Michael Logan

Novelist, Journalist and other things ending in -ist

Where my ideas come from

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I’m often asked where I get my ideas for stories, and my usual answer is a shrug of the shoulders and an uncomfortable glance at the ground. If I seem a little shifty on these occasions, it’s because I am unable to provide a satisfactory answer. My best response is ‘everywhere and nowhere, from observing life and making random connections between seemingly unconnected events’.

If somebody were to ask me today, however, I would have a very different response. From dreams.

This morning, I woke up at 5am with a fragment of a dream still in my mind, and I knew instantly it was a great idea for a novel. Obviously I don’t want to give anything away in case anybody nicks it, but I sat up for the next hour to turn this sliver delivered up by my unconscious mind into an initial outline for a book that promises to be very dark indeed.

I almost didn’t do it. I was so tired that the temptation was to go back to sleep. Fortunately, I had a notebook and pen by the side of my bed and scribbled down a few lines, which woke me up enough to get to the computer.

I do wonder what would have happened if that notebook wasn’t there. Perhaps I would have gone back to bed and woken up in a few hours with no memory of the dream. I’m glad I didn’t. It just goes to show that ideas can come to you anywhere at any time and from any source. So keep your notebook or voice recorder handy!

First review of Wannabes is in

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It’s always nerve-wracking, the wait for the first review of a new book. You obviously think your new novel is a work of genius, but alas others don’t always concur. Fortunately, the first review of Wannabes is now in and it’s a belter.

This is a double relief, as the fact I self-published this book made me nervous about the prospects of getting any reviews at all.

If any reviewers are reading this, feel free to contact me at freelancelogan@fastmail.co.uk for a review copy.

Wannabes is now on sale

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My second novel, Wannabes, is now available to buy as an ebook. To celebrate, I’m giving away twenty copies. In order to enter the random draw, please spread the news on your blog, Twitter or Facebook and send me an email at freelancelogan@fastmail.co.ukto let me know you have done so. I’ll draw the winners on July 28 and send a code for the free download.
The book (and sample chapters) is currently available on Amazon UK and US, as well as all the other country stores, and through iBooks. It is also available in all ebook formats through Smashwords. The price is $3 or the currency equivalent. You can get it for the Nook from Barnes and Noble and will soon be on sale through Kobo and other ebook stores.
If you are on Goodreads, you can add the book here.
Also, don’t forget that the release date for Apocalypse Cow: World War Moo has been set as 9 June 2015. Put it in your calendar!

Wannabes
Celebrities are mobbing London’s laser clinics as a deranged wannabe bumps off A-listers, believing he can absorb their powers and become famous by taping their tattoos to his body.
Washed-up pop star Jackie Thunder isn’t joining the stampede. Jackie figures that if he can get on the killer’s hit list, without the inconvenience of being murdered, he’ll gain the publicity needed to reignite his career.
But there’s more at stake than Jackie can possibly imagine. His desperate ploy for attention plunges him into the heart of a decades-old demonic plot to destroy great music through murder, mayhem and manipulation.
With humanity’s collective soul at stake, how far will Jackie go to reach the top?

Two books on the way

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As you may know by now, the sequel to Apocalypse Cow is on its way. Entitled Apocalypse Cow: World War Moo, it will be released by St. Martin’s Press in mid-2015. Full details will emerge in good time.

However, I can reveal that Geldof and Lesley will be back – along with some new characters – as we embark on an adventure involving combat yoga, ferocious Noel Edmonds lookalikes, and cow bombs in an infected Britain about to be obliterated by an all-out international offensive.

To fill the gap in the meantime (it has been over two years since Apocalypse Cow first came out), I will be releasing an eBook in the next few months. You can read the blurb and first three chapters of this book, Wannabes, below.

The cover, final release date, and links to buy will be unveiled over the next few weeks. If any book bloggers want a review copy, drop me a line through the contacts page on my website, and I’ll send you a DRM-free eBook once the final edits and design elements are completed (likely mid-July).

Wannabes

I want my children to listen to people who fucking rocked. I don’t care if they died in puddles of their own vomit. I want someone who plays from his fucking heart – Bill Hicks

Celebrities are mobbing London’s laser clinics as a deranged wannabe bumps off A-listers, believing he can absorb their powers and become famous by taping their tattoos to his body.

Washed-up pop star Jackie Thunder isn’t joining the stampede. Jackie figures that if he can get on the killer’s hit list, without going so far as being murdered, of course, he’ll gain the publicity needed to reignite his career.

But there’s more at stake than Jackie can possibly imagine. His desperate ploy for attention plunges him into the heart of a decades-old demonic plot to destroy great music through murder, mayhem and manipulation.

With humanity’s collective soul at stake, just how far will Jackie go to reach the top?


Read the first three chapters here.

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Lazy writer

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After a massive spurt (Carry On fans, feel free to titter), I have not written a single word on the book for the last week. This is partly because we were down at Steve and Sue’s villa on the Indian Ocean, oh posh us, and I went on a reading frenzy while lying on the terrace listening to the waves slapping against the coral cliffs below us.

On the way down we had a tyre blow out at 100kph, which probably should have been more terrifying than it was. The car did not flip over and roll, or skid into the path of an oncoming truck. It just wobbled a bit, like my bowels, and was harder to control as I braked to a halt.

Anyhoo, tonight I am going to get back onto the horse and continue with the 2nd draft. I hope to have a decent version finished by mid-December, so if anybody wants to volunteer as a reader (other than those who have already been nominated/nominated themselves), please let me know.

Be warned, however: just because I have a big baldy forehead this does not mean the book is highbrow. It isn’t, as the title – Apocalypse Cow – will probably hint at. Normally I attempt to write serious, thoughtful stories, but this piece of nonsense is just splurging out of me and needs dealt with before I can move on to ghost-writing the biography of my good friends and ethical folk-pop-rockers Quentin and Crisp, a project I am very excited about.

I am looking for people who are happy to give an honest opinion that is more in-depth than: it’s shit/I fell asleep after three pages/I guess it’s alright if you like that sort of thing. I am likely to be sick of the sight of the thing by then, so will need fresh eyes to point out the huge plot holes an overweight hippo could meander through without touching the sides.

Lazy writer

by

After a massive spurt (Carry On fans, feel free to titter), I have not written a single word on the book for the last week. This is partly because we were down at Steve and Sue’s villa on the Indian Ocean, oh posh us, and I went on a reading frenzy while lying on the terrace listening to the waves slapping against the coral cliffs below us.

On the way down we had a tyre blow out at 100kph, which probably should have been more terrifying than it was. The car did not flip over and roll, or skid into the path of an oncoming truck. It just wobbled a bit, like my bowels, and was harder to control as I braked to a halt.

Anyhoo, tonight I am going to get back onto the horse and continue with the 2nd draft. I hope to have a decent version finished by mid-December, so if anybody wants to volunteer as a reader (other than those who have already been nominated/nominated themselves), please let me know.

Be warned, however: just because I have a big baldy forehead this does not mean the book is highbrow. It isn’t, as the title – Apocalypse Cow – will probably hint at. Normally I attempt to write serious, thoughtful stories, but this piece of nonsense is just splurging out of me and needs dealt with before I can move on to ghost-writing the biography of my good friends and ethical folk-pop-rockers Quentin and Crisp, a project I am very excited about.

I am looking for people who are happy to give an honest opinion that is more in-depth than: it’s shit/I fell asleep after three pages/I guess it’s alright if you like that sort of thing. I am likely to be sick of the sight of the thing by then, so will need fresh eyes to point out the huge plot holes an overweight hippo could meander through without touching the sides.

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