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.

Tales from the Sweety Bottle - The Mouse

Click the above image to read. This is the second of a six-part series of stories based on Brennan family anecdotes. The Sweety Bottle was a Lower Falls shebeen ran by my grandfather in the seventies. The Mouse first appeared in the Andersonstown News on Monday 12th January 2009.

Copyright ⓒ Gerard Brennan 2009

200

This is the 200th CSNI post! And we’ve just hit 26,000 visits, according to statcounter. I feel like I should say something profound, but I’m not really up to it. I started my weekend a little early when a friend I haven’t seen in a long time requested my presence at the local. I’ve a sore head, but it was good to have an excuse to misbehave on a school night.

Anyway, I’ll just say thanks to all the cool cats who read this stuff, extra thanks to those who take the time to comment and extra-extra thanks to the excellent crime fiction writers who give me a reason to post the news, reviews and interviews. It’s been a lot of fun. Here’s to more!

I think I’m welling up a little.

Tales from the Sweety Bottle - The Badge

Click the above image to read. This is the first of a six-part series of stories based on Brennan family anecdotes. The Sweety Bottle was a Lower Falls shebeen ran by my grandfather in the seventies. The Badge first appeared in the Andersonstown News on Saturday 10th January 2009.

Copyright ⓒ Gerard Brennan 2009

An Interview - Paul Nagle

Paul Nagle was born in Dublin to a large close-knit family of nine boys and two girls. After dabbling in a number of entrepreneurial businesses in the eighties and early nineties, he settled in Johannesburg in 1995 and began a career in computer software. At the time South Africa was taking a giant leap towards democracy, leaving behind its apartheid past, and the initial idea for Ironic was born. Paul now divides his time between his homes in London and the Algarve.

Q1. What are you writing at the minute?

I am writing a screenplay adaptation of my novel Ironic.

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

I only write when I'm in the 'zone', which is usually when I get a bit of free time away from the bedlam of the kids bustling around the house.

I find my most productive time is between 9pm and 1am, so I'm a bit of a 'night owl'

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

My day job is in property development in the Algarve, in Portugal.

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

Don't take no for an answer from publishers. Keep trying and believe in your work.

Q5. Which crime writers have impressed you this year?

Kate Summerscale

Q6. What are you reading right now?

I am reading two books at the moment.

The Trillion Dollar Meltdown by Charles Morris, to understand how we got into this 'credit crunch' mess and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, for some good quality whodunnit entertainment.

Q7. Plans for the future?

I plan to do a sequel to Ironic at some stage in the next 18 months.

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

I would have started writing seriously much earlier. My priorities were in business and you can never take back time!

Q9. Do you fancy sharing your worst writing experience?

Yip, my first draft of Chapter One of Ironic was terrible.

I had to leave it alone for about six months and start the whole story over again.

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

I would urge your readers to support their local bookshops as much as possible. In these difficult times they will suffer more than most.

Thank you, Paul Nagle!

16 Facts Meme

J. Kingston Pierce from The Rap Sheet tagged me, and although I should be writing my Fifty Grand review, I figured I'd do this instead.

Basically, I'm going to list 16 random facts about little ol' me. Technically, I should tag another 16 people, but instead I'll throw it open to whoever wants to have a go. Either post 16 facts, or whatever amount you have time for, in the comments section, or do it on your own blog and come back here to post a link. Ach, come on. It'll be a a bit of craic.

1. I've never met an alcoholic drink I couldn't get along with.

2. I quit smoking (with my wife) the night we decided to have kids.

3. I got married in Cyprus in 2002. And I'm still married.

4. You can have my karaoke microphone when you pry it from my rubbery, drunken grip.

5. In the past ten years, I've spent £570 on tattoos.

6. When I was 12 I had 4 pet terrapins named Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo and Michael Angelo. My dad once put one in his mouth for a bet.

7. I almost got my wife to agree to naming our son Jack Daniel Brennan. When she caught on to my plan, I had to settle for Jack Gerard.

8. I can't dance. Not even a little.

9. I ran a Wing Tsun kung fu club for a year and a half.

10. Although me and my wife rarely allow our kids to eat food containing artificial colourings, preservatives or sweeteners, I'm addicted to Diet Coke.

11. I seriously considered robbing a bank when I was 20. Had an inside man lined up and everything. I chickened out when I sobered up.

12. I plan to kill the first boy that asks out my daughter, Mya. It'll send the right message out to all the other boys. And I reckon her uncles will help me find a spot to bury the wee fecker.

13. My parents own a tanning salon, and I'm paler than Casper the Friendly Ghost.

14. I played bass in a couple of heavy metal bands in my teens. We were quite good.

15. I want to learn how to play the bodhran.

16. When I was a baby, my mum had to bath me in the kitchen sink. There was no bathroom in our house. We made do with an outhouse. And my dad used to hang pheasant he'd shot there.

So, that's some stuff about me. What about you lot?

Ken Bruen on Adrian McKinty's Fifty Grand

I thought I was well read in the Northern Irish crime fiction scene. Well, there's one guy who seems to have gotten to all the books on my immediate NI reading list first. He's blurbed Bleed A River Deep, The Twelve and now this; Adrian McKinty has released his latest Fifty Grand blurb at his blog. It's from none other than Ken Bruen, and it's quite good. Here's a wee bit of it.

“Adrian McKinty has been blowing us out of the mystery water for quite some time now. The Bloomsday Dead—superb, Dead I Well May Be, phew-oh, but he has totally taken over the whole field with Fifty Grand... [B]ut what I found most compulsive was the wondrous compassion of the book. It moved me in ways I never anticipated. This is going to be the BIG BOOK of 2009.”—Ken Bruen, author of The Guards

Did I say quite good? It's probably closer to glowing. To read the blurb in all its glory, pop on over to Adrian McKinty's blog. I'll have to read Mystery Man before Mister Bruen does or else hand the CSNI reins over.

Also, have a peek at the monstrous comment count that began as a short review of Fifty Grand at Detectives Beyond Borders.

If this ain't crime fiction...

Apologies for the poor image quality folks. Tried to convert the flier from PDF on photoshop. First time I've used it. No idea what I'm doing. The things you do when you should be writing. If you click on it, it's easier to read.

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.