Two Decades of 'Scraps' by Remy Dean

As we approach the finale of 2014, I looked back twenty years to the publication of my 1994 debut novel, Scraps - you can read the interview in the Yuletide edition of The Scrawl. (I would like to thank Winston Dominic and my colleagues on The Scrawl editorial crew for granting me this opportunity.) In the conversation, I mention the author's note that I added to the 10th anniversary edition of Scraps, which you can read below:

20 years of Scraps - a novel by Remy Dean, from left to right:
the 'First Impressions' limited edition, a 1990s paperback, and the current edition

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Music was an important part of the writing process for this novel – it helped me to create and capture certain moods and atmosphere. I was writing as if describing a film I had dreamt, and I had music in mind for the dream soundtrack of that film. The sounds that were playing as I wrote, and in various ways filtered through into the text, included music and lyrics by the following artists, to whom I wish to extend my gratitude for their positive influence upon this piece of writing and upon my life, then and now: Dave Graney (The Moodists / The Coral Snakes), Lydia Lunch (8 Eyed Spy), Gavin Friday (Virgin Prunes), BrainDeath, Slab!, Eric Serra, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Go Betweens, Hunters and Collectors, Scott Walker, Gordon Lightfoot... If you really listen to this book, you will hear them all.

World Book Day: 'Scraps' & 'Final Bough' FREE

As part of the celebration for World Book Day (and Saint David's Day), my publishers questing beast books are offering the Kindle editions of Final Bough and Scraps as free downloads. I expect there will be many other publishers doing the same, so it should be well worth a browse at the Amazon Kindle Store...

The novelette, Final Bough is a sort of ghost story set in Sowdonia, the mountains and valleys of North Wales, and concerns influences from the past affecting the present... Scraps is a 'punk' crime novel that pushed a few boundaries when it was first published back in the early 1990s, and I hope that it remains 'fresh' and 'flippant'...

Find out more about World Book Day at their website, which has lots of free resources and lists book related events by region... World Book Day is 1st March 2012.