Charlie Williams's Blog, page 7
April 9, 2012
I swear the moon turned a fire red
Hey all. This place is going through one of its periodic quiet patches. Things are pretty busy in the Williams compound right now and missives will be sparse for a while (what's new?) but you should check back here in a few days - I may well have an important announcement to make. You want to know what kind of important announcement it will be? OK, here's a clue: Royston Blake.
Mysterious, eh? I wonder what it could mean?
Come back here in a week or so to find out.
Mysterious, eh? I wonder what it could mean?
Come back here in a week or so to find out.
March 15, 2012
99 problems but a book ain't one
Several days too late, here are my real thoughts on the Radio 4 "midlist author" thing and why it is hard to keep publishers interested in an author who has not "broken out". Maybe I should have said these at the time but they just didn't occur to me. I've had other stuff on my mind of late and wasn't able to donate much headspace to the business of publishing.High Street bookshops are mostly full of shite.Mainstream publishers are responsible for that shite.Mainstream publishers publish the shite because it sells.The shite sells because it is what the book-buying public is offered and encouraged to read.The above fills me with despair.Rather than be filled with despair I wrote a bunch of books that are the kind of thing I would like to read.I reckon there are others who like to read this stuff too. In fact, I know there are. They told me.But perhaps there aren't very many of them.There are also people out there who really, really do not dig my books.Maybe it's because they don't like the truth.Whatever, I don't care. As long as #7 is the case then I will fight to keep on getting my books published.I don't want to self-publish because I recognise the expertise and talents of publishers. I'm good at the writing, they're good at the publishing. Farmers grow wheat, bakers bake bread.As a writer I have no awareness of "mainstream". I write what I write and all that concerns me is whether it is good or not.Nor do I care about genre.Genre and mainstream are very important words in the book trade.This may explain why there are not very many of #7 above.For books like mine, word of mouth is vital.I have no mouth and I must scream.The above statement is untrue - I just couldn't resist saying it. It is the title of a short story by Harlan Ellison.Can you find Harlan Ellison in high street bookshops? Can you fuck.
March 14, 2012
Stuff going down
Went to the Cardiff Read book club last night as a guest - they were doing my Royston Blake adventure ONE DEAD HEN. Can't say it was an entirely relaxing experience but definitely not something I would have missed. As usual with my stuff, opinions were divided. Some love, some don't love. Trouble is, I can rarely learn anything from the don't-lovers. You either get it or you don't. To alter this kind of material in a bid to get more readers would be to dilute - fuck that. But a big thanks to Cardiff for being so welcoming. And Steve Dimmick for getting me down there.
I was on Radio 4 on Sunday doing a little guest bit on Open Book. Up for discussion was the difficulties authors have these days in staying published, especially when they have "not broken out". Hey, "not broken out" is my middle name, so I was right in there. It is airing again tomorrow (Thursday 15th) at 15.30, so you can catch it then. Or just use the iplayer thing (which may not work if you are in foreign parts). Thanks go to Mariella Frostrup for the nicely voiced questions, Matt Thorne and Alexandra Pringle for the discussion and Andrea Kidd for setting it up.
Also did an interview for Tammy Gooding's show on BBC Hereford & Worcester. Not sure when it will be aired, but listen out for me if you listen to her. She asks some good questions and I give answers that are so lucid they will actually change your life.
Do you fancy learning how to write? If so, consider an Arvon course. The one at the Hurst in Shopshire starting 28th May, for instance. Hey, that's the one I'm guest authoring at! Blimey, what a coincidence. See you there if you are into it. Romesh Gunesekera and Kate Pullinger will be doing the actual honours, I will just be... I dunno, doing the dishonours? Making a fleeting appearance, let's just say.
Not that I want to give you the impression that I am busy and out and about all the time. Other than these things here, I spend all my time in a dark cave, sitting in the corner, listening to 80s pop on a Sony Walkman.
I was on Radio 4 on Sunday doing a little guest bit on Open Book. Up for discussion was the difficulties authors have these days in staying published, especially when they have "not broken out". Hey, "not broken out" is my middle name, so I was right in there. It is airing again tomorrow (Thursday 15th) at 15.30, so you can catch it then. Or just use the iplayer thing (which may not work if you are in foreign parts). Thanks go to Mariella Frostrup for the nicely voiced questions, Matt Thorne and Alexandra Pringle for the discussion and Andrea Kidd for setting it up.
Also did an interview for Tammy Gooding's show on BBC Hereford & Worcester. Not sure when it will be aired, but listen out for me if you listen to her. She asks some good questions and I give answers that are so lucid they will actually change your life.
Do you fancy learning how to write? If so, consider an Arvon course. The one at the Hurst in Shopshire starting 28th May, for instance. Hey, that's the one I'm guest authoring at! Blimey, what a coincidence. See you there if you are into it. Romesh Gunesekera and Kate Pullinger will be doing the actual honours, I will just be... I dunno, doing the dishonours? Making a fleeting appearance, let's just say.
Not that I want to give you the impression that I am busy and out and about all the time. Other than these things here, I spend all my time in a dark cave, sitting in the corner, listening to 80s pop on a Sony Walkman.
March 1, 2012
King of the deals
Hey, KING OF THE ROAD (book #3 in the Mangel series) for Kindle is going for $1.99 in the US right now, so you should go and check that out. This is the one that the Dublin Evening Herald described as a "heady literary mix between Straw Dogs and Pulp Fiction".
Is that it? Hardly any bloggings for weeks on end and then this, a hastily typed plug for my own book? More soon, I promise. Sort of.
Is that it? Hardly any bloggings for weeks on end and then this, a hastily typed plug for my own book? More soon, I promise. Sort of.
February 11, 2012
Whistlin' Dixie
Long time no blog. How ya doin'? I'm doin' gud. Why I talkin' like dis? I dunno. It's like I got sum crazy redneck kinda way o' speakin' in mah head. Maybe from reading this great review of ONE DEAD HEN on Amazon US:
"The problem I had with it is that it's written in some type of Southern dialect. To be honest, I had trouble understanding what the character was saying. I know. There are some Southerners who may talk like that. I just don't know any, and I was born and raised in the South. Even though I've traveled quite a bit, and I have a college degree from a fine Northern institution, I still have my accent. I just don't talk like that, and like I said, I don't know anyone else who does."Dammit, and there was me thinking I wrote the great American novel.
January 4, 2012
No more presents in the sack
Well over 1000 Kindlers took the opportunity to download GRAVEN IMAGE for free. If it's about getting the work out there, it was a success. What would be good now is if as many as possible of those Kindlers did a little review of the novella on Amazon, or posted about it somewhere if they liked it. Obviously they'd have to read it to do that, and downloading ain't the same as reading. Either way, I'm pretty chuffed that so many of you took up the offer. I'm proud of the work.
Anyone who missed it, it's not free any more but it's only a few pence/cents.
January 2, 2012
Happy New Kindle
I mean New Year. But if you have a Kindle, here I am reminding you that you have until Jan 3rd to download my bitter (but funny in places) little pill GRAVEN IMAGE for the sum total of Jack Shit (£0.00/$0.00). Check out Josh Stallings' 5-star review on Amazon, then get it here in the UK, here in the US. You won't regret it. OK, if you regret it, you won't be out of pocket.
H.N.Y.!
H.N.Y.!
December 30, 2011
FREE Graven Image...
Kindle people, I have a seasonal gift for you. for the next five days, my novella GRAVEN IMAGE is going for $0.00 at Amazon UK. I believe it is also $0.00 at Amazon US.
Please download it at no cost to you and help push it up the charts. This is the one that starts with the line "I was in the abbey when I realised I'd have to burn for my sins."
Remember, this is an offer ends on Jan 3rd.
Please download it at no cost to you and help push it up the charts. This is the one that starts with the line "I was in the abbey when I realised I'd have to burn for my sins."
Remember, this is an offer ends on Jan 3rd.
December 28, 2011
Some Kindle Picks
Hey, I have a new Kindle too... but I have had mine a couple of months now and I've had a chance to check some stuff out. Two novels you should get immediately are THE BASTARD HAND by Heath Lowrance and BEAUTIFUL, NAKED & DEAD by Josh Stallings. These two get talked about a lot and for good reason. One is noir as hell, the other hard-boiled as a bastard.
I can't (be arsed to) fit everything in this one post but you should also finally check out offerings from Allan Guthrie, Ray Banks and Anthony Neil Smith - all rollercoaster-ish, rooted in place and pretty near the money in terms of where the genre is at.
One I have picked up but not yet read is David Belbin's BONE AND CANE - this has sold shitloads on Kindle and keeps coming back - what is it all about? I am about to find out.
Feeling cheap? There are some top freebies out there. TURTLE BOY is a horror novella by Kealan Patrick Burke that is as weird as it sounds... and also great.
You can get the classics for diddly squat too - HEART OF DARKNESS, FRANKENSTEIN, DORIAN GRAY... My own favourite is one called DRACULA by some dude called Bram Stoker. It's about this dead guy who is sort of alive, and he drinks people's blood and travels around a lot. Sounds ridiculous, but I reckon it'll break through one day. And hey, Mr. Stoker is kind enough to offer it for free!
Happy Kindle-ing. Or Nook-ing, or whatever.
I can't (be arsed to) fit everything in this one post but you should also finally check out offerings from Allan Guthrie, Ray Banks and Anthony Neil Smith - all rollercoaster-ish, rooted in place and pretty near the money in terms of where the genre is at.
One I have picked up but not yet read is David Belbin's BONE AND CANE - this has sold shitloads on Kindle and keeps coming back - what is it all about? I am about to find out.
Feeling cheap? There are some top freebies out there. TURTLE BOY is a horror novella by Kealan Patrick Burke that is as weird as it sounds... and also great.
You can get the classics for diddly squat too - HEART OF DARKNESS, FRANKENSTEIN, DORIAN GRAY... My own favourite is one called DRACULA by some dude called Bram Stoker. It's about this dead guy who is sort of alive, and he drinks people's blood and travels around a lot. Sounds ridiculous, but I reckon it'll break through one day. And hey, Mr. Stoker is kind enough to offer it for free!
Happy Kindle-ing. Or Nook-ing, or whatever.
December 15, 2011
One Dead Hen goes cheap
The nice people at Amazon.com have made my most recent book ONE DEAD HEN available for just five bucks between now and Dec 31. This is for the actual hold-it-in-your-hands, spill-your-beer-on-it, throw-it-across-the-room paper version (that has just made Paul D. Brazill's top 5 of the year list*). Also for $5 is KING OF THE ROAD, the previous one in the Royston Blake series. I say series, but these books are standalone, so you can go straight in at either of these two.
PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE BOOKS if youtake everything at face valuehave no sense of humourare a smug, narrow-minded prude But you can't be any of those things, because you're reading this blog.
In the latest customer review of One Dead Hen, "anomalie" says:
And hey, I'd never leave out those in the UK. King of the Road is currently going for only £3.15. This is the one that the Dublin Evening Herald called "a heady literary mix between Straw Dogs and Pulp Fiction", the Times called "a great mystery" and the Big Issue called "a sharp and bitingly funny novel". I call it bargain.
* Big thanks to PDB
PLEASE BEWARE OF THESE BOOKS if youtake everything at face valuehave no sense of humourare a smug, narrow-minded prude But you can't be any of those things, because you're reading this blog.
In the latest customer review of One Dead Hen, "anomalie" says:
This is not for the PC crowd, and perhaps that's what makes it so funny. Anyway, if you liked the first ones, you should like this one too. Blake is a true anti-hero, and while the novel asks if someone can truly 'turn over a new leaf,' Williams seems to have a lot of fun proving that Blake may have some new duds but it's the same old Blake underneath.
And hey, I'd never leave out those in the UK. King of the Road is currently going for only £3.15. This is the one that the Dublin Evening Herald called "a heady literary mix between Straw Dogs and Pulp Fiction", the Times called "a great mystery" and the Big Issue called "a sharp and bitingly funny novel". I call it bargain.
* Big thanks to PDB
