Saturday 2 April 2011

Best Week Ever!



Well, maybe not the best week ever. This kind of stuff doesn't surpass the births of three wonderful kids, or marrying the girl of your dreams in Cyprus (I'm a very lucky guy in the family department). But in terms of writing achievements, this is the kind of week that's up there alongside signing with my agent, Allan Guthrie, working with so many of my favourite writers as a co-editor, publishing a novella to Pulp Press and those ever-important nods from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in the form of SIAP awards.

This week I wrote 'The End' on a manuscript that's taken over a year to get close to right (from planning to writing), received my contributor copies of The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 8 and found out that Requiems for the Departed has been nominated for a Spinetingler Award. So frickin' sweet.


If you want to vote for Requiems for the Departed, click here.

If you want to pre-order The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, click here.

If you want to read a recent article about me and my writing, click here.

And as if things couldn't get any better, I've read the first few chapters of Adrian McKinty's Falling Glass today. Why the hell did I wait so long to crack open that one? Well, I'll tell you why. As with all of McKinty's books, I knew I wouldn't have been able to put it down once I started it. It was already hard enough to open that damn manuscript I was working on every night after the kids went to bed (every night? Really, Gerard? ed.). I didn't need to make it even easier to slack on it. (Shut up, ed. gb.)

11 comments:

Alan Griffiths said...

Sounds like a hell of a good week and a well deserved one as well, Gerard. Many congrats.

Looking forward to catching up on all this stuff as soon as I can.

Best, Alan

seana graham said...

Gerard, I have duly voted and am excited to read that Mammoth Crime anthology whenever I can get it. Yeah, write some more of your own novel, but do keep reading Falling Glass. You won't regret it.

tony bailie said...

about to cast my, ahem, first vote... good luck with all projects... long overdue

Gerard Brennan said...

Alan - Thanks as always, mate.

Seana - Constable will release a US version called Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries 8... Small but interesting difference. One disclaimer, though... You've read my entry. However, Dec Burke and Bateman's might not have gotten to you yet and there's a plethora of other writers worth a look. It's cheap too. Pitch over. :)

Tony - Good man yourself.

Cheers

gb

seana graham said...

That's okay--I don't have it in print form I donT guess, and yes, there are a load of other writers I'm eager to read in it,including Paul Brazill's

EA said...

Gerard, I would like to congratulate you on your nomination, and all the good things that come with it. Although it's nice to win, the real prize is being validated by your peers, and being in some very select company. May the best book win!
Best wishes,
Elaine Ash
Editor, Beat to a Pulp, Round One

EA said...

PS, I also wanted to offer my best to your co-editor Mike Stone. Great job, guys.
Elaine Ash

Gerard Brennan said...

Elaine - Thanks so much for stopping by. Very cool of you.

I can't honestly say I voted for Beat to a Pulp as best anthology... Couldn't even give James Ellroy and Otto Penzler that one. I did vote for the Beat to a Pulp cover, though. Love it.

Best of luck.

gb

JamTheCat said...

I just finished reading "Requiems for the Departed" and overall it was nice. My favorite story was "The Sea Is Not Full" by Una McCormack, with its lovely characters and subtle interweaving of myth into tragic reality.

Too bad one of your stories wasn't in it, as well.

I'm about to start Stuart Neville's "The Ghosts of Belfast."

Cheers.

(I removed my earlier post because of typos; I'm bad with those.)

Critical Mick said...

Whoo Hoo!

Just got the notice from Amazon that my pre-ordered copy of The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 8 has just shipped!

Been looking forward to this one for a while.

All the best!

Critical Mick

Gerard Brennan said...

Jam - Thanks for the kind words. Hope you enjoy TGOB.

Mick - Great stuff, man. I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers

gb