Tag: new novel

COMING SOON – MY NEW NOVEL


HERE’S THE PRESS RELEASE

Published 28th June 2026
The new music-infused novel by the author of Homeward Bound and
I’m Still Standing and 77-year-old TikTok and Instagram sensation
(with posts reaching up to ¾ million views!)

  • In turn hilarious and moving, Made for Walking is a captivating
    novel about generational warfare, the meaning of friendship and
    finding your place in the modern world.
  • Author Richard Smith started writing at age 71 and now, at 77, has
    become a TikTok and Instagram sensation, talking about his extensive
    vinyl record collection. He also does regular DJ sets on The BoAt Pod –
    an independent radio station broadcasting from a narrow boat in Little
    Venice, London. Find out more about what he is up to here.
  • When veteran actor Syd Price is dumped from a long-running TV soap, he needs to find anew way forward in a media landscape that he no longer recognises. But when a rising star, model and Instagram sensation, Chloe Anderson, suggests filming a riverside ramble together, what starts as a mutually beneficial partnership turns into a vicious battle of the generations.
    Filled with music, MADE FOR WALKING is a heartfelt cross-generational story of ageing, modern life, friendship and retribution.

  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    RICHARD SMITH wrote his first book, Homeward Bound, at age 71. He enjoyed it so much (and it was so well received) that he kept going. Before embarking on his writing career, Richard was a producer of TV commercials, sponsored documentaries and educational and
    promotional films. It took him around the world and into places not normally accessible to visitors – up to the top of the Elizabeth Tower to see Big Ben strike twelve, on a speed boat around the Needles and North Sea oil platforms, and to the Niger Delta in Africa to name but a few. Richard Smith lives in London.
  • MADE FOR WALKING will be available in paperback (£10.99) and ebook (£4.99) at all good bookshops and online booksellers.

Step into Syd Price's journey.

"Made for Walking" is captivating, moving, and hilarious — sometimes all at once. Grab your copy and find out why.

Buy on Amazon

Displacement activities

Amazing, isn’t it. When you have something you know you need to do, you find something more important. It can be something trivial, like making a cup of coffee. Or something like, well writing this blog.

I haven’t blogged much of late, not least because I’ve been writing pieces for various journals and online sites at the request of others. And making the odd video. Not to mention being encouraged to do social media of my own to promote my two novels. Whether my various Instagram posts made the slightest bit of difference to interest in Homeward Bound and I’m Still Standing I have no idea. But I’ll doubtless be back on Instagram videos for the new one

Ah – and that’s been another reason for not blogging. I’ve been completing my third novel. This particular displacement is because I need to write a synopsis for it. Anyone who has ever written anything will known the nightmare that is a synopsis. If it’s taken me 290 (or however many) pages to write a piece that I hope is entertaining, interesting and engaging, then how is it possible to condense it into a single page? But it must be done. Just not at the moment as I’m writing this.

And what inspired me to use this avenue to waste time is I wanted to share a discovery I’ve made. Late, I know, but monumental tome. I’ve discovered AI. Well, ChatGP. It could become a completely new category of displacement activities all of its own! Here’s what kick-started my new obsession.

Take a look at this before image, snapped by me on Easter Sunday walking in Waterlow Park, which is north London and right next to Hampstead Heath.

A decorative cartoon character resembling an egg with a smiling face, dressed in a plaid shirt and blue pants, sitting on top of a brick wall surrounded by greenery.

I sent it to my daughter, and it came back from my son-in-law like this.

A cartoonish character resembling an egg with a smiling face sits atop a brick wall, while three mounted soldiers in historical uniforms stand below, looking up at it.

It made me laugh. More than that. It made me want to have a go myself. In fact, it became so much of a temptation for me, I wasted no time and began to adulterate other images take on that walk, using the same software that created all the King’s horses and all the King’s men..

A black coot swimming in a reflecting pond surrounded by trees and water lilies.

I selected this sweet, innocent, springtime image, and imagined something altogether more interesting and ludicrous!

A surreal image depicting a prehistoric flying reptile hovering above a blackbird in a tranquil pond, surrounded by leafy branches.

I have to confess to being somewhat troubed by AI. Can you believe anything you see anymore? But this tool can open up the imagination to all manor of things . And timewasting opportunities.

What’s more, maybe I can use AI to write my synopsis? Maybe I’ll look it up in Wikipedia and see it it’s possible.

But not yet. I’ll have a coffee, first.

(But look out for Made For Walking. If I get my synopsis and other necessary stuff done, it’ll be in the bookshops later in the year.)

My Life In Records

I was interviewed by the blogger Ann Cater (‘Random Things Through My Letterbox) on publication of ‘I’m Still Standing’. It was meant to be my life in books, but I side-stepped that and made it into records! Here’s what I said.

Anne: Tell me about your life through records.

Me: You’d expect my blog for My Life in Books, to be about, well, books. Except, while I have read innumerable memorable and remarkable books that meant a lot to me, I struggle to recall that much about them! They leave an impression rather than specific details. Similarly, I can’t follow a season of shows on Netflix and remember what happened in the last episode unless I binge-watch – and even then….

But records? I can name every B side of every 45 I bought as a child and sing through Beatles albums, track by track, occasionally pitch perfect. And each one with a memory. That is why my books are named after songs – Homeward Bound and now I’m Still Standing.

Here is my life in ten records:

  1. My Old Man’s A Dustman – Lonnie Donegan. OK, not a classic that I still play, but this isn’t Desert Island Discs. It was my first ever record. I’d wager that yours was something cheesy too. I still know it off by heart, one the only songs that I can actually sing without tripping over the lyrics. It’s little wonder that I never made it as a rockstar.
  • Runaway – Del Shannon. The perfect pop song. I think it’s the record that turned me from being a music lover into an addict. It was also the first record I put money into a jukebox to play. I eventually bought everything Del Shannon recorded. Spotify describes him as favouring ‘brooding themes of abandonment, loss, and rejection’. You’ll see a theme developing as we go on.
  • Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who. This is a great one to play when you’re feeling angry. It’s exciting, loud and the lyrics visceral. And the tension in the extended instrumental break is almost unbearable, ending in a primal scream!
  • Jealous – Labrinth. A heartbreak song, but so simple and you can feel his pain. And it’s important as a reminder to me that good tunes didn’t stop in the seventies. This came out in 2014. (And don’t forget, in the sixties, it wasn’t all Beatles. We also had to endure Ken Dodd and Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep!)
  • Turn On A Friend – Peanut Butter Conspiracy. The lyric has always stuck with me as I believe it to be an impossible suggestion! You can’t turn anybody on to a record, a TV programme or a book. It’s just too embarrassing to try, as tastes differ and invariably what one person likes will leave another cold. Not a comfortable feeling when I’ve a book out that I want people to like! Of course, the song’s probably about drugs (it is from 1967) so perhaps I shouldn’t worry.
  • Alone Again Or – Love. I hope people don’t see me as miserable, but I do find misery in songs weirdly uplifting. But this one inspires me with lines about people being the greatest fun and how the singer could be in love with almost everyone, and that’s a great way to start any day!  But even this one is in a minor key and has a melancholy edge.
  • Enjoy Yourself – Specials/Jools Holland with Prince Buster.  A positive sing-a-long at last. And an uplifting message. Though still with a dark side. Ideal for funerals. Not a dry eye in the cemetery!
  • Green River – the Everly Brothers. I think my love of music comes through harmony, and the Everly’s were the best. I could pick any from their thirty-year catalogue of recordings but nominate this later one as it’s about longing and nostalgia, more themes I love. I can almost feel the heat and smell wide-open plains as they sing. I spin this regularly, even though it’s from 1972.
  • Homeward Bound – Simon and Garfunkel. Harmonies and lyrics again. Paul Simon was influenced by the Everlys (they sing on Graceland) and his wistful, reflective, thoughtful lyrics bear frequent replays. Homeward Bound is especially important to me as it features in my first novel – they share the same title.

I’m Still Standing – Elton John. If I were a musician, I’d be jealous of Elton John. He’s not only a great songwriter, but also has an incredible voice and can make a piano rock! Of his up-tempo songs, I’ve picked this not just for its survival against-the-odds lyrics (and I really didn’t realise until compiling this list that so many of my choices are about betrayal, disappointment and inner strength), but because it’s the title of my new novel and why I’m writing this blog!

I’m Still Standing is available at bookshops and on Amazon

BOOK TOUR – what’s been said

Here’s what people are writing about I’m Still Standing, taken from their Instagram accounts. My thanks to them for the positive things they’re saying.

NetGalley

A heart-warming story of a reluctant and unlikely friendship between a pair of misfits,

Richard Smith takes us back to the 80s as we follow Harry and Jill, a pair of misfits brought together as they work to save a local green space. Interwoven with the narrative is their shared love of music.

The author’s background in cinema comes through in his writing, as I could visualise each scene in my mind (Simon Pegg would make a great Harry!) and the music references provided the soundtrack. I really felt as though I was back in the late 80s, alongside the characters.

A moving story about finding passion in life and love with a music theme recommended for fans of Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, Juliet Naked) and Daisy Jones and the Six.

And if you’re interested further….. https://shorturl.at/vsoBV

Five recommended books, self-isolating or not!

Looking for something to read? Five new books explore the experience, opportunities and issues of ageing, each bringing a unique take on the subject.

Hazel Prior – Away With The Penguins is about a cantankerous but charming woman, her estranged grandson and a colony of penguins. (Amazon/Waterstones/ebook)

Richard Smith – Homeward Bound follows a 79-year-old musician who is expected to be in retirement but isn’t ready to close the lid on his dreams, and his 18-year-old granddaughter, who shares his house and the dreams he once had. (Amazon/Waterstones/ebook)

Salley Vickers – Grandmothers is the story of three very different women and their relationships with the younger generation. (Amazon/Waterstones/ebook)

Francis Liardet – We Must Be Brave explores the fierce love that we feel for our children and the power of that love to endure. (Amazon/Waterstones/ebook)

Anne Youngson – Meet Me At The Museum is a celebration of long letters, kindred spirits and the possibility of writing a new story for yourself, at any stage of life. (Amazon/Waterstones/ebook)

Click on the links for more information and where to buy them online (if your local bookshop is closed and can’t deliver to you). Amazon offers ebooks as well as hard copies. The e-book link is to a Google site. There are other links to the ebooks (like kobo) that need a sign in to a free account.

All the books were part of the Age UK Camden Literary Festival in March 2020.

This post first appeared on richardsmithwrites.com

High Street is best – but Homeward Bound is now an e-book

For those of you who prefer screens to paper,  Amazon.co.uk now has Homeward Bound as an ebook https://www.amazon.co.uk/Homeward-Bound-Richard-Smith-ebook/dp/B084G6NXF6/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=homeward+bound&qid=1580811121&s=digital-text&sr=1-4.

And it’ll start to appear on other sites too. But of course, the best place is a bookshop. I always urge people to use the High Street. For me, there’s nothing better than browsing – well, browsing books and records. Not when it comes to clothes and shoes which are high on my list of things to avoid!

Below is a link to an interview I did with the Islington Tribune.

http://islingtontribune.com/article/highbury-authors-vinyl-destination-a-novel

Three questions about music

“I’m now going to play some songs from my new album.”

It’s the expression that strikes fear into every concert-goer.  We want the hits, the songs we know. Why do they do it? Why do we go?

Why do people go to gigs and then spend half the time talking or at the bar?

Why do musicians spend months recording, using the best facilities, mixing on giant studio speakers, only for people to listen on a squawking Alexa speaker or on ear buds as background noise to the sound of a train?

These and other issues will be my blog for the days leading up to publication of my novel, Homeward Bound, about two people divided by time and music.