The uber charming Rebecca Gray, Serpent's Tail's PR guru/marketing whiz/resident genius informed me this morning that The Bloomsday Dead has been long listed for an award. It's The World Book Day's Spread The Word Award which seeks to encourage people to (gasp) read more books. It's a people's choice award, so after the long listing, the people, i.e. you, will vote to make the short list and the winner will be announced on world book day next year. If you'd like to vote for Bloomsday Dead or any of the other nominees then jump on over to their website....
I just got a rather impertinent email asking me what's in it for you, the reader/reviewer. Well, apart from encouraging people to read books, JF, I'll tell you what, vote for me, or review me and if I make the shortlist, I'll give away my entire box of signed first editions on the blog. Deal?
119 comments:
Surely the benefit for the reader is to be able to make a long-term investment in a favorite author for only a nominal donation of time - If repeated enough by enough fans, then AM becomes super-successful, and even famous. Freed from the stress of money concerns, he will devote more time to the craft simply for the love of the art... rewarding the voting reader with more books more quickly - a perfect circle. Then, when he's rich and famous, you can say you knew him back when he was still personally responding to emails from lowly fans...
Jon
Apart from the word "lowly" I couldnt agree more with what you say apart from this one caveat: in theory I would devote more time to writing books and maybe even get it up to the Stephen King/Michael Connolly level of one every 11 months or so, or even the Terry Pratchett level of one every six months or so, but actually, more likely, I'd probably become like Donna Tartt who takes 10 years between books because her first made her very very rich. I've already warned my agent that if they ever do make Dead I Well May Be into a movie he's never going to hear from me again. I'm moving to Tasmania and buying a dairy farm. They're pretty afordable(I've checked this out). No books, no blogging, no emails, no nothing.
Saying that though please do vote for me on Spread the Word, it might give me a modest incentive to write more and stave off the need to get a real job for a few years, a much more likely scenario than Donna Tartt style success.
So jon, if I follow your logic, we actually should not be helping Mr. McKinty become rich and famous as that will work to our detriment. Luckily, I think shipping an entire carton of books from Australia ought to solve the rich part for awhile. Famous is fine--he'll still probably respond to the occasional fan as long as we promise to contribute to his children's education fund.
Off to vote.
Actually, it doesn't look like an American can vote. Seems to be restricted to the British Isles. I am going to have to hope you made a lot of friends at Oxford, I guess. Sorry.
Seanag
Dont be telling the people that. Americans can vote!!! All you have to do is register (took me about thirty seconds) and then when they ask for your location put in North West or South West. Its not a lie. Its the literal truth. I have heard that people have been voting for themselves but this is one thing I will not do. I've done some questionable things in my time but I wont do that (nice mash up of Roy Batty and Meatloaf there - did you notice that?)
Anyway yes you can vote. And if you did I would be grateful.
As for the kids, dont worry about them, I'm teaching them carpet weaving with hand looms and when they turn eight and five they're off to Iran to learn a trade.
All done. Good luck!
Sorry if I discouraged anyone. I obviously do not have a lawyerly enough cast of mind.
I did forget to say straight off, congratulations. To be nominated is a coup in itself.
I don't see why you can't vote for yourself by the way. If it's good enough for our presidential candidates, it's good enough for you.
I like your forward looking thinking in your children's training. It should prove equally handy on that sheep farm in Tasmania if all goes well.
Thanks Mike and what are you doing up this early? Have you started following the Ken Bruen prescription for success?
Seanag
Yeah, its great to get the nod. You dont it for awards, but they're super nice, not that I've ever won one (cept for the Audi) but I have got long listed a couple of times and shortlisted once and as they say at Oscar time IT IS an honour just to be nominated.
Voted! For you, like.
Will work on spreading the word on teabreak. Right now, I gotta do some dayjob work.
gb
Ger
I can feel the love...tears welling up...
Thanks Mike and what are you doing up this early? Have you started following the Ken Bruen prescription for success?
Well, it's funny you should say that, because yes, that's exactly what I'm doing. If it's good enough for Mr Bruen...
When it comes to writing I've always been a night owl, but for the last week I've been getting up at the crack of dawn to give my slacker butt a much needed kicking.
Mixed results so far. Word count up, quality down. The proof will be in the rewrite.
You're a nighttime writer, aren't you?
Mike
Yeah for me its from 9 - 11 pm when the kids have gone to bed and before I start getting too knackered, unless there's some sort of sporting event which is even mildly diverting then the whole evening's a bust.
and then when they ask for your location put in North West or South West. Its not a lie. Its the literal truth.
You ask us to bend the rules?
I'm shocked.Shocked!
By the way,while I feel I have graduated to regular stalk...ahem troll ahem poster on your blog,I haven't read your novels yet...
I plan to order them through me olde English Bookshoppe in Florence and collect them middle to end November when I'll go back for a visit (b/c I prefer buying through independent bookshops rather than Bookshopping Malls or Evil Multinational Corporations)
I'm still finalizing my list and I'm tempted to add Bennett b/c your review on CAP hit a lot of right notes (yes,I am an awfully predictable bleeding heart liberal).
I saw that voting is open till January 2,2009 so it shouldn't be a problem.
Of course,bending the rules for bending the rules,I could vote before reading the book...
Ciao,
Marco
"Shocked, shocked" an oblique Casablanca reference?
Marco I wouldnt buy ALL the books. I'd get Dead I Well May Be only and see if you like it. If you dont, its not likely that you'll like the others.
Regarding RB, I'd start with The Catastrophist as the HITTY is written partly in Elizabethean English which might be off putting at first.
Adrian-
I always wondered this about the Michael Forsythe trilogy- was it always your plan to keep it at 3 books? The reason I ask is that Dead Zone didn't really seem to fit as well as the 1st and 3rd. When I was reading Dead Zone I remember wondering if you were planning on turning Michael into some kind of superman who would get into various adventures over a long series of books. That maybe why I liked Bloomsday so much, it got back to some familiar ground.
Dead YARD you mean. DZ is Stephen King's terrain.
Yah for some reason DY has been the most popular of the books in the US but least pop in the UK. I think thats partly because its a standalone. Almost no one in the US had heard of DIWMB so they ended up reading DY first, whereas in the UK DIWMB got shortlisted for the dagger and got good notices and then some people were miffed that with DY I took Michael back in time.
I knew it was going to be trilogy only at the end of DY when I realized that Michael was not going to die and he started mumbling about "she is coming back" or something like that.
Its definitely a trilogy though there will never be a fourth. No one deserves to be that lucky in 3 books and live, in book 4 he'd have to die early in chapter 1 and where would the fun be in that?
Cheers
a...
Did you vote?
dead yard- my bad. Well for me Dead I Well was the best of the 3 with Bloomsday right behind and then Dead YARD.
And is the question did I do the early vote for el presidente or did I vote for you in the poll?
Dylan
It depends what you think is more important. Me getting on the shortlist of STW or electing the new leader of the free world? Its just a question of priorities mate.
BTW I already voted for the latter by absentee ballot here in Melbourne. Who did I vote for? Why the Alaska Independence Party of course, they seem like a pretty sensible, tolerant and reasonable bunch of people.
wait wait- you were born in the emerald isle correct? that must mean you went through the enormous hassle of getting citizenship at some point. kudos for that kind of dedication.
me, I'm just going to wait till Nov 4 to write in Tina Fey.
Dylan
It was a bureacratic hassle, but even though I say it myself I breezed through the questionnaire. Craig Ferguson was proud of his 10/10, well I also got 10/10. Did they ask Craig Ferguson who the first Chief Justice was? No they did not. They asked him the current one. The current one, are you kidding me? Easy.
A,
Winter is rearing its ugly head. Slow flurries here and there, no heavy stuff yet. Question...did you write River before Dead I Well May Be, but Dead was the book to get you published? Then you put out River? Been curious for awhile now because the first Dead book came out and then Hidden River.
Congrats on Bloomsday btw.
Liam
Ah winter in Wyoming, I dont like the sound of that at all.
Wait a second did you vote? For me I mean? And why not? You have better things to do? Oh, well in that case....
No HR came second. I basically had a deal for three books. I knew one of them would be DIWMB and the second would probably be the sequel, but I ended up writing the third book second if you know what I mean.
"Shocked, shocked" an oblique Casablanca reference?
Oblique?
Marco I wouldnt buy ALL the books. I'd get Dead I Well May Be only and see if you like it. If you dont, its not likely that you'll like the others.
How could I not like the best Irish crime novel of the last 10 years,which is also the best American novel w/o adjectives of the last 5,and its sequels?*
Written by "a gifted man with poetry cursing through his veins"**
*according to totally impartial blog reviews
** what do yo mean coursing? Oh...makes sense as well,I suppose
But seriously,I've thought about it,and the point is I plan to make a large pre-christmas order (which will include also the latest novels of some of my favourite sf/f authors) and then give it a rest for a while-so if I did like DIWMB,I'd be forced to wait months for the sequels.
Yes,it's a bit of a gamble, but based on what I read of the novels and examples of your writing,I don't think a big one.
the HITTY is written partly in Elizabethean English which might be off putting at first.
I have a laurea in English and German language and literature -everything this side of Beowulf is fair game.
I've read plenty of Elizabethians.
And, thinking of Gialli,I've also read a lot of examples of that most closely related literary form,the Revenge Tragedy spoofed in The Crying of Lot 49.
No surprise you're an American now -your baseball to football (that's soccer in case you forgot) ratio is well over the accepted limit for Europeans.
Do you have dual citizenship?
Ciao,
Marco
Marco
I am a dual British-US citizen and apparently because my grandparents were born before partition I can get an Irish passport too. Three passports would be ridiculous though and would only add to your CIA conspiracy theories.
I'd say my love is equally split between Coventry City, Liverpool FC and the New York Yankees. Liverpool by birth and family tradition and the other two by geography and adoption.
In baseball a really great game could end 1:0, I feel my job is to convince my fellow Americans that a really soccer/football match could also end 0:0 or 1:0 too.
Well, I hope you like DIWMB. Havoc is the better of the two Bennetts if you're only buying one.
Well, I hope you like DIWMB.
I meant to say that I'm ordering all three-that's why I said a bit of gamble.
Bye,
Marco
On the topic of baseball do you think the Rays are going to win it all this year? Going to be hard for your Yanks to face that young talent for the next few years.
As far as soccer goes I've always wondered if the US team would be any good if our best athletes went to that sport as kids seeing as right now the pecking order of sports is football, baseball, basketball, hockey, swimming, water polo, jumping jacks and Xbox before giving soccer a try.
I know what you mean. I can vote for Bloomsday?
dylan--
as someone who's grown up in the American Soccer world i've probably got a bit of a warped view, but i think soccer is a lot more popular with kids than you think. Playing wise anyways. Anyone who was anyone back in elementary was on the pitch during recess and there are tons of healthy youth competitive clubs. i'd give you some stats but that would require time and energy and i've got none of either at the moment.
we just need to stop with the whole drafting guys from college thing for our pro league, which is something MLS teams are starting to do more like Europe now, having developmental programs and whatnot. patience my friends.
and maybe the US national team would be better if we had a coach with a personality and who didn't feel the need to start his son every match and ignore other perfectly capable players.
anyways...one girl's humble opinion.
Also on the subject of the day, right. consider one vote cast (sometime in the near future)
roisin-
Yeah I know it isnt quite that bad but most our elite athletes play other sports. Still every 4 years or so I can root for 1 World Cup win for the US and then change the channel to see if the Cubs are on.
Liam
You can and YOU MUST
Christie
I used to coach the sixth grade soccer team and the enthusiasm level was still pretty outstanding. I wonder if something happens in high school to kill that for a lot of boys especially.
Dylan
I was rooting for the Cubs too in the post season.
The NYY are in trouble. Thats a hell of a division to be stuck in with ageing untradeable players.
I'm also a big fan of Rugby Union especially the Ireland team but imagine my surprize on coming to Australia and finding the hierarchy is this:
Aussie Rules
Rugby League
Cricket
Soccer
Rughy Union
My vote is cast. You're in some pretty lofty company on that list, sir.
Stuart
Yeah I'm realistic, the chances of me shortlisting are about as likely as John McCain carrying Illinois.
Thanks for the vote though. Lemme know when you need some back sratching.
So, having relocated myself to recently to the "Northwest," in order to complete my mission of helping elect the next leader of the free world...oh, wait, that was my other mission...an obvious question springs to mind. Assuming you will post about a few other things before February of 2009--and I'm not sure that that's a valid assumption, by the way-- how are you and/or your happy cohort of commenters going to keep this subject alive for the more haphazard visitor to this blog who is not as diligent as they should be in scrolling down and reading all they have missed?
It might be time to start thinking about a game plan. For instance, you could casually refer to your "friend" Craig Ferguson's citizenship score--you wouldn't even have to brag about your own, because they'll read that too!-- and refer them to your "Spread the Word" post. See where I'm going with this? These are just some of the crazy yet vibrant ideas that we residents of "Northwest" come up with all the time. And oddly enough, I feel sure there are more of us on this very blog. Although I hear those folks from "Southwest" aren't too shabby in the brains department either.
Seanag
Brilliant comment. I hadn't even thought about that. My next post is going to be about plate tectonics (no I'm not kidding, alas) and eventually this will slip down the page until its gone forever....
What I'll have to do is get a link up on the right hand side so you can vote! I'm not the most technically astute of individuals but even I should be able to pull that one off.
Thanks again for your North western ingenuity.
A...
Adrian, congratulations on the Yankees having given you lots of October writing time, then.
By the way, my word verification for this comment is "evanese" -- pretty evocative if you mispronounce it just slightly.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Adrian, I assure you that we all await with bated breath your discussion of plate tectonics. Although I vote "Northwestern", I actually reside in California, where those plates have a way of sliding, so am perhaps more eager for any and all information on this topic than others.
And Peter, I am glad to know that someone else takes an interest in the words we are made to type before we can gain access. Sometimes I think I'd like to write a dictionary.
Seanag, this could be a project. I have a list of some of the more notable such words by my computer at home. One I remember is a jaunty atheist's farewell: byegod.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Nice one, Peter. Only tonight I have typed in the word 'iniocy', which is certainly the innocence born of idiocy, unless it's the reverse. Right now I must type the unusually straightforward word 'mantle'--undoubtedly just the word verification's attempt to mock my vast and worthy undertaking.
Peter
In theory yes, but in facto much of my spiritual strength has been devoted to rooting against the Red Sox and Sarah Palin. (In that order, I think.)
Seanag
Dont get too excited for the plate tectonics post, somehow I think you're going to be underwhelmed.
me, I'm just going to wait till Nov 4 to write in Tina Fey.
I've just realized that the US Election Day is also my birthday.
I know asking for presents is bad manners,but Americans:
I much prefer the President Obama model.
Thank you.
I've done my part. But I'm a big Jinx.
What'd you think about Chelsea-Roma? I'm a big Roma fan so it was a little disheartening. If the Giallorossi are going to lose 1 nil, I guess I don't mind too bad that it was at the hands of Chels.
At least it wasn't Liverpool.
(haha)
What'd you think about Chelsea-Roma? I'm a big Roma fan so it was a little disheartening. If the Giallorossi are going to lose 1 nil, I guess I don't mind too bad that it was at the hands of Chels.
At least it wasn't Liverpool.
(haha)
I casted my vote btw. Glad to nominate Michael into literary stardom.
"in facto much of my spiritual strength has been devoted to rooting against the Red Sox and Sarah Palin."
If Sarah Palin were rounding third and headed for home in the bottom of the ninth to score the winning run against the Red Sox, who would you root for?
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I'm a big Roma fan
Why?
I guess I don't mind too bad that it was at the hands of Chels.
I have a strong aversion to teams owned by billionaire tycoons.It's unexplainable,really.
I guess I'm something of an agnostic -I don't really have a favourite team anymore,but some of my friends are mourning the 0-3 of Fiorentina against Bayern M.
I really thought Fiorentina would put up more of a fight against Bayern. Gilardino has been on a tear lately, but I guess he can't do it by himself. Pazzini and Mutu have to step it up as well.
Why do I like Roma? I've been to Rome and once I started watching the Giallorossi, a love affair was born. Also got pickpocketed on the subway there, but that's another story. Roma has quality players: De Rossi, Aquilani, Vucinic, Panucci, Mexes, Totti. Need I go on? They are a going through a bit a rough spell right now, but once everyone is healthy, I think they will make a run, in the Serie A and CL.
Ciao amico,
Liam
Liam
Your hostility towards Liverpool is uncalled for. Have you been to Liverpool? they've got nothing else in that whole city. Nothing. In the English PL opposing fans sing "in your Liverpool slums". And you know what else, most of the fans are from Liverpool unlike Man U where they all come from London.
Peter
In that unlikely scenario I'd have to root FOR Sarah Palin.
It was a strange match-Fiorentina created a lot more opportunities (22 shots on goal)and didn't play badly,while Bayern capitalized most of his chances.
I've been to Rome and once I started watching the Giallorossi, a love affair was born.
Tifosi della Roma are famous for their passion for "la Magica".
I see you're really a dedicated soccer fan,now.
Also got pickpocketed on the subway there, but that's another story
Also typical.
I think they will make a run, in the Serie A and CL.
They made a good run in the last few years,but,as they say,ended up "always the bridesmaid,never the bride".
Ciao,amico romano del Wyoming,
Marco
"Also got pickpocketed on the subway there, but that's another story"
I learned how to say "Beware of pickpockets" in several languages from the signs in the No. 64 bus in Rome.
Verification word: reglea
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Have you been to Liverpool? they've got nothing else in that whole city.
They have Ever-ton.
A much more elegant and respectable team.
...
My confirmation word,cabillas,could almost be a Real Madrid player.
Marco,
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Too true. We cannot seem to get Inter out of our way. Or Juventus for that matter. Amauri is a different sort of striker than Trezeguet, but just as effective for Juve. I'm planning to write something one of these days, something based off of my experience with the Roman gypsies and pickpockets.
Adrian,
Just bustin' your bollocks about the Reds. I think I'd root for them over Man U anyway if that makes you feel any better. Though I am a fan of O'Shea and Berbatov. I guess that's why I'm a little sore at Liverpool and Man U. They ripped Keane and Berbatov away from Tottenham and now the Spurs are horrendous.
I don't know much abuot confirmation words; I'm not Catholic.
Confirmation word: desside, which sounds like stuttering Spanish or Portuguese.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter,
Those sneaky, short and seedy little Italian theives. I can still smell their breakfast they were so close to me. As soon as I realized I had been robbed, I wanted to go apeshit vigilante but was quickly reminded that I would probably be stabbed 50 times.
Marco
Everton elegant? Now we are talking parallel universes. If you want to root for an underdog Merseyside team go for Tranmere Rovers.
My confo word is sappah which is what cockneys have as their final meal of the day.
Liam
True story. I was in Naples once (some kind of pickpocketing post graduate school operates here I think)when thieves drove a truck into the left luggage office at the railway station and then loaded it up with all the left luggage, suitcases, rucksacks everything, then they just drove off.
Pretty nuts. Sounds like the foundations of a good crime fiction story. I plan to use my pickpocketing experience. Naples is where the Camorra does its thing, the Napoli equivalent La Cosa Nostra. But the polizia are cracking down there. Rome has dispatched something like 5,000 troops to combat organized crime there.
The excelent Jean-Claude Izzo begins one of his novels with an evocative pickpocket scene upon the protagonsits return to Marseilles.
Sign-in word for preview: bradishi, Mozart's long-lost Swiss opera buffa, plural of "bradisho," Swiss-Italian dialect for "rogue" or "rapscallion."
Sign in word to publish comment: fairstal, a Norse or Icelandic epic.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
"My confo word is sappah which is what cockneys have as their final meal of the day."
No, a sappah is a dyslexic lesbian.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Art imitates life. I write crime, but I never knew what it felt like to be stabbed until I had a kidney stone. Seriously. It feels exactly like being stabbed and having the blade twisted when that stone start to move. Drink your water, mates. And lots of it.
Ever-ton/always a (perfect) tone
And you call yourself a Pynchon fan?
On the various arguments brought up- pickpocketing,gypsies,camorra, police,troops,government cracking down-
each merits a long discussion,and all should be put in the right context in order to be properly understood.
But it's already much,much too late in the night for me,and today I'll have to wake up early.
Have a nice weekend
Ciao
Marco
Marco
Before you scoot off, you know what Everton's nickname is? "The Toffees" - now that I find endearing. Not enough to ever support them, but its cute.
Liam
I've heard that people can have heart attacks because the kidney stone pain is so bad. My most painful was when my appendix burst on Memorial Day weekend and St Joes in Denver was swamped with injuries. I waited 6 hours and at several points begged for the angel of death. Actually I should post that story, my wife was nine months pregnant with our first child and the attending doctor was convinced that I was having "sympathetic pregnancy pains" especially when the scan showed my appendix as relatively normal. Hence the 6 hour wait. The surgeon next day told me I came close to getting blood poisoning.
Peter
One of my fav dyslexic jokes:
Q: What do the letters D.N.A. stand for?
A: National Dyslexic Association.
and perhaps this one should be over at our quantum physics discussion on your site:
Did you hear about the dyslexic satyr? He opened a physics book and got a hadron.
You should definitely post that. That's a crazy story. Doc told me I also had a stone in appendix. I was like what? One doc told me to be concerned, the other shrugged it off. I hear that kidney stones are compariable to labor pains for women. I still like to go with the knife thing though. Makes the whole story sound more badass.
You get your appendix out? My old man did, on vacation is the Cayman Islands. He came back with one of those "I had my appendix out in the Cayman Islands and all I got was this stupid shirt."
I have made a variant of that DNA joke for years, which may prove that remote parts of the world are connected by super-strings: something that happens there can happen here at the same time.
Hadn't heard that hadron, though. It ranks high in my book of particle humor.
Tried to comment last night and the word verification said 'peler', which I first read as 'peeler'. But there was an outage or something happeneing and the comment wouldn't happen.
Now it just says 'prowz' which could be a sailor's graffiti tag, I suppose.
Can't remember what the original comment was. Probably something way better than this one.
I need to get more sleep.
gb
Reading "peeler" for "peler" is almost as cool as when I heard a little girl saying "Mammy, mammy!" during my abortive departure from Bouchercon and thought at first that she was saying "Allan Guthrie!"
"Prowz" could be a drunken sailor's cry for http://www.cardcow.com/images/juliet-prowse-mame-celebrities-108131.jpg
My word verification for this one is "eringhth." I'll leave it to you Irishmen to tell me what that one means.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I'm starting to think this thread will reach 100 comments. Those are Daily Kos numbers. I must do more shameless self promotion in the future. Thats clearly what the punters want.
Ger
You've no idea how many times my comments have failed because of the i l problem.
Did I ever tell you the story of being run over by the peelers in a Land Rover? Not as funny as it sounds.
More sleep eh? Maybe its a guilty conscience, rejecting people's hard toil. I think you know what I'm talking about.
Peter - maybe it's drunken Irish patriotism?
Just got 'undip' for my WV. This could go on...
gb
Adrian - Way to increase the comment tally. I'm intrigued by this Lan Rover story, do go on. Though how it couldn't be funny...
Yeah, you're probably right about the conscience thing. I'm a sensitive wee soul. Didn't realise the other side of rejection was as bad as the side I'm more accustomed to.
gb
Ger
Actually its not much of a story. Night, sometime in the mid 80's. I was walking up the road from Ballycarry train station. Police Land Rover comes roaring along the road and one of those big metal wing mirrors they have clobbers me on the back of the head. I go flying into the bushes and down into the sheugh...
I went to hospital. We eventually found the driver and there was a very small (VERY VERY small) financial settlement.
But I feel thats why I'll never be world chess champ now. Brain damage. Coulda had a brilliant career coulda been somebody instead of a bum, coulda been a contender etc.
Adrian - Ouch! But at least you got to use the word 'sheugh' in another story.
You know, I whacked my head when I was a kid and split it open. Staples, etc. Happened at a lesure centre and I also got a small small claim.
Do you think all writers (established and emerging) started off as intensely intelligent people and then they got hit on the head? You could do a poll.
gb
"I'm starting to think this thread will reach 100 comments."
Not if I can help it.
WV for thos comment: "proute." That's Proust with a speech impediment.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
Seriously when do you sleep? You were posting a few hours ago on your blog. Whats going on? I'm assuming you work for the PI or somewhere. Have there been serious cutbacks and you're basically running the whole newspaper, amped out of your mind on blue pills, catching a few z's here and there?
Ger
I'd like to think I would have been smarter and prettier...
Sorry to take so long to reply, but I had to sleep.
If I appear to spend too much time at the computer, it's because I do. In addition to the time at home, newspaper work is episodic. It's easy and fun to work blog posts and comments into the day between stories.
===================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Adrian,
Ever seen a flick called "Johnny Was" with Vinnie Jones. Reminds me of something you'd write. If you haven't seen it, you might wanna check it out.
Liam
peter
I wasnt criticising i was merely impressed.
Liam
I havent, but of course I know Vinnie Jones both for his work on and off the field. I'll check it out.
Cheers
Hey, I sometimes marvel that I spend so much time at these bloody machines! It's such a pleasant way of taking one's mind off work.
Liam
Not sure if you're still reading down here but you might like this. Its the
whoops, that didnt work.
Liam
This is the infamous Vinnie Jones/Paul Gascogine incident
You mean he only got a yellow card for that? What would he have to do for a red?
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
Almost no one saw that game but it make every back page the following Sunday.
Its interesting to compare the career of both men post football. Vinnie has become a semi successful actor and producer - Paul Gascoigne (and sadly I'm not joking about this) was recently put in an insane asylum.
Hilarious. Definitely one way to put the clamps on the opposition. Thanks for sharing that, A. Made my night.
Liam
Good old Vinnie. Ever see TMZ.com. The paps stay well away...
You're still getting comments on this post? Janey Mac!
Well, now you're one more closer to that 100 mark.
gb
Ger yeah. 100 posts! Come on people!
And here was I, thinking you might want some actual content in these comments. Silly me. Do you see the slippery slope you're leading us all down here? First playing fast and loose with geography and now this "no content" drive for a hundred. Where will it end?
Your link about STW is much improved. Keep going.
Seanag
Even if every comment here were blank it would still be of higher truth value that anything you'd get on say, the Fox News blogs.
thanks for the STW tip again.
A...
Perhaps we could all comment on the relative merits of each...
One more post, Adrian. Send me back any kinda bollocks and then you can say you hit the 100 mark.
Liam
how about this bollocks:
Viz comic
Yeah 100 comments!!!
Hey it worked!
100 COMMENTS!
Free pies for everyone or something...
Is that a kids book with the name bollocks in it? How subtle of the makers.
Liam
No, seriously its good.
Pick up a copy of Viz somehow and you wont be disappointed. In fact I venture to suggest that in the future you will remember your life dividing into the time before you read Viz comic and the post Viz era.
I just caught up and voted for Bloomsday today.
Best of luck.
BTW, how's the Melbourne summer looking? Hot as a bastard I suspect.
Daryl
Thanks man.
Yeah its starting to cook nicely. Only grade 3 water restrictions though so far, so it cant be that bad. Once in Denver it got up to 110, hasnt got close to that yet but we'll see.
Don't like the hot weather? Then slip into your long johns, pull on a balaclava, grab your insulated gloves, and come on up to Philadelphia for a baseball game.
V-word: motestor, probably a man with an unhealthy attachment to car engines and children, and one one of the creepier v-words I've had.
===================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
Well as Mrs Thatcher said in another context dont you just want to "forget everything else and rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!"
I took back streets home last night about 2 a.m., so I saw just a few signs of the rejoicing: knocked-over newspaper boxes, a partly uprooted plant, some charming outbursts of joy, and just one wanton act of senseless, wanton destruction.
But the real fun may come tomorrow, which is:
a) Friday night
b) Halloween, and
c) the aftermath of the day's Phillies victory parade.
I give thanks that I am not a bartender in Philadelphia.
An untouchable v-word: dalyt.
===================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
Chris Matthews today was wearing a Phillies cap that was four sizes two small for him. He looked like a naughty schoolboy called before the headmaster, it was ridiculous.
An un-reported story this year: the Untouchables now have their own country - its called Nepal.
I like India very much but the discrimination against the dalet population is incredible, in Nepal which is 90 percent Hindu its been even worse, but now I think its all going to end with the bottom up Revolution. Either that or the Maoists are going to sell the country out and its going to become part of the Chinese Empire.
Reading the comments I see that my v-word,sweat,seems to be a synthetic and thoughtful opinion on the Melbourne Summer.
In order to provide some sort of content,I'll give you the last on your books.
TBD should arrive today or tomorrow;DIWMB may take another week or two;TDY is lost in the woods and may take a month or even more (out of stock?).All the other books I've ordered should arrive with TBD (you're the only one causing problems).
So probably I'll come back with 2 out of 3 when I go to Florence mid-November-should I wait for TDY or can I read TBD before?
Ciao,
Marco
Marco
On no account read BD before DIWMB! I'm serious. Big spoiler in there.
DY could be read as a standalone but I'd wait and read them in order. You shouldnt have much trouble getting them from the UK. Serpents Tail are bringing out a trilogy edition in a couple of months.
All rights for audio and international are owned by Simon and Schuster, hence the eccentric translations. Japanese and Danish but not Italian or German. Weird.
Serpents Tail are bringing out a trilogy edition in a couple of months.
Now you tell me...I thought ST had already issued the new trilogy ,probably I misread previous comments.
This explains why the first two books are a bit more difficult and probably the stocks won't be replenished until the new trilogy comes out.
If I like DIWMB I doubt I'll have the strength of character to wait one-two months for DY.
Plus,I have to vote for BD before the end of the year.
The v-words pause in reflection-the image is left blank.
Ciao,
Marco
Marco
Just ASSUME BD is brilliant, thats my advice.
Look if I was really corrupt I'd say vote the Chicago Way.
But definitely read DIWMB first.
So,thanks to the regional strike/manifestation against the school/university reform in Florence I collected the books a week earlier.
According to the bookshop's computer new copies of DY should be made available from November 26 -but it's still a tentative date.
Bye,
Marco
Well I hope you like em.
a..
Well...did I ever tell you you looked cute in that family video... ;)
....
....
....
Jokes aside,yes I did like DIWMB.Very much.
A few scattered points (assuming everyone who goes this far either has read it or deserves to be spoiled):
Isn't Michael too well read? He's intelligent and all,but only 19,left school early,and hasn't had all that free time on his hands.Or should we take it as a clue that his memories are,at least in some cases,reconstructed and embellished by his older self -made to fit in the narrative of Michael Forsythe?
Foreshadowing was a wee bit annoying,but I understand it adds realism-when we recall past events we usually do not separate them from their consequences.
The absence of quotation marks (which I'd read many found a stumbling block) didn't bother me in the least-a simple but powerful way to reinforce the first person viewpoint, and if you go with the flow it's never confusing.
The prose is vibrant and impressionistic,with lots of moments of brilliance,and never feels overdone or excessive.Also good to see you left out the puns,but not the pop culture references.
The part in Mexico is really wonderful-the prison,the invented continents,the christmas memory,the jungle,etc.-it is also very effective in making the reader connect emotionally with Michael -the first part doesn't really win him many sympathies.
Fergal and Andy had redshirt written all over them,the poor sods,but I thought Scotchy would have made it-not least because you mentioned in previous comments that you had planned a future short called Scotchy Finn's Wake and I naively thought it would have been set after BD.
Bridget remains a bit of a cipher-but that's right because we know her (or fail to) through Michael,and he never goes beyond the surface (except in one very literal sense,I suppose).
Still her rise to the top of Irish organized crime seems a bit hard to swallow.
Michael is neither hero,nor anti-hero,nor villain -more of a tragic figure,in the sense that he feels his course of action is driven by necessity,and set out by facts in a past that cannot be changed -and while on some level you can sympathize with his quest for vengeance,it's chilling to see,for example, how little the lives of Darkey's guards matter to him(even if in the end he saves 3 out of 4).
I would like to see some sort of (non-religious) penance and redemption in the end -but I doubt you've given it to him.
What about an AU short on his life with Rachel? Ok,it would probably be very boring...
So yes,satisfied customer all right.I'll try to wait for DY,which should arrive end November/beginning December to read the next two in order.
I'll have to cut you some slack next time you horribly trash writers or genres I like or you're just plain wrong...you talk a lot of talk,but...
Ciao,
Marco
but I thought Scotchy would have made it-not least because you mentioned in previous comments that you had planned a future short called Scotchy Finn's Wake and I naively thought it would have been set after BD.
...
Yeah poor old Scotch eh? I kind of liked him at the end there.
You sleekit wee fucker...
And poor,poor old Scotchy.I'm ashamed to say I didn't realize it was him until the end.
For most of the story I thought Moran was double-crossing Bridget,and when my theory began to crumble I couldn't figure out who the kidnapper was.
Now I know why you said to read DIWMB before BD.And why you feel this is the final in the series.
Should I imagine many peaceful days in Lima for our dysfunctional family,or is it more probable they will be soon offed by Moran's crew or some of the many friends they've made during the years?
BD is different -I'm not generally a fan of this type of stories,and I feel it lacks the emotional punch of the central part of DIWMB,but it was addictively fun to read (for most of last night) and again I enjoyed it very much.
I suppose I set the suspension of disbelief a notch or two higher this time and I went for the ride- Michael seems almost a cartoon character here,and more often the not he makes it out alive through a combination of fortunate coincidences and sheer incompetence on the part of his would-be killers.
Bridget is an egocentrical bitch,and the flashback scene proves it (you're like all the others! As soon as your friends start playing russian roulette I'm not the center of the universe anymore!).Though apparently she's more beautiful than Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon added together and multiplied by four.
Is she at least based on a real person? An old flame of yours?
Not that Michael is much better.The line "Sometimes it was the wrong thing to kill a man" towards the end cracks me up.
Poor Siobhan.
Prose and descriptions are again a strong point (even if this time you slipped in a dubious Kevorkian pun). In fact you're so good at times at illuminating places and situations with a sharp turn of phrase I wonder if you shouldn't try in the future something more along the lines of your beloved Ellroy and Peace.
Ciao,
Marco
Cheers Marco
I agree with the emotion thing. I think it was harder to get emotional depth into 1 day. But I dont think I agree with you about him being a cartoon. On any other day he'd be dead, but this is his day. All the stars were aligned and he was lucky. Luck, luck, lucky. Thats why there cant ever be another book, because his luck will have to run out fast, say on page 3.
Bridget was based on a real girl that I briefly dated. Almost every aspect of her personality and looks are a complete steal.
I imagine Siobhan'll be off at some finishing school in Switzerland or something she'll be fine.
And yeah poor old Scotch.
"Cartoon" was also due to the fact that he gets hacked,slashed,beaten up and even "hand-granaded" every step of the way.
Bridget was based on a real girl that I briefly dated. Almost every aspect of her personality and looks are a complete steal.
That's worrying news.Wonder what she's doing now.
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