AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2006
Well, I’m home again, relieved to have escaped the chaos of Heathrow Airport. I can’t imagine travelling without a laptop, Ipod, notebook, novel and bottle of water. I guess this could be the end of the ‘airport novel’ (perhaps not a bad thing). And how will I survive without my duty free booze?
I’ve been trying to imagine air travel in the future. We’re not far away from nude flights. Passengers will have to leave their clothes at check-in and declare all boob jobs and penis implants? Welcome on board ‘FLESH AIR’ please tighten your seatbelts and be careful of your dangly bits.
What can I tell you about my travels? The trip was a mixture of the bizarre and the uplifting. On the research front, I had a great time in checking out an assortment of locations from picturesque villages near Bath to the infamous Fishpond Road in Bristol. I wish to assure you all that the fact that red light districts seem to crop up frequently in my books is purely a co-incidence and my research trips do not involve ‘happy endings’ with ladies of the night.
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I was invited to Semana Negra - ‘the Black Week of Gijon’ (pronounced Xixon) in northern Spain. The 'black' refers to crime writing, by the way, although I did feel uncomfortable sporting a badge that said: "Negra y criminal". Hardly what you'd call politically correct. Semana Negra is in fact an an amazing festival of music, books, art and food in the seaside city in the Asturias.
The festival began 19 years ago and was initially devoted to crime writers and writing. Nowadays, the book side of things is a mere sideshow to an amazing festival/fiesta that runs for 10 days and attracts more than a million visitors. There are fairground rides, free concerts, discos, bars and market stalls selling everything from designer jewellery to knocked-off DVDs.
The hardest things to get my head around were the late nights. Sessions at the book festival didn’t begin until six each evening and continued until the early hours. Then everyone went to dinner at about 1.00 a.m. and continued drinking until 5.00 a.m. Breakfast was served from midday and lunch was late afternoon. I have three young daughters. I can’t tell you the last time I was up at four o’clock in the morning - unless it was the change a nappy or warm a bottle.
I’d like to tell you that my session went well, but I don’t actually know. The venue was pretty much full and looked like a cross between a circus tent and the Nuremberg trials with translators in booths and the audience wearing headsets listening to a simultaneous translation of the interview. A word of warning (although you probably know this already): never try to tell a joke when using a translator. I still have nightmares about the deafening silence.
My charming publisher Blanca Rosa Roc, of Roca Editorial, (who has the most beautiful name imaginable) looked after me very well, although my lack of Spanish saw me gravitate towards the other English speaking writers on the guest list.
Craig Russell, a Scottish writer, who has created the Jan Fabel series of thrillers set in Hamburg, Germany, was a perfect drinking companion. We did a series of TV interviews together and swapped notes on the writing process and what it’s like to suddenly be in the spotlight. Craig’s first novel ‘BLOOD EAGLE’ was been very successful in Europe and the UK and his second ‘BROTHER GRIMM’ kept me awake on the long flight home to Australia.
Check out his website: Click here
Answering questions at a joint press conference in Spain with Craig Russell.
Jonathan Rabb, a New York academic and author was another fascinating companion. We managed to get lost walking in Gijon and poor Jonathan still has the blisters to prove it. (Never trust someone from the Southern Hemisphere when he tries to use the sun to plot the route home.)
Jonathan’s latest book ‘ROSA’ won the director’s prize at Semana Negra and is on my bedside table. I haven’t finished it yet, but I can tell you that he paints a wonderful picture of Berlin between the wars, where his detective Nikolai Hoffner is trying to catch whoever is preying on the women of the city.
Finally, I must mention the fantasy noir writer Richard Morgan and his wonderful wife Virginia. He’s Scottish and she’s Spanish. He wants to live in Spain. She wants to live in Glasgow. Go figure!
The other big event on my sojourn was the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. In the short space of five years, this has become the premier crime writing festival in Europe - as evidenced by the astonishing array of talent who gathered in the beautiful Yorkshire spa town. Without doubt the highlight for me was having dinner with P.D. James and getting to meet the likes of Ian Rankin and George Pelecanos. I also managed to catch up again with John Harvey, Stephen Booth, Val McDermid and Andrew Taylor, who I had met at various Australian festivals over the past couple of years.
The most surprising news is that Ian Rankin is going to ‘retire’ Rebus after two more books. Scottish detectives must retire aged sixty and two years from now Rebus will reach that age. By then Ian will have written twenty books in the series and seems quite sanguine about moving on. Fans and fellow writers were plying him with alcohol, trying to find out what he might do next. Very cleverly, he dropped hints - dozens of them - throwing everyone off the scent. A throwaway line about writing a children’s book finished up as a headline in one of the UK tabloids.
Mark Billingham and his organising committee, as well as the full-time staff and part-timers who helped make festival run so smoothly deserve to be congratulated on their achievements. And I would recommend the festival to all crime fans - for the sessions, the drinking and getting to rub shoulders with writers in their natural habitat - the bar.
You can check out the program at: http://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime/
It wasn't all fun and games. I did manage to do some research for the new novel, which has been tentatively titled: THE SPACE IN BETWEEN.
For any of you who want a sneak preview of THE NIGHT FERRY, I’m including a link to the opening chapter. Click here. (pdf format)
While you’re on the website, take a look around and let me know what you think. It has been spruced up with some new features. Some of the differences you hopefully won’t notice. For instance, there is now a separate web site for the US , UK and Australia , with software that automatically redirects people to the site they should be viewing. This will hopefully prevent confusion over my books having different names in different countries.
OK, what else has been happening? I am really chuffed to be shortlisted for the 2005 Barry Award for the Best British Novel published in the US . Deadly Pleasures Magazine sponsors the award and the shortlist includes, Mark Billingham, Arnaldur Indridason, Rennie Airth, Simon Kernick and Denise Mina. The winner is announced at late September at Boucheron 2006, North America ’s premier crime writing festival, which this year is being held in Madison Wisconsin.
I’ll be a there for the first time, yes a virgin, so anyone sees me looking lost or lonesome please come and rescue me.
http://www.bouchercon2006.com/
WHAT I’M READING:
The History of Love by Nicole Kraus. Brilliant! Dazzling! It’s the sort of book that makes me want to give away writing. Oddly enough, she's the wife of Jonathan Safran Foer, who I mentioned in my last newsletter.
WHAT I’M WATCHING:
The new series of GREY’S ANATOMY and the fifth series of THE WEST WING (which has only just reached Australia).
WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:
My new video Ipod which, sadly, will no longer keep me company on my long naked plane journeys.
Happy Reading .
Michael
PS. If any of you feel our relationship is going too far too fast, feel free to e-mail me and I’ll take you off the mailing list.
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