New Year, New Thrills
By the time you read this, it'll be the new year already.
2008.
Another year gone, and so quickly, too. The last couple of months have seemed a matter of days, helped no doubt by a steady stream of customers and a bucketload of other commitments. The book trade here in the UK has been steady, and certainly the local market has been fairly strong. To the point that my crime shelves are currently looking remarkably bare.
Which is good, considering that the top selling book in the UK is Russell Brand's My Booky Wook, an irritating title from a celebrity comedian who seems to have captured the heart of the whole nation except possibly myself. But weíll never have a crime fiction title at the number one spot during the season of goodwill. Celebrity memoirs and coffee table books are easy pick ups and hardly
So what am I looking forward to on the British thriller front in 2008?
Well let's start with events:
Although I'm not going to be in attendance this year (previous commitments, lack of funds following Harrogate and Bouchercon), the organisers of the excellent Left Coast Crime in 2006 have got the Bristol gig again for the brand new Crime Fest event (www.crimefest.com). They did an incredible job last time, and I hope this one takes off. The plan is to make it a bi-annual event, I understand. Personally I fell in love with Bristol after almost attending university down there, so I'd welcome an excuse for a semi-regular jaunt. So, a lovely setting, fantastic organisers and a great guest list.
Oh, can't I change my commitments?
Still, at least I'll be in attendance at Harrogate again this year, which is always good fun, although I am slowly learning to actually avoid Theakstons, copious pints of which tend to be my downfall at the yearly festival. Its usually worth risking the early morning hangover for events, however, and the whispers I'm hearing sound like this year will be a lot of fun. And on top of that, it's a beautiful location.
All we need now, to combat the English gigs, is an incredible Scottish crime event outside of the Edinburgh book festival. I know that Ottakars in Glasgow used to organise a crime weekend, but I have so far heard nothing about Waterstones organising similar events. I certainly hope it happens, but the evening events, while intriguing and fun, were never on the scale of a full blown con.
But, of course, while we don't do straight crime festivals north of the border, we do excellent literary events and, of course, the Edinburgh Book Festival (www.edbookfest.co.uk) is going from strength to strength (even if I'm still sore over the fact that the first time I ever went ñ many, many years ago ñ James Ellroy cancelled his gig at the last minute) and includes an impressive mix of writers from all genres (but many doozies from crime and mystery field, of course). Last year, again, I missed most of the fun, but the lineup was impressive and I'm looking forward to finding out more about this year's events and maybe even booking a few days off to pop through.
But why wait until August to come to Scotland? In March, the Aye Write festival (http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Visitors/AyeWriteGlasgowsBookFestival) will be featuring a nice line up of writers. Including two men who do events that are every bit as entertaining as their novels: Mark Billingham (Death Message) and Christopher Brookmyre (Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks).
NEW THRILLS FOR THE NEW YEAR
People have asked me what criteria I used to look at upcoming books. It's a mixture of what excites me, what I know about, what I would consider for my own crime shelves and what I think people might be unaware of. I try to do a mix of lesser authors and better known authors when I know about them, so if you want to let me know about upcoming releases you think I might have missed, email me at RusselMcLean@thrillerwriters.org.
White Riot (9781847390585) By Martyn Waites - Waites's latest series about Joe Donovan has been a little more standard thriller than previous efforts, but still very compelling. The thriller aspects become married to a social conscience, with the threat of a race riot looming over events in this newest entry. Bound to please old fans and hopefully bring on a board a slew of new readers.
Innocent Blood (978-0749080969) by Elizabeth Corley - Murder, paedophilia and chills from a thriller writer whose previous book was one of Waterstone's Crime Books of the Month.
Dead Men (978-0340921715) by Stephen Leather - I know very little about Leather's work, but he's certainly popular with the Lee Child and Simon Kernick fanbase which is probably a very good sign.
Burial Ground (978-0141021171) by John Rickards - An up and coming British writer whose work is convincingly transplanted to the States. His Alex Rourke series re-invented itself a little with last year's The Darkness Inside, and the latest, Burial Ground looks set to be even stronger, attracting more attention for this talented author.
The Price of Darkness (978-0752868844) by Graham Hurley - He was in the shortlist for the Theakston's award last year, which should hopefully mean a nice upswing in sales for Hurely, yet another British author whose works I have yet to catch up on (although many of my regular customers tell me he's very good indeed!)
Cold in Hand (978-0434016945) by John Harvey - With a surge in sales and popularity last year, the latest Resnick novel by Harvey is bound to be a strong and popular seller. It looks like acclaim he's earned within the industry is beginning to rub off on the punters, too.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (978-1847242532) by Stiegg Larrson - Not a British author, but rather Swedish. His labyrinth and paranoid thriller looks very good indeed. The first in a trilogy, the author died before the publication of his books (but all three, as I understand were delivered), and they have become an immense hit in his homeland. With Quercus shaping up to be one of my favourite new British publishers, I have faith that this will live up to the pre-publicity hype.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
So, here's to 2008, which I'm hoping will be a good one for thriller writers and readers. There are a lot of books I'm looking forward to, and even some I'm sure I don't already know about that will surprise me.
As ever, feel free to contact me through the ITW address. I don’t bite… usually…
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