“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” Jennifer Ridyard

Yep, it’s rubber-hose time, folks: a rapid-fire Q&A for those shifty-looking usual suspects ...

What crime novel would you most like to have written?
Lauren Beukes’s THE SHINING GIRLS. Yes, it’s a serial killer novel that veers crazily into time travelling science fiction, but it’s done wonderfully, with a clear head and an unswerving belief in itself, and it’s just brilliant. I’m consumed with admiration, possibly even a girl-crush.

What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Lyra, from Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. Armoured bears, animal souls, a multiverse, a cracking adventure and a mighty pop at the status quo? What’s not to love?

Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Twitter.

Most satisfying writing moment?
Finishing, obviously. And then stroking the published cover like a proud mammy. But there’s also a delicious pleasure in re-reading what you’ve done after one of those rare afternoon’s when you’ve smoothed out a knot and everything has just flowed. Chances are you realise it’s pretentious bollocks the next day, and delete it all, but still. It’s nice.

If you could recommend one Irish crime novel, what would it be?
Arlene Hunt’s THE CHOSEN. Great writer, cracking story, without any pretensions about being anything but. Though it’s not set in Ireland. Does it still count?

What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
See above!

Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Worst: having to show someone what you’ve written - letting them loose on your babies to scoff and mock and call them ugly. It’s pure self-doubt. Best: when you’re told your babies are smart and beautiful!

The pitch for your next book is …?
Eh … Well, I guess it’s part two of ‘The Chronicles of the Invaders’. Nuff said.

Who are you reading right now?
John Wyndham’s THE CHYRSALIDS, again, and just for laughs THE STATE OF AFRICA by Martin Meredith.

God appears and says you can only write OR read. Which would it be?
Read! Do I have to have a proper job too or can I just read? Bliss.

The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Anecdotal, bold, emotive.

CONQUEST by Jennifer Ridyard and John Connolly is the first novel in ‘The Chronicles of the Invaders’ series.

Resistance Is Futile

I was planning on getting along to the launch of CONQUEST by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard yesterday evening, but then life in the shape of work reared its ugly head. Which is a pity, because CONQUEST sounds like a smashing book. To wit:

It may not qualify as Irish crime fiction / mystery, exactly, but it would be remiss of me not to mention the new novel CONQUEST: THE BOOK OF THE INVADERS (Headline), given that it’s written by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard and sounds like it’s terrific fun – and I, for one, welcome our new overlords. Quoth the blurb elves:

  Earth is no longer ours. It is ruled by the Illyri, a beautiful, civilised yet ruthless alien species. But humankind has not given up the fight, and Paul Kerr is one of a new generation of young Resistance leaders waging war on the invaders.
  Syl Hellais is the first of the Illyri to be born on Earth. Trapped inside the walls of her father’s stronghold, hated by the humans, she longs to escape.
  But on her sixteenth birthday, Syl’s life is about to change forever. She will become an outcast, an enemy of her people, for daring to save the life of one human: Paul Kerr. Only together do they have a chance of saving each other, and the planet they both call home.
  For there is a greater darkness behind the Illyri conquest of Earth, and the real invasion has not yet even begun ...

  CONQUEST is ‘the start of an epic new series from bestselling author John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard’, by the way, so there’ll be plenty more where that came from. I do hope, for the Illyri’s sake, that they’ve read up on their Donagh MacDonagh …
  Hats off to John Connolly. He’s already given us private eye fiction, gothic supernatural, young adult comedy, fairy tale reinvention – and now, with Jennifer Ridyard, epic fantasy. He’s turning into the Irish William Goldman before our very eyes.