Mark Piggott's website

Yesterday I went to the offices of Legend Press to sign copies of my new novel, “Out of Office”. The cover is very appropriate and very eye-catching, another excellent job by Gudrun Jobst, and to my surprise holding the new novel was as much of a thrill second time round. Each new book is an object of beauty: the perfect design, whatever the contents.

While at Legend (or rather in the pub opposite) I met fellow author Bill Coles for t...

It seems such a long time since I finished my second novel “Out of Office” that it’s come as a shock to realise the launch is now just 17 days away. Since finishing the book so much has happened, and as the book includes some topical issues (religion, terrorism and the Olympics being just three), I’ve spent the last few months hoping nothing in real life would overshadow the plot. So far, I seem to be in luck, though I did decide to change a few words of the prologue f...

At last I’ve started a new novel. Although in its early stages, the book, provisionally titled “Emptiness”, seems to be flowing well. Hard to describe, really: an existential, dark, strange tale of one man’s journey through the hotels and resorts of Europe and Dubai.

Writing for the newspapers is all very well but there are so many people you have to please (and so many you seem to enrage); with fiction, if you, the writer is happy, then chances are others will ...

The proofs for “Out of Office” have been despatched, the launch date confirmed and it’s full steam ahead, but my first novel, “Fire Horses” is still getting coverage, with an interesting review at Frank Mask here and another by fellow Legend author Andrew Blackman here....

“If the bookmakers are right, Colm Tóibín's New York novel Brooklyn will take the main award at the Costa Book of the Year at its lavish London award ceremony this evening at Quaglino's, but the fact that Raphael Selbourne's Beauty, about contemporary life in Birmingham, won the First Novel award should finally dispel the myth that British writers are afraid, unwilling or unable to tackle modern British society in fiction form...”

You can read...

I’ve just finished a major feature for the Independent on the state of British (or more accurately, English) publishing. Several writers have recently moaned that not enough of their contemporaries are writing about England now. In my opinion this is utter bollocks; there are loads of good writers producing novels about the “here and now” including Chris Cleave, Ross Raisin and (I hope this won’t sound immodest) yours truly.

One of the things that compelled me to...

Yesterday I received my first PLR statement, and was pleasantly surprised to discover quite a few people have borrowed Fire Horses from libraries. Although the author doesn’t receive as large a fee as when someone buys the book, it’s still gratifying to discover that people you don’t know have browsed their local library shelves and been sufficiently intrigued by your book (or its cover) to take it home - and hopefully read it.

What the hell’s happened to the Mirror? Day after day after day its X-Factor this, Simon Cowell that – as if HE cares his crap ditty got pipped to the top of the charts by Rage against the Machine – he’s there on the front page on his jet skis in the Caribbean FFS.

For someone brought up on The Mirror when John Pilger was still a great journalist, exposing the lies around Vietnam, the genocide in Cambodia and major features on homelessness – it’s very...

Yesterday I went to Legend Press’s enormous new headquarters in Moorgate to read through the “Out of office” proofs with Tom. Happily, the book doesn’t need a rewrite, so we were able to do most of the corrections there and then. Also had a very productive meeting with Lucy and Lauren about marketing strategies. It’s all getting quite exciting now – everyone has high hopes for the new book, and it should make quite a stir.

To celebrate went to the pub...

I’m no longer posting links – you’ll have to go and buy a copy of the Guardian or my kids will starve. Yes, starve. Do you really want that on your conscience?