The Wee Rockets

Last year I attempted to sell my novel, Piranhas, without the aid of an agent. I came very close to doing this, but suffered quite a setback when the deal was withdrawn at the eleventh hour. Yeah, well, every writer has his sob story. That was mine. Life's moved on. Since then, I submitted to and was rejected from most of the publishers on the island of Ireland and a few in England. The reason was more often than not cited as cautious business practices in a recession.

So, in January, I got pissed off with all that malarkey and decided to change tactics. I started looking for an agent.

Well, it gives me great pleasure to announce that I'm now officially represented by Allan Guthrie of Jenny Brown Associates. We've hit the ground running and already I've applied Al's suggested edits and changed the name of the gang my novel is based on, and in turn, the book's title. Piranhas shall henceforth be known as The Wee Rockets, unless a publisher asks me to change it again.

Allan Guthrie is a highly regarded writer and a successful agent. He's also a hell of a nice guy, so I know I'm going to enjoy working with him. Watch this space. Maybe some day in the near future, I'll announce the sale of my Belfast street crime story, The Wee Rockets.

Piranhas Publicity

Ingenious marketing campaign or pure coincidence? You decide.



And in while your thoughts are on the subject, I'll mention once again that the first chapter of my novel PIRANHAS can be read over at Allan Guthrie's Noir Originals. It's quite good, and lacking an agent/publisher at this moment in time. So, you know, form an orderly queue and I'll hear each offer out in turn.

By the way, the schnapps tasted pretty decent. A bit sweet for my taste, but drinkable with a bucket of ice.

Jumping The Gun

I posted some amazing news a few days ago, claiming that I'd landed my first novel publication. At that point I'd seen a contract that needed a slight alteration and was waiting to meet with one of the editors from the publishing house to sign the final agreement. I had asked if it was okay to start spreading the word and got the go ahead. And some lovely folk gave me lots of praise and encouragement. Thanks, guys.

Unfortunately, at the 11th hour, the whole deal fell through. We'll call it a result of creative differences. So, it's back to square one for my little manuscript.

I've had a day to get over the shock of it, and I'm fine now. This post isn't intended to be a complaint. I'm just informing all you good people who took the time to comment that things aren't quite going as planned.

I'm a Crime Writer!

Yes indeedy, folks. You heard it here first. The next Northern Irish crime writer will be... me! (Unless some other bugger I haven't heard about gets in there first.)

The most excellent people at Guildhall Press will be publishing my West Belfast crime novel, Piranhas, some time before Christmas 2008.

Holy crap!

Guildhall also published Yours Confidentially by Garbhán Downey. I'm in pretty damn good company.