Michael Ridpath's Blog, page 8
September 3, 2015
Shadows of War just published
After many months of hard research, and a year of enjoyable writing, I am very pleased to announce that my latest novel has just been published. The title is Shadows of War and it is a Second World War spy thriller – a sequel to Traitor’s Gate.
We all know that the Duke of Windsor was a Nazi sympathizer, but we don’t know what he actually did during the Second World War to help the Nazis. Historians can’t tell us because the evidence has either been destroyed or locked up in the Royal Archives. In Shadows of War I suggest what he might have done.
October, 1939: War has been declared, but until the armies massed on either side of the French-German border engage, all is quiet on the Western Front.
But there are those who believe the war no one wants to fight should be brought to a swift conclusion, even if it means treachery.
In 1938, Conrad de Lancey came within seconds of assassinating Hitler. Now the British Secret Service want him to go back into Europe and make contact with a group of German officers they believe are plotting a coup.
But this is the Shadow War, and the shadows are multiplying. It's not only disaffected Germans who are prepared to betray their country to save it...
You can buy Shadows of War on Kindle from amazon.co.uk
If you want a signed copy of the hardback, you can contact either Goldsboro Books (020 7497 9230 email enquiries@goldsborobooks.com) or Joseph’s Bookstore, my local bookshop, (020 8731 7575 info@jospehsbookstore.com). I think both shops will ship overseas.
I am told that Shadows of War will be available in the US on Kindle on 9th September.
Lastly, if you do buy and read the book, a review on amazon really helps (as well as goodreads, of course)
May 11, 2015
Sign Up to Book News Mailing List
I know that some readers like to receive news about my new publications. Until now I have replied individually to emails to me, topping and tailing and cutting and pasting.
I am trying to be a bit more organised about things. So if you would like to receive a brief email 2-4 times a year with news about my books, especially new publications, please sign up to my Book News Mailing List. You can easily unsubscribe if you want to.
Michael
I am trying to be a bit more organised about things. So if you would like to receive a brief email 2-4 times a year with news about my books, especially new publications, please sign up to my Book News Mailing List. You can easily unsubscribe if you want to.
Michael
March 9, 2015
Final Venture finally on Kindle
I have just put Final Venture up on Kindle, which means that all my financial thrillers are once again available! It is set in Boston in the worlds of venture capital and biotechnology. The Blurb:
"A cure for Alzheimer’s would be worth billions. And well worth someone killing for.
Simon Ayot is an Englishman working for Revere Partners, one of Boston’s top venture-capital firms. The firm’s star investment, worth millions of dollars for each of its partners, is BioOne, which is working on a cure for the disease.
Frank, one of Simon’s bosses and his father-in-law, is found murdered at his summer house in the marshes, and Simon is in the frame.
To stay alive, and to save his marriage, Simon must figure out who killed Frank. And who will be the next to die."
“This is thriller writing of a high order”
Publishing News
“Ridpath has the rare gift of being able to write clearly and simply about the corporate world in a way that suggests he actually wants the reader to understand it.”
The Times
"A cure for Alzheimer’s would be worth billions. And well worth someone killing for.
Simon Ayot is an Englishman working for Revere Partners, one of Boston’s top venture-capital firms. The firm’s star investment, worth millions of dollars for each of its partners, is BioOne, which is working on a cure for the disease.
Frank, one of Simon’s bosses and his father-in-law, is found murdered at his summer house in the marshes, and Simon is in the frame.
To stay alive, and to save his marriage, Simon must figure out who killed Frank. And who will be the next to die."
“This is thriller writing of a high order”
Publishing News
“Ridpath has the rare gift of being able to write clearly and simply about the corporate world in a way that suggests he actually wants the reader to understand it.”
The Times
May 22, 2014
The Predator out on Kindle
Just put my 7th financial thriller up on Kindle, The Predator. Only one more to go (Final Venture).
The novel about how trainee bankers become fully fledged investment bankers and how that can warp their characters.
Did you know that the psychometric test used by the investment bank Salomon Brothers to select successful investment bankers was very similar for that used to diagnose psychopaths? Bet you didn't.
The Blurb is as follows:
Ruthless, selfish, dangerous. In fact, just right for the job.
At top investment bank Bloomfield Weiss, they taught them to be winners, predators, killer deal-makers. While on the bank's training programme in New York, Chris and Lenka had become part of a close-knit gang of ambitious trainees, working and playing hard. But when a failed affair sparked a confrontation during a drunken boat-trip, one of the gang died, leaving the rest to cover up the truth of the tragedy.
Ten years later a helpless Chris watches Lenka’s lifeblood soak into the snow of a Prague street – and his world falls apart. With his friend and business partner dead, Chris not only has to fight to keep his company afloat in the face of nervous investors, but must also discover who is behind Lenka’s seemingly random – but coolly professional – murder. Then others are killed, and it looks like Chris could be next.
Now it seems that their shared past might contain an even more sinister secret than Chris had thought. And that someone from the training programme took their lessons rather too seriously. And they won't let anyone stand in their way…
You can buy it on Kindle at http://amzn.to/1hbR15i
The novel about how trainee bankers become fully fledged investment bankers and how that can warp their characters.
Did you know that the psychometric test used by the investment bank Salomon Brothers to select successful investment bankers was very similar for that used to diagnose psychopaths? Bet you didn't.
The Blurb is as follows:
Ruthless, selfish, dangerous. In fact, just right for the job.
At top investment bank Bloomfield Weiss, they taught them to be winners, predators, killer deal-makers. While on the bank's training programme in New York, Chris and Lenka had become part of a close-knit gang of ambitious trainees, working and playing hard. But when a failed affair sparked a confrontation during a drunken boat-trip, one of the gang died, leaving the rest to cover up the truth of the tragedy.
Ten years later a helpless Chris watches Lenka’s lifeblood soak into the snow of a Prague street – and his world falls apart. With his friend and business partner dead, Chris not only has to fight to keep his company afloat in the face of nervous investors, but must also discover who is behind Lenka’s seemingly random – but coolly professional – murder. Then others are killed, and it looks like Chris could be next.
Now it seems that their shared past might contain an even more sinister secret than Chris had thought. And that someone from the training programme took their lessons rather too seriously. And they won't let anyone stand in their way…
You can buy it on Kindle at http://amzn.to/1hbR15i
May 2, 2014
Sea of Stone published yesterday
Just to let you know that “Sea of Stone” was published in the UK yesterday. It’s my fourth Icelandic crime novel, featuring my detective, Magnus Jonson. Magnus finds his grandfather murdered at his farm on the edge of the “Berserkers Lava Field” on Snaefellsnes in Iceland, the sea of stone referred to in the title. Who killed the old git? Everyone in his family had reason to hate him, including Magnus.
Also, loyal and patient readers will finally discover who killed Magnus’s father.
The book is out in trade paperback, not hardback. It is available on Kindle: http://amzn.to/1jkvknw . If you want a signed copy, you can order it from my local bookshop, Joseph’s - http://www.josephsbookstore.com . I will trot down and sign it, and they will post it to you. I think they will post books overseas, but it is obviously more expensive.
Anyway, if you buy it I hope you like it!
Regards,
Michael
Also, loyal and patient readers will finally discover who killed Magnus’s father.
The book is out in trade paperback, not hardback. It is available on Kindle: http://amzn.to/1jkvknw . If you want a signed copy, you can order it from my local bookshop, Joseph’s - http://www.josephsbookstore.com . I will trot down and sign it, and they will post it to you. I think they will post books overseas, but it is obviously more expensive.
Anyway, if you buy it I hope you like it!
Regards,
Michael
October 8, 2013
Trading Reality out on Kindle
I’m glad to say that Trading Reality, my second financial thriller, is now out on Kindle at 99p. It’s about a guy called Mark Fairfax, a bond trader whose brother Richard runs a virtual reality company in Fife. Richard is murdered, and Mark finds himself trying to figure out what happened while at the same time holding his brother’s high-tech venture together.
Frankly, I can’t remember who did it, but a rather sexy Scottish girl called Rachel appears in it somewhere.
When I worked for a venture capital firm in the 1990s, I invested in a virtual reality company. It was a wild ride!
http://amzn.to/15Y5PyO
September 28, 2013
75 Years ago today ...
75 years ago today, 28 September 1938, Hitler would have been killed if only Chamberlain had been a little bit braver.
A raiding party under Captain Heinz was waiting in apartments around Berlin to storm the Reich Chancellery. Theo Kordt and Graf von der Schulenburg were waiting at the doors of the Chancellery to let them in. Generals Halder and von Brauchitsch were intending to give the order to Captain Heinz once Hitler announced the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the beginning of a world war, which was expected at 2pm. Chamberlain knew about this. And what did he do? He sent a message through Mussolini suggesting a peace conference. Hitler received the message at 12 pm and called off the invasion. The German generals called off the coup. Hitler lived. Lots of people died.
Why did Chamberlain do this? Well, you will have to read Traitor’s Gate, if you haven’t already.
A raiding party under Captain Heinz was waiting in apartments around Berlin to storm the Reich Chancellery. Theo Kordt and Graf von der Schulenburg were waiting at the doors of the Chancellery to let them in. Generals Halder and von Brauchitsch were intending to give the order to Captain Heinz once Hitler announced the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the beginning of a world war, which was expected at 2pm. Chamberlain knew about this. And what did he do? He sent a message through Mussolini suggesting a peace conference. Hitler received the message at 12 pm and called off the invasion. The German generals called off the coup. Hitler lived. Lots of people died.
Why did Chamberlain do this? Well, you will have to read Traitor’s Gate, if you haven’t already.
September 3, 2013
Revising
I recently received an inquiry from Bruce Smith, who is writing, or rather rewriting, his first novel. He asked what process I used when rewriting. I thought I would share my response, in case anyone else finds it interesting or useful.
I do the following:
- Put the novel on one side
- Reread the first draft quickly in as close to one sitting as possible
-Write down my first impressions of good and bad points
- Draw up a list of specific points to address and think about them.
- Then go through closely chapter-by-chapter improving style and adding the changes.
Here are some notes I made for myself several years about the revision process. You might find them useful.
- Get the details right. Take time to correct mistakes as soon as you spot them.
- First draft will almost certainly be too slow. Now that you have the shape of the book, figure out how you can move scenes forward to create more tension earlier. Some ruthlessness required. This has been a problem with almost all my books and the major improvement at the second draft stage.
- What is the premise of the book? Is it fulfilled? Formulate short sentence about what the book is about. Strengthen the book to meet this sentence.
- Consider each character one by one. Fill out background and motivation and include in the draft. Avoid stereotypes.
- Are characters in conflict with strong motivations?
- Do characters change?
- When reading through 2nd draft ask whether reader cares about the main characters. It takes time to get to know a character and make him likeable.
- Consider each location one by one. Can extra details be added?
- Check for image patterns in the book and strengthen them.
- Foreshadow when you rewrite. Foreshadow important stuff at the end of the book, by adding stuff a long way in. Don’t foreshadow in the last third of the book.
- Read through dialogue aloud. Mark up weak sounding bits. Select scenes for improvement. Add humour, and try to improve selected scenes (make a good scene better as well as make a bad scene OK). For some characters, consider dialogue one at a time. [I have to admit I rarely actually do this]
- Spouses cannot be impartial critics, nor should you want them to be.
- Feel your story emotionally to see if it feels right.
- In later drafts put squares around words that are wrong, or that are OK but could be improved. Then go back and improve them if you can. Look in a dictionary (not a Thesaurus) for ideas. (McPhee)
I do the following:
- Put the novel on one side
- Reread the first draft quickly in as close to one sitting as possible
-Write down my first impressions of good and bad points
- Draw up a list of specific points to address and think about them.
- Then go through closely chapter-by-chapter improving style and adding the changes.
Here are some notes I made for myself several years about the revision process. You might find them useful.
- Get the details right. Take time to correct mistakes as soon as you spot them.
- First draft will almost certainly be too slow. Now that you have the shape of the book, figure out how you can move scenes forward to create more tension earlier. Some ruthlessness required. This has been a problem with almost all my books and the major improvement at the second draft stage.
- What is the premise of the book? Is it fulfilled? Formulate short sentence about what the book is about. Strengthen the book to meet this sentence.
- Consider each character one by one. Fill out background and motivation and include in the draft. Avoid stereotypes.
- Are characters in conflict with strong motivations?
- Do characters change?
- When reading through 2nd draft ask whether reader cares about the main characters. It takes time to get to know a character and make him likeable.
- Consider each location one by one. Can extra details be added?
- Check for image patterns in the book and strengthen them.
- Foreshadow when you rewrite. Foreshadow important stuff at the end of the book, by adding stuff a long way in. Don’t foreshadow in the last third of the book.
- Read through dialogue aloud. Mark up weak sounding bits. Select scenes for improvement. Add humour, and try to improve selected scenes (make a good scene better as well as make a bad scene OK). For some characters, consider dialogue one at a time. [I have to admit I rarely actually do this]
- Spouses cannot be impartial critics, nor should you want them to be.
- Feel your story emotionally to see if it feels right.
- In later drafts put squares around words that are wrong, or that are OK but could be improved. Then go back and improve them if you can. Look in a dictionary (not a Thesaurus) for ideas. (McPhee)
July 3, 2013
Traitor's Gate promotion on Kindle
Traitor's Gate is on Amazon's 100 Kindle books under £2.99 for July, which basically means it is priced at £1.49 for a month, but only on Kindle.
I don't know if you can buy it in the US on amazon.com; I know it is listed there. It would be interesting to hear from any US readers who try.
