Prizes!

Yes, there will be prizes!

Now to put my thinking hat on and work out competition guidelines.....(and no, the table and lamp etc are not included!!

Book of the Month - EASONS!

Some lovely news, THE GAME CHANGER, has been chosen as a 'BOOK OF THE MONTH' at Easons!!!#notlongnow

A Day I will never forget....

Live on Arena!!

If you fancy having a listen in.....Tune into RTE Radio 1 Arena

14th Sept 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.

I'll be talking all things THE GAME CHANGER!! 

It will be live,so let's hope there are no slip ups!

Top Drawer Crime Writing!!!

Huge thanks to Hubert O'Heirn of BY THE BOOK REVIEWS & SAN DIEGO BOOK REVIEWS for this review of THE GAME CHANGER....

“The GAME CHANGER is absolute top drawer crime writing by Ireland's finest crime writer. You will spend a very pleasant series of hours untying the knots of a perfectly tangled plot, and then the real fun starts when you follow the line that leads from the crime to – YOU.

Louise Phillips's fourth novel, The Game Changer, is a psychological thriller that really should demand that a lot of other so-called psychological thrillers give up their false identity....a real psychological thriller like The Game Changer is actually about something. This  is the sort of crime novel that involves learning as a subversive activity; an exploration into the darker current of the mind while playing the great old game of WHODUNNIT?"

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

Clever, subtle and well crafted!

Aine Toner, Editor - WOMAN'S WAY Review of The Game Changer

"The Game Changer is bloody brilliant - clever, subtle and well crafted, please read this!"

Congratulations...it's great!!

Well journalist Anne Marie Scanlon was the first to finish THE GAME CHANGER...."I was gripped....finished and enjoyed it immensely, loved the #TheGameChanger idea, fascinated by cults... Congratulations it's GREAT.."

PHEW!!

I envy you the things you don't know....

Talking to Emu Ink about what I've learned, or not, after nearly one million words in 4 years....

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Cover Girl!

Huge thanks to the ECHO for this feature...I never thought I'd see my face on a cover, but Life is full of surprises....

Goodreads Giveaway - THE GAME CHANGER!

And just as you think there can't be more giveaways, the GOODREADS GIVEAWAY Competition for THE GAME CHANGER starts today! 

TO ENTER CLICK HERE

Irish Times Literary Line up...inclusive of book launches in the Gutter Bookshop September!

IRISH TIMES LITERARY LINE UP....

September Launches in the Gutter Bookshop....

In crime fiction, Louise Phillips’s new novel The Game Changer launches on Tuesday, September 8th, while the launch for A Hollow in the Hills by Ruth Frances Long takes place the following evening, September 9th. Lastly, the short story writer ER Murray launches her anticipated debut children’s novel The Book of Learning on Tuesday, September 15th 


READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Irish Authors!

If you're an Irish author and you're going to the launch of The Game Changer (and you're not shy) will you message me on Facebook, twitter, email or comment here.  There will be video interviews done at the launch on the 8th September by the website 'Irish Interest'!

Talk about atmosphere!!!

The writing workshop as part of Tallafest​ on Saturday was fantastic. 

Set in the historic St Maelruain’s church, the atmosphere was fueled with smells of incense and an overwhelming sense of not only the past, but of the coming together of people with a strong desire to write!

My Life in Books

I've spent most of the day writing a piece on 'My Life in Books. Honestly, it was like choosing between your closest friends. I eventually got the list down from 20 to the required 6.....but I'm happy, even if I would be much happier if I could put the other 14 back in!!!

How Much of an Narcissist are YOU?

You case you haven't heard....THE GAME CHANGER has a murderous cult leader as one of the principle players. In the novel, this character displays many traits of narcissism, which makes this quiz a little interesting by way of finding out how narcissistic you are.....

EVALUATE YOURSELF.....using numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, based on 'does not apply at all' = 1 to 'applies strongly' = 5

1. I can be completely absorbed in thinking about my personal affairs, my health and my relationship with others.

2. My feelings are easily hurt by the slighting remarks of others.

3. When I enter a room I often become self-conscious and feel like everyone is looking at me.

4. I don't like sharing the credit of achievement with others.

5. I feel like I have enough on my hands without worrying about other people's problems.

6. I feel that I am different from most people.

7. I often interpret the critical remarks of others in a personal way.

8. I easily become wrapped up in my own interests and forget the existence of others.

9. I dislike being with a group unless I know that I am appreciated by at least one of those present.

10. I am secretly annoyed when other people come to me with their troubles and ask for sympathy.

11.I am jealous of good looking people.

12. I tend to feel humiliated when criticised.

13. I wonder why other people aren't more appreciative of my talents and good qualities.

14. I see other people as being great or terrible.

15. I sometimes have fantasies about being violent without knowing why.

16. I am especially sensitive to success and failure.

17. Other people don't seem to understand my problems.

18. I try to avoid rejection at all costs.

19. I think my secret thoughts, feelings and actions would horrify some of my friends.

20. I tend to become involved in relationships in which I alternately adore and despise the other person.

21. Even when I am in a group of friends, I often feel alone and uneasy.

22.I resent others who have what I lack.

23. Defeat or disappointment usually shame or anger me, but I try not to show it.

REMEMBER, THIS IS FOR FUN......IF YOU GET A HIGH SCORE, IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU WILL TURN INTO A MURDEROUS CULT LEADER!!

NOW, ADD UP YOUR POINTS...

<50 = low level of covert narcissism

50 - 80 = medium level of covert narcissism

>80 = high level of covert narcissism

ABOUT THE TEST (from The Test Book below)

The Narcissism questionnaire by Henry Murray from 1938 was updated in 2013 by a team of psychologists lead by Jonathan Cheek, to make it easier to identify covert narcissists.

The Test Book by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler

"Don't be shocked if you get a high score in this test. Many studies suggest that we are living in a narcissistic age "

The Twins Have Arrived....

The twins, better known as (ARCs - Advanced review copies) have arrived....I am dizzy with excitement!

You never think when you are arguing with yourself during first draft stage, that it will ever come to this!!

xx

Louise

Competition Time at Bleach House Library!!!

LAST DAY of #Irish Fiction Fortnight and the wonderful Margaret Madden of BLEACH HOUSE LIBRARY has lots of goodies of THE GAME CHANGER to be won,

PLUS a hot off the press copy of the novel for one lucky winner......

PLUS a glimpse of the opening chapter and more.....

ENTER COMPETITION HERE

It all started in Dublin 1988....

Signed First Editions....

For anyone who cannot make the launch, a facility for SIGNED 1st EDITION Large Format Paperbacks of 'The Game Changer' by Louise Phillips has been put in place.

This book will be signed by the author at the Official Launch in the Gutter Bookshop on TUESDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER 2015 and will be dispatched immediately afterwards.

A PERSONALISED MESSAGE CAN BE ADDED BY THE AUTHOR AT NO ADDITIONAL COST - PLEASE INCLUDE ANY DEDICATION DETAILS IN THE EXTRA INFORMATION FIELD WITH YOUR ORDER.

ORDER LINK: HERE

If during the ordering process, the personalised message link on the 'Notes to Bookseller' section does not appear, there is no need to be concerned. The Gutter Bookshop will always email the customer once the order is placed to see if they want a personalised message. They won't miss it. 

So, if you can't make the launch and you'd like to reserve a Signed and Dedicated copy, "you can request one from the Gutter Bookshop on 01 6799206, or via info@gutterbookshop.com or via their Signed 1st Editions site (see Order Link Above) Include your dedication info in the 'Notes to Bookseller section' or await their confirmation of your order where the Gutter team will double-check any dedications you require." 

READING IRELAND focuses on Irish Crime Fiction....

Reading Ireland is a new on-line quarterly publication founded by Dundalk native Adrienne Leavy to promote Irish literature and contemporary Irish writing, both in Ireland and in the United States.

Here is what the editor Adrienne Leavy had to say:-

“Each issue will focus on a specific genre or type of literature. For example, the summer issue, which was recently published, Reading Ireland focused on Irish crime fiction. Contributors included award winning Irish crime fiction writers Louise Phillips and Declan Burke, along with regular guest columnist Des Kenny from Kennys Bookshop in Galway.

In the autumn, the focus will be on poetry, and the winter issue will concentrate on Irish drama. In recognition of the vital contribution that Little Magazines have historically made to the promotion of Irish literature and culture, each issue will also look at a Little Magazine from the past. Issue one can be downloaded at no cost under the subscribe tab on the website www.readingireland.net For more information, please contact Adrienne atleavya@cox.net”

For a snippet from my article on the Rise of Irish Crime Fiction, see below…..

Irish Crime Fiction – Emerald Noir or Emerald Diversity?

There has been a lot of discussion of late about the rise of Irish crime fiction, and rightly so. Over the last decade we’ve seen a remarkable growth in Irish crime fiction writing, with more Irish writers than ever choosing the crime genre for creative expression.  People have coined phrases such as Emerald Noir or Celtic Crime, to encompass this phenomenon, but it is more than the increased numbers of Irish writers now exploring the genre, it is also the wide diversity of their work, the sub-genres within it, the topics, location and settings, and the variety by which Irish crime fiction is portraying a sense of not only how we feel about the world around us, but how we choose to write about it.

Irish crime fiction was described as being a very big tent by Dr Brian Cliff, Assistant Professor in English and Director of Irish Studies at Trinity College Dublin. During the last crime fiction festival held at the college, a festival which had unprecedented numbers attending, when asked about Irish crime fiction, he said, “Irish novelists set their work as far afield as Jane Casey’s London, John Connolly’s America, and Conor Fitzgerald’s Rome, and they do so with a broad palette from psychological crime novels to international thrillers, from socially engaging hard-boiled fiction to supernatural mysteries.”

John Connolly and many others believe that Irish crime fiction has reached its own Golden Age, not simply because of the numbers of Irish authors now writing within the field, and the diversity involved, but also because of the high quality in terms of adventurousness and critical acclaim. “It’s a kind of coming of age for Irish crime fiction,’ says John, the creator of the highly successful Charlie Parker series.

Inevitably, with an explosion in artistic expression, covering both historical and contemporary fiction, the big question is why is Irish Crime fiction booming?

Some link the creative development to the rise and fall of the so called Celtic Tiger in Ireland, and there are good arguments to support this, not least of which is the realisation that crime fiction is so often drawn to explore society and the interactions which exist, especially when people are tested. Certainly, there has been a massive period of change in Ireland, one which has left a number of questions unanswered about Irish society. On face value, this social change may not appear to be obviously connected to the rise in Irish historical crime writing, with novelists such as Kevin Mc Carthy, Michael Russell, Anthony Quinn, Andrew Hughes, Conor Brady and Stuart Neville, writing about times past, but in many ways the rise in historical crime fiction makes sense, as it is an effective means of questioning who we are as a people, by going back and reflecting on what has gone before……To Download a FREE copy of Reading Ireland click HERE