Merry Christmas 'n' Happy Holidays...

The kids are buzzing 'n' daddy's got the beers in! To all my friends throughout the blogosphere... have a good 'n'.

Cheers,
Col

Richard Godwin's first novel, APOSTLE RISING, sounds like an absolute cracker...

Just listened attentively to fellow writer, Richard Godwin, being interviewed over on 'The Authors Show' about his first novel, APOSTLE RISING. It's out in March 2011, but I, for one, eagerly anticipate its release because I've a strong feeling it could be one the best first novels of 2011.
Accomplished speaker Richard explains all in his own inimitable way here.

Ps. Thanks to Ian Ayris for the heads up.

Blog posts well worth a nosey...

On my travels around the blogosphere, I stumbled across a couple of things particularly worth sharing. So, in case you missed them, do check out the nostalgic and intriguing 'podcast' posted by John McFetridge over at crime blog Do Some Damage. It's a 4-part conversation between writing legends, Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler! It really is unmissable.

The Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler 'podcast'

Also, on Nicola Morgan's blog there's a link to editor Lynn Price's candid views, including pitfalls and a reality check on how tough this industry can be.

When a Contract is Cancelled.

Catch you all soon,
Regards,
Col

Col Bury's Crime Fiction Choice...

Col Bury's Crime Fiction Choice #10

CHARLES IN CHARGE - by Sean Patrick Reardon

Sean chose the rarely used 2nd POV for this Halloween short over at TKnC, and expertly pulled it off.

When a family man fighting his demons takes a trip to the fairground with his teenage daughter, things go horribly wrong, culminating in an unexpected denouement.

Col Bury's Crime Fiction Choice #11

PILLOW TALK - by Jodi MacArthur

Found this beaut over at Beat to a Pulp. From the title, I initially thought it was gonna be a cosy number, but how wrong could I be?

The central character, Henrietta, has to be one of the most disturbing female protags I've read in any short around. Fierce, yet unembellished, in its delivery, this creepy tale will keep you shuddering long after the final word.

Col Bury's Crime Fiction Choice #12

SLASH AND BURN - by Matt Hilton

In the third of the Joe Hunter crime thriller series, Matt Hilton provides the compulsory action, bullets, explosions and body count. However this time, not only is it sprinkled with dark humour, but also a pleasantly surprising touch of romance for tough guy Hunter, which adds further story depth.

In this adventure, Hunter is up against a murderous businessman (Huffman) who has kidnapped Hunter's dead, Special Forces friend's sister in a bid to save the former's corrupt empire from crumbling. If this isn't enough, the formidable Bolan twins on Hunter's tail remind me of Heavyweight Champs, the Klitschko brothers.

When reading a novel it's preferable to learn something new, and here I could certainly tell from the face-to-face combat that it was penned by a martial arts expert. The author is the first to concede it won't be everyone's cuppa, but if you like escaping via entertaining, dynamic prose and the thrill of the chase - in this case, from Florida through to Little Fork, Kentucky - then look no further than Slash and Burn.

Col Bury's Crime Fiction Choice... resurrected!

A little over a year ago I started punchy reviews of short stories and flash fiction I'd enjoyed around the net. However, with my own novel writing, added to hectic family life, a demanding full-time job, plus co-editing Thrillers, Killers 'n' Chillers, although I enjoyed doing it, I had no 'choice' - pardon the pun - and it was placed on the proverbial back burner.

Well, it's back! But this time I'll be including crime thriller/mystery novels. Check back later in the week for Col Bury's Crime Fiction Choice numbers 10, 11 & 12.

If you can't wait (yeah, right!), see the first nine here. And remember, I only choose stuff I really loved reading and want to recommend to friends.

REMEMBER...

PLEASE GOD....

Manchester features heavily in the crime novel I've written, and my Detective Inspector Jack Striker is obviously a fanatical blue (well, they say write what you know).

Currently the city is abuzz with banter regarding tonight's Manchester derby versus our illustrious (and somewhat spoilt!) neighbours, Man.United. As always my beloved Man.City are underdogs, so I've got everything crossed they don't 'do us' by snatching a last minute winner (in Fergie time!), like they did in three of the four derbies last season.

Just setting off with my lad now... please God...

UPDATE:
What an anti-climax. For those of you interested, it was a bore-draw...nil-nil... orchestrated by two fearful managers, especially ours sadly. But at least we didn't lose and the pee-taking will be tempered somewhat... THANK GOD.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, FOLKS... fancy some topical flash?

Well, not much reading or writing done tonight, as I've been up 'n' down answering the door and I'm all out of treats. That'll teach me to stick a pumpkin in me front window, eh? Whatever happened to the old Halloween songs...? Now the kids just grab a handful 'n' do one - maybe that's the 'trick' part? And some of them were bigger than me, so I'm not arguing!

Anyway, my kids love dressing up and I hope those of you with - or without - children have a had a good time. Why not round it off with some topical crime fiction? Check out a tasty Halloween treat by Sean Patrick Reardon over at Thrillers, Killers 'n' Chillers, or my resurrected flash below...


Happy Halloween, Officer

‘The target is taking a left, left, onto Market Street. Temporary loss…’

‘Stick with him, John. I’m ten metres behind. Louey’s in position opposite.’

‘Okay, Morse. Got eyeball again. He’s speeding up. Right, right, down Back Piccadilly. Temporary loss…’

‘Let’s just nail the scumbag. With blood on his jacket, he’s obviously bang at it,’ said Louey, thinking of the pending paperwork and the fact he should’ve been taking the kids to a Halloween party. Fat chance.

‘Be patient, Louey. Wait…eyeball again. He’s just turned left, left, into an alleyway. And, watch it, it’s dark down here.’

‘Right behind you, John,’ said Morse.

Louey shuddered in the meagre moonlight as the night wafted its chill down Back Piccadilly.

John’s voice, a whisper now. ‘Left, left, into the alleyway. Even darker now…shit!’

The scream halted Louey. ‘John? You okay?’ Adrenaline flooded his veins, his heart-rate doubling.

Morse’s misshapen figure did a swift left into the alleyway.

‘What the fuck? No…pleeease…’ crackled through his earpiece.

Louey withdrew his baton and torch then sprinted.

Torchlight revealed Morse on the floor, a shadowy shape stooped over him. Louey raised his baton.

A squelchy noise made him lift the beam higher. He froze on seeing the target’s blood-swilled face and manic smile - John pinned up against the wall, his neck gaping dark crimson.

Shuffling behind. Louey pivoted, shined the beam.

Bloody fangs grinned at him. His last thought was of his kids.

‘Happy Halloween, Officer.’


Got a taste for it...? Then pop over to Erin Cole's blog and sample her fantastic 13 Days of Horror, but feel free to comment before you go.

An interview with crime thriller author, Adrian Magson...

I've been looking forward to picking Adrian's brains (especially since watching Hannibal!), as Mr Magson is one of those writers who's been there, done it 'n' got the T-shirt. He recently showed that hard work and perseverance does pay off with a well-deserved double two-book deal.

Q1) You have a reputation of being one of the nicest and most supportive authors around. Having had the pleasure of meeting you a few times, I can firmly concur. But for the people who haven't had this pleasure, could you give us a potted history of how you got into writing, and your early successes and failures?

You trying to make me blush? Potted history: I started writing short stories when I was in my teens, and sold the first one - a crime caper called 'Hole in One' - to a London newspaper when I was 19. Decided I'd got it made... but it was three years before I sold another one! I think that's what's called a reality check. After that, I spent years writing in my spare time while holding down a variety of day jobs. My early sales were mostly to women's magazines, and that's how I continued. It was the most active market for selling short fiction at the time - and still is - and a really good apprenticeship in learning how to write for a specific market, which was romantic and relationship stories (I even wrote under a female pseudonym for some years). I also wrote several novels which didn't sell, probably for good reason. Apart from shorts, I wrote features for magazines here and abroad, wrote some comedy material for Roy Hudd, a short play which was performed at the Oxford Literary Festival, and in between that wrote slogans for t-shirts and scripts for greetings cards (both for companies in the US). In short, I was a writing tart, picking up work wherever I could while still adding to my world-class collection of rejection slips.

Q2) You do a regular slot called 'Beginners' in Writing Magazine, and another interviewing debut authors ... how did these come about?

Luck and circumstance. My name was put forward by Liz Smith of My Weekly when someone else dropped out. I'd written a lot of different things for Liz by then, so she knew I could turn my hand to it and meet deadlines. By then, I had some insights to share both as a beginner and a more experienced writer, and knew what worked. But I also knew that writing is as much about getting your bum on a seat and doing it, not simply talking about it or having a fluency with the language and grammar. And that's the way it's been ever since. It also led on to me teaching creative writing, which was another string to the bow. The profiling of debut authors came later.

Q3) Before your recent double success, you had a few novels out. How did they do?

That was a series of five books between 2004 and 2008 (the Riley Gavin/Frank Palmer crime novels) based in and around London. The two main leads were a woman reporter and her sidekick, a former Redcap. They did reasonably well (I was described by the publisher as their best-seller), and I got some great reviews here and in the US, where they did well in libraries.

Q4) So how does it feel to get TWO 2-book deals after years of trying?

Even better than one two-book deal! That was down to luck and a good agent (David Headley). I decided in 2008 that I wanted to switch genres to write a contemporary spy series (always supposing I could sell the first book, anyway). That was 'Red Station', featuring MI5 officer, Harry Tate. I completed the book and gave it to David and continued writing, this time a French police thriller - basically to see if I could, as I didn't normally write procedurals. By the time David sold 'Red Station' to Severn House, I'd finished 'Death on the Marais', which features Inspector Lucas Rocco, and he promptly sold that, too, to Allison & Busby - all within 48 hours. It was a lesson I'd learned writing for magazines: don't ever stop writing because you never know if someone will say "What else have you got...?" (see also with an early manuscript below). Fortunately, Severn House have just asked me to sign a contract for two more books in the Harry Tate series, so that takes me into 2012. I was particularly pleased to be with both publishers because Severn House are very strong in the library and trade paperback markets here and in the US, and A&B have a very strong crime list - the best of both worlds for me. And they're both such a pleasure to work with.

Q5) Give us a blurb on Red Station and tell us about Harry Tate?
Red Station is basically a 'what if' thriller. What if a character who usually follows orders is put in a situation where he finds himself at odds with his employers? In this case, Intelligence officer Harry Tate finds himself betrayed and marked down for termination because of departmental expediency. Harry is a former soldier, loyal Security Services (MI5) officer, and when a drugs bust goes bad and two civilians are shot dead, he's hustled out of the country to avoid embarrassing media questions. His new posting is called Red Station in Georgia, and he's under a No Contact Rule, which means he's off the radar and being watched closely. What his bosses haven't told him, though, is that Red Station is a punishment posting for washed-out spooks from MI5 and MI6... and Harry won't be coming home again.
Of course, in the best tradition of thrillers, Harry decides to fight back. While writing this, incidentally (and to show we can't make anything up, no matter how hard we try), I'd just written the scene where Harry arrives at Red Station and asks his new station chief what he's supposed to be doing there (it's a remote spot with little obvious strategic interest). He's told to keep his eyes and ears open because the Russians are coming (well, they're always good for a threat in a spy thriller, aren't they?) Three or four days after writing this scene, I turned on the television to find that the Russians had marched across the border into Georgia. Surprised is putting it mildly, because it threw me into a spin. This was now old news. Do I carry on or junk it? I decided to carry on, mainly because I hate throwing anything away, and just because Vlad Putin was feeling spitty, why should I dump a good story? In the end, it actually helped fasten the story more firmly to a specific place and time, and gave Harry a greater reason for breaking out and having what my wife Ann calls his MacGyver moment.

Q6) Lucas Rocco is a French cop. Cool name, by the way. Why did you choose this location and was there a lot of research involved? Plus, did it conflict with the very different spy novel starring Harry Tate, or were they written years apart?

I was partly educated in France (my parents lived there for 20 years from the late 50s), so a lot of the research was more in the way of cross-checking and reminding myself of facts. 'Death on the Marais' - the first book in the series - is set in the 1960s, which was a period of huge upheaval and change in France, so a volatile pot for me to write about. The central character, Lucas Rocco, is a French police inspector. I chose the name because I wanted one that English-speaking readers could relate to, and one which fitted the character. Rocco has a tough sound and Lucas is a French-sounding name, too, although mostly pronounced locally without the 's'. As a character, he's tall and dark, dresses impeccably in imported clothes and for all sorts of reasons stands out from the pack. The Plot: As part of a new nationwide policing initiative to spread investigative resources throughout the regions, Rocco is sent from his base in Paris to Picardie in rural northern France. He has to cope with totally different circumstances, different procedures and people, and his new boss, Commissaire Massin, was his former commanding officer in Indochina (France's own Vietnam), whom he last saw having an attack of cowardice and cowering in a foxhole, and had to drag to safety. This places Rocco in an awkward position with plenty of potential conflict between them, but that's part of the plot. Rocco is not only dealing with new situations, but is now faced with the worst one - that of a boss who'd rather see the back of him. And when he finds the body of woman in a British military cemetery, and she turns out to be the daughter of a highly-placed industrialist and former SOE officer with a big secret to hide, his situation worsens because Rocco is not one to back down when it comes to solving a case. It's a very different book to and was written straight after I'd finished 'Red Station'. I simply put on another head and got on with it. That sounds a little glib, maybe, but after years of writing all manner of different things, I've got used to compartmentalising and focussing on the current job in hand.
For various reasons 'Death on the Marais' involved more research and fact-checking than 'Red Station', but maybe that helped me NOT get the two confused. Mind you, I'm not saying I didn't wake up now and then and wonder who the hell I was writing about.

Q7) Akin to our mutual friend Matt Hilton, it seems your best successes to date have sprung from your creation of 'series characters'. Did you have this in mind from the outset, or was it a conscious change of tack?

A: Absolutely. I like writing series characters, because if it works well, it's a great way to build a core of readers. As you know first-hand, Matt Hilton can certainly attest to that, and he's building a very extensive and loyal following for his Joe Hunter series. I like reading series novels, anyway (Lee Child, Robert Crais, John Sandford, Matt H, Tony Black, to name a few) so I understand the pleasure in getting the latest instalment, to see where the characters go next. I still have people asking when the next Riley Gavin will be out, which is very flattering (the answer is, they're on an extended break) and now have readers asking when the next Lucas Rocco or Harry Tate book is due. That is a real buzz.

Q8) Clearly persistence has paid off in your case, but have you any advice for all the wannabe authors out there?

A: KEEP WRITING. That's the main one. You never know when something will happen, so don't sit on your laurels and wait for your one writing project to be bought, whether it's a short story, feature or book. The moment the completed one hits the mailbox, start another. I once sent off a thriller many many years ago to a big publisher and got a 'Not this one - but what else have you written?' rejection letter. Trouble was, I was away from home a huge amount at the time, and when I was able to write, was working on a typewriter (that's a mechanical device rather like a PC but without electricity or memory) and hadn't got anything else to show them. By the time I did have, the editor had retired. That was really tough, because what he'd been saying was, 'I quite like your style and would like to see something else'. A lost opportunity? Possibly. I certainly thought so. So I got working. Before I got my first novel published (2004) I wrote all those others things, and often had up to 40 short stories circulating in the market here and overseas, as well as trying out comedy scripts, plays, gags - even drawing cartoons. It probably comes from my sales background, where I learned the art of accepting rejection as a 'not this time' rather than a 'never', and worked on the basis that the more I did, the more likely I'd be successful one day. For me, that still holds true . Luck is a core ingredient in any creative job, but someone - I forget who - was right on the button when they said "The harder I work, the luckier I get."

Q9) So what's next for Adrian Magson?

A: I'm currently writing what I call 'Rocco 2', as well as thinking hard about 'Harry Tate 3' (Harry 2, called 'Tracers', comes out in March). I also have some short stories on the boil and a non-fiction book in mind. That sounds like a recipe for mental implosion, I know, but it's the way I work. Coffee helps.
In the meantime, thank you, Col, for kindly giving me this opportunity.

Adrian, it was an absolute pleasure, and thank YOU for providing us with your inspirational words of wisdom.

Adrian's website.

Feeling lucky, punk? My new story, LUCKY SHIT, over at A Twist Of Noir...

Christopher Grant's 600 to 700 Challenge rolls on over at A Twist Of Noir, and number 608 (words) is my turn. Feel free to pop over and comment at ATON or below.

Ps. In a rare, but rather large, cock-up, I had to re-submit due to formatting issues and, while cutting 'n' pasting, I missed off the last line... I'll reveal it (my last line, not my....!) in a subsequent post, and you can tell me if it was required or not, as I still feel the current ending works.