The Derry Air

There’s something special in the Derry air, alright. About the only downside to the weekend’s trip to Derry for the ‘Killer Books’ festival was that I was still stuck on the M50 on the way home on Sunday evening when Sligo Rovers scored the winner in the Cup Final about three hours into injury time.
  Other than that, ‘Killer Books’ made for a very fine weekend indeed. As always, the best part of such events is meeting fellow scribes, such as Lee Child and Desmond Doherty (right and righter). I also had a couple of brief-but-lovely chats with Claire McGowan, Andrew Pepper, Stuart Neville, William Ryan, John McAllister, Arlene Hunt, Alan Glynn, Stephen Mearns and Ann Cleeves.
  On Friday afternoon I had the honour of taking part in a panel discussion on comedy crime fiction alongside Colin Bateman (who was a busy man, given that his ‘Teenage Kicks’ punk musical opened in Derry over the weekend) and Gerard Brennan, all of which was moderated in some style by the great Garbhan Downey.
  All told, ‘Killer Books’ was a huge credit to its curator, Brian McGilloway, who launched his latest offering, HURT, on the Friday evening. Here’s hoping that ‘Killer Books’ in Derry becomes an annual event …

The Write Stuff

JJ Toner has just launched a short story competition, ‘Write4Autism’, with the intention of raising awareness of, and funding for, Enhanced Services for Autism Spectrum Disorder Initiatives (ASDI), a registered charity working with adults with Autism in Ireland. To wit:

Write4Autism is a new short story competition, launching today. The prize fund will be determined by the number of entries received, up to a maximum of €4,500 (about $6,000).

The prizes on offer are as follows:

First prize 50% of the prize fund up to a maximum of €2,250 (about $3,000)
Second prize 25% of the prize fund up to a maximum of €1,125 (about $1,500)
Third prize 10% of the prize fund up to a maximum of €450 (about $600)
18 addition prizes from the remaining 15% of the prize fund up to a maximum of €37.50 (about $50)

The entry fee is €7.50 (about $10) per story, the word limit 1,500 words.

We have a judging panel of three great writers: Colin Bateman, Declan Burke and Lucille Redmond.

The proceeds from the competition will be used to fund Enhanced Services for Autism Spectrum Disorder Initiatives (ASDI), a registered charity working with adults with Autism in Ireland.

Depending on the quality of the winning stories, they may be published in an eBook for Kindle, with the proceeds of this eBook going to the charity.

For all the details, clickety-click here.

Great Scott

I mentioned earlier in the week that I’ll be interviewing Scott Turow in Dublin on November 11th – he’ll be appearing at Smock Alley in Temple Bar to promote his latest thriller, IDENTICAL (Mantle). The details run like this:

We are delighted to announce another event in our ongoing series of author talks with our neighbours, The Gutter Bookshop. Meet the bestselling author of Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow, who will be discussing his new thriller Identical, a gripping masterpiece of dark family rivalries, shadowy politics and hidden secrets.
The event will be chaired by award winning Irish crime writer Declan Burke.

  11th November @ 6pm in the Main Space

  Scott Turow is the author of nine best-selling works of fiction including Innocent, Presumed Innocent and The Burden of Proof, and two non-fiction books including One L, about his experience as a law student. His books have been translated into more than 25 languages, sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, and have been adapted into film and television projects. He frequently contributes essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Playboy, and The Atlantic.

  For all the details, clickety-click here …

Irish Crime Fiction: A Festival

The full line-up for November’s ‘Irish Crime Fiction: A Festival’ in Trinity College (see below) has been released, and it looks very much like this:

Friday 22 November (free tickets)

7.00pm-8.30pm: ‘A Short Introduction to Crime Fiction: Why We Write It, How We Write It, and Why We Read It’.
Panellists: Jane Casey, John Connolly, Alan Glynn, Declan Hughes, and Eoin McNamee.

Saturday 23 November (free tickets for daytime events)

10.00am-11.15am: ‘Historical Crime Fiction’.
Panelists: Kevin McCarthy, Eoin McNamee (chair), Stuart Neville, Peter Quinn, and Michael Russell.

11.30am-12.45am: ‘Irish Crime Fiction Abroad’.
Panelists: Declan Burke (chair), Jane Casey, John Connolly, Conor Fitzgerald, Alan Glynn, Arlene Hunt.

12.45pm-1.30pm: lunch

1.30-3.30pm: Surprise Film Screening

3.45pm-5pm: ‘Crime Fiction and Contemporary Ireland’.
Panelists: Paul Charles, Declan Hughes, Gene Kerrigan, Brian McGilloway (chair), Niamh O’Connor, Louise Phillips.

Saturday 23 November, Closing Event

6pm (doors open 5.30), Exam Hall, Trinity College (€6 tickets)
‘An Evening With Michael Connelly’.
John Connolly will be interviewing Michael, who will be signing books, including his newest novel The Gods of Guilt, which will have its Irish launch at this event.

Irish Crime Fiction: A Festival

I’m very much looking forward to ‘Irish Crime Fiction: A Festival’, which takes place at Trinity College Dublin over the weekend of November 22nd / 23rd. It should be a terrific event, blending as it does some new voices with established international best-sellers, although the highlight will undoubtedly be John Connolly in conversation with Michael Connelly (I believe Michael slips in under FIFA’s ‘grandparent rule’; his Irish roots are to be found in north Cork, I think).
  The blurb:

Irish Crime Fiction: A Festival
Trinity College Dublin and New York University are holding a festival devoted to Irish crime fiction, featuring more than a dozen of the most exciting Irish crime novelists. This will be a memorable event, devoted to a key genre of contemporary Irish writing, with a wide events, so please make plans to join us.
  Among the confirmed participants are Declan Burke, Jane Casey, Paul Charles, John Connolly, Conor Fitzgerald, Alan Glynn, Declan Hughes, Arlene Hunt, Kevin McCarthy, Brian McGilloway, Eoin McNamee, Niamh O’Connor, Louise Phillips, Peter Quinn, Michael Russell and Stuart Neville.
  We’re particularly pleased to announce that our weekend will conclude with a major event: for the Irish launch of his newest novel, The Gods of Guilt (Orion Books, November 2013), Michael Connelly will be interviewed by John Connolly.

  For all the details, including how to book tickets for the Michael Connelly event, clickety-click here …

An Incite Job

One of the most interesting aspects of the Irish crime fiction sub-genre over the last couple of years has been the number of writers who have set their stories beyond these shores. David Graham’s debut thriller, INCITEMENT (Andromeda Publishing), is something of a globe-trotting affair, with stop-offs in Mexico, Miami and Kosovo. To wit:

A brutal conflict unleashed. Who stands to win? A bloody massacre at a Mexican heroin refinery; a Miami-bound freight ship hijacked for its cargo of illegal narcotics; the ruthless assassination of a Kosovar drug lord – a war has erupted between two drugs superpowers. As DEA agent Diane Mesi investigates she becomes convinced that the conflict is being orchestrated by an unknown third party. But she is marginalised by her colleagues and her judgement is challenged at every turn. Only if she can expose the truth will she be able to stop the violence and save her career. Michael Larsen is an ex-soldier and hired mercenary who has been contracted to fuel the conflict at every opportunity until it destroys both sides. As he battles his own demons, he hopes that by directing the violence he will attain some measure of redemption. But neither Mesi nor Larsen know the full extent of the forces at play or of what is truly at stake. As they each pursue their own resolution, the violence escalates and they become increasingly vulnerable to the dangers that stalk them.

  David will launch INCITEMENT at the Gutter Bookshop on November 8th, with festivities commencing at 6.30pm.

Stranger Danger

Michael Russell follows up last year’s debut THE CITY OF SHADOWS with another title featuring Garda Sergeant Stefan Gillespie, THE CITY OF STRANGERS (Avon) – and a very handsome cover it is, too. Quoth the blurb elves:

“The past didn’t only come up at you out of the ground in Ireland; it walked around the streets following you, and if you turned round to complain it spat in your face.”
  New York, 1939: A city of hope. A city of opportunity. A city hiding dark secrets …
  A brutal murder in an affluent suburb of Dublin and the unexplained death of an Irish diplomat in Manhattan … Garda Sergeant Stefan Gillespie is sent to America to bring a killer to justice, but his mission soon becomes part of an increasingly personal struggle.
  A chance encounter with an old friend draws him deep into a network of conspiracy, espionage and terror with disturbing connections to home. When he suddenly becomes part of an Irish woman’s bid for freedom from the clutches of a corrupt Manhattan power-broker, Stefan discovers that the war that is looming in Europe is already being played out on the streets of New York, with deadly consequences.
  In a time when people must make a stand for what they believe in, willingly or not, the stakes for Stefan Gillespie, and everything he holds dear, couldn’t be higher.

  Michael will be appearing at ‘Irish Crime Fiction: A Festival’ in Trinity College at the end of November. Meanwhile, for more on Michael and his novels, clickety-click here …

Gone, Baby, Gone

Adrian McKinty publishes the third (and what he suggests will be the ‘swansong’) in his Norn Iron-set ‘Duffy’ series next March, said tome rejoicing in the title of IN THE MORNING I’LL BE GONE (Serpent’s Tail). Quoth the blurb elves:

It’s 1983 and Sean Duffy’s life has hit what looks like rock bottom. Humiliated by the Royal Ulster Constabulary and stripped of his rank, with no social life, no one to love, he is wasting his time away. He has no plan and no desire to get one. While Sean has sunk so low, his school friend - and rival - Dermot McCann has risen up the ranks of the IRA before being fitted up by the RUC and sent to serve at Her Majesty’s pleasure at the notorious Maze prison. So, when Sean gets a late-night call to duty because Dermot and his comrades have made a daring escape, all their history comes back to him. And as Sean stands at a road-block in the pouring rain, on a country lane in the dark, he has plenty of time to think about Dermot McCann. And he knows, with the chilly certainty of a fairy story, that their paths will cross again.

  For a flavour of the book, Adrian is offering the first six chapters of IN THE MORNING I’LL BE GONE over at his interweb lair. For all the details, clickety-click here …