A Copy Edit a Day

The path to publication seems to involve a lot of waiting (and waiting and waiting and...). Finally this week the copy-edit of the Third Pig Detective Agency began in earnest. As I'm still a novice at this game I was wondering exactly what it would involve but, as it turned out, it was a painless affair.
Apart from consistency checks - particularly in relation to Americanisms (no hard-boiled noir pastiche can be considered complete without them) - and a few suggested minor changes, there wasn't much to it really. A few phone calls and it was all over - a bit like a chat-line service really.
The revised doc will be back at the publishers early next week and will then be sent back to me to check and confirm the changes. Once that happens it goes to the proofs stage.
At last things are moving!

Fiction is Stranger Than Truth

World War Z by Max Brooks (son of Mel) is a compelling, horrifying account of how humanity is almost wiped out by a zombie plague. The story unfolds as a series of newspaper-style reports and interviews with the survivors. Starting with the doctor who discovers the original outbreak in China, the narrator crosses the world talking to soldiers, politicians, black-marketeers and others who played their part in the war. The result is an unusually well-written horror story, made all the more believable by the non-fiction structure of the narration.
Clearly fiction, I was more than a little surprised (but highly amused) when, browsing in one of my local bookstores, I found it prouddly displayed in the non-fiction section under History.
Then again, maybe there was a zombie outbreak and I missed it.
Did I?

Funny Ha Ha - Part 2

...because there were some I'd forgotten (mea maxima culpa).

JA Konrath - US crime writer in the Evanovich mode. Criminally underappreciated this side of the Atlantic (pun not intended)
Christopher Brookmyre - his glossary at the end of A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil is worth the price of admission alone...and you can read it here.
Tom Sharpe - when he was on form there was no-one better.
Ross O'Carroll-Kelly - diary of an egotistical south-Dublin, upper-class moron obsessed with girls and rugby. Hugely successful in Ireland (and uncannily accurate) it deserves exposure elsewhere.

Blurbish Stuff

Now they've added a blurb to my entry on the HC web-site. It goes something like...this:

"Harry Pigg, the only surviving brother from the Big Bad Wolf attacks, has set up business as a private detective in Grimmtown, only things aren't going too well. Down on his luck, with bills to pay and no clients in sight the outlook is poor. But then in walks local businessman Aladdin who needs someone to help him track down an old lamp.

What follows is a case of nursery rhyme-noir. Funny, thrilling and always entertaining, Harry Pigg is an old breed of hero for a new generation. It's as if Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney had walked into the middle of a bedtime story.

Although written for older children, Harry Pigg will appeal to grown ups as well with plenty of in-jokes for all ages."

Still no cover though!

Who Watches the Watchmen

I know that trailers can be most deceiving and that Alan Moore hasn't been particularly well served by movie adaptations of his work (yes I'm looking at you LXG!) but the preview of one of my all-time favourite works, Watchmen, looks promising. If nothing else, Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead remake and 300) seems to have captured the look of the graphic novel at any rate. I remain hopeful.

Check out the trailer here

Incidentally I notice that the credits say "based on the graphic novel illustrated by Dave Gibbons". No mention of Alan M anywhere - but I believe that's at his request.

Funny Ha Ha

There's nothing I like more than a good laugh - ok, there are lots of things I like more but, for the purposes of this article, let's say that laughter is it. It seems that it's easy to make people laugh on the big screen (Airplane, Some Like It Hot, Blazing Saddles) or on TV (Fawlty Towers, Frasier, Fr. Ted) but infintely more difficult to do so on paper. Sure there are writers who raise a wry smile or provide an "ooh that's clever" moment but it's much more difficult to provide that laugh out loud response - you know, the one that makes heads swivel towards you and wonder who let the loon out of his straitjacket as you read on the plane.
Of course humour is, by definition, subjective and what makes me laugh may not remotely entertain you (especially if you're a fan of Keeping Up Appearances or Harry Hill) but there are a few writers that have consistently given me that laugh out loud moment. I'll post about them in more detail over the coming weeks but, if anyone is interested, here's a list of the winners - in no particular order.

Janet Evanovich - her Stephanie Plum series is consistently funny with a raft of unforgettable suppporting characters,
P.G. Wodehouse - how to make British upper-class twits both funny and accessible,
Toby Frost - a writer I've just discovered. Space Captain Smith hits all the big SF targets but doesn't forget about both plot and amusing the reader.
Bill Bryson - how to make an ostensibly ordinary story about growing up in small-town America ridiculously funny,
Douglas Adams - yes, I know that the later books became more plot driven and less humourous but I still love the "early, funny ones",
John Connolly - yes, that John Connolly, creator of Charlie Parker and writer of dark detective fiction. The books certainly aren't funny but some of the dialogue beween Angel and Louis is hilarious
Terry Pratchett - 'nuff said. When he's on form, he's unbeatable.
Simon Haynes - I've just started his Hal Spacejock series and already the auspices are very good indeed.
Roddy Doyle - Dublin humour at its best.
Jasper Fforde - his Thursday Next novels are works of genius.

More to follow....

Now There's Something You Don't See Every Day

Looks like I've finally made the big time (sort of) - and I'm on Amazon too. Now all I need is a cover!

No Thanks, I'm Just Looking.

One of the true joys of visiting a bookshop is the pleasure of being able to browse, particularly if you're not looking for something specific. Your eyes meander along the shelves, pick out something interesting and before you know it, you've parted with your hard earned cash and added another book to your collection.

Browsing is not a feature that you associate with online stores. Unless you have a specific purchase in mind, looking for something new or different can mean scrolling through lists of books displayed ten at a time until you run out of patience. This is particularly true of "Coming Soon" sections. I like to know what's in the pipeline over the next few months even if I don't have a specific author in mind but quickly tire of these lists.

Now there's Zoomii. This web sites displays books by category as a series of images on a bookshelf. If you see something you like, select it and up pop its details along with a link to Amazon. Want to see what's coming soon, they're all there on the shelves for your perusal.

It's the closest the web has come yet to replicating the browsing experience online. It was founded by Canadian Chris Thiessen who wanted "to bring online as much of the bookstore experience as possible".

I like it a lot. The only drawback from my perspective is that it links to Amazon. Much as I like Amazon, it charges for shipping to Ireland whereas other stores ship for free so I tend to use them a lot more (like The Book Depository who ship free worldwide and just seem that bit more personalised and friendly)

It's a Date!

Following on much confusion as a result of The Friday Project's death and subsequent Lazarus-like resurrection when they were taken over by HarperCollins, I was eventually told that The Third Pig Detective Agency would be one of the books taken on by the new (old) company. Woohoo!

Much relief all around as it was a period of uncertainty, wondering if TPDA would be consigned to the also-rans heap.

I've been given a provisional publication date of March 2nd, 2009 and, hopefully, this won't change. Once I have confirmation that the cover has been finalised, I'll put it up here for your delight and delectation.

More news as I get it...

Allow Me To Recommend #1: The Suicide Shop

Gallic Books are a publisher who print English-language editions of the very best in French fiction.

Ah, I hear you say, this must mean very arty, pretentious works full of young french students smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee while discussing Rimbaud (no, not the Sylvester Stallone character) and watching the Seine flow by.

Actually, no. The current catalogue includes murder mysteries, historical thrillers and this...

For generations, the Tuvache family have run The Suicide Shop, offering their customers a variety of ways to end it all. The family themselves are suitably miserable, humourless and proud of the service they provide until the arrival of their third son, Alan. Happy, effervescent and with a boundless love of life, he threatens to destroy everything that they hold dear - and is certainly not good for business.

How the Tuvache family cope with this threat to the family business and how Alan himself impacts all around him result in an hilarious black comedy full of surprises with an ending that both surprises and shocks.

Coming in at about 150 pages, The Suicide Shop is a remarkably entertaining short read and is well worth checking out when it's published in July.

If this is the standard of books Gallic Press are publishing, I will certainly be checking out more of their catalogue in the near future.

You're Not The Only One

The wonderful people over at peach blog are putting together a book for Warchild written by bloggers.
They are currently seeking submissions and deadline is Feb 28th.
As they so eloquently put it:

We would like you to submit (to us at bloggersforcharity@yahoo.co.uk) a written piece about something you've been through from any aspect of your life that you want to share. It can literally be about anything: your relationships, your past, a road not taken, being a parent, an illness or your regrets etc. We've called it "You're Not The Only One" to reflect the camaraderie of blogging.

Why not check it out; you never know you might see your words in print!

Shameless Plug Department 1

A friend of mine, Guy Saville, is writing a thriller called The Africa Reich and it's going to be mega. It's an alternate-history novel set...ah, let Guy describe it; he's so much better at it than me.

" Africa, 1952.

The swastika flies from the Sahara to the Indian Ocean. Britain and a victorious Nazi Germany have divided the continent. The SS has crushed the native populations and forced them into labour. Gleaming autobahns bisect the jungle. For almost a decade an uneasy peace has ensued.

Now, however, the plans of Walter Hochburg, messianic racist and architect of Nazi Africa, threaten Britain’s ailing colonies.

Sent to curb his ambitions is Burton Cole: a one-time assassin torn between the woman he loves and settling an old score with Hochburg. If he fails unimaginable horrors will be unleashed on the continent. No one – black or white – will be spared.

But when his mission turns to disaster, Burton must flee for his life.

It is a flight that will take him from the unholy ground of Congo to the slave camps of Rhodesia to war-torn Angola – and finally a conspiracy that leads to the dark heart of the Africa Reich itself."

Now's your opportunity to get in on the ground floor and say to all your friends "I knew 'im before he was famous." Go to his web-site The Africa Reich and subscribe using the link provided. You'll be kept abreast of developments as they happen. In the words of Del-boy, "You know it makes sense"

Eddie and the Death Star Canteen

Just as I was about to sign out, I caught this. It's been a long time since I've laughed so much. Eddie Izzard, Star Wars and Lego - a perfect match!



Enjoy

And So It Begins

Ever heard of The Friday Project? Nope? Well, they're the publishers who've agreed to publish my book The Third Pig Detective Agency later this year.
It tells of the amazing adventures of Harry Pigg, detective, giant ego and adventurer extraordinaire as he struggles to solve cases on the mean streets of Grimmtown.
Look, he even has his own blog!

Hopefully I'll be able to keep you posted on my adventures in publishing (hey, it's all new to me too) as well as talking about anything else I find interesting, humourous or whatever.

Hope you'll join me.