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Alex Roddie

Happiest on a mountain. Writer, story-wrangler, digital and film photographer. Editor of Sidetracked magazine. Machine breaker.

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Book review: The Walk Up Nameless Ridge by Hugh Howey

The Walk Up Nameless Ridge by Hugh Howey The Walk Up Nameless Ridge is a short story by science fiction writer Hugh Howey, best known for the post-apocalyptic series Wool. Mountaineering fiction is an obscure genre at the best of times so it was with some surprise that I learned

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Happy Christmas!

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Kindle editions discounted for Christmas

As a Christmas gift to my readers, the Kindle editions of my two full-length novels, The Only Genuine Jones and The Atholl Expedition, have been reduced in price from £1.99 to 98p. This offer will run for ten days until New Year’s Eve. I’m afraid I don’

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The Atholl Expedition listed in top outdoor literature of 2014

It’s that time again when the outdoor industry looks back at the year past and reflects on the highs and lows. For the first time in my career I have been fortunate enough to feature in this great reckoning, not once but three times. First I was nominated (and

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The camera of the Abraham brothers returns to the Lakeland crags

Readers of my historical novel The Only Genuine Jones will be familiar with the brothers George and Ashley Abraham: climbing photographers from Keswick in the Lake District who teamed up with O.G. Jones to document many of his pioneering first ascents in the late 19th century. In my short

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Christmas paperback stock update

It’s that time of year again! Paperback copies of my novels have been flying off the virtual shelves over the last couple of weeks, and I have received several queries about stock levels, so I thought I’d make an official update. As of this morning, The Atholl Expedition

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The Terror by Dan Simmons — Book Review

The Terror by Dan SimmonsBook review by Alex Roddie I discovered this book purely by chance. Someone on Twitter recommended I read The Abominable by Dan Simmons, but after reading the sample I found myself downloading The Terror instead. (The Abominable remains on my reading list.) This is a very

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I Adhere to the Ethical Author Code

A new set of voluntary guidelines has been published to help keep writers on the straight and narrow. Most authors are honest in their dealings, but unfortunately there have been incidents where writers have falsified reviews, reacted poorly to bad reviews, copied the work of other people, or otherwise acted

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Alpine Dawn II progress report

“I lifted my eyes up to the heavens, and saw above me the eternal snowsof the Monarch herself, Mont Blanc.”— James Forbes Most of my progress reports on Alpine Dawn II so far this year have been heavy on excuses and light on progress, but I’m glad to say

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Your story already exists

The story you want to tell already exists. As a writer, your job is not to make it up — it’s to illuminate the truth that’s already there. One of the questions I’m asked most frequently about my books goes something like this: “How do you make your