“You Dropped Something, Sir. It Appears To Be A Name.”

“It’s always nice to step outside your life for a few days, and Bristol Crime Fest 2008 brought together your humble host’s (right) idea of a perfect storm of good people, strong drink and books. Highlights included:

Peter Guttridge playing The Who’s Substitute during his interview of Ian Rankin, which was fascinating not for Rankin’s insights on Rebus, particularly, but for his willingness to explore the narrative form in opera, comic book, novella, along with an upcoming standalone non-Rebus novel;
  Meeting – all too briefly, sadly – Tony Black, Nick Stone and Martyn Waites in the same fifteen-minute period as they hailed taxis while your humble host was lurking outside the Royal Marriott. Three cheers for the smoking ban, eh?
  Losing out to Ruth Dudley Edwards in the Last Laugh Award during the gala dinner, if only because it allowed us to see the erstwhile Iron Woman of Irish journalism moist-eyed in the aftermath;
  Talking faith and reason with The Hardest Working Man in Crime Fiction™, aka Ali Karim, over a couple of smokes on the banqueting hall’s terrace. Three cheers for the smoking ban, eh?
  Being regaled with entirely inappropriate Celtic FC football songs by Declan Hughes in the ‘Champagne Cocktail Lounge’ at 2am;
  Meeting the effortlessly suave and self-effacing Martin Edwards via the good works of Maxine Clarke, only to discover days later that the modest bugger had a book being launched this week, WATERLOO SUNSET;
  Discovering I was at the same table, during the gala dinner, with the radiant Ruth Downie, who appeared to be on a one-woman mission to rehabilitate the little black number cocktail dress, and succeeding handsomely;
  Receiving, at some blurred point in Saturday’s proceedings, an email via text message that began, “Dear Declan Hughes, I read and enjoyed your PI novel THE WRONG KIND OF BLOOD …”
  Sharing a panel, moderated by Peter Guttridge, with Len Tyler, Ruth Dudley Edwards and Allan Guthrie in which the topic under discussion was comedy in crime fiction (seriously, people: comedy on a Sunday morning with the mother-in-law of all hangovers?) in which your humble host managed to insult the Irish ex-taoiseach, Ian Rankin and right-thinking people of good taste everywhere. Like, how’s a man supposed to concentrate with Donna Moore sitting in the third row?
  Scoffing Sunday morning champagne in the company of Ruth Dudley Edwards and Declan Hughes (right, pic courtesy of Rhian), Ms ‘It’s A Crime!’ herself, the lovely Pat and Ruth’s equally lovely agent, who listened very politely, but with the kind of expression you might wear gazing upon a chimp juggling chainsaws, at the story behind THE BIG O’s co-publication with Hag’s Head Press.

  “There were many other brief encounters over the weekend but really Bristol Crime Fest wasn’t about names or particular conversations or panels or insights into the craft and skill of blackening pages. Rather it was the easy ambience, the taking for granted that what you did required no justification or explanation, and knowing that you were highly unlikely to hear the dreaded question, “So – have you any plans to write a proper novel?” It was the delicious indulgence of being able to step sideways out of your life for two or three days and allow yourself to believe that you’re a real writer, not some chancing wastrel who – when lucky – manages to scrape together a couple of hours of words that take so long to hack into some kind of readability that you might as well be using chisel and stone. It was the camaraderie of fellow story-tellers, very few of whom were overly concerned with telling you how wonderful they were, mainly because everyone seemed to think everyone else was pretty wonderful. And if all that sounds a little sickly-sweet and sentimental, then so be it – life just ain’t that way for most writers, and who can blame anyone for wanting to live the dream for one paltry weekend?
  “In fact, the only downside to the entire weekend was being away from Mrs Girl, aka Lilyput (right, with her new best friend, Taff, courtesy of the good works of Rhian), and wondering all the while whether she’d remember her dad when he got back from gallivanting around Bristol. But even that, in hindsight, proved the most positive thing about the entire exercise – one, that I can survive without her for short periods if required, and she me; and two, as of last weekend, that that ‘if’ is a very, very big ‘if’ indeed. Books are wonderful things, as you already know; but they’re no Lilyput. Peace, out.”

“Ya Wanna Do It Here Or Down The Station, Punk?” # 2,014: Tony Black

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?
FILTH by Irvine Welsh. Not even his genre really but he nails it. Edgy and twisted with laugh-yer-arse off cracks a’plenty. Lurved it!
Who do you read for guilty pleasures?
Viz ... I defy anyone not to laugh at Tony Slattery's Phoney Cattery.
Most satisfying writing moment?
Has to be my agent calling to say, “We got an offer!” Believe me, it was a long time coming and if it hadn’t arrived when it did I’m not sure I’d have hung about waiting much longer.
The best Irish crime novel is …?
THE GUARDS by Ken Bruen. I did some of my growing up in Galway and every time I pick it up I’m back there. Atmospheric. Dark. And a style that's slicker than Brylcreem.
What Irish crime novel would make a great movie?
Ken again – THE KILLING OF THE TINKERS. Such a great tale. Great characters. And a great setting. It’s all there ... Hollywood, get off yer arse!
Worst / best thing about being a writer?
Best: meeting the writers you admire. Worst: mostly, you’re on your own.
The pitch for your next novel is …?
Washed-up hack staggers into the underside of ‘genteel’ Edinburgh when he pokes into the grisly killing of his best friend’s son.
Who are you reading right now?
Nick Stone’s KING OF SWORDS ... the guy’s just too good for words. And Cathi Unsworth’s THE SINGER, which definitely rocks the casbah. I’m also itching to get my hands on Al Guthrie’s new one, SAVAGE NIGHT ... if I don’t get an advance proof soon, I might have to release more photographs of him.
The three best words to describe your own writing are …?
Bad shit happens.

Tony Black’s PAYING FOR IT will be published in July.

The Monday Review

A pithy beginning to this week’s round-up: “Dark stuff, but extremely entertaining,” reckons the Sac Bee’s Allen Pierleoni of Ken Bruen’s Ammunition, while Eric at Genre Fiction Addiction concurs: “Ammunition doesn’t break any new ground either in the Brant series or for Bruen. Do I care? Not really. I loved it anyhow.” Meanwhile, there’s a host of reviews already posted on Jason Starr’s interweb page for the up-coming Slide, which he co-wrote with Bruen. Booklist’s verdict? “Bruen and Starr have concocted a wild … and very funny ode to mindless violence, drugs, down-and-dirty sex, and self-delusion … There’s good reason to believe Bruen and Starr had as much fun writing Slide as crime fans will have reading it.” Which is nice … Euro Crime’s Maxine Clarke goes in for Gene Kerrigan’s latest in a big way: “This is a wonderful book, superbly well written. The promise of Kerrigan’s previous book, Little Criminals, is more than fulfilled in this elegiac novel of corruption in Ireland … I loved everything about this book. The Midnight Choir is truly bleak, at times violent and disturbing, but always brilliant.” Over at Reviewing the Evidence, Sharon Wheeler likes Nick Stone’s King of Swords, to wit: “Stone’s writing is sharp, vivid and utterly impossible to get out of your mind … he can also create the most stunningly memorable characters that I guarantee you will never be able to forget … if you thought the marvellous George Pelecanos was out there by himself as the king of race-ridden US cities and of crime fiction that drilled to the heart of society, think again. Stone is a magnificent talent.” Yummy … Meanwhile, there was a sudden outbreak of Christine Falls reviews this week, beginning with Iain Rowan over at Litorally: “It’s always interesting to see how a writer from outside the genre approaches things. In Banville’s case, he does it fantastically well: this is one of the best crime novels I’ve read in the last couple of years. There’s very little about it which isn’t excellent – a compelling plot, a wonderfully described setting of Dublin and Boston in the fifties, a memorable protagonist and supporting cast, and an at times very moving exploration of emotion and the human heart.” Over at The Book Bag, Sue Magee is very much in agreement: “The plot is a real page-turner. I read the book in the course of a day, not because I had the time, but because I simply had to know what happened next. There’s real pace, accompanied by the imagery which so characterises Banville’s mainstream writing. It’s the sort of book which you wish you hadn’t read so that you might still have the pleasure of discovering it. If you enjoy Ian Rankin and his Inspector John Rebus books then you should buy this book. I wouldn’t even want to say that Rankin still has the edge: this book is that good. He’s better than Michael Dibdin, even at his best. I’m afraid other crime writers pale into insignificance.” Crikey! Mind you, Glenn Harper at International Noir is a tad more circumspect: “It’s a tightly packed, involving, beautifully written, and somehow not quite adequate crime novel. Banville’s brother Vincent wrote a few detective stories that satisfy as such, though perhaps without the literary heft of the Benjamin Black tome … I’m looking forward to the next Quirke book … partly to see if he’s more tightly in control of the structures that he’s borrowing from the nature and history of the crime novel in future efforts.” Back to Sharon Wheeler at Reviewing the Evidence, for her verdict on Glenn Meade’s The Devil’s Disciple: “The whole book strains credulity, but it’s a definitely a page-turner. There’s a gothic horror feel to it, although it does at times threaten to teeter into romantic suspense territory.” Glenn Meade a romantic? Who’d a thunk it, eh? Onwards for the inevitable Eoin Colfer / Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony big-up, to wit: “The overall plot is somewhat irrelevant, as, much like, say the James Bond series, it’s all about the action and the dialogue. If you are looking for a breezy series that has action and excitement, and is ultimately not too violent, or scary or too full of adult themes, you’ll be hard pressed to do better than this. Start from the beginning of the series and work your way through; careful readers are rewarded,” reckons Paul at I Just Read About That. Meanwhile, over at the Sunday Trib, Tom Widger is of the opinion that Arlene Hunt’s Missing Presumed Dead is a winner: “An escalating thriller …” he coos, “ … a remarkably prescient read.” Finally, the In The Woods bandwagon shows no signs of slackening pace, with Glenn Harper – a busy lad this week – at International Noir suggesting that, “While there is a sophisticated structure underlying the book, I didn’t get the sense that it was condescending to the genre … I liked the book much more than I anticipated, and followed it closely through a long-ish 400+ pages without it seeming too long.” Over at our old friends Reviewing the Evidence, Sharon Katz is even more enthusiastic: “In The Woods is author Tana French’s first book and it is wonderful … When this well over 400-page book ended I was left wanting more. A wonderful thriller and top-notch first book, [it] should not be missed.” Lovely, lovely, lovely ...

Funky Friday’s Free-For-All: Being A Dolly Mixture Pick-‘n’-Mix Of Interweb Baloohaha

We’re not sure if crime writers are even allowed to send in their grubby manuscripts, but RTÉ Radio 1 is calling for entries for the 2007 RTÉ Radio 1 Short Story Competition in memory of Francis MacManus. Closing date is Oct 29, so get scribbling … Any excuse to mention Vincent Banville is a good excuse, but hell – exactly how garish is this cover (right) for Sad Song? It burns, it BURNS! … Seth Harwood, author of Jack Wakes Up and This Is Life, is running an interesting experiment in interweb flummery – the novels are podcast-only, and available free over here. Is Harwood an evil genius destined to take over the publishing world? Only time, that notorious doity rat, will tell … The Indo’s Ciara Dwyer has an interview with Mary Rose Callaghan, author of Billy Come Home, somewhere in this direction … It’s not particularly Irish or crime fiction, but the Crime Always Pays elves are trampolining on their tiny little elf-beds at the news that Johnny Depp has picked up the option to Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary … Cora Harrison’s historical mystery set in the Burren, My Lady Judge, is a September Book Sense pick at the Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market blog … Nick Stone, who published King of Swords last week, guest-blogged at Sarah Weinman’s Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind yesterday … Finally, here’s a vid of a very short-‘n’-sweet Q&A with Ken Bruen at Bouchercon, in which Ken picks Mitchum over Bogie on the basis that Mitch once declared he had two ways of acting – with the horse, or without the horse. And that’s it for another week, folks. Thanks for dropping by, have a fabulous weekend and see y’all next week, y’hear?

The Not-Quite-Inaugural Crime Always Pays ‘Best First Line Of A Novel That Will Never Be Written’ Award: # 1: Nick Stone, Again

Being the second instalment in an increasingly improbably series. The Daily Telegraph interviewed Nick Stone last week on the occasion of the publication of King of Swords, the prequel to the best-selling Mr Clarinet, and Nick came up with another classic novel opening that will never be written, to wit:

“I wrote the epilogue to King of Swords in my notebook on the beach between Loews and the Ritz Carlton hotels with eight very strong mojitos in my belly. It was around 6pm, the sun was starting to set, people were drifting away and the seagulls were circling the refuse. I started scribbling with my feet in the sand. I felt like Brian Wilson going mad in his sandbox.”

Yep, he gives good interview, yon Stone. Jaunt on over to the Daily Telegraph for more …

Funky Friday’s Free-For-All: We’ll Trade You Monday And Tuesday For Another Friday, Big Guy

Fleming or Phlegming? The Bond books tend to raise the hackles of the literary set – yet another reason to love them – and yet Ian 'Dirty Harry' Fleming’s (right) popularity remains undimmed. On the back of the news that Sebastian Faulks is the latest Fleming avatar, Ben Macintyre had a nice piece in the Irish Indo last week in which he defended Bond against the snobs … If free books beep your jeep, off-road over to Crime and Investigation, where they’re running a competition to win signed copies of Nick Stone’s King of Swords, or to Ray Banks’ The Saturday Boy, where they’re giving away copies of Ray’s Donkey Punch (kudos on the Billy Bragg-inspired title for the interweb page, Ray) … Southern Accent at the Southern Voice links to the Declan Hughes interview at January Magazine, to wit: “The author of a brace of highly regarded novels of Irish suspense chats with January Magazine contributing editor Kevin Burton Smith about his influences – both literary and musical – his letter from Pete Townshend and how we’re all walking in Snoopy’s shadow.” Which is lovely … except for the fact that the post is headered ‘I Like The British Writers’. Erm, Mr Accent, sir? At the risk of sounding excessively pedantic, Dec Hughes’ part of Ireland hasn’t been British for almost 85 years now. Not that we’re counting or anything … Have we mentioned that it’s officially Parry Hotter day on Crime Always Pays today? The elves can barely contain themselves, bless their little cotton socks; they do love yon speccy git Hotter. Jump over to The Scotsman for Allan Guthrie’s hard-boiled take on how the series should end. Yep, that’s the same Allan Guthrie who last night won the 2007 Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for Two-Way Split. Huzzah! … Finally, The World’s Best Ever High School PI, Like Ever, aka Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), goes head-to-head with the schoolyard bully, Brad the Jock, in the vid below. If you haven’t seen Brick yet, people, you’re doing yourself a serious disservice … And that’s it for another week. Have yourselves a very merry weekend, and don’t forget to come back here, y’all …

Funky Friday’s Free-For-All: Because Every Cloud Has Its Silver Friday

Pauline McLynn (right) may have given up on crime writing, but we’re not giving up on her, no sirree, so we’ll be tuned to Radio Scotland on Monday when she guest presents the weekly books spot on Radio Café … Staying with guest presenters, Jason Starr dons the blusher and mascara over at The Lipstick Chronicles to wibble on about ‘men writing women’. The reason he was invited, apparently, is because he’s ‘a babe’. Nice one, Jason … Currently serving the ninth year of a life sentence, Razor Smith is described by Penguin as ‘a career armed-robber turned raconteur’. The reason we mention the author of A Few Kind Words And A Loaded Gun is that the Penguin people sent us an ARC of his upcoming Raiders, without us even having to ask. Now that’s the kind of service that doesn’t need a smile. Cheers, folks … Staying with freebie books: David Thompson at Busted Flush Press sent us a little package all the way from Texas, which included Ken Bruen’s A Fifth of Bruen and Vicki Hendricks’ Miami Purity. Consider us simultaneously stoked and humbled, sir … The rumours about Sebastian Faulks writing the new Bond novel have been confirmed, with The Rap Sheet offering a comprehensive range of articles on the subject – most of which seemed to be headlined, ‘The Name’s Faulks, Sebastian Faulks’. We’d have gone with ‘Faulking Brilliant’ ourselves … Nick Stone gets an impressive write-up in the Miami Herald for his upcoming Miami-set King of Swords, in which he blames Charles Dickens for setting him on the road to crime. We blame Enid Blyton, ourselves … Finally, the vid below is of Elmore Leonard receiving the Raymond Chandler award, during which Elmore tries to tell a few stories about Chandler and gets pretty short shrift from the organisers, who literally don’t seem to know what he’s talking about. Bloody peons … Anyhoo, that’s it for another week, folks. Have a very fine weekend y’all, and don’t forget to come back here now, y’hear?

The Inaugural Crime Always Pays ‘Best First Line Of A Novel That Will Never Be Written’ Award: # 1: Nick Stone

Being the first in what has all the hallmarks of being an improbably short series. Anyhoo, this one comes courtesy of a Nick ‘King of Swords’ Stone (right) interview with those lovably blond Satans over at Sons of Spade:

“The first film I ever saw and loved was Peckinpah’s The Getaway with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw. My mother took me to see it in Haiti when I was six.”

Seriously – how could you not keep reading on after that kind of opener?

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moths

The momentum behind ex-boxer Nick Stone’s (right) King of Swords is becoming well-nigh irresistible, folks. Over at The Rap Sheet they report that Nick’s debut, Mr Clarinet, is making its debut bow in the States courtesy of William Morrow, and that it’s already been nominated for a Best First Novel by the International Thriller Writers crew (winners to be announced mid-July, during ThrillerFest in NY). Meanwhile, Penguin’s UK editor Beverly Cousins is throwing her entirely metaphorical weight behind King of Swords over at Shots Mag, to wit: “It is a masterpiece of crime fiction, rivalling some of the greats of the genre for my favourite thriller of all time.” Criminy! If you fancy catching up on the whys and wherefores of Mr Clarinet before King of Swords appears, Peter Wild interviews Nick over at Book Munch, while Pulp Pusher is threatening to publish a Nick Stone short story in the next issue of its ezine. Where does Nick get the time to shave that beautiful dome, eh?

A Swords From The Stone

The burning question, people: if a guy – Nick Stone, say – says he’s moving to Galway to live, is that a tenuous enough link to plug the Miami-set novel of a Londoner of Haitian background on an Irish crime fiction blog? Hmmm … state your case, sirrah, and a jury of your belly-dancing dwarf peers shall decide your fate. “My new novel, King of Swords, is out on August 2nd,” says Nick. “It’s a prequel to Mr Clarinet, set in Scarface-era Miami (1980-82). By the way, do you want a proof?” Erm, case closed. Especially if King of Swords is anywhere near as good as Mr Clarinet: “Gritty and unremittingly dark, replete with super-villains, Mr Clarinet pays homage to pulp fiction and film noir – more James Ellroy than Graham Greene,” said Tibor Fischer over at The Guardian. “But perhaps because of Stone’s Haitian roots, Mingus’ mishaps in Port-au-Prince have an immediacy and an authenticity that are absent from many thrillers.” Which is nice …