March 2006 Newsletter

Michael RobothamAlright, listen up, people. Our fugitive has been on the run for three months. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of (my maths isn't that good, but it's a big bloody radius) What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive's name is Michael Robotham. Bearded. Australian. Missing. Go get him!
(My apologies to Tommy Lee Jones)

Yes, I'm still here. Still writing. Growing guiltier by the day for not having responded to the hundreds of people from all over the world who have logged on to this website and asked to be regularly updated on my books, appearances, reviews, etc!

I haven't forgotten you. It's just that I figure it's more important to finish the new book - then at least I have something to talk about and you have something to look forward to.

Well, it's done! PHEW!

It doesn't have a name unfortunately. The working title 'PITTER PATTER' got the big thumbs down from foreign publishers because it sounded a little too much like something James Patterson might have chosen.

The new favourite is 'THE NIGHT FERRY',  which I kind of like because it's atmospheric and relates to one of the big scenes in the book. In November I travelled on a night ferry between the Hook of Holland and Harwich in the UK as part of the research. At midnight in the North Sea, with a gale blowing and the decks deserted, there are few lonelier places on the planet.

First the good news. The general consensus seems to be that this is the best thing I've ever done. My wife (who sleeps with me), thinks it's brilliant. My agent (who doesn't sleep with me) agrees. Ditto for my UK and US editors. (Take note: I'm not expecting anyone to sleep with me as a pre-condition for enjoying the book, although I did float the idea to my wife who knocked it on the head after she knocked me on the head.)

Now for the bad news. We will all have to wait until February/March 2007 (yes, another year) before we see it on the shelves and hopefully on the bestseller list. I can hear the howls of protest. I did exactly the same thing when told.

I'm primarily to blame, of course, because I took longer than expected to finish. The other factor is publishing timetables. I guess it doesn't really matter in the States where Doubleday has always had me scheduled for a February 2007 release, but in the UK it will mean two years between books.

The decision is predicated on schedules and publicity. Nobody in my position wants to be published in the same month as the new Dan Brown, for instance, or go head-to-head with John Grisham or Ian Rankin. Publishers, like film distributors, try to choose the right week and month to get the best returns and increase their chances of making the bestseller list.

So mark your diaries and don't despair. I'm going to tease you with a chapter and other juicy details between now and then.

PAPERBACK

The other big news concerns my UK readers. The paperback of 'LOST' is being re-branded, with a great new cover design and a new title 'THE DROWNING MAN'.

This decision hasn't been taken lightly, but the power of the American TV juggernaut that is also called 'LOST' (I had the name first, by the way) has proved to be too great. There are as many as four TV tie-in books being planned, which will flood bookshops and create confusion in the minds of buyers. My UK publishers have had to weigh up the danger of someone buying 'THE DROWNING MAN' thinking it is a new book, against the possibility they will mistakenly buy a TV tie-in book thinking it's a psychological thriller by yours truly.

So the message for everyone in the UK is this: 'THE DROWNING MAN' is NOT my third novel. It is my SECOND one. Buy it for your friends, family, workmates, lovers, sons, daughters - just don't get it confused with 'LOST'.

WEBSITE REDESIGN

Over the next few months I'm having my website redesigned. I'm hoping to create specific pages for my translations, with links to publishers in each country, as well as tailoring specific pages for US and UK readers.

There's also the issue of my photograph. I have less hair now. This is not so much a baldness issue as a fashion choice (that's my story and I'm sticking to it, OK?) Any suggestions are most welcome. (Not about my receding hairline - about my web-pages).

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?

I'm just back from the Adelaide Writers' Festival, which was enormous fun. The biannual event is one of the oldest literary festivals in the world, renowned for the size of the crowds and attracting some of the biggest names in the book world.

This year's festival was lit up by the likes of Vikram Seth ('A SUITABLE BOY' and 'TWO LIVES') Michael Cunningham, Pullitzer Prize-winning author of 'THE HOURS' and John Berendt ('MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL' and most recently, 'THE CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS')

On the crime front the festival was particularly blessed with the likes of Minette Walters, Val McDermid, Andrew Taylor and the wonderful Sarah Waters (I know Sarah doesn't regard herself as a crime writer, but the genre is hard to shake when you've written a story as gripping as 'FINGERSMITH'.)

I shared a platform with Minette and Andrew, along with Australian writer Marele Day, in a session called 'CHILLING'. We discussed why thrillers are the dominant genre in fiction today and afterwards took questions from the crowd of 500.

The highlight of a long week was undoubtedly on Monday March 6 at the Elder Hall in Adelaide, when Val McDermid, Minette Walters, Andrew Taylor and Sarah Waters presented a cross between literary discussion and stand-up comedy, which left the crowd calling for more. I've decided that crime writers simply have more fun than other writers, perhaps because we never take ourselves too seriously.

UPCOMING EVENTS

I'm in the UK for most of July, doing research and launching the paperback of 'THE DROWNING MAN'. The trip will culminate with the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival from the 20th to the 23rd. I haven't been to Yorkshire in years and I can't wait to see Harrogate, a beautiful Victorian Spa town.

The festival is being held at the Old Swan Hotel, where in 1926 Agatha Christie  was discovered after her notorious disappearance.  For further details go to:

http://www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime

WHAT I'M READING:

'Separate Lies' by Nigel Balchin
A morality tale of jealousy and infidelity, first published in 1951 and recently made into a film starring Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson and Rupert Everett.

'Into the Silent Land' by Paul Broks.
An astonishing mosaic of true-life stories of people suffering from rare and strange neurological disorders. Broks sounds like Oliver Sacks and writes like a poet.

WHAT I'M WATCHING:

'House' with the incomparable Hugh Laurie. (Maybe I should convince him to play Joe O'Loughlin in the BBC series?)

'Good Night and Good Luck' - George Clooney's brilliant recreation of America in the fifties when Senator Joseph McCarthy was obsessed with rooting out potential subversives. The parallels with modern-day events are astonishing.

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO:

This is going to be embarrassing. I'm reliving my youth, downloading tracks from the Itunes shop by Neil Young, Tom Waites and, dare I say it, Dr Hook.

Happy Reading.

Michael