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NEWSLETTER #8
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!
Apologies for the late appearance of this newsletter. It's
supposed to be the November issue, and somehow we seem to have
reached December already...
I know some of you have been on the edge of your seats waiting
for it to arrive (well, not exactly - but some recent
subscribers have been a bit puzzled why they haven't received
anything yet!).
This is entirely my fault, as I've been so busy over the summer.
I hope you'll forgive me!
What have I been doing? Well, for a start, lots of events
following the publication of THE DEAD PLACE in June, including a
trip to
Australia
which took up part of August and September.
I was asked to contribute a short story for a new anthology just
published in the
UK
('SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING'). I find short stories quite
difficult to write, so this one took me a while! It's called
STUN TO STICK, and for once it doesn't feature Cooper and Fry.
More details elsewhere in this newsletter.
Of course, the main thing is that I've been busy producing the
7th Cooper & Fry novel, SCARED TO LIVE, which is due for
publication in the UK next June.
It's impossible to write while I'm on tour, so after I returned
from
Australia
there was a bit of catching up to do! Anyway, the new book is
into the editing process now, and it promises to be a bit
different from the previous titles in the series.
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH...
And what of the home front? Well, in what seems to be becoming
an annual tradition, we decided to have major building work done
on our house during the worst weather of the year.
Last year, the monsoon season began at the very moment we took
the roof off (and I didn't even know until then that we had a
monsoon season in
England
!).
This time, we decided to add a small extension at the back of
the house, with the result that there was a large hole in the
wall when the temperature suddenly plummeted below zero and the
snow began to fall. Hey, we live on the edge of the sheltered,
temperate
Trent
Valley
- we NEVER get snow!
Ah, well. I hope you enjoy this newsletter. Previous issues have
been posted on the website so you can catch up. Here's a link to
the most recent back issue:
http://www.stephen-booth.com/NewsletterApril05.htm
As always, feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends.
And if you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see in
future issues, don't hesitate to let me know. Send your ideas
to:
newsletter@stephen-booth.com
Onwards with the rest of the news. And a warm welcome to all our
new subscribers - nearly 200 of you since the last issue.
All the best - and good reading,
Stephen Booth
NEWS
ACROSS THE
ATLANTIC
My new
US
publishers, Bantam Dell, have the paperback of BLIND TO THE
BONES scheduled for publication on June 27th 2006, followed by
the hardcover of ONE LAST BREATH on July 26th.
Since there's been a bit of a delay in the
USA
, I took the opportunity to do a bit of re-working on this book
- and it's now even better than the
UK
edition! There are a few extra scenes added, so you could think
of it as a sort of 'director's cut'.
And nobody asked me to do any Americanisation of the text either
(apart from the usual spelling changes, which I don't mind).
I saw the jacket for the new Bantam hardcover of ONE LAST BREATH
recently, and I think it looks great. Keep your eye out for it
in the
USA
next summer.
Bantam Dell have already signed up for THE DEAD PLACE, which is
due for US publication in Spring 2007, and for the seventh
Cooper & Fry novel SCARED TO LIVE.
For a taster of ONE LAST BREATH, you can read the first chapter
on the website (
UK
spelling!):
http://www.stephen-booth.com/breathchapter.htm
SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING
Five Leaves Publishing have produced an anthology of short
stories by writers from, or based in, the
county
of
Nottinghamshire
,
England
.
I qualify because I live there, though I originate from a bit
further north!
The title of the anthology echoes the name of a book by
Nottinghamshire's most famous novelist, Alan Sillitoe, who wrote
'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning', filmed with Albert Finney
in the lead role back in the 1960s.
I studied some of Sillitoe's writing when I was at school ('The
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' is another one I
remember), so I was fairly amazed to find myself doing an event
with him last year as part of the BBC's 'Big Read' campaign.
Although he's getting on in years, Sillitoe is still writing. I
bumped into him at a publisher's party in
London
this summer, and he told me he was thinking of writing a crime
novel (well, who isn't?).
Anyway, I think I was talking about this anthology, wasn't I?
Yes, that's right. Well, there's no Alan Sillitoe story in it,
but other contributors include John Harvey, Robert Harris, Clare
Littleford, Elizabeth Chadwick, Julie Myerson and Jon McGregor.
My story is called STUN TO STICK, and is quite different from
the Cooper & Fry novels. After reading it, you might feel
like turning vegetarian...
Copies of the anthology cost 9.99 UKP, and they're available
online from Amazon.co.uk, directly from Five Leaves Publishing
at:
http://www.fiveleaves.co.uk
or in the
UK
from your local bookstore
(ISBN 090712352X).
AND A WARM HAND FOR OUR SPEAKER...
When I wrote the first Cooper & Fry novel BLACK DOG, there
were a lot things I didn't anticipate. One of them was sharing a
platform with a prominent politician.
Actually, there aren't many politicians I'd WANT to share a
platform with, but former Labour minister Clare Short is one of
the few. She's been promoting her book about the lead-up to the
Iraq War (which led her to resign from the government), and we
came together as speakers at a literary luncheon in October.
Personally, just the word 'luncheon' makes me feel as though
I've gone up in the world, let alone 'literary'!
Anyway, Clare was very interesting, and had no 'side' to her, as
we say Up North. I was also impressed that she referred to our
Prime Minister as 'Mr Blair' throughout her speech - which was
very restrained of her, in the circumstances.
At that event, the audience of 300 or so was almost entirely
female. I also recently accepted invitations to speak at
meetings of the Inner Wheel (100 per cent female) and the
Women's Institute (100 per cent female).
Is there a pattern emerging here?
EVENTS
I was sorry not to be able to attend the 2005 Bouchercon
convention in
Chicago
(this was due to my Australian tour and Bouchercon being so
early this year).
I really missed meeting up with a lot of friends I've made at
Bouchercon over the years. You know who you are!
However, I do have some major dates already in the diary for
2006. For a start, the Left Coast Crime convention is being
transplanted to Bristol, England, and takes place 17th - 19th
March.
This is one of my favourite conventions, and it's looking good
for 2006:
http://www.interbridge.com/leftcoastcrime2006/
I plan to visit the
USA
for Bouchercon 2006, which takes place in
Madison
,
Wisconsin
in September:
http://www.bouchercon.com/
And, after being obliged to turn down invitations two years
running, I'm pleased to say that I'll be appearing at the St
Hilda's mystery conference in
Oxford
,
England
, during August 2006:
http://www.sthildas.ox.ac.uk/alumnae/events.php
There's also a crime fiction festival taking place in
Stamford
,
Lincolnshire
, during February, where I'm due to take part in an event with
Jim Kelly.
And of course there will be lots of local stuff, including some
Derbyshire Literature Festival events where they've threatened
to put me up against the real life professionals for a 'lively
discussion'. I can't wait!
As usual, full details of these events and more will be
available on the Events page of the website as soon as they're
available:
http://www.stephen-booth.com/new events.htm
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SNIPPETS
DOWN UNDER
I was invited to take part in the Melbourne Writers' Festival in
August, and I was privileged to do a couple of joint events
there with John Harvey (one of my long-time heroes), and the
wonderful Alexander McCall Smith, who's a very funny speaker -
in a terribly British way, of course.
Although we were all described as "crime writers", '
Sandy
' McCall Smith admitted he felt like a bit of a fraud.
"Nothing of a nefarious nature ever happens in my
books," he said. "In fact, nothing really HAPPENS at
all."
During a session of readings to a packed theatre in
Melbourne
, I read the opening scene from ONE LAST BREATH (which involves
a certain amount of freshly spilled blood). When I finally sat
down,
Sandy
whispered to me: "Oh dear, that was VERY disturbing."
What a lovely man!
While in
Melbourne
, I also met up with several members of the online mystery group
4MysteryAddicts.
I might have mentioned them here before, but I'm going to do it
again, because they're such nice people (even though one of them
is apparently my official, registered stalker).
You can find 4MysteryAddicts at Yahoo Groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
4_Mystery_Addicts/
While in
Sydney
, I recorded a special reading from the first chapter of THE
DEAD PLACE for Royal Brunei Airlines, to be featured on their
own in-flight radio programme 'The Book Club'.
Just the right kind of stuff for a nice, relaxing long-haul
flight, I think!
OVER THE IRISH SEA
As mentioned in the last newsletter, I spent a week in
Ireland
back in May, partly as a holiday before the busy summer period,
and partly to visit my Irish roots in
County
Galway
.
Amazingly, the weather was perfect all week, and I managed to
get sunburned on the
Aran Islands
, probably the last place I would have expected it!
While in beautiful
Connemara
, I visited my fellow writer Pat Mullan and had dinner with Pat,
his wife Jean and their family, who live in a very enviable spot
and were very hospitable.
I first met Pat at the Love is Murder conference in
Chicago
earlier this year:
http://www.loveismurder.net/Photos.htm
Please check out Pat's website. He's a very talented guy:
http://www.patmullan.com
SMILE, PLEASE!
I finally succumbed to pressure and agreed to a new photo shoot
for a picture to replace the one that's been appearing on the
book jackets in several countries (yes, the one I call my
'intellectual' look!).
The fact is, I quite liked having an awful publicity pic. It's
nice turning up for an event and having someone say "well,
you look a lot better in real life than you do in your
photo"!
Also, I suspect I might have aged a bit since then. The stress
of being an author really takes its toll, you know...
LIVESTOCK REPORT
The author bio on the jackets of my books often mentions that
I'm a well-known breeder of Toggenburg goats (publishers seem to
love a bit of eccentricity!). So when I do events, I'm often
asked how the goats are.
Well, I haven't bred goats for several years now (no time!), but
there are three old ladies in retirement on our premises still.
And I'm still President of the Toggenburg Breeders Society -
presumably because no one else wants the job.
For those of you who prefer news of our cats, I'm sorry to tell
you that one of ours died a few weeks ago. He was called Luther
(so named because he was black with a white collar).
So now we're down to two. I wonder how long that will last...
TRANSLATION NEWS
In
Sweden
, Minotaur have recently published the hardback of 'ETT SISTA
ANDETAG' (ONE LAST BREATH).
In
Germany
, Goldmann have released the paperback of 'KALTES GRAB' (BLOOD
ON THE TONGUE).
In
Denmark
, Klim are publishing 'DE NI JOMFRUER' (DANCING WITH THE
VIRGINS).
BLIND TO THE BONES is currently undergoing translation for
Goldmann, as well as for Blue Moon Books in
Finland
(do they know about morris dancing in
Finland
?).
Meanwhile, BB Art have bought Czech translation rights in BLACK
DOG, while Azbooka are translating DANCING WITH THE VIRGINS into
Russian.
RAO International have taken both BLACK DOG and THE DEAD PLACE
for translation into Romanian.
Europa-America now have both BLIND TO THE BONES and ONE LAST
BREATH signed up for publication in
Portugal
.
SIGNED COPIES
I know lots of you like signed books (well, judging by the odd
thousand or two that I sign each year, you must do!).
I have a few
UK
hardback first editions of THE DEAD PLACE left, which I'm
planning to offer for sale via the website. This is just a
short-term offer, until the books are gone.
However, I can only take payment via PayPal, which I've been
using for some time and I'm confident it's secure.
If you're not familiar with PayPal, give it a try - it's only a
method of transferring payments, the money comes out of your
bank account or from your credit card, whatever you nominate.
The extra advantage is that it does the currency conversion for
you.
I don't own shares in this company, by the way!
I'm going to set up a page on the website shortly, but it might
not be there for a few days, so please be patient:
http://www.stephen-booth.com/sales.htm
And stocks are strictly limited, so I apologise now if you
deluge me in your hundreds and have to be disappointed!
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Don't forget to send your comments or suggestions for the
newsletter to:
newsletter@stephen-booth.com
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