Another Fine Night

Yesterday I attended the No Alibis launch of John Connolly's The Burning Soul and Alan Glynn's Bloodland with a musical intro from the uber-talented Isobel Anderson. The authors drew such a crowd that David Torrans had to pull a few strings and get the event moved to the Crescent Arts Centre for the sake of public safety. And I'd wager that every person who showed up enjoyed the evening as much as I did


I've been to a number of John Connolly readings and he was as charismatic and entertaining as usual. His talk raised more than a handful of chuckles, though it was a few shades darker than his usual quasi-stand up routine. But it was a fitting tone, considering the hard-hitiing nature of his latest tome


Alan Glynn read two stand-out passages from Bloodland. He fared very well in the company of the seasoned Connolly and his excerpts drew perfect responses from the tuned-in audience. What really made my night was his introduction, though. He quoted from my review of his most recent offering! Little hat-tips like that can be a powerful motivator to continue my often waning mission to spread the word about the quality Irish crime fiction that is out there. I was chuffed to bits

David Torrans then hosted an interview with the scribes that covered a range of subjects. From Alan Glynn's Hollywood experiences on the set of Limitless to John Connolly's eye-opening episodes amongst the London Irish in the years he worked as a journalist, the content was far-reaching, to say the least. What really captured my imagination was the subject of violence in crime fiction and the degrees of responsibility utilised within the genre. Fascinating stuff.

Author spotters would have been delighted to see Stuart Neville and Brian McGilloway in the audience.

Can't wait for the next event!