Russian films at Curzon Cinemas.

Being a bit of a Russo-phile, I was very interested to discover that the Curzon chain of cinemas are screening a festival of Russian films. It so happens that my friend Ed Hughes has composed, and recorded, full scores for two of the films in the season - Strike and Battleship Potemkin both by Eisenstein.

The films, with Ed's fabulous music, are available in a boxed set of dvds from Tartan Video. But, naturally, the chance to see the films on the big screen is not to be missed. Strike will be shown on Sunday October 7 in a programme with another Eisenstein film, October, at the Curzon Mayfair from 12 to 4 pm. Battleship Potemkin will be screened the following Sunday, October 14, double-billed with Alexander Nevsky. Ed will take part in a Q&A after the screening.

I will be there!

What book are you?

Find out by doing the Book Quiz.

Here's what it came up with for me:

You're Mother Night!

by Kurt Vonnegut

Nobody knows what to believe about you, and you know least of all. You
spent most of your time convinced that the ends justify the means, but your means were,
well, downright mean! And the end is nigh. Meanwhile all you want is to travel back in
time, if not to change, then to just delight in the way it used to be. You are who you
pretend to be. Oh yes, you're the great pretender.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

P-day for David-I

Last week I wasn't concentrating very hard so I missed the official publication date of Shock and Awe by David Isaak. But that's okay. As David himself suggests, official publication days are fairly nominal things.

David is a special guy for many reasons, but in publishing terms he's special for being the first US-resident American author published by Macmillan New Writing (nice banner there, by the way, David). The twice published Michael Fuchs may be a yank, but lives here in London. I know because I've seen him wandering the streets.

David is a generous supporter of other authors, as well as being an extremely well-read, charming and civilised chap. He's given a lot of thought to the art and craft of writing, and regularly shares his thoughts on his blog, which I wholeheartedly recommend. I first made his acquaintance online, as so often is the way these days, at a website called Absolutewrite. I was coming under attack for signing with MNW, which was seen by most of the absolutewriters as the devil's own imprint. Single-handedly, David came to my defence. Of course, he had a ms in submission there himself, so that may have had something to do with it. But his open-mindedness, patience and good-humour were obvious.

When David was over in the UK earlier this year, he took time out to venture to the wilds of north London to come to a bookshop event I was doing. We fell into a pub afterwards and had a good old chat. It was great to meet him in person at last.

I wish him the best of luck with Shock and Awe. I'm looking forward to picking up my own copy next week, and getting stuck into it as soon as I have got the proofs for my next 'un out of the way. (Yes, that's what I should be doing instead of being here blogging.)

I heart Lorraine Kelly

Some time ago I learnt that perky GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly studied Russian at university, and in fact listed Crime and Punishment as one of her favourite books. So I sent her, via her agent, a copy of my book, A Gentle Axe, which features Porfiry Petrovich, the magistrate from Dostoevsky's masterpiece.

I thought nothing of it. But during my extended break from blogging, a letter arrived, with the London Television Centre frank mark on it. Of course, I got wildly excited, imagining insanely, that some producer wanted to buy the TV rights. I'd completely forgotten about sending the book to Ms Kelly.

Instead, and perhaps even better, the envelope contained the following letter:



Just in case you can't read that shot, it says that Lorraine really enjoyed my book and thinks Fyodor would have approved. You'll notice she also signed off with a kiss.

My wife thinks I've gone all starstruck. Well, maybe. But I still think it was a nice thing of her to do. I mean she even wrote the envelope herself.

And I just can't help wondering if Lorraine is mates with Richard and Judy.

Bookslut! Bookslut! Bookslut!

Steady on. It's just a literary website, a rather good one, mind. And there's an interview with me in it.

My thanks to Kelly Spitzer for some brilliant questions. Mind you, if you've ever checked out her regular Writer Profiles, you'll know that Kelly has cornered the market in author interviews.

Bookslut, though. What a great name.

Podcast interview thingy on the Writing Show.

Many thanks to Paula B for inviting me on the show.

Skyped by Debby Reynolds!

A few days ago I received a skype message from someone called Debby Reynolds, requesting my details so we could talk. I couldn't honestly think of anyone I knew called Debby Reynolds, so I ignored it. But the message kept coming back. I told Rachel about it. I believe it's best to be open about these things if, as a man, you find yourself being contacted by strange women. Then if it ever gets to the bunny-boiling stage, you can say, "But you remember, I told you all about it."

Anyhow, as Rachel's been paying a bit more attention to the TV news than me, she pointed out that someone called Debby Reynolds, with that same spelling, is the government's chief veterinary officer - and is the person at the centre of the current foot and mouth storm.

Could it be the same person?

Well, I took my mystery to a writers' group discussion board and someone (thanks caro55) pointed out that there is a top New Zealand expert on foot and mouth, a certain Professor Roger Morris, who is the government's adviser on the disease!

This has absolutely nothing to do with books, except that it occurs to me that Debby Reynolds might think The Gentle Axe is a book about a more humane method of slaughtering?

This is all true, but of course the reason I mention it in my blog is... well, those of you who know my devious promotional methods can probably work it out.

Gentle Reader's guide

Those good folk at Penguin US have now posted a set of reader's notes together with an interview on the Penguin website. You'll find it here.

Novidades!!!!!

The Portuguese (Brazilian) edition of Gentle Axe is now out, published by Planeta. No nifty little animated adverts, but a Brazilian friend has read the first chapter and tells me it's "very good".

In other novidades, it seems that there's now a paperback edition of Taking Comfort available on amazon.co.uk. All they're asking is £6.24. Bargain!

Polish ad for my book

You saw it here first. Probably. Unless you've already seen it somewhere else.

And there's another one here.

Thanks to Wydawnictwo Literackie, my Polish publishers, for making the effort.

Oh, it's raining with biblical force. There will be more floodings. We live in a valley. Shit.

My name is Roger and I'm addicted to...

... googling myself. To be fair, it's not so much myself as my book titles that I go a-googling.

Why do I do it? Because I'm a vain, self-obsessed ego-monster desperate not to miss out on his fifteen minutes of cyber-fame, of course. I can justify it to myself - just about - on the grounds that I'm doing it for professional reasons. You know, checking up on the internet buzz. It's a gauge of something, surely, if A GENTLE AXE has been acquired by the Penang Club Library. Not sure quite what, though.

Also, I'm interested to know which reviews present themselves in what order at any given time to anyone who goes looking for me. I like it when the good ones come first. Perhaps I can even manipulate this by clicking on the good ones obsessively, and totally ignoring the - uh, how can I put it? - less enthusiastic ones, hoping thereby to consign them to the very outer circles of cyber-hell.

I get forwarded review links and quotes from my publicity people (sounds a bit grand that, doesn't it?) and I'm more than happy to share them with all you good folk. But I have to accept that Maggie (Penguin) and Anna (Faber) are simply not as obsessed with me (or my book) as I am. And frankly, they never will be. If I don't google me, no one will.

So I go hunting just to see if someone somewhere has mentioned my book. Of course, sometimes, I find stuff that I wish I hadn't. Like the South African journalist who accused me of all manner of crimes.

But sometimes, you stumble across something that is so unexpected, and pleasing, that it makes the long hours of joyless trawling seem worthwhile. One such discovery was this mention in the Journal of the Police Association of South Australia. Somehow the idea of all these Ozzie coppers rushing out to buy a copy of my book just tickles me pink. Bonza, as they say.

How many writers does it take to fill a bookshop?

I'll be taking part in a 'Bodies in the Bookshop' event in Heffers, Cambridge, next Tuesday, 17th of July, if anyone is in those parts and interested.

Won't just be me. In fact, here are the writers scheduled to appear:

Stephen Booth, Gianrico Carofiglio, C. J. Carver, Mary Andrea Clarke, Barbara Cleverly, Vena Cork, Paul Doherty, Ruth Downie, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Jane Finnis, Elena Forbes, Christopher Fowler, Ariana Franklin, Seth Garner, Paul D. Gilbert, Jason Goodwin, Dolores Gordon-Smith, June Hampson, Suzette Hill, Lis Howell, Claude Izner, Alison Joseph, Lee Jackson, Jim Kelly, Patrick Lennon, Adrian Magson, Nigel McCrery, Jenni Mills, R. N. Morris, Martin O’Brien, Andrew Pepper, Christine Poulson, Ann Purser, Caro Ramsey, Linda Regan, Mike Ripley, David Roberts, Alex Scarrow, Simon Scarrow, Zoe Sharp, Veronica Stallwood, Rebecca Stott, Frank Tallis, Lesley Thompson, Rebecca Tope, Jill Paton Walsh and Laura Wilson … so far.

Be nice to see a few crime readers among all those crime writers.

Susan Hill on sequels and follow-ups

Susan Hill has written a piece about presumptuous, jumped-up writers like me who take on the characters of a great author and produce their own tribute books. Actually, and refreshingly, she's all in favour of the practice. But having written a sequel to REBECCA called MRS. DE WINTER, it's perhaps not surprising.

Read the whole thing here. There's also an article on the Penguin blog about the forthcoming Sebastian Faulks' James Bond novel, DEVIL MAY CARE.

WSJ? Whassa' then?

My US editor emailed me with news of, in his words, a "fantastic review in the WSJ". Naturally, I was pleased. Any good review is gratifying. Though I did have to admit I had no idea what the WSJ is. I was rather embarrassed to learn that it's The Wall Street Journal. Somehow, I feel I ought to have been able to work that out.

I haven't seen the whole review and I can't find it online (think you have to be a subscriber). But here's the quote that Scott sent me:

"English writer R. N. Morris has produced perhaps the most audacious police-inspector novel of the season with "The Gentle Axe."....The tale hums along with controlled excitement, as if written by a Russian minimalist and rendered by a fine translator. The psychological and spiritual themes seem worthy of Dostoyevsky; there are traces of Gogol and Gorky, too. Such an accomplished book transcends pastiche."

In other news

Last week (I think it was last week - no maybe it was two weeks ago!) I went to see a screening of Strike, the 1924 silent movie by Eisenstein, at the Barbican. It was being shown with a new sound track by my friend Ed Hughes. It was a wonderful experience and Ed's music was fantastic. The dvd is going to be released by Tartan Video on July 16th. It will also contain Battleship Potemkin, also with a new soundtrack by Ed, and a propaganda film called October, which does not have Ed's music on it.

I've also made a short (very short!) film which uses Ed's music. It's the following trailer for my novel Taking Comfort.

taking comfort

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Ed contacted me this week to let me know that a project we worked on many years ago, a short one-act opera called The Devil's Drum, is going to get a new performance. It has been picked up by a young director called Poppy Burton-Morgan and she is putting on a production at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney, on Monday August 20th. I'm very excited about that, as there is nothing quite like the thrill of live performance.

Oh, yes, almost forgot... an old story of mine, called 'The Tender-hearted Man', has been published in Libbon, the short story magazine. My thanks to the editor David Soulsby, for picking it out.

Anybody speak Polish?

I have a feeling the Polish edition of A Gentle Axe has now been published and may look something like this:



Here's a link to the publisher's page.

Uhm, hi.

First, apologies for the long break (if anyone has noticed or cares).

There hasn't really been much to report, though I find now that I have an event looming next week. I'll be at the Muswell Hill Bookshop, 70-72 Fortis Green Road, N10 on Wednesday the 20th at 7.00pm. I'll be there with Andrew Martin, author of Necropolis Railway, The Lost Luggage Porter and Murder at Deviation Junction, amongst other books. We'll be giving brief readings and chatting about our work. I guess. I dunno. What usually happens at these things?

Another review to report, this time in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Edward Pettit (a National Book Critics Circle member,no less) writes: "Morris' sequel is firmly encamped in the mystery genre. Petrovich is the sleuth who must catch the killer. But Morris' use of a generic form does not dilute the idea of human suffering that Dostoyevsky wished to explore. Morris' twist is investigating the suffering of the investigator, not the criminal. In identifying with the killers he chases, Petrovich bears the terrible weight of suffering in the world. His profession forces him to perpetually wander the Siberia of his own soul. Morris' novel is a book not about the metaphysics of murder, but rather the metaphysics of the investigation of murders. As such, The Gentle Axe proves a worthy sequel."

Read the whole thing here.

Audiobook review.

Audiogeist has very kindly reviewed the audiobook of The Gentle Axe, read by Simon Vance and found it "a fabulously dark and descriptive story from the outset".

You can read it here.

The New York Times weighs The Axe.

Thanks to everyone who has alerted me to this review in the New York Times. You may have to register to see it. It's free to do so.

Otherwise you can look at the same article that also ran in the International Herald Tribune.

Late to the tag party.

Absolutely ages ago I was tagged by Nik and Lucy.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get to it, guys, but here goes:

1. Do you outline?
Yes.


2. Do you write straight through a book, or do you sometimes tackle the scenes out of order?
I write the ending first. Then write the rest of the book.


3. Do you prefer writing with a pen or using a computer?

Pen. Or quill.


4. Do you prefer writing in first person or third?
Third.


5. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, do you create a playlist, listen randomly, or pick a single song that fits the book?
No music.


6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters?
I steal them from Dostoevsky.


7. When you're writing, do you ever imagine your book as a television show or movie?
I’m describing a movie playing in my head.



8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn't want him/her to do?
I just kill them off if they won’t behave.


9. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?

Yes. (See answer #2.)


10. Where do you write?
Mostly anywhere.


11. What do you do when you get writer's block?
Buy a new notebook and a new pen. The ones I’m using obviously aren’t working any more.


12. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of wordcount, or as a percentage of the book as a whole)?
It’s a variable, i, which can be expressed as follows i = wcI/dh. Where w=words, c=coffee, I= inspiration, d=distractions, h=hangover. In other words, about 0.2% a day, on average. Ish.


13. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?
One. Then the editor went at it.


14. Have you ever changed a character's name midway through a draft?
Unintentionally, yes.


15. Do you let anyone read your book while you're working on it, or do you wait until you've completed a draft before letting someone else see it?
No one reads it until it’s ready.


16. What do you do to celebrate when you finish a draft?
Open a bottle of wine.


17. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?
One at a time, these days.


18. Do your books grow or shrink in revision?
Shrink.


19. Do you have any writing or critique partners?
No. Though I did swap manuscripts with Hannah Holborn for Taking Comfort.



20. Do you prefer drafting or revising?
I don’t know the answer to this. I revise as I go along.


I'm going to duck out of tagging anyone else, as I'm so late to this that I'm sure everybody else in the world has already been done!

Someone with an Axe to grind?

I've been accused of a shocking crime, compared to a Blairite government minister, described as a child of New Labour’s crass privatisation of everything. Thanks to me, apparently, Dostoevsky has been "privatised and sold off for the gain of others: a very neoconservative modus operandi".

The charges are made in a South African newspaper, the Mail and Guardian, where Darryl Accone asks:

"How many readers who have never heard of Dostoyevsky will work out, from the epigraph and “acknowledgement” [in A Gentle Axe], that the very fine Porfiry Petrovich and his search for psychological motives are really a protagonist and ideas that belong to someone other than RN Morris?"

I am even accused, slyly, of not knowing how to spell Dostoevsky's name. In fact, Mr Accone creates a spelling mistake ('Dostoesky') and inserts the term [sic], to imply that the mistake was mine. Mr Accone's preferred transliteration of the name is Dostoyevsky. I spell Dostoevsky without that 'y' in the middle, which is an acceptable transliteration widely used; I do not omit the 'v'.

Oh, and the decision to put the acknowledgement at the back was made by the publishers, not me. It is at the front in the American edition.

Leaving that petty and rather cheap trick aside, I am actually very flattered by Mr Accone's article. This quote was particularly gratifying:

"Morris has very imaginatively continued Petrovich’s career after the resolution of the Raskolnikov axe murders in Crime and Punishment. In stealing from the best, he has at least shown intimate knowledge of the original: “his” Petrovich is psychologically consistent with Dostoyevsky’s, and employs analogous methods of investigation and deduction."

Thank you, Mr Accone, that's actually the nicest thing anyone could have said.

You can make your own mind up by reading the whole article yourself.

Trailer for A Gentle Axe.

The Gentle Axe trailer (UK edit)

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I'd be interested to know what people think!

Another one where that came from.

Just found out about another Taking Comfort review, this time on Don Capone's Hit List.

Remember Taking Comfort?

I know I've been concentrating on the Axe recently, but it's only just over a year ago that my other novel, Taking Comfort, was published in the UK by Macmillan New Writing. Taking Comfort came out in the States and Canada recently. Big territories. Easy for a little book to get lost. But I've been lucky to have a couple of very generous people take a chance on it and pass on their impressions. One of those is the writer Ben Dooley, a contributor to the literary website The Millions.

He says:

A novel about materialism may sound, at first, cliche, but it's carried off with a deft touch, the material presented in a way that is at once fresh and familiar. Morris plays a dangerous game with his narrative, constantly switching perspectives and focusing the action in each chapter on the relationship between a character and an object. The gambit pays off, as we're shown the inner life of a multitude of characters, both incidental and essential to the main action of the story, a tactic that allows Morris a hard-to-achieve combination of introspection and brisk pacing.

Read the whole thing here.

My thanks also to the writer Ania Vesenny who was kind enough to plug Taking Comfort in an interview on Kelly Spitzer's blog. The interview is really worth reading (aside from the mention of TC) because it's a great introduction to Ania. Apart from anything else, she lives in an extraordinary place called Baffin Island, which I would imagine has an interesting effect on her writing. And the novel she's working on sounds amazing.

A sunny day.

Two new reviews today. One in The New York Sun, which finds the Axe "a smart, hypnotizing tale of crime and duplicity." Read the whole thing here.




The second in I Love a Mystery. This one concludes:

"I would hazard a guess that even the Russian literary master himself would find Morris' debut entertaining, or at least amusing. In fact, Dostoevsky might be inclined to give Morris a pat on the back for not only grasping the underlying personality traits of "his" detective but also giving Porfiry center stage in his own novel.

R.N. Morris is an exciting new talent with a very promising future. Regardless of whether or not you are familiar with Dostoevsky's work, it would be a crime not to read this highly entertaining novel."

The whole thing's here.

And it was a sunny day. I sat in Soho Square at lunchtime reading my current paperback, Kafka on The Shore by Murakami - which, I have to say, I am enjoying very much.

The Hungarian Axe.

I have it on good authority, from
David Llewellyn's Hungarian cleaner, that A BALTA means THE AXE.

Bookgasm review.

The Axe has been reviewed by Mark Rose in a US blog called bookgasm.

It's an interesting review because it seems to indicate how 'hype' can affect a reader's, or blogger's, receptiveness to a book. He says: "This book has received so much mainstream hype that I began to worry about its likability. Other reviewers seemed to care a little too much about the Dostoyevsky angle, and because it featured a shining star in the modern academic literary canon, it was sure to be praised."

Well, actually, I would take issue with the last point. I think the Dostoevsky connection may well be what is getting the book noticed. But not all reviewers have looked kindly on my presumption. Any how, I'm pleased that Mark Rose follows this up with: "Thankfully, Morris does not pretend to be Dostoyevsky. Instead, he takes a character study and a locale, and crafts a very passable murder mystery out of the whole thing. If he can use Porfiry Petrovich as his foil to get attention, then more power to him."

His final line is one I'm very happy with: "It’s an excellent first novel that bodes well for the future."

I've had my first Dutch review, or the first that's been brought to my attention. It appeared in NRC HANDELSBLAD, which, according to my Dutch editor "is just about the most renowned Dutch newspaper around."

I believe they liked it. "The Gentle Axe makes you long for more work by Morris, who is intelligent enough not to place too much intellectual weight in his novel, thus ensuring that it is smart without being pompous. Serve with cabbage soup and plenty of vodka."

The full bookgasm review is here.

The Mystery Bookstore in LA.

I was delighted to see that The Mystery Bookstore in Los Angeles has added my virtual axe reading to their myspace profile page.

See it here.

Thank you Mystery Bookstore!

You're all invited.

I'm back from The Rap Sheet. I thoroughly enjoyed myself over there, though I have to say it was a bit stressful, trying to post something new everyday and look after the kids on Easter holiday.

I've had some positive feedback, which makes it all worthwhile, and J. Kingston Pierce, the editor, was pleased enough with my contributions to make me one of his Usual Suspects - i.e. occasional contributors.

While I was over there, I put a virtual reading up on myspace. It's an extract from the first chapter of the Axe. Please check it out, if you have a moment.

Just go here and scroll down until you see the video screens. You can view the American version (which features The Gentle Axe) or the English version (A Gentle Axe). The reading is the same. If you're logged in to myspace, you can even leave a comment. Please do!

My thanks to Clive Parsley who directed and art directed the shoot.

My debt to Dostoevsky.

Part One.

And Part Two.

This week I will mostly be blogging at The Rap Sheet.

I'm honoured to have been invited over to The Rap Sheet, where I will be posting all week. Aside from my ramblings about Gentle Axe, I can promise you a number of great interviews with great writers. And a few other surprises, I hope.

My thanks (again!) to David Isaak for drawing my attention to this review in the Washington Post.

Some pull-out quotes:

R.N. Morris's lively, literate "The Gentle Axe"

"The Gentle Axe" is a deftly plotted, enjoyable literary thriller. It's not another "Crime and Punishment," but it's a novel that, once begun, you're likely to read all the way through.

I google trawled another review too. From a site called BookLoons. The reivewer there calls it a 'top-notch mystery'.

See you at The Rap Sheet!

Every author is a local author somewhere...

So the surreal conversation I referred to in the post below, between Mark Budman and the Barnes and Noble sales clerk, went like this:

Mark: "Will you put my book here one day?"
Clerk: "We don't put every book here."
Mark: "But I'm a local author."
Clerk: "Local authors are all print on demand. We don't carry them."
Mark: "No, my book will be out from a major publisher."
Clerk: "Even major publishers, like Random House, publish local authors only as POD."

That's so illogical it's genius. Thanks to Mark for reporting the exchange and allowing me to use it. And congratulations on not slapping the fool.

The kindness of Zoetropers.

Zoetrope.com is a place I go sometimes, a place where writers post work, review other writers' work, and get together, in a virtual way, to talk about writerly stuff, and occasionally some unwriterly stuff. I've made many very good friends there, some of whom I have now met in person. None of us has yet turned out to be an axe murderer. I am possibly the closest, having written a crime novel with Axe in the title.

Many Zoetropers are American or Canadian. And some of them have been out and about, visiting bookstores, looking for copies of the Axe and reporting back to me. I got news of a sighting in Kauai, the northern most island of the Hawaii chain - described by the spotter Mary Deal as 'the most remote place ON EARTH'.

Lisa McMann spotted it in Tempe Arizona, and even took a picture:



In case there are any members of staff of Borders Tempe reading, Lisa assures me that she had nothing whatsoever to do with standing that book up. No way. Nor did she place that rogue copy you might have found on the recommendations wall.

There have been other sightings too. Mark Budman, the editor of Vestal Review, spotted it in Vestal, NY. He had a rather surreal conversation with the sales assistant about his own book, MY LIFE AT FIRST TRY, which has just been snapped up by Counterpoint.

Jason Shaffner picked up a copy in Borders Boston.

Hannah Holborn has been turning out copies in Canada.

Louis Catron was making a nuisance of himself at his local libraries and bookstores on my behalf.

My thanks to all of these generous souls and all the other zoetropers who have expressed their good wishes, and especially those who have taken a chance, either with the Axe or Taking Comfort (Don Capone, Patti Auburn to name but two).

I'd also like to give a special thanks to the techie suprema Ellen Meister who made my covers rotate on myspace.

Interview in Eclectica.

Yes, I've been interviewed. The interviewer is the great Jim Younger, author of the acclaimed High John The Conqueror. I've had the honour and pleasure of sharing the odd tipple with Jim on occasion. However, the interview was conducted in the utmost sobriety. Actually, I can't speak for Jim. But I was nowhere near a drink at the time.

My thanks to Jim. He came up with some great questions and managed to make me look considerably cleverer than I actually am.

The interview appeared in an online literary zine called Eclectica, and it was commissioned by Elizabeth Glixman, who is the interviews editor there. I hope the good folk at Eclectica won't object if I quote from their 'about Eclectica' page, just for those who may not be familiar with the site:

Eclectica was founded in October 1996 with the goal of providing a sterling quality literary magazine on the World Wide Web. We were not able to find a forum that would be the net equivalent (in terms of content) of Harper's, New Yorker, Granta, The Atlantic, and other publications providing quality material for the appetites of a wide variety of demanding readers. Although some of these magazines even had their own web-sites, they were conceived as companions to the print items rather than sites that stood completely on their own.

Thus Eclectica was born. The vision we shared was that of a magazine not bound by formula or genre, that harnessed technology to further the reading experience rather than for the sake of flashy gimmickry, and that was dynamic and interesting enough content-wise to keep readers coming back for more.

Ten years later, quality is still the sole criterion in our editorial process. If it is outstanding writing, then we want to share it with our ever growing, global readership. We provide broad categories for convenience's sake, but we love to get material that just doesn't fit into them. And while there are many, many online publications now that succeed, to greater or lesser degrees, in doing what we set out to do in 1996, we pride ourselves on being one of the longest-running and most consistent literary ezines on the web.

Reviewed by and on amazon.com.

Thanks to LF for letting me know about his really generous review on amazon.com. And thanks especially, Len, for ""The Gentle Axe" manages to be an entertaining novel on its own while doing no disservice to the memory of one of the great novels of all time."

I also spotted that amazon had added their own review, by Valerie Ryan. She says: "In a wonderfully atmospheric novel, Morris has created a world-weary protagonist in Porfiry, a man still exhausted from his last case, joined by a collection of absolutely believable characters to flesh out the novel... [Porfiry] follows clues, hunches, people, and stories to get to the bottom of the mystery--and when he does, it comes as a complete surprise, but one that makes perfect sense. This carefully written and entertaining novel will satisfy lovers of mystery, historical crime, and just plain good novels."

The last time I looked at my amazon.com page I was twinned with Ruth Downie's novel MEDICUS. I met Ruth at the Heffers event I did in February. She was very nice (so nice she even bought a copy of A GENTLE AXE!) and her book seems to be doing very well.

I've also been told that the book was reviewed in the Sydney Morning Herald but as the review doesn't seem to be online, I have no idea what it said. Anybody spot it?

The Moscow Times reviews the St Petersburg novel.

I was thrilled by this one. It's a wonderful review by Saul Austerlitz. I say wonderful not just because it's positive, but because the writer just seems to get what I was trying to do. What's more, he's really engaged with the book. So I'm very happy.

It's been a crappy day in other respects. A lot of stress, mostly self-induced and in fact still on-going (I shouldn't really be here). But I had to share.


Oh, and another truly marvellous thing happened - possibly even better than getting a great review in The Moscow Times. Daughter Claire and her friends won the overall egg decoration prize in their school's eggy diorama competition. You may remember it was for Yoka from Egg Wars.

the san francisco chronicle reviews the axe (HELP MY CAPS HAVE GONE MAD!!!)

Sorry I don't know what happened with that header - I couldn't get the pc to do caps, then everything was in caps. It's been a long day.

Somewhere around the midpoint of it, a couple of emails pinged into my inbox from New York. One from my American editor and one from my American publicist. Both telling me about a review in the San Francisco Chronicle - my first US newspaper review. (I was reviewed by a US blogger here.) I sort of hoped the simultaneous transmission was a good sign. But you know, I don't assume anything and I am naturally pessimistic.

Anyhow, they seemed quite pleased. One of them described it as a 'rave' review. The other used the word 'fantastic'. Yeah, yeah - I know how people in publishing tend to exaggerate. I could tell they were just trying to build me up so I wouldn't take the bad bits to heart. Still, it gave me the confidence to take a peek.

The SFC reviewer is Stephen Lyons. And yes, he seemed to like the book: "The story is told ably in the classic whodunit twisty-arc style, reminiscent of the sleuthing of Nick Charles, Sherlock Holmes and Columbo, the mussed-up character based partly on Dostoevsky's trench-coat-clad Petrovich. Dirty Harry could easily be referenced, too..."

Have to say, I'm very pleased with those references, though if I'm honest the Dirty Harry one strikes me as a bit left-field! But hey, I'm not complaining.

He does a quick summary of the story, then observes: "In addition to the splendid dust-off and resurrection of Petrovich, the strengths of "The Gentle Axe" are its characters and scene construction." He then goes on to quote from a scene that he particularly liked, calling it "wonderfully written". The scene is sort of about gambling, which allows him to conclude: "Tip to readers: Bet on Petrovich."

I've read the review through a few times now. Haven't found the bad bits yet.

The terrible knotted feeling in my stomach relaxed slightly today.

A hand yell for MJ Rose!

Well, I'm not entirely sure what a hand yell is. But I got one from MJ Rose over at buzz, balls and hype, so I thought I'd return the favour.

Buzz, balls and hype is a highly influential as well as entertaining blog, which features a range of valuable information for writers, including tips on marketing, and even advice from a psychologist on topics such as overcoming writer's block. There's a great essay by Barry Eisler about the different kinds of resonance in titles.

MJ Rose herself is a thriller writer with a string of acclaimed novels to her name. She doesn't do reviews, but if she reads a book she likes, she's not afraid to give it a good hand yell. Whatever that is.

Thank you, MJ.

The Axe, snapped in California.

Some photos, courtesy of the impressively determined David Isaak.

David Isaak, Axe-spotter extraordinaire.

My thanks go to the indefatigable David Isaak. Indefatigable is only one word you could use to describe the man and it hardly does him justice. But I chose it today, as opposed to any other epithets (e.g., generous, engaging, perceptive and frequently laugh-out-loud funny) because of his efforts in tracking down a copy of the American Axe. You can read all about it on his blog. His post even features an intriguing photo of the soon-to-be-bestselling author of Smite The Waters (Macmillan New Writing, September 2007), in a Magritte-style pose with his copy of The Gentle Axe. If you haven't bookmarked TOMORROWVILLE yet, I advise you to do so immediately. You won't regret it.

Anyhow, thank you David. Your efforts really were above and beyond the call of duty. And the photos you sent are helping me get my head round the fact that this is really happening, after all.

By way of a gift for David, and for everyone who has stumbled onto the plog today, I thought I would share with you an eggy diorama made by my daughter and two of her friends for Easter. It's a depiction of a traditional Easter scene, featuring Yoka from Egg Wars. I hope you like it.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Then I'll begin. Well, actually, Simon Vance will begin. He's the narrator of the American audiobook of The Gentle Axe and you can download a sample of his reading here.

Back story.

Thanks to MJ Rose, of Buzz, Balls and Hype fame, for inviting me to contribute mine.

The Axe is out (in the USA)

From today, The Gentle Axe is available to buy in American bookshops. Allegedly.

The official publication date is given as Monday, but the books go out today, I believe. So if there are any Americans reading this (David?), I'd really appreciate knowing about any bookshop sightings.

Shotsmag reviews Axe.

"[A] pretty impressive achievement which succeeds on its own terms as a well written literary thriller with loads of chilly Russian atmosphere and even plays fair as a murder mystery."

Read the full review here.


I'm back to just posting review excerpts. Sorry.

Fancy a bit of 'lurid'?

According to Doug Southard, who has reviewed The Gentle Axe for the Library Journal, "[r]eaders with an appetite for the occasional lurid scene will enjoy". Let's face it. Which one of us doesn't have the appetite for a bit of lurid now and then.

Porfiry and me.

I've written an article on that subject for Shots Mag.


By the way, you can download an extract of A Gentle Axe here.

Why no blog posts?

Yes, yes, I know, I've been neglecting the plog. Just lazily pasting in quotes from reviews. (Only the good bits, mind. I'm not daft.)

I do have an excuse. There was this small matter of another book to finish. One that was due in to my publisher on the same day that A Gentle Axe was published. I managed to do it, more or less. Though excessive plogging throughout the time I was supposed to be writing it slowed me down considerably and meant a mad sprint for the finish. Oops.

Thankfully, I did manage to get it written in time, though the spamfilter at Faber snagged it, so my editor didn't get to see it until a couple of days after the agreed due date. That seemed to be fine. The sky didn't fall in. Nobody came to cut a pound of flesh from my side.

Mr Ed (not his real name) got back to me pretty quick. Here is a man who reads three manuscripts over a single weekend. Anyhow, "It seems to be in very good shape," was his verdict. Still he did have some comments. Then some more. Then a few more. Oh, and a few more. That's what's been keeping me busy over the last few weeks. Well, actually, what's really been keeping me busy is the very important job of staring sullenly and fearfully at this big wad of paper wondering just how bad it is. Oh, that and chewing my nails down to the quick.

I finally steeled myself to look at the damage last week. Friday, to be exact. There was nothing major, as he had promised. Just a lot of minor stuff. More than usual for me, which I think was partly due to the fact that I didn't have time to do as many read-throughs as I normally like to. I did reach the point where I needed an editor's input for the big stuff, to check whether the story was working. And, I have to say, he is an exceedingly good editor, so why not use him, I thought?

So what else has been keeping me from the plog? A daughter with a broken arm. This amazing book. The day job. Googling my title(s). And a strange debilitating tension that seems to lock my shoulders into rigidity whenever I contemplate opening up blogger. Can't explain it.

Book stuff to report

I've signed 500 hardbacks of A Gentle Axe at Goldsboro Books. It's the only place you can buy the hardback, which is indeed a beauteous object. It even has the pic and bio of me lacking from the trade paperback. And a lovely quote from Alan Furst on the back.

News came in of a sighting of a spectacular window display of Axes at the Waterstones on Piccadilly. By the time I got there, they'd moved me from the window to the 'curve' - an area inside devoted to books they are promoting. I may return with a camera to capture the evidence.

I also seem to be published in Canada. There was a review in the The Globe and Mail, which I'm assured is Canada's main national paper. It wasn't too bad. My Porfiry "retains both the intelligence and doggedness of the original" apparently. But I'll let you read the whole thing if you like.

The York Press reviews the Axe.

Lovely review from Stephen Lewis in the York Press.

"Morris has dug deep into the Russian soul in this book, and his dark, dank, dangerous St Petersburg, with its snowbound, windswept streets and stinking slums, is brilliantly recreated.

The hunt for the murderer is tense and atmospheric: the denouement brutally shocking and moving.

A worthy sequel to one of the greatest novels ever written: and a cracking thriller in its own right."

I think he liked it.

Read the whole thing here.

The Agony Column reviews the Axe.

The Axe isn't published in the States yet, but it seems one literary blogger couldn't wait to review it.

The review, in a blog for some reason called The Agony Column, is themed around the idea of books you're made to read (at school) and books you want to read. A couple of extracts:

Morris has all the grace notes right for a fine historical mystery... ...it's an auspicious debut, with enough details and period observations to keep you immersed in the alien worlds of history and enough plot to keep you reading. At 305 pages, this is a nicely sized book and perhaps the start of a very good series. At this point in your life, chances are you're out of English class, and there no novels that you have to read. 'The Gentle Axe', my friends, is no 'Crime and Punishment', to be sure (nor does it pretend to be), but neither is it 'Silas Marner'. It is in fact a novel you might very well want to read.

Read the whole thing here.

Read the full Independent review...

... by Virginia Rounding online here.

My favourite Axe review so far...

... has come in from from my Russian friend Andrey. I sent him a copy of the book as a way of saying thank you for his wonderful and generous hospitality when I visited his city last August.

Here's what he said:

I finished reading of the novel just a couple of days ago. The most striking impression for me, being St.Petersburg native, is a strong Russian, St.Petersburg feel of it. Although written in English and by an Englishman, it reads as a naturally Russian literary work, and it's quite an accomplishment. I haven't experienced that feeling before, although I read quite a few Western novels with Russian
connection.

It's a great work of the detective genre, it truly keeps you thrilled and guessing until the very end. My mom loves detective stories, and I told her she would enjoy it when it's available in Russian.

Signed, lined and dated.

Last week was half term and I was in sole charge of the kids for most of it. So not much time for blogging. I know I've been neglecting the plog recently. I can't really make amends in one post, but I will try to do better in the future. It's an exciting time for me, which seems to be going by in a blur. Whenever I get a chance I'll try to put something here, but I can't promise to be a regular or frequent blogger any more.

The week started with my seven year old son doing his bit for science. He was taking part in a language processing study which involved getting his brain scanned in Queen Square, otherwise known as Neurology Square. Just about the only building on Queen Square that is not devoted to the study or treatment of the human brain, is that given over to the offices of Faber and Faber. Very convenient for me as I was able to nip out for a quick meeting with my editor over the next Porfiry Petrovich novel, which he had just finished reading. The meeting went well. "It seems to be in very good shape," was his verdict. There's some work to do but nothing major.

Pancakes on Tuesday, of course. Then our plan for Wednesday was a visit to St Paul's to fit in with Luke's topic at school, which is The Great Fire of London. Ah, but the Wednesday after Pancake Day is of course Ash Wednesday. It turns out that St Paul's Cathedral is some sort of church! Who would have thought? They actually have services there on Ash Wednesday which means that it is closed to sightseers. We didn't get to climb the galleries. By way of consolation, we walked along to The Monument and climbed its 311 steps. The Dickensian porter at the bottom was worth the admission fee alone.

Thursday evening I had a trip to Cambridge to take part in Heffers Crime Through Time evening. I have to say it went by in a bit of a blur. People came. Some of them bought books. I signed, lined and dated them. (This is what the collectors want these days.) I was pleasantly surprised to see that Richard of Heffers had put out some copies of Taking Comfort too. I think I probably signed an equal number of each book. I was asked to sign some of the Taking Comfort copies as 'Roger Morris aka RN Morris'. Some of the people who came were undoubtedly dealers and I've already seen copies of the book advertised on the internet.

It was very pleasant chatting to the people who turned up to buy and nice to meet some of my fellow historical crime novelists, notably Lee Jackson, Frank Tallis and R.S. (Ruth) Downie.

This afternoon I'm off to do more signing. In fact, I have 500 limited edition hardbacks waiting for me at Goldsboro Books. Repetitive stress here I come. If you're a collector, the Goldsboro Books edition is the one to have.

Hot off the press

Got an early copy of the American edition (The Gentle Axe) through the post this morning. It's a hardback. And a thing of beauty. Publication date is March 22.



The back's worth a look too.

More reviews for the Axe.

I haven't actually seen these in full, but the press officer at Faber has forwarded me these quotes:

‘RN Morris has brilliantly appropriated (Petrovich) from Dostoevsky’s novel. … Morris’ recreation of the seamy side of 19th-century St Petersbury is vivid and convincing … As to who did it, Morris keeps the reader guessing until the end. …Morris even includes the statutory holy monk on his deathbed, and he has certain advantages over Dostoevsky: A Gentle Axe is much shorter than Crime and Punishment, and much easier to read.’  Virginia Rounding, Independent

‘Morris has created an atmospheric St Petersburg, and a stylish set of intellectual problems, but what makes A Gentle Axe such an effective debut is its fascination with good and evil.  It has earned its author the right to make use of the work of a greater writer.’  Roz Kaveney, TLS

Been quietly grinning to myself this morning.

More quotes here.

Crime through Time.

Next Thursday (22 Feb), I'm going to be taking part in an evening devoted to historical crime fiction at Heffers in Cambridge. There will be a number of other authors taking part, including so far CJ Sansom, Barbara Cleverly and Susanna Gregory.

It's going to be quite informal. No speeches. No readings. But hopefully some wine!

It starts at 6.30pm. Details here.

Snapshots of my disordered mind.

The Guardian Review section on Saturday has been running a series about writers' workspaces.

So I thought I'd give you a glimpse into my own.







As you can see below, the cat got out of the cage:

Local author moment.

Sorry. I couldn't resist it. I spotted it in the window of Prospero's Books on Saturday, then went back with my camera today, Sunday.

That's my book, that is. I still can't really believe it. I think I needed to take photographic evidence to convince myself.

So far, so good.

What people are saying about A Gentle Axe:

"Lush, and exceptionally compelling, but take your time - R.N. Morris's The Gentle Axe has a vast depth of Russian soul; mysterious, compassionate, and utterly irresistible." Alan Furst.

"A Gentle Axe is tense, atmospheric and bristles with the kind of intelligence you'd read, well, Dostoevsky for... a piece of literary fun." The Independent on Sunday.

"... fantastically confident... the historical detail always enhances the story and never overpowers it, which is a great skill if you can pull it off and Morris does.." Mike Ripley's Crime file.

"... a classic whodunnit where layer upon layer is opened for inspection in accordance with the timeline of Porfiry Petrovich's detection, much like investigating the substance of a Russian doll." It's a Crime... website.

"... the narrative is direct and effective, the place and people well drawn, with, presumably, a series to follow." The Literary Review.

"...he delivers a lively plot, well written, with some unusual characters." The Times.

Another review of the Axe.

My thanks to Jim Younger, author of the amazing High John The Conqueror, for alerting me to this one.

Oh, it's in Japanese, by the way.

P-day in the UK!

The axe is out!

Today is the official UK publication date of A Gentle Axe (Faber, pounds 12.99, ISBN-10: 0571232051, ISBN-13: 978-0571232055).

If you spot it anywhere, I'd love to hear about it.

De fluwelen bijl

Any Dutch speakers reading? Then you may be interested in the Dutch edition of A Gentle Axe. And you may be able to tell me what they're saying about it. I did spot a reference to De Dante-club van Matthew Pearl. I'd love to know what they're saying.

Staring me in the face.

On my way to the day job, walking from Tottenham Court Road station to Soho Square, I have to pass the Waterstones on Oxford St.

I used to find going into bookshops - well, the big chains at least - a very depressing experience. And even just looking into them was fraught with envy and other bitter feelings. But now I find I'm one of the bastards I used to hate. One of the bastards with a book not only published, but also displayed in a prominent position.

As I pass the big wide open entrance I can glance in and see the wall of racks, with the new titles, the bestsellers, the staff favourites, etc. There under the 'new fiction' heading, with a second placard announcing 'new talent', are two piles of A Gentle Axe, cover out. They're giving £3 off, I see.

I dunno. Somehow it doesn't seem real. Maybe it isn't. I'm feeling more and more like I'm wired up to the matrix.

Another early review.

This one appeared originally in the Birmingham Post and Mail, though I found it reproduced here. I wasn't googling, honest. Well, okay, I was.

It's by Mike Ripley. Very brief, just a couple of paras in a round-up (I'm the second book mentioned).

The matrix doing its work again?

World scoop.

The world's first review of A Gentle Axe is now up on Crimeficreader's 'It's a Crime' website.

You can also read an interview with R.N.Morris there too. That's me, by the way.

I'm also interviewed on Jennifer Prado's blog.

My thanks to both Crimeficreader and Jennifer.

Another great Macmillan party.

Last night was a sad-happy night. It was the party in honour of Mike Barnard's retirement, Mike being the founding godfather of Macmillan New Writing. Mike ascended even higher in my estimation, when after giving a very warm and witty speech, he joined the live band, strung a guitar over his shoulder and took the lead vocals.

Is there anything that man can't do?

I'm too hungover, I'm afraid, to blog coherently about it, so I will direct you to Matt Curran's blog. Matt's a fellow MNW-er, the author in fact of The Secret War (a copy of which he was good enough to sign for me last night). Matt's said everything I wanted to say, only much better than I ever could.

Other news

I spotted actual copies of A Gentle Axe in Prospero's Books today, even though the official publication is not until next week. It was very unexpected - and exciting.

"TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous..."

This time next week, A Gentle Axe will be a published book.

How would you like your axe, hard or soft?

The standard Faber edition of A Gentle Axe, released on Feb 1, will be a large format (or 'trade') paperback, with an RRP of £12.99. There will also be a limited edition hardback available exclusively through Goldsboro Books, for £16.99. 500 copies only. Signed, of course.

I'm really grateful to David Headley of Goldsboro for coming up with the idea and working with Faber to make it happen. Goldsboro Books is a bibliophile's paradise on Cecil Court near Leicester Square. If you live or work in London and you love books, you really should pop in for a browse. David and Dan are very friendly and welcoming. You can order any of their books online too.

I see they now have a blog going too. I'm honoured to get a mention.

By the way, you can also get a collector's edition (first printing) of Taking Comfort from Goldsboro.

All socked up.

Here was me thinking I was getting agitated about the imminent launch of my book, A Gentle Axe. Then there was the small matter that Gentle Axe's publication date (Feb 1) is also the delivery date for my next novel to Faber. I had imagined that that was making me a little uptight too. Plus, I've got a tax return to get in by Jan 31. Not to mention a tax bill to pay. So I had been telling myself that with all that hanging over me it was no wonder I was a tad jumpy.

But no. This morning I realised what it was all about, really. The real reason for my mounting feelings of despair, stress, inadequacy, fear and general inability to face the world was... I've been running out of socks! Somehow, all my socks decided to fail one after the other. A big toe through here. A ripped heel there. And so on, until this morning I discovered that I had no clean pairs of socks in my sock drawer, apart from a thin and holey pair of trainer socks, those evil things that don't even cover your ankles.

As you can imagine, this lunchtime I wasted no time in getting along to my nearest M&S where I purchased no less than 14 pairs of identical black cotton (ankle-hugging) socks. 14 may seem excessive, but you know, you have to allow for the fact that there's always a certain number of pairs in the wash. And I wanted them identical so that I don't have to worry about pairing up. Instead I can draw on a rolling, constantly-replenished 'sock bank'.

Don't worry, I ripped off the trainer socks, and swapped them for one of the new pairs as soon as I was back at Day Job HQ. I feel a lot better now. Calmer. Ready for anything. There really is a lot to be said for socks.

Fedexed from New York.

I received an unexpected delivery this morning. A package from America which contained two boxed sets of three books: The Gentle Axe by R.N. Morris, Fangland by John Marks and Giraffe by J.M. Ledgrand. It was a sample of a package Penguin Press are sending out to draw attention to their fiction publishing.

The accompanying letter has twelve signatures, from the President & Publisher Ann Godoff to the Editorial Assistant Lindsay Whalen.

Here's what the letter says:

Dear Reader,

We at Penguin Press have been delighted to play matchmaker since 2004 for remarkable works of fiction, from Zadie Smith's On Beauty, Mark Helprin's Freddy and Fredericka, and Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind to Marina Lewycka's A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian and now Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day. We don't call attention to the strength of our fiction publishing, preferring to let our work on behalf of each book speak for itself. But the three novels you'll find in this box are so distinctive, so resistant to easy pigeonholing, that we decided to do something a little out of the ordinary.

These novels couldn't be more different each to each. One asks you to imagine an office environment so poisonous, so competitive, so...evil, that it can't recognize real evil, Old World evil, when it's staring it in the face. In another, the world's largest captive heard of giraffes suddenly arrives in a small Czech town, changing nothing and everything. In the third, we catch up with Police Inspector Porfiry Petrovich, made famous by Fyodor Dostoyevsky in Crime and Punishment, as he faces a murder more sinister than anything he's ever known. We loved these books so much we felt compelled to publish them. That's our only compact with you the reader, our only grounds for asking for your attention. You might not respond to all of these novels, but one of them just might rearrange the furniture in your head permanently. Which one? Well, that's what makes it interesting. Enjoy.

Perhaps encouraged by this I decided, at last, to join the Society of Authors. Sent off my application form today.

Karaoke kids.

It was my daughter Claire's ninth birthday today. We got her a PS2 karaoke set - Songstar Popworld or sommert. I'm sure there should be an (R) and a (TM) in there somewhere. Anyhow, it was a big hit and even made me want to have a go. Of course, the kids wouldn't let me. They've heard me sing without a mike.

The two songs I really wanted a go at were 'It's not unusual' and 'Should I stay or should I go?'

The amazing thing about the PS2 karaoke is that it tells you how you are doing - words like 'okay!', 'good!' and 'awful!' come up on the screen as you sing. Then it gives a score at the end. Maybe all karaokes do this? I have never sung karaoke in my life, I have to confess.

Anyhow, we are having the full karaoke party this weekend. 13 eight and nine year old girls pretending to be Beyonce Knowles and the Black Eyed Peas. Maybe I'll get to do my Tom Jones then.

Where have all the plugs gone?

James took me to task in a comment for not plugging anymore. So, well, I'll try to work one in. On the extremely tenuous connection of things that occurred on the 11th of Jan, I got news today of my first 'gig' as R.N.Morris, author of A Gentle Axe. I've been invited to take part in a historical crime event thingy (not sure exactly what it's going to be) at the Cambridge bookshop Heffers.

It's quite an informal gathering, apparently. I won't be required to do a reading or address an audience in any way - or so I'm told. Just turn up and hope that some punters do too. It's on February 22nd, so if you are a Cambridge person and you like historical crime fiction, it might be worth checking out.

I promise not to sing.

Travelling with Dr Who.

Last night I spent some time briefly in the company of a Time Lord. Dr Who was in my tube carriage, in the form of Sylvester McCoy. He played the seventh incarnation of the Doctor, I believe.

He's aged a bit, obviously. Haven't we all? But I was fairly sure it was him as soon as I saw him. But when he started speaking to his companion, I was convinced. The voice was unmistakable. It penetrated the whole carriage. A real actor's voice. It had to be him, especially as he was talking about his agent, and the theatre, and film roles, and directors, etc.. He held a black homburg-style hat in his hand, so that was also fairly clinching.

Presumably his Tardis was in for a service.

Win 4 Faber crime titles.

If you go here you can enter a competition to win the four Faber crime novels shown above.

You only have to answer one question and it is:

"Q. A Gentle Axe's Porfiry Petrovich appears in another author's classic work of fiction. What is it?"

Apparently the answer is to be found somewhere on this blog.

She's no bitch.

I'm talking about the blogger who calls herself the Fiction Bitch, though personally I would call her the Fiction Angel. Not only did she write a wonderful review of Taking Comfort, she has now nominated it as her fiction book of the year (2006) on Susan Hill's blog. That's the second list I've made it onto!

So thank you, Bitch.

Feel the embossing

I picked up some copies of my other book this lunchtime. I was amazed to see that they've given me an embossed title with shiny red foil lettering.

Does this mean I've made it? Maybe I should give up now. After all, it doesn't get much better than shiny embossed lettering. I can honestly say it's what I've been working for all these years.

A or The Gentle Axe?

Funny how these things come about. But 'A Gentle Axe' will be published as 'The Gentle Axe' in America. I'm told there are very good marketing reasons for the difference. The publisher in the States is The Penguin Press. The publication date is March 22, I think. There will also be an American audiobook, from Tantor.

The book's also coming out in Russia. Don't know when. And I don't know what the title will be. But I am very pleased about it. The Russian publisher is U-Factory, for whom I cannot find a link.

In fact, not wishing to leave anyone out, the complete list of countries is:

USA (Penguin Books)
Israel (Keter Publishing)
Holland (de Bezige Bij)
Germany (Droemer)
Italy (Rizzoli)
Finland (Otava)
Greece (Psychogios)
Brazil (Planeta)
Romania (Editura Polirom)
Poland (Literackie)
Hungary (Partvonal)
Czech Republic (BB/Art)
Russian (U-factory)
Estonia (Eesti Paevaleht).

New year, new diary.

Last year I had the Redstone Happiness diary. This year, I've gone for the Granta Diary 2007, 'Classic Crime'.

First significant date of the year: February 1. That's when my own crime novel, A Gentle Axe, is released in the UK. Crikey. It's only about a month away! I should be excited, but actually I'm petrified. I'm re-re-reading Crime and Punishment to try to calm my nerves. It seems to be working, which is a surprise given the feverish psychological atmosphere of the book.