Fandango Virtual Press Release

GLASGOW, UK / 15 May 2008 – Jim Murdoch’s Living with the Truth Has Been Published by Fandango Virtual, an Independent Scottish Publisher


Fandango Virtual today announced the release of Jim Murdoch’s Living with the Truth, a cross-genre novel which portrays a worn-out bookseller's two-day encounter with the personification of truth. The author creates two vivid characters who play off each other like a pair of music hall comedians.

Jonathan Payne, a fiftyish bookseller, is sitting in his flat in the seaside town of Rigby when he hears the door. He would be quite content if it was the angel of death but instead he gets to spend two days in the company of the personification of truth. Truth takes Jonathan on a spiritual, intellectual and emotional journey through his life, past and present, providing him with many of the answers he might have sought, if he was the kind of person who went looking for answers, and a few of the answers he would never have wanted to know.

Living with the Truth – ISBN 978-0955063619, May 2008, £7.99, Publisher Fandango Virtual.

About Jim Murdoch

Murdoch is a native of Glasgow and brings the city into many of his works. He has written for most media including two plays, a collection of short stories, a large body of poetry and four novels, of which Living with the Truth is the first to be published by Fandango Virtual. Its sequel, Stranger than Fiction, will be released at the end of the year.

About Fandango Virtual

Since 1995 Fandango Virtual has provided quality poetry and fiction to international readers through several ezines and literary magazines, including Gator Springs Gazette and Bonfire.

Contact information

Publisher’s website: www.fvbooks.com
Publisher’s e-mail: fvbooks@ntlworld.com
Author’s website: www.jimmurdoch.co.uk

My Totie Wee Press

When I was ten, I came into possession of a funny little tin typewriter with lithographed keys. The type wheel had to be rotated into position then pushed down with considerable force to print each letter on the page. I took it to school and started a newspaper with a couple of my friends. We took turns typing, but soon realised that it was going to be far too labour intensive to be practical. The process was awkward but we eventually managed to create a single page with a few manufactured news items sure to titillate the imaginations of our literate classmates. We laboriously reproduced the original by hand in pencil and sold the copies for a penny a piece. With the profits we purchased a pack of gum from the local sweet shack, Tiger’s Den.

At that time, I was more interested in the process and the collective energy than the need to communicate any particular ideas. The gum was an added bonus. It was forty years before I felt the need to publish again, but I never forgot the importance of that shared experience. Each of the various Fandango publishing endeavours had its own appeal, but my favourite has always been Gator Springs Gazette, during the years when production was a communal effort.

I hoped that I would be able to parlay the Gazette into something that would not only reach a broader audience, but would also provide some income for the contributors. Bonfire was an attempt to unify publishing efforts in an easier to manage and slightly more elegant package. All efforts to do so met with obstacles. Money didn’t flow freely, but the real difficulty was in trying to find an appropriate distribution channel. It’s like the old conundrum of only qualifying for a loan if you don’t need the money. I suppose I was a bit naïve in thinking I could balls my way through on my own steam, but while the press was not in a position to get universal exposure, it was getting recognised in some circles as a unique voice and a few really good writers were gaining some well-deserved exposure. I never had a chance to find out how far it might go: personal illness compelled me to give up the day job (my biggest financial resource) and all the work I was doing on Bonfire, Gator Springs Gazette and the planned first Fandango novel. It was a major disappointment to have to abandon all of this work. Additionally, manifestations of the illness made it difficult for me to write and even to read anyone else’s work. This was devastating for me.

I am still not well, but I am able to read, edit and even to write a little again. It is important to keep the light going, but I don’t want to burn myself out. For this reason, Fandango will concentrate on celebrating creativity one work at a time.

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