Angel City

I've gotten off my proverbial fat ass and started to write a new shot of Noir, while my ongoing battle with my novel Flesh carries on...

I'll be basing this one in the U.S. - Los Angeles to be precise - the home of Noir in my most humble of opinions...

Given the locale and the history of Noir that the fine city of angles has given birth to, I'll be treading carefully on the hallowed grounds before me.

I've been to L.A. around five times now and I've been taking copious notes and building a story in my head for the last few months. Now the hard work begins... or should I say, now the hard work has BEGUN...

Watch this space for a new Shot of Modern Noir...

We can see the stars - especially from the gutter...

I've mentioned Out of the Gutter previously - and I couldn't help but mention them again.

In their latest edition we find the US and the UK slugging it out for the world championship in pulp fiction. We see top-grade lowlife writers such as Tony Black slugging it out with the likes of E.E. Howard and Julie Morgan.

If you like your fiction hard, heavy and a little on the moist side, Out of the Gutter will serve up a right hook, followed by a jab that will leave you with a grin that stretches from ear to ear, much like the type you might get in an old Glasgow pub on displaying the wrong attitude on a cool October Saturday night.

Keep smiling.., and click here...

Whatever happened to humanity?

I'm sitting here scratching my head in-between typing these words. I have no idea where time has flown, but it has been travelling at the speed of sound, or maybe, perhaps, silence.

My promises to keep up the pace on my work-in-progress have been broken by an overload of work and what people call real life. I know.

I have been doing some more research though, and feel a lot closer to that which I am writing about. I've been doing some reading, and an investigative journalist friend of mine put me in touch with some 'undesirables' that could add more than a passing air of legitimacy to my forthcoming tome....

Let's just say I hope you or your family never meet these people.

The social (perhaps more correct to call it the anti-social) underbelly of this world continues to draw me into its dark corners, where despair, brutality and humanity occupy the same shadows.

Sometimes I question my reasons for doing what I do - exposing myself to the worst side of humanity - when most of the people around me smile and continue to exhibit an openness and trust that I have long-since abandoned.

There is a parallel world. It is dark, disturbing, violent, sickening and all too real.

You can read about some elements of this world in my bestselling short shots collection, Why I Kill. And just remember this - truth is always stranger than fiction. I hope fiction is as close as you get.

Sleep tight.

BLITZED AGAIN!!!!!

No - I'm not talking about my curious fascination for home brew, alchemy or all things related to the mixing of chemical compounds to get desired effects... No. I'm talking about Ken Bruen's book, recently released in film format.

Right - first things first. I LOVED the book. My kinda stuff exactly. Hurleys, psychos, alcos, narkos - well, you get the picture.

The film then I hear you ask... was the film any good?

YES.

Now apart from having 'hardman Statham' in the lead as Brant, the venerable Aidan Gillen plays the off-kilter serial killer 'Blitz' with a penchant for offing coppers. Excellently.

It must be said that I am insanely jealous that Sir Ken got to have both Jason and Aidan in the celluloid adaptation of his book (especially Gillen - I have him marked for Frank Costello if Ganglands ever gets threatened with a movie version) - but I will say this much. I preferred Ken's ending to the story. As usual the film version of a book gets a few artistic changes applied and in all they were very well executed. But the book ending was better. Much better. And less predictable. It is still a great film though.

Having gotten that off my hairy Irish chest I will say something else. Our beloved Mr. Bruen makes a cameo in the film dressed as a priest performing the 'whatever they call that religious stuff when they put you in the ground thing' and he was excellent. Visually fleeting, but his voice carries well.

I hope we get to see more of Ken Bruen's work in film format.

The world feels curiously soft-boiled for the most part. When you need someone to turn up the heat and finish the job - you can do no better than Ken Bruen. He's a master.

Nice one Ken!

Bestsellers list again... The Republican

The Republican: An Irish Civil War Story has gone to number 5 in the bestsellers list under Irish History on Amazon.com.

I've had some great reviews for this book and I'm very happy to see it climbing the charts.

A lot of American buyers love this educational yet entertaining and easy read around a rather difficult subject matter. The story was originally prompted by a letter that my father gave me from an IRA man who was executed for his part in the Irish Civil War in 1923.

Some proof :)

Absolute Zero Cool

Our buddy in all things criminal, literary and comical, Declan 'Crime Always Pays' Burke is in the throes of setting his latest work free.


Declan is one of the crime genre's leading lights in the blogosphere (click on the link above for further proof) and his writing is terse, twisty, technically precise and turbulently talented. But enough alliteration for now... below please find the blurb of the mysterious book elves that Declan keeps fed and relatively secure under his desk.

ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL

by Declan Burke

“A genuinely original take on noir, inventive and funny. Imagine, if you can, a cross between Flann O’Brien and Raymond Chandler.” – John Banville, author of THE SEA

Who in their right mind would want to blow up a hospital?

            “Close it down, blow it up – what’s the difference?”

            Billy Karlsson needs to get real. Literally. A hospital porter with a sideline in euthanasia, Billy is a character trapped in the purgatory of an abandoned novel. Deranged by logic, driven beyond sanity, Billy makes his final stand: if killing old people won’t cut the mustard, the whole hospital will have to go up in flames.

            Only his creator can stop him now, the author who abandoned Billy to his half-life limbo, in which Billy schemes to do whatever it takes to get himself published, or be damned . . .

“ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL is unlike anything else you’ll read this year … Laugh-out-loud funny … This is writing at its dazzling, cleverest zenith. Think John Fowles, via Paul Auster and Rolling Stone … a feat of extraordinary alchemy.” – Ken Bruen, author of AMERICAN SKIN

And if that was not enough to get your proverbial juices flowing.... more stars from our criminal fraternity have been heaping praise on Dec's new novel.  Here's a few to whet your whistle...

“Stop waiting for Godot – he’s here. Declan Burke takes the existential dilemma of characters writing themselves and turns it on its ear, and then some. He gives it body and soul … an Irish soul.” - Reed Farrel Coleman, author of EMPTY EVER AFTER

“Declan Burke has broken the mould with ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL, which is actually very cool indeed. Funny, inventive and hugely entertaining crime fiction - I guarantee you’ll love it.” - Melissa Hill, author of SOMETHING FROM TIFFANY’S

“If you want to find something new and challenging, comic crime fiction is now the place to go … Declan Burke [is] at the vanguard of a new wave of young writers kicking against the clichés and producing ambitious, challenging, genre-bending works.” - Colin Bateman, author of NINE INCHES

“ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL is a surreal rollercoaster of a read, full of the blackest humour, and yet poignant. An outrageously funny novel ... The joy is in the writing itself, all sparky dialogue and wry observation, so smooth that when it cuts, it’s like finding razor blades in honey.” - Deborah Lawrenson, author of THE LANTERN

“Burke has written a deep, lyrical and moving crime novel … an intoxicating and exciting novel of which the master himself, Flann O’Brien, would be proud.” - Adrian McKinty, author of FIFTY GRAND

‘Absolute Zero Cool’ gets its official launch on August 10th at the Gutter Bookshop, Temple Bar, Dublin. It is being published by Liberties Press.

May Dog Bless all that read this tome!

Some great news - Why I Kill enters the top 100 bestsellers, short stories

Something odd has happened. Anyone that has read this blog more than once might have noted my marked appreciation of the venerable Paul Auster. I think he rocks as a writer. So imagine my sheer astonishment and pure joy upon seeing my works of short fiction, Why I kill (The Confession of a Serial Killer) at number 94 in the top 100 best selling short stories, with Mr. Auster at 91 with his New York Trilogy. I'm a very happy man this day. Let it be known! Click the image to the right for bona fide proof :)

Midsommar, murder, and green streets...

Having spent yet another 'Midsommar' in Sweden (where it was perfected as a celebration of the pagan gods and the summer solstice) I have to wonder about the name. Midsommar (or midsummer, if you are an anglophile) seems to be, well, a little too 'early' for my liking. I'd prefer to see it in mid-July, when one has a slightly better chance of getting some sunshine and blue skies....

But hey - as my previous post on the 'summer sale' declares it is summer - and vacation time will shortly be upon us.

So.... what will you be reading? I got another Paul Auster book that seemed new (the title escapes me right now) and I'm getting a copy of Down These Green Streets (hopefully one of the signed ones) shortly...

But my main effort this summer (and I'm telling you this to remind myself) will be to try to complete the follow-up novel to my first ever crime novel, Ganglands.


Ganglands was written in 1995 while I was holding down a job as editor of three local newspapers in Dublin, Ireland. The papers were a mix of re-hashed press releases, fashion pics, hastily written film reviews, a recipe or two and lots of advertising. I used to write an entire newspaper in one day. I did three (sometimes four) a month and it paid enough to keep me alive, sated and writing.

Ganglands was the result of this intensive effort over the winter of 1995 and early 1996. The book was published and on the shelves by October 1996 and got some pretty good reviews for a first novel in the small circle in which it was released.

The book sold out its first print run by early 1997 and has not been re-printed yet (though curiously there are 'hardback' versions of the book available through some sellers on Amazon - even though it was only ever produced as a paperback). It has been selling quite well in eBook format since it was released last year along with my other works.

I've never quite gotten away from the characters in that book. They're with me all the time, and I know that I have to share them. I don't want to spoil Ganglands for you, but suffice to say, things don't end well. The follow-on novel (let's call it XXX) picks up around 10 years after the end of the first book and the main characters get back into their stride within the first chapter...

Writing this book is odd. It's like meeting up with old friends (though these guys are true-to-form psychos) and everything being just like it was the last time you met them... True friends...

So, if you are in the mood for past and future, grab a copy of Ganglands while it is still on sale (0.99) and get ready for the next chapter in the underbelly of Dublin City.

Candy Says: "Make a Killing, Friend"

For the summer months almost all of my work in eBook format is on special offer.

In the U.S., UK and EU my crime novels and literary works now cost $0.99/£0.99/€0.99

Think of this as a cheap-trick marketing ploy designed to part you from your money, and you'll be right. But as I'm dropping the price of my novels by around $2 for a limited time it is designed to be a gentle kind of crime.

In the spirit of the summer solstice I wish you a very merry vacation and lots of sunshine and fun. Remember to take your kindle on holiday - as they hate being left alone at home.

Cuban Chandler?

When I find something interesting I like to share - unless, of course it is a new beer....

So without any ado whatsoever...

Leonardo Padura - a link to Carto's Library Blog where he disseminates a potential replacement for our dearly departed master Raymond Chandler.

Whilst I'm on a Cuban binge (a glass of rum beside me) - I'd like to draw your attention to Pedro Juan Gutierrez - author of the most Henry Miller-ish tome I've been delighted to stumble across in an age. You can get a flavour for his style and purpose here at Words Beyond Borders. The Dirty Havana Trilogy is the book I'm referring to.

It really depends upon what you like you fiction served with - crime, death, sex, social realism or all of the above... I'm a gourmand in such respects. Hope you're hungry!