International

This month we come over all Peculier, find a literary author indulging in some (James) Bondage, and someone at Hodder's hunting down the next big debut...
 
After technical difficulties last month, we're back with more international news from the world of crime and thriller fiction. The months do fly by at this time of year, so I do hope you haven't missed me too much.
 
Oh, you didn't miss me at all?
 
Well, never mind.  Onwards and upwards:

A MOST PECULIER AWARD
 
crime-festival.jpgBarely seems like two minutes since Allan Guthrie won last year's Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, and already the latest longlist has been announced. There are a few familiar faces on the list, including previous winners Mark Billingham (Buried) and Val McDermid (The Grave Tattoo), as well as previously shortlisted authors such as Simon Kernick (Relentless) and Stuart MacBride (Dying Light).
 
Presented at the Harrogate International Writing Festival (chaired this year by the ever charming and slightly dangerous Simon Kernick), the awards have become a major part of this bookseller's (and I assume many others) crime calendar.  And as ever, I shall be at Harrogate this year to raise my pint of Theakston's in honour of the winner. Before falling over along with everyone else who's been gulping beer at the bar in the awards hall.
Scottish writing festivals, Mills and Boons gets bloody, Tom Rob Smith's Supermarket Sweep and the newest British thrillers

Each month seems to come around with less and less warning in these parts.  And, as ever, February has come and gone far too quickly. With Valentines day, I noticed an upsurge in bloody crime fiction sales which spoke nicely to the cynic in me and also maybe said something to the fact I was about the only section not to indulge in a special valentines day display (even the history section seemed to have a few titles especially on display, although our law buyer's idea for a display of how-to-divorce titles was nixed at the last minute).

But that's all in the past now, and March beckons us on further into the new year. So without delay, here's what's come my way during the month of February and the usual look ahead to new British thrillers available from March...

This month sees a media related special as we look at newly commissioned writing reality programs, radio-led motivational schemes and book trailers as well as the latest thriller releases from UK Writers

 

Oh, yes, January's gone and we're into February here. This means no more time to sit around; it's back to business as usual in the booktrade.

It's been nice to see some people taking me up on my ramblings here. I've had emails from people who've searched out books because of a mention here, which is a gratifying thing to hear.

And, of course, certain eagle eyed readers will have noticed I'd had too much of the Christmas cheer last month and cut short some of my ramblings about celebrity biographies.  For that I apologise. It wasn't terribly interesting, anyway, and you're probably glad to have not been exposed to an egg-nog fuelled rant in an indecipherable Scots accent.

Anyway, this month we have some media news for you and all the usual nonsense, so...

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?

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