COLD KISS

I wanted to post a few words about the book I have just finished reading: Cold Kiss by John Rector.

I’d picked the book up several times and browsed it. Each time, although very tempted to buy a copy, I’d put it back saying to myself, “No! You already have too many books on that darned TBR pile.”

Then I read Keith Rawson’s top five books of 2010 and Cold Kiss was his number one pick. Well, Keith’s review did the trick and I picked up a copy last weekend.

Was I glad I did? Hell yes!

I blasted through the book in five days, which is exceptionally fast for me. I could have cracked it in much less time if it was not a working week and my reading time was limited.

I was also trying to take my time and savour it.

Cold Kiss is Nate and Sara’s story: A young couple who are broke and on the run from the past. A shady hitchhiker offers cold hard cash for a lift. They can’t afford to say no.

As the front cover blurb says: Fear never travels alone...

So, what is it about this book that, in my opinion, makes it so exceptionally good and John Rector so talented?

The narrative is fast paced, tightly plotted and full of suspense with an air of claustrophobic menace. Simon Kernick’s quote on the back cover captures the essence of the story: “You know something bad’s going to happen and just have to keep reading.”

But for me it is also John Rector’s writing style. Clean, hardboiled prose, pared to the bone so that not one gritty word is wasted and dialogue that is sparse and authentic.

Noir with a capital N!

From reading John’s blog it comes as no surprise that Cold Kiss has been optioned for film.

Cold Kiss is a terrific debut and John’s second novel, The Grove, is available in Kindle format – also to shortly be published in paperback.

So, my thanks go to Keith for a fine recommendation and to John for writing a superb book.

I’d recommend Cold Kiss in the blink of an eye and I’m sure Mr Rector will soon be a huge name and bestselling author.

Now, back to that darned TBR pile...

DSD CHRISTMAS NOIR FLASH CHALLENGE

DO SOME DAMAGE has been hosting an inspired Christmas Noir Flash challenge and my effort, Secret Santa, has been posted. You can check it out HERE.

If you have not read the other fine pieces of writing then please spend a while over there and check them all out – the standard has been absolutely terrific. It’s a thrill and an honour to be part of it and a great start to the New Year.

My thanks go to the DSD crew who run a super blog all year round.

Finally, a belated Happy New Year to you all!

ASHES TO ASHES

Some technical problems with my darned laptop have kept me off-line for the past few days; touching wooden stuff they are now solved!

It was great to see my story ASHES TO ASHES posted at A Twist of Noir as part of Christopher Grant’s inspired 600+ challenge - a big thank you to Christopher for inviting me to take part.

Ashes To Ashes features my character Priest getting mixed up in his head with his fictional hero Gene S. Hunt. I’ve taken the liberty of quoting a few of Gene’s lines in the piece – no harm or plagiarism intended on my part. I’m a huge fan of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes and, in my own small way, I'm paying homage to two highly original, brilliantly written and award winning television series.

THE BIG NOWHERE

From previous posts you will be aware that I’m fast becoming a fan of James Ellroy. I’ve just started to read The Big Nowhere, which is the second book in the acclaimed L.A. Quartet series. The following section struck me as... brilliant.

***

The County side was bustling: traffic fatalities lined up on gurneys, morgue jockeys tagging big toes, uniformed deputies writing dead body reports and Coroner’s men chaining cigarettes to kill the stench of blood, formaldehyde and stale chink takeout.

***

For me, the skilful use of exciting words to set a scene so authentically is stunning. Masterful stuff, Mr Ellroy!

DISCOUNT NOIR - NOW AVAILABLE

Discount Noir is alive and kicking and available at the Untreed Reads store.

Go on treat yourself. It’s a bargain basement bargain at $4.49 for a digital download of top quality flash fiction. Double digit HERE folks!

JAMES ELLROY - THE DEMON DOG OF HARDBOILED NOIR

I took myself off to the Bloomsbury Theatre in London last night to listen to James Ellroy reading extracts from his latest memoir - The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women. After the reading, which lasted twenty minutes or so there was a discussion on all things Ellroy followed by a Q&A session on his canon of literary masterpieces.

He is a larger than life character and was totally at home on the theatre stage. I really cannot do the man justice in this piece but sufficient to say I was astounded to see the theatre packed with so many fans. “Peepers, prowlers, pederasts, panty-sniffers, punks and pimps,” as Ellroy would say. When Ellroy took to the stage his command of the English language and sheer personality had the audience, including me, enthralled.

The whole thing must have lasted an hour and fifteen minutes but time flew by. The man is a superb orator and entertained with his trademark and wicked: Humour, slang, patois and creative profanity. He is controversial, complex and, in my opinion, a wordsmith bordering on genius. Ellroy was not as hesitant as me on this point; nailing his colours firmly to the mast by declaring himself a literary genius and comparing himself to Ludwig van Beethoven. Few in the audience had any issues with this.

I gleaned a few remarkable things about the great man: Ellroy does not own a computer. Ellroy does not use the Internet. Ellroy researches his literary projects using the printed word and interviews. Ellroy writes in long hand. Ellroy completes a detailed outline - 400 plus pages written in long hand – before he starts a novel. Ellroy does not deviate from the outline during the writing of the novel. Ellroy rarely watches films and television. Ellroy never reads contemporary books by other authors. Ellroy can spend hours in a darkened room just thinking about his writing.

I cannot call myself a fanatical Ellroy reader because I have not read a huge amount of his work; I am going to put that right though.

Many years ago I read Dick Contino's Blues: And Other Stories. Recently I read The Black Dahlia. I bought this book a long time ago but put off reading it because I had read that Ellroy’s writing style was difficult to read; although his unique staccato prose developed from White Jazz onwards. When I did get around to reading The Black Dahlia I swallowed it; hook, line and sinker. Captured not just by the blistering story and the skilful use of words but how the fiction was set so authentically in 1940/50’s Los Angeles and weaved around real life events. The rest of the L.A. Quartet is on my TBR shelf and I will promote The Big Nowhere to the next book on the rank without further ado.

A hat-tip to James Ellroy – The Demon Dog of Hardboiled Noir!

DISCOUNT NOIR – COMING SOON

The publishing date for Discount Noir is Tuesday 19^th October. Published by Untreed Reads and edited by Patricia Abbott and Steve Weddle with a line-up of amazing writers who have penned flash stories featuring big box discount stores in the tradition of Walmart. The full list of contributors is as follows:-

Patricia Abbott, Sophie Littlefield, Kieran Shea, Chad Eagleton, Ed Gorman, Cormac Brown, Fleur Bradley, Alan Griffiths, Laura Benedict, Garnett Elliot, Eric Beetner, Jack Bates, Bill Crider, Loren Eaton, John DuMond, John McFetridge, Toni McGee Causey, Jeff Vande Zande, James Reasoner, Kyle Minor, Randy Rohn, Todd Mason, Byron Quertermous, Sandra Scoppettone, Stephen D. Rogers, Steve Weddle, Evan Lewis, Daniel B. O’Shea, Sandra Seamans, Albert Tucher, Donna Moore, John Weagly, Keith Rawson, Gerald So, Dave Zeltserman, Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen, Jay Stringer, Anne Frasier, Kathleen A. Ryan, Eric Peterson, Chris Grabenstein and J.T. Ellison.

The cover looks fantastic and I’m as pleased as Punch to have a piece in this e-book. For more details please double digit HERE folks.