McIlvanney Prize 2018 shortlist revealed!
Congratulations to Lin Anderson, Chris Brookmyre, Charles Cumming and Liam McIlvanney for making our McIlvanney Prize 2018 shortlist for best Scottish Crime Book of the Year!
Read what our judges Susan Calman, Alison Flood and chair Craig Sisterston had to say...
Follow the Dead - Lin Anderson
One of Scotland’s long running series raises the bar even higher, a series which is constantly re-inventing itself without being formulaic. Follow the Dead goes to dark places and tackles serious issues head on. The judges praised the novel’s evocative atmospheric setting in Scotland’s mountains and in Norway.
A series as complex and fascinating as the finest Scotch malt - and getting better with every book.
Buy Follow the Dead from Waterstones.
Places in the Darkness - Chris Brookmyre
One of the most arresting and original openings of any of the books we read. A crime scene at zero gravity.
Chris Brookmyre is creating his own genre of cosmic noir in a fully realised world. A cracking thriller.
Superlative off world thriller about real world issues.
Buy Places in the Darkness from Waterstones.
The Man Between - Charles Cumming
A fresh twist on the spy novel, taking the genre to a different dimension, deftly weaving political events into the story. Endearingly charming main character. A superb page turner in the best possible way.
Buy The Man Between from Waterstones.
The Quaker - Liam McIlvanney
Superbly evocative of Glasgow in the 1960s, bringing a frightened city to life. In a crowded market, McIlvanney has created a protagonist who is fresh and distinctive. He takes the familiar tropes and made them extraordinary.
Buy The Quaker from Waterstones.
Pitch Perfect 2018
The 2018 Pitch Perfect-ers have been chosen! We had a huge response so thank you to all who took the time to apply to present their idea to our panel of crime writing and publishing experts.
We will be welcoming:
Daniel Culver
will be pitching Dissecting the Wren
Daniel Culver is an editor and author from Essex, interested in the gritty, often dysfunctional aspects of crime and the psychology of criminal behaviour. A former youth worker, much of his work is inspired by the disaffected young people he once worked with. Murderers included.
Forest Issac Jones
will be pitching Shadows
Forest Issac Jones was born in Lynchburg, Virginia and raised in Salem, Virginia. He learned to love reading and storytelling from his mother who taught reading for over 40 years. Forest taught History and Geography for 10 years and was a school principal for 12 years. He is currently the Director of Administrative Services for Salem City Schools.
May Rinaldi
will be pitching And Then We Sever
May Rinaldi (the pen name of Irene Paterson) lives in Dumfries with three pigs, six hens, three cats and a large Norwegian. She writes crime thrillers with a paranormal edge and has had several short stories published.
C.O. Vollmer
will be pitching Safer To Be Feared
C.O. Vollmer is the pseudonym of a writer making their first stab at crime fiction, after working in other media and different genres.
Anna Pietrzkiewicz-Read
will be pitching Behold The Man
Anna Pietrzkiewicz-Read comes from Poland and lives with her family in Edinburgh. The longest piece of writing she has produced so far is a PhD thesis on Icelandic folklore. She is working hard to change that.
Sandra Kohls
will be pitching This Ain't the Summer of Love
Sandra Kohls has an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow and her short stories and poems have appeared in various anthologies. When she isn’t writing, she likes to run through the streets of Dunfermline listening to heavy metal or swim laps of the local pool making up vengeful tales about people who do doggie paddle in the fast lane.
Eileen Wharton
will be pitching Daddy Longlegs
Eileen Wharton is part Scottish (the best part.) She teaches English to teenagers and lives on a council estate in County Durham. She currently has five ‘lively’ offspring ranging from thirty to ten years of age and has no plans to procreate further much to the relief of the local schools and police force.
Simon Cowdroy
will be pitching Trial Run
Simon Cowdroy lives as one part of a dog dominated family in the Yarra Valley near Melbourne, Australia. In the last year his short and flash fiction has been long and short listed in both Australia and the UK - most recently the June 2018 round of Bath Flash Fiction. His hobbies include writing – and that’s about it. Trial Run will be his first novel.
Get your tickets to Pitch Perfect 2018 here.
Crime in the Spotlight 2018 (part 2)
You'll hopefully have seen that we announced the 2018 Crime in the Spotlight cohort here and we wanted to share all the beautiful covers for our spotlighters. Click on the preview of a cover to see it in full.
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We can't wait to welcome our Spotlighters and watch them support our programmed authors with style!
Crime in the Spotlight 2018
We're overjoyed to finally be able to reveal the 2018 Crime in the Spotlight cohort! This selection of up-and-coming crime writers will be reading a snippet from their works to you ahead of some of your favourite writers' events at Bloody Scotland next month.
THE FULL LINE UP:
Andy Muir
Andy Muir brings all his experience as a screenwriter and story researcher on some of Australia’s biggest television drama series, including Neighbours, Home and Away, and the hugely successful Underbelly franchise to his crime writing. He lives in Sydney and in 2017, Affirm Press published the first novel in Andy’s new crime series, Something for Nothing. He will be the support act for Irvine Welsh.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2sDxAkE
Claire Askew
Claire Askew is a poet, novelist and the current Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh. Her debut novel in progress was the winner of the 2016 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, and longlisted for the 2014 Peggy Chapman-Andrews (Bridport) Novel Award. All the Hidden Truths is her debut novel which is published by Hodder. She is the support act for Ann Cleeves and Louise Penny.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2sDf2Ro
Daniel Smith
Daniel Smith is a non-fiction author and editor living in London who has written across a range of subjects, including politics, economics and social history. He is the author of the 'How to Think Like …' series for Michael O'Mara Books, which has been published in 20 languages and sold over 413,000 copies worldwide. In May 2018 he published The Ardlamont Mystery: The Real-Life Story Behind the Creation of Sherlock Holmes, also published by Michael O’Mara, his first foray into true crime writing. He is the support act for Professor Sue Black and Dr Richard Shepherd.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2HrIBtL
CS Duffy
CS Duffy writes psychological suspense thrillers with a healthy dose of black humour. She lives in Glasgow and her background is in film and TV. She has several projects in development in Sweden and the UK, and her thriller feature Guilty will be shot in 2018 in Canada. She is the author of Life is Swede, a psychological thriller that was originally written as a blog - Dark of Night is her first novel which is self-published. She will be the support act for The Real CSI featuring Kate Bendelow with Mark Billingham.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2sCpbxB
Ian Patrick
Ian Patrick was educated in Nottingham, Ian left school at sixteen. After three years in the Civil Service he moved to London for a career in the Metropolitan Police. He spent twenty-five years as a police officer, the majority as a detective within the Specialist Operations Command. Rubicon is his debut novel published by Fahrenheit Press. The BBC has also optioned Rubicon for TV and is currently in development. He now lives in rural Scotland where he divides his time between family, writing, reading and photography. He is the support act for Val McDermid and Denise Mina.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2kTySUc
Chris Curran
Chris Curran is half Scottish and half English and now lives by the sea in Hastings East Sussex. Her first psychological thriller was published by Harper Collins Killer Reads in 2015. She has just completed her fourth novel, Her Deadly Secret, which will also be published by Harper Collins. She is the support act for Stuart Macbride.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2Hraqm9
Andrew Reid
Andrew Reid worked as a research scientist for almost a decade, on projects including DNA synthesis, forensics, and drug development. He now lives in Stockholm. The Hunter is his debut novel and has been longlisted for the 2018 McIlvanney Prize. He is the support act for Frank Gardner.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2Lw9FdZ
Mysti Berry
Mysti Berry's short stories are published in the U.S. in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (2018) and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine (2019). She edited and published Low Down Dirty Vote, a charity anthology raising money to help fight voter suppression in the U.S., featuring a short story by Catriona McPherson and 10 other award-winning writers. She's just finished her first novel about financial fraud and murder in San Francisco and Las Vegas. She lives in San Francisco, California, and loves visiting Scotland. She is the support act for MC Beaton and Ashley Jensen.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2JnhLEO
CS McLean
CS McLean is a writer currently living in St Albans. He was a finalist in the 2016 Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect competition, in which he pitched his idea to a largely bewildered group of panelists. Having completed the novel earlier this year he decided to take the plunge and self-publish, unleashing his brand of Zombie Noir into an unsuspecting world, in a novel titled, They Shoot Corpses, Don’t They? He is the support act for the fabulous podcast, Two Crime Writers and a Microphone featuring Luca Veste and Steve Cavanagh with Val McDermid, Abir Mukherjee and Stuart Neville.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2kXVdjL
GB Williams
GB Williams specialises in complex, fast-paced crime novels. Locked Up, was released in 2017, Locked In in Feb 2018, published by Bloodhound Books. GB was shortlisted for the 2014 CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition with the story Last Shakes, now available in Last Cut Casebook. As well as crime, she also writes steampunk and horror, and hates every photo ever taken of her. Born and bred in Kent, she moved to South Wales as a first step on a year around the world and never left. She is the support act for Peter James.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2JCrNp9
Allan Watson
Allan Watson is a Glasgow writer whose work leans towards the dark end of the fiction spectrum. He is the author of Heart Swarm which is published by Caffeine Nights. Allan has also written extensively for BBC Radio Scotland, churning out hundreds of comedy sketches, in addition to being a regular contributor for the world famous 'Herald Diary'. He is the support act for Ambrose Parry aka Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2Jngk9r
Heleen Kist
Heleen Kist is a Dutch quintilingual Stanford-educated globetrotting career woman who fell in love with a Scotsman and his country, and now writes about its (sometimes scary) people from her garden office in Glasgow. In Servitude is her debut which is self-published and will be out this month. She is the support act for Lin Anderson, Craig Robertson and Dr Kathy Charles.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2M7IKWH
William Graham
William Graham was born in and has lived most of his life in Dundee. William took early retirement after spending the last 34 years as an editor at DC Thompson. After hearing him continually saying that he was going to write a novel, his family got fed up hearing about it and bought him an iPad and told him to get on with it. His first novel Vermin is published by Black and White on July 19th. He is the support act for Quintin Jardine and Denzil Meyrick.
Tickets and event information: http://bit.ly/2kXCtR3
BAME writing competition now open
We are pleased to announce the the Harvill Secker crime writing competition for BAME writers is now open, in partnership with Bloody Scotland.
For all information please click here.
The prize will be judged by award-winning Harvill Secker author and Bloody Scotland committee member Abir Mukherjee; creator of the bestselling Shetland and Vera series, Ann Cleeves; journalist and co-founder of BAME in Publishing, Sarah Shaffi; and Harvill Secker Editorial Director Jade Chandler.
Entrants to the competition will be asked to submit the first 5,000 words of their crime novel, along with a full plot outline.
Entries are now open and will run until the 9th of September 2018, with the winner announced in November 2018.
The winner will have their book published, under the Harvill Secker imprint, in a publishing deal with an advance of £5,000. The winner will also receive perks alongside their publishing contract, including a panel appearance at the Bloody Scotland festival in 2019 (this year’s dates are 21st-23rd September) and a series of three one-to-one mentoring sessions with Abir Mukherjee. Arvon – now in their 50th year – also joins the competition as a sponsor and is offering the winner the chance to attend any one of their creative writing courses or writing retreats in 2019.
Ashley Jensen comes to Bloody Scotland!
We're unbelievably excited that we will be joined by Ashley Jensen, star of the TV series, Agatha Raisin who will be appearing on stage with M C Beaton, author of the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth novels.
You may also know Ashley from the likes of Extras and Ugly Betty.
Ashley will at the Albert Halls on Saturday 22 September 7-8pm and you can buy tickets HERE.
Alison Belsham on Pitching Perfectly
Alison Belsham, author of The Tattoo Thief, has given us some insight into what it's like to apply for Pitch Perfect, prep, take part and then win!
Bloody hell! I just won Pitch Perfect!
To say that winning Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect in 2016 came as a surprise is something of an understatement. But what happened afterwards – well, I couldn’t have made it up, and I write fiction for a living.
Over the summer of 2015, I started working on an idea for a novel. And when I say ‘working on’, I don’t mean writing. I was just jotting notes about the plot and developing ideas about the characters it would feature. Really, all I had was a title – The Tattoo Thief – and a very sketchy outline of a possible story.
This was how things stood when a Facebook post calling for entries into the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect event stopped me in my tracks. I had never heard of Bloody Scotland as I was completely new to the whole crime-writing arena. But the contest held the promise of professional feedback from a panel of agents and publishers, and all I had to do to enter was write 100 words about my book. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Of course, the whole thing seemed like a long shot, and I’d never pitched anything before in my life, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I figured that if I was lucky enough to get some feedback at such an early stage, it could only be a good thing. So, I double checked the rules to make sure that I didn’t have to be Scottish, wrote my one hundred words and then forgot all about it.
A few weeks later when an email arrived asking me whether I was able to come and pitch The Tattoo Thief in Stirling, to say I was surprised hardly begins to cover it! As far as I was concerned, I’d won – the opportunity for feedback from agents and publishers was a grand prize. Like gold dust, frankly, and, as thrilled as I was, I had no further expectation than that. Of course I would come to Stirling, I replied. Of course.
There was just one snag. I would have to stand up in front of a ballroom full of people and pitch my as-yet-unwritten novel. I’d never pitched anything in front of an audience in my life. The prospect terrified me and excited me in equal measure. No, that’s a lie. Not equal measure – more in the ratio of 90 percent terror, 10 percent excitement. But I read the pitching tips provided by the panel’s chair, Scottish super agent Jenny Brown, and I set about writing my three-minute pitch.
I had about three weeks from learning I would be in the competition until the actual day and I think it’s fair to say that I probably practised my pitch every single day, at least ten times. Mostly to myself in the mirror, but then repeatedly to my husband and children, then to my friends and even to acquaintances who didn’t know that I wrote. I refined it until it read naturally and I repeated it until I practically knew the damn thing off by heart. I conveniently forgot that I hadn’t written any of the book yet. That wasn’t important. Honing my three-minute pitch was all that mattered. Three minutes to introduce myself, tell my story and set out my credibility as a writer. If you think that doesn’t sound like much time, you’d be right.
Three minutes that would change my life – not that that thought crossed my mind for a moment at that point.
Finally, the Bloody Scotland weekend came around. Sucking up my fear of flying, I boarded a flight from Stansted to Glasgow and took the train to Stirling. I attended some of the panels on the Saturday afternoon, agog at my first experience of a crime writing festival. Then, after a fitful night’s sleep and another half dozen run-throughs of the pitch, it was time.
I went to assemble with my fellow pitchers in the Green Room. Past participant Mark Leggatt herded us like cats to where we were supposed to be. Orion Editor Sam Eades, though I had no idea who she was, gave us a last-minute pep talk. I was scheduled to go second, which I thought was good – getting it out of the way early, but not having the dreaded first spot. Then the order changed because the BBC, who were there filming a documentary about women crime writers, were running late so the women pitchers all needed to go further down the roster. Now I would go seventh, out of eight.
As we walked into the crowded ballroom in the Golden Lion Hotel, my heart was pounding and my palms were sweating. There was the stage, there was the lectern. The lights were fiercely bright. There sat the panel who would judge our pitches and beyond was an audience of probably a hundred people or so, who would each also individually judge our efforts.
Why ever had I thought it a good idea to enter?
My turn came around at last. I’d been mighty impressed by the six that had gone before me, which didn’t help my nerves. On wobbly legs, I stood up and went to the lectern, my notes trembling in shaky hands. My mouth was dry as I forced myself to look the panel members in the eye and then to look out at the audience. Then I was off.
It was over in a matter of minutes. Of course! Suddenly, I was folding my notes and the audience was clapping. So far, so good. But what of the precious feedback? Would I now be told this was an idea worth abandoning? Far from it. The next few moments were possibly some of the most extraordinary moments of my life. All four panellists said they loved it and that they could see it as something they could publish. How much had I written so far? Dear reader, I lied – I said I’d written a thousand words. Could it be a series? Yes, I said, though the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.
The panel went out to deliberate while we panellists sat and waited, all bundles of nerves. They were picking a winner and although there was no prize other than the kudos of having won, I think all of us were desperate to be chosen. The panel returned and announced third place. It wasn’t me, and my heart sank a little. I hadn’t come second either and my heart sank some more. But what I had done was come first – and in all seriousness, no one could have been more shocked than I was at that moment. Jenny Brown took a photo of me with Sam Eades and Alan Yentob shook my hand and wished me luck.
Yes, I cried. Then I went down to the bar and ordered a very large glass of wine.
So how did it change my life? Within a week, I had an agent – the wonderful Jenny Brown – and within three months I had a book deal with Orion imprint Trapeze, where Sam Eades is my editor. The Tattoo Thief has already been a number one bestseller in Italy and the paperback is out in the UK just in time for this year’s Bloody Scotland.
And to think, if I hadn’t stumbled across that Facebook post… If you’re thinking about entering Pitch Perfect at Bloody Scotland this year, I have three words for you: BLOODY DO IT. You won’t have a moment of regret.
Apply for Pitch Perfect 2018 here: https://bloodyscotlstg.wpenginepowered.com/take-part/pitch-perfect/ (Deadline: August 3rd)
Be part of the Pitch Perfect audience here: http://bit.ly/2sDwNQt
See Alison in event Crime that Goes Bump in the Night here: http://bit.ly/2JCPnlu
Xabia Negra or Crime on the Costa
A blog from Bloody Scotland board member Gordon Brown about his trip to Xabia Negra, a noir festival in Spain.
November the 4th 2017. Where were you? Was the sun streaming in the window? Was the temperature a pleasant eighteen degrees? Cloudless sky? Gentle breeze? Shorts on?
Last year Alexandra Sokoloff, Craig Robertson and myself attended Xabia Negra, a Spanish festival celebrating all things ‘noir’. Taking place over a long weekend, the festival is a small but perfectly formed gem of an event set in the old town of Xabia. Xabia is located on the northern Costa Blanca. If you pull out a map of Spain, find Ibiza and draw a straight line to the coast you’ll find it. We were there as part of a reciprocal arrangement with Bloody Scotland.
Over the summer I’d had a few conversations with the local council in Xabia over our potential participation in Xabia Negra. Easier said than done with my lack of Spanish, but an agreement was reached and myself and two authors were invited to appear at the festival.
The festival covers the full gambit of noir; film, poetry, plays, photography and, of course, books. Understandably the event schedule is populated with Spanish writers and filmmakers. We were the English-speaking cohort; Alex from the USA and myself and Craig from Scotland. Most of the other events were in Spanish or Valencian. With Alex’s Sothern Califronian roots she had a slight advantage over Craig and I on the language front. Regardless, we couldn’t have been made more welcome. The launch night was held in a small wine bar (where else would you hold it?) and I managed to get one photo of us all (and my wife).
Our panel was on the Saturday at midday and, to be fair, we weren’t quite sure who would come along. Xabia and its’ surrounds has a high UK ex-pat population but the festival was primarily aimed at the local Spanish residents. Earlier in the morning, at an event held in the local market, Alex managed to find us a translator willing to step in at the last minute.
Our panel was held in the basement of Embruix, a gorgeous tapas restaurant located in the centre of the old town. We arrived early to set up but, with ten minutes to go, people were thin on the ground (my wife being the sole audience member). Then the flood-gates opened and in came the attendees. We needn’t have worried on language. Although there was a mix of locals and visitors they all agreed that we should conduct the whole thing in English. The session was interactive and the questions from the audience insightful and provocative. Once it was all over we did the only sensible thing and retired to the bar.
The finale to the festival was held on the Sunday night at the local cinema. This turned out to be an eclectic event. For two hours awards were handed out for film, photography and books. Plays were conducted on stage, speeches given and short films shown. At the end of the evening we were introduced to the mayor who invited us to make a return in 2018. After all that we, em, retired to the pub.
I’m currently chatting to Xabia Negra about our return in 2018 and I’m also delighted to say that we have a Spanish author at this year’s Bloody Scotland, Teresa Solana.
I also need to say a huge thanks to Jose Vicente Miralles who organised the festival and was kind enough to invite us.
Here’s to some many more years of crime in the sun.
2018 McIlvanney Prize longlist revealed!
The readers have passed their judgement and we've collated the 2018 McIlvanney Prize longlist to be:
Lin Anderson, Follow the Dead (Macmillan)
Chris Brookmyre, Places in the Darkness (Little, Brown)
Mason Cross, Presumed Dead (Orion)
Charles Cumming, The Man Between (Harper Collins)
Oscar De Muriel, The Loch of the Dead (Michael Joseph)
Helen Fields, Perfect Death (Harper Collins)
Alison James, Now She’s Gone (Bookouture)
Liam McIlvanney, The Quaker (Harper Collins)
James Oswald, No Time to Cry (Headline)
Caro Ramsay, The Suffering of Strangers (Severn House)
Andrew Reid, The Hunter (Headline)
Craig Robertson, The Photographer (Simon & Schuster)
Forty-one years ago, William McIlvanney rocked the British literary world with Laidlaw, a gritty and socially conscious crime novel that brought Glasgow to life more vividly than anything before. This year's longlistees for the McIlvanney Prize demonstrate how modern Scottish crime writing has flourished from those seeds. From debutants to authors with more than 20 books, spy thrillers to long-running detective series, nineteenth-century mysteries to futuristic space station noir, there's an amazing range of talent on show.
- Craig Sisterson, chair of the 2018 judges
The judges for the next round will be chaired by Craig Sisterson and include, Susan Calman who, like Craig, is joining the panel for a second year, and crime reviewer, Alison Flood.
The winner will be revealed on 21st September at the opening gala at the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling, followed by a torchlight procession, similar to last year's amazing event. You can grab your tickets to the opening gala, which is selling fast, right here.
Big congratulations to the longlist!
Harvill Secker & Bloody Scotland partner for BAME crime writing competition
We've partnered up with Harvill Secker launch a competition to find a debut crime writer from a BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic) background.
The winner will have their book published by Harvill Secker with an advance of £5,000. The winner will be on a panel at the next Bloody Scotland festival in 2019 and a series of three one-to-one mentoring sessions with our own newest committee member Abir Mukherjee.
The prize will be judged by Abir; creator of the Shetland and Vera series, Ann Cleeves; co-founder of BAME in Publishing, Sarah Shaffi and Harvill Secker editorial director Jade Chandler.
Entrants can enter the competition online via Penguin's website, where they will be asked to submit the first 5,000 words of their crime novel, along with a full plot outline. Submissions are open from 9th July until 9th September 2018, with the winner due to be announced in November 2018.
"I’m excited to be part of this new initiative being launched by Harvill Secker and Bloody Scotland. At this time of great change, it’s more important than ever that the experiences and viewpoints of writers from across the spectrum of our society are published. Different viewpoints mean different stories, which in turn lead to a wider, richer literary atmosphere, hopefully reaching out to communities who feel marginalised or who have traditionally lacked a voice." - Abir Mukherjee
"Bloody Scotland is 100% behind this important new prize and it fits in perfectly with the work we have been doing recently with the British Council to bring crime writers from India to Scotland. We think that breaking down barriers in terms of access to authors from different cultural and social backgrounds will only improve the richness of the crime writing genre." - Bob McDevitt, Bloody Scotland director