The other day a book ended up on my desk called One Life 6 Words What's Yours? Apparently it had been inspired by Ernest Hemingway's response to a challenge to write a story in six words. He produced the poignant: 'For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.'This seemed a great idea so I emailed the South African ITW contingent asking for contributions. I also tapped David Hewson and Ken Bruen to add some international flavour. The only variation on the original concept was a one-word title. The stories came flooding in with great enthusiasm, some writers even contributing by cellphone.
These stories now constitute what has come to be called "Kort Krimis - a season of nastiness" on the blog Crime Beat. It's been on the go since early November. What's fascinating about so many of the entries is how close to home the murder and mayhem gets. Seems we like to keep things in the family.
Here's a sample:
Triangle by Roger Smith
Daddy died. Mommy cried. Buried gun.
Beware by Chanette Paul
The widow was an accomplished heir.
Visitor by Francois Bloemhof
My wife chose you. Now die.
Death by Quintus van der Merwe
My wife's last words: what bus?
Marriage by Margie Orford
A single shot: all she required.
Provoked by Sue Rabie
Home alone with Mother, and matches.
Shot by Ken Bruen
Woman pleads guilty. Husband claims frame.
And then there is David Hewson's creepy: Afterlife - The light went out. He waited. And a funny from a new author who will publish her first thriller next year, Sarah Lotz: Undermesticated - Wife at 'sister's'. Rosebeds now blooming.
The novel that kept me awake until way too late on a couple of evenings last month was Deon Meyer's latest (and dare I use the word 'gripping' which actually best describes it?) Blood Safari. Deon writes in Afrikaans and the book appeared last year in that language with the title, Onsigbaar (Invisible). It garnered much praise in the Afrikaans press and won an award for the best suspense fiction published in 2007. Deon's latest novel, 13 Uur, has also just been released in Afrikaans, so the guy is running ragged with promotional work.
From Germany comes news that Blood Safari is causing a stir among krimi lovers there and has been featured in Die Welt's list of top ten crime novels for the last three months. The English version is only available in South Africa at the moment and is due for release in the US and UK in April 2009. If you can't wait that long you could always order from a South African online book site: http://www.kalahari.net, http://www.loot.co.za, and http://www.exclusivebooks.com. The story is set in the bushveld in searing temperatures where life is edgy and ugly secrets fester. It's a new setting for Meyer as is his use of a first person narrator, never an easy trick to pull off. He's also incorporated in the plot the mysterious plane crash that killed the Mozambican president Samora Machel during the dark days of apartheid. It gives the story a troubling political dimension, although that aspect is nothing new in Meyer's work. Deon will be a panelist at ThrillerFest 2009.
And while on Deon Meyer, his second novel, Dead at Daybreak, has been shortlisted for Sweden's 2008 Martin Beck Award for the best translated crime fiction of the year. Up against him are John le Carre, Robert Harris, Peter Temple and Andrea Maria Schenkel.
Author websites are still somewhat of a rarity in South Africa (although you can check out Deon Meyer, Margie Orford, and Jassy Mackenzie. Jassy published her first novel, Random Violence in August (with considerable attention from The Big Thrill) and now has a short story on her website which is attracting traffic. She reckons it's because a dominatrix features. The following search phrases dominate her webstats: 'forced him to wear high heels'; 'permanent piercing mistress'; and 'leather basque boots whip'. Book buyers one and all I'm sure.
To end, good cheer and Season's Greetings from a summery Cape peninsula. Here's a cartoon by a friend, Gus Ferguson, who runs a small poetry press (Snailpress) and a literary magazine called Carapace. I include it especially for those literary types who get sniffy about the genres:
ITW International Committee Chair for South Africa, Mike Nicol, is a journalist and writer and now a hard-core crime fiction addict. He's published two crime novels - Payback and Out to Score (a co-authorship), and is a founder of the blog Crime Beat. He lives on Cape Town?s peninsula, up a mountain, in the teeth of the wind.
Triangle by Roger Smith
Daddy died. Mommy cried. Buried gun.
Beware by Chanette Paul
The widow was an accomplished heir.
Visitor by Francois Bloemhof
My wife chose you. Now die.
Death by Quintus van der Merwe
My wife's last words: what bus?
Marriage by Margie Orford
A single shot: all she required.
Provoked by Sue Rabie
Home alone with Mother, and matches.
Shot by Ken Bruen
Woman pleads guilty. Husband claims frame.
And then there is David Hewson's creepy: Afterlife - The light went out. He waited. And a funny from a new author who will publish her first thriller next year, Sarah Lotz: Undermesticated - Wife at 'sister's'. Rosebeds now blooming.
The novel that kept me awake until way too late on a couple of evenings last month was Deon Meyer's latest (and dare I use the word 'gripping' which actually best describes it?) Blood Safari. Deon writes in Afrikaans and the book appeared last year in that language with the title, Onsigbaar (Invisible). It garnered much praise in the Afrikaans press and won an award for the best suspense fiction published in 2007. Deon's latest novel, 13 Uur, has also just been released in Afrikaans, so the guy is running ragged with promotional work. From Germany comes news that Blood Safari is causing a stir among krimi lovers there and has been featured in Die Welt's list of top ten crime novels for the last three months. The English version is only available in South Africa at the moment and is due for release in the US and UK in April 2009. If you can't wait that long you could always order from a South African online book site: http://www.kalahari.net, http://www.loot.co.za, and http://www.exclusivebooks.com. The story is set in the bushveld in searing temperatures where life is edgy and ugly secrets fester. It's a new setting for Meyer as is his use of a first person narrator, never an easy trick to pull off. He's also incorporated in the plot the mysterious plane crash that killed the Mozambican president Samora Machel during the dark days of apartheid. It gives the story a troubling political dimension, although that aspect is nothing new in Meyer's work. Deon will be a panelist at ThrillerFest 2009.
And while on Deon Meyer, his second novel, Dead at Daybreak, has been shortlisted for Sweden's 2008 Martin Beck Award for the best translated crime fiction of the year. Up against him are John le Carre, Robert Harris, Peter Temple and Andrea Maria Schenkel.
Author websites are still somewhat of a rarity in South Africa (although you can check out Deon Meyer, Margie Orford, and Jassy Mackenzie. Jassy published her first novel, Random Violence in August (with considerable attention from The Big Thrill) and now has a short story on her website which is attracting traffic. She reckons it's because a dominatrix features. The following search phrases dominate her webstats: 'forced him to wear high heels'; 'permanent piercing mistress'; and 'leather basque boots whip'. Book buyers one and all I'm sure.
To end, good cheer and Season's Greetings from a summery Cape peninsula. Here's a cartoon by a friend, Gus Ferguson, who runs a small poetry press (Snailpress) and a literary magazine called Carapace. I include it especially for those literary types who get sniffy about the genres:
ITW International Committee Chair for South Africa, Mike Nicol, is a journalist and writer and now a hard-core crime fiction addict. He's published two crime novels - Payback and Out to Score (a co-authorship), and is a founder of the blog Crime Beat. He lives on Cape Town?s peninsula, up a mountain, in the teeth of the wind.
