A Wee Review - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by John McFetridge

John McFetridge, a Canadian with a little Northern Irish blood in his family, has published two crime fiction novels set in Toronto, his home city, to date. He’s been favourably compared to Elmore Leonard, and freely admits that he’s delighted by that. You can find a number of his short stories on his website and if you give them a read, you’ll get a glimpse of his style. However, I don’t think they give you the full appreciation of his talent. For that, you’d need to splash out on one of his books. Why not start with Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere? It’s the second of his Toronto Series, and although there are some references to his debut, Dirty Sweet, McFetridge reckons they can be read in any order.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere is a long title snaffled from a Neil Young song. But that’s not stealing. You can’t copyright a title. And in a brief dialogue exchange, McFetridge acknowledges the title’s source, so there couldn’t be any hard feelings, right? So we’ve acknowledged that the author isn’t a criminal, as far as we know. Not unlike the online Meta-Fiction he’s working on, the crime is fiction and the fiction ain’t a crime. He’s certainly got a criminal mind though.

In the fresh landscape of Toronto, McFetridge shows us a world of good cops, bad cops, organised criminal bikers, Vietnamese drug traffickers, illegal immigration and prostitution. Oh, and there’s the Mounties! Although the big cast and forever skipping POV makes it hard to identify a protagonist, the main thrust of the story centres on Sharon, a housebound, pot-dealing, single mother. Yeah, I think it’s fair to say it’s her story. Ray, the mystery man is drawn to her, the good cops, Bergeron and Armstrong know she’s the key to a case they’re working on. An ambitious and highly-ranked criminal biker, Richard, thinks he’s using her to increase his own grip on the drug trade. Yeah, man, there’s a lot going on. And that’s before we look at the smaller plot strands. All the while, McFetridge keeps in mind something very important; he intrigues and entertains, but he doesn’t confuse the reader.

And like I mentioned earlier, his style, though comparable to Leonard’s, is unique. Things like his dialogue idiosyncrasies and sparse prose are evident in his short work and give it all a McFetridge feel. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to download his free eBook and see what you think. It’s only the tip of the iceberg, though. As you read Flash, remember; McFetridge cranks his style up to eleven in the novel.

I got the impression that he knows Toronto’s streets like the back of his hand, even though he’s never guilty of info-dumping. And I’m guessing his background in film has a lot to do with the short scenes and interesting references to the industry.

So, if you’re an Elmore Leonard fan or enjoyed Declan Burke’s The Big O, you should try Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. You’ll get to know about a million characters, each one fully formed and memorable and you’ll find little scenes and ideas that’ll stick with you for good. I seriously doubt McFetridge will disappoint you. In fact, you’ll thank me for the recommendation. It’d be rude not to.

Back to Porridge

I'm officially off the gravy train. The dayjob called me back today, and I dove into those spreadsheets and financial reports with hyper-enthusiasm.

Sort of.

Actually, I spent most of the day wishing I was home with Michelle and the kids, but I guess that's just the sign of a terrific break. I think my batteries are suitably recharged and I hope to get up to some serious writing this month. And the blogging should return to normal pace as well. To warm you lot up, here's a number of snippets.

The competition Mike Stone (pictured above) conceived was drawn today. Since it was first announced over at Book Smugglers, they got the scoop. Mike and the lucky winner also had a little to say. For my part, thanks to all who entered via CSNI and my live journal account. You were all in, but you didn't win. Maybe next time, eh?

I figure it's my civic duty to alert you that Colin Bateman has updated his blog! Yup, a mere five months since he posted the opening chapters of Mystery Man, he's got some information on what he's up to this year. Well, I say some, but it's more like a boatload. Plenty to look forward to there.

And finally, a John McFetridge interview has been featured on Allan Guthrie's Noir Originals. Wasn't so long ago I interviewed Adrian McKinty for that very venue. Oh, and have you read the opening chapter of Piranhas yet? Why not?

In relation to McF and McK, I read Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Fifty Grand in the last couple of weeks. Hell, yeah! More on that to follow.

Top Stuff 2008

Saturday brought good news for Sam Millar in the form of much lauding. The Belfast Telegraph (or Belly Telly in some quarters) did a top-ten-reads-in-2008 piece. Millar’s Bloodstorm took the top spot. To put this in perspective, he beat Maeve Binchy and Frank McCourt to get there.

Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about my own top ten for 2008. Declan Burke over at Crime Always Pays beat me to the punch last week. John McFetridge did well there, didn’t he? Note to self; hurry the hell up and read his books. I’ve started reading his meta-fiction series on his Bouchercon road trip with Dec Burke to tide me over. It’s a lot of fun.

Also, Adrian McKinty posted Stephen King’s top ten albums for 2008, which is a bit of a cop-out if you ask me (sorry, Ade, going for that controversy thing). However, since a precedent has been set, I’ll give myself a bit of a cop-out top ten. You see, I’ve read a lot of great books this year, and it’d take ages to judge my best reads of 2008. And I don't have that kind of time. So, here’s a list of my favourite CSNI interviews – and it’s a baker’s dozen, rather than a top ten:

Ken Bruen
Colin Bateman
John Connolly
Lucy Caldwell
Ian Sansom
Declan Burke
Adrian McKinty
Brian McGilloway
Garbhan Downey
Arlene Hunt
Neville Thompson
Stuart Neville
Aifric Campbell

Honourable mention to Sam Millar for being the first CSNI interviewee. And the circle is complete.

Publishing Karma & A Twist of Noir

My story, King Edward, is now available to read on the newly established A Twist of Noir. John McFetridge pointed me to this site in a comment to a previous post, and if it's good enough for him...

KING EDWARD - GERARD BRENNAN

Where did I leave that cigar?

The thought has no place in this situation. Vinto Feehan is pushing the stubby snout of his .38 revolver into my forehead. Twisting his wrist to grind it into the thin layer of flesh. It hurts just a little more than the wine-before-beer hangover, kicking the shit out of the inside of my skull. My stomach is scraped out from puking, brought on by binge-drinking and stress. I’d been expecting Vinto, you see. That’s why I’d sparked up the cigar in the first place.

You'll find the rest here.

Have a wee read of it, why don't you? It'd make me look a bit popular if you left a comment on the site.

An Interview - John McFetridge

John McFetridge – I live in and write about Toronto – cops and criminals, usually organized. Reviews have most often called me a disciple of Elmore Leonard which is fine by me. I like the idea of the writer not poking his nose in and letting the characters tell their own stories. One of the best things said about my books is that the criminals aren't as smart as they think they are and the cops aren't as dumb as they let on.

Q1. What are you writing at the minute?

My novel Swap is finished and I hope it will be published in '09. I don't have dates yet.

So now I'm working on a new novel called Tumbling Dice. It's about a rock band that broke up in the mid-80's getting back together to play the casino circuit – and rob a few along the way. At the last stop on the tour the casino is being run by the guy who was their manager (and who ripped them off) back in the day and who's now tied in with organized crime. Some band members decide to extort a couple million dollars out of him and, well, it doesn't go exactly as planned. It's sex and drugs and rock'n'roll.

Q2. Can you give us an idea of John McFetridge’s typical up-to-the-armpits-in-ideas-and-time writing day?

I'm almost embarrassed to say. Ten years ago when my wife and I decided to have kids I was working freelance and she had a nice steady job (she's an engineer). When our son Doug was born I became a stay at home dad (sahd, pronounced sad). Now, Doug and his brother Jimmy are both in school all day and I'm still at home.

So, the boys go to school and I write. Uninterrupted for two and half hours. We have lunch together and then I get another two and a half hours. Really, I should be writing two or three series under different names, or at least a kids' series like McKinty.

Q3. What do you do when you’re not writing?

I play with the kids. I walk the dog. I do “research” which is what I call endless internet surfing.

Q4. Any advice for a greenhorn trying to break into the crime fiction scene?

All those old cliches are true – write the book you want to read. Only put in the stuff you really like, entertain yourself. There are no rules.

Q5. Which crime writers have impressed you this year?

Declan Burke, Adrian McKinty, Brian McGilloway, Scott Philips, Sandra Ruttan, Louise Penny.

Q6. What are you reading right now?

George V. Higgins' The Friends of Eddie Coyle. I don't know how I got this far without reading it. Fantastic stuff.

Q7. Plans for the future?

More novels. My books are a sort of loose series with a large ensemble cast – main characters in one book are minor characters in others so I plan to keep going with that.

Q8. With regards to your writing career to date, would you do anything differently?

That advice I gave about writing the book you want to read? I'd have done that a lot sooner. When I finished university I got sidetracked into movies and tried to write screenplays for years. That was all about rewrites and getting notes from producers and directors and chasing “demographics” and markets and it wasn't till I said, “fuck it,” and just wrote the book I wanted that I had any success.

Q9. Do you fancy sharing your worst writing experience?

All the movie stuff was bad. But also, when I was in university in the early 80's I wrote a private eye novel and spent a long time sending out queries (typewriters, snail mail, it was the dark ages!) and actually got a few agents to read the whole manuscript. They all said the same thing – it wasn't literary enough to be a hardcover novel and it wasn't hardboiled enough to be a paperback original. I wrote another novel and heard the same thing a lot more times. I say this was my worst experience because I got so close a few times and the reason I was rejected was because my writing wasn't good enough – I hadn't fully committed to it and was wishy-washy. Those agents were right. It was really another twenty years before I wrote another novel, finally getting to the point where I just wrote what I wanted.

Q10. Anything you want to say that I haven’t asked you about?

I want to say how much I like websites like this one and Declan's Crime Always Pays and Detectives Beyond Borders and International Noir and so many more that have really opened up the world to me. People are saying a lot these days about newspapers cutting back on reviews (and they are, and that's terrible) but I've discovered more great writers in the last year than I would have in ten years of newspaper reviews. And from all over the world. I think it was McKinty who said the internet is our Paris of the 30's and as much as I'd prefer to be in some cool cafe, this is a good second choice.

Thanks for taking the time and putting in the effort.

Thank you, John McFetridge!