Featured
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Now available in the Cabildo Bookshop!
If you fancy a paperback copy of “The Fire Demon” without having to wait for Amazon delivery, you can now buy it from the well-known Cabildo bookshop near Triana street in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The exact address is C. Cano 24. The Cabildo bookshop specializes in Canarian authors and topics, offering an extensive
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What if I’m not travelling to Gran Canaria?
While the novel is best enjoyed on location, you can perfectly follow the story at home. The selection of places was done with first-timers in mind, so anyone familiar with Gran Canaria will likely recognise where the characters are at any time. Furthermore, all outdoor locations are available on Google Street View. For example, Lund’s
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The Name’s Lund, Leon Lund. (My wishlist for Bond 26)
To the surprise of absolutely no one who’s read TFD, I am—unabashedly, incurably—a James Bond fan. A member of the global congregation that can argue passionately about whether Dalton was ahead of his time (he was) or whether Craig peaked too early (he did). So, if you’re a Bond fan reading this, consider this blog
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a8 to what?
I can’t think of anywhere in Las Palmas more Calvin-esque than the Elder Museum of Science and Technology. Where else can you geek out over Earth’s rotation in a blissfully climate-controlled environment? And if that’s not what brought you to the Canaries, just wait until you find yourself trudging across the sun-baked Santa Catalina esplanade
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Atis Tirma!
Of all the statues and sculptures featured in The Fire Demon novel, Manuel Bethencourt’s Atis Tirma monument in the Hotel Santa Catalina Gardens stands out as my favourite. I find the sheer feistiness and foreboding of its subjects truly captivating. And the crowning touch—the aboriginal figure vaulting off in defiance, pointedly away from the colonial-style
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Dry Run over Dragon… Green?
One of the appealing features of a location-based novel set in natural spaces is that it offers readers a consistent experience while still allowing for seasonal variations. In fact, if two visitors to Gran Canaria were to follow The Fire Demon’s itinerary just six months apart, their Instagram pictures might look quite different. I was
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火焰恶魔: 大加那利惊悚小说 – Plan your trip
近年来，来自中国的游客在加那利群岛的数量逐渐增加，我对此深有体会。慢慢地，中国以及其他亚洲游客开始取代我们习惯看到的英国、德国和北欧的游客。当地的商家也在适应这种变化——今年夏天，我第一次在特罗尔（Teror）的一家纪念品商店里看到用中文书写的标识。
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A cross marks the spot
Gran Canaria, like the rest of the Canary Islands, is dotted with crosses on almost every summit. These crosses, aside from their traditional significance, are handy markers for tourists. If you spot a cross on a hilltop or peak, it usually means the place is accessible and offers wonderful views of the surrounding area. Probably
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Reading Spot: Chapter 5
You will find the Oriental Corner of Parque Doramas exactly as described in the novel — except for Lund’s bench. While there are a couple of benches further back (see pic below), they do not face the park but the Pueblo Canario, so you might prefer to sit at one of the red picnic tables
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Doña Avenida Marítima
Las Palmas’ seawall, or the Avenida Marítima, is more than merely the city’s backbone. The whole urban sprawl is articulated alongside it; locals use it for sport and recreation, and personally, it is to me like Café Iruña was to Hemingway; most of The Fire Demon’s plot was conceived while strolling pensively on it. To
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New_cover.ai
I was originally reticent to employ AI in my cover design — it just felt dishonest. However, after trying a few online tools, I found myself in awe of the ability of these algorithms to interpret my original composition in a way that so perfectly represents what I always wanted. The process was not easy
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El Pajar: blood, heart, and soul
Seriously, where is everybody? If you visit El Pajar on a Thursday, you might feel as though you’re entering a ghost town. As you stroll along the main promenade, book in hand, your sole companions would be the tree leaves rustling softly in the breeze. Only your Gran Canaria guide had told you that El
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Who’s Nilsson Group?
The short answer is: nobody. As per my lawyer’s advice, let me reiterate that Nilsson Group is an entirely fictional entity. It does not intend to represent any companies operating in the Canaries or elsewhere. However, many aspects of Nilsson Group have a strong basis in reality, and, if we were in search of similarities,
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Reading Spot: Chapter 4
While I’m very fond of El Pajar and its beach restaurant, “El Boya”, I have to admit that, on a regular day, the place is too noisy and lively to find a quiet spot for reading. Thus, if you’re following the novel on location, I’d recommend visiting El Pajar on a Thursday when the beach
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Local Labels
Spies need to be observant, and for a while, in my obsession with detail and immersion, I had Lund scrutinizing every local brand he came across in search of insights about Gran Canaria. Thankfully, narrative economy ultimately prevailed, and I removed all those long-winded descriptions and forced foreshadowing that didn’t really work on the page.
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First immersion at the Faro (and II)
As a child, I despised coin-operated binoculars. Not once did I see what I wanted to see before time ran out. It wasn’t until a visit to the Korean DMZ, the world’s capital of binoculars-enabled tourism, that I understood their appeal. Now I can’t resist using them. If it were up to me, every elevated
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Udite, udite, o rustici!
If you are thinking of buying some Canarian alcohol to enjoy back home, the sweet Malvasia wines from Lanzarote are really your best bet. You can find them in most supermarkets and even at Gran Canaria Airport. However, if wine is not your thing, the honey rum made from our local sugarcane is as traditional
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First immersion at the Faro (I)
I know, it’s just a lighthouse. And not a particularly tall one. But it’s an icon of Gran Canaria nonetheless, so a post about it is inevitable. Luckily, there are quite a few things we can learn about the Faro, or at the Faro, that can enhance our immersion in the novel. First, there’s the
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The Adulterous Woman
As some of you may have noticed, our beloved painting from Chapter 6 is currently missing from the walls of the Casa de Colón. As of January 2024, it remains stored in the ground floor’s deposit room. Its future home will likely be the new Gran Canaria Fine Arts Museum (Museo de Bellas Artes de
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Morena vs Néstor
Since antiquity, it has been well known that black moray eels (specifically the Muraena augusti) dwell in the shallow waters of the Canaries. We call them ‘morenas’, and one is precisely the subject of the sculpturesque fountain next to the Faro de Maspalomas. A clear inspiration for this work is the painting La Noche (The
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Hotel Casino Meloneras
The Lopesan Costa Meloneras Hotel (LCM) opened in the year 2000 and was, at that time, the largest on the island. With its classic, colonial design and proximity to the Faro, it was the evident inspiration for Consul Reed’s ‘bachelor’s pad’. Alongside the nearby ‘Villa del Conde’ and ‘Baobab’ resorts, the real-world Costa Meloneras is
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Un Thriller de Gran Canaria
Ya disponible en la Librería del Cabildo (C. Cano 24). Capítulos gratis Trailer Página del autor Galería “El Demonio de Fuego” es un apasionante thriller de localizaciones ambientado en Gran Canaria. Acompaña a los personajes mientras se mueven por nuestra hermosa isla. La intensa trama de espionaje te mantendrá enganchado mientras avanza hacia un final
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Favourite Reading Spot: Chapter 3
Obviously, the best place to start reading Chapter 3 would be the top-floor balcony of the royal suite inside the Meloneras hotel. If you can afford that, good for you! For the rest of us, I guess we can make do in one of the many benches around the Morena fountain. None of those are
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Car or Bus?
One of the major decisions you have to make for your Gran Canaria trip is whether to rent a car or not. Obviously, since you are reading this, you plan on having a more active trip than most visitors to the island. In that case, you should seriously consider getting a car; it is way
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Merry Christmas!
So happy to be back home in Las Palmas! I see the city hall has chosen ‘A tale-like Christmas’ as this year’s motto. Right on! If you’re around, make sure to check out the festive program: Of those events, I’d say the highlight is the Los Gofiones concert tonight (Dec 23rd) at the Plaza de
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LPA
For the completionists among you, let me clarify that Lund’s path through Gran Canaria airport mirrors that of a UK arrival passenger post-Brexit. After passport control, you will enter the baggage hall from the south and pass by the customs office on your way out. That office is the location of the fictional police station
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Scenic Views
Despite Lund’s complaints, I can’t really fault Ryanair’s commitment to the Canaries. This Christmas, they’re offering three non-stop weekly frequencies from my UK city to LPA. With two more from Jet2.com, that makes it five. I imagine many of you would also be flying with these airlines. At around four and a half hours from
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Musical notes (and III)
Despite the trailer’s music, Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello isn’t directly related to the novel—aside from providing inspiration for our hero’s first name (‘Leon’). It’s just that I’ve always found the end of Act III fascinating. The musical triumph of evil Iago over the fallen Lion of Venice embodies what every drama, regardless of its medium, should
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Musical notes (II)
While ‘Sombra del Nublo’ holds a special place in the hearts of all Gran Canarians, our most emblematic piece of music is actually the ‘Cantos Canarios’ symphonic poem, composed by Teobaldo Power in 1880. This composition combines various traditional Canarian rhythms into a short orchestral suite. Among these rhythms, the ‘Arrorró’ (or Lullaby) stands out
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Musical notes (I)
Strangely, I would like to start by talking about something the novel does not explicitly contain: music. As a visitor to the Canaries, I imagine you might enjoy discovering a bit about Canarian culture, and a key element of that is music. I’m neither a historian nor a musicologist, but I’ve included two subtle musical
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Unboxing
I finally received my author copy today and am immensely grateful to Amazon for its outstanding support of independent writers. I also want to extend my gratitude to all of you who ordered the book during the recent Kindle promotion. As a Canarian expatriate, I’ve been living and working in the UK for the past
The Fire Demon 