Fanfare Tim Butcher returns to Litopia After Dark!

[Octopus Messiah]

There are few things a writer admires/will kill for more than the phrase, "Critically acclaimed bestseller." Tim Butcher has done how many now? Three? The inspirational bastard!

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1, we had (he lets us call him!) Timbo on to discuss his latest work The Trigger about hunting the assassin who started the whole shebang (soz). Dude's a natural raconteur, intrepid journalist, adventurer-- and he writes a mean book as well. Honored to have him in the studio, really...

http://litopia.com/three-faces-war-assassin/

This is the first of a 3-part war series we're releasing on LAD. Both Pete and I are really pleased with the way they came out and we hope you enjoy them as well. Please do spread the word about the shows and the colony and hopefully we can everybody scratch each other's monkey.

And now a gratuitous picture of the #cutedog Olive with an appropriate flower to jerk your emotional heartstrings: Never forget, eh?

 

[David Newrick]

Awww cute dog I miss my dog

The show about hunting the assassin sounds very interesting!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Word shall be tweeted. Cute dog, Jack Russell? I cuddled one of those once, a puppy called Fagin and got nipped on the...I mean, did he mistake me for a beeatch?

Have ordered 'The Trigger' thanks for the link.

Recently read 'Flames of Calais' by Airey Neave. And to think he was murdered on home soil and in such fashion, after all that.

And I read 'Storm of Steel', by the amazing Ernst Junger.

 

[Octopus Messiah]

The Olive dog is a JRTX 2012 running Xcel ball-retrieval software!

 

[AliG]

Presumably you trained him by example...

 

[Octopus Messiah]

Presumably you trained him by example...

She's a she, Ali! Would I call a male dog 'Olive'. Presumably, you think I'm a monster. Then again she has been spayed. Sniff.
(also: the software came pre-installed)

 

[AliG]

If Olivia is the feminine form, presumably Olive could be male...
My pre-installed software looks a little like this but for doughnuts, not tennis balls.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Oliver, Olivier....shhhh, we'll traumatize her at this rate.

 

[Octopus Messiah]

Alright then, name your son Olive and see how far he gets.
You're reaching Ali... for the doughnuts!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Reading 'The Trigger' is like watching tsunamis. The fall of Empires, Roman, Ottoman, European, all followed by tsunamis and the waves are still coming in. To think he was 19, I have a child of that age.
I am acquainted with an artist living in Cumbria, who was a journalist in Bosnia and was shot. The ghosts haven't gone away, for him.

 

[Octopus Messiah]

Congrats to Timbo! Guardian just had The Trigger listed as one of the best history books of 2014 (and they used the word 'punctilious.' Which I had to google.)
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/07/the-best-history-books-2014

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Well, I'm not surprised.
And he's red hot on PR. I had a message from him after I put a review on Goodreads.

 

[Octopus Messiah]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer (self-confessed) hack journo. Dude's a legend.
Here's another (from Sunday Times pick of books of the year):

 

[AgentPete]

He's a good example of a non-fiction author successfully selling his books. Much to learn from him.