Weekend, 24-25 July 2010

Time and Space

I have always viewed myself not as an artist, but a craftsman.

I take an enormous amount of care over my work, and yes, pride in it. I’m constantly striving to improve and hone what I do, but the word ‘artist’ always conjures up images of ego and eccentricity. I just can’t take myself that seriously.

I can never forget that I am asking people to buy into a myth, a dream, a jumble of thoughts and ideas that have been tumbling around inside my head, and have finally made it out in some semblance of order onto the page.

The fact that anyone wants to read them often frankly astounds me.

And yet, I had an email from someone recently who told me that she cried while reading the ending of Fourth Day. Having that happen at all is pretty humbling for a writer, to be honest. But the fact that she cried while reading the book in the airport is even more so.

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This week’s Phrase of the Week is having your leg pulled meaning to be on the receiving end of a deception or joke. It’s thought to originate from a Scottish rhyme of the 1860s, in which old Aunt Meg was hanged and the preacher pulled on her legs to ensure she died quickly and without too much pain. Aunt Meg was probably innocent of the crime for which she was hanged, but was known to have been the victim of much deception and trickery, for which having her leg pulled was the result.

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Weekend, 17-18 July 2010

Fun with Friends − and Harrogate Beckons . . .

Since we’ve got back from our mini-tour of the States last month, things have been a bit frantic, but that’s no surprise. When are they ever any different? We’ve had the usual shoots and events to do, like Bodies in the Bookshop at Heffers in Cambridge on Thursday. I think Richard Reynolds of Heffers must be sacrificing things to the weather gods, because it was − as ever − a gorgeous day for it.

It was great to meet up with the usual suspects, plus some new faces including my fellow Murderati blogger, JT Ellison, who was over from Nashville to do a bit of research for her next book, as well as promoting her latest.

As ever, the long car journey to Cambridge proved useful scribbling and plotting time in the car. I only started work on the new book earlier this month, and so far progress seems to be good. It’s amazing how quickly I’ve got back into the swing of having a daily word target looming over me, after a few weeks’ reprieve. Still, keeping up the momentum of the book is a very good incentive.

We did have a bit of a break last weekend, though, as fellow Busted Flush Press crime author Donna Moore, and her feller, Ewan, came down from Scotland for a brief stay. We even managed to persuade her to sit still for long enough to take some proper author photographs, which is a difficult task as Donna does not like being photographed. But, here’s one of the ones she was almost happy with, and I think she looks great!

July is proving its usual washout as far as the weather is concerned. Outside jobs on the house have ceased in the face of a constant downpour that has the beck doing its usual raging torrent impression.

It’s the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate this weekend, and it always seem to coincide with bad weather at home. Still, at least if we’re in Yorkshire we might miss the flooding this year!

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This week’s Word of the Week is tepid, which is a lovely word meaning lukewarm or lacking in enthusiasm. Everybody knows that one, I’m sure, but from that we also get tepefy (v) and tepefaction (n) meaning to make tepid, and tepidarium, which is the warm room between the cold and hot rooms of a Roman bath.

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Weekend, 3-4 July 2010

Homecoming

How come when you’re away from home, it seems like a week lasts forever, and yet as soon as you get back, time flies? I’m sure Einstein had a theory for it, but I have no idea.

Since last week’s blog, we’ve been exploring New Orleans, been caught in tropical storm Alex, had a ball in Manhattan, and discovered that it is indeed possible to bury a body at Montauk Point.

We were staying in Louisiana with my fellow Murderati blogger, Toni McGee Causey and her charming husband, Carl. They spared no effort to entertain us, taking us on ferry trips, up national landmarks, and around one of the largest scrapyards in the southern United States. Fascinating!

We also got to see the touristy bits − and the not so touristy bits − of New Orleans, including the art gallery strewn centre and the devastated outskirts.

Apparently, Toni still gets fits of the giggles remembering me attempting to eat crawfish. We ordered six pounds of the little devils at a roadside diner in Morgan City, and damned difficult to fight your way into they were, too!

From there we flew to Long Island, in heavy rain and howling winds, with a delayed flight and detour via Orlando. No fun for Andy, who had a bad head cold by this point and couldn’t clear his ears during the flight. The cabin crew advised dosing up on Sudafed before we took to the air again. (It proved useful advice, as I’d managed to catch the same lurgy before our transatlantic flight home a few days later).

We spent the whole of Tuesday in Manhattan, having caught the Long Island Rail Road in from the wonderfully named Ronkonkoma. After a fun lunch with my new US publisher, Claiborne Hancock at Pegasus, and a drop-in signing with Steve at Partners & Crime on Greenwich Ave, we ambled through the sunny Washington Square Park and chilled out before the evening event at The Mysterious Bookshop with Lee Child.

Fellow mystery author, and acclaimed artist, Jonathan Santlofer, was gracious enough not only to come along, but also to laugh in all the right places, as did store owner Otto Penzler. Always a good sign.

New York Times reviews Killer Instinct

Afterwards, Andy, Lee Child, Maggie Griffin (Lee's webmaven) and I had dinner at a little Italian restaurant a few blocks north. In fact, it was Maggie, who sent me the first news that Killer Instinct has been reviewed in The New York Times this weekend. An achievement in itself − doubly so that reviewer Marilyn Stasio liked the book!

After the excitement of Manhattan, we spent our last free day driving around Long Island, checking out some of the areas I’ve used in the next Charlie Fox book.

I was relieved to find it is indeed possible to have one of my characters buried on the beach just south of the lighthouse at Montauk Point [left]. The beach is largely shingle rather than sand, but there were enough areas of the soft stuff to make not only a burial possible, but its discovery more likely.

Coming home involved a marathon of flights from Long Island to Chicago and then on to Houston, where we stacked for nearly an hour while the pilot tried to work out if the weather would allow him to land, or if we’d have to divert to Dallas. Fortunately, we did make it down safely, in time to meet with David Thompson from Busted Flush Press, who very kindly collected us from the domestic airport and delivered us to the international one for the nine-and-a-half-hour transatlantic leg.

Andy’s watch alarm went off as we were on the motorway driving back up country from Heathrow, showing we’d been on the go for more than twenty-four hours. But would we do it all again? Definitely!

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This week’s Word of the Week is stalko, which is Anglo-Irish for a gentleman without fortune or occupation, possibly from stócach, an idler.

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Weekend, 26-27 June 2010

Hot and Sunny in the States

Why is it that time passes differently when you’re away from home? We’ve been in the States for less than a week and it feels like we’ve been here forever − in a good way, of course. Since Monday, when we landed in Texas, we’ve been in Arizona, spent a couple of hours in Tennessee and are now firmly in Louisiana. And it’s all fascinating.

David Thompson, owner of Busted Flush Press and manager of Murder by the Book,
introducing me to a very welcoming crowd at the bookstore in Houston.

People warned us about the heat, but it feels great to be warm through to the bones after the cold winter we’ve just had. We even wandered around outside at midday in Houston in 114 degrees, and didn’t wilt. It’s very strange to be walking along with your own shadow nothing more than a small dark puddle around your feet. We’re not used to the sun being so high overhead.

The first thing we did when we landed was to buy a cheap pay-as-you-go US cellphone, so we could keep in touch with everyone and not be faced with the national debt of a small country when we got home. We ended up with something that came with as much free air time as it cost us to buy, and has more features than Andy’s UK phone has to start with. We’re still shaking our heads over that one.

It was great to arrive in Texas and see David and McKenna and all the staff at Murder By The Book, and sign a whole pile of stock of the new US edition of Killer Instinct for Busted Flush Press.

David ferried us around between bookstore, hotel and airport, and then as soon as we landed in Arizona on Wednesday morning, we picked up a car of our own and drove down to Tucson to see Chris and Daniel at Clues Unlimited. Then back up to Phoenix for dinner with librarian Lesa Holstine.

We saw Lesa twice the next day. First at the Authors @ The Teague event at the Velma Teague Branch Library in Glendale, where I was on a panel with Juliet Blackwell, Sophie Littlefield and Jeanne Matthews, which was fun. Lesa presented me with a mug to mark the occasion, which we just about managed to squeeze into the luggage. We’ve been doing this trip on carryon bags only, and have packed to a very fine tolerance.

After the library event, we drove over to Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale and walked a couple of blocks to a very good sushi restaurant we remembered from our last visit. (Yeah, I know, walking again.) I believe the temperature was even higher than Texas, but we’re English − walking around in the midday sun is what we’re noted for . . .

At the Poisoned Pen conference: Stefanie Pintoff, me, host and store owner Barbara Peters, Jodi Compton and Lisa Brackmann, with Lesa Holstine in the audience, front right.

We had a really good crowd at the Poisoned Pen conference, including a surprising number of British ex-pats, who asked some great questions of all of us. Sadly, we had to decline the kind offer to go to Trader Vic’s for drinks afterwards, because we were up against tight deadlines for our onward journey to New Orleans.

When I realised the flight took us via Nashville, Tennessee, I emailed my fellow Murderati blogger, JT Ellison, and asked how far away from the airport she lived. "Twenty-five minutes," came the reply. She came over and we spent an hour in one of the airport lounges, drinking coffee and chatting. It was great to see her, and a nice way to spend the time. Next time, we promised, we’d touch down for longer than two hours, and try to make it out of the airport!

Then it was on to Louisiana, and as I write, we’re spending the weekend with another ‘Rati friend, Toni McGee Causey and her husband, Carl. And we’re having a blast. Yesterday, that was literally the case, as we spent the afternoon at the local outdoor gun range with a small selection taken from Carl’s firearms collection. Andy got to fire a long gun seriously for the first time and if he’d had a grin any bigger, he would have had a flip-top head.

Tomorrow is New York, Long Island, and another story. Oh, by the way, if you're in the New York City area on Tuesday (29th), I'll be signing 6:30-8:00pm with Lee Child at The Mysterious Bookshop. See you there!

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Weekend, 19-20 June 2010

On the Road Again

The more observant among you will have noticed, of course, that I am not Brett Battles. I realise that this may come as a huge disappointment to some of you. (After all, he’s a one-of-a-kind type of guy.)

And, being such, Brett has very kindly allowed me to trade places with him for this week’s ‘Rati blog. I leave for a mini-tour of the States on Monday morning, and will be all over the place for the next 11 days. Although posting a blog here wouldn’t be too difficult, getting to comments might prove more tricky. So, I’ll leave you in Brett’s more-than-capable hands while I’m away.

And this pic has nothing to do with Brett, just in case you were wondering. It’s just a lovely one of one of the more unusual fixtures in the Murder on The Beach bookstore in Delray Beach, which I took last time I was there.

Andy and I have always enjoyed travelling. Good job, too, because one way or another we do a lot of it. Packing and repacking for work trips is a common thing, to the point where we usually only start throwing stuff into bags the night before we go.

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Weekend, 12-13 June 2010

Where Will It End?

I’ve been sitting here for a couple of hours now, staring at a blank open document, wondering how to begin. My problem is not that I don’t know what to write but more that I’m not sure how best to tackle the subject.

Anyone who’s seen the news over the past week will be aware of the events in my home county of Cumbria. For those who aren’t familiar with the details, last Wednesday morning a fifty-two-year-old cab driver called Derrick Bird walked out of his cottage, armed with a .22 rifle and a shotgun, climbed into his car and went on what’s best described as a rampage, shooting dead twelve people and injuring a further eleven before finally crashing his car and taking his own life.

It’s shocking, yes. Answers are being sought, but I fear that none will be found. People are asking what could have been done to prevent such a thing occurring, and it’s not very reassuring for anyone to think that events of this nature − awful though they are − are impossible to predict and prevent. There will always be the quiet man who suddenly snaps, without warning.

The day after the killings last week, I received an email out of the blue from BBC Radio, asking me to write a short essay on Derrick Bird’s actions from a crime writer’s perspective, which I duly did. I mentioned the piece in the blog on my website last week [see 'Tragic Times' below], and I understand the recording also went out on the World Service.

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I read out my piece on BBC Radio 4's The World At One on June 4th and it was also broadcast on the BBC World Service. Left-click to listen to the broadcast now − or right-click and choose "Save Target As . . ." to download the mp3 file.

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Weekend, 5-6 June 2010

Tragic Times

This week has been one of tragedy in the Lake District. For those who don’t know the details, the bones of the matter are that fifty-two-year-old cab driver, Derrick Bird, walked out of his cottage in the tiny Cumbrian village of Rowrah one morning, with a shotgun and a rifle, and climbed into his car. Three hours later, 11 people lay injured and 13 lay dead by his hand, including the gunman himself.

The BBC approached me to write a short essay on the subject, tackling it from a writer’s perspective in general, and a crime writer’s perspective in particular. I read out the piece at the tail end of The World At One’s Friday (4 June) lunchtime edition on BBC Radio 4, and it has since appeared on the BBC website as well:

A sad, sad time for everyone.

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I read out my piece on BBC Radio 4's The World At One on June 4th and it was also broadcast on the BBC World Service. Left-click to listen to the broadcast now − or right-click and choose "Save Target As . . ." to download the mp3 file.

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Weekend, 22-23 May 2010

Camera at CrimeFest 2010

As I write this, we are on the motorway heading north from Bristol after the CrimeFest convention, tired but really pretty happy. It was a fun weekend, in which we actually enjoyed sunburn weather for the first time this year. I've always thought the best way to tell any story is via pictures, so here are a few (which is DoubleSpeak for, my brain is fried).

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Weekend, 8-9 May 2010

Beyond the Call

My head is full of books at the moment, which is something of an occupational hazard and a pleasure. First of all, I had to reread Lee Child’s latest, 61 Hours, in preparation for discussing it with the book group at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal, on May 4th.

I read the book more or less at a sitting when it first came out, having arm-wrestled my Other Half for it as usual. There’s always a bit of an undignified scuffle breaks out in our house when the new Lee Child arrives, but it was fascinating to read it again with the purpose of pulling out points for a discussion group.

And what was more interesting was that quite a few of the group said they’d never read any of his work before, that it wasn’t the kind of book they’d necessarily choose, or that they found the cover too masculine, but then asked for pointers on other Jack Reacher books to read afterwards.

Best-selling author, Lee Child − role model, mentor
and unfailing support. Here we are at Crime & Partners
in Greenwich Village, New York, at the launch of
'Second Shot' way back in 2007

Lee would have been on my mind this week in any case, because with the publication of the new American trade paperback edition of Killer Instinct, I’m aware of what a debt I owe him in terms of enthusiasm and support. Lee very kindly wrote a foreword for the new book, of which I’m very proud to quote a bit here:

Modesty prevents me from quoting the rest of Lee's analysis of the book and my debut as a writer. But I hope you'll get hold of your own copy of Killer Instinct, read the foreword in full − and enjoy the book as much as Lee did.

And the thing that really gets to me is that Lee didn’t have to do any of that. It makes me realise what a circular industry this is, that what goes around, comes around. In that case, Lee’s earning future goodwill in spades!

I’m also reading books by Tom Cain, Matt Lynn, Richard Jay Parker, and Leigh Russell, who are appearing on the ‘Hanging Around’ panel I’ll be moderating at CrimeFest − May 20th-23rd − which is approaching rapidly. I’m also appearing on Donna Moore’s panel, ‘Grimly Fiendish’, for which I have to attempt verse, and I’m doing a brief rerun of my semi-serious self-defence demonstration in one of the In The Spotlight slots on Saturday − ‘You Can’t Run In High Heels’. Should be lots of fun.

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This week’s Word of the Week is royne, which is another one Spenser made up, and means to mutter, growl or roar. But royne is also an alternative spelling of roon, which means a list or selvage; a strip or thread of cloth in Scots. Shakespeare also used roynish, meaning scurvy, mangy, mean, from the French roigne, mange.

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Weekend, 1-2 May 2010

New Light Through Old Windows

I find myself in a weird situation this week. I hope you’ll forgive a touch of BSP, but I have two Charlie Fox books coming out within a few days of each other − one old and one new − and it’s made me view the whole series in a new light. I look at where I started, and where I am now, and think about the journey that has taken Charlie from there to here.

In Killer Instinct, which comes out in a spanking new trade paperback edition from Busted Flush Press around May 1st, my heroine is a very different person from the one she later becomes. By that, I don’t mean that she’s undergone any kind of radical personality changes in the subsequent books. The underlying traits and abilities were always there, but softer, more hesitant. Charlie still gets into physical altercations with people, but she probably agonises more before beating the crap out of them. In one scene of Killer Instinct, for example, she is forced to dislocate someone’s shoulder in order to avoid being glassed in the face during a fight in a nightclub. She really doesn’t like the idea, but recognises she has little choice.

During that period of her life, she was certainly younger and more naive, still on her way back from being a victim and with her new-found resolve never to be put in the same position again untested. This is the book that joins Charlie at the start of her road back. It marks a turning point in her life, where she discovers the best and the worst of herself.

I don’t remember making a conscious decision to make Charlie into a killer, albeit one who stayed within the law. Violence comes easy to her, but that very fact unsettles her. It’s something of an unwanted talent. Only later does she realise that she needs an outlet for it that isn’t going to land her in prison for the rest of her life.

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This week’s Word of the Week is mascaron, which is a grotesque face on a keystone or door-knocker, used as an architectural ornament. The origin is unclear, but it’s thought to be connected in some way with the Low Latin mascus, masca, a ghost, and with Arabic maskharah, a jester or man in masquerade.

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Weekend, 24-25 April 2010

My Spring Newsletter

There is so much going on at the moment that I thought it was time to issue another of my occasional newsletters. If you're on my mailing list, you will have received the Spring 2010 edition quite recently. If not, and you'd like to receive future issues, do please sign up here.

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Weekend, 17-18 April 2010

In and Out of Shadow

As a photographer, shadows interest me, but as a writer, they fascinate me. Darkness has a tendency to be absolute, but shadows are open to such interpretation according to mood.

Take this picture, for instance, which I took a couple of years ago. It’s of a giant (well 66ft high with a 178ft wingspan) contemporary sculpture by Anthony Gormley called The Angel of the North, just on the outskirts of Tyneside in the north-east of England.

Ever since the first time I saw it, this has seemed sinister to me, and I deliberately took this photograph to highlight that feeling. But to the people clustered happily round the statue’s base, it clearly had no such overtones.

And here’s the same statue, taken by Echostains on a totally different day, which gives a totally different view to my own. Blue skies, bright sun. What sinister air?

Everything we do and say is open to interpretation according to the mood of those witnessing our words and actions. Confidence to one person is arrogance to another. One person’s joke is another’s insult.

I’ve been guilty for making an offhand remark that was probably somewhat thoughtless on my part rather than purposely cruel, just as I know I’ve made the occasional pointed comment that went straight over the intended person’s head.

Many years ago I once wrote an entire comic column gently mocking someone, and they apparently read and enjoyed it without the slightest inkling that they were the target of my dubious humour. (Perhaps this demonstrates I’m not very good at that kind of thing. . .)

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This week’s Word of the Week is mishguggle, which is a lovely Scottish word meaning to bungle.

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Weekend, 10-11 April 2010

A Quick Razz Round the Country

This week has been a bit mad and almost entirely spent on the road. We’ve done a quick razz round the country from the Lakes down to the south coast, and even took a trip across onto the Isle of Wight, which has to have the most laid-back ferry going. We weren’t sure how long the cross-country drive would take us from staying with friends just outside Tunbridge Wells, and so turned up in Portsmouth docks at 10:15 for an 11:30 ferry. The guy on the gate just glanced at our ticket and said, "Oh, we’ll get you on the 10:30. Just go and see them in the ticket office." And away we went.

It’s been years since I’ve been in Portsmouth, and I was amazed by the Spinnaker Tower on the docks, which is a 170-metre (557 ft 9 in) observation tower that resembles the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. It’s a stunning piece, although apparently came in behind time and way over budget, as these projects have a habit of doing. I’m told it has the largest glass floor in an elevated tower in Europe, but I’m not sure I quite fancy the idea of that.

The people we went to see on the Isle of Wight made comments about what the shape has been said to resemble, and it was somewhat less highbrow than the lightweight sail that gives the structure its name. We hadn’t noticed any comic possibilities on the trip out, but on the return leg we saw exactly what he meant. See if you can work it out for yourself.

One thing we couldn’t get over was the weather. In fact, we both caught a bit of sun on Thursday, which came as something of a surprise to us pale northerners. The daffodils were in full flood where at home they’re only just starting to bloom, and the spring lambs were large and confident instead of still being at the small and wobbly stage. And then we finally arrived back last night to discover that the snow has still not melted from the tops of the hills.

It all made me realise how much variation in weather you can include when writing about any given location. After all, we’ve had baking days in unlikely places, and torrential downpours in Florida. And also that knowing the local nicknames for places can be very useful, rather than simply the official titles from the guidebooks.

Anyway, this week will see me stuck into rewrites for the new Charlie Fox book. I’ve been in limbo for the last few weeks, waiting for comments to come back from my editor, which should be with me on Monday, with any luck. I put the outlines for the next project in just before we left, and it’s been very strange to have just done such a long car trip with no book to be getting on with.

This week I should also be starting to read up, not only for my talk for Brewery Books on Lee Child’s 61 Hours at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal on May 4th, but also for the panel I’m moderating at CrimeFest in Bristol, May 20th-23rd. Should be fun.

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This week’s Word of the Week is dybbuk, which is an entity from Jewish folklore, an evil spirit, or the soul of a dead person, that enters the body of a living person and controls his or her actions, from the Hebrew dibbuq.

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Weekend, 3-4 April 2010

Before I start, for those of you who don’t know, the beloved husband Bruce of fellow Murderati member, Louise Ure, lost his battle with cancer this week and very sadly passed away. Our deepest sympathies go to Louise and all the family. I’m sure she’s been inundated with cards and notes and emails, but if anyone would like to make a small donation to a cancer charity in the name of Bruce Goronsky, that would be a lovely gesture.

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Just Foolin'

This is not the post I was intending to write this week − that I’ll save for a later blog. It wasn’t until I looked at the calendar and clocked the date that I realised I was going to have to come up with something more suitable. What does it say about me that I end up with the April Fool’s Day post, I wonder?

So, I thought I’d report some facts that are definitely foolish, and should be untrue, but they aren’t. Or are they? I could have made up some of these − maybe even all of them. After all, we’re writers of fiction. Making Stuff Up is, after all, what we do.

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This week’s Word of the Week is dunt, which is a lovely word with several meanings. It’s either (of ceramics) to crack in the oven because of too rapid cooling; (in dialect) the disease of gid or sturdy in sheep; or (in Scots) a thump, or the wound or mark made by a thump.

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Weekend, 27-28 March 2010

Travelling Lightbulbs

This week sees the publication in large-print format of the second book in the Charlie Fox series − Riot Act. The hardback has been out of print for a while, so the new ISIS/Ulverscroft edition has been particularly welcomed by libraries, whose reading groups are keen to follow Charlie's early adventures.

ISIS/Ulverscroft now have four Charlie Fox titles in their large print portfolio: Killer Instinct, Riot Act, Second Shot and Third Strike.

Large-print version of the second Charlie Fox thriller,
Riot Act, is now available from ISIS/Ulverscroft.
ISBN: 978-0-7531-8572-8

We’ve been clocking up some miles over the past week or so, covering about 700 of them over just two days last week, with trips to the Midlands and then up into Scotland. It’s been exhausting, but very useful.

The trip to the Midlands included a Thriller panel event in Allestree Library in Derby, with Curzon Group members, Matt Lynn and Richard Jay Parker.

(l to r): Matt Lynn, Richard Jay Parker and myself, with Allestree Librarian Christine Heward, Trish Kenny from Derby City Libraries, and Alasdair Kean, Principal Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Derby.

Matt has several military thrillers out under his own name, as well as ghost-writing numerous others, but for Richard, just writing his second techno-thriller, it was his first event.

Originally, the idea was put forward that we would each talk for 10-15 minutes on the panel topic − The Tradition of British Thriller Writing and the return of the great British thriller. In the end, the three of us got together beforehand and came up with a couple of questions each we could pose. The library had very kindly invited Alasdair Kean, Principal Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Derby, to moderate us if necessary, but we kept the thing to a much more informal discussion between us, with a short reading and questions at the end. According to the librarian, Christine Heward, this was "inspired" and they had a lot of very positive feedback. Always nice to hear.

The other useful aspect of being in the car for long periods, of course, is that I find it very useful plotting and note-making time, and I’ve plenty to think about at the moment, with the next book in the gestation period while I wait for my agent’s feedback on the last one. I also have short stories to be getting on with, a fantasy biog and a tricky theme of Crime in Rhyme for CrimeFest in May to think about, as well as preparing for a talk I’m delivering on Lee Child’s latest Reacher thriller, 61 Hours, at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal on May 4th.

Speaking of which, we went to Waterstone's on Deansgate in Manchester on Thursday night to see Lee and hear him speak about the latest book, which he did with his usual good humour and grace. It was also great to catch up with Brad and Patsy, his usual travelling companions, and with Shots Literary Editor and reviewer Ali Karim, and with crime fan Martyn Lewis, who we bump into at events like CrimeFest and Harrogate. A late finish, but a fun day.

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Weekend, 20-21 March 2010

Deep Breaths

Stress, as I've said before on these pages, is a very peculiar animal. We need a certain amount of it to keep the juices flowing, but too much can make us ill or even kill us. Stress is not caused by work. Stress is caused by not coping with work. And I should know.

At one point, many years ago, I had an awful job selling newspaper advertising where they gave us impossible targets because they thought it would motivate us to keep trying that little bit harder. Failing to meet them, week after week, was a miserable experience. It actually gave me a heart murmur and I had to wander round with one of those portable ECG machines to monitor it. When my probationary six months was up, the sales manager brought me into his office to ask if I thought I saw my future in the job. I said, "Honestly? I don't think so." He said, "I thought you were going to say that. You're fired."

And although I hated working there, being given the sack was almost worse.

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This week's Word of the Week is enthusiasm, which is commonly taken to mean passionate eagerness in any pursuit. But the original Greek word enthousiasmos signified inspiration or possession by a god (from Greek theos, god). Along the way, it came to mean religious zealotry or fanaticism, sometimes simply ecstasy inspired by poetry. An enthusiast was originally one who laid claim to divine revelations, hence a visionary, self-deluded person.

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Weekend, 13-14 March 2010

Endings and Beginnings

This week has been hectic − but when are they not? To begin with, librarian Ian Williams sent through some very nice pictures from the event I did on March 4th at Fleetwood Library to celebrate World Book Day.

The pix were taken by assistant librarian, Ruth Pomfret, and were too nice not to use, don’t you think?

The Fleetwood event also saw the launch of the short story competition in conjunction with Lancashire Libraries’ Year of Crime (see box below), for which I was asked to write the opening line.

Initially, I was asked for an opening paragraph, but I thought a line gave more scope − especially as entrants can choose to either produce a short story of up to 5000 words, or a piece of flash fiction of up to 500 words.

The line itself is:

‘I always swore, if ever I came back to Lancashire again, I’d kill him.’

Which, I felt, gets the county in as well as all kinds of possibilities for crime. It could be taken as the start of a first-person piece, or opening dialogue for a third-person piece. I don’t even mind if the final ‘him’ is substituted for a ‘her’. The closing date is the end of September, and I can’t wait to read the results.

And this Friday evening − 7 to 9 pm, March 19th − I’ll be taking part in the Derby Literature Festival, with a panel event at Allestree Library with Richard Jay Parker and Matt Lynn. I haven’t done anything with these two Curzon Group thriller authors before, so I’m looking forward to a lively discussion. Our topic is 'The Tradition of British Thriller Writing.'  For a taster, follow this link to Authors of the Month.

The main thing this week, however, has been a minor celebration because I’ve finished the first draft of the next Charlie Fox book. In fact, the reason this blog is posted a little later than normal is because today is Deadline Day, and I wanted to be able to report it was all sorted!

When I say ‘first draft’ that means the version my agent and editor will see. I tend to self-edit quite a lot as I go along, so what I have now is hopefully a reasonably polished piece of work. And, amazingly, for once it hasn’t come in wildly over length. I think writing in shorter chapters has enabled me to get into a scene late and get out of it early, in a more filmic style, making the narrative flow faster.

Hmm, it’s a nice theory, we’ll see if it works in practice . . .

This week’s Word of the Week is concinnity, meaning harmony, congruity, elegance, particularly when related to art or literature. From the Latin, concinnus well adjusted.

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Weekend, 6-7 March 2010

No Strangers − Only Friends

This week, I’m delighted to be able to do an interview with a writer I greatly admire. Please give a warm ‘Rati welcome to . . . JT Ellison!

Yes, I realise that you all know JT, but that doesn’t mean you’re aware of just what an all-round superhero(ine) she is. So, for those of you who are unaware, I’m going to quote from her author biog:

"JT is a graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College and received her master's degree from George Washington University. She was a presidential appointee and worked in The White House and the Department of Commerce before moving into the private sector. As a financial analyst and marketing director, she worked for several defence and aerospace contractors.

“After moving to Nashville, Ellison began research on a passion: forensics and crime. She has worked with the Metro Nashville Police Department, the FBI, and various other law enforcement organizations to research her books.

“Her short stories have been widely published, including her award winning story "Prodigal Me" in the anthology KILLER YEAR: STORIES TO DIE FOR, edited by Lee Child, "Chimera" in the anthology, SURREAL SOUTH 09, edited by Pinckney Benedict and Laura Benedict, and "Killing Carol Ann" in FIRST THRILLS, edited by Lee Child.”

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This week’s Word of the Week is scooning, or to scoon, a completely made-up one, that we’re trying to bring into common useage. A guy we used to know called Scoon was taking a long flight, when he fell asleep in his seat. Gradually, his head lolled until it was resting on the shoulder of the total stranger in the next seat. This guy was very polite and didn’t want to wake him up, until he realised that our friend had been drooling in his sleep and had actually soaked through the guy’s jacket and shirt and was making his shoulder damp. Now, if anyone drools in their sleep, it’s known in our household as scooning. Enjoy . . .

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Weekend, 27-28 February 2010

My brain has been torn . . .

. . . in all kinds of different directions this week. I’m in the final throes of the new Charlie Fox book, for a start. Another couple of weeks, and it should be about there. And as the story starts to quicken near the ending, so my urge to write and keep writing it gets stronger. Which is fortunate, because by the time I’d missed a few days’ work being away, and reading through the galleys of Killer Instinct − which comes out in its brand new paperback edition from Busted Flush in May − I was feeling as though I was slipping behind a little. Amazing how a few good days’ output can make you feel as though you’re back on track.

I was also invited to step into the breach at Garforth Library near Leeds on Thursday evening, when Sophie Hannah was unavailable at short notice.

The Garforth event was delightfully hosted by Arts & Reading Development Manager, Britta Heyworth, seen here (centre) with colleagues and members of the audience, as I signed books after the meeting.

Originally, we were hoping it might turn into a LadyKillers’ event, but in the end it was just me, so I felt I had to be even more entertaining than normal, in order to make up the deficit!

Either way, it went off well, and everybody seemed to go away having had a good time. The library itself is a brand new building, only recently opened, and built with lottery funding. The architecture is modern and engaging, showing some real flair in the layout and style of the place, from the curvy swoopy bookcases on the ground floor and the recycled-fridge countertops, to the colour-changing accent lighting, and the integral coffee shop.

Next week, besides an ever-nearer approaching deadline, and a trip to north Wales, I have an event at Fleetwood Library to celebrate World Book Day on March 4th, and an interview to do on Murderati with JT Ellison about her brand new book, The Cold Room. And, with any luck, I’ll be that little bit closer to the finish of the new Charlie Fox book . . .

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This week's Word of the Week is candidate, a person who seeks election to some office. The literal meaning is 'clothed in white' (Latin, candidatus). Among the Romans, those seeking high office wore a loose white robe − loose to show their scars, white as a sign of fidelity and humility. Curiously, the practice seems to have fallen out of use in recent times.

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Weekend, 20-21 February 2010

Laying It Out

I'm fussy when it comes to presentation. For someone with precious little fashion sense, I do take a lot of care about the way my work looks when it goes out, and I always have. Maybe that makes me vain, in a way. I'm not sure.

I could try to say that always preferring to print out an address label rather than hand-write the package is just to save the postal system misdirecting it, but the truth is, I just think it looks neater.

I bought my first word processor − the almighty Amstrad − back in the mid-1980s. It allowed me to present a piece of work that was spell-checked and laid out properly. Even a dot-matrix printer − set on high quality − could produce decent looking type. And although this was not the model I owned, you'll notice something about this PC − no mouse. Everything was keyboard-driven. I loved it, and hung on to my old version of LocoScript as a word processing package for years after it had gone out of date. The thesaurus program knocks later ones into the proverbial cocked hat. Ah, nostalgia − it isn't what it used to be.

And now, when I send out sets of digital images on DVD-R, they have a fully printed label, the pictures are sorted into order, renamed to relate to the subject matter, and numbered. I even rename the disk itself, so as soon as it goes into the drive, you know what it is.

Sounds a bit daft, doesn't it?

Not if you keep getting the work.

I'm not saying that laying your work out correctly, numbering the pages right from the start of the typescript, and spell-checking the document, will get you a deal. Let's be honest about this. It won't. There's an old motor-racing saying that goes, "You can tidy up speed, but you can't speed up tidiness." And so it is with writing. If the style and the voice is there, it's going to shine through regardless. But why make things difficult for yourself?

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This week's Word of the Week is subsultive, meaning moving by sudden leaps or starts; twitching, and also subsultus, meaning an abnormal convulsive or twitching movement, usually of the muscles, from the Latin subsultare, to jump, hop, from sub up, and salire to leap.

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Weekend, 13-14 February 2010

It's Been an Exciting Week!

Last week was an exciting one, with the publication of my very first book, Killer Instinct, in large print format for the first time.

Large-print version of first-ever Charlie Fox thriller,
Killer Instinct, is now available from ISIS Publishing (Ulverscroft).
ISBN: 978-0-7531-8570-4

As the book’s been out of print for quite a while, this at least means the libraries can restock. All good news.

And speaking of libraries, I’ve been invited to take part in the Year of Crime, organised by Lancashire Libraries, which will involve events and judging a short story competition, for which I have to provide the opening paragraph. It will be very interesting to see where people take the story from that opening. I can’t wait.

This week has seen the launch for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, which takes place in July. I’ve been lucky enough to be invited to take part again this year, on a panel called ‘James Bond, Eat Your Heart Out − now that the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth has passed, where do we go for high-octane international thrillers?’

It should be a lot of fun, with Meg Gardiner in the Chair and Sean Black, Jeremy Duns, and Jo Nesbø alongside me. The launch took place in Harrogate, and it was great to meet up with everyone and have a chat. Not to mention watching Andy trying to teach my agent how to shoot pool, although she plays a mean game of full-contact croquet!

This week has also seen the arrival of the bound galleys for the American publication of Killer Instinct. Lovely to see that as a book again, and it will look even better with its proper cover attached. I’ve also had provisional cover images through for Fourth Day, both the UK and US editions, but these are still in the provisional stages, so I’ll show you those when they’re finalised.

People-watching has taken on a new dimension for me lately, because after watching the Tim Roth series, ‘Lie To Me’ on DVD, I decided I really ought to do some serious research into body language, so I bought what was recommended as the best book on the subject, and I’ve been reading up on it. Fascinating stuff. Particularly watching the way people stand and use their hands when they talk and the almost subliminal effect that has on their audience. But the most useful thing will be to use some of these unconscious gestures more effectively in my character development.

I’m still rolling along with the next book in the Charlie Fox series, which is coming on reasonably well. I still hope to be finished next month, and writing in short chapters seems to be helping me keep the momentum of the writing going. Initially, I write each chapter in a separate file, then drop it in one larger document once it’s finished. Writing longer chapters can sometimes involve opening up that same chapter file for four or five days in a row, and I think it becomes stale to me. This way, I’m usually writing an entire chapter at a sitting, and it really seems to be keeping the story fresh, even if I am up to Chapter 41 already and not at the end of the story by any means!

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This week’s Word of the Week is exemplum, which means not only an example, but also a short story or anecdote illustrating a moral, the plural of which is exempla.

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Weekend, 6-7 February 2010

Playing with Words

It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I love playing with words. My dictionary is falling apart and decorated with Post-It notes of words that would make great titles, names, or just ones I love the sound or shape of. Looking up anything always takes me longer than I expected because I get very easily side-tracked. I collect weird meanings and derivations of unusual words and phrases, many of which I've included in these posts.

But it's not just unusual words that fascinate me. I love common words with unusual meanings, or slight misspellings that change everything. (Only recently I was sent an email imploring me to sign a partition.) When I started making a note of some words that caught my eye for this post, I quickly filled pages of notes, and then had to force myself to stop. Here are just a few of my favourites, in no particular order.

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Large-print version of first-ever Charlie Fox thriller,
Killer Instinct, is now available from ISIS Publishing (Ulverscroft).
ISBN: 978-0-7531-8570-4

Early Titles in Large Print and Audio

Libraries and reading groups have welcomed the news that the early Charlie Fox titles are scheduled to appear in large print and audio formats. ISIS Publishing (Ulverscroft) have just launched a large-print edition of the first-ever Charlie Fox thriller, Killer Instinct. This opening novel in the series traces Charlie Fox's roots in the northwest UK town where she began teaching self-defence to women.

ISIS will publish the second of Charlie Fox's UK-based adventures − Riot Act − later this year. Their list already includes large-print versions of Second Shot and Third Strike.

Second Shot and Third Strike are already available in audio format from BBC Publications, who also now plan to publish all four early books in the Charlie Fox series: Killer Instinct, Riot Act, Hard Knocks and Road Kill.

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Weekend, 30-31 January 2010

As Easy As Sitting on a Log . . .

I’ve spent this week learning how to sit. OK, maybe I should change that to relearning. For the past couple of months I’ve been having real problems with my neck, which I initially thought were down to moving awkwardly around the broken rib I had at the end of last year. At the time, my neck locked up solid, and since then it’s given me some nasty surprises when I’ve been least expecting it, like when I’ve been turning, sitting, watching TV − strenuous activities like that.

So I finally gave in to spousal bullying and went to see the doctor about it. I don’t know why I avoid it, because our local GP is terrific, and very helpful. He not only suggested and demonstrated various exercises I ought to be doing to help it, but asked a lot of questions about how I work.

These were not the usual kind of questions you get at writing events, but more concerned with the actual mechanics of sitting in front of a computer. And at this point I discovered that I’m doing it wrong.

I learned to touch-type many years ago, which has probably proved the single most useful skill I ever acquired. I’m now a quick typist who doesn’t have to watch my hands, so I’m not constantly moving my eyes from keyboard to screen in order to work in the traditional ‘hunt and peck’ method.

Touch-typing also means that I can use a full ergonomic keyboard without any problems, because I use my right and left hands for the proper keys without crossover. After previous wrist problems, I invested in one of these keyboards, although when I looked to replace it recently, it seems they don’t do them with the triangular gap in the middle any more, but more of a curvy style with elongated centre keys. Not sure about that, which is why I’m sticking to my old keyboard, even though I’ve mostly worn the letters off the keys, and there’s a polished smooth section on the space bar where my right thumb always hits it.

The keyboard helps a lot. It stops me having my wrists at an odd angle in order to type, and because my computer is in the corner of a curved desk, I can sit with my elbows resting on the desktop when I’m typing, so I’m not putting undue strain on my shoulders.

So far, so good.

I use a proper typist’s chair, which has the correctly shaped back support, but that’s where things start going wrong. Apparently, having my computer monitor at desktop height was making me look down at it all the time, when the centre of the screen should be level with my eye-line when I’m sitting upright. OK, a stack of hardcover books underneath the monitor solves that one, although it now feels uncomfortably like I’m craning my neck to look upwards as I work.

Then there’s my feet. I sit with them stretched out in front of me, resting on a box. This is not, as my doctor suspected, because we live in a house with a lot of draughts − perish the thought. In fact, with underfloor heating, putting my feet on the floor would probably be the warmest place for them, but it’s a habit I’ve got into over years of typing and hundreds of thousands of words, and it’s proving a difficult one to break.

Instead, apparently, I should sit with my legs tucked underneath me so my heels are more or less under my spine. And doesn’t that feel weird when you’re not used to it. This would help tip my spine into the correct shape, which would be further helped by buying one of those wedge-shaped cushions that tilt your pelvis forwards as you sit. I have one on order.

So, now I’m concentrating so much on how I ought to be sitting in my chair in order to type, that it’s very off-putting to the actual creative process.

Still, the alternative is slipping back into my old ways, which would − quite literally − be a pain in the neck.

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This week’s Word of the Week is actually two words. We ended up having a long discussion on a car journey last week about the proper distinction between archetype and stereotype, and when I looked into it, there is a subtle difference between the two. An archetype is the original pattern or model, the prototype, whereas a stereotype is a fixed conventionalised or stock image, or a person or thing that conforms to it. This comes from a solid metallic plate for printing (cast from papier-mâché or other material) of composed type, or the process of making such plates. Once a plate was made, the type was fixed and unmovable, so it’s come to mean a person of unchangeable opinions, or conforming to a stock image or cliché.

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Weekend, 23-24 January 2010

Feeling a Draft

I've had several experiences recently that were very interesting for me as a writer.

The first one was going to a readers' group meeting at a small local library in Knott End in Lancashire. The tremendously enthusiastic librarian, Anne Errington, had been unable to get enough copies of one of the Charlie Fox books for everyone in the group to read, so they'd all read different ones in the series, often out of order. This meant that they asked more than the usual kind of questions. They wanted to know a lot more about the character of Charlie herself, and her motivations, and whether I'd ever tell the story of what really happened to her in the army.

Something that came up was that many people assumed I'd already told that tale somewhere, and they simply hadn't yet read the particular book in which it was contained in full. The experiences of Charlie's past form an integral part of who she is now, and although the character has progressed, I've only ever referred to her army days as back story, dribbled in as a bit here and a bit there, in order not to bore either the readers or myself.

I'm not even sure I ever want to tell that story over the course of an entire book. It's a period in Charlie's life when she is beaten and utterly defeated. I introduced the character and began the series at a later date, when she has clawed her way back up out of that defeat. And when her life is again threatened in a similar way, this time she reacts differently. Possibly in a way she would not have been able to respond, had she not suffered in the past.

Back story is a funny one to include, and if you have a series character who never changes, is there any need to include it at all? The late great Robert B Parker rarely alluded to past cases of his iconic PI, Spenser. In fact, the guy didn't even age. Lee Child's Jack Reacher is very much the same. You're told how Reacher acquired the scar on his stomach, from a Marine's exploding jawbone back in his army days, but you're not told what happened in the last book, and there really is no need for you to know this in order to enjoy the ride.

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This week’s Word of the Week is rident, meaning laughing or smiling radiantly, beaming.

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Weekend, 16-17 January 2010

It Takes More than Snow and Ice to Deter a Readers' Group

The snow has finally started to melt around us, which is a big reminder that our garden really needs a good tidy. That’s one nice thing about a thick covering of snow everywhere − it hides a multitude of sins as far as gardening is concerned. And now we’ve had a bit of a thaw, the grass seems rather yellowed underneath. It all looks rather dull and tired. Roll on spring.

Fielding questions from a very well-informed readers' group who braved snow and ice to get to the meeting at Knott End Library.
[Photo courtesy of Anne Errington]

Still, we did manage to battle the snow and ice to get out last week in order to go to a library readers’ group event at Knott End Library, organised by librarian Anne Errington. Despite the freezing conditions and slippery pavements, the turnout was excellent, and it was great to be asked some very interesting and specific questions about the character of Charlie Fox and the books themselves. I look forward to going back in the summer!

Meanwhile, I’m working away at the next book, which took a bit of break for a couple of days this week while I finished getting the page proofs for Fourth Day out of the way. Then I always find it more difficult to get the momentum going again, and my usual way of getting back into a story − taking a trip in the car − has been difficult when we’ve had to dig our way out when we wanted to go anywhere. Still, I think I’ve got back into the swing of it now, and keeping my chapter-by-chapter summary updated as I go along has really helped me to keep a grip on the plot − I hope. And already ideas are beginning to formulate for the next book.

I’ve just had a reminder through from Mystery Women about their short story competition, a 1000 words on the topic Mystery Woman or Mystery Women, delivered before February 28th. The winner will be announced at CrimeFest event at Bristol in May, and will receive a free ticket to the 2011 event. Click on the link above for details and get scribbling!

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This week’s Word of the Week is ostracise (ostracize) meaning to exclude from society or one’s social group; to banish by popular vote. The word derives from the practice in ancient Greece of voting for a person to be excluded by scratching their name onto potsherds called ostraka or ostraca.

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Weekend, 9-10 January 2010

Off-Roading

Most people should not drive.

Most people, if truth be known, do not drive because it brings them any kind of enjoyment or satisfaction. They simply need to get from A to B, and the car has become the easiest way to do this. Particularly if you live in a rural or semi-rural area in the UK, when the buses run if they feel like it and regular local trains are something your granny talked about in the days before the Beeching Axe, while modern out-of-town shopping centres have killed the diversity of the high street.

If you want anything, you’ve got to get in your car and drive to get it. And nobody will admit to being a bad driver. They might say they play a little golf, but aren’t very good at it, but they will not say, “I drive a little − of course, I’m crap, but I drive a little.” And it’s worse over here where automatic cars are not the norm, so for some people clutches are a service item.

The other problem is the car has changed beyond all recognition in recent times. Years ago, when I was heavily involved in the classic scene, I used to drive all kinds of vehicles, including on one occasion a 1920s Bentley. Driving an open sports car from that era was a full-engagement exercise, with no power assistance of any kind on the steering or cable-operated brakes, plus it had a right-hand crash gearbox and reverse pedal layout. The skinny cross-ply tyres gripped every other Thursday, and the suspension was best described as agricultural.

But you had to concentrate on what you were doing, all the time.

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This week’s Word of the Week is catastrophe, which not only has the usual accepted meaning of a sudden disaster or misfortune, or a sudden or violent upheaval in some part of the earth’s surface, but also a final event or the climax of action of the plot in a play or novel.

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Weekend, 2-3 January 2010

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! I hope 2010 brings you health, luck and happiness in all your endeavours. Here we are, knee deep in snow and recession, but at the start of a new year and a new decade. We’ve had at least three months of thinking, ‘Oh cripes, it’s nearly Christmas!' but now the season of overindulging is over, and it’s time to look at the year stretched out ahead.

I don’t really make resolutions, but I do sit down at this time of year and try and work out what I want to achieve in the next twelve months, and think back to what I hoped to get done in the last twelve.

At the moment, my most pressing ambition is to get home. We attempted to do this yesterday, but we’re on the east side of the Pennines − a ridge of high ground that runs down the spine of northern England − and yesterday we spent five hours battling the snow (and idiots who can’t drive in the stuff) trying to get home, only to be turned back by the police less than twenty miles from our destination. Fortunately, the friends we spent New Year with had not yet stripped their guest bed, and we were able to seek sanctuary with them, rather than spend a night in the car.

Still, with this in mind, I did finally unwrap one of the space blankets we bought at a US camping store years ago. For something that feels like a sheet of ultra-thin plasticky tin foil, it’s absolutely amazing. As soon as I put it over my legs, it was like someone had plugged it in. Instant warmth. Of course, I will never be able to fold it back up small enough to fit in its original packet, but I can see this getting some extra use whenever we’re out in a cold car.

Meanwhile, I’ve been scribbling away on the laptop, and the book has crept up past the word count I was hoping to reach by the end of the year, which is always good. And my ambitions for 2010? Well, after getting home, they mostly centre around becoming a better writer, and trying to Get On With It a bit more.

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Which brings us to this week’s Word of the Week. Cunctation, which means procrastination or delay, from Latin cunctatio, a hesitation, from cunctari, to delay, and I thank BG Ritts for suggesting that one over on Murderati last week. Lovely word!

Zoë Sharp