Leopold Borstinski's Blog, page 19

Let’s (not) talk about sex again

I have been spending some of my time recently removing the sex from the Lagotti Family series and it has been an interesting experience for me.

Okay, when I say interesting, that is of course a euphemism. Overall, there are a lot fewer words used to cover the sex scenes that I remembered – and The Heist was my first crime fiction novel so I wrote it about five years ago. However, the element I completely blanked from my memory was the kind of language I used. The sex scenes are described so brutally and in a far more explicit manner than I thought I had done. This is not an apology, just a genuine statement of surprise on my part. And [SPOILER ALERT], the scene containing sexual violence has been almost entirely retained because it is a description of a violent act.

The Getaway and Powder both had little steamy side to them as the storylines didn’t allow for much intimacy so there was less work to do with them. But Mama’s Gone also had more than its fair share of sexual descriptions. But the most that any book has lost has been around 2000 words – and for reference, each book is 70-80k in length – which means that the actual sexual content was fairly low.

And this brings me to my final point, which is that the impact of those sex descriptions had a much bigger impact than I realised and intended – hence my decision to exorcize them from the series.

Now before you rush out to download the new versions, I must warn you that they are not ready yet. I have taken advantage of my opening up of the files to give the text a spring clean (another edit) and I will be relaunching all the books with new covers (apart from Mama) and this will happen by the end of the month. At least that’s my plan. Either way, I will let you know once the relaunch has officially happened. I might even offer a discount for purchases made direct on my web site. Stay tuned for details.

Finally, I am thinking of writing a prequel to the Bowery Slugger before pushing hard into book 3 of Alex Cohen, which is called the Midtown Huckster. I have yet to flesh out either storyline so I can’t be specific but… the prequel will either focus on Alex in the Ukraine just before the family moves to America or on Sarah in the months before she first meets Alex. Huckster has had more work done to it and it will cover the 1930s when the mobs needed to find fresh revenue streams after the demise of Prohibition.

I’m looking forward to it all and hope you’ll carry on supporting me on this literary journey of mine.

Leo

Crime noir for you…

A fellow author, Stephen Scarcliffe is about to launch the second in his Edinburgh-based crime noir called Raging. As ever in these situations, I will leave you with the blurb to make your decision:

A bloody turf war is erupting between the shellsuit gangsters and the Donaldsons, while the family outcasts look to take advantage of the disorder on the streets…

Who torched Dougie Donaldson’s taxi?

Why are the bodies piling up in the high rises?

Why is a scorned figure from the past poking his nose into everyone’s business?

As things escalate, Billy Wright is forced to question who is plotting against him as he is dragged even deeper into the world he is trying to escape. George Donaldson is sucked into a bitter feud with childhood pals that forces him to answer serious doubts around his loyalties and Sean Donaldson schemes to shift the balance of power in Muirhouse, hellbent on revenge against the uncle who has frozen him out of the family drug business.

Will Billy fulfil the promise he made to girlfriend Lyndsay and leave the life of crime behind as fatherhood approaches? Can George successfully defend his old man’s territory in the face of mounting adversity? Is there any line Sean won’t cross in his quest for supremacy?

Raging is a gritty slice of 90s North Edinburgh crime noir, which forms part 2 of the Chemical Estate book series.

Thrill Seekers Stop Here

A great opportunity for those of you who enjoy a crime tale or two – under the umbrella of A Thrilling Experience. In case it is not entirely obvious, this set of books contains thrillers and other fine crime stories. And if that isn’t enough to encourage you to click through then I should inform you that the novels are free.

Fill your boots.

Cold Comfort?

And here is a shout-out to my fellow author, Carey Lewis and his thriller Cold Shot. As ever in these circumstances, I will leave the blurb to do my talking. You know it makes sense…

Divorce is hard. Murder is easy.

Dwayne is a retired hockey player. Celeste is a young Instagram star. With their five year prenup coming to an end, Celeste wants to take everything Dwayne has. But Dwayne made his living on the ice by fighting, and he isn’t about to stop now.

The only thing Dwayne has of any value is a failing restaurant. And a failing restaurant is very valuable when it’s used for money laundering. To the criminal underworld, it’s much more valuable than either of their lives.

A divorce isn’t in anyone’s best interest. And murder is so much easier.

Thus, a deadly game of cat and mouse commences with an assassin hired to kill both husband and wife. As they run and hide and try to edge a step ahead of the other, more lives are put in danger, creating a path of destruction hell would be proud of.

An assassin that won’t be stopped vs. a couple who don’t realize what they’re up against.

There’s only one way this can end…

And it won’t be amicable.

Cold Shot is a non-stop thrill ride with crackling wit that travels at break-neck speeds.

Set your eReader alight…

A dollop of steam to start the year – and why not. Here is a fine collection from the steamier side of town called Books to Set your eReader on Fire. They are meant to melt your eBook reading device but don’t sue me if it does actually happen because I think it should only be a metaphor.

For the first time in the new decade (if you don’t know how to count properly – don’t get me started), fill your boots!

Review of the Year

Forgive me, but I thought I would spend a couple of minutes thinking back over the past year. And to be honest, I’m going to try to avoid talking about politics (the UK has been riddled with it this year) but I shall stick to novel writing if I am able.

To be honest, it has been a difficult year for me. I spent several months at the start trying to write a female detective story and was forced to bow out of that only a third of a book through the tale. This meant I expended mental energy on a doomed project and consumed 3-4 months on  writing something which is unlikely to ever see the light of day. That was draining.

On the plus side, the experience helped me to better understand what kind of a writer I am: noir crime fiction is my genre and it may or may not contain steamy scenes. This conclusion leads me to my second activity which was the realization that many of my current readers didn’t enjoy the Lagotti Family series enough because of the sex scenes. As I announced a month or so ago, I will be re-editing The Heist to turn the novel into having so-called closed door scenes instead. Then I’m going to look at the rest of the series and do the same. Once I have completed that task, I shall relaunch the series with fresh covers too so that everyone can see that something has changed. I’ll keep you posted on how I get on.

The next item of note is that despite spending so much time writing a dead duck, I have launched a record number of books (for me) this year. Four have hit the streets: Mama’s Gone, The Case, The Death and Life of Penny Pitstop and The Bowery Slugger. I’m excluding the Lagotti Family Complete Collection as that is an omnibus edition. While I am putting the finishing touches to a Feb/March launch of the Slugger sequel, I think I will be lucky to launch two further books next year. There should be at least one more, again in the Alex Cohen series, but I am aware of how much of my time this year has been spent focusing on marketing and sales, which are important parts of being a writer.

So, in conclusion, it has been quite an eventful year. Thank you to everyone for your support – whether that was reading one of my books, leaving a review, making a purchase or sending me an email saying something nice. Each and every one of those actions has made me smile. And given the parlous state of my country now that Boris Johnson has a sweeping majority to rip my EU citizens rights away from me, there has been precious little to smile about in 2019. Damn, I said I wasn’t going to talk about politics.

Let me be one the last, no doubt, to wish you a healthy and successful 2020.

Leo

End of year kisses for you

Here is an opportunity to grab yourself a copy from a crime series from my fellow author, Sonya Jesus. As ever in these situations, I’ll let the blurb do the talking…

A bullet a day keeps the mafia away. She fell for #31 on her hit list.

Kelsie Salvatore After his right-hand man, my father, was murdered, Costa Beneventi took me in and adopted me. He gave me a home when my life was falling apart and promised me vengeance when my heart was breaking. I’m not the little mafia princess my dad raised anymore. I’m the assassin the Beneventis created. The mafia might have saved my life, but it sacrificed my heart. With every life I take, there’s a little less of me left… The only thing keeping me from losing all of myself is #31 on the Beneventi hit list.

Hayden Masters The Beneventi family killed my mother in front of me, put a hit on us and savagely killed my father, incriminating me. They orphaned me, tore me away from my life, and forced me into an endless lifetime of pretending to be everything I’m not. After all the fake identities and countless friends I never made, I’ve finally set down roots. Now, I’ve grown attached to this new life—to these new people—but I messed up. As long as I have the one thing that can bring the Beneventis down and clear my father’s name, no one is safe around me, especially not the girl I have fallen for.

Crime books have been released

I thought I’d piggyback off an article in my newspaper today. The Guardian has released its December picks for new crime fiction released recently.

While I can’t pretend to have read them all, I can say that I have found The Guardian to be a great source of high-quality book reviews and quite reliable on these matters. So if you are interested in a competent crime read, then make your way over to their recommendations and reviews. Enjoy!

Noir time of the year

For those of you who like your crime stories in black and white, there is a fine collection rammed with opportunity in the New Year’s Noir set. If you enjoy crime fiction with a touch of moral ambiguity then click through and fill your boots.

Christmas freebies

Here is a chance to grab yourself a bunch of books from a variety of genres, which have been seasonly timed called Christmas is Love.

There’s a wide selection of different stories, some of which contain steam, but there’s also the Stickup so it’s not all (men’s) bare chests. Fill your boots at this festive time of the year.