Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Do Not Go Unquietly Into That Good Night

T’was only last week that the CAP elves were wondering what the jiggery-poo was up with John Connolly (right) not being nominated for awards, particularly as award-givers seem to be particularly impressed by the literary stylings of Benny Blanco and Tana French this year. And lo! It came to pass that the interweb thingy Mystery Ink almost immediately nominated JC in its Gumshoe Awards, with THE UNQUIET up for a gong in the ‘Best Mystery’ category. Coincidence? Yes! The full noms for ‘Best Mystery’ runneth thusly:
James Lee Burke - Tin Roof Blowdown (Simon & Schuster)
John Connolly - The Unquiet (Atria)
Ariana Franklin - Mistress of the Art of Death (Putnam)
Charlie Huston - The Shotgun Rule (Ballantine)
Laura Lippman - What the Dead Know (William Morrow)
Huzzah! Oh, and it’s nice too to see Laura Lippman getting the nod after the farrago that was the Edgar nominations. Seriously, folks – Benny Blanco’s CHRISTINE FALLS rather than WHAT THE DEAD KNOW? Like, puh-lease, etc.

A hat-tip to The Rap Sheet for the inside dope.

4 comments:

  1. Never mind John effin Connolly, where are my nominations? Aren't I one of the 50 crime writers you really, really have to read before you, like, die? (According to the D. Telegraph, who should know) And aren't all the others on the list already dead, including B. Blanco? Where's the love? Is it because I is white? Colin Bateman

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  2. Mr Bateman - The good guys finish last, sadly. And it doesn't help that you're always making with the gags 'n' wisecracks. Don't you know crime fiction is serious stuff? Look at Benny Blanco - a serious man writing serious prose about seriouzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ... oops, sorry. Anyhoo, less funnies, more awards. We won't tell you again.

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  3. I vote with my wallet.
    I buy all of Johns books.

    Colin's too, and his I have to order from another country!

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  4. Jon - I'd have thought that John Connolly would be doing the decent thing by now and sending you gold-laminated copies, given the quality and quantity of coverage Crime Spree Magazine has given him over the years ... As for Colin Bateman, the guy is in the Kurt Vonnegut category, too funny to be taken seriously for awards and suchlike. Still, his modest millions probably console him in his darkest hours ... Cheers, Dec

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Declan Burke has published a number of novels, the most recent of which is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. As a journalist and critic, he writes and broadcasts on books and film for a variety of media outlets, including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Independent. He has an unfortunate habit of speaking about himself in the third person. All views expressed here are his own and are very likely to be contrary.