Review - Magenta Opium by Sharon Baillie

Veronica Dempsey divides her time between disposing of a body and inventing a new form of opium in her loft.

Where to start with Magenta Opium? First, I absolutely hated it. The opening chapter was horribly confusing. My initial view was the author was attempting a Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night Time approach with Veronica – police come knocking at the door and this is explored in an intricate and bizarre fashion. In particular the words ‘door’ and ‘letterbox’ are used incredibly repetitively 24 times in a couple of pages.

Likewise with the door, although able to be a door at standard temperatures and pressures, its door-like qualities are not altogether independent of temperature. At 800 degrees (Celsius or Fahrenheit, choose your poison) the door would be a doorway plus mess. At -200 it would be a wall; immovable. This is precisely why the Inuits didn’t invent alloyed metals.

I really struggle with repetition. It can work, like in Catch-22, but the writing has to be skilful. Guess what? It’s not, this is way off the scale.

This repetitive approach is used continuously throughout the book. Routine is used 30 in 144 words as well – there are others. The author also tries a Vernon God Little approach using Veronica’s initials in a (very large) variety of words. There’s also a person called Smyth who often reminds us it’s spelt with a Y (yes the capital is deliberate) – even though I can read that for myself. This habit of repeating points already made is also often, erm repeated. I don’t know why.

The ‘story’centres on Veronica for some reason deciding to make a variant of

opium. Apparently, she’s a genius, but mad (hence the crazy prose, more of that shortly). After the door incident we learn that Veronica’s mother has been living in the loft, unknown to husband and daughter for over 8 years (yeah, right). Now for another example:

The motherfound woman, once a motherlost girl, and wifefound man, happy and pungent wifelost man the day before, were taken in for questioning.

This is because the presumed dead woman living in the loft has been selling counterfeit DVD’s and partaking in online porn. And the family didn’t know for over 8 years (yeah, right). Veronica’s mother ended up in the loft because she was going to run off with a man, but after a tryst she decides against it:

Fortunately for Jessica all he wanted was a go of her. Unfortunately for Jessica all he wanted was a go of her. Unfortunately for Jessica he wasn’t very good. But fortunately for Jessica he wasn’t very good.

The opium development leads to a death and then disposal of the body. The problem is if the focus was on this thread only the book would (mercifully) be only a few thousand words long. When the opium works Veronica says:

It worked. Did it work? What worked? It did. But did it? It did. What did it do? How did it work? Chemistry. Why did it work? Magic. It did work though, eh? It worked. Did it work? How? Chemistry. Why? Magic. Because. And then. Ha! It worked! Stone me! They might. It worked. It did. It did. It did.

There is even a chapter late in the book where the author describes activities such as‘ties were tied’, developments were developed’, ‘traffic light changed from green to amber to red…(and back again several times)’ – this goes on for page after page with the summation at the end: ‘In short, life in the world progressed for several weeks, unaware of the life of Veronica (where do we go from here?) Dempsey et al.’ I don’t know why.

There are also little footnotes explaining comments, films, and odd little made up words like interpium (internet opium, which was explained several times too). Here are a couple more of the writing examples I found so frustrating. Just a few of the many, many that I could have used:

The void that wasn’t really there that he paid a big-strapping-woman to fill was not filled with sex. Not in the classical word sex.

13 people liked this, 8 people commented but none of the comments commented that the status would have benefitted from a comma.

Sofia pulled Proctor down on top of her and kissed him. His rare cooked steak complimented her Pinot Grigio and their superstring section crescendoed together.

And perhaps my ‘favourite’:

”Let’s get a penguin as a wedding present. We’ll call him Frederick on Sundays and Freddie the rest of the week. I don’t mind if he can’t dance, we’ll still love him. Or her. She can be Freddie as well as and Fredericka on a Sunday. Every new couple should have a penguin. We’ll eat shrimp vol-au-vents and drink Chardonnay together and watch a flatscreen television and Freddie will hug me while you’re out at work.” They sealed the deal with some funky sex followed by dinner at Luigi and Maria’s house where they broke the good news.

It wasn’t just me, I kept reading excerpts out to my wife until she told me to go away. So I stayed up late to finish Magenta Opium otherwise I wouldn’t have slept thinking about the story. Although I’m sure the author saw the point of all this the last comment belongs to the prose:

The rambling woman was still confusing [her] though.

 

Rating? One Star

Would add this to my bookshelf? Erm, no...

Originally reviewed for Books & Pals blog.

Review - Other Stories... by Gerard Brennan

A collection of five short stories, some previously published in magazines, anthologies and websites.

Like the previously reviewed Possession… these are very well written story nuggets, all quite different, but all based in Belfast.

In Bouncer a hard man ‘door manager’ tries to relate to his gay son. It’s an unusual mix of angst, violence (as the bouncer struggles to reconcile his feelings whilst on the job) and touching humility. It’s well done.

Hard Rock is entirely different. It’s a grimy story of excess, manslaughter and attempted necrophilia. The protagonist, a rock star called Joey, has a girl in his hotel room after a gig but it all goes horribly wrong. The following quote is an example of the writing:

I stood up and looked around the room. Cocaine on the table. Dead girl cuffed to the bed. Dead fat man laid out on the floor. Blood-covered rockstar, stinking of puke and clutching the murder weapon, swaying on his feet.

Nothing But Time is a very brief story about a tout in prison and realizing it’s going to be a long stretch. The writing made me very glad I’ve never been put inside.

Day-Tripping is perhaps the oddest of the collection. James goes round to his

estranged friend Mattie’s place. James has a decent job, Mattie is a dope head. James ends up in hospital after an accident. However the incident brings the pair back together and they become friends again – in the strangest of circumstances.

Swing is again about friends, although Conor and Stevie are both at school. Conor used to be the cool kid, until his parents swinging activities becomes public knowledge and his stock plummets. Stevie is there to defend him until Conor goes one shocking step too far.

These stories are very well written, tight and neat that leaves the reader with sometimes shock, often surprise and sometimes questions. The characters are excellently drawn in a very small number of words. The dialogue is neat too. It doesn’t take long to plough through this collection, however I suspect it’s something I’ll go back to a couple of times…

 

Rating? Five Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Oh yes!

 

Originally reviewed for Books & Pals blog.

Review - Chief Inspector Jewel Friedman by Jan Jacob Mekes

Chief Inspector Jewel Friedman solves five unsolvable cases…

This is the single worst crime / detective ‘book’ I have ever read. By a country mile or three. If the author was deliberately aiming at producing clueless characters, dreadful dialogue and meaningless short stories then Chief Inspector Jewel Friedman would get six out of five stars. In a note at the beginning, the author describes the book as light-hearted detective stories which sometimes feature pretty heavy subject matter – more on this later.

Where to start? There are so many issues to evaluate. Let’s begin with the ‘characters’.There’s Jewel herself. She’s a Chief Inspector but thought Detective Inspector‘sounded cooler’. She cannot relate to people (despite being a detective who needs to have this skill) and makes sense of the world by investigating juicy murders. Jewel drives a broken-down police car – i.e. one that would more than likely fail safety inspections and therefore be illegal. It’s okay though because she later gets a new car as a reward for solving her 50th case – apparently as a result of her colleagues monitoring Jewel’s twitter feed.

Her boss the Superintendent is wet and weak. He simpers over Jewel and allows her to do whatever she wishes. In fact every single character is a cardboard cutout caricature that I cannot believe would exist in the real world, never mind the police force.

The five stories themselves are utterly ridiculous. In the first Lord Ryebread (sigh) is found shot to death in a locked room. It turns out the killer was flying a balloon past at the time and took her revenge. She also happens to be the butler’s daughter (the butler almost did it). Jewel figures all this out by analyzing a voicemail message left by the killer.

Her brilliance doesn’t end there - Jewel uses a nanoparticle tracking device embedded in lipstick to track a suspect she panics into running after having kissed him. Each sends out a GPS signal to make it easier to do so…I am honestly not making this up.

In another, a body is found impaled on The Shard, a very tall building in London. This is how the perpetrators acted:

They killed him earlier, cut out a beam shaped hole and disposed of the body at the top of the tallest building in London, making it seem like a burglary gone wrong.

The dead man is a thief who uses a helicopter to access buildings… Jewel guesses, by seeing a poster, that the killers are a Russian rock band. She confronts the artists when they’re on stage by asking them to play a song titled Body on the Roof by Jimmy and the Jetsets. They act suspiciously, confess all, and are arrested. Just like that.

Another kills and eats people. He just happens to be a friend she meets at the beginning of the piece in Hawaii where she is luckily on holiday. He has a Japanese father too – think that has no relevance? Largely you’re right, other than it seems to give them the desire to eat uncooked flesh.

The dialogue is awful. For example:

Oh, I am so glad you are here! So glad! It’s all so terrible! So terrible!

The major flaw in the stories is there’s no opportunity for the reader to work out the solution for themselves. Each time Jewel goes from murder to answer in a single previously unseen leap. Jewel also makes several serious mistakes. In one case a parcel delivery guy is present at the scene (he actually reports the crime) who she lets go without questioning because he claims he’ll be late on his rounds. This guy tries to create a belief that the suspect is actually a contortionist who he delivered in a crate. I cannot imagine a key witness being released without being questioned. Or anyone falling for or trying on the contortionist angle.

The writing is awful. For example:

The scene Jewel struggled to describe was particularly bloody. On the floor lay the body of a man in a large pool of blood.

To the‘pretty heavy subject matter’. At the end of the first story it’s alluded to that Jewel had a bad upbringing because she has a cat she confides in:

…her father had shown her the care she herself had never got from her own father who had been an abusive alcoholic, how today’s society was way too focused on sex and way too little on love…

The other is child abuse in the final case ‘Sockpuppetry’. A doctor and his mistress, Juliana, are abusing children. Uncle Wellington is found dead and he’s accused of being a child molester. In fact it is the doctor himself and he thinks he’s found a foolproof way of avoiding detection:

The idea of giving Juliana pancreatic cancer was Dr Pryce’s. It would ensure the police got off their tails by spinning the old “what’s the use of persecuting when the criminal is as good as dead” yarn.

Utterly tasteless. I actually sat through this (thankfully short) tale with my mouth open. I suspect ‘persecuting’ should read ‘prosecuting’ too.

Onto Uncle Wellington:

“…any idea why he was called Uncle Wellington?

" …he bore a striking resemblance to the Duke of Wellington…and he always wore wellies…sometimes he would re-enact the battle of Waterloo.”

Ludicrous from beginning to end.

Awful writing, dialogue, characters, everything.

 

Rating? One Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Not A Hope!

Originally reviewed for Books & Pals blog.

Review - Strangers Are Just Friends You Haven't Killed Yet, Ryan Bracha

Bodies are being found in Sheffield, England. The victims seem entirely unconnected except for the cause of death and their lack of clothes. The media are frantic, the population worried. But it’s really a deadly game of cat and mouse with terminal consequences for the losers.

Strangers… is not your typical thriller by any stretch of the imagination. It’s unlike any other book of its type I’ve read. The general premise of a group of desperate people selected by a calculating, underhand process to play a game whilst the dubious wealthy place bets is in itself unusual. However, what really sets Strangers…apart is the method by which the author portrays the action - via a multitude of characters. A highly unusual approach to storytelling that works very well.

The cast in the novel is large, from the game players to the manipulators, gamblers, by-standers and reporters to name a few. All of the players are damaged in their own way, all make decisions for personal gain.

As well as the perspective switch. there’s also a use of time to unfold the story elements in an intelligent fashion, adding tension and intrigue. However what really underlies Strangers… is a story of relationships. Two of the more main characters, Tom and Ada, find each other in the most difficult of circumstances. Just when I thought the story had been satisfactorily wrapped up Bracha opens an entirely new, but related episode to ensure everyone gets their just desserts.

The characters are well drawn, despite there being so many, and the multiple switches handled smoothly. The dialogue is sharp and gritty with the local accents and behaviours coming through strongly for colour. The location, Sheffield, is tack sharp in its definition. The writing style is in your face and uncompromising. An example of the ‘milder’ writing:

The mumbled hush of the room continued. Little Miss Impatient was pacing, her nicotine addiction grabbing her by the throat and not letting go, until a crackle then a hiss broke the suspense.

Overall a great read and entirely different.

 

Rating? Four Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Yes

 

Originally reviewed for Books & Pals blog.

Review - JusThis, Curt Rude

Charles ‘Badge’ Pullet is a policeman in the small town of Normal. All his life he’s wanted to be on the force and to wear the badge. But Badge has a problem, the Urge, which affects his judgement, drawing him into deeper predicaments even as he rises through the ranks.

The Urge impacts others around him, his wife, his Deputy, and the women he targets, among others. For a small town Normal has some large personalities from which nothing good can come.

This was a seriously disappointing novel, a strange mix of bland ‘thriller’, police procedure ,and trashy erotic novel, although I suspect the latter was unintended.

The Urge is Badge’s sexual proclivity, he cannot help himself when it comes to satisfying his needs. Unfortunately, the author seems to delight in various descriptions of Badge’s penis and what he does with it. JusThis goes through the motions of attempting to bring the issues resulting from Badge’s activities to a justifiable conclusion. Ultimately, it was a depressing end.

A comparatively minor example of Badge’s ‘conquest’ description:

If a woman’s husband didn’t understand her, Badge found out what she needed, then gave it to her–and she did the same for him. She’d get wide-eyed as his pants hit the floor and would spend a wonderful night wrestling with his trouser python, but once it was over, Badge lost interest. Once he had defiled her, the thrill was gone. He’d move on to another man’s bride.

Periodically there would be some description of actual police work, although it tended to be a particularly gruesome car smash or a brush with a troubled personality, some of which had succumbed to ‘Mr. Intoxication’ or ‘Mr. Mental Illness’.

The characters were distinctly unpleasant, I didn’t warm to a single one of them. They all had huge flaws that ultimately made them weak-chinned individuals that I just wanted to shout at, kick in the pants, or both.

There was virtually no dialogue, vast swathes of text was dominated by internalized thought or long descriptions meaning there was little real action until the culmination of the story in the final chapters. What dialogue there was tended to be bland. The following example is supposed to be a light-hearted joke directed at Badge (I imagine it spoken in a high-pitched, Marilyn Monroe like tone):

You’re really the first policeman I’ve ever spent time with. You must be brave to do what you do. I’ve been a good girl all my life, so it’s not like I’ve ever gotten a speeding ticket or been handcuffed.

Enough said, I think.

 

Originally reviewed for Books & Pals blog.

 

Rating? One Star

Would I add this to my bookshelf? No

 

Review - Queen Bitch

McKenzie (Mac) Moss is at the end of her parole having served a five-year stretch. She wants to put her past behind her, but before she can, she has to claim what’s rightfully hers - $1m and revenge against those that put her inside.

Manfred Fuller and Bucky, two New York detectives, investigate the suicide of a paedophile. However, it’s not quite the cut and dried case it first seems, so Manfred and Bucky dig deeper and what they subsequently find has serious implications for them and Mac.

Queen Bitch opens with Mac throwing a man off a roof before seeing her parole officer for the last time. Yes, it’s that sort of book. The writing is sparse. By that I mean there’s not a wasted word. Some chapters are very short, only a few paragraphs, however, it works. There are only a handful of characters, but all are well drawn and the relatively short length and tight style means there’s little room to successfully explore many more anyway so this was a good choice. Mac herself is quite startling, a girl with some serious issues. The dialogue is also sharp and snappy.

Throughout Queen Bitch two parallel plots run – Mac taking revenge and the detectives investigating first the apparent suicide and then Mac herself – which ultimately come together at the end.

I like the mix of 1^st person and 3^rd person perspectives in alternate chapters (it’s a technique I use) as it generates pace and multiple perspectives to make the story richer. There’s also a clever use of time where in the last quarter of the book one chapter deliberately lags another to create tension.

Underneath Queen Bitch is a difficult subject, but Harwood handles it well, using it to justify Mac and the story without sensationalising.

Unfortunately, there were some format and spelling errors but these are easily corrected.

This is a good book, I’d like to see more of Justin Harwood’s work.

Originally published on Books & Pals blog.

Rating? Four Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Yes

Review - Know Your Place, Andy Knaggs

Nick Newman used to be a City trader but now he shines shoes in a busy London train station for a living. He was happy with his lot until Kay Talbot and her husband, Lee enter his life. When Kay employs Nick to carry out an unusual task his world steadily becomes more complicated and when he stumbles upon a nasty conspiracy things get deadly.

This is a good, solid debut from Knaggs. It’s pretty well written with a decent small set of characters that play out their anguished lives during Know Your Place. Talking of place, London, its busy concourse and the relatively hectic pace of life is well drawn, a major strength. Nick’s shoeshine oasis is an interesting contrast. The dialogue is pretty good too.

I hesitate to be critical of it simply because it’s not my type of book. Fundamentally, it’s about relationships – Kay is in an unhappy marriage, whilst Nick is happy with his girlfriend, Justine. But Kay cannot help herself and embarks upon several destructive relationships. There are periods of introspection whilst Kay and Nick examine their respective situations. Again, I’m not saying this is wrong.

The conspiracy is only alluded to and doesn’t seriously come into play until the final chapters. This is particularly well written and creates good tension. The hanging ending is pleasing and leaves plenty of questions for a sequel.

I’d certainly recommend it and, on the evidence of Know Your Place, Knaggs is likely to deliver in the future too.

Originally published on Books & Pals blog.

Rating? Three Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Yes

Review - Long Way Down, Tony Black

Gus Dury is a down at heel ex-reporter with a dark past. He’s kicking his heels in life when Danny Murray, a runner for local gang boss Boaby ‘Shaky’ Stevens, asks Gus to do a job for him – find an old friend, Barry Fulton. Gus is reluctant, but £3,000 helps sweeten the deal. Gus quickly learns Barry has got involved with Irish gangsters encroaching onto Shaky’s patch and, unless he finds him soon, someone’s going to end up dead.

This standalone novella is part of Black’s Gus Dury series, the other four (Paying For It, Gutted, Loss, and Long Time Dead) are full length novels.

Appraisal:

Long Way Down is a gem of a story. It’s theoretically a quick read, however I found myself spending a lot longer than normal with it simply because I wanted to stay immersed in the prose. This was a challenge because the action starts on the first page, when Danny steps into Gus’s sphere, and doesn’t let up.

The characters are very strong, Gus himself clearly has a deep background with references made to a difficult upbringing. He drinks, swears, fights – not someone you’d want your daughter to bring home. But he’s resolute, loyal, tough – someone you’d want at your back. The supporting cast of (few) friends and (many) enemies are equally entertaining – Gus mixes with some dubious company. A particular favourite is Mac the Knife, a man not to be messed with.

The dialogue is sharp and at times witty, despite the gritty and grimly sharp Edinburgh location which, is excellently described with a minimum of carefully chosen words and some local vernacular. For example:

The bar was dark, dingy. In days gone past there’d have been a pall of grey smoke you’d struggle to shine headlamps through. Now the nicotine-stained walls and ceiling looked painfully over-exposed – the woodchip papering would turn to writhing maggots after a few scoops.

And another:

I picked out the smell of p*ss and sickly-sweet Buckfast mingling on the grimy stairwell. Some of the young crew had been in to tag the walls since my last visit, and despite being a respecter of the creative urge I couldn’t help but think their efforts sucked balls. Right into a hernia.

The only ‘disappointment’ with Long Way Down? I finished it too quickly! Top drawer noir.

 

Originally published on Books & Pals blog.

 

Rating? Five Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Yes



Review - Skin Games

When Maria needs help to save her business from mobsters, she turns to Skin, a shadow of a man who lives in the dark. But Maria wants to know if Skin is the right man for the job so he tells the story of Sean O’Donnell.

O’Donnell is New York Irish who grew up in the Bronx. When still young his father disappears, so his mother is forced to perform sexual favours in order to survive. Before long Sean is drawn into the mob world, stealing cars for Vinny Macho, a low level gang member. However he falls for Nicole, a troubled wild child – unfortunately her father is the mob boss Don Mario. The Don tries to dissuade O’Donnell from seeing his daughter, applying ever-increasing pressure to ensure the message gets through.

There was a lot to like about Skin Games. The sense of place in gritty New York was well drawn, the characters were generally strong (O’Donnell himself was a good protagonist) and the dialogue interesting. The story moved along at a decent pace as we watched O’Donnell back himself further and further into a corner because of his strong will and deep-seated need to never break a promise, despite the heap of trouble it ultimately gets him into.

First and foremost O’Donnell is loyal, initially to the mob (the police put him under pressure, but he won’t give) and then to Nicole (who applies her own demands on O’Donnell with her behaviour). Skin Games is also about friendships but most surprising was the gradual realization that underlying the mob life and violence this is ultimately a love story.

This was a good book, well written and enjoyable.

Rating? Four Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Yes

Review - FIREPROOF

Mike Rocks is, literally, in Hell. He’s given a choice by Lucifer himself – stay in the nether region for the rest of eternity or return to earth and set up a Satanic religion in Belfast. Mike takes the latter path, in part because he has his own unfinished business, getting revenge on the people that sent him to Hell in the first place. Before long, Mike’s mission is well underway, but then Cathy Maguire, wannabe contract killer, crosses his path and things start to get complicated.

This is a unique story, I don’t think I’ve read anything like it previously. At first I was asking myself, what’s this all about? The opening scenes of Fireproof are of Mike in Hell being tortured by a strange creature before receiving his mission and getting on with his own. Then Cathy appears, she seems quite a normal girl besides her desire to murder people, starting with her boss.

However, once I was in a few chapters I found it to be a good read, very well written, entertaining (if you can put aside the ‘religious’ elements) and in places funny. There is a good sense of place and the dialogue is sharp. The characters can be distinctly peculiar, for example, there is Cadbury, a tramp who appears and squats in Mike’s flat whilst he’s on a brief respite in Hell. He has a number of very unusual qualities including the ability to read minds. Sounds odd? Yes, but it does fit well in the story.

Towards the latter part of the book, the tone changed somewhat as Mike builds the religion and follows his own plan, but primarily because he grows much closer to Cathy. Fireproof becomes more a story of redemption and relationships.

Overall, I enjoyed Fireproof. It’s a very good read if you enjoy something a bit different.

Rating? Four Stars

Would add this to my bookshelf? Yes

The Fix - FREE

The Fix is FREE for two days on Amazon. Only two days - 13 & 14 March.

22 reviews to date (including a 1* for excessive swearing!) 

These are some of the comments to date:

‘The Fix moves like a bullet. Can't wait for more from Keith Nixon.’
- Tony Black, authoor of Murder Mile

‘Razor sharp and original.’
- Ryan Bracha, author of Strangers Are Just Friends You Haven’t Killed Yet

‘Keith Nixon plots a wonderful corporate caper with his tongue placed firmly in his cheek.
THE FIX smacks of insanity brought on by too much time spent in the rat race, something many of us can relate to. Cool, creative and downright crude, THE FIX will get your heart pumping.’
- Gerard Brennan, author of FIREPROOF

'If words were drugs, and Keith Nixon my local dealer, you'd find my sweating presence waiting for my man on a street corner.'
- Mark Wilson, author of Naebody's Hero

'Five Stars'
- Books & Pals Blog

Pick up a copy now & see what all the fuss is.

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009ZITONW

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ZITONW

The Fix - FREE!

The Fix is FREE for two days on Amazon. Only two days - 13 & 14 March.

22 reviews to date (including a 1* for excessive swearing!) 

These are some of the comments to date:

‘The Fix moves like a bullet. Can't wait for more from Keith Nixon.’
- Tony Black, authoor of Murder Mile

‘Razor sharp and original.’
- Ryan Bracha, author of Strangers Are Just Friends You Haven’t Killed Yet

‘Keith Nixon plots a wonderful corporate caper with his tongue placed firmly in his cheek.
THE FIX smacks of insanity brought on by too much time spent in the rat race, something many of us can relate to. Cool, creative and downright crude, THE FIX will get your heart pumping.’
- Gerard Brennan, author of FIREPROOF

'If words were drugs, and Keith Nixon my local dealer, you'd find my sweating presence waiting for my man on a street corner.'
- Mark Wilson, author of Naebody's Hero

'Five Stars'
- Books & Pals Blog

Pick up a copy now & see what all the fuss is.

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009ZITONW

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ZITONW

The Fix - Latest News & Update

It's been far too long since my last blog post, sorry. The main reason is time, more specifically a lack of it. Unfortunately I've a day job for one, but I've also been reading and reviewing (more of these to follow) but most importantly, working hard on the follow up to The Fix. Still no title as yet but the words are flowing relatively well - within shouting distance of 30,000 words in a first draft. Not bad, I can live with that.

On the other had the above cover is an endangered species. I like the fact that it's bright and strong, however the feedback to date is it doesn't convey what's inside.

 

With a new cover also comes an endorsement from Tony Black, acclaimed author of the Gus Drury series, among others.

 

So a new one is on the way. More to follow...

 

Back to the follow-up. Of course as they do the sands of the story keep shifting. A couple of days ago a new character sneaked up on me, Shed McGavin he's currently called (although names do change with the character traits). He's a nasty piece of work, almost as bad as his boss. This has put the main character's story on hold for now until I properly understand the ripples and how they affect the story. One thing's for sure it's better for his arrival, a lot more intrigue has been added. I'd love to say more but it's as yet an untold story...

 

 

Interview - Keith Nixon, The Fix

 

 

 

 

I was made redundant in 2009, the run up to the event wasn’t the greatest of experiences. I’ve (perhaps!) included some of the people and extrapolated some of events that occurred during that time. So, a negative turned into a positive.

Keith Nixon – 17 January 2013

 

 

 

The Back Flap

Murder. Theft. Sociopaths. And Margate. Just another day in banking then…
It’s pre-crash 2007 and financial investment banker Josh Dedman’s life is unravelling fast. He’s fired after £20 million goes missing from the bank. His long-time girlfriend cheats on him, then dumps him. His only friends are a Russian tramp who claims to be ex-KGB and a really irritating bloke he’s just met on the train. His waking hours are a nightmare and his dreams are haunted by a mystery blonde. And to cap it all, he lives in Margate…

Just when Josh thinks things can’t get any worse his sociopathic boss — Hershey Valentine — winds up dead and he finds himself the number one suspect. As the net closes in Josh discovers that no one is quite what they seem, including him, and that sometimes help comes from the most unlikely sources…

Part fiction, part lies (well, it is about banking) and excruciatingly funny, The Fix pulls no punches when revealing the naked truth of a man living a life he loathes.

What is the book about?
In short – ego, murder, lies and the need to change our lives. To take each in turn – arrogant people who think they’re untouchable, one of which ends up dead as a result, nobody is quite who they seem (however we all pretend to be something we’re not) and everyone ends up someone different as a result (but not everyone is pleased about the outcome).
The Fix is partially serious, mainly funny – you’ll get plenty of laughs as the story unfolds. One of the straplines I discarded was ‘Murder, it’s a funny business.’

When did you start writing the book?
February 2011, on a plane to Dubai.

How long did it take you to write it?
About 15 months in total with re-writes and edits.

Where did you get the idea from?
I was made redundant in 2009, the run up to the event wasn’t the greatest of experiences. I’ve (perhaps!) included some of the people and extrapolated some of events that occurred during that time. So, a negative turned into a positive.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
I tend to start a book well, based on an initial idea and then struggle once about a quarter of the way through when the initial rush of ideas are down on paper and I run out of steam & there are lots of problems to be solved (which is the crux of novel writing after all). True to form this happened with The Fix.

What came easily?
The characters, I had ideas for them all and how I wanted them to behave. Their names took a little longer and went through several changes to get them right as each of them – Hershey Valentine, Claire Pigeon, Josh Dedman and the rest – all have meaning.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
All of the characters are borrowed to a lesser or greater degree from people I’ve been unfortunate enough to meet but no-one is entirely ‘real’.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
Wow, this is really tough. I’ve read a lot over the years and my tastes have shifted as I’ve aged (gracefully). I really appreciate those who can build strong tension and interest through the characters and their activities where not a word is wasted. To name my big hitters – Lee Child, Ian Rankin, Bernard Cornwell, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Fowler and Philip Pullman. But there are lots of other great authors I’ve read such as Tony Black, Philip Reeve, Isaac Asimov, Martin Cruz Smith and Robert Harris among others.

How have they influenced me to write? Well, you have to create a strong story and interesting characters who you can empathise with that move the narrative along with pace. Also, that it takes a lot of effort. It’s rare to be an overnight success.

Do you have a target reader?
Only genre specific – crime, murder / mystery and humour readers.

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
Once I have an initial plot idea and some characters (usually their behaviours) the writing process is evolutionary. I build the outline of both premise and characters and some activities broken down into chapters in a Word document with a series of questions that need to be answered. In the latter, I mean activities that may occur in the story but I haven’t yet decided whether they’ll work but I want to capture them as I have a mind like a sieve. I then add to the outline (usually scribbling ideas as they come to me on a handy bit of paper then adding to the Word document later) over a few days and weeks. I’ve found that if I have a decent enough outline structure to hang the story on the writing flows and vice versa. When I get stuck, as inevitably happens, I re-visit the outline, modify and add. It also helps me find continuity errors.

In parallel I’ll start writing a few chapters, even if they’re brief and there are gaps in the timeline because then the story and the characters get into my blood. I take the view that an outline is just an idea whereas a chapter is activity.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
Yes, as discussed it’s critical for me to picture where I’m going but only with the rough outline in a couple of sentences. I also don’t tend to number the chapters but give each their own title as a clue…

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
A little editing as I go but mainly I try to do the bulk of it at the end of a draft because I have previously found I spent more time working on one or two chapter than getting on with the actual writing itself – I get into an edit eddy. There are sometimes exceptions – if I think of a major change that will significantly alter future chapters it bugs me unless I make some fixes, or if I think of additions to earlier chaptersm I will go back and throw them in. Again the process is quite evolutionary.

Did you hire a professional editor?
Yes, but more for copy than anything else. For one my punctuation (particularly comma use) isn’t perfect so I wanted to pick up any errors in this respect. The second was to look for continuity issues (I also use beta readers for this) and whether any of my clues were too subtle. It’s easy to miss stuff because of over-familiarity with the story.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No, too distracting. I want my fingers tapping keys not my thigh!

Did you submit your work to Agents?
No. Not this time around.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
A few years ago I wrote a historical fiction book. I ‘lost’ a year trying to get agents and publishers interested. Despite some encouraging feedback, none took it up. It was very frustrating so I decided with The Fix to do it myself. I will shortly be releasing the historical fiction as Indie too.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did it you do it yourself?
Professionally, I’ve found that people tend to be orientated towards either words or pictures. I’m the former so I’m terrible at the latter.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
A bit of both, which is me all over. I’d read up about getting books to market. However I work in a sales role and I feel you need to have a the product to make it available to people. Therefore, I’ve put a lot of activity in after launch, rather than before but it’s been a great learning exercise. Next time I’ll do more up-front.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Write as much as you can, it’s better to have something than nothing. Please make sure you get an editor, nothing is more annoying than bad format, punctuation or spelling (although editing won’t turn a bad book into a good book). Make connections on social media like Twitter and Goodreads although don’t expect this to immediately generate sales – it’s about relationships more than anything. Grow a thick skin, not everyone will like your work. Support other writers, from relationships comes networks and this is what life is about, after all.

Where did you grow up?
In various locations across the UK. We moved around a lot with my father’s job so I was always the kid with the different accent trying to fit in.

Where do you live now?
In a tiny coastal town in the UK called Broadstairs. There’s a literary angle to the place. Charles Dickens used to holiday here and wrote several books. A walkway down to the beach was the inspiration for The 39 Steps and there’s rumour of several links to Ian Fleming’s James Bond.

What would you like readers to know about you?
That I’m happy to help anyone with their own writing success (I’m freely available on Twitter and Goodreads).

What are you working on now?
Two things – my historical fiction is about to be edited for release in the first couple of months of 2013.
I’m also working on a follow up to The Fix involving several of the key characters. It is based a couple of years after. I also have ideas to follow the characters back in time to show how they got to where they are…

This interview was originally published on The Indie View site (www.theindieview.com)

Review: RIP Robbie Silva - Tony Black

Jed Collins has been out of prison for only thirty minutes before he finds himself landed with a whole heap of problems. The first is Gail, a thoroughly sexy blonde with a bad history. Second is her brutal father, gangland boss Robbie Silva who promises a big payday for Jed but with a high risk. Throw Jed’s own difficult upbringing into the mix and you have an explosive cocktail that leads to violence, theft and murder…Jed is going to be lucky to stay alive and out of prison.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novella, a master class in the genre. It was punchy, gritty and tough - just how excellent noir should be. The fast-paced, violent action in RIP Robbie Silva starts immediately when protagonist Jed, a likeable just ex-con, meets troubled Gail. The story gallops along, taking the reader along for a wild ride that doesn’t let up until the final sentence.

As a result I had to read RIP Robbie Silva in a single sitting, getting myself into all kinds of trouble with the family because I ignored them for a couple of hours. However, it was worth it. I spent the time happily savouring the gritty Edinburgh location, seedy ambiance and the machinations of the troubled characters as they struggled with themselves and each other. A scattering of local vernacular through the story added to the weighty atmosphere without being distracting or off putting.

Here’s an example of the style:

‘The barmaid was in her bad fifties, bat-wings and a corned-beef complexion. Her over-dyed black hair was scraped back in a tight scrunchie and showed at least an inch of grey roots; when she smiled at me I wanted to heave.’

A difficult subject underpins RIP Robbie Silva and is the reason Jed, despite deep misgivings, inexplicably finds himself drawn to Gail. In the explosive finale, Jed and Gail lay their demons to rest with a major plot twist I didn’t see coming.

If you want to learn how to quickly build a highly credible story, strong characters, and a real sense of place then read Tony Black. A great writer and a great story.

Rating? One Star

Would add this to my bookshelf? Categorically No

**Originally reviewed on Books & Pals blog.**

Review: A Verse To Murder - Tony Bailie

Dathai Devine, a well known Irish poet, is found dead in dubious circumstances – apparently by his own hand whilst fulfilling a less than salubrious sexual act and under the influence of narcotics. Enter Barry Crowe, investigative journalist, who pursues Dathai’s sad story. En route he meets Dathai’s muses, a policewoman with a bondage fetish, a drunken fellow poet and lesbians with the same odd tattoo on their inner thigh. It’s not long before Barry begins to suspect that there’s more to Dathai’s death than initially meets the eye.

This was a difficult read for a whole range of reasons. Besides the multiple formatting errors (see below) A Verse To Murder was more like a radio play than a novel – heavily weighted towards dialogue after an often cursory introductory description at the beginning of each chapter. This meant there was very little sense of character, place or activity. The story is supposed to occur in Belfast, however it could have been anywhere.

The plot was often disjointed, for example the book opens with Barry supposedly having a dream (I think), before the police turn up at his flat and awaken him. A Chief Inspector Hamilton then explains Dathai is dead under suspicious circumstances before the narrative inexplicably switches to Barry in conversation with a punk girl, Sally (“But don’t tell my friends that,” she says – why?) who appears out of nowhere to politely inform Barry she’d recently sold Dathai some mind bending substances. Although this meeting occurs chronologically after Barry has been to the scene of the crime it appears (that word again) in the book before Barry is described as having arrived at the scene of the crime. Confused? I was, and this was only the first chapter.  

This sudden appearance of characters continues throughout. For example, a policewoman on duty outside Dathai’s house (where the body was discovered) Barry claims to ‘vaguely recognise’ but within a page or two she is back in his flat and naked. Only by chance is she introduced as Dervla with no explanation (ever) as to where Barry knows her from. He also meets a friend, Tom Macken, himself a faded poet and some sort of female consort of Tom’s - again only pages later do we learn her name is Moira.

The story leaps around with little attempt at explaining what happens and why (because of the bias to dialogue). To a person the characters are flaccid, they all walk around in a daze and although Barry seems to have never met most of them before, he needs no effort to bend them to his will and they passively tell Barry everything. For example one of Dathai’s muses, Andrea de Burca, is being blackmailed, this apparently went on for 15 years without her making any attempt to find out who it was or report it to the police. Really?

This isn’t the only event that defies belief. At one point Barry is shot in the head at point blank range and he goes through an odd out of body experience. However, he somehow gets away with just a graze (unfortunately). Even the eventual murderer makes barely a credible appearance before being revealed.

On layout the book was badly formatted with a line break between each and every paragraph. I had to force my eye to skip over these which made for uncomfortable reading. There were also numbers randomly inserted throughout the text and inexplicable tabs were present that forced sentences onto new lines. There were often repetitions of the same word, for example:

“I’m a journalist, said Barry. “I wanted to interview him.”

“Yes I know you are a journalist. What did you want to interview him about?”

“Poetry.”

“Poetry?”

“That’s right, he’s a poet and I wanted to interview him about his poems.”

Oddest of all were when rather than actual speech the following were incorporated:

“…?” or “…!”

I’ve no idea what these are supposed to mean although the characters seemed to.

I really struggled to see a single redeeming feature about A Verse To Murder. Oh yes, it was mercifully short.

 

Rating? One Star

Would add this to my bookshelf? Categorically No

 

**Originally reviewd on Books & Pals blog.**

The Obituarist - Patrick O'Duffy

Kendall Barber is an Obituarist, a social media undertaker who cleans up the electronic trails of the deceased. Kendall’s day doesn’t start well. First he’s beaten up by a Hell’s Angel and told to stay away from Tonya Clemmens. The trouble is he’s never heard of her. Then Tonya herself arrives at his office – she wants Kendall to find her missing brother. Against his better judgement Kendall agrees and it’s then that things really start to go wrong as local maniac, D-Block and, worse, the police, all show an interest in the case as well.

I really enjoyed The Obituarist. It’s clever, sharp and funny. The dialogue is great and the characters well described, from the grubby policeman, Grayson, who uses Barber to get what he wants, through to the maniac bikers, Kowalski and Ploog, who are trying to permanently silence him, they’re vivid and full of life. The location for the story, Port Virtue, is as grimy as its residents. The pace clips along with the action starting at almost the first page and doesn’t let up to the last, helped by The Obituarist being written in the first person. I really appreciated the sense of humour and the direct style in which O’Duffy tells the tale - there isn’t a wasted word, the sign of a well written novella.

However, just when I thought I had the story figured out (and so did the characters!) The Obituarist delivered a couple of wrenching twists and surprises that were very cleverly done…I’d love to say more but I don’t want to give anything away.

At just over 20,000 words it’s a quick read and could be taken in one bite (you’ll want to once you start). In fact, I did read it all over again, even though I knew what was going to happen, just to look at how everything unfolded from a different perspective.

In the near future I’ll be tracking down Patrick O’Duffy’s other works. If they’re as good as The Obituarist I’ll be a happy man.

 

Rating? Five Stars

 

Would add this to my bookshelf? Absolutely Yes

 

**Originally reviewed for Al's Books & Pals. May have received free review copy.**