Happy New Year!

I’ve been a contributor to January Magazine’s ‘Best Books’ feature for the past few years, although this year, given how busy it was in the run-up to Christmas, I completely forgot to submit my suggestions for the best books of the year. Which was a little disappointing, but lo! It seems that I haven’t been entirely left out of the process. Michael Gregorio was kind enough to pick ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL as one of his favourites of 2012 in the Crime Fiction section, with the gist running thusly:

“I’ll start by repeating a statement I’ve made before: ‘ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL is a wild, zany read, and I loved it.’ … The language is rich, the story is anarchic, the dialogue sparkles and the laughs are frequently side-splitting […] It’s as cool and bare and original as Waiting for Godot, but it offers a lot more laughs.” - Michael Gregorio

  I thank you kindly, sir: that’s a very sweet note upon which to end the year, especially as AZC finds itself in some very good company, which includes Megan Abbott, James Lee Burke, Tana French, Steve Mosby, CJ Sansom, Gillian Flynn and Arnaldur Indridason. Happy days.
  Upward and onward, then, to 2013, and a very happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year to you all. See you on the other side, folks …

And More’s The Pithy

As befits an author coming from a theatrical background, Declan Hughes talks a good game. We particularly liked this exchange from a recent lengthy interview with Kevin Burton Smith in January Magazine, while yakking it up about Dec’s second novel, the Dublin-based The Colour of Blood:

Q: But Ireland’s always had its share of crime. What’s changed?
A: The scale. More people with more money equals more drugs, equals more money to be made in supplying them, equals more turf wars, etc. And second/third generation criminals, high on their own supply. Mental bastards.

Pithily true. Well said, sir.