AN ALLOA author is set to team up with tourism authorities in Malta to promote the release of his latest book.

Writer Robert Ferguson is set to publish his international psychological thriller Red Lentil Soup later this November before jetting off to the island nation next April.

The rising author – who featured in the Advertiser in 2020 after he released I've Got Jesus in the Back of My Taxi, a Christmas tale set in Glasgow – has more to come with the release of the novella The Intrepid Steps Of John Ruffam with Edinburgh Publisher Leamington Books in February.

Not only that, a handful of Robert's short stories are also due to appear in periodicals produced by DSP Glasgow next year while some of his poems are to go in a collection titled Dreams for the Season by Dunfermline publishers 8D Press.

And despite publishers biting at his ears for more works, Robert is also appearing as an extra in a new Scottish film being shot in Glasgow with his friend and famous actor and director David Hayman.

The book Red Lentil Soup, which will take audiences from Scotland through Aleppo to Malta on a journey full of twists and turns, has already received praise during the review stage.

Robert shared with the Advertiser how he embarked on his writing journey and it all started with a disappointing ending – something he is keen to avoid in his latest work.

In typical holidaymaker fashion while abroad with wife Lorna, he picked up a thriller at the airport which kept him immersed until the final few pages.

Robert continued: “I was loving this book, I couldn't put it down.

“And when I got to the end, I thought this is the biggest lob of nonsense, you could have guessed in the first paragraph who the killer was. It was such a let down.

“Lorna said to me: 'Well, why don't you write one?'.”

His career all started there and learning from another writer's mistake, Robert has been keen to avoid simple endings to a great stories.

He said about Red Lentil Soup: “There's so many twists and turns no one will guess and that's what I like, I like having the twists to the tales, it makes a better read.”

Robert added: “I don't want an easy access to the ending of any book I write, I want it to be a journey.”

The book will release this month but with much of it set in Malta, authorities there will be keen to build on its success.

Robert explained he will be flying out in April next year, working with tourism authorities, Agenda Bookshops and the five-star Phoenicia Hotel in Valletta to launch and promote the book.

He said: “They are going to do a big launch in the hotel, they are willing to get the TV, newspapers, radio, podcasts, social media all involved.

“It's going to be absolutely massive for me because my publishers from New York [Austin Macauley] will come over for the launch in Vallette, which should be amazing, especially for a writer from Scotland.”

While Robert considers himself a writer rather than a poet, his works impressed editors at 8D in Dunfermline, based at Abbot House, and it is understood Dreams for the Season will be released soon.

“It's like another branch of creativity for me,” Robert said.

“It's not going to be the mainstay of my work, it's always going to be off the back of writing novels, short stories and novellas.”

For more about the author visit robertferguson.ampbk.com.