Talking of writing...

It’s that time of year again. The mists dissolve and the writers gather round the large room to hear words of support and wisdom from other more experienced writers.

Yup, it was Scottish Association of Writers’ Annual Conference time.

We call it the S.A.W. (We’re people too, you know. We use shorthand.) Except the hotel had signs at the door that read SAW. For the want of a series of full stops we assumed the appearance of a horror movie convention.

And that’s the power of the full-stop, my good people.

The speakers were excellent, the adjudicators worth their weight in the proverbial shiny material and the committee did their usual sterling job of making it all possible to bring these people together.

Jane Wenham- Jones was the special guest on Friday night and she was a hoot. She talked about a number of things that should be important to writers, including those old chestnuts of persistence and belief. She also talked about being searched at the airport on the way up from England and being worried that the searchers might find her lipstick-shaped vibrator in her hand luggage. Only her and the airport security people know whether this was a gag or not. Whichever it was, it had more than a few people chuckling.

Saturday’s speaker was Peter Kerr. The writer of several non-fiction books and several crime novels. He had a quiet charm and warmth about him that made him a very easy man to listen to. (Mind you he did take a while to get to the point.) His non-fiction books detail the years he took his young family to live in an orange farm on the island of Majorca.

One of my favourite anecdotes in his speech was when he recounted some of the adventures he and his family had while learning to speak the language. (You know us Brits. Few of can be arsed with the whole multi-lingual thing) It was a new year. His wife was in the local fishmonger’s – who unbeknown to her had just had his haemorrhoids dealt with. In her best Spanish she wished the fishmonger a Happy New Year. Except the Spanish word for “year” and “arsehole” are frighteningly similar, and she chose the wrong one.  Needless to say Mrs Kerr got an ear full of Catalan to go with her sardines.

Oh and during the course of the weekend I met up again with a little Irish lady – who I’ve known for a good few years and she told me her nephew is John Connolly (Every Dead Thing etc) Do you know him, she asked? Know him? I choked on my Glenmorangie over ice. He’s only one of my favourite authors. The next ten minutes passed in a pleasant fog/ day dream kinda thing where little Irish lady introduces me to JC and a bromance ensued. He’s now my new best bud, I’m riding his successful coat-tails and not the least bit embarrassed.

Then I ordered another whisky... and the mists claimed the halls  and everyone went home. 

Until next time.

My Crime/Thriller Picks of 2010 (part one)

Everybody and their granny is getting in on the act, so I thought, why not, Michael me lad? Anywho, for what it’s worth, here are some of my favourites of the last year.

In no particular order...

Don Winslow – Savages

It’s fair to say that Everybody and Their Granny have included this book in their top ten and no wonder, it’s the dawg’s bollocks.

The story: Part-time environmentalist and philanthropist Ben and his ex-mercenary buddy Chon run a Laguna Beach-based marijuana operation, reaping huge profits from their loyal clientele. In the past when their turf was challenged, Chon happily eliminated the threat. But now they may have come up against something that they can't handle - the Mexican Baja Cartel wants in, sending them the message that a 'no' is unacceptable. 

When they refuse to back down, the cartel escalates its threat, kidnapping Ophelia, the boys' playmate and confidante. Ophelia's abduction sets off a dizzying array of ingenious negotiations and gripping plot twists.

The verdict: As I said over at crimesquad.com – “The book is laced with dark humour, the action is tight, controlled and utterly believable and the dialogue is so hip it feels that Winslow is setting the trend. We need to get the word out there; Winslow deserves to be one of the genre’s favourite sons. Buy a copy and demand all your friends do so as well.”

Footnote – my new favourite author, Mr Winslow, is going Trevanian (and if you don’t know who Trevanian was, do yourself a favour and look him up) on us next year. Look out for SATORI. Fantastic stuff.

R.J. Ellory – Saints of New York.

Regulars of this blog will know I hold Roger’s work in high esteem. This is what I said over at crimesquad.com

“Dark and intense, Saints of New York opens, quite literally with a blood bath and from there you are in the master’s hands and he’s not letting go until that last satisfying page is turned. Saints of New York is a novel of corruption and salvation, of the unshakable persistence needed to uncover the truth and of one man's pursuit for meaning hidden among the phantoms of his psyche.”

Eeesh, I’m coming over all hyperbolic at the end there. Had to go and lie down in a dark room after writing that review.

Roger Smith – Wake up Dead

The synopsis: It’s a hot, dry night in Cape Town when gun-runner Joe Palmer and his ex-model, American wife Roxy are car-jacked, leaving Joe lying in a pool of blood. As the thieves, meths addict Disco and his sidekick Godwyn, make their getaway, Roxy makes a split-second decision that changes her life forever.

This decision brings her on a collision course with Billy Afrika, a mercenary to whom Joe owes money, Disco's prison-loving gangster “husband” Piper, a would-be African insurgent leader, and a dirty cop determined to use Roxy to escape his dangerous Cape Flats beat. 

The review: It simply doesn’t get more “noir” than this. This is easily the most violent book I’ve read this year, with a degree of carnage that could almost push this book into the horror genre. However, it is a violence that is germane to the characters and springs from the author’s understanding of the people he is writing about, rather than violence just for the sake of it. 


With his neat prose and breakneck pace, Roger Smith has conjured an excellent read. I’m guessing that this is not a book that the South African tourist board will be touting; it is undoubtedly a book that will place this country’s thriller writers in the forefront of a world readership.

John Connolly – The Whisperers

Our John (I’ve met him once, so I feel a degree of familiarity is not stretching things. Hi, John – remember Glasgow. A bar full of booksellers? No. Oh well *hangs head*  never mind.) Where was I? Yes. Our John is one of those writers whose careers I’ve followed from day one.

Synopsis: The border between Maine, USA and Canada is leaky. Almost anything can be smuggled across it: drugs, cash, weapons, people...

Now a group of disgruntled former soldiers has begun its own smuggling operation, and what is being moved is infinitely stranger and more terrifying than anyone can imagine. Anyone, that is, except private detective Charlie Parker, who has his own intimate knowledge of the shadows that reside in men's hearts.

My Crimesquad.com Review: John Connolly is quite simply one of the best thriller writers around. He’s the kind of writer who not only opens the door to his imagination, he pulls up a chair and plumps up the cushions first. The Whisperers is quite simply an excellent addition to the man’s oeuvre.  As always the prose manages to be both muscular and lyrical, the plot deals with the macabre and the emotional and the characters are as finely drawn as any you’ll come across in literature. My only complaint was that at times in the beginning of the book there was a wee bit too much exposition - you know the bits you skim over - but this could have been sorted with some judicious editing. In any case JC can get away with this sort of thing, where lesser writers might not, because everything else is just SO on the mark. This is me counting the days till the next one.

Cross Country Murder Song by Philip Wilding

Synopsis: On a journey from the Jersey Shore to the Pacific Ocean, the driver makes his way across an America distorted beyond all recognition, as if in a fevered dream. He is accompanied by ghosts of his traumatic past and pursued the police, who have discovered the alarming secret in his basement.

Speeding past and stopping off along the way, the driver meddles, mixes and murders, heading towards the edge of the New World and to his own sick realisation of the American Dream.

An excerpt from my crimesquad.com review read thusly: Philip Wilding has created a uniquely disturbing and visceral novel that will haunt you for days after you have finished the last page.

This is not a book you can carelessly skim; every word demands your attention as Wilding creates a patchwork quilt of experience moving from the past to the future to the present with a searing detail that burns into your conscience.

The main character is someone we come to know only as “the driver” and as he moves from one dreadful act to the next you feel yourself hoping he evades capture to find out what else he will get up to.

Even the secondary characters, each deep in a well of their own unhappiness are prone to act in ways that surprise and shock. This work is almost certainly destined to become a cult classic and if you are ever stuck as to how to offer the definition of “noir” I suggest you point to this book.

The writing is hypnotic and carries the lyricism and precision of a poet.  “Cross Country Modern Song” is a 21st-century road trip that will grip you in the heart of its darkness forcing you to think about our world and it’s excess.

Old Dogs by Donna Moore

Our Donna (again with the familiarity, sheesh) is a pal and this is not the reason why I’m giving her a mention. The reason is because she’s damn good!!! End of!!! (So deserving of 3 exclamation marks)

Synopsis: OLD DOGS is a crime caper set in Glasgow. It features an elderly Italian Countess and her sister who are actually ex-hookers turned con artists, who decide to steal a pair of golden, jewel-encrusted Shih Tzu dogs from a museum. Unfortunately, there is something of a queue of undesirables after the same loot – including the elderly ladies’ dodgy chauffeur who is desperate to get in on the action, a pair of Glasgow neds who dream of buying their own pub, an out of work insomniac bent on revenge, and an innocent young Scottish islander who wants the dogs returned to the Buddhist monastery they came from.

My Crimesquad.com review: With care and precision Donna introduces her main players and their foibles and then very cleverly drops them in and out of the action to maximum effect.  How she orchestrates her comic set-pieces is nothing short of genius and designed to eke out every last piece of humour.

If Alexander Pope was here to turn his attention to crime writing rather than philosophy he might have said, to laugh is human; to make other people laugh is divine. Donna Moore shine your halo

I kind of ran out of energy there, people - besides you can only deal with so much awesomeness at the one time. So come back another day and I'll give you the rest of my faves.

Laters,

M 

Its the first of the month and that means...

...there are fresh reviews on CRIMESQUAD.COM

A few of mine are sitting there waiting for your delectation, including John Connolly's The Whisperers and our Book of the Month, Cross Country Murder Song by Philip Wilding.

Also included is a review of a new novel by a friend of this blog; Donna Moore and Old Dogs. Donna has her own blog - absolutely well worth a read - go here bigbeatfrombadsville in which she (mainly) highlights Scottish crime fiction. Bless her wee cotton socks and thigh-length boots.

Donna's latest novel was described by book reviewer extraordinaire, Declan Burke as being like an Ealing comedy with salty Glaswegian patter. Or somebody did. I should check but I don't have time/ can't be arsed.

Here's what I had to say over at Crimesquad...


Having established her credentials with her first published novel “Go To Helena Handbasket” Donna Moore turns her wit and attention on to the world of the crime caper with gut-achingly funny results.


With care and precision Donna introduces her main players and their foibles and then very cleverly drops them in and out of the action to maximum effect. How she orchestrates her comic set-pieces is nothing short of genius and designed to eke out every last piece of humour.

An extra ability added to the already impressive list of skills that Donna exhibits in her writing is the ear she has for dialogue. For someone who is not a natural Scot she has the accent and the patter down to perfection.

If Alexander Pope was here to turn his attention to crime writing rather than philosophy he might have said, to laugh is human; to make other people laugh is divine. Donna Moore shine your halo.




Now people, go do yourself a favour and buy a copy.

Whispers and War

Sunday afternoon. Got the blood flowing, the lungs wheezing then settled in the sauna/ Jacuzzi until my skin resembled a giant scrotum. (There’s an image to conjure with, ladies.) While sat among the fizz and bubble of the Jacuzzi I looked out of the window and thought that I might just have enough energy to cut the grass (or the lawn, as the wee fella calls it) when I got home. However by the time I had dried off, dressed and jumped in the car... it was raining! Let me repeat that exclamation mark!

I love it when a plan comes together.

This of course meant that when I got home I could settle on the sofa with John Connolly’s latest novel, The Whisperers which has been burning a hole in the corner of my eye ever since it arrived from those lovely people at Hodder.

Can I just say, the man is class? If you haven’t read him and you’re a fan of thriller novels WHERE THE FECK HAVE YOU BEEN?

The father of an Iraq war veteran asks Charlie Parker to find out why his son committed suicide. The soldier was the 3rd in a small group of army colleagues who had done so. Charlie discovers that the group were smuggling antiques (circa 2500BC) from an Iraqi museum. Among them is a gold box with a complicated locking system. Locks that were designed to hold something mysterious. Something that shifts, writhes and pushes against the walls of the box. Something that whispers.

I just LOVE the way Connolly brings the supernatural into the thriller genre. He does this with a suggestion of demonic forces and with the creation of really, really bad men. The kind of men we spook our children with, while scaring ourselves.

The better novels have elements other than a straightforward narrative and clever man that he is, JC uses The Whisperers to discuss the effect of war on soldiers. Being a very, very clever man he does this without lecturing. We get the information in digestible chunks that makes us assimilate the detail, wonder at how people could be treated in such a way, but never at any time are we at a remove from the story.

As long as man has fought combat stress has been with us. In World War1 it was called Shell Shock. In WW2, it was “battle fatigue”. Now we call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

There are figures that show as many soldiers are dying when they return from service as there are while on active duty. Unable to process the stresses of combat they take the ultimate way out. Also, significant numbers of veterans end up on the street or in jail. Here in the UK, ex-servicemen are by far the largest occupational group in prison.

You can argue about the futility of war, the waste of lives and the rights and wrongs of the combat in Iraq and Afghanistan – and being a pacifist I would probably agree with you... but the fact of the matter is that these men and women are being sent out to battle and then on their return to “normal” society are being abandoned by the very people who asked them to put their life on the line. They deserve much, much better.

The decision makers should hang their collective heads in shame.

(BTW, my review of the book will be posted on Crimesquad.com shortly. I’m sure you can guess it’s going to be favourable eh?)