Crime Scene Book Club Reader Reviews

This week's discerning bunch of Crime Scene book club readers give us some great reviews on Kind of Cruel by Sophie Hannah, Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke, and Taken by Niamh O'Connor!!!

Click To Read Reviews HERE


( Is it my imagination, or does my profile image look like an attempt to copy DI Jo Birmingham from Taken - ah maybe it's just the hair?)

Kinsale Arts Festival - A June of Ordinary Murders

I meant to put up this post yesterday, but unfortunately the internet was playing games again!!!

The Kinsale Arts Festival is on at the moment, 7th -15th July, and this evening there is a reading by Conor Brady, a man who has held many interesting positions in his life, editor of The Irish Times, The Sunday Tribune, presenter and reporter on RTE’s The News At One and This Week. The son of a policeman, and a former member of the Garda Ombudsman Commission, Conor has recently released his first novel 'A June of Ordinary Murders'

For booking details, and other links to the festival, click below:-

http://kinsaleartsfestival.com/events/conor-brady/

A June of Ordinary Murders

Dublin, June 1887: the mutilated bodies of a man and child are discovered in the Phoenix Park. Detective Sergeant Joe Swallow steps up to investigate. Is this a ‘special’ or an ‘ordinary’ murder? In the 1880s, the Dublin Metropolitan Police classified crime in two ways: political crimes were ‘special’, whereas thefts, robberies and even murders, no matter how horrific, were classed as ‘ordinary’… Detective Swallow investigates against the background of a city sweltering in a long summer heatwave, with a potential gangland war simmering.....

Thought for the Weekend

'Those who write clearly have readers. Those who write obscurely have commentators'

 Albert Camus

Publishing Day @ IWC

Saturday July 7th: 11am - 4.30pm

The Irish Writers' Centre is hosting an information day on publishing. The day will feature talks from industry experts and will offer the opportunity to pose questions to the speakers. The day will feature talks with: Novelist, Arlene Hunt Editorial Director with Hachette Ireland, Ciara Doorley Publicity Director of Penguin Ireland, Cliona Lewis Literary Agent with Walsh Communications, Emma Walsh CEO of ePub Direct, Gareth Cuddy The day will start at 11.00am and run until 4.30pm. Tickets are €60 (€50 for Members) and can be booked by paying online or calling the Centre. Ciara Doorley - Editorial Director, Hachette Ireland Through the course of her talk Ciara will explain key aspects of her job like the acquisition and editing process. She will also provide information that may be of use to writers sending work out to publishers such as: how to submit material to publishers, current trends and they type of books Hachette are looking for at the moment. Ciara Doorley is Editorial Director at Hachette Ireland, the Irish publishing division of Hachette UK --- parent company of Orion, Little, Brown, Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, John Murray, Octopus, HachetteIndia and Australia and sister company to Hachette Book Group USA. Ciara has worked at Hachette Ireland since 2007 and is responsible for commissioning and publishing a host of bestselling fiction authors including Ciara Geraghty, Fiona O’Brien, Roisin Meaney, Martina Reilly and Christy Kenneally, as well as bestselling non-fiction titles including the acclaimed Vanishing Ireland series. Gareth Cuddy - CEO of ePub Direct Gareth will provide an overview of the eBook industry, discussing everything from formats and retailers through to examples of highly successful self-published eBook authors. A questions and answers session will allow all those attending to quiz Gareth on all things eBooks. Gareth Cuddy is the CEO of Europe's leading eBook Company, ePubDirect. Based in Cork, the company creates and distributes eBooks to over a thousand on-line retailers and over 25,000 libraries. Cliona Lewis - Publicity Director, Penguin Ireland Cliona Lewis will discuss all aspects of publicity in a changing media landscape. She will talk about the importance of media strategy from the outset of a book’s life, when it is being acquired by the publisher; how to identify and target the correct media for an author’s audience; the key role of social media; planning and implementing a publicity campaign; managing the media, and, crucially, author care. Her talk will cover publicity for both fiction and non-fiction titles. Cliona Lewis is the Publicity Director for the Penguin Group in Ireland. As well as devising publicity campaigns for the Penguin Ireland imprint, she works on key titles for the Penguin UK group across all its imprints including Viking, Hamish Hamilton, Michael Joseph and Allen Lane. Prior to joining Penguin in 2005, she worked as Publicity Manager for Gill & Macmillan for five years. She also worked in the UK, selling foreign rights for Templar Publishing and Andromeda Oxford Ltd. Emma Walsh - Publishing Consultant and Literary Agent Publishing & Literary Consultant Emma Walsh will be exploring how to approach the publishing industry from a commercial perspective. Emma’s talk will encompass: The best way to approach an agent and/or publisher Ways to develop and refine your work Building a profile in your field How to maximize your chances of getting closer to publication Understanding the commercial market The business side of book publishing – what you need to know The pros and cons of self-publishing vs traditional publishing. This session will be an informal session and attendees will be invited to ask questions throughout to steer the talk so that they get the most out of the session. Emma Walsh has over 14 years’ experience in the book & publishing industry in Ireland. She has worked in almost every facet of the Irish Publishing Industry developing a broad foundation of knowledge that is sought after from a diverse range of clients in the book and publishing arena. Emma has worked with a range of clients from large corporations to individual fledgling authors and from established publishing houses to developing new imprints. Emma has agented three top ten Irish titles and regularly reviews books on television, radio and in newspapers. Arlene Hunt, Author Crime Writer Arlene Hunt will discuss striking out alone as an author, and her experiences developing her own publishing house, Portnoy Publishing. Arlene Hunt is the author of seven crime fiction novels, five of which feature the popular QuicK Investigation duo, John Quigley and Sarah Kenny. She is also the co-owner of Portnoy Publishing. She lived in Barcelona for five years and now resides in Dublin. Her books have been translated into three languages and her current novel – a stand alone set in the US – entitled The Chosen, was voted as TV3's Book of the Month for November 2011. An earlier novel, Undertow (2008), was short listed for best crime novel at The Irish Book Awards. Arlene has also contributed to many anthologies, including, Down These Green Streets, Requiems for the Departed and Console. Irish Writers' Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. Tel: +353 1 8721302 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +353 1 8721302 end_of_the_skype_highlighting Email: info@writerscentre.ie

Get Your Crime Novel Published - Faber & Faber/Styplist Magazine 2012 Competition

Three important points here:-

A - Closing date is the 12th July 2012, so very little time left.

B - I seen this competition as a result of viewing the www.inkwellwriters.ie website, so if you're not following it, do so, as it is a brilliant support for writers.

&

C - To enter this competition, you need to live in the UK.

 

Faber & Faber Crime Fiction Competition

Get your crime novel published

In Stylist’s most exciting competition yet, we team up with powerhouse publishers Faber and Faber to find, and publish, a debut crime writer

Faber and Faber is the company behind the careers of authors including PD James and Kazuo Ishiguro, and has published an impressive 12 Nobel Laureates and six Booker prize-winners which is why we’ve joined forces with them to find a writer who we believe is going to be the next big thing in crime fiction. The plotline could be anything, from grizzly serial killer to eerie suburban murder. The only requirements are that it must fall within the crime/thriller genre and that it has to feature a female protagonist (it isn’t just men who can solve crime, after all).
So whether you’ve been itching to write a book for years and just need that final push, are a huge fan of thrillers and think you could write one too, or just fancy the ultimate challenge for 2012, read on to find out how you could be in with a chance of winning (and becoming the next Jessica Fletcher…)

The competition

To enter Stylist’s Crime Fiction Competition you will need to complete the first 6,000 words of your original crime or thriller novel. The novel must feature a female protagonist. Alongside this you will need to submit an outline, no longer than 300 words, to show how the story will develop but which doesn’t reveal the ending, plus a 250-word biography of the central character.

The judges

The entries will be judged by an expert panel who will be looking for a story which excites, intrigues and surprises them. The panel includes:

• Ruth Rendell, award-winning author of over 60 crime fiction novels with book sales in excess of 20 million.
• Lisa Smosarski, Stylist’s editor
• Hannah Griffiths, publishing director, and Angus Cargill, senior editor, at Faber and Faber
• Sue Swift, head of literary acquisitions at Kudos Television and Shine Pictures – a company responsible for adapting crime novels for TV and makers of Spooks

The deadline

All entries must be posted (no email entries will be accepted) to Stylist Magazine Crime Fiction Competition, Shortlist Media, 26-34 Emerald Street, London, WC1N 3QA by 12 July 2012. The deadline will not be extended under any circumstances.

The prize

The winning author of our fiction competition will have their debut novel published by Faber and Faber publishing house and will receive a book advance of £5,000. The runner-up will receive a place on a three-month writing course of their choice – worth up to £1,750 – at Faber Academy, Faber and Faber’s esteemed creative writing programme. Upcoming courses include a three-month ‘Writing Crime’ course, led by author Dreda Say Mitchell. Visit faberacademy.co.uk for more details on courses, or follow Faber Academy on Twitter @faberacademy.

WHAT YOU NEED TO ENTER

• The first 6,000 words of your original crime thriller or novel which MUST feature a female protagonist
• An outline, no longer than 300 words, to show how the story will develop but that doesn’t reveal the ending
• A 250-word biography of the central character
• A signed copy of the entry form

Download the entry form and the Terms & Conditions and once you have completed your submission, post it to Stylist Magazine Crime Fiction Competition, Shortlist Media, 26-34 Emerald Street, London, WC1N 3QA by 12 July 2012.
Any questions? Email crimecompetition@stylist.co.uk


Click here to download your entry form


Click here to download the Terms & Conditions

Top 10

Having gone past the 75,000 hit mark yesterday, I figured it might be worthwhile to reflect on which posts got you all connecting over the last 12 months, and here they are:-

1.  Dreams can come true... HERE

2.  What I know about Twitter Lists HERE

3.  Role Play HERE

4.  RTE Guide/Penguin Short Story Competition HERE

5.  Book Club Reviews of Before I Go To Sleep HERE

6.  Blackberry Picking - Seamus Heaney HERE

7.  International Woman's Day Poem HERE

8.  Twists of Twitter HERE

9.  Monkey & The Brain Eater HERE

10.Novelicious/Harper Collins UK Novel Competition HERE 

An enormous 'THANK YOU' to everyone who has visited this site, and a special thanks for all 1,223 of you, who visited the top billing post with the news of my dream turning into a reality.

The Deadly Game of Crime Writing

In the first in a series of features interviewing debut Irish Crime Writers, I talk to successful playwright, Paul O'Brien, Author of Blood Runs Dollar Green, about his new novel, and why he decided to take on the deadly game of novel writing.




Check out interview @ Crime Scene HERE

Paul O’Brien is a writer from Wexford, Ireland. In the last fifteen years he has written sixteen plays and two screenplays. He has been commissioned and/or produced by The Abbey, Druid, Red Kettle Theatre Company, Town Hall Theatre, Galway and Spare Key Productions in New York.

Launch of Irish Writers' Centre Novel Fair

At the Irish Writers' Centre Novel Fair 2012 Launch, Jack Harte, Chairman of the IWC, spoke of the delight in celebrating the success of last year’s novel fair, and the launch of the adventure for 2012. He said - they were overwhelmed with the response last year, with a final tally of 570 entries.

A team of judges, professionals from the industry, who knew exactly what would be required, and who had a keen awareness of what publishers would be looking for did a fantastic job, and eventually picked 20 finalists which were show cased at the Novel Fair. 

The job was obviously done very well as the feedback from publishers and agents involved was that the work show cased was of an extremely high standard and of the 20 finalists show cased – currently, 9, have been signed with agents, and one of the final entries, The Herbalist, written by Niamh Boyce, has been acquired by Penguin Ireland. Jack Harte, is confident that as time progresses, this wonderful success will increase.

Launching next year’s Novel Fair – taking on board all the experience of last year, the final listing has been cut down to 10 finalists to ensure sufficient time is allowed for each publisher and agent to review the work on the day.

Patricia Deevy, Penguin Ireland, was also on hand to give some advice about the success of last year, to talk about how tough the industry is at the moment, and what pitching your novel really means.

'Obviously we all know in this room that the publishing world is not immune from the downturn. In the last two years fiction sales have dropped well over 10% each year and it’s proving more and more challenging to make things work. Yet – and I always say this at events so many of you will have heard me say it before – writers are the lifeblood of our industry. It might not always seem like it, but we are always hungry for new voices. There’s nothing more exciting to us than finding someone we believe in and want to present to the public.

It’s that key part of our job that I want to focus on here – bringing writers to the public. When Carrie and June briefed me for this evening they mentioned that it would be useful if I could talk about pitching and I’m very happy to do so because it sort of goes to the heart of what publishing is about. Writers starting out – and those who attended this year’s fair or hope to attend next year’s – might think of pitching as a one-off 15 minute ordeal, but in fact it’s pretty integral to what they’ll be doing as an author.

It’s self-evident, I suppose, but publishing is only half about writing. The other part of the equation is implied in the word publishing – making the writing public. When agents and editors look at submissions and have conversations with writers there are two things going on. They are looking at the quality of the work – whether it be genre fiction or literary fiction or anything in between – and they’re also thinking ‘Is this something we could make work?’

Making something work is about lots of things – the quality of the writing, timing, positioning a book properly so that it finds its audience … and crucially it’s about the conversations you can have about it. Publishing is an intensely conversational business – people who work in publishing love to get excited about a new book. They love it because they’re usually people who are in the business because they love reading. But they also love it because they love an opportunity and a challenge – to be part of making a success of something, whether that be selling lots of copies, or creating waves in the critical community, or in a perfect world, both.

As soon as the publisher starts to have conversations about a text, they’re into the business of pitching – internally – to colleagues in other departments of the company; externally to booksellers like Eason’s and Dubray and Waterstones’s and Tesco and also to the media.

For many of you who care passionately about writing it can be really hard to get past the idea that the quality of your work alone is not sufficient for a career as an author. In the gentlest way possible I’d urge you to simply get over it and figure out how to talk about your work in a way that’s comfortable for you.

It is naturally challenging for writers – many of whom are reflective and even solitary – to hear themselves talking about their work. It may even feel a little unseemly – a bit like they’re cheapening themselves by turning their writing into a commodity. We’ve all seen the satires on Hollywood – Robert Altman’s THE PLAYER comes to mind – that send up the business of pitching as being shallow and cynical.

I can see that these feelings could be hard to get over that but I think there are tricks you can play on yourself. Everyone will find their own method. One I’d suggest is to objectify your book – pretend it’s a book you love written by somebody else. How would talk about a book you loved to a friendly stranger on a bus or a train? Imagine you get chatting about reading and books and not far from your stop you mention a book you really loved reading recently. There isn’t time to go into all the nitty gritty of the plot, but you are passionate about wanting them to read it and you’re sure they’ll like it. So what you do you? You give them the essence of it in a few lines and maybe you compare it to other books out there.

The biggest mistake you can make when pitching a book is to try to explain the plot in detail. People in publishing are bombarded with material and there’s only so much we can absorb. The key is to figure out what the hook of your book – and it doesn’t have to be something very big and dramatic – and to use that as a jumping off point for talking about it. You can weave a certain amount of plot detail around that, but just enough to help draw out its themes.

Thinking about the novel fair and the very intense business of pitching in person, again I’d remind you of what I said at the start about publishers really wanting to find new authors. The people you will be talking to you are there in a receptive frame of mind, only dying to make a positive connection with you and your work.

If you are shy I think the trick is to acknowledge that that’s just who you are and see talking about your work and yourself as something you must work on as part of being an author. If you can become so completely absorbed in what you’re doing in your book, and if you’re confident in it, then you’ll probably feel less self-conscious talking about it. If you know it inside out and love it to pieces that’ll help. Practice will a sympathetic friend. Pitch in the shower. Talk to the cat. Do it on your commute to work.

Once you get rolling and you’ve got an editor’s attention the talk will flow from there and it’ll be a productive conversation.'

Afterwards, I spoke to Carrie King, who with Clodagh Moynan, of The Irish Writers' Centre, will be looking after the submission process this year.Carrie encourages anyone who has a debut novel, regardless of genre, to enter. It is all down to the quality of the writing. So get writing folks, and get submitting!!!

You can find further details about the Irish Writers' Centre Novel Fair on the IWC website www.writerscentre.ie/

The Inner Voice

I put this poem, 'The Voice' up on the site this time last year. Maybe there is something about being halfway through a year which gets us all thinking about where we are going, and a desire to look inside, wondering what direction the second half of the year will take.

Either way, it must have struck a note with many of you, because over 400 people have stopped by to have a read.

So here it is again in celebration/questioning of the second half of 2012

The Voice

Whose voice is this I want to know,

I hear her,

She is so familiar.

Sounds like me, but not so.

I hear her voice from years ago.

I hear it now,

I want to smile,

I love her spirit and her guile.

Where did she go?

I want to know.

I hear her playing a different tune,

The beat less sure,

The tone less tuned.

To strangers, she's a side of herself,

To family, friends, she's many guises.

To me, she's part of what might be.

I hear her voice,

Incessantly.

Does Crime Always Pay?

Check out Declan Burke's post over on the side bar at CrimeAlwaysPays featuring CRITICAL VALUE by DC Gogan , another addition to the emerging Irish Crime Explosion which yours truly will be part of in September 2012 with RED RIBBONS!

So in alphbetical order, can we have a drum roll for the deadly dozen.........

A JUNE OF ORDINARY MURDERS by Conor Brady;
BLOOD FROM A SHADOW by Gerard Cappa;
GHOST TOWN by Michael Clifford;
EL NINO by Mick Donnellan;
CRITICAL VALUE by DC Gogan;
THE FALL by Claire McGowan;
EVEN FLOW by Darragh McManus;
BLOOD RED TURNS DOLLAR GREEN by Paul O'Brien;
THE ISTANBUL PUZZLE by Laurence O’Bryan;
RED RIBBONS by Louise Phillips;
DISAPPEARED by Anthony Quinn;
AS CLOSE AS YOU’LL EVER BE by Seamus Scanlon.

As Declan mentioned in his post, I'm hoping to run a series of features on New Irish Crime Writers over the next few months on CRIME SCENE over at www.writing.ie , so why not drop me a line at phillips.louisem0@gmail.com or crimescenewriter@gmail.com

Have a great weekend!