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 

London celebrates the Bloody Scotland 2017 Launch

So as the International Crime, Mystery and Thriller community get set for this year’s Bloody Scotland Convention, the team came to Waterstones Piccadilly to give us an insight to what to except. 

It was particularly invigorating to see that Stirling Gin are one of the sponsors for the event, ensuring the event is well lubricated.

Shots have recorded the presentations to give you some insight into what is planned

Four of the Slice Girls aka crime writers AK Benedict, SJI Holliday, Louise Voss and Steph Broadribb performed at the launch party, following their surprise appearance at Bouchercon New Orleans last year.

And we present two sets from last night's perfromance

And we also present a few photos from the party

We hope to see you in Stirling for Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival 8-10 September 2017, as the programme is as inspiring, as it is eclectic.

More information on the programme and booking information is available Here

Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival 8-10 September 2017

At the London launch of the programme, Bloody Scotland international crime writing festival exclusively reveals a new book featuring some of the greatest contemporary Scottish crime writers to be published on 8 September, announces that a new crime award will be presented by Val McDermid at the festival and introduces the Slice Girls, an all-female author singing group, born at Bloody Scotland who have since taken on the world.

Bloody Scotland is thrilled to be partnering with Historic Environment Scotland, who will be publishing their first ever book of fiction, called simply Bloody Scotland, to be launched at Stirling Castle on the opening night of the International Crime Writing Festival.

In Bloody Scotland a selection of Scotland’s best crime writers use the sinister side of the country’s built heritage in stories that are by turns gripping, chilling and redemptive. Stellar contributors Val McDermid, Christopher Brookmyre, Denise Mina, Ann Cleeves, Louise Welsh, Lin Anderson, Gordon Brown, Doug Johnstone, Craig Robertson, E S Thomson, Sara Sheridan and Stuart MacBride explore the thrilling potential of Scotland’s iconic sites and structures. From murder in an ancient broch and a macabre tale of revenge among the clamour of an eighteenth century mill, to a dark psychological thriller set within the tourist throng of Edinburgh Castle and an ‘urbex’ rivalry turning fatal in the concrete galleries of an abandoned modernist ruin, this collection uncovers the intimate – and deadly – connections between people and places. Prepare for a dangerous journey into the dark shadows of our nation’s buildings – where passion, fury, desire and death collide.

Following the opening reception there will be a torchlight procession – open to the public – led by a pipe band and crime writers down to the Albert Halls where Ian Rankin will be talking about 30 years of Rebus.  Ian’s is not the only 30-year anniversary because we will also be celebrating with Val McDermid, whose first crime novel was published in September 1987.

During the weekend Val will be participating in the annual crime quiz, taking to the stage with supergroup, The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers featuring Mark Billingham, Stuart Neville, Doug Johnstone and Luca Veste (with Chris Brookmyre on guest vocals) and on Saturday at 12.15pm immediately prior to her own event at the Albert Halls (capacity 700) she will announce the winner of the New Crime Writer Award launched by Virago in association with The Pool. Traditionally the Albert Halls ‘Spotlight’ slot has given unknown writers the chance to read from their books in front of an audience waiting to see an established author. They are the support groups to the international rock stars of crime. Graeme Macrae Burnet famously ‘opened’ for Ian Rankin and went on to be shortlisted for The Man Booker. The winner of the New Female Crime Writer Award will get the chance to read from her book in front of a vast crowd of crime fans at this year’s festival even before her book is published.

Other leading authors on the programme include the fabulous Lynda La Plante, Peter May, Mark Billingham, Denise Mina, Karen Rose, Chris Carter, Ann Cleeves, Booker shortlisted Graeme Macrae Burnett, Denzil Meyrick, Mason Cross, Louise Welsh, Simon Kernick, Clare Mackintosh, M J Arlidge and last year’s McIlvanney Prize winner Chris Brookmyre. There are also familiar names including John Gordon Sinclair, Vince Cable, Douglas Henshall & Deputy Chief Constable of Scotland Iain Livingstone.

There is a play, Forensics, the Scotland-England crime writers football match, a live podcast and the perennially popular Crime at the Coo – which sold out within minutes after the Stirling launch on 1 June. We are fortunate at the London launch to bring a taster of that unique cabaret night to London. Four of the Slice Girls aka crime writers AK Benedict, SJI Holliday, Louise Voss and Steph Broadribb will be performing. Born at Bloody Scotland, when Alex Sokoloff decided to put together an all-female author singing group to temper the testosterone, The Slice Girls have gone on to perform their female power numbers at crime conventions in New Orleans and Iceland and later this year will be performing in Toronto.

The programme can be downloaded here.

Louise Penny wins the 2017 Pinckley Prize

Congratulations to Louise Penny who has won the 2017 Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work. The Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work honors an established woman writer who has created a significant body of work in crime fiction. The winner is nominated and selected by a jury of WNBA-NO members.

Trudy Nan Boyce has won the Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel for Out of the Blues (Putnam). The Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel honors a woman writer with a first-time published novel in adult crime fiction. The winner is selected from the submissions by a three-judge panel.

Each author will be given a $2,500 cash award and a trip to New Orleans to accept their award at the September 8 ceremony at the Academy of the Sacred Heart/Nims Fine Arts Center in New Orleans.

The Pinckley Prize was established in 2011 by the Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans, Louisiana.

American Noir on the Streets of London

So on a hot and humid evening close to Covent Garden, many of London’s literary community gathered to celebrate the launch of American Noir by Barry Forshaw.

I first encountered Barry Forshaw back in the 1990s, when I used to pick up copies of Crimetime Magazine when it was shelved with the Crime, Mystery and Thriller novels at my local Waterstones in Southend-on-Sea [pronounced ‘Sarf-End’]. Barry Forshaw was [and still is] the Editor of Crimetime.

Back in the 1990s, there was a blossoming of the Crime, Mystery and Thriller genre, where we saw the emergence of writers such as Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Harlan Coben as well as the establishment of Tartan Noir with Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, as well as Peter Robinson, Lee Child – to name a few. I would state that the hand of Barry Forshaw was behind the curtains, as were many others. There was gentle rivalry between Shots Magazine and Crimetime, and when the internet took hold both publications transferred their readership online. Mike Stotter and I would bump into Barry Forshaw from time to time and we’d compare notes on our reading and reviewing.

It would be much later that Barry and I realised our paths had crossed many years earlier thanks to our love of Cinema, and Horror Fiction with writers such as James Herbert, Ramsey Campbell as well as our enjoyment of American comics. When we were younger, and before we knew each other personally and professionally, we would frequent London’s Dark They Were and Golden Eyed, and later Forbidden Planet comic bookstores.

While Mike and I worked with Shots Ezine and had challenging ‘day-jobs’, with Mike in London’s financial district [‘The City’] and my own interests in Chemical Logistics – we always admired Barry with his toil as a freelance writer [and at one stage comic book artist, as well as an authority on butterfly collecting]. Barry used to be a regular columnist for fondly remembered Publishing News. I recall with clarity Barry’s concern when that publication ceased trading, for life as a freelance writer is an erratic one in terms of livelihood. Barry battled on, editing Crimetime and with his by-line gracing many diverse magazines such as Record Collector, Music Review, many newspaper review columns as well as commentary. 

Mike and I thought we were well read, that was until we met Barry – who has a memory and inside knowledge of the crime, mystery, horror and thriller genre [film as well as literature] that is extraordinary. Mike and Barry share interests in Music, and soundtracks though one tip, never bring up Butterfly collecting when in the presence of Mr Forshaw as the breath of his knowledge on Lepidoptera will keep you enthralled for hours.

Barry is also an acclaimed writer and literary commentator in his own right, with several publications under his belt. Though one of the more challenging was his Editing of The Greenwood Encyclopaedia of British Crime Fiction, for which he assembled a number of colleagues to assist [and in fairness we were paid reasonably well and got contributor’s copies of the book]. Barry provided Jeff Pierce of The Rap Sheet some insight here. And later Barry penned the first Biography of the late Stieg Larsson [entitled The Man Who Left Too Soon] and he kindly agreed to an interview with me following our meeting at the Swedish Embassy in London – read more here. Later Barry discussed with me an idea he had for a critical examination of The Silence of the Lambs as he knew of my enthusiasm for the work of Thomas Harris and my correspondence with Harris as well as my own contribution of literary analysis of the insane psychiatrist from Baltimore.

It would be the interest in Mainland European Crime Fiction that boosted Barry Forshaw’s literary profile with further work, such as Nordic Noir, Death in a Cold Climate. There were rumours among London’s literary community that Barry and his wife Judith were applying for Swedish Citizenship, but those rumours were unfounded, for he had been flown out to the Nordic regions for a TV feature that he was involved in.

Barry has published several books for a vast array of publishers, many of which can be purchased from the Shots Bookstore HERE - though after turning his gaze to Italian Cinema he returned his critical eye to Great Britain with Brit Noir, which Ayo Onatade reviewed for Shots –

With Brit Noir, Barry Forshaw illustrates why he is fondly regarded as one of the UK’s foremost literary and film critics; and it also indicates that to think of him only as Stieg Larsson’s first biographer would be doing Forshaw a great injustice.

I am certain that this volume will soon become well-thumbed with continual use by those grabbing a copy; and remind us, that when it comes to Noir in our crime fiction, one must never underestimate the influence of the British.

Read More Here

So coming full circle, Barry’s latest critical work is the highly authoritative look across the Atlantic with AMERICAN NOIR, which has been gathering interesting conversations within and outside the literary community, for which Ayo Onatade reviewed for Shots –

The term “Noir” is used in the broadest of definitions covering not only literature but also film and television drama with a critical eye.  This volume also contains a number of interviews with authors that make this book prescient; a particular delight being Forshaw’s dialogue with James Ellroy.

Forshaw’s work is also useful to remind readers of lesser known authors, and authors that for some – are forgotten – all interspersed with the bestselling names. It was good to see authors that are less well known in Europe than on their native shores - such as Victor Gischler, Charlie Huston, Chris Holm, Lisa Lutz and Naomi Hirahara (to name a few).

American Noir is not only a book to dip into, but also to read from cover to cover if one is seeking a primer on this important area of crime fiction.

Read More Here

So as we all gathered last week to celebrate the launch of American Noir at Goldsboro Books, many of us discussed the amusing closing presentation at Crimefest 2017; where Barry Forshaw discussed American Noir with Mike Ripley’s Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and the appeal of the Golden Age British Thriller. We have archived video of that session HERE

It should also be noted that Barry is involved in the Petrona Award, and he has been the Master of Ceremonies for The Crime Writers Association Dagger Awards and in fact he was awarded the 2017 HRF Keating Award. Though the rumours about his liaison with Felix Francis as discussed by Anthony Horowitz at Crimefest 2017 were frankly libellous, but amusing nonetheless and can be viewed Here.

It was a rather hot and humid summers’ evening in London, so due to the heat and the sheer number of guests that turned up at Goldsboro Books to celebrate the launch of American Noir, Barry decided to welcome the guests on the street – much to the amusement of many who gathered to cheer him on.

There were far too many people to list, authors, publishers, editors, writers, commentators as well as an interesting chap from London Zoo’s Lepidoptera department.

So without further ado we present Barry Forshaw’s short and amusing welcoming speech.

And remember Barry Forshaw’s American Noir can be purchased from Shots Bookstore HERE as well as his other work HERE

Photos © 2017 A Karim

The Return of Piero Trotti by Tim Williams

Someone must have once said somewhere that 'literary are the uses of adversity'. On two occasions I have taken my employers to court. Neither experience was one I enjoyed yet over the years both have had a literary pay-off.

In 2010 pupils told me how the headmaster in the high school where I taught in the French Caribbean was striking pupils and making inappropriate remarks of a sexist and racist nature. I informed the then judicial and educational authorities - and from that moment until my retirement, those authorities did everything to make my life miserable. I don’t think the police ever actually looked into the signed witness statements I submitted. The headmaster was given a golden handshake and moved sideways into another job where he could earn more but where he could no longer intimidate adolescents.*

I won my case for harassment against the education authority. I subsequently used the idea of an abusive headmaster in a short story published last year's in Sunshine Noir. 

Twenty-five years earlier I had made an official complaint against the Italian university where I worked and if today in retirement, I can afford a daily cappuccino and brioche, it is thanks to Piero Trotti of the Italian labour inspectorate and the minute pension that he won for me.  Signor Trotti won my employment case but I was forced to seek work outside Italy. I was in Barcelona when Aldo Moro was kidnapped and murdered. This murder serves as the background to Converging Parallels, my first novel to feature the dour police inspector, Piero Trotti. Over the following years I wrote five more novels. The most recent, The Second day of the Renaissance is being published by Soho Press of New York in May 2017.

The first five novels are set in northern Italy during the Years of Lead and the dying days of the First, highly corrupt, Republic. In his sixth outing, Piero Trotti, now retired, travels to Rome for the wedding of a ex colleague and on the journey south he learns that a mafia hit man wants to kill him. Almost against his will, Trotti finds himself caught up in the cold case of Valerio Gracchi's murder several years earlier.

In my novel, the character Valerio Gracchi is based upon the true-life journalist Mauro Rostagno.  After having read Mauro Rostagno's biography, I knew I had to write a novel around his life and death. When Mauro Rostgono was murdered in Sicily in 1988, the police had five possible motives for the killing with five  potential culprits. Rostagno could have been killed by companions from his political days at university in Trent or by his estranged wife. Perhaps it was a disgruntled addict from the commune he ran; or possibly the partner with whom he had created the commune in Sicily. And of course, it could have been the Mafia in Trapani province.

In the event, the true assassins of Mauro Costagno were not identified until twenty-three years after his death; in 2011 two crime bosses in western Sicily were sentenced to life imprisonment.
 

For literary reasons I adopt a different motivation and a different culprit for Gracchi's killing yet it is my hope that the novel gives a fair picture of Italy in the mid 1990's. The First Republic is dead, now buried by the scandals of Clean Hands. Berlusconi has come to power but, as everybody knows, in Italy nothing changes - plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.  The years have made Piero Trotti cynical and the old, retired flatfoot has no illusions; he simply knows that with a killer after him, he needs to protect his family and himself.

The Second Day of the Renaissance by Tim Williams published by Soho Press.
 

Commissario Piero Trotti has eased into an agreeable retirement after spending decades working in an unnamed city on the River Po. But his new found peace is cut short when a former colleague calls him to Siena with chilling news….a known hit man has returned to Italy to kill him. As he flees across Italy to escape his pursuer, Trotti must acknowledge an unpalatable truth – his errors and failed gambles over the years have left the indelible stain of innocent blood on his hands. Although tormented daily by his mistakes, Trotti now has to contend with a very real threat, a would-be assassin who is hell bent on retribution.

More information about the author can be found on his website.

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