James Flint

Category: Music

  • Midland launched on the Thames

    Hi everyone,

    well, the long journey that began back in January 2006 is finally over. The  Midland paperback  was launched on Friday night from Pier House, the beautiful little community centre belonging to Hermitage Moorings, constructed on a pontoon just east of Tower Bridge.

    Friends and family gathered to eat sushi and raise a glass or three, and the incredible Harry Harris came all the way from Edinburgh to perform his songs Whale and Stag, which was really very special (see the videos above).

    My wonderful editor Rachael Kerr (who’d blown out her own Burns Night dinner to be there!) gave a little speech and read out the glowing review we received on Friday morning from the Daily Mail, and I gave a couple of short readings from the Whale and Stag sections to dovetail with Harry’s songs.

    Oh, and my children gave me a version of the book that they’d made themselves, and got everybody to sign.

    (The little stuffed bottlenose was made by my eldest daughter – it was my Christmas present!).

    All in all the party was small but perfectly formed, rather like the book itself, if the somewhat amazing reviews that started coming in last week are to be believed. The publicity team at Unbound has organised something called a Book Blog Tour, which is a new one on me – this didn’t exist as a thing when I last published a book back in 2004. Reviews with various well-regarded book bloggers are placed during the weeks around launch, to help spread the word about the publication online. And these have been exceptional. 

    Tales before Bedtime  said Midland was “absolutely stunning”.  Emma’s Book Blog  called it “a masterclass in storytelling”.  The Literary Shed  described it as “a masterpiece of control”. According to the  Northern Reader  it’s “A superbly written book, reflecting an impressive understanding of people and their motives.” And the aforementioned  Daily Mail  noted that “Flint writes beautifully and in defiant contradiction of character ‘journeys’ and neat resolutions.” Which I personally thought was very perceptive of them.

    That was five out of five thumbs up from the first five reviews, three of which were also posted on  Amazon, an incredible start to the novel’s life out there in the wide world.

    It’s even had its first read in the southern hemisphere: my next door neighbour, the musician Michael Hodgson, aka Sixteen Sunsets (whose album  Misled Convoy is available on Spotify  and who I have to thank for the photos of the launch posted above) took it on holiday to New Zealand over Christmas, and read it on the beach:

    So, God speed, Midland. I wish calm seas and strong breezes to you and all who sail in you. Far may you journey, well may you prosper, long may you live.

  • 81% funded – and a song to celebrate

    Well, we’re not far off now. Last week I did a big push out to all my connections on LinkedIn, and a lot of people were very generous and gave the campaign a big boost, carrying it over the 80% mark. It really feels like we’re getting some momentum now. I’m almost getting demob happy! 

    I wanted to post something suitable to celebrate, and I thought this video of Stephen and Hannah O’Driscoll playing one of their songs at a birthday party I went to a couple of weeks back would be just the thing.

    Stephen and Hannah played at the Midland Benefit gig (there’s a shorter clip of them playing in  the blog post  I wrote about that night). They’ve really got the most extraordinary sound, it sends tingles down my spine. I think I’m going to ask them to play at the Midland launch party, when it eventually happens. 

    In the meantime you can enjoy this tune, written by Stephen about his Irish grandfather (Hannah’s great-grandfather), who moved from Ireland to Poplar, and who loved to moan about things changing. 

    Sharing is caring, so do share it with anyone you think might want to pre-order a copy of Midland. I’m planning on closing the funding drive at the end of August and paying off any outstanding amount myself so that we can get the book into the publication schedule for early next year. So if you or anyone you know is thinking of pledging or upgrading a pledge, now’s the time to do it!