Recalling “Killing Floor” to “Blue Moon”

Mike Stotter and I were thankful to Publisher / Editor and Literary Raconteur Otto Penzler, for a specific book he’s just released, and we got the opportunity to thank him personally while we were at Bouchercon 2025 in New Orleans.

I first heard of this book during the London Book Fair when I had a meeting with Otto Penzler. As a long time reader of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels - I quizzed him about this book during last May’s Crimefest event in Bristol.

The book I am referring to is ‘Reacher: The Stories behind the Stories’ – a book that I was highly anticipating.

So, what are my thoughts once I had a copy in my hands?

This interesting book will not only appeal to readers of the Jack Reacher novels, but also to readers [and writers] who wish to uncover the physical mechanics behind the writing process; the dynamics that powered one of the world’s best-selling thriller series.

Written in a series of short chapters [which were initially short introductions to the limited print run special editions of each Jack Reacher novel solely written by Lee Child] from the first [Killing Floor] to the twenty fourth [Blue Moon], this book is so very interesting.

It opens - On Monday September 5th, 1994, at home, at the dining room table, I sat down to write. An hour later, I gave the first chapter to my wife. I asked, “Should I continue?”

“Yes,” she said. “I like it.”

Child’s self-deprecating, modest and amusing style at times raising a smile, while at others forcing the reader to pause for thought and ponder upon the hand of fate. The combination of the author’s work ethic, built-in self-reliance, positive [and generous] nature - collided many times with the hand of fate as he watched the cards fall, not always in his favour – but he always seemed to play the best possible hand. Case in point – the circumstances of the purchase of his Property in Southern France, as well as its subsequent sale.

Read the full review HERE

After completing this slim tome, including the new Jack Reacher short story “A Better Place” which closes this interesting book – I had a few questions, and thanks to publisher Otto Penzler, who spoke with Lee – I got my answers, which are presented below for our readers.

I closed my review –

“This is the most informative and entertaining book I’ve read so far in 2025. Reacher: The Stories behind the Stories helped recall how much pleasure reading the Lee Child novels had on me, enriching my own life by distracting me from my own [at times] Bad Luck and Trouble.”

I understand the importance of literature - good writing – and the power of stories in helping manage the randomness of life and its challenges.

Stephen King summed this importance in his book “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft”.

“Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around”

I managed my life through my love of books and reading, so over to a story teller that helped me overcome the challenges that life presented me from 1997’s ‘Killing Floor’ to 2019 and ‘Blue Moon’ – Mr. Lee Child.

Ali: I first heard about ‘Reacher: The Stories behind the Stories’ in March, from Otto Penzler during the London Book Fair. Would you tell us about the book’s genesis and was it your idea or that of Penzler’s Mysterious Press?

Lee: Entirely Otto's idea - both originally and contemporaneously.  Otto did very limited editions of the Reacher books for his collectors, 126 printed per title, and asked for added-value forewords for each, year by year.  I did them as diaries, really - where I was, what I was thinking, etc, while I was writing each book.  Then he wanted to publish them in a single widely-available volume.  Which felt weird, frankly.  I knew collectors rarely even open the book - they shelve them reverentially and worry about cracking their spines.  So I thought no one would read this stuff, so I made the intros quite personal and unguarded.  Transworld picked it up as a subsidiary deal for the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

AK: I see there will be an audio release, will you be narrating / reading it or will Jeff Harding do the honours again? AND what’s your take on the growth of Audio Books, and the Reacher novels in particular?

LC:  I narrated the main part of the audio myself, because it feels a bit autobiographical, like a memoir.  That was the first time ever for me.  Jeff Harding did the non-me parts, including a brand new Reacher short story we put in as bonus content.  Audio is getting huge now - inevitably, I think, because for most of our evolution storytelling has been oral, and we seem to be hardwired for it.  I'm all in favour - I'm a storyteller rather than a writer, so I'm happy for people to get the story any way they want.

AK: I enjoyed the Reacher short story “A Better Place” that closes “Reacher: The Stories behind the Stories”, so after last year’s collection ‘Safe Enough’ and previously ‘No Middle Name’, will we be seeing more short fiction from you?

LC: I'm sure I'll do short stories now and then.  There's always someone asking.  If I'm around long enough, there could be enough to make another collection.

AK: As a fellow bibliophile - I was amused when you mentioned about renovating the manor house in Sussex, including building a library “…for the first time in my life, I had more shelves than books….though that moment did not last long…” So tell us about your own book collecting over the years, and what is the state of your book collection currently?

LC: I'm not a collector per se - I have probably ten thousand books here and there, but fewer than twenty are actual valuable volumes.  I have a Kelmscott Chaucer - folio size, hand-printed by William Morris, illustrated by Edward Burne-Jones, often called the most beautiful book in the world, and a first edition, first printing of The Catcher in the Rye, and a signed first of The Silence of the Lambs.  Plus a couple of James Bonds.  Stuff like that.  But most of my books have little resale value, except they're much loved by me.

AK: Naturally, there is little mention of the Amazon series REACHER due to the time frame [Killing Floor to Blue Moon] – so what can you tell us about Season Four – and is it based on your novel “Gone Tomorrow”? And what about the spin off series “Neagely”?

LC: Yes, the TV seasons post-date the forewords in the book.  Reacher season four is almost done - yes, Gone Tomorrow - and the Neagley spin-off is almost through post-production. 

All good.  I'm enjoying the process.

AK: Can you tell us a little about the ‘Lee Child Archive’ held at the University of East Anglia [UEA] in Norwich?

LC: Like the memoir book [Reacher: The Stories behind the Stories], the archive is another thing I never expected.  UEA is very much "the writers' university", a bit like Iowa State in the U.S., and I know Henry Sutton, who teaches there.  He asked for my archive.  I wasn't sure I had one, as such - just a bunch of old boxes with all kinds of stuff thrown in.  But they have made wonderful sense of it - it has turned out to be beautifully curated and quite impressive.  I started long enough ago that plenty of it is on physical paper, not just electronic.

AK: And tell us a little about why you enjoy attending festivals that celebrate writing, as you [and Brother & Co-Writer] Andrew attended both Crimefest and Theakston’s Harrogate and you are a guest author at the the inaugural Whitby Literature Festival this November.

LC: I love festivals, and go to as many as I can fit in.  Readers and writers are like my family, and it's great to see them periodically.  I like to meet the new writers - such passion, energy, and ideas - and such great books! And yes, I'll be there on November 8th, at 7pm at Whitby in November. 

Now I'm back in the UK, I decided to do stuff I had to miss before.  I like Whitby - I had a nice holiday there once.  And it's a new festival, so I wanted to help launch it.

AK: Mike Stotter and I attended Bouchercon 2025 in New Orleans, and enjoyed a film on Saturday Night following the Anthony Awards entitled “If Jack Reacher Could Sing” featuring a band called Naked Blue – would you are to comment?

LC: By an outrageous coincidence, unknown to each other, I was their fan and they were mine, and eventually we met.  Obviously we immediately pledged to make an album together - I would write the lyrics, they would write the music.  It took us fifteen years to get it done, but we did it.  A real high point in my life.  Total fun, with two lovely people.

AK: Thank you for your time, and the trip down memory lane with Reacher: The Stories behind the Stories. Your work has always been important to so many readers.

LC: My pleasure as ever.

Shots Magazine would like to pass our thanks to Otto Penzler of The Mysterious Press / Penzler Publishers and Patsy Irwin of PenguinRandomHouse for helping organise this short interview and of course to Lee Child for his time.

5 Min video Below: Lee Child and Andrew Grant at Crimefest May 2025 Bristol UK recorded in Gonzo-Vision. 

Audible asks “dear readers and writers, are you listening yet?”

I was delighted to be asked to join the Audible team for lunch at London’s The Ivy by Alice Geary of MIDAS. Joining Laurence Howell, Audible’s Director for Content and his team were Bestselling crime writers Mark Billingham and Sharon Bolton as well as renowned audio narrator Clare Corbett and guests; book reviewers and literary commentators Marcel Berlins, Michael Carlson, Nick Clee and I, as well as Tony Mulliken keeping order.

Tony Mulliken’s presence was required at the lunch, as I have become an enthusiastic advocate, and rather vocal [pardon the pun] about the importance of audio fiction in publishing, be it narrated work or audio dramatizations, with Audible taking the lead in this fast growing area of publishing.

I joined Audible over a year ago as a customer, taking advantage of their remarkable £7.99 a month deal which allows one Audiobook download a month. This is remarkable value when you consider it allows you to download work such the remarkable Sherlock Holmes : The Definitive Edition narrated by Stephen Fry. This work is produced by Audible Studios and runs close to 72 hours and would normally cost you £69.99, however if you are an Audible member, it is eligible for the ‘£7.99 one audio book per month’. I will not say more for fear of gushing like Vesuvius [on a bad day], for Fry’s reading of Conan Doyle’s Holmes and Watson is remarkable.

I know around the watercooler there are avid conversations about the latest TV miniseries on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Sky Atlantic and BBC Iplayer; however I am often talking excitedly about what Audible Studios have commissioned next. The Original Content that Audible provide, with soundscapes is remarkable. I am particularly in awe of the Dirk Maggs productions of Alien out of the Shadows and Alien River of Pain, and very excited about the X-FILES Audio Production due out in July, entitled Cold Cases.

I find the short story format as well as the novella especially suited to the Audible platform. I store my Audible Novels and Dramatizations on my PC and Phone, so I always have access to my favourite narratives, which I especially enjoy in bed before sleep [and the app on the Iphone has a sleep timer]. Being read to before slumber is one of life’s great comforts.

Both the Audible app for IPhone / Android and Audible website are excellent, as apart from daily deals, and 3 for 2 offers; they feature clips allowing you check the ability of the narrator, or the dramatization [many which are commissioned in London by Laurence Howell’s team]. The website and app allows you to search by narrator as well as author or genre. I have often selected an Audible book, not by the author but the quality of the narrator.

Over lunch I was delighted to meet Clare Corbett, the renowned actress and audio performer. Clare was involved in Audible’s adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ THE GIRL ON A TRAIN and Fiona Barton’s THE WIDOW which she performed and are exceptional works for audio.

If you hurry, for one week Audible are giving away audio copies of THE WIDOW, scroll to the bottom of this LINK; a book that Stephen King described as 'If you liked GONE GIRL and THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN, you might want to pick up THE WIDOW by Fiona Barton. Engrossing. Suspenseful'

Speaking of Stephen King, as a long time reader of his work since my teenage years; I have been revisiting my youth by collecting his work on audio via Audible, which I listen to when too tired to read, using the sleep timer function. I was delighted to see James Franco has been commissioned to narrate Stephen King’s THE DEAD ZONE a rather prescient work, considering what many think of current POTUS Mr D Trump.  I have been rather vocal [pardon the pun, again] for King’s last collection of short fiction THE BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS. I reviewed it at Shots Ezine, but had to add to my review how much pleasure the Audible version was following my re-listening to the book –

Specific favourites are the very droll ‘Drunken Fireworks’, which started life as an audio novella, and is indeed a very engaging morality tale that when placed into context, mirrors the inherent madness in humanity’s need for the arms race. Though my favourite is the dark reflection of age and the mysteries of death in ‘The Dune’ [originally published as a story in the British literary journal Granta].

I subsequently purchased the audio version of this collection from Audible, which is remarkable, as King prefaces the stories vocally, but each is narrated by professional actors and vocal artists, such as Craig Wasson; and these narrations brings the stories to life [and death]. 

Read More HERE

Again, I digress; the reason for the lunchtime meeting, was that Audible wished to announce a new initiative - a writing grant for a piece of unpublished crime-fiction worth £10,000.

So for the budding crime writers in the room I’d suggest it worth taking notes –

The Audible New Writing Grant: The Crime Edition invites the UK’s most promising crime writers to submit an unpublished thriller of 50,000 words or more to a panel of experts. Free to enter, a shortlist of three candidates will be announced in early 2018. For a little extra inspiration, applicants will be able to download a copy of The Widow by Fiona Barton – one of Audible’s best-selling crime novels – for free during the first week of submissions.

The winning author will be selected from the shortlist in Spring 2018 by a judging panel which includes: Sunday Times Best-Seller and two-time Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year winner Mark Billingham; Sunday Times Best-Seller and CWA Dagger In The Library winner Sharon Bolton; The Girl On The Train and The Widow narrator Clare Corbett, the Daily Telegraph’s Crime Critic Jake Kerridge and Audible’s Director Of Content Laurence Howell.

The winning author will receive a £10,000 advance, accountable against royalties, for an exclusive Worldwide English language audio publication deal, as well as mentoring from Audible’s panel of judges.

Laurence Howell, Senior Director at Audible, said: “Audio offers enormous potential for creators to connect with new listeners, and we’re always looking for ways to delight our members with gripping new debuts. This New Writing Grant marries those two aims together perfectly. It allows us to support, daring, innovative storytelling whilst also giving our listeners access to exclusive audio stories we know they’ll love. We’ve commissioned original works from Philip Pullman, Robert Caro and Tom Rachman amongst others, now we’re looking to nurture the next generation of writing talent.”

Mark Billingham, author of the Tom Thorne series, said: “What’s special about this kind of storytelling is the intimate connection with the listener. We’ll be looking for stories that create suspense and tension through classic techniques such as the cliffhanger and the twist, but more importantly we’ll be looking for strong, multidimensional characters that really engage and resonate with the listener. Everyone loves being told a great story and that is exactly what we’re looking for.”

Clare Corbett, narrator of The Girl On The Train, said: “There are certain elements that are key to whether a novel will work in audio. Writers should think about how they would naturally speak - we rarely talk as formally as we write and rhythm is really important. A bit of variety in sentence length and structure will hold a listener’s attention and leaving space for silence is central to tension-building. These are some things we’ll be considering throughout the judging process.”

To enter, applicants must email (in Word or PDF format) a copy of their manuscript, submission letter and synopsis of the story to crimegrant@audible.co.uk before 23:59 on 30^th November 2017. Terms and conditions apply, please visit www.audible.co.uk/CrimeGrant for full details.

For more information about Audible : New Writing Grant for Crime Fiction Click Here and from that link there is an offer for a free download of Fiona Barton’s THE WIDOW as performed by Clare Corbett [but hurry as the offer is for a very limited time].

And remember though I mentioned Crime, Horror, Science Fiction Audio work here, I should add as a postscript that Audible’s offerings are very wide. One of my very favourite downloads of this year was Bruce Springsteen reading from his autobiography BORN TO RUN, making it an experience that is as revelatory as it is life affirming, and I got it for £7.99 on the Audible monthly deal.

About Audible

Audible, an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible was created to unleash the emotive music in language and the habituating power and utility of verbal expression. Audible content includes more than 250,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers.

Photos (c) 2017 A Karim & (c) 2017 Audible.co.uk 

Author Barry Eisler joins Amazon Imprint!

In March this year best-selling author Barry Eisler announced that he had turned down a two-book deal worth $500,000 from St Martin’s Press. He was subsequently interviewed by author Joe Konrath on his blog A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing about his decision to turn down the deal and go the self-publishing route. The same interview can be also found on Barry’s blog The Heart of the Matter as well. He also explained the reasons why he went down the self-publishing route to author Jason Pinter in an online article in The Daily Beast.

Amazon appears have managed to persuade him to change his mind once again and he has according to BizJournal.com (where you can read the complete article) been lured into joining Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer mystery imprint. All this was revealed at the recent Book Expo America (BEA) with Idea Logical’s Mike Shatzkin in New York. Eisler in his discussion explained that his next book would be released initially in e-book format with a print edition to follow and his advance was "comparable" to traditional deals offered to him for his book.