It Takes Two to Eightball Boogie

This review was first posted on CSNI in November 2008, but since the book has recently been published in e-format for the first time, I figured it wouldn't hurt to fire it up again. Please excuse any dated references. gb

Mike Stone: Hiya, mate. I finished Declan Burke’s Eightball Boogie yesterday. Give it a day or two and the dust will have settled enough for me to do a write-up. Assuming you want one of course?

Gerard Brennan: Hey, man. Yeah, I could well use a review of Eightball Boogie. Thing is, I’ve only just read it myself. And I’m kind of in the mood to review it too. Not sure what to do. I like to get other opinions on CSNI when I can, but... hmmm, what say you?

MS: Well, I daresay you’re better qualified. I was going to prattle on about the banter – that for me was this novel’s signature. The story and characters were very good, but what raised the bar were the rapid one-liners and putdowns.

GB: Don’t know about my qualifications. I’m not much smarter than Burke’s protagonist, Harry Rigby. Wish I had his knack for one-liners though. As you say, they’re a defining feature of the novel. I didn’t do a formal count, but there has to be at least a couple of wisecracks on every page. I think Declan Burke mentioned in a recent blog that Rigby was one of the most autobiographical characters he’d ever written. Probably explains why he comes across as such a complete character. Wise mouth, cocky attitude, low self-esteem. If I ever meet Dec in person, I must give him a hug.

MS: Ah, you beat me to it. I was going to ask you if Dec’s anything like Harry Rigby. The dialogue – spoken and internal – just felt so natural. And there were sentences to die for. I’d give my eye-teeth to have written this one:

The shoes were Italian and suede because women look at your eyes first, shoes second, and I had eyes that made women take a long lingering look at my shoes.

You know when you asked visitors to CSNI to give you a page number and you’d recite a cracking piece of prose from Ken’s American Skin? I reckon you could do that with ­Eight Ball Boogie.

GB: And I reckon you’re right. Except as popular as that git Burke is on the blogosphere, I’d be inundated with comments if I did. I loved the book, but I’ve got a life, you know? It wasn’t just the cool dialogue that got me. The twisty-turny plot kept me guessing right up to the final pages. Okay, so that’s supposed to happen in crime fiction, and should be a given rather than a point of praise, but I think Burke is especially adept at this. It was equally apparent in The Big O and A Gonzo Noir.

MS: You anticipate me again. PI Harry Rigby’s poking into the goings on of crooked auctioneers, bent cops and politicians on the make was bound to be complex -- and for the most part Declan handled it well -- but were you able to keep with it? Because I got a bit lost towards the end. I got the gist of it . . . I think. The problem for me, in part, was that rapid-fire narrative we talked about earlier. When it came to Rigby unpicking the double dealings and backstabbings, I could have done with more elaboration.

GB: Hmmm. Good point. Personally, I didn’t feel short-changed when it came to figuring out who did what. I went away with a clear enough idea of all that went on. I do think that he resolved an awful lot in a very short space of time, which might have made the book a little ending-heavy. Is that what you mean?

MS: Yeah, it became too dense for me, or I’m too dense for the ending, one or the other. I was determined to give it a five star review up until then. As it stands, I’d probably chip a point off for making me feel thick. Any idea if there’s a sequel. I want to see more of Harry Rigby. And how does Eight Ball Boogie stack up against The Big O?

GB: Ah, man. Great question, thanks. As you know, I’m a regular reader of Dec’s blog, Crime Always Pays. Not so long ago he mentioned Eightball Boogie and how the publisher (a now defunct imprint of Lilyput Press) passed on the opportunity to buy a second Harry Rigby novel from him. Publishers, eh? What do they know? So I know there is more to come from Harry Rigby, but when we’ll get to enjoy it is anybody’s guess. I’m hoping the recent success that The Big O has enjoyed will bring with it an opportunity for Dec to launch a whole series of Rigby novels, starting with a shiny new hardcover of Eight Ball Boogie, because (and this brings me on to the second part of your question) I think The Big O rocks, but Eight Ball Boogie has a bit of an edge on it. Right, listen. Which one of us is going to write this review, then?

MS: Well, you could always stick the heading “A Wee Review” above this exchange. I daresay that McKinty fellah will have a dig and call us the Chuckle Brothers, but I can live with that. To me!

GB: Sounds like a plan, you savvy devil. To you!

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.)

Stuff I've Done

Hi guys

I'm updating my writing CV and if you have the time I'd like your opinion on how the statement below works (or doesn't, as the case may be). I also intend to use it on my horribly out of date linkedin profile which is why I'm happy enough to throw it up here for all and sundry to see.

All criticism welcome.

gb

GERARD BRENNAN

Representation – Allan Guthrie, Jenny Brown Associates

Personal Statement

In October 2006 I was selected to partake in the Belfast Creative Writers Network’s Mentoring Programme, and had the pleasure of working with the award-winning Northern Irish writer, Ian McDonald. He read a collection of my short stories and helped me improve each one over six one-to-one sessions.

Between 2007 and 2010, I have received awards from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (Support for the Individual Artist Programme) three times to assist me in completing three novels, THE WEE ROCKETS, SHOT and FINAL SCORE. I also received funding from Northern Ireland Screen through the Script Development scheme for my screenplay, THE POINT.

Morrigan Books commissioned me to co-edit a short story anthology. REQUIEMS FOR THE DEPARTED is a collection of crime fiction stories based on Irish Myths. It was released in June 2010.

In October 2010, I performed a short one man show at the Black Box in Belfast. The play was based on my short story, AN IRISH POSSESSION which was adapted for the stage by the director, Conor Maguire.

Among numerous short story publications my most prestigious to date is a place in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST BRITISH CRIME edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Constable and Robinson), released in April 2011.

DOWN THESE GREEN STREETS (Liberties Press), edited by Declan Burke, features my article on Northern Irish Crime fiction. This collection of essays, interviews and short fiction regarding Irish crime writing in the 21st century will be published in April 2011.

I have recently signed with Pulp Press to publish my novella, THE POINT (which my aforementioned screenplay is based on) and it is set for release in October 2011.

Emerald Noir - Val McDermid on Irish Crime Fiction

My "Irish Crime Fiction" Google alert has been pinging me with links to this listen again link all day.

Peace in Northern Ireland and the economic boom and bust in Southern Ireland have led to a recent rise in crime fiction.

Val McDermid looks at the way real life violence has been dealt with in the work of authors including Tana French, Eoin McNamee, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Stuart Neville and Declan Hughes. We meet David Torrans - whose bookstore in Belfast has been fictionalised in Colin Bateman's series of crime novels. Declan Burke - author of the blog Crime Always Pays - takes us on a tour of Dublin locations featured in crime novels from the modern Docklands offices which inspired Alan Glynn's novel Winterland to the hotels and shops of 1950s Dublin featured in the crime fiction of Booker winner John Banville - who writes under the name Benjamin Black.

I had a listen and enjoyed it very much. It's great that the Irish crime fiction movement has garnered this level of interest. Kudos to Val McDermid for her efforts.



If you listen to the show and your interest is piqued, there's a collection of crime fiction short stories that ties into it nicely. Requiems for the Departed features stories from Brian McGilloway, Stuart Neville, Arlene Hunt and Ken Bruen, to name just those who were mentioned in the programme. It was also blurbed by Colin Bateman, 'Taut, terrifying, terrific.' and reviewed by Declan Burke at Crime Always Pays. And it was launched at No Alibis. Could it be more Emerald? How about this...? It's stories are based on Irish mythology...



Why not give it a lash?



I've also come away from my listening experience with an unsettled feeling. It's about time I was finished with my latest novel-in-progress. If I can get this ending sorted out, it might stand a chance in the publishing world. The Irish crime fiction bar has been set extremely high, though. I'm beginning to worry that I might not reach it.

No Alibis Event - Robert Frickin' Crais!

(This event could well be sold out, but give Dave a call if you want to attend. You could catch a cancellation.)

No Alibis Bookstore is very pleased to announce that internationally-renowned crime novelist

Robert Crais-The Sentry

Fri March 4th 7pm

will be returning to Belfast to celebrate the launch of his new novel, THE SENTRY.

We are pleased to announce that the event will take place in the Ulster Museum, Botanic Gardens Belfast.

Entrance to the event will be via the Stranmillis Road access, opposite Café Conor.

Robert Crais is the author of the best-selling Elvis Cole novels. A native of Louisiana, he grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in a blue collar family of oil refinery workers and police officers. He purchased a secondhand paperback of Raymond Chandler’s The Little Sister when he was fifteen, which inspired his lifelong love of writing, Los Angeles, and the literature of crime fiction.


After years of amateur film-making and writing short fiction, he journeyed to Hollywood in 1976 where he quickly found work writing scripts for such major television series as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Miami Vice, as well as numerous series pilots and Movies-of-the-Week for the major networks. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on Hill Street Blues.

He is most proud of his 4-hour NBC miniseries, Cross of Fire, which the New York Times declared:

"A searing and powerful documentation of the Ku Klux Klan’s rise to national prominence in the 20s."

Upon the death of his father in 1985, Crais was inspired to create Elvis Cole, using elements of his own life as the basis of the story. The resulting novel, The Monkey’s Raincoat, won the Anthony and Macavity Awards and was nominated for the Edgar Award. It has since been selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.


Elvis Cole’s readership and fan base grew with each new book, then skyrocketed in 1999 upon the publication of L. A. Requiem, which was a New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller . Booklist added, "This is an extraordinary crime novel that should not be pigeonholed by genre. The best books always land outside preset boundaries. A wonderful experience."

Crais followed with his first non-series novel, Demolition Angel, which was published in 2000 and featured former Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Technician Carol Starkey. Starkey has since become a leading character in the Elvis Cole series. In 2001, Crais published his second non-series novel, Hostage, which was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and was a world-wide bestseller. Additionally, the editors of Amazon.com selected Hostage as the #1 thriller of the year.

A film adaptation of Hostage was released in 2005, starring Bruce Willis as ex-LAPD SWAT negotiator Jeff Talley.

Elvis Cole returned in 2003 with the publication of The Last Detective, followed by the tenth Elvis Cole novel, The Forgotten Man, in 2005. Both novels explore with increasing depth the natures and characters of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. RC’s third stand-alone novel, The Two Minute Rule, was published in 2006, and was followed in 2007 by

The Watchman, the first novel in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series to feature Joe Pike in the title role.


The novels of Robert Crais have been published in 42 countries and are bestsellers around the world. Robert Crais is the 2006 recipient of the Ross Macdonald Literary Award.

Tickets for this event are available from No Alibis Bookstore, price £5.

Payment can be made with all major credit cards by calling 028-90-3019601.

No Alibis Event

Simon Kernick

THE PAYBACK

Friday 18th February at 6:00PM

Free!

No Alibis Bookstore are pleased to invite you to an evening of with crime writer Simon Kernick on Friday 18th February at 6PM to celebrate the launch of his new novel,Simon Kernick, author of No. 1 bestseller The Last Ten Seconds, is one of Britain’s most exciting thriller writers. His debut novel, The Business of Dying, featuring Dennis Milne was highly acclaimed, but his big breakthrough came with the novel Relentless, which became the bestselling thriller of 2007. Truly committed to his work, Simon’s research is what makes his books so credible. He talks to members of Special Branch, the Anti-Terrorist Branch and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency both on and off the record to hear first hand about the dark underworld of UK crime.

Born and brought up in Slough, Simon now lives in Oxfordshire. To find out more about his thrillers, visit his website. Dennis Milne, jaded former cop, is back. Corrupt, he’s earned his living killing the bad guys – drug dealers and crooked business men - who, in his opinion, deserve death. Biding his time in Manila, he lies in wait for his next target: a young woman with some bad life choices and some powerful enemies. DI Tina Boyd is a woman on a mission. Hell-bent on retribution, she’s looking for the man she blames for her lover’s death. Tough, spiky and determined, she heads to Manila to kill him, before he kills her... Two renegade cops with pasts that haunt them are about to collide, with spectacular results... The Payback sees three of Kernick’s most memorable characters meet: Dennis Milne, DI Tina Boyd and Paul Wise.


NO ALIBIS BOOKSTORE
83 BOTANIC AVENUE
BELFAST BT7 1JL
david@noalibis.com
ph. 02890-319601
fax. 02890319607

Free Ink for a Po' Writer...

By the way, if you have a Facebook account you can help me win a free tattoo. It's based on this image.

Sure it'll be a bit of craic, like.

The competition closes on Friday. Click on this link (it leads to a Facebook page for Timepiece Tattoo Studio) and follow the instructions. Vote for me and you can claim a free ebook. Can't say fairer than that!

gb

Pulp Me

Serendipity, thy name is… Brennan?

Last week, some kind soul at Preface sent me a copy of Truth Lies Bleeding by Tony Black. Happy days. Love Tony’s work. I’ve read three of his four Gus Drury novels and they all got a double thumbs-up from me. But this one’s a little different from those Drury novels that I love so much. It’s a police procedural. And the cop’s called Rob Brennan. Interesting. Well to me it’s very interesting. If the character had a brother called Gerard I’d probably die happy… (you reading this, Mr Black?) I look forward to reading it.

Tony Black talks about it in greater detail over at the Do Some Damage blog.

Another interesting thing I learned about Tony Black is that he’s signed a deal to do a novella for Pulp Press…

Know what else is interesting? Yes, I said interesting again. If this were a short story or a novella I’d fix that, but it’s a blog post so allow me a lazy-ass foible or two, please. Anyway, I was saying, I’ve another interesting thing to mention. Pulp Press have done a deal through wonder-agent Allan Guthrie of Jenny Brown Associates to release a novella by Gerard Brennan.

Yeah, that’s me. I’m going to be published by the same people who had the wherewithal to get Tony Black into their stable.

Sweet!

It’s early days yet, so I’ll say no more than this: It’s titled, THE POINT. Whether or not that title makes it through editing is yet to be determined, but if you're interested, I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

An Interview - C.J. Box

C.J. Box (Chuck) is a proud native of Wyoming. He has worked as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, a newspaper reporter and editor for a small Wyoming weekly newspaper. With his wife Laurie, he currently owns and runs an international tourism marketing firm. In 2008, Box was awarded the "BIG WYO" Award from the state tourism industry. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He served on the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. They have three daughters. Box lives in Wyoming.

He is the winner of the Anthony Award, the Prix Calibre 38, the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, the Barry Award and the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Novel. His novels are US bestsellers and have been translated into 21 languages. Visit his website at www.cjbox.net

What are you writing at the minute?

I'm working on the first 150 pages or so of a stand-alone that will be a sequel to BACK OF BEYOND. But within a week or so, I'll have to set that aside and begin the 12th Joe Pickett novel. I've never switched up like this so it will be a new experience, but luckily the projects are very dissimilar in plot and scope so I think it will go (fairly) smoothly.

Can you give us an idea of C.J. Box’s typical up-to-the-armpits-in-ideas-and-time writing day?

After conceiving the new novel, doing the research on the topics and issues to be included within it and writing a bare-bones outline, I begin. Each day starts with a workout in the morning and then I go either to my home office in the basement (or, if I'm at my cabin -- my writing corner) and get going. I usually read over and edit the previous day's work, then plow ahead. I try to complete at least one thousand words a day but many days I double or triple that. Some days, unfortunately, I accomplish less. I take breaks to run my dogs (if in Cheyenne) or hike and fish (if I'm at my cabin) and conclude in the early afternoon to concentrate on other work or correspondence. Sometimes, I go late into the night but that's usually as I approach the end of a novel.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I like to be in the outdoors. Luckily, there's plenty of that in Wyoming. So depending on the season and the weather, I fly-fish, float rivers, hike, hunt, ski, bike, or simply wander.

Any advice for a greenhorn trying to break into the genre fiction scene?

Read! Too many fledgling writers don't read enough, or read widely enough. Reading is better than writing if the purpose of reading is to deconstruct what a good author is doing and how they're doing it. Then complete a first novel. Agents rarely have interest in ideas or concepts -- they want a finished novel. And keep in mind the publishing industry is incredibly low-tech. What should take months takes years. So have a good day job.

Which writers have impressed you this year?

Denise Mina, T. Jefferson Parker, Michael Connelly, Deon Meyer, Thomas McGuane, Pete Dexter, Edmund Morris. To name a few.

What are you reading right now?

"Colonel Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris. The third in his trilogy of Theodore Roosevelt. I read the first in college, and thirty years later I'm reading the third.

Plans for the future?

It will be an incredibly busy year. In the U.S., I've got two new novels coming out in 2011: COLD WIND in March and BACK OF BEYOND in August. Plus the roll-out of all my books in the UK. I'll be doing lots of traveling, talking, and writing. I hope I have some time for fishing.

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

I'm very pleased with the way things have gone and continue to go. Each book outsells the last, and it's a great job overall.

Do you fancy sharing your worst writing experience?

My very first agent died and I didn't know it for six months. Needless to say, that didn't exactly jump-start my career.

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

Corvus is an incredible publisher and the UK is lucky to have them. They're enthusiastic, creative, and optimistically reckless. I'm pleased to be published by them.

Thank you, C.J. Box!

Open Season by C.J. Box is published by Corvus on 1st February 2011, £7.99 paperback. The first book in Box’s acclaimed series featuring Wyoming game-warden Joe Pickett, there will be a further ten Joe Pickett novels published monthly throughout 2011.

Eoin McNamee at No Alibis

Eoin McNamee is set to launch his latest masterpiece at the most excellent No Alibis bookstore in Belfast tonight. I'd highly suggest you go (in a do as I say not as I do kind of way -- my missus booked tonight off so I'm babysitting the three amigos tonight).

Orchid Blue is an amazing novel. I was tuned in to every poetic sentence, which was no mean feat as I read it in the early days of young Oscar's arrival into the Brennan household. And the author in no less interesting as I experienced first hand at a recent event in Derry.

And if you do make it, please let me know about it. I know I'm missing a great one.

Details from the No Alibis newsletter below.

###

Eoin McNamee
Wednesday 10th November at 7:00PM

No Alibis Bookstore are pleased to invite you to celebrate the launch of Eoin McNamee's latest novel, ORCHID BLUE, on Wednesday 10th November at 7:00PM.

Eoin McNamee was born in Kilkeel, County Down, in 1961. He was educated in various schools in the North of Ireland and at Trinity College, Dublin. His first book, the novella The Last of Deeds, was shortlisted for the Irish Times Literature Prize and his novels include Resurrection Man, which was later made into a film, and The Blue Tango which was longlisted for the Booker Prize. He lives in Sligo.



January 1961, and the beaten, stabbed and strangled body of a nineteen year old Pearl Gambol is discovered, after a dance the previous night at the Newry Orange Hall. Returning from London to investigate the case, Detective Eddie McCrink soon suspects that their may be people wielding influence over affairs, and that the accused, the enigmatic Robert McGladdery, may struggle to get a fair hearing. Presiding over the case is Lord Justice Curran, a man who nine years previously had found his own family in the news, following the murder of his nineteen year old daughter, Patricia. In a spectacular return to the territory of his acclaimed, Booker longlisted The Blue Tango, Eoin McNamee’s new novel explores and dissects this notorious murder case which led to the final hanging on Northern Irish soil.

We expect this free event to fill up quickly, so avoid disappointment and book your spot by emailing David, or calling the shop on 9031 9607.


NO ALIBIS BOOKSTORE
83 BOTANIC AVENUE
BELFAST BT7 1JL
david@noalibis.com
ph. 02890-319601
fax. 02890319607