Category: Blogging

Posted in Blogging

The Dagger in the Library 2014 – choose the long list

Posted on by J

Dagger-in-the-Library-300x320Together with Dead Good Books, this year the Crime Writers Association is giving UK readers the chance to vote for their favourite author to be added to the long list for their 2014 Dagger in the Library award.

 The Dagger in the Library is one of six highly prized CWA Dagger Awards, which have been awarded to crime writers since 1955. It is a unique literary award in that it offers a chance for readers to nominate their favourite British crime fiction authors. Nominations close on September 1st 2014 and the Dagger winner will be chosen by a panel including previous winners, CWA representatives and UK librarians. The Dagger in the Library is awarded not for an individual book but for the author’s body of work to date and helps emerging authors gain deserved recognition and publicity for their writing. Previous winners of the CWA Dagger in the Library award include Belinda Bauer, Steve Mosby, Mo Hayder, Colin Cotterill, Stuart MacBride and Alexander McCall Smith.

Make sure you vote, your favourite crime author needs YOU! As the award is for a body of work, nominated authors should have published at least three books. To nominate an author, simply fill in the nomination form here Nominations close on September 1st 2014 and the Dagger winner will be chosen by a panel including previous winner Steve Mosby, CWA Director Lucy Santos and UK librarians.

As an added incentive there’s also the chance to win £200 worth of books, just for taking part.

Posted in Blogging

Well I wasn’t expecting that…

Posted on by J

The Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival (Harrogate) is my ‘come hell or high water’ weekend away, whatever it takes for me to get there I will be there.

This year it was extra special for me.

My partner of the last five and a half years chose the festival as a venue to propose, at the end of one of the panels being moderated by friend, and this years programming chair, Steve Mosby.

Overwhelmed doesn’t cover it.

Suffice is to say I don’t think there’ll ever be another crime fiction panel quite like this one for me. We even managed get a few mentions here and there, and twice over here too….

Posted in Blogging, Reading

A quick triple whammy…

Posted on by J

Love fast paced thrillers? Fancy a quick read to keep you going while you make the agonising decision of what to read next from your TBR pile? Or simply love the work of Simon Kernick and have read his entire back catalogue? Then this is for you.

Initially released one at a time over three weeks, these great little bundles of action are available now, priced 49p each.

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Dead Man’s Gift Part 1: Yesterday

MP Tim Horton arrives home to find his seven year old son has been abducted by a ruthless gang of kidnappers. All they have left behind is the brutally murdered body of the Horton’s nanny.

The gang’s demands are simple: Tim must sacrifice his own life in order to save his son’s.

It’s the ultimate dead man’s gift .

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Dead Man’s Gift Part 2: Last Night

MP Tim Horton is waiting to hear from his son’s kidnappers. Knowing he’s being watched, and too scared to go to the police, he contacts the only man who may be able to help him, his brother-in-law: an ex-soldier called Scope who has a reputation for sorting things out and getting things done .

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Dead Man’s Gift Part 3: Today

Ex-soldier Scope has less than 12 hours to find his kidnapped nephew and he’s only got one lead to go on.

The clock’s ticking and, as Scope gets to work, he soon discovers he’s up against a vicious and dangerous criminal network, and he’s going to need all his determination and ingenuity just to stay alive .

 

This is a cracking little set of novellas for all thriller lovers, is perfect for those who don’t have as much time to read as they would like, and is a small price to pay for some excellent writing.

I recommend you go pick up your set now.

Posted in Blogging

First Fifty

Posted on by J

Well I’ve just finished reading my fiftieth book of the year, annoyingly almost a month later than I managed the same feat last year, so I really am going to have to up my reading level if I’m going to beat last years total of 130.

That said, I’ve found a great little feature on the Kindle app for my iPad that has encouraged me to get through several e-books this month. It’s a little feature that displays at the bottom of you page that tells you how long it will take you to finish reading the book given your current pace of reading.

If it tells me I have “3 hrs and 11 mins left in book” I want to see how accurate it is, so I am now constantly trying to race it.

It also means I’m a little behind on my reviewing as I keep starting another book instead of writing about the last one. I’ll be aiming to catch up with these over the next week or so.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, because I know some of you will be, book number fifty was Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall.

Posted in Blogging

Meet the detective who fuelled my obsession (a.k.a who did it for you?)

Posted on by J

From the age of nine I lived across the road from a public library.  As I grew up, it was where I spent most of my free hours devouring everything and anything I could.  Indeed by the age of thirteen I had pretty much depleted the entire children’s section.  Thankfully, the local council had a rule that once I reached that age I could access the adult section of the library (and indeed any others in their control), provided a written parental consent had been submitted in person by the parent.  My Mom understood my voracious appetite for books and as such was more than happy to do so.

That was when I discovered for the first time the age old delights of Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and many more.  I didn’t find them by chance, and neither did I find them by reputation.  I found them by a love of crime fiction.  A love I first felt blossom from a series of, now sadly out of print, books.  Books which I have seen go for four figures on certain auction sites that will remain nameless.

The man who truly fuelled my love of the genre was Nils-Olof Franzen, with his series of Agaton Sax books, whose English editions were illustrated by the fabulous Quentin Blake.  Of the  11 books in the Agaton Sax series, Franzen had 10 translated into English between 1965 & 1971, including amongst them, Agaton Sax and the League of Silent Exploders and Agaton Sax and the London Computer Plot.  The series was also featured several times on the BBC series Jackanory, and Agaton Sax and the Max Brothers became a four part animated series in 1972.

I mention this now, because today I got this, and although it’s been almost 30+ years since last read one of these stories, I have loved every minute of reading it.  It was as delightful piece of escapism today as it was way back then.  It’s still a great introduction to the crime genre and I’m sure the reason I have as much love for cosy crime fiction, as I do for the hard core thrillers, and well executed police procedurals, because it has a flair for it all.

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Agaton Sax and the Scotland Yard Mystery

In which AGATON SAX, Editor-in-Chief of the Bykoping Post and detective extraordinary, directs his amazing intelligence (and his editorial telescope) to the problem of who has stolen Scotland Yard’s Secret Code Register of Current Criminals … the infamous crew of the bad ship Esmeralda lose their soup … and the mysterious “Boss” gets a nasty shock to his system.

 

Now, own up, who did it for you?

Posted in Blogging

Bloody Scotland Short Story Competition

Posted on by J

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Today Bloody Scotland has announced the launch of this years short story competition.

The winner will receive £1,000, a bottle of Deanston Distillery Malt whisky and a weekend pass to this years festival, to be held in Stirling from September 19th – 21st.

The winning story will also be published as an ebook short by Bloody Scotland.

We invite writers to from anywhere in the world to demonstrate their skill in short-story writing by entering a story, for a chance to win a brilliant prize and be recognised as an exciting emerging talent in the crime genre.

We’re seeking exceptional crime short stories based on the theme of ‘ESCAPE’.  

Stories should be a maximum of 3,000 words and must be submitted by midnight on 31st July 2014. There is an entry fee of £10 to cover the administration of the competition.

A prestigious judging panel comprising representatives from the University of Stirling and crime writers Alex Gray, Craig Robertson and Gordon Brown, will judge the entries and announce a shortlist.  This shortlist will then be open for a public vote on the Bloody Scotland website

Further information on entering, including additional details for non UK entries can be found here

Posted in Blogging

Over 40, unpublished and live in Scotland? This is for you…

Posted on by J

Whether you are a poet, novelist, author of creative non-fiction or a children’s author then here’s a great competition for you from the Scottish Book Trust.

To qualify for entry you must live in Scotland and you must not have published a book in print form previously. However, if all your work has been self-published, digitally published, published in a pamphlet or as part of an anthology or magazine you may still apply.

Scottish Book Trust is pleased to announce the opening of the Next Chapter Award 2014 to support a talented yet unpublished writer over the age of 40.

The Next Chapter Award will support an emerging writer yet to publish a full-length work, for whom finding time and space to write has proved especially challenging. Developing a specific piece of work to publication standard will be the central aim of the award and applicants must demonstrate genuine potential for publication.

The writer will be offered nine months of mentoring to be arranged by Scottish Book Trust. Additionally, the writer will be awarded four weeks on retreat at Moniack Mhor to be taken in two blocks: the first in Autumn 2014 (fixed dates of 30 September to 12 October) and the second in Spring 2015 (flexible dates within March 2015). The successful writer will also be offered a £1000 bursary.

Full details of how to submit your entries can be found on the Scottish Book Trust website, and the deadline for applications is Friday 16 May 2014.