As announced today on BBC radio, The Dog Sitter Detective has won this yearās Barker Book Award!
Iām still reeling, to be honest. Reviews and praise for Gwinnyās adventures have been very positive, but an award win was totally unexpected. Enormous thanks to the dedicated and enthusiastic staff at publisher Allison & Busby, to my agent Sarah Such, and of course to the Barker Book judges (including head judge, actor and dog lover Peter Egan). What a thrill!
https://www.thebarkerbookawards.com
The Dog Sitter Detective is available in hardback, ebook, and audiobook (narrated by the formidable Nicolette McKenzie, who Iām pleased to report many audio readers are praising as much as the book itself). A paperback edition will be published in January.
Do you run a book club or reading group? You can now download a PDF of discussion materials for The Dog Sitter Detective via the official website at https://dogsitterdetective.com/index.html#book1groups
Likewise, I love doing events at bookshops and libraries. If youād like to book me, contact the publisher. Click through for pics from a recent reading + Q&A:
A surprising number of people have asked if The Dog Sitter Detective is suitable for children. The book wasnāt written for children, of course, but itās a reasonable question. Heaven knows I read plenty of adult fiction when I was young. Unfortunately itās impossible for me to answer, because only you can judge whatās suitable for your child. What I can do is tell you whatās in the book so you can make an informed decision. To that end, I created this handy graphic:
As for future dog sitting escapadesā¦ stay tuned, and keep an eye on https://dogsitterdetective.com š
Enjoy the Silence
I hinted at this a few times from late 2021 through early this year, but was NDAād to the hilt and unable to say anything definitive. Now, though, the news is public:
For 16 months (!) I was a narrative consultant on SILENT HILL ASCENSION, the upcoming interactive web series, working with Bad Robot and Genvid.
I also co-wrote the script for this launch trailer, with head writer Shanon Ingles:
Iāve been a Silent Hill fan since the original game, so you can imagine my excitement when I was invited to work on this project. Combined with the chance to work with Bad Robot, it was an opportunity I couldnāt turn down āĀ even though it meant more than a year of time-shifting my working hours to be in sync with Los Angeles!
What does ānarrative consultantā mean? Well, that differs from one job to the next. In this case I worked with the writersā room to break an engaging, complex story; develop deep, memorable characters; and give notes on their scripts. Iām thrilled to have been able to help guide them along the way.
Hereās the bit that really blows š¤Æ my š¤Æ mind š¤Æ: to the best of my knowledge I am now the only writer ā very probably the only person in the world ā to have worked on all ābig threeā horror gaming franchises of Dead Space, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill. Not bad.
Making Alterations
Meanwhile, my current game writing project is ALTERED ALMA, an action-filled cyberpunk Metroidvania with a deep story and romancing mechanics (!) being developed by 2 Awesome and published by Critical Reflex.
Iām working with the excellent Emma Beeby (like me, a writer who works in both comics and games) and weāre having a lot of fun. It also makes a nice change to be able to talk about it for once, unlike so many of my game gigs š
Emma and I have done a huge amount of worldbuilding, narrative design, and character development already, and are currently building the romance system. Weāre working hard to make the whole experience as fun, diverse, and inclusive as possible for players.
Dog Dump
OK, back to The Dog Sitter Detective, but Iāve shunted this section to the end because itās really just a massive link dump. Hopefully youāll find something youāre interested in.
If this was a magazine it would be the kind of run-on multi-page sidebar filled with lengthy URLs that, when I was an art director, used to make me very angry with our feature writers š
Articles:
Culturefly, talking about the effort to represent older women in fiction: https://culturefly.co.uk/antony-johnston-invisible-underdogs/
Shots Mag, with a list of my āMagnificent Seven Female Detectivesā: http://shotsmag.co.uk/feature_view.aspx?FEATURE_ID=531
Crime Time, on my unexpected pivot to cosy murder mysteries and their enduring appeal: https://www.crimetime.co.uk/getting-cosy-antony-johnston-talks-to-crime-time/
Writing Magazine online, on why I encourage all writers to work in different media if they can: https://www.writers-online.co.uk/how-to-write/the-benefits-of-mixed-media-for-your-writing/
Bookfrolic, for their regular feature āThe Cozy 52ā: https://www.bookfrolic.com/author-interviews/the-cozy-52-qa-with-author-antony-johnston/
Bookshop.org, a piece about five books that inspired The Dog Sitter Detective. At least one of them will surprise crime readers š https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/books-that-inspired-the-dog-sitter-detective-by-antony-johnston
Gareth Powellās āWriter Wednesdayā feature at his Substack:
Likewise, Cav Scottās āPerfect Sundayā feature:
Interviews:
My first-ever appearance at a crime writing festival was at Newcastle Noir, run by āDr Noirā aka Dr Jacky Collins, so it was lovely to chat with her again:
The Murder Most English podcast, which normally covers TV but made an exception for Gwinny: https://www.murdermostenglish.com/episode-301-the-tower-and-the-dog-sitter-detective-with-antony-johnston/
The Bestseller Experiment, talking Dog Sitter Detective but also The Organised Writer, Frightening Curves, and much more about my whole career: https://bestsellerexperiment.com/ep462-antony-johnston-right-place-right-time/
The Luke Deckard Show, in a talk that ranges from Dog Sitter Detective to Resident Evil Village, making Atomic Blonde, and more:
Even Suns Flicker and Die
Right now, authors are all scrambling to figure out which social media platform will eventually āwinā the ongoing battle for supremacy. For the moment you can find me on just about all of them.
Search for my username @antonyjohnston, or check the Contact & Follow page of my site for links to the most popular networks: https://antonyjohnston.com/contact/