I am approaching Zero Hour …. when I pull the trigger and launch my first novel into the ether.

I am up to the balls of my eyes right now, getting things ready: preparing artwork, recording music, filling envelopes full of goodies. If you have signed up for a pledge involving drinks, chats, masterclasses and nights out on the rock and roll beat, then expect to hear from me very soon. Most of the…

I have been reading through proofs of #Zero today, looking for those last little typos. After a year in the hands of editors and publishers the pace is starting to quicken. Well, as much as the pace in publishing ever quickens. When I handed in the manuscript, I was excited to be told we would get it out in Spring. Until I realised they were talking about Spring 2019. 

Anyway, I have been a…

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover … but this one looks pretty tempting to me.

I am very pleased to unveil the cover for #Zero, designed by Mecob.

It is always fascinating to see how different artists interpret your work. I would never have come up with this image myself. It has moved a long way from my original idea. But I like it. This is a more lateral take on the theme of a…

Thank you to everyone who has supported my novel. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday period and I will be back in the New Year with updates about when #Zero will be published, and when we can start fulfilling pledges. xNeil

I did an interview with an Irish music website, and blabbed at length about writing #Zero, the U2 generation, working for Hot Press, Telegraph & Vintage TV, my worst interview, my favourite albums, the life of a music journalist & why, at the end of a long day writing for a living, I might choose to stay up all night writing for fun. I didn't expect them to transcribe my every utterance. But here…

In the George Michael documentary Freedom, recently broadcast by Channel 4, the late superstar discusses a particular aspect of 1980s pop where “this handful of massive celebrities were constantly battling in the charts.” The musicians he had in mind were Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and, ultimately, George Michael himself, who went “full gusto” into creating a “new character” to stand alongside…

I love bookshops. New and secondhand, specialist and generalised. Walking into a bookshop is like walking into church for me, the sacred space where literature in all its forms is revered. Yet they can also be overwhelming and spiritually enervating. The initial euphoria I experience upon entering these cathedrals of the written word can turn to a kind of cultural vertigo, a dizzying sense of…

I did an interview with the @u2 podcast about the genesis of my book, the toxicity of fame, the perils of crowdfunding, the state of publishing & why I keep a death mask on my bookshelf. You can listen here: https://goodstuff.fm/atu2/68 

I did an interview with Harry Kantas at U2songs.com about the writing of #Zero. Read on to find the unlikely connection between Homer's Odyssey, James Joyce's Ulysses and my fictional character; what made Ellie Goulding scream in my face and how to add ten million dollars to a film budget with the stroke of a pen.

http://www.u2songs.com/news/zero_a_look_at_neil_mccormicks_new_book

This was a doodle I did for a possible cover for my book. Let me tell the story of how it came to be called #Zero.

I’ve been dreaming this book up for a long time, pretty much since I finished Killing Bono. As you may know, it was originally published as I Was Bono’s Doppelganger, which had a cheesy B-movie drama that I liked. But after Bono read the manuscript, he pointed out that it was…