Criminal Splatterings

It seems as there is a glut of short story competitions on the go. Yesterday, Ayo reported on a collaboration between Faber and Faber publishers and Stylist Magazine. Today, I have had an email from Bloombsury Publishing who, in association with the Writers and Artists Yearbook, is launching their challenge to writers to create a crime story in a 1000 words or less.
This is the press release:
Every other month one of Bloomsbury's Crime authors will be laying down the creative gauntlet with an original short story thus setting the theme for that month. Then it's over to you, the British public, to do your worst. Criminally speaking of course!


Every other month, we will chose ONE winner and their story will be featured on the Short Sentence website. Once the competition has closed all the winning stories will be published as a Short Sentence eBook along with the Featured Authors' stories. This will be available for free from all online book retailers. Each winner will also receive a Day Rover ticket to the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate (2013) and a selection of Bloomsbury books. Four Runners up will receive a selection of Bloomsbury books.

We will announce OVERALL WINNER during National Short Story Week in November 2012. The overall winner will win a place at the Writers and Artists Yearbook conference for 2013 and a Weekend Rover Ticket for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate (2103).

The competition launches with a short story from debut crime author Parker Bilal, author of The Golden Scales, on the theme of DECEPTION. Rules and details of how to enter are on the website - http://www.shortsentence.co.uk/ So all you budding writers out there, no more excuses, get writing!

Other authors taking part include Conor Fitzgerald, Anne Zouroudi, Tom Mogford and James Runcie

And talking of an ex-Bloomsbury writer, J.K. ROWLING has gone over to the dark side, well Little Brown really, for her next book. "Although I've enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world," she said. There were rumours going around last year that she would be writing a crime book. Perhaps her next door neighbour, Ian Rankin might have something to do with it (if it's true, of course)?

HENRY SUTTON's new book has been bought by Harvill Secker. The Daily Mirror books editor Henry Sutton, has sold a crime novel which features a fictional crime writer, David Slavitt, at its centre. My Criminal World will be publish in 2013. The story focuses on struggling crime wrtier Slavitt, whose agent insists his new book needs more blood and guts. Interspersed with Slavitt's story are extracts from the crime story he is writing, which get more and more violent as the story progresses; the extracts will be published as a separate e-book.

After reading Trackers by DEON MEYER,  I wondered how he was going to follow this up.  Word has it that Laura Seegers has just finished translating Sere Dae which will be published as Seven Days by Hodder & Stoughton

And in case you thought I had forgotten World Book Day, those jolly nice people at Goldsboro are giving away books - well, not exactly but with a 20% discount off all orders from stock items for one day, 1st March 2012. Place your order on their website on the 1st March 2012 and all books that are published and in stock (not pre-orders -unpublished titles) are availble to buy using coupon code WBD2012 and you will get 20% off. This doesn't include postage and can not be used with any other discount.

Falcón will arrive in 2012
And to finish off, I bumped into Robert Wilson at the Orion XXth Party and he tells me that Sky Atlantic are filming the Javier Falcón books. According to their website,
To be shown in 2012, Sky Atlantic is proud to announce the production of a four-part crime drama, set in Seville and based on Robert Wilson's bestselling novels .Javier Falcón is a Chief Inspector in the Seville police, a brilliant detective whose personal and professional life is compromised by dark secrets from the past in this ambitious and complex new series.

The first story to be adapted is The Blind Man of Seville, which follows Falcón‘s investigation into a brutal killing which stirs long forgotten memories. As Falcón investigates the crime, and finds himself drawn to the widow of the victim, he discovers the secret truth about his artist father’s violent history in Tangier and the Spanish Civil War. The second story to be adapted is The Silent and the Damned, in which a double suicide takes Falcón to an exclusive area of Seville where wealthy neighbours keep their secrets well hidden and there’s more in the freezer than just food.

The role of Javier Falcón, a Chief Inspector in the Seville police, will be played by Marton Csokas, best known as Elven Lord Celeborn in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy Joining Csokas in FALCÓN: The Blind Man Of Seville are Charlie Creed-Miles (The Fifth Element, Harry Brown) as Ramirez, Falcón’s deputy in the Seville Police and Hayley Atwell (Captain America, Any Human Heart) as Consuelo Jimenez, the widow of a murder victim who may also be the number one suspect. Emilia Fox (Silent Witness, The Pianist) will play Ines, the estranged wife of Falcón, whilst Kerry Fox (Cloudstreet, Shallow Grave) is his sister, Manuela. Veteran actor Bernard Hill (Titanic, The Lord of The Rings) takes the role of Ramon Salgado, wealthy art dealer and friend of Falcón’s father, the renowned, but now deceased artist Francisco Falcón. Santiago Cabrerra (Merlin, Heroes) will play Judge Esteban Calderon.

Marton Csokas stars as Javier Falcón  Photo copright SKY Atlantic

The Talented Mr Barclay

As an advocate of literacy promotion; I have been hugly impressed by the Galaxy Quick Reads initiative, where bestselling writers publish a novella in the ‘quick reads’ format at a cost of £1.99 [though I did notice the latest batch on sale at a UK supermarket were discounted to £1.50]. The latest batch of Quick Reads were released last week to coincide with World Book Day and World Book Night.

So what is the Quick Reads Initiative all about?

"Over a third of the adult population admit to not having the time or inclination to read for pleasure in their busy lives. Many struggle to finish a book or do not have the confidence or skills to think about reading one. Quick Reads are written and published to help adults to improve their literacy skills and discover a love of reading and books."

"Over the past six years we have witnessed the remarkable impact Quick Reads have had on the lives of thousands of new readers. Many, who before were nervous of books and had to hide the fact they found reading and writing difficult, have go on to read other books and become more confident in themselves, at work and in helping their children with school work. The number of businesses across the country who use Quick Reads are testament to how effective these books are and their investment in improving the literacy skills of their workforce is to be applauded."

Carol Taylor, Director or Operations at The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education [NIACE]

Amongst the latest batch of ‘Quick Read’ books, is a real treat from the Canadian Thriller Writer Linwood Barclay. His ‘Clouded Vision’ tale, features one of the minor characters from Linwood’s breakout novel ‘No Time For Goodbye’. I was astounded by that novel, which was the biggest selling work of fiction in 2008 [in the UK], selling close to 1 Million copies, and launched his literary career, which just goes from strength to strength. If you are not in the UK, fear not as this chilly little morality tale can be downloaded as an eBook here or from many other UK retailers.

The reason why I loved ‘Clouded Vision’ so much is because it is a ‘perfect storm’ for this reader, combining several story elements to make a satisfying but very chilly and disturbing read.

Firstly I love the novella as a format, due to the requirement to tell a tale with an economy of style and time. Stephen King has always lauded the ‘Novella’ format, and many of his greatest works are in Novella / Short Story format.

Secondly I enjoyed the character of Keisha Ceylon, the crooked psychic from ‘No Time For Goodbye’, who attempted to ‘help’ find Cynthia’s family and was delighted to see her return in ‘Clouded Vision’. I actually mentioned my enthusiasm for Ceylon to Linwood over dinner at Bouchercon Baltimore a few years ago, and pondered this afternoon whether the seed for this tale may have been planted, when we chatted about ‘No Time For Goodbye’. Typically, the modest Linwood was far more concerned at the time, about dining with the legendary Lawrence Block [who joined our dinner thanks to Orion Publishing]. On the walk to the restaurant, he whispered to me “Pinch me Ali, we’re about to break bread with the creator of Matt Scudder! How cool is that!”

Thirdly, I’m a real sucker for E.C. Comics, from the 1950’s especially the crime / horror morality tales and their sense of Grand Guignol; something that ‘Clouded Vision’ shares, with its gruesome opening, and the pivotal scenes of horror and the twisted morality of the protagonists at its climax.

‘Clouded Vision’ reminded me of the conventions [and economic style] of the pulp tradition, and for something you can read in less than an hour, it was wonderful.

So here’s the synopsis for this delightfully dark little tale -

Keisha Ceylon is a psychic. At least, that's what she passes herself off as. The truth is, Keisha's real powers have more to do with separating troubled families from their money than actually seeing into the netherworld. Keisha watches the news for stories of missing family members. She gives it a few days, then moves in, tells these families she's had a vision, that she may have some clue to where these missing people are. And by the way, she charges for this service, and likes to see the money up front. Keisha's latest mark is a man whose wife disappeared a week ago. She's seen him on TV, pleading for his wife to come home, or, if she's been abducted, pleading with whoever took her to let her go. Keisha knows a payoff when she sees one. So she pays a visit to our troubled husband, tells him her vision. Trouble is, her vision just happens to be close enough to the truth that it leaves this man rattled. And it may very well leave Keisha dead.

Several other thriller and crime-writers have written for Quick Reads – including James Patterson, Ian Rankin, Peter James, Val McDermid, Minette Walters, Andy McNab,

And don’t forget, Linwood Barclay is making a rare UK appearance at The Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival this summer in Harrogate England

If you’ve not read Linwood Barclay’s work click here

Photo [top] © 2008 Ali Karim
“Shots Men Mike Stotter and Ali Karim flank the UK’s No. 1 Thriller Writer Linwood Barclay”.

Spread the Word

Spread the Word: books to talk about have drawn up their short list of 10 from 50 nominated books in their search to find the best book to talk about this year. Votes cast on their website will decide the winner with the announcement being made on World Book Day 2009, Thursday 5 March. Amongst the short list are two crime novels – Bad Traffic by Simon Lewis and Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert.

Bad Traffic is the first in a series of crime novels to feature Chinese detective Inspector Jian. It began life as a response to two real life crimes: the death by suffocation of more than fifty illegal Chinese immigrants in a lorry container, and the drowning of the cockle pickers on Morecombe Bay. Lewis combines a unique and moving thriller with the vicious and topical issue of people trafficking. He finds himself not only having to deal with persuasive and nasty killers but in a situation where he is not able to make himself understood properly because of the language barrier.

In Season of the Witch, Gabriel Blackstone is a cool, hip, thoroughly twenty-first century Londoner with a remarkable gift. A computer hacker by trade, he is also by inclination - a remote viewer; someone whose unique gifts enable him to 'slam rides' through the thought processes of others.

But reading people’s minds is something he does only with the greatest lack of enthusiasm that is until he is contacted by an ex-lover who begs him to use his gift to find her stepson, last seen months earlier in the company of two sisters. He soon gets drawn into the lives of two beautiful sisters who are practising witches.

The only other crime novel to make it on to the longlist is Adrian McKinty's excellent book The Bloomsday Dead. The Bloomsday Dead is the final book in the trilogy and follows on from Dead I May Well Be (which was shortlisted for the 2004 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award) and The Dead Yard which won the award for won the Audie Award for best mystery or thriller in 2006. In The Bloomsday Dead Michael Forsythe finds himself once more drawn back to Ireland to find a missing girl. It is the only opportunity that he will have to save his own skin.