A Handsome Man

Tuesday night.  Home from work and knocked down by some kind of flu.  Awful.  Straight to bed and no supper.

Wednesday morning, up and about with the children, dropping them off to school with my mind focussed on a little lie down, see if it might make me feel better.

Bump inot Tadg.  Tadg is cool.  He's a writer of many hats.  One hat was his rather ingenioius 'The Average Life Of The Average Person: How It All Adds Up'.

It's not long before we sit for coffee in his wonderful home, surrounded by charm and things half-finished.

Chat turns to writing.  It often does. 

Tadg has a story he's not going to write.  There's the duelling piece he's been collaborating on and the kitchen's to be ripped out and there are so many pies he doesn't have enough fingers.

I offer to write it.  I've not written a story for a month now.  He says yes.

It's a ghostly, horror piece.  It's not something I've considered trying before as reader of writer.  Then again, Chris Holm and Heath Lowrance and Ron Brown and Jodi MacArthur things at Beat To A Pulp and more besides have meant I've come across dark tales almost by accident and loved them.

Somehow the story gets under my skin.  I carry it home in my head.

There's also something to prove, that ebooks make sense (Tadg, soon-to-be owner of a kindle has a room of books that's like a library or the old curiosity shop and isn't yet convinved).

I write.  Should be sleeping, but I type away and send it back.

Tadg likes it.  Adds a different ending.  I have it again.

It bounces back and forth like a lamb on a trampoline.

Finally we have it.  A polished story (last time I looked).  A ghost story.  Horror, I think.

It's aslo got the tag erotic.  There's definitely an erotic strand in there if you're fairly unusual, the tag mainly being to see if we can sell an extra couple of copies.

We resisted and erotic title. 

Second hand became 'A Handsome Man'.

I wonder what you'll think.

Dancing With Myself: BRIAN PENDREIGH interviews BRIAN PENDREIGH

Interviewer Brian: What is The Man in the Seventh Row about?

Author Brian: It is the story of a man who loves his movies and then finds that he is actually being sucked into the films that he sees. He becomes part of the action in classic films like The Graduate, Brief Encounter and The Magnificent Seven.

Interviewer Brian: Sounds like a dream come true for a film fan?

Author Brian: Not quite, because he is finding it increasingly difficult to get free again and return to the reality he formerly lived in.

Interviewer Brian: Tell me a little more about the style of the book.

Author Brian: Well, I guess I am influenced in the early chapters by Nick Hornby and I am trying to do for film what he did for pop songs, reference them and rekindle happy memories for readers. I heard of a guy who read the book and then bought all the old movies off amazon to watch again. And then as the narrative gathers pace it moves into magic realism and the tradition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. So Hornby segueing into Marquez. Does that sound pretentious?

Interviewer Brian: Eh, um, no, no, not at all.

Interviewer Brian (smiling at the cleverness of his question): Are you The Man in the Seventh Row?

Author Brian: Everyone asks that.

Interviewer Brian looks crestfallen.

Author Brian: No, it is too close to the screen for me. And, also, I have never been sucked into the movies. Some of the little stories, anecdotes and jokes are mine and I lent them to the protagonist. But some are things that happened to other people. The big things are just completely made up.

Interviewer Brian: The book is sub-titled The Movie Lover's Novel - do you have to be a movie lover to enjoy it?

Author Brian: Well, the sub-title applies both to the main character and also the principal target audience. There are a lot of movie lovers out there. Do you need to be familiar with the movies it references to enjoy it? I don't know. But you don't need to be an East European farmer to enjoy A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. It was a big hit.

Interviewer Brian: Don't you? Did you enjoy A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian?

Author Brian: I haven't read it.

Interviewer Brian: Anything else you want to say Brian?

Author Brian: Not really, just suck it and see Brian.

Interviewer Brian: Thank you.

Author Brian: No, thank you.



www.blastedheath.com 

Dancing With Myself: GERARD BRENNAN interviews GERARD BRENNAN

There are lovely things happening all over the place just now.

I'd like to point out some of my favourites.

At The Bijou continue with Noirvember and it's somewhere I'll be checking daily for the rest of the month.

Sabrina Ogden had me over for a guest post yesterday and I'm deeply flattered to be there.  It's about White Fang and how it influenced my work, Smoke.

You can still get a free copy of a Douglas Lindsay novella over at Blasted Heath by signing up for the newsletter there and if you're stuck for Christmas present ideas, they might just have the solution.

Les Edgerton has a book on writing techniques that is currently free over at Amazon (don't look a gift horse in the mouth).

Ron Thomas Brown paid a visit to Shotgun Honey.

Into Thin Air crept back in to the Waterstone's Top 10 Short Stories (thanks).

And I'm currently reading The Point by Gerard Brennan.  I shall be reviewing it later in the week.  Suffice it to say, I'm really enjoying it and if my eyes hadn't packed up on me last night, I would have.

So welcome to the dance, ladies and gentleman, the amazing Gerard Brenan.  It's a flash-interview:

So what makes you think you’re worthy of a Sea Minor interview?

I can dance.

Really?

No. But I can write.

Says who?

People.

What people?

Look, if you’re going to continue in this aggressive tone—

WHAT PEOPLE?

Jeez, all right. If the blurbs for my novella are to be believed—

Well?

Ach, shut up. I got blurbs, I got some credentials, I got a novella published. I’m working hard to put out the best fiction I can possibly write and there’s just one person standing in my way.

Who?

Well, if you have to ask… butt-munch.

I know you are, but what am I?

I’m done with this interview.

One Man's Opinion: THE COLD KISS by JOHN RECTOR

Just before I tell you what I think about 'The Cold Kiss', I'd like to point out a couple of things.

First, the price of Smoke (my critically acclaimed novella) has just been dropped as a ten day experiment.  You can buy it now in the UK for 86p and in the US for $1.39 including taxes.  It's a good read and value at such prices.

And if that doesn't appeal, perhaps a free book from Blasted Heath will make more sense.  Today you can get hold of Phase Four by Gary Carson:

'When a classified military convoy transporting nerve gas is hijacked by terrorists in the Nevada desert, Homeland Security investigator Matthew Drake is assigned to put one of the suspects under surveillance. But when the gas is released inside a high-rise luxury hotel in an apparent attempt to assassinate the President, Drake realizes – too late – that the hijackers weren’t terrorists, the convoy wasn’t carrying nerve gas and that the intended target is reality itself.'

And now to one man's opinion.   

There’s plenty to like about The Cold Kiss. As one of the characters remarks, there’s something of an old-fashioned whodunit feel to things when a group of strangers become stranded in a motel and things start to go wrong.

Nate and his girlfriend Sara are heading to Reno to get married. There’s a baby on the way and they’re hoping to make a fresh start. As things unfold, we’ll come to realise that this is certainly a good idea as far as Nate is concerned.

On the way, stopping of for coffee, they encounter a man with a cough who’s rumbling lungs sound very unhealthy. The man goes to the bathroom and Nate, under pressure from Sarah, goes to check that he’s OK. 

As expected, he isn’t. He’s coughed up enough blood to paint the toilet bowl, though his physical condition hasn’t improved his manners any.

Just as it looks like the tension between the two guys has passed, they meet again as Nate stops to fill up with fuel.

Sly, the ill guy, has buttered up Sarah by the time Nate returns from paying. He needs a lift and he’s prepared to pay. Nate wants to say no, but the persuasive powers of love and money get him to change his mind and it’s not long before he wishes they hadn’t.

Here's a snippet from just before they decide to let Sly into their car:

'"Kiss me for luck."

I frowned.  "That doesn't work."

"Of course it does," she said.  "It always works.  Now kiss me."

I stared at her for a moment longer, then bent and placed my lips against hers.

It was a good kiss.

But it didn't work.'

And from then on, you just know.

The snow falls hard, Sly falls unconscious on the back seat and our couple have to pull in at a hotel for the night.

As they set to unpack it turns out Sly has died on them. Maybe it had something to do with the bullet wound they found in his side.

Sly also has a huge amount of cash on him.

And that’s when the fun really starts.

The motel is run by an old-man and his religious lunatic of a nephew. There’s a couple on tour and a Russian lady with unusual scars on her arms.

In order to avoid revealing too much of the plot, that seems like a good time to stop.
Suffice it to say that things don’t go well.

Essentially the book has two settings, the motel and the inside of Nate’s head.

We’re taken along by a convincing first-person narrative that is thoroughly engaging.

The drama is heightened at regular intervals as Rector cranks up the gears until things are moving too quickly to end well.

All the way through, the writing is lean and strong.

To my mind, the best part of the work comes at the end.  It's not the adventurous series of nightmare situations that really satisfied me here, (though that would have been enough), but the superb ending as Part 3 talks us through the way the survivors respond to the action.  It would have easy to have left it at the end of the adrenaline bursts, but Rector takes it further and in doing so pulls out a handful of aces.

Recommended. 

Dancing Again: McDroll

Things are happening around about that are hard and fast. 

I'm not sure where to start.

First the bad news.  Get it out of the way.  Into Thin Air is now out of the Waterstones top 10 short stories list, slipping to 11 and looking like it's on its way.  You can help by buying a copy if you'd like, but it was nice to have that as a moment and for the CV, I guess (I'm actually gutted, but it was going to happen sooner or later).

There was controversy over at a story blog this week which led to editors and author removing a story from their pages.  Basically, a comment by someone who was offended by the material led to a small avalanche.  I'd like to ask the editors of all sites to draw upon the community of writers and its strength and to stick to their editorial guns in the face of adverse reaction.  It's impossible to please all the people all of the time; we shouldn't even be trying to.  Writers are out there playing with material which is difficult, which pushes boundaries and that's to be encouraged.  People have the right to comment, we have the right to react, ignore or reply, but let's keep the work out there for discussion, not least to protect the confidence of authors themselves.   And if you have a name that suggests difficult material and have a warning that says the material is challenging, you've done all you can to make sure frail minds don't enter.  Be bold.

Great news yesterday was that Blasted Heath was finally launched. 

If you go there today you can blag a copy of Anthony Neil Smith's 'All The Young Warriors' (which has a great promo video and a wonderful theme). 

Tomorrow it's  Gary Carson's Phase Four (techno thriller) and you can get something from Ray Banks, Brian Pendreich and Douglas Lindsay as the week goes on.

Not only that, you can get another freebie just by signing up for their newsletter. 

How good is all that? 

Other good stuff.  November Goes Noir At The Bijou.  What more do I need to say.

An not really finally, but enough for now, I was on the radio for the first time sober earlier this week to talk about SMOKE.  You can listen in at  Gelatis Scoop.

And so to the main event.  More great news this week from McDroll as her collection Kick It was released at the weekend.  I'll let her tell you about herself she does a little dance, her second on these pages.

1. Who is McDroll?

To begin with, going back about three years, McDroll was the silly name I came up with when I started tweeting. I wanted a name that would combine the fact that I am proud to be Scottish and indicate that my tweets would contain a certain amount of ‘tongue in cheek’ humour. Like most nicknames it kind of stuck and now that’s how most people on-line know me.

I think it’s quite memorable and a bit different so perhaps it will help me to get noticed!

I have two children aged 11 and 16 so when I’m not working, I’m being a taxi driver usually taking them both to a variety of singing activities across the West of Scotland.

I live and teach in Argyll, which is easily one of the most beautiful places in the world, steeped in history from prehistoric standing stones to Celtic crosses and castles and countless lochs and glens.

I sit at night, laptop on knees and write about murders…well, what else would I do?

2. Why crime writing?

I’ve always read crime fiction, more specifically Scottish crime fiction. My early hero was William McIlvanney and his novel LAIDLAW was probably the first crime story that I ever read. These days I still love Scottish crime writing and particularly enjoy (other than the wonderful Nigel Bird himself), Allan Guthrie, Douglas Lindsay and Stuart MacBride.

I find writing crime stories gives me certain parameters to work within that helps me to structure a story; a twist in the plot, an unexpected ending, some thumping violence and colourful characters.

My own crime-fighting hero, Gemma Dixon, is making a stand for the girls, fighting for her right to get out on the streets and solve crimes. She’s nobody’s fool and her outrageous behaviour makes her a fun character to write about.

3. What’s next?

I’m hoping to have another collection of short stories KICK IT AGAIN out soon and then move onto a serialization of a novella that I’ve been working on for some time. More ‘Gemma’ stories are in the pipeline and you will be able to meet Gemma again in BRIT GRIT TOO, soon to be published by Trestle.

01.11.11 11.01 - Where Were You?

Tomorrow, 01.11.11 11.01 GMT, where will you be?

One Man's Opinion: Dig Ten Graves by Heath Lowrance

I feel like I should cut to the chase for Dig Ten Graves. Write BUY IT and leave it at that.


I'm seriously tempted. Let the book talk for itself.


That's easier said than done as there are so many voices here, different styles and genres that will keep you guessing from one to the next.


Heath Lowrance amazed me with the skill he showed in The Bastard Hand, so I was excited and curious about his release of short work.


What did I find?


More shining gold. More brilliance. More black holes to get sucked into.


Lots of these pieces had me genuinely on edge. One in particular had me wincing and wondering whether I could go on (Of course I did. Had to). All of them were great reads and worth the entry price by themselves.


My favourite, though, was the opening piece, I Will Be Carried Away. It's not just my favourite here, but ranks in my top 5 short stories of the year (and those of you who know me will know that I've read hundreds of the things).


It's a superb tale about being haunted by memories, being marked by the tings we do early in life, growing up, messing up and moving on. 

Man finds out ex-girlfriend is dead. Memories drip back to him from a rusty bucket inside his brain. There are things he can't remember and things he's going to find out. It's beautiful and powerful and superbly well-rounded, just like I want my short tales to be.


There's something of a theme through the collection, weaving with the 'now you see it, now you don't' thread of an embroidery. It has to do with what is commonly called a mid-life crisis. It also suggests a mid-life crisis following a difficult childhood, troubled adolescence and a mixed-up start in adulthood.

Not that I can imagine a man as talented and handsome as Mr Lowrance struggling with such matters.


There were times in the book where I thought the author had got into my head.  Read my thoughts.  Painted my own fears onto a wall I couldn't miss.  Observed me wondering why alarm clocks and work and routines are still ruling my life when I'm old enough (way old enough) to know better.

A quote from a later piece, a tale of a suicidal man whose attempts at suicide are about as futile as his existence:


"He'd begun to suspect that there'd been no turn, that it had been the road he'd always been on, since the day he was born. If God handed out road maps to every soul about to be incarnated on Earth, he'd probably given Henry the one that traversed all the rocky paths, all the unpaved back roads and quagmires and potholes. The one that led, finally, to a huge drop into the crapper."


With humour like that, the difficult subject of meaning to life is tackled with humour and left for the reader to ponder.


Terrific stuff.