And so to Bristol …

I had a ball last year at Ye Olde CrimeFeste (statue erected in my honour, right) and I’m looking forward to more of the same this year. What’s terrific about these conventions is that you get to stroll around for a couple of days pretending to be a bona fide writer and no small boy points his finger at you and says, “Oi, yon emperor-type ain’t wearing no clothes.” It’s a wonderful thing, pretending to be a writer … but then, pretending is what writers do best.
  The other great thing about conventions and festivals is meeting up with the people you only tend to see at such events. Writing being (in theory, at least) a solitary pursuit, and regarded by something of an anti-social affliction by those nearest and dearest who don’t write, it’s nice to chow down with like-minded folk. As always, it’ll be great to hook up with Irish scribes the likes of Declan Hughes, Brian McGilloway and Ruth ‘Cuddly’ Dudley Edwards, and also some people I’ve met on my travels over the last couple of years, including Paul Johnston, Martin Edwards, the uber-glam Donna Moore, Ruth Downie, Chris Ewan, and a few more. And then there’s my fellow members of the bloggoratti, being Maxine, Karen, Norm, Ali and – possibly – the Book Witch and Rhian, although I’m not sure they’re going to make it this year. And, of course, we’ll all be in awe of the award-winning blogger, Peter Rozovsky of Detectives Beyond Borders, who’ll be doing his Uncle Travelling Matt impression in Bristol.
  Anyway, it’ll be dry sherries all round, so here’s hoping the old liver holds out. For those of you interested, I’ll drop a line on Monday or Tuesday (depending on the volume of dry sherries) to let you know how the panels went. I’m on two: Friday at 1.30, for ‘I Was A Fugitive From A Chain Gang: Writing About The Bad Guys’ alongside Chris Ewan, Steve Mosby and Kevin Wignall, with Donna Moore moderating; and Saturday at 3.30, for Natural Born Killers: Maxim’s Picks, alongside Cara Black, Paul Johnston and – hurrah! – Donna Moore, with Maxim Jakubowski moderating.
  All in all, fun times ahead …

  UPDATE: The ‘Who Is The Sexiest Irish Crime Writer?’ poll is now open for business, people, in the top-left corner of the blog … The results will be skewed, naturally, given that Gene Kerrigan has removed himself from consideration, but what can you do?

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?”: Mark Billingham

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?
Well as so many people say Chandler, I’ll be awkward and plump for Hammett. Almost eighty years on and THE MALTESE FALCON is still nigh-on perfect. It’s fizzing, fat-free and I sometimes think the key to its longevity and brilliance is the fact that there aren’t really any nice people in it at all.

What fictional character would you most like to have been?
Oh, Tom Ripley, definitely. Money, fine wine, French cheese, a harpsichord, a deliciously ambiguous sexuality and the ability to murder anyone who gets in your way without a moment’s guilt. What’s not to like?

Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
I’m not really guilty about anything I read, though I would probably need a long hot shower if I lost my mind temporarily and accidentally read any Jeffrey Archer. I read a lot of crime fiction, probably way too much, but many good friends are crime writers and I’m going to read their books anyway, because they’re mates. So the crime novel usually wins out if it’s a toss up between that and a slim volume of indescribably moving poetry. Actually, the poetry would make me feel guilty...

Most satisfying writing moment?
Generally, finishing something, or getting some piece of feedback from a reader or a colleague that validates something you’ve tried to do. When I was at school I did something fairly beastly, involving a frog and a cricket bat. Look, I was a KID, OK, and a bigger kid made me do it. Anyway. I used that scenario in a book and a writer called Kevin Wignall, when he read the book, mailed me and said “You did that, didn’t you?”. I was really chuffed that I’d obviously managed to put across the shame and horror of that moment so vividly. Or maybe Kevin just saw through my sad attempt at catharsis. It was a HELL of a shot though ...

The best Irish crime novel is ...?
I think John Connolly is a unique voice (he’ll be REALLY mad at me for saying that) and his are always books that I will rush to read. I’m going to plump for the first, EVERY DEAD THING. I read it while I was struggling with my first book, and I almost gave up trying because EDT was so bloody good.

What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
John is understandably protective of Charlie Parker, so I’d love to see his stand-alone BAD MEN at the movies, but if he ever does let the rights go, THE BLACK ANGEL could be a wonderful film. And I know it’s not a crime novel, but if Guillermo Del Toro got hold of THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS ...

Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Best? It’s a close-run thing between the free books and being asked where you get your ideas from. There aren’t too many bad things (let’s face it, it’s a bloody marvellous way to make a living) but I’ve never got used to the creative schizophrenia; the fact that you look at something you wrote the day before and thought you were happy with, and it suddenly appears to be unpublishable rubbish.

The pitch for your next book is ...?
It’s tricky because there are different books coming out here and in the US. They’re a book behind in the states, so they’ll be publishing DEATH MESSAGE, while the newest book, BLOODLINE, will be out in the UK this August. Er ... both will have Tom Thorne in, and a body or two. There may be some country music. And the murder will not be solved by a cat.

Who are you reading right now?
OK, the best thing is actually getting free books that haven’t even been published yet. So, once I’ve finished THE SMOKING DIARIES by Simon Gray (shock, horror: not crime at all, but an attempt to enjoy cigarettes vicariously) I’ll be getting stuck into the forthcoming books by George Pelecanos and the aforementioned Mr Connolly. Can’t wait.

God appears and says you can only write OR read. Which would it be?
Oh, read, no question. Reading is always an enormous pleasure and sometimes, writing ... isn’t.

The three best words to describe your own writing are ...?
Better than Archer’s.

Mark Billingham’s BLOODLINE will be published in August.

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 1,413: Steve Mosby

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?
That’s an easy one for me, assuming I can get away with a thriller: GREEN RIVER RISING by Tim Willocks. I love everything about that book, from the set-up to the characters and the journey they go on. From about the fifth chapter to the last, it’s almost non-stop action and violence, and yet it also creates a really powerful emotional connection between the reader and the characters involved. It shows the best and worst of people in a setting that rapidly descends into hell, and it’s one of the few books I can read again and again. Superb stuff. Although, like most books I really admire, I tend to think ‘there’s no way on earth I could ever have written that’.
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
I don’t really have anyone for this, mainly because I’ll read anything I think looks good and I never feel guilty about it. If there’s pleasure from reading, there shouldn’t ever be guilt. The closest I can come is really trashy horror: stuff like Rex Miller’s SLOB, or Edward Lee’s BIGHEAD, or even some of Richard Laymon’s stuff. Books where the violence is almost pornographic, but you keep reading either despite or because of that. I don’t feel guilty about it though.
Most satisfying writing moment?
When I realised I could write full-time. I was working for a research group at Leeds University for several years, but I was temp staff and eventually the funding ran out and I got made redundant. I took a small pay-off and just thought ‘I’ll write for a couple of months, then get something else’, and a week later I sold some foreign rights which meant I could keep going. It won’t last forever but in the meantime it’s changed my life and means I can do what I always dreamed of. Nothing could really be better.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
This is where you have to get the rubber hose out, because I haven’t got a clue. I never pay attention to nationalities of writers. They’re all just books to me. I may have read hundreds of Irish crime novels without even realising. But assuming I can get away with an Irish writer, I guess it would be John Connolly’s EVERY DEAD THING. But, as I just said, it might not be. Actually, stretching the definition to absolute breaking point, it could be Dennis Lehane’s MYSTIC RIVER, but I know I’m pushing my luck there.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Well, I’ve always thought John Connolly’s EVERY DEAD THING would look pretty good on the big screen ... (cough).
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
The best thing for me is being able to do something I love, especially on the days when it’s all going well. There’s not much that can compare with being paid to do something you’d do anyway, especially when so many people hate their day jobs. In that light, ‘worst’ doesn’t really figure, although I guess you could say writing is sometimes really, really difficult, but not in a way you can complain about. I can’t say to my friends “work is really stressful at the moment”, because they’d just say “you sit at home and imagine stuff – shut up”. Or maybe the answer to both questions is the weird moment when you first see your book in a shop. You think ‘wow!’. And then you see the sixty thousand books crowded around it and think ‘hmmm’...
The pitch for your next novel is …?
The next one is out in May, and it’s called CRY FOR HELP. The book’s about a guy who doesn’t kill people, but ties them up in their homes and leaves them to die of dehydration, then taunts the friends and families who didn’t care enough to check up on them. Beyond that, it’s difficult to say much. But it involves conjuring, drug dealers, psychic debunkers, extreme violence, love, ex-love, mobile phones, guns, more extreme violence, and then the twists start.
Who are you reading right now?
I’m reading John Rickards’ latest, BURIAL GROUND, at the moment (which is great so far), and looking forward to crime novels by Kevin Wignall, R. J. Ellory and John Connor, and also some sci-fi from Richard Morgan and Simon Logan. And I have Ken Bruen’s PRIEST to read, as well, which is one I do know is Irish.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Dark, cruel and emotional. Other people might not be so kind ...

Steve Mosby’s THE 50/50 KILLER has been short-listed for a Spinetingler Award.

Nobody Move, This Is A Review: WHO IS CONRAD HIRST? by Kevin Wignall

At first sight an unwieldy title, WHO IS CONRAD HIRST? becomes an ever more poignant question the deeper you delve into Kevin Wignall’s fourth novel. Wignall quickly and skilfully establishes what Hirst is: a contract killer and a very good one as a result of his dehumanising experiences as photographer-turned-mercenary in the former Yugoslavia. But the story opens in the aftermath of what should have been the routine killing of an old man who was once something of a minor power broker during the Cold War, with Hirst visiting his handler having already decided – for reasons that only become apparent much later in the story – that his exit strategy from the life he has lived for the last decade will be the relatively simple killing of the four men who have been benefiting from his perverse talents. It’s an intriguing set-up, but almost immediately Wignall tosses in a curve-ball: were he and Hirst to pursue that line, the story would become an uncovering of what Hirst is, not who he is. It’s this element, the philosophical self-questioning Hirst subjects himself to as he criss-crosses Europe pursued by various shadowy agencies, that lends the lie to the intriguing but misleading ‘Jason Bourne’ references on the cover. Even as Hirst ruthlessly eliminates those who stand in his way, and with a cold-blooded suddenness that can cause the book to jump in your hands, Wignall takes aim at the heart of the human condition, peeling back the layers of paranoia, suspicion and mistrust that characterise – if we’re fully honest – our relationship with our darkest selves until the messy, inconvenient truth of Hirst's true identity is finally laid bare. A hugely satisfying blend of tragic love story, adrenaline-charged thriller and philosophical tract, and one that (appropriately enough) raises as many questions as it answers, this novel is as subtly devastating as an assassin in the night. – Declan Burke

This review was first published on Euro Crime

This Week We’re Reading … Who Is Conrad Hirst? and The Bloomsday Dead

Kevin Wignall’s up-coming Who Is Conrad Hirst? (to be published on November 13) is being flagged as a Jason Bourne-style thriller, but while the eponymous anti-hero is a frighteningly proficient hitman, Wignall’s creation is a far more philosophical character – indeed, the whole point of the exercise is for Conrad to answer the question posed in the title. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of action, because there is, but the page-turning pace is leavened by a more satisfying quality of self-analysis than is generally to be found in straightforward thrillers. Powerful stuff from the author of For The Dogs, and there’s a strong chance it’ll propel him into the big leagues. Meanwhile, The Bloomsday Dead concludes Adrian McKinty’s ‘Dead’ trilogy, with the indestructible Michael Forsythe back home in Ireland to conduct a search for the kidnapped daughter of flame-haired Bridget, Forsythe’s femme fatale nemesis from the trilogy’s opener, Dead I Well May Be. With the plot unfolding over the space of one day – June 16, aka Bloomsday, which honours the hero of James Joyce’s Ulysses – the pace is frantic from the get-go, charging along in an adrenaline frenzy as Michael takes on anyone from Peruvian hitmen to the IRA as he seeks closure on the life he has been forced to live for the last decade. As always with McKinty, the writing is of a superior quality, the graphically etched outbursts of violence shot through with a quirky poetry that mines a particularly dark seam of humour. The only disappointment? That this is touted as the final Forsythe novel. Say it ain’t so, Joe, sorry, Adrian …

Funky Friday’s Free-For-All: The Interweb Mash-Up That All The Other Mash-Ups Call ‘Creamy Potatoes’

The June edition of Thuglit is on the interweb streets, folks, with stories by Keiran Shea, Ed Lynskey and Geoff Hyatt (among others) jammed between its electronic covers. The better news is that Thuglit has scored a publishing deal with Kensington Books, which has agreed to publish three annual Thuglit anthologies, kicking off in spring 2008. Jump over to Outside Left for an interview with founder-editor Todd ‘Big Daddy Thug’ Robinson (above) … The third annual Kinsale Arts Week runs from July 7-15, and boasts a heavy crime fiction presence. Actually, no: the best we can say is that John Boyne will cruise into town on his new yacht to do a reading in the Friary Space – more details as they arrive … Bookwitch gives the glad eye to Siobhan Dowd’s The London Eye Mystery, which was launched yesterday, June 7 … Meanwhile, over at Contemporary Nomad, Kevin Wignall reflects on what it means to be nominated for the CWA’s short story Dagger. You may or may not be shocked to discover that he’s ‘honoured just to be nominated’ … Fans of Michael Collins (left) can catch an interview with the mean ‘n’ moody one at Orion Books, while the vid below represents the absolute worst attempt at a video interview we’ve ever seen … you have been warned …



Finally, Ken Bruen has a short story, Words Are Cheap, in the first ever issue of Murdaland (‘Crime fiction for the 21st Century’, it says on the tin). Sir Kenneth of the Tribes is also interviewed by Reed Farrell Coleman over at Mystery Readers International in their ‘At Home’ series, in which he holds forth about the whole blogging malarkey, to wit:

RFC: On the whole, do you feel that the internet and the blogosphere has been beneficial for writers? Or do you feel that much of the time people spend blogging would be better spent doing work?
KB: It’s here to stay. I blog on Murderati twice a month purely to stop the evil vile shite the blogs are currently pushing, and I took the gig to put it back to writing, books and all of that. What the rest do … way I see it bro, you need to thrash somebody and you think doing it publicly on a blog is the way, God freakin’ help you.

Amen, brother. And that’s it for another week, folks – thanks for stopping by, and y’all come back now, y’hear?

Is This A Dagger We See Before Us?

It’s Daggers at dawn, people – not only was Kevin Wignall nominated for a CWA short story Dagger, as reported below via Sarah Weinman’s Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, but Declan Hughes and Brian McGilloway will be schlepping down to their local tux rental emporium too. Both have been nominated for the CWA New Blood Dagger, Hughes (below, left) for The Wrong Kind of Blood (John Murray), McGilloway (above, right) for Borderlands (Macmillan New Writing) … the latter being one of our featured This Week We’re Reading tomes, which is also posted below. Coincidence? We think so, yeah. For a full list of the nominations in all categories, jump over here to the Crime Writers’ Association interweb thingy … The results will be announced on July 5 at the CWA / Duncan Lawrie Dagger Awards during a swankalicious black-tie gig at London’s Four Seasons on Park Lane, so no blagging in on the fly – unless you’re the kind whose blagging threads look very much like a tux. Bon chance, mes amis …

We Need To Talk About Kevin

Keep your fingers crossed for Kevin Wignall (right), people – first off, he’s been nominated for a rather prestigious Dagger in the CWA’s Short Story category, for Retrospective (Best British Mysteries, Allison and Busby). Huzzah! Not only that, Irish writer-director Eamon Costello is planning to turn another short story, The Death of Jeffers, from Dublin Noir, into a short movie ... Oh, the glamour! Meanwhile, it's only a matter of time before Wignall's For The Dogs (2004) gets the big screen treatment. Sample quote: “Anyone comes in, you shoot them. If you’re in any doubt, shoot again, keep shooting till they go down, and then shoot them in the head.” Lovely. Jump over here for the first chapter ...