Check out the latest newspaper article about the banning of Bloody Flies:

http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/renfrewshire-news/local-news-in-renfrewshire/paisley-news/2012/09/22/paisley-author-banned-in-united-arab-emirates-87085-31882496/

AJK

Here's  Khalid Al Ameri (The National) following up on the UAE's ban/non-ban of the Fifty Shades series:
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/a-book-ban-raises-the-requirement-of-cultural-sensitivity#full

He makes an interesting case about cultural sensitivity, but I'm not convinced that it applies in all cases, i.e. Bloody Flies.

AJK

www.andrewjkeir.net

Is Fifty Shades banned or not banned in the UAE?
 
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/why-are-fifty-shades-of-grey-sequels-being-pulled-from-uae-shelves?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Daily%2BNewsletter%2B05-09-2012

PS: If you liked Fifty Shades of Grey, why not Bloody Flies on Kindle or in Paperback?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-Flies-Andrew-J-Keir/dp/1780881495

AJK

Click the link to read the interview with Garry Craig Powell: http://garrycraigpowell.com/blog.php 
Garry asked some questions I hadn't encountered before and I think this will give readers some new perspectives on Bloody Flies.
AJK

Helena Frith Powell, novelist and favourite of Sunday supplements everywhere, has written a review of my new novel, Bloody Flies.
 
I've created a web page for the purpose of hosting the review. I know this is not how things are normally done, but Bloody Flies is not a normal book.

Click on the link to read the review: http://helenafrithpowellonbloodyflies.weebly.com/

AJK

A couple of months back I was asked by The National to appear in their weekend series, Desert Island Books. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity to feature alongside the likes of David Nicholls, Wilbur Smith and Sebastian Faulkes. Over the next few weeks I talked with the journalists involved and took part in a photo shoot. At las the article was ready to go.
Then, just as everything  looked like it couldn't fail, disaster struck: M Magazine, the supplement the article was to appear in, was summarily closed down and my big moment was lost.
 So ... moving on ... I've decided to post my six favourite reads here for you to peruse. Take a look and let me know what you think. Why not post your own choices once you've checked out mine?


The Life of Pi – Yann Martel

An Indian boy called Pi spends two hundred and twenty seven days on a raft with a Bengal Tiger. Surely, there’s no better tale of pragmatic and spiritual survival.

Just what the lonesome island dweller needs. Even now I wonder if the Meercats were real.

Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt

I love hearing voices written in the first person and McCourt does a splendid job of this in his gritty memoir. The protagonist’s voice grows and matures from that of a tiny child to a teenager on the cusp of adulthood, in perfect parallel with the development of Frankie’s character.

While I was writing Bloody Flies one of my goals was to create voices as sharp as McCourt’s. If the result is judged to be half as good as his work I’ll be a happy man.

The Inspector Rebus Series – Ian Rankin

Detective John Rebus is my favourite fictional character. The reason I’ve picked the whole series is because no one novel does him justice.

Rankin ages the sleuth in real-time, over more than twenty years, from something of a cerebral action hero, to a world weary grumpy old man. During that time we see him drive his wife and daughter away, and his relationships with partner Siobhan and nemesis Big Ger develop. Rebus is like one of the family and I wish Ian Rankin would bring him back – just one more time.

Siddartha – Hermann Hesse

Sometimes life on a desert island can feel a little bleak (Especially after reading Angela’s Ashes). So when the blues set in and I need a spiritual lift this is the book I’ll reach for. Written in simple prose, the novel follows the life of the Brahmin Siddartha on his quest for enlightenment.

After reading this, you can’t help but see beauty in even the darkest of places.

Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak

Now and again everyone needs a good cry, and Doctor Zhivago certainly guarantees tears. Yuri Zhivago is a middle class dreamer who simply wants to live out a contented life with his wife and family. Unfortunately, he is caught up in the tumultuous Russian Revolution and circumstances don’t allow him the peace he craves. With his life thrown into chaos he begins a powerful love affair with the beautiful Lara.

Despite Yuri becoming an adulterer and a hypocrite, the reader never loses empathy for Zhivago and his doomed quest for happiness.

The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway

Sparse, gritty, simple: Hemingway is the master of the clean sentence, and this novella shows Papa at his best.

The battle with the sailfish is epic and a copy of this in my island library would surely come in handy whenever I needed to catch lunch.