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It’s finally here!! My new novel Sky Dance is now available from Amazon of in most good bookshops. The novel is set in a fictionalised estate on the Isle of Morvan which is based on the Morvern peninsula on the West coast of Scotland. Readers who know the area will recognise many of the places where the action takes place. I published my first two books independently and promoted them myself through this blog and social media. Their success drew the attention of publishers and I’ve now signed with Sheffield based Vertebrate Publishers who are rapidly becoming one of the largest producers of outdoor books in the country.
Jon Barton, Vertebrates Managing Director says. “We have published John Burns debut fiction novel Sky Dance because his writing is packed with humour. He champions the cause of ordinary people enjoying the freedom of the hills. He highlights threats to these freedoms. But most of all he inspires, he leaves you at the end of each chapter packing your rucksack and heading to the Scottish Hills. Oh and he’s funny.”
Sky Dance follows the adventures of two hillwalkers who are regular visitors to a remote imaginary bothy based on many of the Highland bothies that I visit myself. The pair witness the illegal killing of a bird of prey, a Hen Harrier, and are so incensed they take the law into their own hands and begin to do their own version of re-wilding much to the annoyance of local land owner, Lord Purdey who sets of to thwart the walkers re-wilding plans with hilarious consequences.
I wanted to write a book that would begin to make the average hill walker aware of what is happening in the wild places of Scotland. I’ve tried to do that in an engaging way and to encourage walkers and climbers to find out for themselves about the environmental damage practices such as driven grouse shooting and over grazing are doing to our hills.
Hear me read an extract from the book and talk about why I wrote it in my Sky Dance Podcast
The hill walking community is not blameless. Whilst we approach our wild places with lists in our hands of hills to be ticked off we will never learn to treasure them and protect them as we should. The mountains are living breathing places that we should not exploit for sport. Think how great our hills could be if they were swathed in forests filled with lynx, wild cat and even wolves. Then we would have a landscape to be proud of
Sky Dance is my first novel, My first two books were a combination of reminiscences from my life in the mountains and short stories set in the hills and bothies of the Highlands. Sky dance is very different. It’s my first full work of fiction but it also tackles very important questions about the way we manage the wild places of Scotland.
I love exploring the wild and remote parts of the Highlands. A couple of weeks ago I was up at the lighthouse on Cape Wrath and I’m just back from a visit to a nature reserve on the western most tip of the Ross of Mull. Although I still enjoy going into the hills I have become increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of sporting activities like driven grouse shooting and the effects of over grazing. When I first wandered the hills I saw a wild landscape untouched by the hand of man now I see hills scarred by deforestation and over grazing whose wild life is slowly being destroyed. We have to think about what sort of landscape we want to pass on to future generations.
Despite its serious message I put a lot of humour into my books. One of the great things about the Internet is that it enables my to speak directly to the people who read my books. It’s really good to hear what they think of my writing and to hear how what I write affects them. My readers like the comedy in my books so there’s plenty of funny stories in Sky Dance.
I love poking fun at the establishment and the outdoor community which takes itself far too seriously. I remember when climbing hills was fun, a lot of folk seem to have forgotten that as the outdoor industry has taken over.
Whilst it is fundamentally a comic novel Sky Dance puts the argument for re-wilding the Scottish hills very forcibly and many who see the income that blood sports bring into the Highlands as vital to our economy will take a very different view. Sky Dance may raise a few laughs but it is also certain to spark debate about the direction our wild lands should take.
You might also enjoy my two previous books The Last Hillwalker and Bothy Tales which have also been re-released today by Vertebrate Publishing
If you’ve ever sat staring at a computer screen and wondered if you could write a book I have only one piece of advice. Do it. It’s an adventure and, like all great adventures, you won’t come back the same person. It’s no easy task completing a book and the vast majority of people who set off on the journey never complete it but for those who do there is a great reward. When I started my first book, The Last Hillwalker, it felt like just another project. I’d written plays before and performed them at the Edinburgh fringe. That’s a pretty big thing to do but when I walked off stage at the last show the plays kind of ceased to exist. I toured them a bit but unless a paly is being performed it has no life. My books have been something very different. As I write these words I know someone somewhere is reading one of my books and they might even say hello. My books have a life of their own.
My books have opened doors for me and given me a whole new career at the age of 64. I never thought I’d say this, but seeing my books on the shelf of a bookshop always gives me a little rush of excitement. If you want to join my journey and read my latest novel I’d be really interested to hear from you. If you are thinking of writing a book and have a question I can answer write a comment on this blog or contact me through my website and I’ll be happy to try and help.
Stories are just the dreams we have while we are awake. Take a chance and dream a little.