THE KILLING CONTINUES

The SHOTS editors, Mike and Ali, really relish discovering new talents in the crime and thriller genre and we believe that new voices always breathe new life into the genre to keep it fresh and vibrant. That is why Shots Ezine supports ITW’s KillerYear project.

We enjoyed ourvisit to ITW’s Thrillerfest conference last summer and published a 3 part report of the Shots visit to New York at The Rap Sheet : -

Part One – Click Here

Part Two – Click Here

Part Three – Click Here

We were glad to meet up with the debut thriller writers who had grouped themselves as Killer Year; in fact we wrote about them at Shots :-

http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/features/2006/killer/killer.html

So as we progress into 2008, we have a new wave of KillerYear debuts so Shots asked CJ Lyons and Karen Dionne of Backspace to tell us what we might expect

Way back when, in 2006 to be exact, there was a group of authors facing the release of their debut novels. One of them, Jason Pinter, put out a call for fellow debut crime writers to join him. Soon he had a band of merry murderers, dubbed Killer Year.

Their goal? To see each other through their debut year, to help promote each other, to forge new connections, and to try to have some fun along the way.

I met the Killer Year group at ThrillerFest in Phoenix and stayed in touch with them throughout their debut year. ITW, under the guidance of MJ Rose and the rest of the Board, adopted Killer Year, helping them navigate the unpredictable publishing shoals and reefs.

It was a fantastic success. Killer Year members have received nominations for awards, accolades from national press, film deals, foreign rights, and now, under the editorial guidance of Lee Child, have an anthology due to be released.

Lee went to the ITW Board and proposed a long-term continuation of an ITW Debut Author Program. One that all ITW debuts could participate in, sharing knowledge with their published fellow members.

And thus, I present to you, the first group of ITW Debut Authors … Let The Thrill Begin!

CJ Lyons and Karen Dionne

To get a full rundown of the Killer Year Debuts, ITW have a special website :-

http://www.thethrillbegins.com/

And to see who exactly are the authors featured in KillerYear 2008 :-

http://www.thethrillbegins.com/who-we-are/

While the books are featured here with their release dates :-

http://www.thethrillbegins.com/about-our-books/