did find them interesting and enjoyable after all, so sucks to preconceptions I guess.  I said hard things about Slaughter on the blog earlier this year which I now take back. She explained that one of her motives for writing about violence done to women came from her direct family experience; the family 'joke' about what a clumsy woman her grandmother was, as every time she was seen she had bruises, black eyes etc and her husband ad four strapping sons maintained consistently that she 'fell over, walked into doors' etc when everyone knew her husband regularly beat her and no-one said anything about it, let alone tried to stop it. She feels it's a duty to speak up for all the women this sort of violence is perpetrated on, and really I can't argue with that. It doesn't mean I'll read any more of her books  as I do find them too violent to take, but I acquit her of sensationalism and trying to up her sales by chronicling the suffering of women at the hands of men. 

As always I found listening to Ian Rankin talking much much more interesting than reading his books. Jo Nesbo was boring, and Stuart MacBride is really irritating. I did find a new author to try, one Marion Todd, who sets a police procedural series in St Andrews. I've listened to the first two on Aubdible but will try and get subsequent volumes on Kindle or at the library. The audible versions are read by the author, and suffer from the fact. You would think having the author read the book would be a good thing, but apparently not always! 

I'd like to go in person next year but it seems unlikely to happen, as with luck and a following wind we'll be in Australia on our much delayed Ruby Wedding Anniversary trip while Bloody Scotland is taking place.