An Interview - Catriona King

Catriona King was born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She trained as a Doctor, moving to London to live and work. She obtained her M.B.A. from Henley Management College in Oxfordshire , trained as a police Forensic Medical examiner  and worked in central London in General Practice, Community Paediatrics and Health Management and strategy. She worked closely with the Metropolitan Police on many occasions. In recent years, she has returned to live in Belfast.

She has written since childhood, fiction, fact and reporting.

‘A Limited Justice’ is her first novel. It follows Detective Chief Inspector Marc Craig and his team, through the streets of Belfast and Northern Ireland, in the hunt for the killer of three people.

‘The Grass Tattoo’ her second novel was released in December 2012. It follows lust, greed and foreign gang influences leading to murders in Belfast and further afield.

The third D.C.I. Craig novel ‘The Visitor’ will be released in March 2013 and a fourth novel is nearing completion.

What are you writing at the minute? 

I've just finished editing the third book in the D.C.I. Craig series called 'The Visitor' due out in March 2013. It's set in April 2013 and is about unusual murders set in the world of a fictional hospital in Northern Ireland. I've also completed the first draft of book four which is provisionally called 'The Waiting Room' set around the time of the June 2013 G8 summit being held in Northern Ireland this year. We're hoping to release that in late May 2013. I've also written a play which is being performed in Belfast in May.

Can you give us an idea of your typical up-to-the-armpits-in-ideas-and-time writing day?

Well… if I'm lucky enough to have a full day free to write (I have a real job as well) then I'll start at 8 or 9 am and write until the natural light fades, somewhere between five pm in the Winter to seven pm in spring/summer. But I can only do that for three days in a row then I have to take a break for a couple of days or my head starts to hurt! :)

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I work in the real world to pay the mortgage, and I run a Belfast-based theatre company called The Studio which will be putting on two plays at the MAC in Belfast later this year. And I do all the normal things. Watch TV (crime or movies! especially anything with Viggo Mortensen or Michael Fassbender in them. Or directed by David Cronenberg. That being said a bit of Bruce Willis is fun too, especially the Die Hard movies) and meet friends for coffee, chat. Generally I just live life.

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

Yes, absolutely. Keep trying and don't be put off by rejections. A rejection just means that particular person didn't click with your book. Take on-board any advice they give you and take a long look at your book, and if you believe in their advice then redraft. But don't lose the core of your book or idea. Believe in yourself and trust the opinions of honest people you respect and then keep writing. There is no substitute for being a good writer except to write, practice, edit and redraft. It's hard work but it's worth it.

Which writers have impressed you this year?

Hilary Mantel without a doubt and Alifa Rifaat.

What are you reading right now?

Distant View of a Minaret by Alifa Rifaat. It's about the life of a woman in Egypt. Excellent. And I would tell everyone to look at the Perceval Press www.percevalpress.com for surprising and truly wonderful books. It's a U.S. site but they ship everywhere. And support your local bookshops.

Plans for the future?

Perhaps write another play. And I'd love to script write, for TV or film and I'm thinking of ideas for a screenplay right now.

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

Mmm.... That's an interesting question. I had an agent for a while and I do regret that, principally because it delayed everything and I spent ages just waiting for them to submit to people that they thought I should submit to. I left them and then weeks later read an article about a Belfast Author Rose McClelland who was with Crooked Cat Publishing, a new publisher setting up in Edinburgh. So I submitted directly to them and we clicked immediately. They are brilliant and very supportive.

Do you fancy sharing your worst writing experience?

The agent, who shall remain nameless. I think also that publishing can be a very cliquey business and established publishers sometimes won't take a risk on first time authors or less well known writers. They are also often to take risks and just go for what they know sells, which will change in any given year e.g. the vogues for vampires, reality show based books, celebrity biogs. That's why Perceval Press is such an awesome organisation. They stretch people to open their eyes and look at things differently.  And genre bookshops like 'No Alibis' in Belfast which focuses on Crime and American studies are well worth a visit.

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

Just to say that I've deliberately set my detective series in post -troubles 2012 Belfast and onwards. I think people are tired hearing/reading about the Troubles (or maybe I am). The hero has no political or religious bias at all, and he's half-Italian to represent the other communities living in Northern Ireland. I wanted the books to belong to everyone and perhaps to do something positive to cross the divide (even if they are murder mysteries!) and I also wanted to showcase the beauty and good things like restaurants and countryside of Northern Ireland, as Morse does with Oxford and Rebus does with Edinburgh. Perhaps people will get to know Northern Ireland through the books and pay it a visit.

Thanks for interviewing me.

Thank you, Catriona King!

A Wee Wayne Simmons Review - HABIT by Stephen McGeagh

THE BLURB

Manchester, the present. Michael divides his time between the job centre and the pub. A chance meeting with Lee, an introduction to her ‘Uncle’ Ian, and a heavy night on the lash lead to a job working the door at a Northern Quarter massage parlour.

After witnessing the violent death of one of the ‘punts’, Michael experiences blood-drenched flashbacks and feels himself being sucked into a twilight world that he doesn't understand but that is irresistibly attractive. When he eventually finds out what goes on in the room below 7th Heaven, Michael’s life will never be the same again.

Think Bret Easton Ellis. On a writing break in the north of England. And all he packed was Fight Club and some early Stephen King novels. Stephen McGeagh’s powerful debut will stay with you for a long time.

THE REVIEW

We’re all about the fusion here at CSNI. Last week featured a horror hack tackling crime. This week, debut novelist Stephen McGeagh writes a horror-esque/ crime-esque thing, and releases it through literary publisher, Salt. Is your head spinning yet? Good. Because that’s exactly the right frame of mind for talking about this book. 

In many ways, HABIT could be part of the Bizarro or New Weird movement. But don’t let that put you off: for all its weirdness, this is still very much a story grounded in reality. The writing style is loose and colloquial, narrator Michael as Scally as they come. It’s dog rough at times, paragraphing and sentencing both out the window. And therein lies its strength: with such a down to earth narrative, characters and settings so familiar, the meat of the story, that big reveal in 7th Heaven, will prove all the more devastating, going way beyond what either crime or horror fiction has delivered in recent years in terms of shock factor. Make no mistake: HABIT is brutal. It will shake you to your very core. 

It’s a cinematic read. For tone and content, I’m reminded of films like MARTYRS or Paul Andrew Williams’ 2006 release LONDON TO BRIGHTON. There’s something lyrical about the book too, the easy-flowing narrative of booze and sex and Manchester’s clubbing scene reminiscent of songs like Arab Strap’s THE FIRST BIG WEEKEND or The Streets’ BLINDED BY THE LIGHTS. It’s the kind of book I’d recommend to people who don’t normally read much, the short chapters and slim volume making for a very digestible page-turner. 

The characters are people you’ll know, or once were yourself. Protagonist Michael is far from innocent, but he’s naive and fresh enough to ease us gently into the shenanigans at 7th Heaven while still retaining that all-important integrity. Lee makes for a good damsel in distress, in a twisted, neo-noir kind of way, with Mike’s sister as the equaliser (kind of) and best friend Dig providing some black humour.

There’s nothing to criticise. Everything about this book works.     

In fact, let’s make this easy for you: HABIT is groundbreaking. The kind of book that when you’re not reading you’re thinking about reading, and chomping at the bit to dive back into. It's full of dirt and grime and charm. Easily one of my favourite and most memorable reads of the last ten years. 

You need this book.     

Wayne Simmons

Genre Fiction Writer

www.waynesimmons.org

A Wee Wayne Simmons Review - EPITAPH by Shaun Hutson

THE BLURB:

He sucked in a deep breath full of that strange smell he couldn't identify. He trailed his hands across the satin beneath him and to both sides of him and, when he raised his hands, above him too. He knew why it was so dark. He understood why he could see nothing. He realized why he was lying down. He was in a coffin. A distraught couple thinks you've killed their daughter and they want a confession. If you say you did it, they'll kill you. If you say you didn't, they'll leave you to die. It seems hopeless but there is one way out... What would you do?

THE REVIEW:

With the exception of two Hammer adaptations, Hutson seems to have ditched the supernatural elements of his 80s and 90s horror output, focusing more on real-life horror of recent. Or crime, as we call it. 

EPITAPH is a crime book through and through. 

The catalyst for the story is a particularly heinous crime: 8 year old Laura Hackett’s rape and murder is vividy described from the child’s perspective in some of the most effective writing I’ve ever encountered by Hutson. From there, things go from bad to worse, grieving parents Frank and Gina Hackett doing what many would undoubtedly want to do in their situation, taking the law into their own hands. But is Paul Crane, the man they’ve pinned the murder of their daughter on, definitely guilty? 

I’ve read a lot of Hutson over the years and enjoy him a great deal. He gets a bit of stick for being something of a hack: ‘gutter horror’ is a term I’ve heard used when describing his work. For me, his writing is addictive. A kind of neo-noir style, with tight prose and short, sharp chapters. 

This is perhaps the most character-driven I’ve read from Hutson, and great for it. 

Our main protagonist is Paul Crane, the man the Hacketts believe to have raped and murdered their little girl. Paul wakes after a heavy night’s drinking to find himself in a coffin, presumably buried alive. It’s pitch black and he can’t move an inch. There’s a mic somewhere close from where a voice talks to him, telling him why he’s there.

The main body of the novel is the conversation Paul has with his captors, who we soon discover to be the Hacketts. They want to know all the gory details of their daughter’s rape and murder. This makes for very tough reading at times, and for that reason I wouldn’t say this novel is for everyone. The writing is powerful and emotive, the reader unsure until the heart-stopping climax as to whether Crane is guilty or not. 

It’s hard to think of a book this grim as a page-turner, but Hutson nails it. We can empathise with everyone, from the grieving parents, frustrated by the seemingly apathetic justice system, to Crane himself, desperately trying to reason with his captors, claustrophobic and all too aware of his diminishing supply of oxygen. It goes about as dark as you could imagine, and then some, Hutson never holding back. 

Yet still we read on.

In short, EPITAPH is a brutal crime novel dealing with heinous subject matter. It’s a cruel reminder, if one is needed, that true horror is what happens around us; a very human affair that has nothing to do with ghosts or zombies or vampires.           

Wayne Simmons
Genre Fiction Writer
www.waynesimmons.org

Happy New Year!

I don't have time to write a long sentimental post about my year because I'm meant to be playing with my kids (they're just taking a quick TV break right now). So, here's a list of stuff that happened this year that tickled me pink. It's in no particular order. I'm just typing as I remember.

The play I wrote with my da got major funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Brassneck Theatre Company are producing it and it'll hit the stage (including a two-week stint at the Grand Opera House) in 2013.

I got a couple of new tattoos.

I earned an MA in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast.

I met a lot of new and groovy people, many of them fellow writers.

I started going to a local boxing club, got fit and lost a lot of weight (some of it came back over Xmas but I'll fix that soon).

Two of my novels were published through Blasted Heath, WEE ROCKETS and FIREPROOF, as well as a collection of shorts, OTHER STORIES AND NOTHING BUT TIME.

I spent lots of time with my family.

The day-job became less of a ball-ache because I took a demotion in 2011.

I FINALLY finished the book that I'd been working on for over two years and sent it to an agent who got interested in me after one of my favourite writers recommended me.

Lots of people on Amazon reviewed my work, most of them giving me 5-stars.

I got invited to contribute a novella to the Fight Card series (and I've written the first half of it).

I got my fourth SIAP award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

I had many a glass of very good whisky and whiskey.

There are other positive things that happened that haven't immediately sprung to mind and a lot of negative crap happened too but I've decided to ignore all that.

Thanks to everybody who sent positive energy my way. Y'all are a classy bunch of feckers.

Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas from CSNI

(Click the image for a closer look.)

A Wee Wayne Simmons Review -- THE SKIN GODS by Richard Montanari

The blurb:

The streets of Philadelphia are blistering in the summer heat, the homicide rate is soaring and the nights belong to the mad. Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are prowling the streets with a growing sense of unease. Where next will evil rear its ugly head?

When a series of seemingly unrelated crimes shatter the restless silence of the city, their worst fears are confirmed. A beautiful secretary is slashed to death in a grimy motel shower. A street hustler brutally murdered with a chainsaw. Piece by piece, a strange and sickening puzzle presents itself: someone is meticulously recreating Hollywood's most well-known and horrifying murder scenes, capturing them on film and inserting the clips into videos - for an unsuspecting public to find.

While Kevin Byrne begins furtive investigations of his own, Jessica Balzano goes undercover to work the steaming back alleys of Philadelphia, entering a violent world of underground film, pornography and seedy nightclubs, hidden to all but the initiated. Discovering that none of The Actor's victims are as innocent as they appear to be, the two detectives arrive at a terrifying reality: They are not just chasing a homicide suspect. They are stalking evil itself ...

The review:

He had me at Psycho. 

Any self-respecting horror fan would say the same. 

And that’s the thing about Richard Montanari’s writing: although aiming for the crime section of the book store, there have been times when he’s felt more like a horror writer, or frustrated horror writer, at the very least. His clipped and colloquial prose, the sharp yet subtle character development; it’s all reminiscent of early Stephen King. And that’s a good thing in my book. 

With THE SKIN GODS, Byrne and Balzano’s second outing, Montanari sticks pretty much to the formula established within THE ROSARY GIRLS: maverick cop Kevin Byrne is as dodgy as ever, much of the plot dealing with yet another fine mess he’s got himself into, and a subsequent vigilante outing. Meanwhile his partner Jessica Balzano, still fresh to the job and mostly toeing the line, is balancing her role as a mother and struggling to deal with a recent separation. The humanising of his protagonists makes Montanari’s storytelling all the more effective, this series as character driven as it is plot driven. 

But the plot doesn’t suffer, the mystery at its key every bit as engaging as that of THE ROSARY GIRLS. Montanari’s the master of the red herring, sending Philadelphia’s finest on many a wild goose chase, our killer as resourceful and cunning as they come. The payoff is brilliant, mind, weaving together various subplots into the main thrust of the story with ease. 

Richard Montanari is quickly becoming my favourite crime writer working today. With Byrne and Balzano, he’s got the perfect duo, their own personal stories being a major hook to this series. A frustrated horror hack he may be, but that in no way takes away from how awesome a crime writer he is. This is genre fiction at its very best.

Wayne Simmons
Genre Fiction Writer
www.waynesimmons.org

    

Publicity Fail!

So, two weeks since I got my FIREPROOF themed tattoo and there's been absolutely no perceptible spike in sales for the ebook (I'm judging this by casual checks of the Amazon ranking -- haven't bothered checking with Blasted Heath). Two local papers reported on the publicity stunt and published pics of my tattoo. The bigger papers weren't interested in the end. I almost got a radio interview and some TV coverage but that didn't pan out. A few people saw pics of the tattoo on Facebook and Twitter but to the best of my knowledge, those are the folks that already have copies of the book.

PR guru I am not. I think I'll leave the marketing to the publisher from now on.

But am I pissed off by this epic fail?

Nah, I got a badass tattoo at the end of the day. See me smilin'?

New Ink

My latest tattoo was inspired by my novel, FIREPROOF, with a hat-tip to the publisher that believed in the wacky story, Blasted Heath.

I'm a true heathen.

Buy FIREPROOF here.

UPDATE 25/11/12

The lovely Mrs B pointed out earlier today that I'll need to sell way more books to cover the cost of this tattoo. Maybe I'm not the marketing genius I thought I was...

Buy ALL my books, please.

Amazon UK

Amazon US

I need the royalties.

A Wee Wayne Simmons Review - BONE MACHINE by Martyn Waites

THE BLURB:

The body is discovered in a disused burial ground. A young woman, ritualistically mutilated, her eyes and mouth crudely sewn shut. Her boyfriend is arrested and charged with the murder. He might have a vicious temper and a history of violence towards women, but is Michael Nell really a killer? 

Michael's lawyer doesn't think so. 

She's hired Joe Donovan to prove his alibi. Donovan's investigations lead him into the murky world of people trafficking and illegal prostitution. But when the second body shows up, he realises it's not just local gangsters he's up against - but a deranged serial killer. A killer obsessed with the city's dark history. A killer who leaves clues pointing to his twisted plan. 

And if Donovan and his team can't decipher those messages in time, a killer who will kill again ...

THE REVIEW:

What a great title, eh? BONE MACHINE. And the book lives up to its name: this is one hell of a ride! 

What we've got here is a serial killer novel/ gangster romp. The setting is Newcastle Upon Tyne, albeit the back streets and brothels of the city. We follow Joe Donovan and his quirky crew, an investigative journalist with a zeal for uncovering the truth. He's on the case of Michael Nell, a suspected killer. But a nose for trouble draws Joe & co into all sorts of bother with the local crime boss.

Written by Martyn Waites, one half of the Tania Carver writing partnership, I knew I was in for a good time with this one. Waites' writing style here is much the same as Carver's: short sharp prose, so stripped back that it's almost indecent; gritty setting and characters, with a splash of humour to wash it all down. It's my kind of writing. I flew threw all 481 pages within little under a week, proving this to be a page-turner.

It's a slightly more cluttered work to the Carver books, the plot somewhat meandering, looser and not just as procedural as the likes of THE SURROGATE. But Donovan's a likeable character, more principled than your average journalist, yet still flawed. He likes a drink or two, for a start. And then there's the ongoing story of his missing son: this plays out quite well in the book, leaving us with a killer cliffhanger.    

My only criticism is how easily I found it to identify the killer. 

Bottom line: if you like your crime pulpy and earthy, look no further..

Wayne Simmons
Genre Fiction Writer
www.waynesimmons.org

A Wee Wayne Simmons Review - The Surrogate by Tania Carver

THE BLURB:

A shocking double-murder scene greets Detective Inspector Philip Brennan when he is called to a flat in Colchester. Two women are viciously cut open and laying spreadeagled, one tied to the bed, one on the floor. The woman on the bed has had her stomach cut into and her unborn child is missing.

But this is the third time Phil and his team have seen such an atrocity. Two other pregnant women have been killed in this way and their babies taken from them. No-one can imagine what sort of person would want to commit such evil acts.

When psychologist Marina Esposito is brought in, Phil has to put aside his feelings about their shared past and get on with the job. But can they find the killer before another woman is targeted?

THE REVIEW:

I’ve a terrible habit of reading a series the wrong way around. 2009’s THE SURROGATE, although the first chronologically in Tania Carver’s Brennan & Espoisto series, is actually the third that I’ve read to date; THE CREEPER being my first and CHOKED being my second. This may have affected my enjoyment of THE SURROGATE, this book being my least favourite Carver so far. 

It’s less pulpy and more procedural than later entries, Carver’s economic delivery even more punchy as the series progresses, but the main focus as ever remains on our two protagonists DI Phil Brennan and his love interest Marina Esposito. They’re a likeable, if at times pedestrian, duo and their will-they-won’t-they romance is as much of a driver for the story as the crime. 

And what a crime it is. This isn’t a book for the squeamish, our killer’s prey being heavily pregnant young women and their soon to be conceived babies. It’s shocking stuff, to say the least, and Carver doesn’t hold back when it comes to relaying the full horror of each crime scene. Our list of suspects is quite tight, the focus of the investigation very compact, with few red herrings. But the pages keep turning nonetheless; Carver’s storytelling strong and addictive throughout.  

THE SURROGATE is a recommend in its own right and a solid introduction to one of the strongest UK crime series out there right now. Tania Carver, the writing name for husband and wife team Martyn & Linda Waites, is a forced to be reckoned with, bringing hard-boiled storytelling to the UK police procedural. It's a page turner, Carver's use of short chapters and sharp prose a sure way to power you through its 400 plus pages. 

But probably best to skip breakfast before reading...   

Wayne Simmons
Genre Fiction Writer
www.waynesimmons.org