Leopold Borstinski's Blog, page 26

British Noir for your Boots

I’d like to let you know about a debut novel by Geoff Smith, who has written a British noir tale which is worth a click-through and a purchase or a free download if you are on KU. Burning Crowe is its name.

It has been compared to Raymond Chandler, which is as good a recommendation as I need to hear. So fill your sling backs.

Christmas in July Thrillers

Here’s an opportunity to visit a book fair, whose theme is that there are cheap books available because Christmas isn’t July. The madness of it all attracted me to get involved and The Heist is there in the mixed-genre list.

Some of the books have the word Christmas in their titles, but many do not. There are other thrillers and other sorts of reads. Do check it out. For the sake of a few seconds, you might find your next favourite book.

Fill your boots.

What’s in a thriller?

News just in, more or less, that crime writers are complaining about an award for crime novels that don’t involve violence against women. The Staunch prize was created to challenge the gainsay beating and raping of women in fiction, which the organisers claims has the knock-on effect of building certain expectations in jurors about what counts as an ordinary rapist.

Layers of meaning in that one. The writers who have expressed disquiet over the issue, include female novelists, claim the prize represents a gagging order on their desire to represent the world through fiction. While women are brutalised in the world then writers should be setting stories which incorporate that truth about women’s lives.

I can’t pretend to be a neutral bystander on this. Some of my female characters do get assaulted by male characters, but I must admit I do treat my male characters with a similar disinterest in their physical and mental wellbeing. I have written about two rapes (so far) and I thought long and hard as to whether I should put those characters through that experience and how I would describe it.

My conclusion was that I should proceed but I made a conscious decision as to how I represented them – with respect, without sensationalism and not gratuitously, unlike some of my violent scenes.

Let me know what you think. Should we stop writing about violence aimed at women or is it an essential trope of the crime/thriller genre?

Cheap thrills for you

And now for a low-cost novel opportunity for you if you want to enjoy a Summer Read. On this occasion, the price is around the cost of a cup of coffee at your local multi-chain hot drinks provider.

Included in the mix is my very own book, The Heist, but there are plenty of other options for you to consider. So, as I might have mentioned before at some point in my life, fill your boots!

Cover for Penny Pitstop Revealed

If you have visited the web site recently then you will have seen the original cover for the Death and Life of Penny Pitstop which I commissioned when it was part of a planned series which didn’t come to fruition.

Well, I am pleased and proud to announce that the new cover for the novel as a stand-alone work is available for the world to see. Thanks are due, as ever, to James from www.GoOnWrite.com who has done another fabulous job of taking the half-baked thought in my head and turning it into a vibrant front cover.

The book will be out in September and will be available for pre-order in August for sure. Needless to say, I’ll keep you updated with its progress.

It’s murder getting free books

And just before you think I never throw opportunities your way, here’s a Thriller and Killer download page with a whole bunch of good stuff just waiting for you to read them. The theme here, as the name suggests, is that the entire collection involves, um, hey I’ll leave you to guess.

Fill your flip-flops.

Page Turning Novel Grab, Shock!

And a different opportunity to get yourself some fresh reads at this Page Turning Thriller Giveaway. There’s a bunch of great novels at no cost for you to try out and hopefully enjoy.

If you like mysteries or thrillers, and I reckon you do, then it’s worth a click or two of your time. The best title has to be: The Golem of Prague. but there’s plenty for everyone.

Fill your boots.

Fathers’ Day Fiesta

Here we go with a crime-based free novel opportunity pinned to the idea that around now is Fathers’ Day. There is added incentive: there are two $10 gift cards to win, which can be used at Amazon, B&N or iTunes.

And, as I’m mentioning the celebration day, for the first time in my life, I noticed how the event is misspelled on every card I looked at. (Grammar nerd alert) the apostrophe should be after the ‘s’ and not before, as I’ve demonstrated here. I know it doesn’t matter but it does to me.

Fill your boots anyway.

East Side Hustler kicks off

A quick follow-up to my post last week about my graveside post. I’m pleased to say that I’ve started the sequel to The Bowery Slugger, which I’m calling East Side Hustler.

To be honest, I don’t think I’ve spent much time talking about the first story, which follows the arrival of Alex Cohen as he arrives in New York in the early years of the twentieth century. As a story idea, it has been inside me for ten or fifteen years before I set it down. I wanted to create a tale about a guy who hangs around the Jewish and Italian gangsters so I could mesh a story about my favourite most intriguing episode in history. It combines my fascination with stories about the Jewish mob and how the individuals mixed with their Italian counterparts and my love for questions of identity.

The key concept for the first story was to finish with the American involvement in what we now call the First World War. It’ll make sense why when you read the novel, which will be out in the Fall. And the second story is set during the Prohibition Era.

I’ve said enough for now. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you more at a later date. In the meantime, do let me know what you think about my shift from 1960s Baltimore to 1910s Manhattan.

Thriller giveaway…

This fine collection of mystery, thriller and suspense stories are laced with a sprinkling of horror but all are top page-turning tales. As ever, the deal is simple: you get to download as many of the novels you want but you must provide your email address to join the author’s newsletter.

Enjoy!