Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Billingham, MacBride, Child and more battle for Theakston!
- FROM THE DEAD by Mark Billingham
- BLOOD HARVEST by SJ Bolton
- 61 HOURS by Lee Child
- DARK BLOOD by Stuart MacBride
- THE HOLY THIEF by William Ryan
- THE ANATOMY OF GHOSTS by Andrew Taylor
Now in its seventh year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, in partnership with Asda, and this year in association with the Daily Mirror, was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback between 1st January 2010 and 31st May 2011.
The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier. “I’m delighted to see that the public have recognised the talents of a broad range of authors in this year’s shortlist, from a debut novelist to names that have been bestsellers for several years," said Simon Theakston, Executive Director of T&R Theakston. "This list reflects the wealth of crime fiction talent we have within the UK and Ireland that continues to grow each year."
Billingham is looking to make this year a hat-trick after winning the prize in 2005 and 2009 (for LAZY BONES and DEATH MESSAGE respectively). Lee Child, meanwhile, will be hoping that this will be his lucky year; the bestselling author has yet to win the prize, despite the fact that one of his Jack Reacher novels reportedly sells somewhere in the world every few seconds. Both authors will go head to head with last year’s Festival Chair Stuart MacBride, Andrew Taylor (whose Cambridge-set historical chiller won much critical praise upon publication), SJ Bolton (hailed as the “high priestess of rural gothic crime”), and debutant crime writer William Ryan.
So, who do you think should win? Have you read any of the shortlisted novels? Were any of the other 12 novels on the longlist your favourite instead (see full longlist here)? Comments welcome.
Breaking news: It's goodbye Sam Shephard, for now...
Symon was a finalist for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award last year, for her third Sam Shephard book, CONTAINMENT, which international judges said had "an attractive series heroine (feisty but vulnerable)" and started with a "superb" opening scene that by itself would make them "want to read more Vanda Symon". Earlier this year Symon's fourth Sam Shephard book, BOUND, debuted at #1 on the NZ Adult Fiction Bestseller charts, and got great reviews. For me, BOUND is Symon's best book yet, and one of my top books of the year, so far - and I'm sure it will be a strong contender for the 2012 Ngaio Marsh Award.
However, like many other crime top writers who pen terrific continuing characters, Symon has also been interested in writing a standalone story; something a little different, perhaps darker. So her next book will not star Sam Shephard. While this will no doubt be disappointing to many people who've come to see Shephard as one of the best new crime fiction protagonists around, it is also exciting to see what Symon will come up with in her new novel, completely unrestricted from continuing characters and familiar settings etc.
Symon has announced today announced on her personal blog that she has finished the manuscript for THE FACELESS, her first standalone thriller. It is likely to be released in early 2012. Earlier this year when I interviewed Symon for an article in the Weekend Herald (read here), we also discussed stepping away from Sam with a darker standalone thriller, which she was in the "early days" of working on at the time.
I can reveal that Symon told me that THE FACELESS is "set in Auckland... it's crime fiction, but not a detective story in the police procedural sense... it's a bit darker". The story revolves around a kidnapping, and is told from the perspectives of three people, the victim, the kidnapper, and a witness who ends up investigating what has happened. "It's fun to be writing from different perspectives," said Symon. "I love writing about Sam, but it's nice to have a wee break."
It will be interesting to see how readers and the media respond. Hopefully THE FACELESS might do for Symon what darker standalone thrillers have done for some other terrific authors who'd got good reviews, perhaps been shortlisted for or won awards, and were seen as top quality writers for their recurring character novels, but then saw their popularity and wide appeal really take a massive jump on the back of such a book (eg THE POET for Michael Connelly, NO TIME FOR GOODBYE for Linwood Barclay, TELL NO ONE for Harlan Coben). Particularly in the case of Connelly and Coben, readers have flocked to their earlier books (starring Harry Bosch and Myron Bolitar, respectively) and then the ongoing series, after first coming across the author due to their darker standalones. Hopefully something of the same may happen for Symon, who I believe is a world-class crime writer deserving to be read widely beyond New Zealand shores.
What do you think of Symon writing a darker standalone novel - that's not set in Dunedin? Have you read her Sam Shephard books? What do you think of Sam as a character? Comments welcome.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
9mm: An interview with PA Brown
I thought it would be good to have a mix of big-name bestselling international authors, New Zealand-based authors, and other overseas authors that were perhaps less widely known - so the series has continued to have that mix over the past fifteen months. I hope you have all been enjoying learning something more about authors you’ve heard of and read, and learning something about some authors that were new to you.
For the 53rd instalment in the series, today I’m sharing my recent 9mm interview with Canadian author Pat Brown, who writes under the name PA Brown. She grew up in western Canada, and has lived in southern California, Hawaii, and Bermuda, before returning to Canada a few years ago. Now she lives in London, Ontario. Brown is the author of several mystery novels, including ‘the LA series’ (LA HEAT, LA MISCHIEF, LA BONEYARD, etc), which blends police procedural with gay romance. Brown has also written several other crime novels starring gay protagonists.
Brown’s books have got plenty of very good reader reviews on websites like Amazon and Good Reads. On her website (click here), she says that she sets most of her books in LA because of the experiences she had during the years she spent there. “The time I spent in L.A, the land of dreams and lies, where illusion battled daily with reality, and reality rarely wins made an indelible impression on me and to this day almost all my writing is set there.”
Examiner.com said of LA BONEYARD that: “Brown's grasp of police procedure is awesome, you'd almost think she'd been there, done that, and she brings The City of the Angels so vividly to life it made this old Angeleno homesick for a burger at Tommy's. Both lend the story a terrific sense of believability, as does a fine ear for dialogue.”
I must admit that down here in New Zealand, Brown was an author I’d never heard about, until recently (and that was thanks to the Internet). However, I am intrigued by the sound of some of her books, and look forward to giving one a go in the near future. But for now, PA Brown stares down the barrel of 9mm.
Who is your favourite recurring crime fiction hero/detective?
Harry Bosch from Michael Connelly's series.
What was the very first book you remember reading and really loving, and why?
It would have been THE BLACK STALLION. I was beyond horse crazy as a kid (well, I still am) and back then for the first few years, I wouldn't read anything that didn't have a horse in it.
Before your debut crime novel, what else had you written (if anything) unpublished manuscripts, short stories, articles?
I had written about 8 science fiction novels before I switched to crime and sold the first book I wrote. I didn't really switch for that reason - just to sell - but over the years I grew away from SF and found myself reading more and more mystery, so it seemed only logical to try my hand at writing one.
Outside of writing, and touring and promotional commitments, what do you really like to do, leisure and activity-wise?
I love baking and cooking and I guess it goes without saying, eating. I love travelling, though so far I confine my travels to places that relate to my writing. I also still love horses and still dream of spending a week on a working ranch, riding all the time. Even when I do travel for research purposes, I try to see places off the tourist lists. Last time I was in Los Angeles I stayed for 2 weeks in a youth hostel, sharing a room with 5 strangers, who changed constantly. It was a lot more fun than any chain hotel. I'm doing it again next year for a whole month.
What is one thing that visitors to your hometown should do, that isn't in the tourist brochures, or perhaps they wouldn’t initially consider?
Oh boy, that's a dangerous question. Off the top of my head I'd say the first thing you should do as a visitor is get on the first train out of town. LOL. Sorry, I'm not overly fond of where I live right now, but finances keep me here. If I had to suggest someplace to visit that wasn't in the tourist info, I guess it would be Wortley Village, one of the older areas of town that hasn't been rebuilt and is almost like a small village in the centre of town. It has a lot of unique shops in it, and lovely old homes to look at. If you're a bird watcher, come in the spring and walk along the Thames River from Blackfriars Bridge to Springbank Park, several miles of walking trail.
If your life was a movie, which actor could you see playing you?
Sigourney Weaver
I'd have to say L.A. BONEYARD, because I think it's one of the deepest I've written and it was a little bit daring, since I put one of the main, recurring characters in a bad light which I knew some of his fans wouldn't appreciate.
What was your initial reaction, and how did you celebrate, when you were first accepted for publication? Or when you first saw your debut story in book form on a bookseller’s shelf?
Mostly a numb, I can't believe this is happening. It was even funnier when I got my last agent. When I first opened the email, I thought it was about something else, then when the words "I want to represent you" soaked in I just stared at the email for several seconds, then shut it down, read some more emails, and opened the agent's one again. I did that 4 or 5 times before it really sank in. I even got up and walked around a bit before I went and opened it again, thinking there has to be a 'but' in there someplace that I was missing. It finally sank in, but it took a while. My first book didn't have quite the impact, but then from the time my agent got the deal to when the book came out was almost 2 years so I had a lot more time to absorb the idea. It was still neat to see my book on a book shelf though.
What is the strangest or most unusual experience you have had at a book signing, author event, or literary festival?
The worst had to be the night I asked 2 other writers to join me in an author's night at a local pub. It was local to me, but they both had to drive nearly 2 hours to get there - and no one showed up. All kinds of people had responded to the Facebook invite saying they were attending, but the pub was empty all night. I felt so bad that these 2 authors had come all that way for nothing.
Thank you PA Brown. We appreciate you taking the time to talk to Crime Watch
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Have you read any of PA Brown's mystery novels? If so, what do you think? Have you read much, or any, crime fiction with gay or lesbain protagonists? Comments welcome.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Balancing motherhood and crime writing: Canton Daily News interviews Kiwi crime writer
In the interview, the Wellington-based author shares what attracted her to the thriller genre, how she balances motherhood (of a "bunch of children" ranging from just starting school to married) with writing, and more about her heroine, FBI Special Agent Ellie Conway. You can read the interview at the Canton Daily News website, here.
Connor's first two Conway novels, KILLERBYTE and TERRORBYTE were originally published as e-books, and both have received some very good reviews and featured in the Top Ten bestsellers on the Mobipocket website, with KILLERBYTE making it to the #2 position (ahead of Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher thriller at the time). Her books are now available in digital form from a variety of websites, and also in paperback form from Amazon.com.
KILLERBYTE was a finalist in the 2010 EPIC Awards (electronic publishing awards), and also was voted No. 3 in eBookNewser's Top Ten eBooks. TERRORBYTE was rated one of the Top 10 thriller 'Best Reads for 2010' by the Preditors & Editors™ Readers' Poll.
You can read more about Connor's third and latest Ellie Conway thriller, EXACERBYTE, here.
Monday, June 27, 2011
V is for Vanda Symon's BOUND (Crime Fiction Alphabet)
I just realised that I missed a post or two for the Crime Fiction Alphabet in the past few weeks - one when I was just back from Turkey, and another that just slipped through the cracks a couple of weeks ago. Oops. As I've said before, for this version of the Crime Fiction Alphabet (a great series run by Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise), I've given myself the added restriction of only covering New Zealand books and authors. Tricky.Fortunately, 'V' is quite an easy letter when it comes to New Zealand crime writing lately, as anyone familiar with this blog will realise. So for my 'V' post, I am of course highlighting one of the books from excellent Dunedin-based crime writer Vanda Symon; BOUND, her fourth and latest crime novel to star spark-plug Dunedin CID detective Sam Shephard. One release, BOUND hit #1 on the NZ Adult Fiction bestseller charts earlier this year, which was great to see. In my opinion Symon is a world-class crime writer, and hopefully more and more readers, here and overseas, will give her books a go in the future.
Here's the backcover blurb:
"A brutal home invasion shocks the nation. A man is murdered, his wife bound, gagged and left to watch.
But when Detective Sam Shephard scratches the surface, the victim, a successful businessman, is not all he seems to be. And when the evidence points to two of Dunedin's most hated criminals, the case seems cut and dried... until the body count starts to rise.
Meanwhile, Sam is in big trouble again…"
You can read an extract of BOUND at the Penguin NZ website, click here.
"A leading light amongst the recent surge in quality Kiwi crime fiction, Vanda Symon kick-starts her latest thrilling tale with a brutal home invasion; a dodgy businessman is shot gunned, his wife nearly chokes to death on a gag. Feisty heroine Sam Shephard’s Dunedin CID colleagues zero in on two lowlifes suspected of an earlier cop killing, but she’s uneasy, and keeps investigating. Excellent storytelling with real verve and energy, starring one of the most enjoyably readable heroines on the crime fiction scene."
You can read some other reviews of BOUND at the following websites:
Have you read BOUND? Or any of Vanda Symon's other Sam Shephard tales? Are you taking part in the Crime Fiction Alphabet? Comments welcome.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Tess Gerritsen and John Hart to appear at the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award event
The organisers of the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award are pleased to announce that New York Times bestselling authors Tess Gerritsen and John Hart will be appearing at the 'Setting the Stage for Murder' event in Christchurch on Sunday 21 August 2011, where the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel will also be presented. More details to follow.
Janet Evanovich shares her love of books
Another regular feature of those book pages is the 'Book Lover' column, where authors share their personal thoughts on books that have impacted their lives and 'stuck out' in their personal reading histories, for one reason or another. Yesterday, the author sharing her love for books was popular US crime writer Janet Evanovich, creator of the bestselling Stephanie Plum series. The piece is now available online. Click here to see which books Evanovich loves the most, is reading right now, would like to read next, her favourite bookshop, and which books changed her, and she wishes she'd never read.
X is for (IN) XTREMIS by David McGill
Well, we are now quickly zeroing in on the final letters as we come to the close of our latest alphabetically-inspired crime fiction sojourn, and this week we’ve arrived at the moment that always proves the trickiest for anyone making any sort of alphabetical list: the letter ‘X’. It's not like there are many x-related crime fiction topics out there to begin with, so the fact I've given myself the added restriction this year of only covering New Zealand books for the 2011 Crime Fiction Alphabet just adds to the degree of difficulty. But never fear, because I have sifted through the Kiwi crime fiction backlog and come up holding a X-related gold nugget. This week, I’ve decided to focus on IN XTREMIS by David McGill, a “contemporary Auckland crime mystery” published in 2004 by Silver Owl Press. McGill is a prolific and wide-ranging writer, with a penchant for “Kiwi social history, sometimes fictional”. He’s written 45 books. Some of his fictional works fall within the thriller category, including IN XTREMIS, which is the sequel to his earlier novel THE MONSTRANCE, which was about the effects the theft of an ancient religious artefact had on a 1960s New Zealand family. IN XTREMIS is set in contemporary Auckland, where another generation must cope with the reappearance of the precious object, while dealing with environmental threat, obsessive religious art collectors, drug running, and the corruption of youth and murder. Here’s the back cover blurb:
McCann is drawn into a conflict dangerously complicated by the hunt on Milicich land for a priceless religious vessel, a monstrance, pursuit of which cost his parents their lives and now threatens his daughter. McCann is plunged into the city’s underworld of drug-fuelled extreme nightlife in a desperate race against drug runners and obsessive religious art collectors who stop at nothing to acquire the monstrance, including murder.”
McGill was a prolific journalist and author of lively, popular Kiwi social histories before becoming a thriller writer. He has also written WHAKAARI, THE MONSTRANCE, and FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS, in terms of thriller or crime-centric novels. George Moore in the Sunday Star-Times in 1996 called WHAKAARI “a real ripper” of a thriller.
I have occasionally seen new copies of FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS kicking around in the odd bookstore, but McGill’s older novels like IN XTREMIS are generally harder to find - you’ll need to hit the libraries or second-hand bookstores (actual or online). McGill has also has a website and a blog, which you can check out here. I believe you may still be able to get new copies (signed by the author) from the website, of many of the books.
Do you like the sound of IN EXTREMIS? Have you read any of David McGill’s stories, crime fiction or otherwise? Thoughts welcome.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Upcoming Kiwi crime fiction: BY ANY MEANS by Ben Sanders
One book that I am really looking forward to (and curious to see how the New Zealand media and public will respond to) is BY ANY MEANS by young Auckland university student and crime writer Ben Sanders. I enjoyed THE FALLEN, Sanders's debut last year, and I wasn't alone. The book got some good reviews, and quickly jumped to, then maintained, the #1 spot on the NZ Adult Fiction bestseller list (a spot it held for several weeks - which is unheard of for a New Zealand crime novel in recent memory).
BY ANY MEANS sees the return of DS Sean Devereaux and his ex-cop sidekick John Hale. The book comes out in early August, but for now I can share the cover (above right) and the following blurb with you:
"Friday rush hour, Auckland city. A lone shooter fires across a packed street and kills a man. Detective Sergeant Sean Devereaux is assigned the case. He's not complaining - his Friday nights are seldom better spent. But the inquiry is not straightforward. Witness accounts are conflicting. The dead man appears to be an unintended victim, with the true target unknown.
That’s the least of Devereaux’s worries, though. His current case load includes an investigation into the deaths of the wife and daughter of a wealthy finance company director. His examination has revealed the situation is far more complex than anticipated, casting real doubt upon the division of innocence and guilt. Devereaux's former colleague, John Hale, is in no position to help. Hale is occupied with his own pursuit of darkness, made all the more sinister by a dogged senior police officer determined to engineer his ruin.
Together the two men hunt for the truth from those who pursue self-gain by any means."
It sounds interesting, and I am looking forward to see how Sanders' writing has developed since his debut novel, which was very good in of itself. Just as a heads-up for those who like good crime fiction, some of the other locally authored books I'm really looking forward to over the coming months include Paddy Richardson's TRACES OF RED (her third thriller and first since last year's #1 bestseller HUNTING BLIND), Neil Cross's LUTHER: THE CALLING (a novel featuring the divisive TV detective), the long-awaited return of Paul Thomas (Ned Kelly Award-winning author of THE IHAKA TRILOGY), and COLLECTING COOPER, the fifth dark thriller from the current king of Kiwi crime, in an internationally bestselling sense, Paul Cleave.
From the list above (plus several other novels I understand are on the way), it certainly looks like the pleasant growth in quality New Zealand crime fiction lately is set to continue in the near future.
Have you read THE FALLEN? Are you looking forward to BY ANY MEANS? Any of the other upcoming Kiwi crime novels? Who is your favourite New Zealand crime writer?
Goodbye Columbo
As the news of Falk's death broke overnight (NZT), and because the series' heydey was before my television-viewing time, rather than me writing a eulogy-style post here about Falk (who I do remember watching in movies such as The Princess Bride - Falk played the grandfather reading the story), I thought I would simply link here to a variety of posts and articles about the actor's passing, from people far more versed in Columbo-lore than me. I will just say that from all I have read and heard about the classic cop show, I really appreciate its significance on the TV landscape, and can see that many modern detective shows I enjoy were influenced by some of the things Columbo and Falk brought to the small screen - for example, the 'whydunnit' or 'howdunnit' focus rather than 'whodunnit' - where the audience knows the killer early on, rather than finding out at the end (ala Law & Order: Criminal Intent).
Here are some articles and blog posts to browse:
- Entertainment Weekly: "One of the most accomplished television, movie, and stage actors to ever create a pop-culture icon, Peter Falk was Columbo, and he was also a helluva a lot more than that, too..."
- Wall Street Journal Blog: "we watched… no, we adored… Peter Falk’s Columbo because he was us: an everyman, working class, messy, and imperfect, dealing with the physical and domestic woes we know so well, and constantly underestimated by wealthier, better-educated people as a result."
- Los Angeles Times: Television historian Tim Brooks called Falk "one of the most iconic characters on television. He created the kind of person that was unique to TV, a very relatable person that viewers could feel close to. He was shambling and seemingly absent-minded, but not really. He wasn't just a character but someone you could really like."
3pm Edit: Jeff Pierce has now uploaded his blog post about Columbo, and as expected, it's a cracker. Read it here.
Were you a fan of Columbo? Feel free to share your thoughts about the passing of a classic TV detective.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
TV'S Best: First Six Months 2011 Part 2
'the last word' with lawrence o'donnell is the best of the new year for people like me. mr. o'donnell speaks my mind as well as his own. he picked up where keith olberman left off after being unceremoniousy displaced bt msnbc. may he reign long.
'law and order: criminal intent' returned for a final season with the costars it began with. it has always been the best of the franchise and at least is going out intact. it will be repeated this summer on nbc after it's cable run is finished this month. the always underused julia ormond recurred as d'onofrio's psychiatrist to great effect. bravo to vincent d'onafrio and kathryn erbe you will be missed...again.
thank you pbs and cameron macintosh. the musical event of the season here in america. grand score, grand cast...grand event.
hbo's commitment to better tv gave us this elongated version of the novel. perhaps to elongated at that. kate winslet was amazing even though she may have been miscast. however, five hours of kate in anything demands my attention and acknowledgment. it's for winslet fans at most.
i've said it before and i'll say it again: this was the best new series of 2010 and in 2011 it kept the balls in the air and the plates spinning. it never fails and continues to demand attention. if you are not watching this series you are mad. catch up on season 1 via netflix or any other rental. season 2 begins on the 4th and i'll most certainly be there.
the best of network tv. julianna margulies and a great supporting cast deliever the best lines written in the drama genre. it's time to give this the emmy it deserves. enough 'mad men' already. if julianna loses the emmy this year the voters have gone mad or were well paid off.
how do the writers do it. this show builds year by year while others begin their decline early on. if you have not been watching 'the vampire diaries' you are missing one helluva ride. two vampire brothers lusting and loving the heroine. it puts the 'teilight' series and 'true blood' to shame.
hbo and carrie fisher's 'wishful drinking' was a laugh out loud riot. her 'hollywood inbreeding 101' was pure genius.
i would give them all emmy's and call it a season. check out part 1 posted on 6/14.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Amazon Publishing Acquires 47 Books from Award-Winning Mystery Author Ed McBain
“One of the things we think Amazon Publishing can do is offer signature authors a new life for great backlist titles. Our agreement with the McBain estate is a perfect example of this approach.”
Ed McBain was a pseudonym of Evan Hunter, who passed away in 2005. McBain won the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement from the Mystery Writers of America in 1986, and he was the first American to receive the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain’s Cartier Diamond Dagger award. He is the author of the popular 87th Precinct and Matthew Hope series. With more than 100 million books sold worldwide, McBain was praised by critics and fellow writers. “The wit, the pacing, his relish for the drama of human diversity [are] what you remember about the McBain novels,” the Philadelphia Inquirer once said of his writing. People Magazine simply observed that “Ed McBain is, by far, the best at what he does. Case closed.”
“McBain is a master of the mystery genre and we are thrilled to be able to repackage, publish and promote his unrivalled body of work,” said Philip Patrick, Head of Rights & Licensing, Amazon Publishing. “One of the things we think Amazon Publishing can do is offer signature authors a new life for great backlist titles. Our agreement with the McBain estate is a perfect example of this approach.”
“Evan was always an innovator and I am thrilled that these books will be available again for his countless fans as well as a new generation of readers,” said Dina Hunter, widow of Evan Hunter.
Announced in May 2011, Thomas & Mercer—named for streets that flank the Amazon headquarters in Seattle—is the mystery and thriller imprint of Amazon Publishing. Thomas & Mercer books are available to English readers in Kindle, print and audio formats at www.amazon.com, as well as at national and independent booksellers. For more information on Thomas & Mercer and upcoming titles, visit www.amazon.com/thomasandmercer. For more information about all imprints of Amazon Publishing, visit www.amazon.com/amazonpublishing. Thomas & Mercer is a brand used by Amazon Content Services, LLC.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Tess Gerritsen to headline upcoming NZ writers' festival
Bob Mayer, an ex special forces agent (Green Beret A-team commander) and now a bestselling suspense author and digital publishing expert, will present a one-day novel writing seminar, designed to take a writer from first page to last. Over the course of the weekend he will also present workshops on special operations and on digital publishing. Meteorologist Maria V. Snyder, a New York Times best-selling author of fantasy and paranormal fiction for adults and teens, will teach workshops on writing fantasy and paranormal fiction, and will give a talk on dystopian fiction, arguably the hottest genre of the moment.
Aspiring authors will have the chance to pitch their novels to Sue Grimshaw, editor-at-large for New York Publisher Ballantine Bantam Dell, a division of Random House and also to USA literary agent Jessica Faust of Bookends Literary Agency, along with New York editor Angela James of Carina Press and Lucy Gilmour of romance giant Harlequin Mills and Boon. There will also be opportunity to pitch to editors from Penguin and Random House, New Zealand. Jenny Hellen from Random House will also be taking young adult fiction pitches.
The RWNZ Conference runs August 19-21 at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Auckland. Earlybird Registration closes July the 11th. The conference will also offer talks and workshops applicable to mystery and young adult writers, plus a discussion and demonstration of carriage driving. For a full programme and registration information please visit http://www.romancewriters.co.nz/.
Self-published thriller writer joins Kindle Million Club - what does it mean?
Amazon.com announced yesterday (NZT) that thriller writer Locke, whose books are released through the online retailer's Kindle Direct Publishing, has sold just over 1 million e-books, many of them priced at 99 cents. The 60-year-old Louisville businessman-turned-thriller writer's novels include VEGAS MOON, WISH LIST, and A GIRL LIKE YOU. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his online success, his latest book is a non-fiction one, HOW I SOLD 1 MILLION EBOOKS IN 5 MONTHS. I would be curious to see what Locke has learned from his experiences, and how they could be applied by other writers.
To me, online and e-book publishing brings both opportunities and challenges for budding and established authors. Just like the traditional publishing world, some authors will make it big, and many won't - and this distinction won't always be a pure meritocracy. Good and great authors will be relatively overlooked, and other lesser authors will seem to have 'undeserved' levels of success, in the eyes of some. Although the better the book you write, the better your chances will be, writing a good book in of itself won't guarantee big sales - if readers aren't aware of your writing, or aren't enticed to give it a go, it will be difficult to build a strong and growing readership. Online publishing allows authors to make their books more widely available (eg Kiwi authors who aren't published in print in the US or UK can be available for readers in those countries if they have e-book versions of their Australasian-published titles), but at the same time this very trait of the technology makes it very easy to 'get lost in the flood'. There are literally millions of books out there - so how will readers come across yours?
Plenty to think about, and Locke's success will certainly inspire many. I'd love to read your thoughts on the evolution of e-publishing, and what it might mean for writers of all stripes.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Is Zirk van den Berg the best thriller writer in New Zealand?
That was the question the New Zealand Listener asked, several years ago, in a review of van den Berg's debut thriller NOBODY DIES. It was before the likes of Paul Cleave, Vanda Symon, Paddy Richardson, Ben Sanders, and others amongst the recent wave of New Zealand crime and thriller writing had been published - so the Listener was comparing Van Den Berg to the likes of Ned Kelly Award-winning Paul Thomas, acclaimed noir writer Chad Taylor, Simon Snow, Michael Laws, Nigel Latta, Michael Wall (who I discovered earlier this year was a heck of a good thriller writer - see my review of the sadly-out-of-print FRIENDLY FIRE here) and others of the late 1990s to early-mid 2000s era. I understand that van den Berg will publishing a second novel in the near future, also in e-book format, which is great news. Just last year Stephen Stratford, the head of judges for the literary-fiction focused NZ Post Book Awards (our Kiwi equivalent of the Booker Prize or Australia's Miles Franklin Award), said in an article by Mark Broatch in the Sunday Star-Times that he was "still waiting for a new novel from Zirk van den Berg whose outstanding Nobody Dies came out in 2004".
Originally published by Black Swan Crime (a division of Random House), NOBODY DIES is a gripping thriller that opens with a bang; a renegade female detective executes a man in her custody.
Here’s the backcover blurb:
“Erica van der Linde has found the perfect way to make sure the witnesses in her police protection programme in Cape Town stay hidden. She kills them. As the criminals turned state witnesses have exited one life and not yet started another, there’s nobody to look for them.
But she hasn’t encountered anyone like Daniel Enslin before.
You’d hardly call him a criminal. An apathetic loner in a nothing job, Daniel gets his kicks by associating with Frank Redelinghuys, a dealer in all kinds of merchandise, unfettered by the normal rules of morality. But when Daniel witnesses Frank commit a murder, he feels compelled to do something about it.
He betrays Frank to his arch enemy, policeman Nic Acker, even though this puts his own life in danger. When the case against Frank collapses, Acker has no option but to put Daniel into the witness protection programme. With Erica to set up a new life for him, Daniel will be safe, at least...”
Have you read NOBODY DIES? Who do you think is New Zealand's best thriller writer - back then, or now? Do you like crime fiction set in South Africa? Comments welcome.
Money, Politics, and Power: Nicky Pellegrino interviews Michael Robotham
Read Herald on Sunday Books Editor Nicky Pellegrino's full interview-based feature on Michael Robotham, who recently visited New Zealand (see my author event photo here) at Beattie's Book Blog here.
Scroll down the article for a 'Booklover' interview with Alexander McCall Smith too, where the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency author shares his thoughts on his own reading experiences.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Ngaio Marsh Award judge reissues more top notch thrillers
Ripley edits the Top Notch Thrillers series for Ostara Publishing, which re-issues titles that "have unjustifiably become unavailable either through the ravages of time or the forces of publishing economics". Ostara specialise in Crime and Thriller fiction titles and their range goes from the 1920s through to the 21st century. They publish thematically under several series, such as 'Cambridge Crime', 'Clerical Crime', and 'Medieval Mysteries'. Top Notch Thrillers was established in 2009 to revive Great British thrillers “which do not deserve to be forgotten”, using the latest print-on-demand technology and offering many titles as eBooks for the first time.
Next month, Top Notch Thrillers will reissue two great British thrillers from the early 1980’s, "both of which are fine examples of ‘flight and pursuit’ novels in the John Buchan tradition": ROGUE JUSTICE by Geoffrey Household and FUNERAL SITES by Jessica Mann. Here's what Ripley and Ostara have to say about their new releases:
"Geoffrey Household (1900-88), often seen as the natural successor to John Buchan, is rightly famous for his 1939 classic ROGUE MALE about an aristocratic English big game hunter’s failed attempt to assassinate Hitler and his subsequent fight for survival as the hunter becomes the hunted.
More than 40 years after that ground-breaking thriller, Geoffrey Household gave us the sequel, ROGUE JUSTICE, where the background to the previously anonymous ‘Rogue Male’ is revealed as he declares his own private war on Nazi Germany, blazing a blood-stained trail from Poland to Greece to dispense his own type of justice on the brutal ideology which has destroyed the Europe – and the woman – that he loved.
Not only is ROGUE JUSTICE a sustained, fast-moving action thriller, told with all Household’s usual skill when it comes to a pursuit over wild terrain and his self-depreciating humour, it is at heart a dark, nobly romantic but fatalistic love story. For the rogue hero this time, it is not a question of whether he will survive, but how he will choose to meet his death....
FUNERAL SITES is a frantic, breathlessly-paced chase thriller which puts a female stamp on what had seemed until then a very male preserve and whilst staying true to the form, the novel cheekily references the work of John Buchan – and indeed Geoffrey Household, another master of the genre.
Jessica Mann is the first woman to join the ranks of British authors reissued under the Top Notch Thriller imprint, who include: John Gardner, Victor Canning, Brian Callison, Duncan Kyle, Francis Clifford and Adam Hall."
Both books certainly sound quite interesting, and worthy additions to the Top Notch Thrillers canon that Ripley and Ostara are steadily building. By September 2011, there will be 20 Top Notch Thrillers available in print and (in many cases) electronic formats. They can be purchased through good bookshops or Amazon and via the Ostara website (http://www.ostarapublishing.co.uk/) which contains much additional information of TNT books and authors.
Do you like reading crime and thriller novels from another era? What good and great out-of-print crime novels have you stumbled across in libraries, secondhand bookstores and elsewhere? What are some of your favourite out-of-print books that you think would still stand up well today? Comments welcome.
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