Crime & Thriller Fiction on World Book Night

In March last year I was contacted by the producers of BBC 2 The Culture Show as they were commissioned to make a program about genre fiction, focusing on [a] Thrillers and Crime Fiction, [b] Chick-Lit and Romance and [c] Science Fiction and Fantasy. They asked me to appear in an interview talking about Crime and Thriller Fiction, from the perspective of a reviewer and well-read fan. The BBC producers were also interested in my early championing of Stieg Larsson and his ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ and how such an unusual novel became such a worldwide sensation.

Despite my complex schedule, I agreed as I use any [and all] opportunity to enthuse people about reading. I am passionate about literacy and consider reading a hugely important aspect of the human experience, and wish more people would read novels. Reading novels promotes people to ‘think’ deeper than TV or Films can, and allows people to view the world though a different perspective and can challenge ‘conventionally’, ‘channeled’ or ‘manipulated’ modes of thinking. Reading is dangerous [but in a good way], and that is why totalitarian regimes often restrict reading with book banning, censorship, even the destruction of books and libraries. The next stage after clamping down on books / reading, is the ‘disappearance’ of the educated and informed, i.e. the reader.

With today’s global economic woes, the danger of the rise of the extreme right and extreme left can be fought back with an educated / informed society, something that reading does – as it informs ‘thinking’, something that extremists suppress in order to control and manipulate the masses. An under-educated and illiterate society can be more easily manipulated than an well-read and educated one.

So when the BBC Film crew arrived at my business premises last year, I had brought some of my rare books, manuscripts and decorated the board room for the filming. The film crew recorded an extensive interview with me about Crime and Thriller Fiction, and filmed some of my favourite books and manuscripts. We had a great time as the BBC team were all enthusiastic readers, and became amused at my ‘geeky’ knowledge and contacts in the crime and thriller fiction world.

Anyway, during the year I was advised by the Producers of BBC Culture Show that the ‘book-program’ had been delayed, but with my own complex work schedule, I thought nothing more of the filming, apart from it being a bit of a laugh, talking about books to the BBC team.

Then with all the build-up to World Book Night last week, I noticed in the TV schedule for Saturday that there was a BBC Culture Show special entitled ‘Books We Really like to Read’ featuring crime / thriller and romance / chick-lit to coincide with World Book Night, so I wondered if they would use any of the footage the BBC shot with me?

So with drinks at hand, the family settled down to watch the BBC 2 World Book Night Special, especially the ‘Books We Really Like To Read’ presented by Sue Perkins, and yes the BBC did use a snippet of the interview they recorded with me last year. Naturally I was disappointed that the full crime-fiction special didn’t appear, but I was glad that they used a ‘sound-bite’ of mine [in context] for the World Book Night Event, [as literacy is crucial for a functioning and fair society]. It is pity they didn’t use any of the extensive material pertaining to my favourite writers, key works of the genre as well my mentioning the world of fandom from Shots, Deadly Pleasures, Mystery Readers International, Crimespree, The Rap Sheet, January Magazine, Mystery Scene, Mystery Women, 4MA, Dorothy L, Rara-Avis et. al as well as the professional associations such as The CWA, MWA, ITW, PWA etc and the conventions such as Harrogate, Crimefest, Bouchercon, Thrillerfest, Left Coast Crime, Love is Murder etc. I also spent time on the various awards such as the CWA Daggers, MWA Edgars, ITW Thrillers etc. Perhaps one day the footage may be used, one hopes.

So with all the terrible issues facing publishing currently from the economic problems forcing bricks & mortar book stores to close, public sector budget cuts forcing many libraries to shut, changes in print journalism, and the shift in ‘medium’ from paper to electronic – any initiative [like World Book Night] that promotes reading and literacy is a good one and must be supported.
The BBC Culture Show ‘Books We Really Read’ is available online at BBC Iplayer [for one week], though restricted to UK access only so I thought it might be useful to feature some of the highlights for those of you unable to access the show, especially those outside the UK.

These clips were recorded from my lap-top using my Iphone, so they are far from High Definition, but watchable [and of interest] for the crime / thriller enthusiast.

Please Note that all these clips are © 2011 British Broadcasting Corporation and used for no commercial reason or benefit to myself. They are posted due to my desire to encourage reading and literacy, with crime and thrillers an excellent entry point for the casual reader. The Full Program can be viewed here. There is also a program about the 1,000,000 books given away on World Book Night here and the BBC Culture Show highlights 12 debut novelists for WBN here – The programs are available online for one week from those links to BBC Iplayer, though geographical restrictions do apply.

Reading is important, and there is nothing ‘downmarket’ with regard to genre fiction as these clips illustrate with insights from Ian Rankin, Lee Child, Ruth Rendell, Dame Agatha Christie, Felix Francis and my little sound-bite. It’s very flattering to find myself amongst such illustrious company.

So if you are feeling depressed, anxious or generally fed-up, why not crack the spine of a good crime thriller because you will soon find your own problems put firmly in perspective, and the process of reading will enrich your life.

I must thank Jamie Byng [Chair of WBN] and all the people who worked on World Book Night mostly pro-bono to get people to [re-]discover the wonder that is reading a novel.

Clip 1 : Introduction to Crime Fiction featuring short insight from Ali Karim



Clip 2 : The legacy of Dame Agatha Christie



Clip 3 : Lee Child and Thriller Novels



Clip 4 : Felix Francis and the legacy of Dick Francis



Clip 5 : Ian Rankin on Crime Fiction



Clip 6 : Ruth Rendell on the dark side of human nature



So with the very serious problems facing publishing, you may feel powerless to help, but all of us can play our role – and here’s how starting from now you should ensure to talk about what books you are reading in general conversation; for birthday and festive occasions buy books as gifts even for the ‘non-reader’, and support your local bookstore be it an independent, or a chain, and when you see your local library facing the axe – do something, sign the petition, write to your council, your member of parliament, congressman or even your Government. Reading is really that crucial to a functioning and fair society because I can hear the footfalls of the Barbarians as they pick at the locks that protect our Gates.

As the adage says ‘use it or lose it’, because reading novels are far more important than many realize as books are the best weapon against the Barbarian.

Disclaimer -

Please Note that all these clips are © 2011 British Broadcasting Corporation and used for no commercial reason or benefit to myself. They are posted due to my desire to encourage reading and literacy, with crime and thrillers an excellent entry point for the casual reader. The Full Program can be viewed here. There is also a program about the 1,000,000 books given away on World Book Night here and the BBC Culture Show highlights 12 debut novelists for WBN here – The programs are available online for one week from those links to BBC Iplayer, though geographical restrictions do apply.

The Existential Future May Feature Rollerskates

I recently re-watched Norman Jewison’s 1975 existential SF classic “Rollerball” and as I did so, I became aware that its future world, set in 2018 is getting rather close. I also realized how today’s reality was actually yesterday’s fictionalized future. The whole set-up of Rollerball player Jonathan E [James Caan] working for ‘The Energy Corporation’, in a world of depleted energy reserves and global instability made the TV images of the worldwide economic instability, war on terror and media control resonate in my mind, like the chimes of the plague bell.

It also made me fearful of the future, as I contemplated where we’re headed.

There are many existential risks that have, and still continue to threaten our species and our way of life. Some of these risks are edging away from the domain of the ‘existential’ into the ‘real’. I spend a lot of time reading; and thinking; and observing reality and then joining the dots I see peppering in front of my line of sight. The more dots I see, and the closer I look, the dots start to converge and a picture comes into focus. The view I see from my vantage point is not pretty.

One must always remember that ‘the observer’ actually plays a part upon ‘the situation’ as it plays out. The observer will always be part of the action, and influences the outcome, even if the only action the observer undertakes, is to purely ‘observe’. Two simple experiments that prove this axiom are –

On the macro-level [a] ‘The Hawthorne Effect’ and at the quantum-level [b] ‘The Double Slit Experiment’.

When you distill our current situation of over-population, resource depletion, coupled to [a] the logical failure of the ‘growth engine’ [to keep capitalism sustaining ‘our way of life’] and [b] the failure to understand ‘human nature’ that makes communist / socialist systems unworkable – then the view of the future is bleak, very bleak.

When you consider the nature of reality, and our possible futures, the following scenarios come into play -

Future [1] Becoming ‘more than human’
We see technological convergence creating faster and faster innovation which will lead to a technological singularity and a post-human future. In this scenario we will augment our bodies / minds with technology, and become ‘more than human’. This has started.

Click Here to understand and prepare for this future, but our rapidly depleting oil reserves may prevent this future from happening. We have less than ten years to become post-human, otherwise it will be too late as we slide down the oil curve.

Future [2] Economic Collapse
You should view this video ‘Oil, Smoke and Mirrors’ which was released in 2006 and explains that we have now reached a global ‘peak oil’ situation, and that under-pinning all the global economic problems, global wars, terrorism, famines etc lies the ‘elephant in the room’ – the world has reached the peak on the curve of oil production vs. demand. ‘Collapse’ featuring Michael Ruppert is worth watching as is Oil Crash : A Crude Awakening, but be warned these films are terrifying. We have ten years of troubling problems while we bump along the peak, then the slide starts at the end of the decade, and then it will be really ‘interesting’.

Future [3] Extinction Event
Reading Sir Martin Rees’ book ‘Our Final Century’ [aka ‘Our Final Hour’ in US] will explain this threat rationally, and also answer the question posed by the Fermi Equation or the paradox of “why is the universe eerily silent?” Because there is an inevitability in the evolution of life, in that it will naturally lead to a civilization destroying itself by its own hand, or the hand of nature be it viruses, meteorite impact, solar storm, or the sun’s light being blocked by ash. The life-span of an intelligent civilization from inception to collapse is a blink of an eye, when placed against the eons of time that the universe exists within.

Future [4] Simulated Reality
Many people believe that we are living in a ‘simulation’, or experiencing a holographic projection sent from an Event Horizon [the edge of a black hole], or just one plane of reality from an infinite multiverse. In these scenarios, we are still at risk of the previous possible futures, because the brain can not differentiate between ‘reality’ and ‘simulation’, as many think both these terms are the same in terms of practicality. Even if we are in a hologram, or a simulated reality, the fact is that we’re running out of oil [even if it is simulated into an artificial reality].

So does the future feature rollerskates?

Personally I feel that the real [no longer existential] threat is closer than we think and is posed by a pincer movement of ‘oil depletion’ coupled to the darker side of ‘human nature’. To this end, my memory took me back to the 1970’s and an interesting film called ‘Rollerball’ starring James Caan, which prompted this article.



William Harrison wrote the novella / short story ‘Roller Ball Murder’ which first appeared in 1973 in Esquire Magazine. It was first filmed in 1975 by Director Norman Jewison and scripted by William Harrison and was a critical and commercial success, set in a troubled 2018. I won’t mention the 2002 version as that was an embarrassing and shoddy remake [that had none of the political and philosophical dimensions that made the original story and film so interesting].

I’m not the only one who has noticed the portents that Rollerball raises -

Last week saw a couple of events which highlighted how cynical we have become towards Government. The 9th anniversary of 9/11 and the publication of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's autobiography. In his book Blair defends his reasons for committing Britain to the War In Iraq, yet a lot of the British public still think him a war criminal. Of course, the reason for the invasion, a supposed defense against WMD was never substantiated. Likewise, it seems an increasing amount of people are questioning the official version of events on 9/11. The invasion of Iraq has given people enough reason to doubt what they are being told and it has led to a general disenchantment of politics and old political systems. There is an air of conspiracy in these times we live in. We no longer seem to trust authority.

Rollerball, set in a not too distant future, pictures a cold society that is run and controlled by corporate companies. Imagine if you will Fox News Corporation governing our lives (not too hard to imagine). The corporations in Rollerball supply all the news, control all the information and tell us how to live and think. Jonathan E (James Caan) is a hero to the people as he is the star athlete of the ultra-violent Corporation controlled sport Rollerball, a cross between American Football, Rally Cross and Basketball. The Corporation have asked Jonathan E to retire from the sport as they see him as becoming too powerful and of setting too an individualistic example. Jonathan E refuses to retire from the sport leading to direct confrontation with The Corporation.

Read More

I would suggest you re-watch Norman Jewison’s 1975 ‘Rollerball’. It was spawned with a cynical eye amid a slew of other films [from that era] with conspiratorial themes in mind, such as ‘Winter Kills’, ‘The Parallax View’, ‘All The President’s Men’. Now close to 30 years on, the dark-side of human nature has not changed, but what is frightening is that were speedily running out of oil, and that readers, is the real game changer to our reality.

Intead of looking at solutions, because there are none, despite what you hear about electric cars and ethanol - our media will continue to distract the populace from this looming catastrophe, by feeding us inane stories about z-list celebrities, and reality TV as they calmly rearrange the deck-chairs as the ship’s angle starts to tilt down the slope, and all the while the bands will play on.

Our libraries and bookstores are closing making reading, and therefore ‘informed thinking’ rarer. Coupled to time constraints we all face, we haven’t the time / energy or ability to question, to debate, so we will accept what the mainstream media feed us. People are getting anxious about their jobs, xenophobia, terrorism and what Jordan is wearing so the elites in control, can plan for the chaos that will ensue with the era of ‘no oil’.

Then again I am an observer, and therefore part of the situation that is playing out around me, and so I’m contemplating taking roller-skating lessons.

So should you.

Enjoy the weekend, but start to really observe the reality you see around you. Do not accept what you are feed by the mainstream media. Even if you feel powerless when viewing the impending catastrophe coming [when the oil barrels run dry] - remember the begining of this article, the observer plays a part in the situation as it unfolds, so open your eyes and observe.

Shots Ring Out!

With the closure of so many bookstores in the UK and US, pressure on the library systems and a general two-pincer attack from the ‘economy’ and ‘new technology’, publishing is having a very rough time.

The loss of libraries and bricks-and-mortar bookstores will make it harder for authors and publishers to get their works noticed by the public. This will have a terrible effect on literacy, something that worries me as reading helps people ‘think’ and remain informed.

I am therefore very pleased at the hard work, my friend and Shots Editor Mike Stotter with the whole Shots Team have been undertaking, re-vamping the Shots Ezine website. I have particular admiration for our webmasters, Tony ‘Grog’ Roberts, Gary Cane and newcomer Richard Orchard for their hard-work migrating the vast archives to the ‘new site’ and their continual updating.

Shots Blog incidentally is rated No #5 in the top Mystery / Thriller Blogs by Best Colleges Online, special thanks goes to the hard working Ayo Onatade for her continual updates, helping Mike and I out, and keeping you all posted on crime & thriller news.

If you’ve not been to Shots Ezine for a while, it’s worth a click of the mouse, to read the regular columnists Mike Ripley, Peter Guttridge, Mike Carlson, Robin Jarossi and the army of contributors that make the site so exciting.

If you are interested in contributing, or perhaps interested in advertising contact Mike Stotter in the first instance by email : shotseditor@yahoo.co.uk and if you have a news story for our social network coordinator, email Ayo at ayoonatade@yahoo.com

No Longer a Secret

The more books you read, the more films you watch, the harder it is to discover something really fresh, new and exciting. It’s been a while since a film really ‘blew my socks off’, or made me ‘think deeply’. Last night I had the privilege to sit transfixed watching a film that had me hypnotized, paralyzed and made the synapses in my brain spark away like microscopic welding torches. Most importantly it made me think about life and existence, and when the credits rolled - I sat in silence, contemplating the significance of what I had just seen.

Just released on DVD in the UK, this film beat Jacques Audiard’s French prison drama ‘A Prophet’ [Un prophète] for last years Best Foreign Film Oscar. The film I am talking about is of course Juan José Campanella 2009 Argentine crime thriller ‘The Secret in Their Eyes’ (El secreto de sus ojos) based on Eduardo Sacheri's novel La Pregunta de Sus Ojos (The Question in Their Eyes).

I can not recommend this film highly enough, as it is deeply disturbing, moving, complex, multi-layered and existential in themes, which include how can we live a life when there are passions / deeds unfulfilled? And what price do we pay for these deeds done, and those not done, and what exactly is price of fixing these unfulfilled passions and deeds. As worthy as all this sounds, ‘The Secrets in Their Eyes’ is a film that makes you question your own life; and look at the ‘nodes’ and ‘junctions’ that it contains. When we reflect over our lives, we often find times and situations that defined who we are. The film allows reflection upon the randomness of existence [as well as the cruelty of circumstance] without slipping into the arms of madness. I really don’t want to say anymore as the plot has so many twists and revelations, it is a delight to see the narrative unfold toward a jaw-dropping climax[s].

If you like your films cerebral, existentialist in theme and that stay embedded in your mind like slivers of jagged glass, then watch ‘The Secrets in Their Eyes’, [even if you dislike reading subtitles].

Here’s the trailer –



And here’s word from the British Critics

Philip French in The Observer -

There is usually, and often with justification, serious criticism of the movie voted by the American Film Academy to receive its Oscar for best film in a foreign language. It happened again this year when the international critics' anointed contenders – Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet – were ignored in favour of Juan José Campanella's The Secret in Their Eyes. Well, Haneke's picture is certainly more original and Audiard's altogether harsher, but Campanella's Argentinian thriller is a film of subtlety, distinction and depth that in most other years would have made it appear a very worthy recipient. Moreover, it seems an apt choice to mark what Sight & Sound celebrates on the front page of its September edition as "The Rise and Rise of Latin American Cinema" over the past decade.

The film's subject is the obsessive pursuit of a brutal murder long after its significance has faded into the past, a theme familiar from movies as different as Anatole Litvak's The Night of the Generals and Sean Penn's The Pledge, both based on bestselling European novels. In this instance, the crime is the rape and murder of a pretty schoolteacher recently married to a young bank clerk in Argentina in 1974 when the country was on the brink of its dirty war and dictatorship.

Geoffrey Macnab in The Independent –

Admirers of Michael Haneke's masterpiece The White Ribbon are likely to hold a small grudge against Juan José Campanella's The Secret in Their Eyes.
After all, Campanella denied Haneke the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film earlier this year. A few months on, that still seems a very perverse decision. However, film-making isn't a competitive sport. The Secret in Their Eyes is a fine film in its own right and deserves to be regarded as more than just the movie that spoiled Haneke's Oscar night.

The appeal of The Secret in Their Eyes lies in its lithe and mysterious quality. It deliberately blurs genre lines and storytelling styles. This is a murder mystery. It is also a love story, a drama about memory and bad faith and even, in an oblique way, a political allegory about 1970s Argentina. Adapted from the novel by Eduardo Sacheri, the film is primarily set in 1974 Buenos Aires, but with flashforwards to the present day and flashbacks.

Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian –

At this year's Oscar ceremony, film critics congratulated themselves generously for having praised the triumphant Iraq drama The Hurt Locker, thus justifying our continued existence in the face of a million bloggers. Then we compounded the conceit by grumbling that the best foreign picture prize had not gone to either of the press favourites – Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon or Jacques Audiard's A Prophet – but to Juan José Campanella's little-known Argentinian noir thriller El Secreto de Sus Ojos, or The Secret in Their Eyes. I am ashamed to recall that I, too, joined in with the general air of dismissive bemusement, without having yet seen the film, an omission now rectified.

The Secret in Her Eyes isn't, in fact, as good as either The White Ribbon or A Prophet, but it is a supremely watchable, well-made and well-acted movie with a dark, sinewy sense of history: a tremendously slick thriller from a director who has worked on American TV shows such as Law and Order and House. His movie may in fact be rather closer to boxset-quality television drama than cinema. But respect has to be paid right away to Campanella's most delirious big-screen flourish: an unbroken travelling shot that begins soaring over a football stadium during an evening match, swooping down into the stands where a suspected felon is being sought, tensely following him into the lavatories and then out on to the field itself, bringing play to a halt. It looks like a mix of CGI and a colossal real-world crowd scene, with the join cleverly concealed.

I would state for the record, ‘The Secret In Their Eyes’ to join my personal list of top crime thrillers, because it is wonderful, but a warning – like does open with a very disturbing crime.

The Golden Balls

Love him or hate him, Ricky Gervais certainly skated close to the edge at The Golden Globes, proving he must have balls of steel.

Before the jokes fly



Introduction



Cringe….



Where’s the table to crawl under



Read more on how Gervais is doing his bit for Anglo-American relations

Life Goes On

Happy New Year!

Last night while stuck in a traffic jam for a frustrating 2 hours, making a four hour road trip turn into 6 hours at the wheel; I discovered a song on BBC2’s Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie Show that I just could not get out of my head. It was one of their weekly ‘picks’, and I only caught the tail-end of it, but man, I just could not get the song's lyrics out of my mind as it bounced around inside like an echo. The problem was I missed who the band was, catching only the tail-end.

But it left its mark in my mind like a cattle brand.

Then tonight, thanks to the internet I tracked it down, as Noah & The Whale - L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. a band I’d never heard of before, but that song is so wonderful, and due out in March on their Album ‘Last Night on Earth’ - their 3rd album

Wonderful lyrics that resonate in me, and prove the power of words with existential abandon in a world turning more crazy by the day.

Life Affirming -



L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N (Life Goes On) © Noah and the Whale

Lisa likes brandy and the way it hits her lips
She's a rock 'n' roll survivor with pendulum hips

She's got deep brown eyes

That've seen it all
Working at a nightclub that was called The Avenue

The bar men used to call her "Little Lisa, Loney Tunes"

She went on almost anyone
From the hard time living 'til the Chelsea days

From when her hair was sweet blonde 'til the day it turned gray

She said :

Chorus

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

You've got more than money and sense, my friend

You've got heart and you go in your own way

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

What you don't have now will come back again

You've got heart and you go in your own way
Some people wear their history like a map on their face

And Joey was an artist just living out of case

But his best word was his letters home
His standard works of fiction about imaginary success

The chorus girls in neon were his closest things to friends

But to a writer, the truth is no big deal
From the hard time living to the sleepless nights

And the black and blue body from the weekend fights

He'd say :

Chorus

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

You've got more than money and sense, my friend

You've got heart and you go in your own way

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

What you don't have now will come back again

You've got heart and you go in your own way
BridgeOn my last night on earth, I won't look to the sky

Just breathe in the air and blink in the light

On my last night on earth, I'll pay a high price

To have no regrets and be done with my life

Chorus

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

You've got more than money and sense, my friend

You've got heart and you go in your own way

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

What you don't have now will come back again

You've got heart and you go in your own way(repeat)

2011 Wishes from Hong Kong

As a new year dawns, we like to look backwards in time; so please find the opening credits to one of our favourite exploitation thrillers – Brian Trenchard Smith’s THE MAN FROM HONG KONG [1975] , which starred James Bond’s George Lazenby and Jimmy Wang-Yu. It also featured a typically retro 1970’s theme song by British Band ‘Jigsaw’. The song ‘Sky High’ was a one hit wonder.

So on the eve of a new year, enjoy this bit of 1970’s nostalgia -



See you in 2011

A Stark Winters' Reading

May the Existentialist Man wish you all a happy Christmas Holiday and let’s hope that 2011 will be a good year for us all. So as I finish up, and head out of London, I must let you know what my reading plans are for the holiday.

I’ve had a very hectic year, with great fun at Crimefest, Harrogate and the thrilling time at Bouchercon San Francisco. But now the adverse weather over the last couple of weeks have been challenging due to my work in Logistics. I am looking forward to a week and a half off, with my family, and a huge stack of books and DVD’s to relax.

Last night I selected a couple of boxes of books from my review pile for my winter holiday reading. I also selected several books by Richard Stark [aka Donald Westlake] who passed away in January 2009 as books for re-reading as I have been collecting the University of Chicago re-issues, as well as the Graphic Novels The Hunter and The Outfit from Darwyn Cooke.

To show how important Westlake / Stark’s work was to the genre, Jeff Peirce published at the Rap Sheet comments from the community and my humble offering -

I first discovered Donald Westlake thanks to the movie version of The Hot Rock with Robert Redford, which led me to explore more of the Dortmunder books, as well as muttering “Afghanistan, Bananistan” to strangers from time to time. But my true love was the Richard Stark series featuring Parker. I loved the spartan style of Stark, and was overjoyed when I read Stephen King’s tribute to Stark in his brilliant novel about split personalities, The Dark Half. (“Anyway, for reasons you’d have to ask Westlake about, he eventually stopped writing novels about Parker, but I never forgot something Westlake said after the pen name was blown. He said he wrote books on sunny days and Stark took over on the rainy ones ...”) It was an apt tribute to a great man.

I only met Westlake once when we came to the CrimeScene convention in London in 2005. I was humbled in his presence, despite his modesty and gentle nature. I find it surreal that when I heard of the awful news [of Westlake’s death], the first words that came into my head were “Afghanistan, Bananistan,” which echoed as a lament for our loss. I miss his words already, as the world just darkened a tad, knowing that he is no longer with us.

So let me leave the last word to Donald Westlake on the lead up to Christmas. This paragraph is rather apt as I survey the year because the word ‘family’ should be viewed in the widest possible context -

“Christmas reminds us we are not alone. We are not unrelated atoms, bouncing and ricocheting amid aliens, but are a part of something, which holds and sustains us. As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same. Christmas shows us the ties that bind us together, threads of love and caring, woven in the simplest and strongest way within the family.”
Donald E. Westlake

Have a great holiday and thanks for reading.

If you haven’t read Richard Stark, perhaps curl up on the sofa and try one of his books, but beware, these are VERY dark novels.

Graphic © 2009 Darwyn Cooke from 'The Hunter'

If you are looking for something to read, head off to January Magazine who have their best of 2010 - plenty of great books to chose from -

Part ii
http://januarymagazine.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-books-of-2010-crime-fiction-part.html

Part i

http://januarymagazine.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-books-of-2010-crime-fiction-part-i.html

The Man from Laramie comes to Yorkshire

Some great news for thriller readers, as Wyoming based C.J. ‘Chuck’ Box is confirmed to attend the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.

I’m a long time follower of Box’s Joe Pickett novels, as well as his standalones and interviewed him at Bouchercon Indianapolis in 2009 –

As unlikely as this may sound, I made the town of Laramie, Wyoming, my home for a time in the 1980s, when I was traveling around America’s West and Midwest. Fortunately for you, I’m not going to go into all of the reasons why I landed in that once lawless frontier burg. But I will say that I had a good time there and made some “interesting friends” at a bar called The Buckhorn. It was there that I met my first real cowboys, and for a time, was a rather unusual regular--a swarthy man with a clipped English accent, who drank gin-and-tonics and talked incessantly about books.

My Laramie days were still very much on my mind in 2003, when I attended my first Bouchercon, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and met C.J. “Chuck” Box. A Wyoming native, Box by then had had two novels published: Open Season (2001) and Savage Run (2002), both of which starred game warden Joe Pickett. Reading Box’s yarns took me back to my time in the West, when I wandered around the Black Hills and attended the Frontier Days celebration in Cheyenne, an event that offered me my first opportunity to ride a bucking bronco. (Yes, my time in America was filled with action!)

Read The Full Interview Here

Corvus Publishing sent me a press release as they are releasing all of Box’s work in 2011 -

Corvus today announces an unprecedented roll-out of twelve new books by the multi award-winning US crime writer C.J. Box in a single year. Corvus is set to publish one book a month from Box’s New York Times bestselling ‘Joe Pickett’ series in 2011. Together with the paperback publication of the 2009 Edgar award-winning Blue Heaven in January and a new stand-alone novel in August, the ground-breaking venture shows a major commitment by Corvus to publishing C.J. Box in the UK. It will be supported by an intensive year-long publicity and advertising campaign and major book trade promotions.

Publisher Nicolas Cheetham says:

‘Every crime writer needs a series character, and Corvus has the great pleasure of introducing Joe Pickett to the growing number of C.J. Box’s British fans. The Joe Pickett books are addictive, each instalment surpasses the last, and that’s saying something when the first book, Open Season, won nearly every crime writing award in the USA. You shouldn’t have to wait for something this good, so we’re publishing the Pickett novels in quick succession. The best way to watch a hit TV series is to buy the box set and watch them all at once… Why shouldn’t it be the same for books? In more ways than one, this is the ultimate Box set.’

Cheetham first introduced C.J. Box to the UK, acquiring three stand alone novels, when he launched the Corvus list in 2009. Box’s use of very normal everyday characters placed in extraordinary situations has already proved a big hit with male and female readers in the US. Now, his captivating, morally complex and exceptionally written series featuring Wyoming game-warden Joe Pickett should find a broad and dedicated fan base – and as Cheetham says ‘should catapult him into the major league of thriller writers in the UK.’

C.J. Box will make his first ever UK tour in July 2011 and will appear at Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate in the run up to the publication of his new stand alone book, Back of Beyond.

THE C J BOX-SET

January 2011 Blue Heaven [paperback] £7.99
February 2011 Open Season [Joe Pickett #1] £7.99
March 2011 Savage Run [Joe Pickett #2] £7.99
April 2011 Winterkill [Joe Pickett # 3] £7.99
May 2011 Trophy Hunt [Joe Pickett #4] £7.99
June 2011 Out of Range [Joe Pickett #5] £7.99
July 2011 In Plain Sight [Joe Pickett #6] £7.99
August 2011 Back of Beyond [hardback] £7.99
August 2011 Free Fire [Joe Pickett #7] £7.99
September 2011 Blood Trail [Joe Pickett #8] £7.99
October 2011 Below Zero [Joe Pickett #9] £7.99
November 2011 Nowhere to run [Joe Pickett #10] £7.99
December 2011: Cold Wind [Joe Pickett #11] £12.99

More information about C J Box is available here

Lost Classics

While ploughing through my LOST DVD Box-set I came across this Mama and Papa’s classic song “Make Your Own Kind of Music” used to surreal effect in Season 2’s exploration of what lies beneath The Hatch and the mysterious Desmond, and the 108 minute push-button. I am enjoying watching LOST in a continuous sequence, as it poses many quirky questions and observations about life. I was amused [but not surprised] to see how some people have gotten totally obsessed by Lost, some even attending a cinema marathon screening in London.

Another aspect like the music references, is the plethora of literary observations and winks to many works, including of course Stephen King who is an advocate of the series, and also an influence on the writers.

"Make your own kind of music"
© 1968 written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil

Nobody can tell ya;
There's only one song worth singin'.
They may try and sell ya,
'cause it hangs them up
to see someone like you.

But you've gotta make your own kind of music
sing your own special song,
make your own kind of music
even if nobody else sings along.

So if you cannot take my hand,
and if you must be goin',
I will understand.
You're gonna be knowing
the loneliest kind of lonely.
It may be rough goin',
just to do your thing's
the hardest thing to do.

But you've gotta make your own kind of music
sing your own special song,
make your own kind of music
even if nobody
else sings along.

So if you cannot take my hand,
and if you must be goin',
I will understand.
You gotta make your own kind of music
sing your own special song,
make your own kind of music even if nobody
else sings along.

A superb song to kick start anyone’s day

Library Journal Best Crime and Thrillers

Considering the problems facing our libraries in the US and UK, with budget squeezing, cutbacks, and the like - I am pleased to see LJ battling on. It does seem that Minotaur Books seem to be dominating the L J Selection of the best of the genres 2010, with three nominated books in the crime fiction genre and also I am delighted to see Gayle Lynd’s remarkable ‘The Book of Spies’ selected in the Thriller List, another Minotaur publication.

All these LJ Selections would make excellent presents of Christmas gifts -

MYSTERY
Casey, Kathryn. The Killing Storm. Minotaur: St. Martin's. ISBN 9780312379520. $25.99.As Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong investigates the ritualistic killings of prize cattle, a four-year-old boy is kidnapped, and a hurricane heads straight for Houston. Riveting suspense and nifty plot twists in an outstanding series. (LJ 10/1/10)

Elias, Gerald. Danse Macabre. Minotaur: St. Martin's. ISBN 9780312541897. $24.99. The execution of a man convicted of killing a famous concert violinist draws blind violin teacher Daniel Jacobus into an impromptu investigation. Musical know-how, an intricate plot, and fresh characters elevate Elias's second series title above standard fare. (LJ 7/10)

Harris, Gardiner. Hazard. Minotaur: St. Martin's. ISBN 9780312570163. $25.99.A safety inspector probes a fatal mining disaster in Hazard, KY, that may not have been an accident. This outstanding debut boasts vivid details, insider knowledge of the mining industry, spot-on characterizations, and an engrossing mystery. (LJ 1/10)

Larsen, K.J. Liar, Liar: A Cat DeLuca Mystery. Poisoned Pen. ISBN 9781590587256. $24.95; pap. ISBN 9781590587270. $14.95.Cat DeLuca, owner of Chicago's Pants on Fire Detective Agency, is up to her eyebrows in trouble when she tries to prove a man's infidelity. Her family of police officers and busybody relatives add comic relief in this cozy debut. (LJ 8/10)

Parker, I.J. The Masuda Affair: A Sugawara Akitada Novel. Severn House. ISBN 9780727869258. $28.95.Sugawara attempts to help an abused boy, reconnect with his wife, come to terms with the death of a son, and solve a murder. Eleventh-century Japan is a perfect setting for this perceptive sleuth and complex crime novel. (LJ 11/1/10)

THRILLERS
Connelly, Michael. The Reversal. Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316069489. $27.99.Two Connelly protagonists, Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Harry Bosch (Nine Dragons), team up in a cold case that gets stranger as more evidence is unveiled. Connelly's latest solidifies his reputation as the master of the modern crime thriller. (LJ 9/1/10)

Dugoni, Robert. Bodily Harm. Touchstone: S. & S. ISBN 9781416592969. $25.A lawsuit against a toy company becomes a gut-wrenching journey for attorney David Sloan. With an intriguing premise and plenty of in- and out-of-the courtroom action, Dugoni's legal thriller will satisfy fans of the genre. (Xpress Reviews, 5/14/10)

Jacobson, Alan. Velocity. Vanguard: Perseus. ISBN 9781593156213. $25.95.FBI profiler Karen Vail (The 7th Victim) must put her personal feelings aside to rescue the man she loves from a killer in Jacobson's best book to date. (LJ 9/15/10)

Land, Jon. Strong Justice. Forge: Tor. ISBN 9780765323361. $24.99.In tackling a case involving a Mexican slave trade with strange ties to her grandfather, fifth-generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong has to face her own O.K. Corral. Land is in top form mixing elements of a modern action thriller with the fine tradition of Western novels. (LJ 4/1/10)

Lynds, Gayle. The Book of Spies. St. Martin's. ISBN 9780312380892. $25.99.A rare book dealer is framed for murdering her husband and ends up working with a former intelligence officer to uncover the legendary Library of Gold in this thrilling spy-laden, history-rich actionfest. (LJ 2/1/10)

Click Here for the complete list of all 2010 genre favourites from Library Journal

Photo © 2010 Ali Karim
Hector DeJean – Publicity Manager Minotaur Books with Jeff Peirce of The Rap Sheet taken at the Minotaur Books Cocktail Party, October 2010 San Francisco

A Larsson Gift for the Reader in your Life

Word is getting out, about the prefect gift for the reader in your family. In my case – myself, as the Stieg Larsson Millennium Series Box-Set is a must purchase and beautifully produced. This collectors set from MacLehose / Quercus consists of 4 volumes [slipcased] hardcover versions of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest as well as a fascinating fourth volume of correspondence between Stieg Larsson, and Eva Gedin, the author’s editor at Swedish publisher Norstedts, as well as many other snippets for the Larsson reader, placing the adventures of Salander & Blomkvist into context.

Also included is a huge poster featuring the international covers of the Larsson novels, this will be pride of place in many homes this winter.

Just so the US collectors are not left out; an American Edition is also planned for release shortly for the festive season.

The Existential 'Lost'

I just can’t get to watch scheduled TV due to time pressure, and the complexity of modern life. So when something interesting comes along, I often have to wait for the DVD boxset, and watch the series in a long sequence. The shows that have captivated me most recently are BBC’s ‘Spooks’ [aka MI5 in the US], the re-worked / re-tooled Battlestar Galactica, and to a lesser extent the BSG Spin-off Caprica.

I have waited for some time for LOST series 6 [the final season] to be released on DVD, with the previous 5 seasons in a boxed-set; as several people have been raving about it. I waited until the boxed-set was reduced in price, and this happened this week. So I watched the first four episodes last night and became captivated by this existentially surreal TV series, with its links to the ‘weird’.

I became interested in LOST after discovering a link between a obscure quasi-SF South American novel ‘The Invention of Morel’ by Adolfo Bioy Casares. This little known novel has been referenced by the writers of the ‘Lost’ [which I discovered after viewing the first few episodes]. The introduction to this novel can be downloaded as a .pdf here]. I strongly recommend this slim mind-flipping little book, which also seems to have influenced Christopher Nolan in “Inception” and also Alain Robbe-Grillet, the screenwriter of Alain Resnais’ ‘Last Year at Marienbad’; a film that Nolan acknowledges as an influence on ‘Inception’.

What made me sit up to attention last night, was the close of episode III ‘Tabula Rasa’ which featured a tremendously disturbing song entitled ‘Wash Away’ by Joe Purdy, which like a Leonard Cohen lament has a cheerful tone, which may underpin something far more sinister. The meaning[s] for ‘Wash Away’ are ambiguous; indicating that it is either a song [or lament] about someone changing the direction of their life, or perhaps something far more sinister; a troubled soul preparing for their suicide.

The sequence that the song plays on ‘Tabula Rosa’ is very moving, and one that makes one consider ones’ place in what we term reality.



I got troubles oh, but not today

Cause they're gonna wash away

They're gonna wash away

And I have sins Lord,

but not today

Cause they're gonna wash away

They're gonna wash away

And I had friends oh,

but not today

Cause they done washed away

They done washed away

And oh I’ve been cryin

And oh I’ve been cryin

And oh no more cryin No,

no more cryin here

We get along Lord,

but not today Cause we gonna wash away

We gonna wash away

And I got troubles oh,

but not today

Cause they gonna wash away

This old heart gonna take them away

‘Wash Away’ © Joe Purdy taken from Julie Blue

Withnail and Ali

I had a very enjoyable week with the highlight being the Galaxy National Book Awards, recorded at BBC Broadcasting House in Wood Lane, London on Wednesday. The only disappointment was that Award Nominated crime writers Peter James, Lee Child, Kate Atkinson and the late Stieg Larsson did not win their categories.

But it was a fun event, meeting up with Shots Editor Mike Stotter and Roger [RJ] Ellory as well many colleagues such as Oliver Rhodes from MIRA UK, Barry Forshaw and many others from the UK publishing industry as well as the world of film and TV. One of the delights was meeting and having a drink with Richard E. Grant, and we was very gracious talking about Bruce Robinson’s Withnail and I [considering he must get asked all the time about this iconic film]. Grant was a good sport even posing for a Withnail and I style drinking photograph, which I find most amusing.

I’ll leave you with some of the witty dialogue from ‘Withnail and I’ -

Withnail: I've some extremely distressing news.

Marwood: I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear anything! Oh God, it's a nightmare, I tell you, it's a nightmare.

Withnail: We just ran out of wine. What are we gonna do about it?

Marwood: I don't know, I don't know. Oh God, I don't feel good. Look, my thumbs have gone weird! I'm in the middle of a bloody overdose. Oh God. My heart's beating like a fucked clock! I feel dreadful, I feel really dreadful!

Withnail: So do I, so does everybody. Look at my tongue; it's wearing a yellow sock. Sit down for Christ's sake, what's the matter with you? Eat some sugar.

See you all in San Francisco

Not much to say, except thanks to Roger RJ Ellory, twisting my arm at Harrogate following his winning the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Award for Crime Novel of the Year this summer [‘A Simple Act of Violence’], our bags are packed for the long journey to Bouchercon San Francisco.

Bouchercon is a great place to meet up with our friends; only a few are pictured above , so if you are around – then please say hello as we arrive early hours of Thursday Morning and fly out Monday.

So let’s leave the last word to John Fogerty and Willie and the Poor Boys of CCR -




We’ll have plenty to say on our return, so until then, why not explore Roger’s latest ‘SAINTS OF NEW YORK’.

A Big Hand to Henriksson & Forsyth

Despite my badly injuring my right hand this week, [hence the bandages and white protective glove]; I thoroughly enjoyed the Specsavers CWA Dagger Awards in London on Friday. Due to my hand injury, I can only type rather slowly hence a very short piece about the event.

As a true fan-boy there were too many people there to comment and write about, however I must admit that my first ever meetings with Frederick Forsyth and Swedish actor Krister Henriksson, who plays Inspector Kurt Wallander were memorable, truly memorable. I somehow managed to remain coherent despite my inner fanboy tendencies. I did discover that Henriksson is good friends with author Henning Mankell. I also had a fascinating chat with Fredrick Forsyth. I later learned from Forsyth’s publisher Selina Walker of Transworld that when Forsyth’s debut 'The Day of The Jackal' was submitted for publication, it was rejected by all and sundry, apart from one publisher. This publisher decided to take a gamble as he liked the book, but commented it broke the 3 golden rules of thrillers [at that time] so he decided, ‘let’s take a punt’ –

# The Novel was filled with ‘matter of fact’ tradecraft ‘ - that was totally unheard of at the time [which now is a staple of thriller fiction]

# The writing style was totally ‘different’ to thrillers of that time; filled with a style that was excessively descriptive and very ‘matter of fact’.

# The novel was based around true life events, and everyone knew that the Jackal failed in the assassination attempt, hence the climax already known.

The rest, Selina Walker said ‘was history’. I admire people who take risks.

I also admire Frederick Forsyth, as when we had a chat about his work, especially his short stories from his collection No Comebacks which I read while at University; he was interested in one of his stories that still resonates in me for obvious reasons –

There Are No Snakes In Ireland is about an Indian medical student in Ireland who is bullied by the foreman at a construction site where he is trying to earn his tuition. Things go too far and the student decides to take his revenge.

There was some drama, very late in the bar, when I attempted to help Krister Henriksson try and find his CWA Dagger that he mislaid in his goodie bag. I thought ‘surreal!’; me helping Inspector Kurt Wallander on a case. When I told my wife, she rolled her eyes to heaven and said, “You do realize that he’s an actor and not really a policeman….”

There were so many key figures from the Crime and Mystery genre, to list them all would be too hard with just one hand, though special thanks go to my Editor at Shots, Mike Stotter - a true friend who helped me with my bandages.

Now I have to look after my damaged hand, for my trip to Bouchercon next week; so if you trap me in the bar, I’ll tell you more - as typing with one hand is proving a nightmare, but I do like to talk a lot about the genre!

Also - I must thank Dan Wagner for his kind words about the Book Reviewing panel that happens on Thursday, and of course check out The Rap Sheet for details on the Friday Panel entitled Inferno, and see you all next week in San Francisco!

Three Seconds and Three Book Videos

I am getting very excited for my trip with Roger Ellory to Bouchercon San Francisco next week, though there is a lot of work behind the scenes for the trip, especially as I have a couple of panels to moderate, parties to attend and generally meeting my friends and colleagues in the Crime and Thriller Genre –

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED - our favorite books
Ali Karim (M) - Chris Aldrich, Sarah Byrne, Janet Rudolph, Andi Shechter
Thursday Oct 14th 10:00am in Seacliff A

I am as ever flattered to be moderating the book reviewing panel where we will discuss our favourite books, past present and future with key critics of the genre. Remember it was at Bouchercon that word about Stieg Larsson travelled from Europe to America, so you may well discover what the critics reckon will become the big books of 2010.

And talking about Stieg Larsson [some people indicate I talk about nothing else…], I am also delighted to be moderating a truly international panel where we will discuss crime fiction set against the backdrops of Iceland, Sweden and the Middle East.

INFERNO : Where will the next great idea come from?
Ali Karim (M), Zoë Ferraris, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Anders Roslund, Börge Hellström, Joshua Sobol
Fri, Oct 15 11:30AM-12:30PM in Grand Ballroom C

Next week The Rap Sheet in a pre-Bouchercon special will be featuring an exclusive 2 part interview with the Swedish crime-writing duo Roslund and Hellström. As I was talking earlier this week about Book Videos, I am delighted to show you three videos revolving around the Swedish Prison Psycho-Drama that is ‘Three Seconds’ –

Video I



Video II



Video III



I hope to see you in San Francisco next week, and those of you who can’t make it, check out The Rap Sheet next week as the exclusive Roslund and Hellström interview goes live on Wednesday and Thursday, during which they tackle the dark subjects that make their fiction so scary, so challenging. Trust me, when I say that they push crime fiction into the very darkest corners of the human condition, making you reflect upon your own value system.

Photo of Roslund and Hellström (c) 2010 Magnus Jönsson

The Making of Mankell

I look forward to meeting Swedish actor Krister Henriksson on Friday at the CWA Specsavers Dagger Awards in London, where he is nominated for an award for his portrayal of melancholic detective Kurt Wallander. I see that the BBC Series featuring Kenneth Branagh as the depressively troubled inspector has its second series currently airing on US TV. Personally I prefer the original Swedish version from YellowBird Productons featuring Henriksson.

Meanwhile The Independent has a lengthy feature with Geoffrey Macnab including an interview with Henning Mankell, the creator of Kurt Wallander –

Speaking from Sweden, where he has been attending the Gothenburg Book Fair, Mankell ponders the reasons for the extraordinary global popularity of Nordic detectives. "Naturally, I've been thinking about it," he tells me. "One [reason] must be pure coincidence. The second is that I guess I worked as a locomotive in some ways. My success has been an inspiration for others. You remember the tennis player Björn Borg? Before that, Sweden had very few good tennis players. After that, we suddenly had a hell of a lot. Maybe that is one kind of explanation."

The main subject of my interview isn't Larsson or Björn Borg. Nor is it the psychology and unlikely appeal of the morose Detective Kurt Wallander. It is Mankell's ongoing attempts to make an ambitious TV drama and feature film about his father-in-law, Ingmar Bergman – a project interrupted in surreal fashion by the Israeli army.

Earlier this summer, Mankell was aboard the Gaza-bound aid flotilla that was attacked by Israeli forces. To his consternation, part of the screenplay for his new film about Bergman was confiscated by the Israeli soldiers.

"Whatever I do, I am always working on something," says Mankell, explaining how he happened to have the Bergman screenplay in his possession at the same time as he was taking part in a mission to bring aid supplies to Gaza in defiance of the Israeli blockade. "When everything was stolen and confiscated, they [the Israeli troops] also took the manuscript," he recalls. "What the hell are they supposed to do with that?"

Four months later, the Israelis still haven't returned Mankell's screenplay. He jokes that the Israelis must have thought the screenplay – called Crisis in deference to Bergman's directorial debut – was written in code. Mankell very much doubts that the young commando soldiers who took the screenplay even knew who Bergman was.

Mankell, now 62, has spent many years living and working in Africa. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was a political activist, campaigning against apartheid in South Africa and the US war in Vietnam. Being aboard the Gaza flotilla didn't scare him at all. "I am not an afraid person," he blithely states. "In all the years I have lived in Africa, I have had some quite terrible experiences. What I still think about today is how very stupidly they [the Israeli army] behaved. If they really had had the ambition just to stop the flotilla, they should have done something with the rudder and propellers," he reflects on the incident, which left nine flotilla members dead, saw him arrested and provoked a huge international row.

The crime writer's outspoken opinions about the Middle East have been well chronicled. He likens the plight of the Palestinians to that of black South Africans in the apartheid era and expresses his confidence that the Gaza blockade will eventually be broken. He has no intention of letting up on his activism. "I am a very dangerous man because I know that we managed to crush the apartheid system in South Africa without violence. This is also the idea here. Sooner or later, people in Israel must understand that this is an unbearable situation."

Read the full feature here

A Plum Job on American Dragon Tattoo

The news from the US production team behind David Fincher’s interpretation of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo thriller just gets better and better. We reported about Daniel Craig joining the cast, now we hear Christopher Plummer has signed up to play Henrik Vanger. Former action star Sven-Bertil Taube played the role of Henrik Vanger in the Swedish language original. Though I’m not usually too excited about Hollywood remakes of European originals, but after viewing ‘Let Me In’ last week, my opinion has changed.

Though it’s not all good news as the production currently in Sweden has had a set back as Rooney Mara, who is cast as Salander has been reported [but not confirmed] as injured in Stockholm last week -

25-year-old Mara seriously injured her shoulder, according to the Aftonbladet daily, while preparing for the role of Salander in the Hollywood version of the first of Larsson's Millennium trilogy books. Filming has now been delayed for several days while the actress works to recover from her injury sustained while training for the role.

Mara has been in Stockholm for several weeks preparing for the task of playing the gothic hacker heroine Salander, including learning to ride a motorbike, fight and to build up her muscle strength. She has furthermore been undergoing classes to learn how to speak English with a Swedish accent.

Mara has been spotted undergoing rehab training at the private Sophiahemmet hospital in Stockholm to recover from her unfortunate mishap, according to Aftonbladet."She injured herself during the preparations for the role so seriously that she is unable to record any scenes at the moment," said an unnamed person who had seen the actress at the hospital to the newspaper. However, Malte Forssell, the project leader for filming in Sweden told the newspaper he had no knowledge of the injury. In addition, a representative for Sony Pictures told US entertainment programme Access Hollywood that the reports of Mara's injury were "not true". The US film team have identified a number of locations around central-eastern Sweden for the film. Södermalm on Stockholm will featured strongly, with the production using Mariatorget as a base.

Sweden is all a-go-go with the Hollywood Team landing to film their version of Larsson’s internationally lauded crime thriller –

So far, sites in central Stockholm and the nearby archipelago have been confirmed, as have locations in Uppsala in eastern Sweden, according to the TT Spektra news service."They're going to remake building facades and streets on parts of Drottninggatan. It's supposed to look like it did in the 1960s. Therefore, we've given permits to place work trucks and such on the street," Karin Åkerström of the Uppsala police told TT. The filming is likely to cause some traffic headaches for Uppsala residents, with bus service on Drottninggatan set to be rerouted for at least a month. In addition, an estate outside the town of Katrineholm, located about 140 kilometres southwest of Stockholm, is a likely location for filming scenes in the Hollywood remake of the first installment of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy.

According to the Katrineholms-Kuriren, the Hofsta säteri estate, with roots back to the 1300s, will serve as character Henrik Vanger's compound on the outskirts of the fictional town of Hedestad in "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.""We're preparing for filming to start in October, but it's not 100 percent finished," Malte Forssell, the film's Swedish producer, told the newspaper.Film crews are also set to descend on locations in Hälsingland province in eastern Sweden, including Bollnäs, as well as Gävle and Söderhamn. A number of scenes will also be shot in central Stockholm and at three locations in the city's archipelago.

Read More

Lee Child No 1 with a Bullet

It’s Groundhog Day again; Lee Child releases a new book and it hits No 1 in the UK. The interesting factor is that ‘Worth Dying For’ is Lee’s second Jack Reacher novel as earlier this year we had ’61 Hours’ which rocked the house.

So as Jack Reacher escapes the perils of winter in 61 Hours……..

There's deadly trouble in the wilds of Nebraska...and Reacher walks right into it.First he falls foul of the Duncans, a local clan that has terrified an entire county into submission. But it's the unsolved case of a missing eight-year-old girl, already decades-old, that Reacher can't let go.The Duncans want Reacher gone - or dead. And it's not just past secrets they're trying to hide. They're awaiting a secret shipment that's already late - and they have the kind of customers no one can afford to annoy. For as dangerous as the Duncans are, they're just the bottom of a criminal food chain stretching halfway around the world.



Click Here to read the first chapter and Click Here to download to Kindle

If you planning to come to Bouchercon San Francisco next week remember Lee is to be honored with the Distinguished Contribution to the Genre Award. Spotlight event: Lee in conversation with Robert Crais!

Chris Fowler’s Cause Celeb

I know many of you enjoy the work of Christopher Fowler as much as I do. I am always amazed at his prolific work ethic, with novels, short stories, anthology editing, films, and reviewing, well it looks now he’s branching out onto the stage.

For those who haven’t sampled his work - Fowler won the British Fantasy Society [BFS] Best Short Story Of The Year 1998, for Wageslaves. In 2004, The Water Room was nominated for the CWA People’s Choice Award, Full Dark House won the BFS August Derleth Novel Of The Year Award 2004, and American Waitress won the BFS Best Short Story Of The Year 2004. His novella Breathe won BFS Best Novella 2005. His short story The Master Builder became a CBS movie starring Tippi Hedren and Marg Helgenberger entitled Through The Eyes Of A Killer, while Left Hand Drive, won Best British Short Film of 1993.

His fiction details urban decay, and is usually classed as horror, or [dark] general fiction with some science fiction / fantasy elements. Fowler's first four novels set his backdrop of London as the source of his storytelling. He debuted in 1988 with the novel Roofworld, which details a story of rival gangs who live on the rooftops of London, fighting arcane battles while the city sleeps. His second novel, Rune, tells the tale of a disparate group of Londoners who band together to prevent the devil's return to earth via modern technology. Red Bride chronicles a modern marriage made hell by a couple who cannot trust each other - even though their lives finally come to depend on it. While Darkest Day is the story of the occult which was later re-worked in his ongoing Bryant and May Detective series.

I was delighted to have lunch with him a few weeks ago at a literary function when he let me know about his branching out onto the stage -

'Celebrity' by Christopher Fowler
Starring Victoria Jeffrey, Neil Burgess, Mark Martin & Lucy Clements.

Nov 23 - Dec 4 (Nightly 7:30pm, Matinees Sat 4:00pm, No perfs Sun, Mon)
The Phoenix Artist Club,1 Phoenix Street, London, WC2H 0DT. (Off Charing Cross Road next to the Phoenix Theatre) Tickets: £10
To book telephone 020 7836 1077 or email: maurice@phoenixartistclub.com
(+50p CC bookings) Tickets are limited so book today!

‘Celebrity’ is part of the London Fringe Festival

Synopsis:
Once there were stars. Now everyone wants to be a celebrity - how did we get from Cary Grant to Jedward?

It’s 1968. Helena runs Albion PR in London’s Wardour Street, looking after ‘difficult’ stars. She hires 19 year-old Billy to teach him the secrets of the business. Saving the reputations of her clients involves an outrageous amount of lying and cheating, but neither Helena nor Billy realize this innocent era is about to come crashing to an end…

‘Celebrity’ is based on the life of a real London PR agent. Only the names of scandal-struck celebrities will be changed to protect us from libel!

I admire Fowler, as I really enjoyed his memoir about growing up with books in ‘The Paperboy’, though I wonder what Bryant and May would think about his new venture in the West End….

Ralph M. Vicinanza passes away

One of my favourite novellas is ‘Sandkings’ by George RR Martin, so I was upset with this sad news as reported by Locus that Martin’s literary agent passed away -

Legendary literary agent Ralph Vicinanza, 60, died without warning in his sleep on September 25, 2010 at his home in Old Brookville NY, from what was apparently a cerebral aneurysm. For over two decades, Vicinanza earned worldwide recognition for his vision in opening the international marketplace for US authors, predominantly in the science fiction and fantasy genres.

Born August 8, 1950 and raised in the Bronx, Vincinanza graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and later studied at Fordham University, graduating from City College of New York. He started out in publishing at the Scott Meredith Agency, working with authors including Norman Mailer, Carl Sagan, and Philip K. Dick, and quickly became known as “Mr. Foreign Rights” for his work in creating a global marketplace for American books. He opened the Ralph M. Vicinanza Ltd. agency in 1987, and was soon working with an ever-expanding roster of names: Stephen King, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, George R.R. Martin, Terry Pratchett, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Silverberg, Connie Willis, Robin Hobb, to name a few.