"All Paths Lead (to New Wharf Road)"

I guess this blog post is timely considering the recent news of Will's departure from Macmillan, but it's something I was threatening to do last year and something I want to get rolling now in order to get it all published before Christmas. 

If you might remember last year, I mooted a Macmillan New Writers' anthology, noting that there are a fair few of us who are short story writers.  My initial thoughts were to publish a themed anthology, but I'm eschewing this for more of a showcase format, in effect to show off the writers here and the different genres covered.  Then the unifying theme across the anthology will be our link with Macmillan New Writing.

This is how I think it will work:

Each writer wishing to submit a story will also submit an approx. 200 word brief on how they got here (i.e. published by Macmillan New Writing) and what genre they are writing in and why.  This will accompany their short story (which has no word limit, but preferably below novella size) and their writer's biog with a publicity photo. The short story can be in any genre, any topic, and it can be previously published as long as you have permission to publish it in this anthology.

The deadline for the short stories will be 1st November.  I'm offering this not just to the Macmillan New Writers here, but past writers too (I'll be getting in touch with Roger Morris and Michael Stephen Fuchs to see if they want to join in - if there are any others I've missed please tell me or contact them direct).  The anthology has a working title of "All Paths Lead (to New Wharf Road)" and will be offered for free on Amazon through a e-publisher I'll set-up called "Thirst-e-ditions".  If I get the chance, I'll build a website to advertise the book too. 

I'll then bring together the stories, the briefs, the biogs and photos and create the anthology in a Kindle format (and later a format for iBooks and Epub).  I'll also get the cover sorted out unless anyone wants to volunteer. 

What I would really like as well as the stories, are two volunteer editors, to make sure it all hangs together.  Are there any takers?


This might be a fair sized book at the end of the day, if everyone contributes.  Like I've said above, the stories can be about anything, and in fact the more varied the better.  I want it to appeal to everyone, something all readers can dip into, and if it costs nothing then that's all the better.  I'll drum up some publicity through various sites I have contacts with, to ensure it gets a few reviews, and then it's just a case of self-promotion when you're able.  The only down-side is that we cannot use Macmillan New Writing in the publicity.  This is our anthology, and will be advertised as a new writers collection (without the Macmillan).  We can mention the publisher in the biogs and briefs, and I will mention them in the "forward" for the collection, but that's about it.  But I'd like to show that we are all still indebted to Macmillan New Writing for getting us on this road in the first place (as well as a big thank you to the likes of Will and Mike who put so much into that venture).

So… Anyone interested?

news

Will Atkins wrote me this morning to inform me that he is leaving Macmillan. Will's support and guidance has been life changing for me, as I suspect it has for many of you. For me, it has been a long-distance relationship, but a once-in-a lifetime relationship nonetheless. 

Godspeed, Will. 

doug worgul

At Long Last!

After many frustrations and delays, The Last Free City is available to buy

Although I am a lover of my Kindle, I don't view a book as having been published for real until you can hold a physical copy in your hands.  By that definition, The Last Free City is published today--more than two years after I finished it.

The book is only available through online retailers - £12.32 from amazon.co.uk (where Amazon tempts the wavering buyer with a 3p discount off RRP) or $19.99 from amazon.com (US readers are less fickle and need no discount to persude them to buy).

The Kindle edition is still available for those who have no more space in their house (or who baulk at paying the prices quoted for a paperback) although these readers miss out on the splendid Bellotto artwork cannibalised for my cover.

National Crime Writing Week

This week is National Crime Writing Week, beginning today and running until 19 June. During the week, members of the Crime Writers Association will take part in readings, discussions, readers’ group events and workshops in bookshops, libraries, arts centres and other venues all over the country - all with the aim of raising the profile of crime writing.

My own small contribution to the festivities is a panel discussion at Islington Central Library at 6.30 on Thursday 16 June, with two other local crime writers - Laura Wilson and Christopher Fowler. We'll be talking about our favourite crime fiction, the audience's favourite crime fiction and anything else that seems relevant at the time.

For details of this event click here

For details of other events this week click here

Ask a Macmillan New Writer!

From time to time we get the occasional question on "Ask a Macmillan New Writer" and I thought this would be one we could all answer:

"Bev Morley has left a new comment on your post "Ask a Macmillan New Writer":

Hello everyone.

I have a question which I am guessing could be answered differently by every other writer, but could really do with hearing what has to be said on the subject...

The question is on the subject of time. Time, that is, for writing.

It is only in recent months that I have taken the plunge into "full time" writing - with some minor successes - and a lot of frustrations!

I consider my available time for writing to be Tuesdays to Fridays, from 9am to 3pm (the only time the house is quiet enough for me to write). The world and the laundry basket, however, seem desperate to conspire against me! My family see no difference in my "routine" as I am still at home, therefore lists of things I can do to fill my day still find their way onto the fridge door - a hazard, I suppose, of being a home based writer.

I would love to know how other writers manage their time, especially with the demands of family life still very much in the fore. "

Acts of Violence Comes to the States

Ryan David Jahn's Acts of Violence, winner of the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award, was published and released last week in the States. I was in a bookstore on Sunday and there it was, on a display table by the check-out counter. It has a new title, Good Neighbors, and the cover is different, but it's still the fast-paced, gripping story of people who fail to act.

Congratulations, Ryan, on being published in your home country!

still another self-serving post (there seems to be no end)

Friends, last summer Thin Blue Smoke was chosen as a finalist for the 2010/2011 People's Book Prize (fiction), there in the UK. As of yesterday voting is now open to choose a winner from among the finalists. I'd be deeply grateful for your support. Click here to vote. Registration is required, but it's quick and painless.

drw

Another shot, another goal...

...This time from our newest member, David Jackson, who has landed himself a two book deal with Pan Mac. This from the Bookseller:

"Pan Mac has acquired two titles from Pariah author David Jackson.

Will Atkins, Pan Macmillan editorial director for fiction, bought world rights direct from Jackson for a "good five-figure sum”. The first title, The Helper, follows Callum Doyle, the NYPD detective introduced in Jackson’s debut Pariah, as he investigates a series of murders triggered by the killing of a young woman in a New York bookshop.

Atkins said: "Few thriller writers, let alone relative newcomers, are able to combine wit, pace and explosive set pieces with such sheer style. "Callum Doyle is shaping up to be one of the great flawed heroes of the genre.’"

The Helper is lined up for February 2012."

Brilliant news, David, and we'll be looking forward to The Helper come 2012...