This Weekend

ROAD CLOSED reviewed in The Times
"well-written, soundly plotted, psychologically acute"
Marcel Berlins
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/fiction/article2572500.ece
CUT SHORT No. 1
ROAD CLOSED No. 2
Bestseller Chart at Waterstones in Harrow
Not a bad weekend...
Leigh Russell

SLIPPERY BOOKS

By Richard Jay Parker

Was chatting with some friends over the weekend re their summer reads and was struck by the fact that two of them were holding back on reading THE LOVELY BONES until after their holiday.

I’ve never consciously chosen a lighter read because I’m taking it on holiday but I’m sure it’s a subconscious part of my selection process. By lighter reads I don’t mean I exclude violence and dark subject matter. However, my poolside literature seems to be material that is in a comfortable context or genre rather than the sort of books I would normally jump at. The sort of books that challenge my perception, morals and make me rewardingly uncomfortable in the process usually go on hold for two weeks.

It’s a personal choice but I’d much rather something accessible and juicy over anything too heavy or intellectual while I’m relaxing. It’s got to be immediately engaging and capable of giving me that excuse to remain horizontal longer than I'd normally do in the middle of the day. But at the same time my holiday brain wants the experience to be effortless and thoroughly entertaining.

I suppose it’s the equivalent of watching a glossy Hollywood movie on the plane over art house material that’s often more rewarding.

It’s probably why good thrillers are so popular as holiday reads. I’ve got plenty of them that still have sun lotion on the pages. I certainly hope that there will be a few copies of STOP ME that will be christened in the same way.

www.richardjayparker.com

A Life Or Death Match....

by Matt Lynn

I was talking to my editor Martin Fletcher at Headline yesterday about the next book in the ‘Death Force’ series, which is going to be called ‘Ice Force’. The outline is looking great. But we were discussing whether one of the character should die, as they have done in each of the previous three books in the series.

We decided one should.

But who?

We picked a pair of characters, and decided to kill off one if England beat Slovenia today. And another if they get beaten.

So it really is a life or death match.

A LIFETIME OF BOOKS

By Richard Jay Parker

Because I'm spending so much of my time perfecting book 2 I've been neglecting my reading which means that my summer book pile is now taller than I am. I'm determined to reduce it but this brings me to a subject that I've discussed with lots of other writers. Most of us agree that there are now so many books on our shelves that we will never finish them in this lifetime.

It's our own fault. We buy books by our favourite authors, books by new authors we're interested in, books by writers we meet on Twitter, books we feel we should be interested in, books we've had recommended or handed to us with an imperative recommendation and random books that we just can't resist plucking out of the bargain bin or the second hand shelf. It's these irresistible little gems that mean that our books are now being stored horizontally rather than vertically and form literary stalagmites in every room. That doesn't even take into account the books we'd like to read again - and there are certainly plenty of those.

Some writers and readers I know get genuinely depressed about this. That when they calculate how long they take to read a book and how long their life expectancy is there's still not enough time to read the books they already own let alone any new ones they might accumulate in the future.

The truth is nobody would stand in a library, look round and say 'I'll never get through all these.' A lot of us are lucky to have our own personal libraries but that doesn't mean we have to read them all. If there's something we really want to read then we'll read it. The rest are great to have in reserve.

So for my late summer reading I'm going to go for a mixture. Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue - hell yes if I'm in the mood for something like that. It's usually the wild card that turns out to be the most enjoyable.

I wonder what criteria other readers use to make their summer selections?

http://www.richardjayparker.com/

Curzon Group Panel

On June 2nd we took a Curzon Group Panel to Shepherds Bush Library at the new Westfield Shopping Centre. Adrian Lewis was there taking photographs so here we are in action. From the left: Matt Lynn, Leigh Russell, Tom Cain and Richard Jay Parker - all talking at once. Read more about it on Richard's post here on 4th June.

What Makes a Book Popular?

I've been posting a lot about my recent activities. Life has been hectic with visits to stimulating writers groups and a host of searching interview questions both online and on various radio stations. I still have quite a few events to blog about. I haven't told you how much I enjoyed talking to Thames Valley Writers, or how I felt being interviewed live on Radio 91.8 FM (another live radio interview coming up next Saturday), or being approached by Woman and Home Magazine (where we talked about blogging!), or spending time signing airside at Heathrow Terminal 5 (where I saw ROAD CLOSED displayed at No. 7 on the WH Smith's Travel Bestseller Charts), hearing that my books are displayed at No. 4 and No. 6 on the Bestseller Chart at Waterstones in Bedford, or the thrill of receiving an email from award winning author Sam Millar who's just read ROAD CLOSED "and really loved it" (Sam won the prestigious Aisling Award for Art and Culture, the Martin Healy Short Story Award, the Brian Moore Award for Short Stories and the Cork Literary Review Writer’s Competition. His best-selling memoir, ON THE BRINKS, has recently been acquired by Warner Brothers... and that's just a taster)

But I thought it was time to return to some serious discussion about writing. Even I can see that there's only so much personal news I can blog about without becoming... how shall I put this?... repetitive... (OK, boring...)

One of the questions I was recently asked (Hayes FM) was:
"CUT SHORT launched in the summer and sold so fast your publisher had to reprint after two months. What elements in the book do you think made it so popular?"

That's a tricky one. What is it that makes some books grab our attention while others leave us unengaged?
For those of you who missed the radio broadcast my answer at the time went something like this.
"My books are plot driven so readers read on to find out what happens. But it is character that interests me. People fascinate me. Perhaps the popularity of my books is due to a combination of exciting plots and convincing characters." I went on to say that of course many authors achieve that, so I can't account for my success with CUT SHORT reprinted 3 times in its first year and ROAD CLOSED already off the starting posts, with its first few reviews pretty positive. So far a Top 50 Reviewer on amazon has said: "The characters are believable and I really like Geraldine... I also liked the way everything dovetailed together so that while you're reading you get those light bulb moments when a piece of the jigsaw slots into place..." Another reviewer says "tense and gripping... with an exhilarating climax that you don’t see coming until it is too late... Geraldine is a gifted, strong and likeable character." Sam Millar wrote of ROAD CLOSED that it is "a gripping, fast-paced read, pulling you in from the very first tense page and keeping you captivated right to the end with its refreshingly compelling and original narrative...Geraldine Steel is a complex and highly driven character, with multifaceted feelings of contradiction and nuance." Jeffery Deaver also mentioned plot and character, now I come to think of it, when he described CUT SHORT as "a seamless blending of psychological sophistication and gritty police procedure. And you're just plain going to love DI Geraldine Steel." In fact most of my reviewers cover both plot and character, so perhaps it is a combination of strong plot and convincing characters that is winning fans for my Geraldine Steel series.

What elements in any book do you think make it popular? It's an important question for an author - but is it an impossible one to answer?

Leigh Russell Talks about ROAD CLOSED

Leigh Russell live interview on 91.8FM 6.30-7pm
http://rcpt.yousendit.com/890717089/fc6c3ff89057cc6868b0207b7cbd548c