The Company of Fellows

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Diary of a Small Fish

danholloway — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:59:03 +0000

Diary of a Small Fish by Pete Morin is available for Kindle from Amazon.com for $2.99 and UK Amazon for £2.23

When Paul Forte is indicted by a federal grand jury, everyone suspects prosecutor Bernard (don’t call him “Bernie”) Kilroy has more on his mind than justice. Then the FBI agent in charge of Paul’s case gives him a clue to the mystery: Kilroy is bent on settling an old family score, and he’s not above breaking the law to do it.

Paul is already dealing with the death of his parents and divorce from a woman he still loves. Now, with the support of an alluring grand juror, Paul must expose the vindictive prosecutor’s own corruption before the jury renders a verdict on his Osso Buco.

So what does Pete make of crime fiction’s burningest of burning questions?

1. Diary of a Small Fish is way better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but one day I’d really like to be as good as a 25 year old single malt.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoyed anything by Chris Buckley or George V. Higgins, but if you’re a fan of Phyllis Schlafly, steer well clear.

3. Nothing but trouble comes from the barrel of a gun.

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does Diary of a Small Fish fit into the spectrum?

Answer: The thrust of Small Fish is that a man gets indicted by a federal grand jury for eating osso buco and drinking martinis. Almost everything dramatic that occurs is preceded by a great meal. Reflecting on the question makes me realize that almost everything I’ve ever written has food in it. Nothing junky, either. Unless you count Tiramisu.

I’m in tune with the words of Ogden Nash.

5. How would it affect the direction DOSF takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in chapter 7?

Oddly, the title of Chapter 7 is “Gourmet Blubbering, Gourmet Delight.” Dinner at a Providence Italian bistro with the ex-wife, late dinner at a Boston South End bistro with the new squeeze. So it’d just be one damn long dinner show.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts?

Definitely out at the sea. My inner thoughts scare the crap out of me.

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back?

I yo-yo back and forth. On the current WIP, I wrote the last paragraph, like an anchor, and I’ve been slowly pulling the boat toward it.

8. A great villain or a great hero?

Hero, for sure. But villains are easier.

9. DOSF will change the way a reader looks at steamed clams.

10. How long is a piece of rope?

Depends. What’s your neck size?

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Pierre Van Rooyen

danholloway — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 07:54:34 +0000

Saturdays are Gold is available for Kindle in the UK for 86p

and elsewhere for $0.99

and in glorious hardcover for £17.99

Two children growing up in 1940s South Africa are told to stay away from lonely places because there is a child abductor on the loose. What could possibly go wrong? Young Maudie doesn’t realise she has a ‘gift’ that seems more like a curse to her brother Tadpole who is the only person aware of it. If Roald Dahl, Gerald Durrell and Stephen King had teamed up to write a South African version of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ they might have produced something like this. A moving, exciting, sometimes scary, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny adventure set against a South African backdrop so well described it is almost a character in its own right. When you finish this book, the first thing you will want to do – is read it again.

It was my pleasure first to come across Pierre, and this book, over two years ago when it was wonderful but a long way from the work of art it now is. To my delight, it has been published by Endaxi Press, one of the shrewdest young presses on the block, run by people I respect and admire deeply.

Entering into the full, anarchic spirit of the Piece of Rope shenaningannery, Pierre is on blissfully chaotic form in this interview.

1. Saturdays Are Gold is way better than _______ but one day I’d really like to be as good as_________

I agree entirely. Saturdays Are Gold is definitely better than a ____________. But no, I don’t one day want to be as good as a _____________.

The reaction to Saturdays Are Gold has been phenomenal. When I found myself writing about children, I thought people would sneer at me. But the response has been exactly the opposite. One young man stayed up the whole night devouring the novel, only turning off the light at five a.m.

When asked what he thought so far, he said better than Harry Potter and more exciting. I don’t want this story to end.

On completion of the novel, he ranked it with Treasure Island and Jules Verne’s classics. And yet, the writing is simple, easy to read. Some people say they are not even aware they are reading Saturdays Are Gold. It’s more like they are living it.

Another reader, a woman, said it is one of the best novels she has read in her whole life and couldn’t put it down. She ranked it with Huckleberry Finn and To Kill A Mocking Bird. Perhaps it is the children who make the novel so appealing.

So, to answer your question, perhaps Saturdays Are Gold is definitely better than the usual formula-driven genre novel. It is absolutely original, based on real people and events that really happened, like an eight year old child in a life and death fight with a python.

One day, I’d like to be as good as … who? There is a lot of John Steinbeck in this novel. He is the author who has influenced me most about how I tell a story and how I get the writing to be matter of fact.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoyed ___________ but if you’re a fan of _____________ steer well clear.

I wanted the novel to evoke particular feelings which I found in Paul Gallico’s The Snow Goose, Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Joe David Brown’s Addie Pray, filmed as Paper Moon, Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row and Tortilla Flat, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, James Michener’s The Fires of Spring, and one or two others with child protagonists.

Those are novels I can read again and again.

If War and Peace is your kind of thing, Saturdays Are Gold won’t work for you.

3. ________comes from the barrel of a gun.

A bang? I’ve heard of idiots going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, but I don’t think it was the barrel of a gun.

There ain’t no guns in Saturdays Are Gold. No car chases. No macho males with their pride in their trousers. And no bum and titties. No four-letter words either. And no gratuitous violence. Seems we don’t need them to get enthusiastic readership.

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does Saturdays Are Gold fit into the spectrum?

I think it’s very good for the supermarkets. Halfway though the novel, people rush out and buy popcorn and all that jazz. This is good for the economy.

Saturdays Are Gold will probably be good for the oil mills and veg and fruit farmers, because the children ate peanut butter and oranges and gave the hawker’s horse a carrot.

5. How would it affect the direction Saturdays Are Gold takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in chapter 7?

It wouldn’t affect the direction at all, because the wheels would fall off and then we couldn’t head in any direction. You can’t go anywhere with no wheels.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts?

I’d rather look at a pin-up girl on one of those calendars garages give you.

One can’t cross oceans in a tiny sailing boat and write at the same time. The fatigue makes it impossible. There’s just the two of us, working the boat from an open cockpit twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

It is hell, watch on watch, swapping over every three hours. Three hours in the cockpit, three hours down below trying to sleep. One is awake nine o’clock at night, mid-night, three a.m., six a.m., nine a.m. and so on day and night. When we reach a destination after three weeks at sea, we crash for two days trying to recover lost sleep.

To get the writing going, I day-dream, meditate, transcend until I vanish down one of Alice’s rabbit warrens and come out in another universe which is the scene I’m trying to create. There, I watch what’s going on, I listen to what the children are saying, I try to smell, taste, touch, and catch an emotional feeling.

I begin to live the story and when that happens, words start appearing on the page in front of me. Sometimes they take me by surprise because I swear I did not think those words, but there they are on the page in front of me.

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back?

Are you crazy? I don’t know where I start and when I finish, I’m more lost than when I started. Remember, I am no longer in this world but in Alice’s rabbit warren. I don’t believe that either the first or the last chapter become apparent until the novel is finished.

I sat for two years with no beginning and no end. Then they came to me at three o’clock one morning when I was fast asleep, and I had to leap out of bed and scribble them down as fast as I could handle the pencil before they floated off into the ether. The other chapters don’t have to be written in sequence. Any chapter can be written any time and the whole lot assembled later.

8. A great villain or a great hero?

Most villains and heroes grate. You know what I mean? There are a few originals, but nowadays there are so many carbon-copies, I find them distasteful. But I do like ordinary people who attempt great things. I am currently reading Gone With the Wind and find contempt for the idiot politicians in both the North and the South and loving admiration for the down and outs who won’t let themselves be defeated.

9. Saturdays Are Gold will change the way a reader looks at________

Ha, ha. Probably at how he’s going to escape when a lion’s got him by the shoulder, dragging him through the grass. Which way he’s going to duck when a catfish comes flying through the air. Being more cautious about taking the lid off a dustbin in case there’s a python inside. Stepping off a Tiger Moth’s wing with a parachute harnessed to his back. Falling into the Atlantic Ocean and having to swim the whole night. Triple-stage sky-rockets all the way from Hong Kong. Getting trapped in storm-water drains when there’s a flood coming. You know, those sort of everyday things.

10. How long is a piece of rope?

If you’re going to ask questions for which there are no answers, then I’m going to give you answers for which there are no questions.

I mean, first of all it’s a length of rope, not a piece. In any case, there is no such thing as rope. Do you mean a halyard? A warp? A sheet? A hawser? A spring? A breast-line? You must be specific, otherwise I can’t answer the question.

But if you’re talking about comparing novels, I don’t believe there are any hard and fast rules for creativity. Tastes differ widely. Someone compared Saturdays Are Gold to Harry Potter. But I find I cannot read Harry Potter. There’s also a reference to Stephen King. Likewise, I am not a fan of his work.

Perhaps a criterion is entertainment. Saturdays Are Gold is poignant, nostalgic, true-to-life, absurd, charming, ribald, wild, hilarious, insane.

The book is a lot of fun.

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Adrian Dawson

danholloway — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:42:00 +0000

Codex is available for Kindle in the UK for £1.71

and elsewhere for $2.49

Sequence is published on September 1st. You can pre-order here

I came across Adrian’s work when I learned, through the Kindle forums, about a really rather fabulous thing his publisher was doing to tie in with the launch of sequence (available from September 1st). I followed it up straightaway, and will be doing a full feature to coincide with the launch of Sequence, about which plenty more below. In the meanwhile, to get a taste for Adrian’s twisty, turny, highly satisfying puzzles of thrillers, I thoroughly recommend you get to grips with Codex.

SEQUENCE

A naked male, dead in an alley with bullets that make no sense. Fingerprints burned away, tattoos completely removed and a note, written in 13th Century Latin secreted about his person, along with the name and room number of an autistic psychiatric patient. Of all the possible avenues, the last road LAPD detective Nick Lambert wanted to take was the long drive up to Oakdene to interview the girl. It gets much worse when he discovers that as well as being autistic, the girl is also mute.

But when an off-hand comment from the nurse piques Nick’s attention, he can’t help but follow the lead. What he finds will slowly turn his entire world – his entire existence – upside down. Nick suddenly finds himself at the heart of a centuries old struggle to find – and hide – the kind of valuable information that mankind should never, ever be allowed to possess.

It is only when Nick realises that he was a key player in the game long before it started that he will discover the true importance of those around him. Nick has inadvertently stumbled into the most important human being who ever lived. One who will not only change the world once, but will do it over and over again.

He will discover many things about the girl… What she has to hide is most important thing of all.

BIO

Adrian Dawson was born in Yorkshire in 1971 and currently lives in Nottingham, UK with his girlfriend and thirteen year old stepson (which is not, as his spellcheck would often have him believe, a cowboy hat). He trained as a commercial airbrush illustrator before taking delivery of his first Mac in 1987. Since then he has run his own creative advertising agency where he designs, illustrates, 3d models and (when he’s not writing his books) copywriting.

A SAMPLE REVIEW

As SEQUENCE is just about to be released, we’re waiting the official reviews – although one recipient of an ARC copy won as part of a competition stated “Not my usual genre but Wonderful and thought provoking.”. In the meantime, here’s a review of Adrian’s debut novel, CODEX by Barry Forshaw of Crimetime…

Many and varied are the thrillers which vie for readers’ attention these days, so something special is needed for a novel to rise above the general run. Adrian Dawson quickly demonstrates that he has the smarts to do just that with Codex, which has already created something of a stir in its iBook incarnation. The central character is Jack Bernstein, chairman of the world’s biggest Artificial Intelligence Corporation, which has an ambitious initiative in its sights: to make available to millions access to the capabilities of a phenomenally advanced computer system. But a terrorist atrocity aboard an plane costs the life of Jack’s daughter Lara — and grief-stricken though he is, Jack doesn’t think that her individual murder was the reason for the bombing – or, for that matter, that she had been an element of a bizarre conspiracy involving a religious mystery whose roots lie in the distant past. Jack is swiftly involved in a dangerous scenario of global proportions, and discovers that the life he thought he was leading has been something of sham. With the globetrotting narrative here – along with well-orchestrated bursts of action — the market targeted here is clearly the straightforward one colonised by Dan Brown, but in actual fact, Adrian Dawson is a better writer (if anything, closer in style to Michael Crichton). While the characters are not drawn with any great nuance they function perfectly as integral parts of a pulse-raising narrative that rarely allows the reader pause for breath. And it’s refreshing in a blockbuster thriller such as Codex that one doesn’t have to put one’s intelligence on the back burner.

AND THOSE QUESTIONS…

1. SEQUENCE is way better than I expected but one day I’d really like to be as good as I strive to be.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoyed anything by Michael Crichton but if you’re a fan of Timeline steer well clear

3. A halftone burger comes from the barrel of a gun

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does SEQUQNCE fit into the spectrum? The opening chapter whets your appetite, then the body of the novel slowly sates you until you feel you can eat no more. Just when you think you are done, the latter chapters come along with whipped cream and cherries and you just know it will be days before you eat this well again. Then there’s the closing chapter… Wafer thin mint, anyone?

5. How would it affect the direction SEQUENCE takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in chapter 7? It wouldn’t affect it too much, I don’t think. I certainly wouldn’t make a song and dance about it.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts? In at my thoughts. In my head the sea looks even better. Weirder, perhaps, but better.

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back? I Start at the end. The end has to be the killer. I write from the beginning but initial story development is back to front.

8. A great villain or a great hero? Who, me? Both.
,
9. SEQUENCE will change the way a reader looks at everyone around them. They might not be ‘from around here’, chronologically speaking.

10. How long is a piece of rope? Almost always long enough to hang yourself with, if you’re not careful.

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Alan Nayes

danholloway — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 07:33:54 +0000

Gargoyles by Alan Nayes is available for Kindle in the UK for £2.14

and elsewhere for $2.99

Brilliant pre-med student Amoreena Daniels needs money. Desperately. Her mother is dying of cancer and her medical insurance has run out. When a seemingly perfect women’s clinic offers Amoreena a generous payment for service as a surrogate mother, Amoreena thinks her prayers have been answered. But then–much too early–her baby begins to move. The strange dreams, another surrogate’s mysterious death and a drug-addicted former medical intern confirm Amoreena’s worst suspicions: there is something terribly wrong with the pregnancy.
Amoreena embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover the truth behind the endless battery of genetic tests, sonograms, and frightened patients, only to discover that she has unwittingly become a pawn in a high-stakes game of biomedical experimentation.

1. GARGOYLES is way better than the LA TIMES but one day I’d really like to be as good as a New York Times bestseller.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoyed COMA but if you’re a fan of Pee Wee Herman steer well clear

3. A bullet comes from the barrel of a gun. (also gunpowder residue)

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does Gargoyles fit into the spectrum?

As an aphrodisiac for crime. In GARGOYLES, the food is genetic manipulation.

5. How would it affect the direction GARGOYLES takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in chapter 7?

The main characters would be dancing and singing instead of trying to figure out what the hell went wrong.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts? Thoughts—the sea is too relaxing (unless in the midst of a hurricane)

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back?

Beginning.

8. A great villain or a great hero? Great hero.

9. GARGOYLES will change the way a reader looks at pregnancy

10. How long is a piece of rope? As long as necessary to do the job.

Thanks for having me.

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Toni Dwiggins

danholloway — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:48:22 +0000

Badwater by Toni Dwiggins is available for Kindle in the UK for £2.14

and elsewhere for $2.99

also for Barnes & Noble Nook and on Smashwords

BADWATER is part forensic mystery/part ecothriller:

When a freight truck is hijacked on a primitive Nevada road, forensic geologists Cassie Oldfield and her partner Walter Shaws track the mineral trail into Death Valley. The stolen cargo they seek is hotter than the desert in August: radioactive waste.

As scientists, Cassie and her partner Walter are familiar with background radiation in the rocks they study. But as a woman of child-bearing age and a man of advancing years, they become acutely aware of the risk of their hunt. How many exposures are too many? What’s safe? More immediately, what’s lethal?

Cassie and Walter find out when the unstable radwaste thief unleashes the power of the unstable atom.

So, what does Toni have to say about our society’s most pressing issues?

1. BADWATER is way better than my first thriller about a bad guy who steals a little girl’s doll (I was twelve), but one day I’d really like to be as good as James Lee Burke.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoyed Nevada Barr but if you’re a fan of Snooki steer well clear.

3. Unburned powder comes from the barrel of a gun.

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does BADWATER fit into the spectrum?

Because thriller plots/characters are often larger than life, I think it’s good to ground the characters whenever possible. EG, in the TV series 24 you really had to wonder if Jack ever ate or went to the bathroom. That said, I don’t think thriller writers can get away with the lovingly described leisurely meal, unless there’s the equivalent of a dead body under the table.

In BADWATER, I’ve got passing references to McDonald’s (hey, the characters are in a hurry), lemonade (triple-digits in the shade in Death Valley and they’re thirsty), a ham/cheese/tomato sandwich (the tomato slips off the cheese, sparking the protag to figure out a key clue—really), and a dinner of rattlesnake croquettes (snaky reveleations).

5. How would it affect the direction BADWATER takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in chapter 7?

I’m one of the few people on the planet who has never seen Glee. But from the little I know of the show…

Chapter 7 of BADWATER takes place at the villain’s house, a creepily neat place isolated in the desert. The villain is planning mayhem, and worrying about his dog. The chapter ends, I’m told, with quite a shock. So if this took place on the set of a TV show about a high school glee club (right?), I guess the villain would have to have a parrot instead of a dog and they could squawk together.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts?

At the sea. It would do wonders for my thoughts. Actually, I’m working on the third book in my forensic geology series—SEA CHANGE—and I could claim the sea as a research expense and justify renting a beach house.

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back?

I start at the beginning, but I’ve already outlined the book and know, at least vaguely, how it will end. If I started at the end I’d have to figure out all those details that come together in the climax and I never know those details until the characters and the plot get moving.

8. A great villain or a great hero?

Not a fair question! Need to have both. I will admit, guiltily, that a great villain is more fun to write.

9. BADWATER will change the way a reader looks at a glass of water.

Because the book involves the theft and release of nasty-hot radioactive waste, which gets into the water supply. So the reader might well think about nearby nuke plants and then wonder, what’s your plutonium doing in my water?

10. How long is a piece of rope?

As long as one needs it to be. This is the beauty of writing fiction.

The protagonist needs to rappel down a cliff face and if there is plenty of rope, there’s no tension. If there’s not enough rope, the protag will either die or unbelievingly succeed. If there’s almost enough rope, the protag will almost get into big trouble and need to be believably clever to get down that cliff.

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Danny Gillan

danholloway — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 07:43:06 +0000

Danny Gillan’s A Selection of Meats and Cheeses is available for Kindle from Amazon UK for 86p

and .com for $0.99

He is also the author of Scratch (86p)

I’m absolutely thrilled to be hosting Danny today. He’s not only monumental talent but one of the loveliest guys you could meet.

Bio

Danny Gillan is a Glaswegian care worker who enjoys pretending to be a writer sometimes. He used to enjoy pretending to be a musician but feels that ‘fake writer’ is a more mature and dignified fake profession now that he’s turned forty.

His first novel, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, won the 2007 Undiscovered Authors competition and was published by Discovered Authors in 2008. It was described at the time as one of the best debuts of the year, and the funniest book about depression you’ll ever read.

His second novel, Scratch, is now available on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords. A recent reader said: I laughed so hard when reading chapter four that I think I let out a little bit of wee. This is Danny’s favourite review ever.

A Selection of Meats and Cheeses collects many of Danny’s short stories in one satisfying package and is available on Kindle and most other ebook platforms now.

Danny has been a Contributing Deputy Editor for writing e-zine Words With JAM since its inception in 2009. He has no idea what this job title means.

Links:

You can find Danny at www.dannygillan.co.uk

and e-mail him at info@dannygillan.co.uk

He does ridiculous amounts of work on the fabulous writers’ magazine Words With JAM

Blurb

Twelve short stories from Danny Gillan. Some sad, some funny; some serious, some silly; some poignant, some pointless.

Meet homicidal Estate Agents, happy mendicants, inept stalkers and rubbish action heroes. From crime to comedy and thriller to thought piece, the thread combining these bites of life is that everyone makes decisions, and good people often make bad ones. It’s how you deal with the consequences that matters.

Good, good, but what about the things that really count?

1. A Selection of Meats and Cheeses is way better than all the stories I’ve written that aren’t in it, but one day I’d really like to be as good as Christopher Brookmyre. For me he is the perfect thriller writer in that he entertains, educates, thrills (obviously) and enthrals the reader, while also frequently making you snort coffee out of your nose with laughter. Plus he’s Scottish, which always helps.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoyed Quite Ugly One Morning but if you’re a fan of writers who take themselves too seriously (naming no names, Mr Brown) steer well clear.

3. GSR (I watch CSI you know) comes from the barrel of a gun. It’s often said that guns don’t kill people, which is true, it’s the bullets. If you want a serious answer, an extension of that aspect of human nature that makes some people become bullies, power hungry corporate executives or politicians comes from the barrel of a gun.

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does A Selection of Meats and Cheeses fit into the spectrum?

I would hope that the title and one look at the cover would answer that one. Food is one of those things that can be a great unifier while also allowing people to assert their uniqueness. So, the sausage rolls in Awake bring the funeral goers together in common grief (and indigestion), while the character of Hugo Parves in Action uses his espresso machine to show that he is not your average terrorist about town (or Paraguay, in his case). This question has just made me realise how many of the stories in Meats and Cheeses are set in or feature pubs, restaurants or social clubs, and how many of the characters drink a bit more than is healthy. Probably says more about me than intended, that.

5. How would it affect the direction A Selection of Meats and Cheeses takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in chapter 7?

Given that it’s an anthology I’m going to take this to refer to the 7^th story, Stalk and Cheese. This is about a deranged stalker mounting a terrifying campaign of intimidation against a waitress working in a busy Glasgow pub/restaurant and so would work well as an overly cheerful musical skit populated by beautiful people. Actually, an overly cheerful musical skit populated by beautiful people would be a good way to describe Glasgow in general.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts?

I’d rather look at the keyboard and monitor as my typing isn’t always the best.

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back?

With the stories in Meats and Cheeses, and with short stories in general, they almost always start with a single first line, which I then try to follow in any way I can. Sometimes that results in full stories and, more often, it results in nothing but a collection of sub-par first lines languishing on my hard drive.

With the two novels I’ve written (not sure I can mention them as they’re not thrillers), one, Scratch, started as a short story which I expanded , with the basics of the short now making up chapter one, and the other, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, started with a basic premise/story idea (a musician becomes famous after he commits suicide). I then wrote the first chapter which is the suicide scene, as I wanted to start the book off on a light note. In neither case, as with the stories in Meats and Cheeses, did I know how they would end until at least halfway through the writing process.

8. A great villain or a great hero?

Split the difference, a great anti-hero. I take a childish delight in attempting to subvert the reader’s expectations of my characters, and this can often mean those who seem to be heroes may not be quite as altruistic as they first appear, and vice versa.

9. A Selection of Meats and Cheeses will change the way a reader looks at Poodles and the horrors of pubic baldness forever.

10. How long is a piece of rope?

Just long enough to drag you into hell (or Govan on a Friday night).

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Lisa Hinsley

danholloway — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 06:56:39 +0000

The Ultimate Choice by Lisa Hinsley is 86p for Kindle in the UK

and $0.99 elsewhere on Amazon

and for Nook here

Lisa was one of the very first writers I met online, when I discovered her excpetional Coombe’s Wood back in early 2008. It’s a joy to get to speak to her about her new book and, of course, the really important things in life. You can find her here.

In a dystopian near-future, overpopulation has led to a government dedicated to reducing citizen numbers. Suicide is legalised, food is rationed, and reproduction forbidden without permission.

Cassie O’Neil broke the law, she had sex before marriage. She is sentenced to die on the game show, The Ultimate Choice, but when a contestant collapses Cassie takes her chance and runs. Staying alive is hard with no ration card or place to hide. But she is a woman who refuses to die.

OK, over to Lisa

1. The Ultimate Choice is way better than Coombe’s Wood but one day I’d really like to be as good as Stephen King.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoyed Brave New World but if you’re a fan of children’s books steer well clear.

3. Inspiration comes from the barrel of a gun

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does The Ultimate Choice fit into the spectrum?

Interesting question, and one that fits in well with The Ultimate Choice. Set eighty years in the future, the world is overcrowded, and food is scarce. This book is a warning about the direction our species is taking. Eat less, have less children, this is the message of The Ultimate Choice. And remember, a desperate government will go to any lengths…

5. How would it affect the direction The Ultimate Choice takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in chapter 7?

It can’t be chapter 7, it would have to be the opening chapter of the novel, which is set on a game show. It’s a demented version of Blind Date where the contestant is giving away their organs to one of three lucky recipients, not a night out. And the contestant would have to be Quinn Fabray, as she has committed one of the biggest sins of this future world – she has had a baby out of wedlock. Also, the singing would go down well with the general hysteria of the audience.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts?

I lived in Portugal a while back, during a particularly tough time of my life. One of the most calming things I could do was go down to the edge of the ocean and stare out at the waves. The sound, the smell, the changing shades of the water helped me think. To me, when you say sea and thoughts, they are one and the same. My greatest dream is to be able to live at the seaside, and to see the water when I wake every day.

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back?

I am as disorganised with my writing as I am with every other aspect of my life. I usually start at the beginning. A single scene will inspire me, and suddenly I have to write it down. Then I think for a while, months could go by, before I need to write more. This could be any part of the book, but usually I’ll follow on from the first chapter, then skip to the end, and then back to where I left off.

8. A great villain or a great hero?

A great hero is made so much better by a brilliant villain.

9. The Ultimate Choice will change the way a reader looks at euthanasia.

10. How long is a piece of rope?

About as long as it’s taken me to muddle through this interview! These are super hard questions you’ve posed. I have never considered any comparison of my writing to greats of the genre – really I’m not sure my talent would fill the pinky of the authors I love. But I found some courage and dared to compare myself to my heroes – Stephen King and Aldous Huxley.

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Iain Rowan

danholloway — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:56:24 +0000

Nowhere to Go by Iain Rowan is £2.14 for Kindle

or $2.99 outside the UK

An ordinary man who finds himself caught up in a bank raid gone wrong. A murder caught on security camera where the victim doesn’t exist. A man with just months to live, who is already living in hell but decides to take on the devil. A mob accountant babysitting a hired killer on a trip to the countryside, and a burglar on an easy job who finds it might not be so easy after all. A con-artist conned, and what a man will do when in the grip of an obsession more important to him than his own life.

Eleven crime stories first published in Alfred Hitchcock’s, Ellery Queen’s, and elsewhere by award-winning writer Iain Rowan. Eleven stories of what people do when there is nowhere left to go.

Iain’s short fiction has been reprinted in Year’s Best anthologies, won a Derringer Award, and been the basis for a novel shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger award.

“I loved the nuances and true heartfelt emotion that Iain filled his stories with, and Iain quickly became a must read author for me–everything I read of Iain’s had this tragic, and sometimes, horrific beauty filling it, and was guaranteed to be something special.”
(Dave Zeltserman, author of Outsourced, and Washington Post best books of year Small Crimes and Pariah)

“A short story writer of the highest calibre.”
(Allan Guthrie, author of Top Ten Kindle Bestseller Bye Bye Baby, winner of Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year)

“Iain Rowan’s stories never fail to surprise and delight, and just when you think you know what will happen next, you realize how much you’ve been caught unaware.”
(Sarah Weinman, writer, critic, reviewer, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and News Editor for Publishers Marketplace)

“Iain Rowan is both a meticulous and a passionate writer, and these stories showcase his ample talent wonderfully well. You owe it to yourself to discover Rowan’s fiction if you haven’t already had the pleasure.”
(Jeff Vandermeer, author of Finch, Shriek:An Afterword, City of Saints and Madmen; two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award)

So, Iain, pull up a stoll and tell us what you think…

1. Nowhere To Go is way better than I sometimes write, but one day I’d really like to be as good as I can write.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoyed Tony Blair: A Journey, but if you’re a fan of dark crime fiction steer well clear. On reflection, I’m not sure I’ve got that the right way round.

3. What comes from the barrel of a gun?

Change.

Power.

Oppression.

Revolution.

A little flag that says BANG!

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does Nowhere To Go fit into the spectrum?

I think food should play no role at all in the contemporary thriller. This is because if I am reading, happily lost in the fictive dream, one mention of food and I’m pulled back to reality and the thought that actually, I could quite fancy one of those. I remind myself that we don’t have any of those in, and anyway I only ate an hour ago, so then I’m back to the book but the protagonist’s plight, and the careful foreshadowing, and the dramatic plot twist all keep getting nudged out of the way by the thought that the supermarket’s still open for another half hour.

5. How would it affect the direction Nowhere To Go takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in chapter 7?

It would make it a better book, to be honest. Most dark crime stories about what desperate people do when they have nowhere left to go would benefit from occasionally pausing for a big musical number, with lots of energetic choreography and an auto-tuned version of a softish rock classic. And then back to the desperation, and the inevitability of fate, and the raw savagery of man.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts?

Oh, the sea. Always the sea. I’m not sure I’d get more writing done, but I do like to look at the sea.

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back?

Short stories, start at the beginning and keep going. Novels, a bit of both. I’ll write the scenes that are in my head, the scenes that sparked it off or that bring the novel alive for me, and then I’ll go back and start from the beginning, heading towards them. There may be diversions along the route though that mean I never get there, but as long as the journey turns out to be an interesting one, that’s fine.

8. A great villain or a great hero?

A flawed hero, and a villain with redeeming qualities.

9. Nowhere To Go will change the way a reader looks at ornaments in a hotel room. You never know whether there might be a camera hidden in one of them, and if there is, how that might change your life.

10. How long is a piece of rope?

Sixty-eight inches. It used to be bigger, like the chocolate bars and biscuits you remember from childhood, but now it’s smaller. That’s life. Measuring any piece of rope might lead you to doubt me and think it to be either smaller or larger than sixty-eight inches, but it’s an optical illusion. Or measurer error. Sorry.

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Robin Morris

danholloway — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 07:47:37 +0000

Mama by Robin Reed is available for Kindle for $2.99

or £2.15 in the UK

She is also the author of Halloween Skies and Other Nightmares ($0.99)

ONE SCARY MOTHER.

As the Conover family drives from L.A. to Chicago, increasingly strange things begin to happen. Nine year old Michael sees a face form in the glass of the car’s window. Fourteen year old Alison sees two creepy children outside the family’s motel room. A car follows them, then purposely hits them and speeds away.

Mama has found the Conovers and is using them as a lesson for her children. Mama is relentless, Mama is powerful, and Mama will not stop until the Conovers are dead.

BIO
Robin Morris is the author of bunches of short stories, which have been published here and there, and collected in “Halloween Sky and Other Nightmares.” “Mama” is her first novel. She lives in Southern California, just because she was told that’s where writers are supposed to live. She has two cats, no spouse, and an insatiable desire to scare people silly.

1. “Mama” is way better than “Dean Koontz’ Frankenstein” but one day I’d really like to be as good as Dean Koontz’ “Odd Thomas” books.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoyed anything by Stephen King, but if you’re a fan of anything by Stephenie Meyer steer well clear.

3. Bullets come from the barrel of a gun

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does “Mama” fit into the spectrum?

People don’t eat enough in thrillers. They run, they jump, they drive cars fast, but they go for days without eating much. I wonder how they keep going, frankly. In “Mama” I make sure that my characters get enough to eat, or I tell you if they are hungry. Also, I make sure not to feed anything to Mama’s kids that will make them sick. Mama doesn’t like that.

5. How would it affect the direction “Mama” takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in chapter 7?

In Chapter Seven of “Mama,” Nevada state trooper Arun (Andy) Samrin is trapped in the trunk of his own police car while Mama drives it, chasing the Conover family at high speed. If the cars plunged into the set of “Glee” they would run over most of the kids as they sang, killing them instantly. Then Mama would get out of the police cruiser and kill the rest. This would make me happy.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts?

The sea is a churning mass of liquid, hiding preposterous creatures in its depths. My thoughts are pretty much the same. When I am writing, either one will do.

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back?

I start at the beginning because I usually don’t know exactly what the ending will be.

8. A great villain or a great hero?

These terms are relative. Mama is doing the right thing for her children, but so is Lee Conover, the mother of Alison and Michael. In order for one of the mothers to do the right thing, the other one must die. So who is the hero and who is the villain?

9. “Mama” will change the way a reader looks at mirrors, car windows, steel, and roads, all ways for Mama to enter our world and seek to destroy us.

10. How long is a piece of rope?

Longer than it needs to be, but shorter than I want it to be.

How Long is a Piece of Rope: Chris Longmuir

danholloway — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 07:47:37 +0000

Night Watcher by Chris Longmuir is $3.99 for Kindle

or £2.82 for UK Kindle

A mysterious stranger arrives in Dundee, Scotland, with a mission to find a new Chosen One to punish. His inner voices guide him to Nicole, a ruthless business woman with a weakness for the husbands of other women.
One of Nicole’s paramours is found hanged and everyone assumes he has committed suicide. However, his estranged wife, Julie, knows better and blames his death on Nicole. Obsessed with the need to punish Nicole, Julie stalks her, unaware that there is another stalker, the deranged and dangerous Night Watcher.

Who will exact punishment on Nicole first?
What price will Nicole have to pay for her misdemeanors?
Will Julie’s mind games drive Nicole over the edge?
And what price will Julie have to pay for her obsession?

Only the Night Watcher knows!

The Night Watcher is Chris Longmuir’s second crime novel. Her first, Dead Wood, won the Dundee International Book Prize in 2009. A print edition was published by Polygon and was so successful the first print run was exhausted within four months.

BIO

Chris Longmuir won the Dundee International Book Prize with her first crime thriller Dead Wood. This book was so successful the first print run sold out within 4 months. Her second book, Night Watcher, has been published as a Kindle edition ebook. Her crime novels are set inDundee,Scotland, and have been described as scary, atmospheric, page turners. Chris also writes short stories and historical articles which have been published in theUSand theUK. Writing is like an addiction to me, Chris says, I go into withdrawals without it. She is currently working on a further 2 crime novels.

So, what about the questions that matter?

1. Night Watcher is way better than many of my earlier books but one day I’d really like to be as good as Val McDermid or Mo Hayder. My books are dark, but theirs are way darker.

2. You will just love my book if you enjoy Jonathan Kellerman or Jeffrey Deaver novels, but if you’re a fan of Agatha Christie steer well clear, I’m far darker than she is.

3. Bullets come from the barrel of a gun but I prefer to use more subtle methods which can be just as violent, but depend on the psychopathy of the killer.

4. How do you see the role of food in the contemporary thriller and where does Night Watcher fit into the spectrum?

Food can be used in many ways, sexual, sensual, as the preliminary to an action, or to make use of the senses. My cast of characters don’t usually have much time to eat, and if they do it’s something snatched.

5. How would it affect the direction Night Watcher takes if the action were moved wholesale to the set of Glee in Chapter 7?

I’ve never watched Glee so it’s difficult to say, but I imagine they would have to break out in song when Julie jumps out in front of Nicole’s car. Maybe they could also sing ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ when the car hits Julie. Other than that it would be great fun to set a serial killer loose onto the set of Glee.

6. When you’re writing, would you rather look out at the sea, or in at your thoughts?

I’d love to look out at the sea when writing but know I would get nothing done. I write straight to computer in my study. It faces a blank wall and I always have the window slats closed, so no distraction there. Besides, the inside of my mind is much more interesting than any view.

7. When writing, do you start at the beginning and keep going, or start at the end and work back?

Usually I start at the beginning of a novel with a single scene and a character. I have a vague idea of plot and the type of psychopathy I will use, apart from that, once I get going I give my characters their head and it’s amazing where they take me. However, nothing is written in stone and Night Watcher actually started with Chapter 9. I worked to the end, then went back and wrote a whole new beginning. I reckon I’m more of a pantser than a plotter.

8. A great villain or a great hero?

Neither. There is no black and white in my books, I prefer shades of grey. My heroes and heroines are all flawed, and my villains have their good points. I prefer my characters to be people rather than stereotyped heroes and villains.

9. I doubt if Night Watcher will change the way a reader looks at anything, although it may make the reader think twice before venturing out in the dark, and set them wondering what is on the other side of the windowpane. I write to entertain, not to change the way a reader sees the world.

10. How long is a piece of rope?

Provided it’s long enough to do the job and will take the weight of a body, I don’t really care.

And here are some fabulous reviews for Night Watcher

A wonderfully, suspenseful read (Review Quote)

Even when you think you have it all figured out, Chris throws in one final twist to throw you off. Her descriptive narrative draws you in making the sights, sounds and smells come to life. The dialogue is natural and makes the characters seem like normal folk you would meet on the street or in your local. For anyone who enjoys crime fiction, I highly recommend this as an addition to your must read list.

Sinister with lots of twists and turns (Review Quote)

Absolutely brilliant read.
Chris manages to keep the suspense going right until the end of the book along with an unexpected twist.
Lots of twists and turns to keep the pages turning.
I loved Dead Wood but think this is a much more enjoyable and complex book.
Chris is a well deserved addition to the ‘Tartan Noir’ genre and hopefully Polygon (or another publisher) will snap up her next novel so we can have a print copy rather than an e-book!

A frighteningly good read (Full Review)

Night Watcher by Chris Longmuir reads so frighteningly real that you would be well advised to not read it at night, and definitely not when alone at home. Her characters are ordinary people going about their ordinary lives, or are they? With a gritty and hard-hitting writing style Chris delves into the complexity of human nature, the dark side of our character that each of us hide. You can feel her characters breathe from the very pages they inhabit; you feel their compassion, their hate, their confusion, their sense of betrayal and their fledgling efforts at understanding themselves.

Dundee and the locations Chris uses for her story come alive under her skillful narrative. I wonder if I’ll ever feel quite the same way about these grand old historical buildings, and the people that happily go about their duties. The twists and turns kept me guessing right through the story, but she had one more surprise for me before she let me go. And the hints were there.