Summer Rain - September 2008

By Russel McLean on August 31, 2008 10:00 PM

Rankin's Ratings, More Televised Awards, Samurai Swords and we don't get to journey through to Edinburgh...

 

It's that time of the month again, where your intrepid wee Scots bookseller dips a toe into the waters of the crime and thriller world. Although when we say waters we really mean it as Scotland has been flooded over the past several weeks and your hero has been spending his time in wondering whether or not to protect his precious books with a layer of tarpaulin.

 

At the moment, between bailing buckets of water out the front door, the bookstore is preparing for an onslaught later this month by the irrepressible Mr Christopher Brookmyre later this month, who will be reading from and talking about his new novel, Snowball in Hell. A swipe at celebrity culture filled with all the insanity we've come to expect from Brookmyre, its definitely one of his best books and had me genuinely belly-laughing before feeling just a little at guilty at doing so, considering some of the horrendous things he does to (fictional) celebrities.

 

And speaking of celebrities, we're talking TV this month, with Cactus's ITV3 Crime and Thriller awards, we're broadcasting a couple of readings from the Aye Write Festival earlier this year and we're making a pledge to make more time next year for Edinburgh International Book Festival...

 

 

CACTUS IF YOU CAN

Cactus - the company in the UK responsible for the phenomenon that is Richard and Judy's Bookclub - got off to a strong start with their new book related project, the ITV3 Crime and Thriller awards. ITV3's premiere for the Crime and Thriller season, Profiling Ian Rankin attracted an audience of 500,000. That's over 150,000 more viewers than the average timeslot receives on that channel. Not bad at all.

Meanwhile, the star turn of the season, the awards themselves, announced their shortlist earlier this month:

Breakthrough Author Award    
Chelsea Cain Heartsick
Stuart MacBride Broken Skin
Michael Robotham Shatter
Anne Zouroudi The Messenger of Athens

International Author of the Year    
Jeffery Deaver The Sleeping Doll
Stieg Larsson The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Karin Slaughter Skin Privilege
PJ Tracy Snow Blind

Author of the Year
Lee Child Bad Luck and Trouble
Robert Harris The Ghost
Peter James Not Dead Enough
Ian Rankin Exit Music

Is this "likely to be the most successful campaign in terms of promoting crime and thriller writing that there has ever been"? as the organisers claimed in The Bookseller? I don't know about that. But given the unexpected success of Richard and Judy's bookclub - who helped boost UK sales for many authors, including thriller writers such as Simon Kernick, Michael Connolly and RJ Ellory - hopes must be high. And when even The Sun newspaper here in the UK is getting fired up about writers, you think there may be a chance they're not just talking hyperbole.

NO TIME FOR GOODBYE'S FROM RICHARD AND JUDY

Speaking of TV shows and Richard and Judy's Bookclub, the winner of this year's Summer Read 2008 was Linwood Barclay's thriller, No Time For Goodbye, in which a woman discovers, 25 years after the fact, why her parents disappeared when she was a teenager.

SMALL, BUT PERFECTLY FORMED

World Book Day comes upon us but once a year, and while this year's is long gone, next year's celebrations are already in preparation.

The Quick Read initiative is one of the traditional events associated with the day. 10 short books aimed at reluctant readers from a variety of authors and celebrities who might just persuade the uncertain to take a chance on a book. In '09 we'll have two fiction titles by crime authors. One by Ian Rankin (who else?) entitled Cool Head from Orion.

And the other by Sherrie Hewson.

Who? I hear many of you ask (and yes, I did that myself at first).

If you remember, earlier in the year, we discussed Murder Most Famous, a BBC reality show where various "celebrities" competed for the chance to write their own crime novel. Hewson was the - apparently deserving - winner of the show, and her debut was written specifically for the initiative. The Tannery will be published by MacMillan, who sponsored the TV show.

HEE-F****N'-YA!

Travel back in time with me to the Aye Writer Festival for this video clip of Scotland's own Allan Guthrie reading about Samurai swords from his latest Edinburgh based noir thriller. Savage Night. It's the punchline that gets me here ever time

.




And while we're at it, here's fellow Scot Quintin Jardine reading from the latest of his hugely popular Skinner series of novels, Aftershock.


 

And we know that Stuart MacBride was also present at this same event, but sadly no footage seems to exist of his reading. One suspects a conspiracy...

CAPITAL CRIME

Sadly, I missed the Edinburgh book festival once again due to commitments with the Day Job, but reports say that it went very well.

Among the crime authors present were John Connolly, Ian Rankin (who interviewed Prime Minister Gordon Brown) and Edinburgh's own Tony Black. I'm always sorry to miss the festival, but in order to afford the price of one drink in Edinburgh, I tend to have work several months flat out...

And that's all for this month, folks. I'll be back at the end of September, right before heading off to the States for this year's Bouchercon.

Until, then, my friends... take care...

Russel D McLean

russel-mclean-small.jpgContributing editor Russel D McLean is a Scottish bookseller working for a national chain. He has run webzines, agonized over reviews for various publications both in print and online, and written several short stories, several of which have been published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine as well as various other crime and noir markets. His debut noir novel, THE GOOD SON, will be available in the UK in November 2008 published by Five Leaves Press.

Categories:

From The International Thriller Writers: