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Thread: In The Cold Of The Night

  1. #1

    In The Cold Of The Night

    This is the new novel, launched today, by Andrew Bibby (Todmorden Harriers).

    His first novel The Bad Step was well reviewed in The Fellrunner but was only published as an e-book. However it did well and has now been re-issued as a "proper" paperback to coincide with publication of In The Cold Of The Night (Gritstone Publishing), at around £7 on Amazon (list price £8.99) of which a proportion goes to Mountain Rescue.

    I have had the pleasure of meeting Andrew on a couple of occasions and he is a delightful and modest man who writes well and arguably even better than Richard "Feet in the Clouds" Askwith.

    The plot of In the Cold Of The Night is based on a death during the Three Peaks Challenge but the novel is enriched by Andrew's professional background as a journalist in covering broader and thought provoking themes: just as P D James used to do so well.

    Anyway...
    Last edited by Graham Breeze; 11-11-2016 at 10:11 AM.
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  2. #2
    Senior Member RaceTheSweeper's Avatar
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    I will look forward to reading both of them Graham. Thank you for the heads up - or should it be feet down?

  3. #3
    I understand a review of In The Cold Of The Night will appear in a future Fellrunner and it reminded me that I have commented elsewhere that since Richard Askwith opened Feet in the Clouds with “This is how death must feel” amateur writers on fell running, particularly in blogs, have adopted suffering as the hyperbole of choice.

    I have also suggested that writers should find their own voice: not adopt one that has sold a million books. It’s been done.

    I suppose if one's readers are not fell runners then a writer needs to illustrate that it isn’t an easy pastime; but do fell runners need to read that fell running can be hard?

    I heard the presentation Nicky Spinks made about her double BGR and I was struck by the low key and understated nature of her account. But of course the facts of her achievement are self evident and need no verbal drama. Could one argue that the best runners don’t need adjectives in excess?

    I’ve revisited the opening lines of some books I have about running on fells:

    “It’s mid-December and Britain is shivering beneath two feet of snow” (Run Wild - Boff Whalley)

    “The first edition of the next day’s Daily Telegraph was going to the presses in five minutes” (The Bad Step - Andrew Bibby).

    Both these books were well written and excellent, with neither author feeling it necessary to start their book with an arresting account of suffering.

    And In The Cold of the Night? That starts “There were occasions, Monica Roughlee reflected, when she could cheerfully have murdered her boss" - and the book just gets better and better.
    Last edited by Graham Breeze; 26-11-2016 at 02:25 PM.
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze;628920;
    since Richard Askwith opened Feet in the Clouds with “This is how death must feel” amateur writers on fell running, particularly in blogs, have adopted suffering as the hyperbole of choice.
    Yeah. Is there any need to constantly re-enforce the namby pamby hand-holding that seems to be almost universal amongst runners in the parkrun era? Very much an attitude of "can't do" rather than "can do."

  5. #5
    Master ba-ba's Avatar
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    'Lungs and legs screaming, legs full of battery acid, ability to form a novel metaphor or simile beyond me'
    Nic Barber. Downhill Dandy

  6. #6
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    And In The Cold of the Night? That starts “There were occasions, Monica Roughlee reflected, when she could cheerfully have murdered her boss" -

    Who hasn't?
    John McIntosh
    Rossendale Harriers

  7. #7
    Based on the recommendation for 'The Bad Step' I bought a copy and found it a very enjoyable read, so I have ordered a copy of 'In the Cold of the Night'.

    Would recommend

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Mud Rocs View Post
    Based on the recommendation for 'The Bad Step' I bought a copy and found it a very enjoyable read, so I have ordered a copy of 'In the Cold of the Night'.

    Would recommend
    Thanks.

    I think ITCOTN is a broader based and better written book. Writing novels is a pastime for Andrew: his day job is journalism and writing books for walkers (eg Freedom to Roam series) but IMHO both novels are readable, inexpensive and of particular interest to fell runners by being based on familiar subjects: which all makes them rather special.
    Last edited by Graham Breeze; 02-12-2016 at 09:25 PM.
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

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