Dan Smith's Blog, page 18

A Taste of the High Life

Right then, back down to earth with a bump. I really must be getting on with editing the novel I'm working on. Actually, I've found a renewed excitement in this novel – something was niggling at me; something wasn't quite right about it, but now I've realised what it is and I'm ready to blast through it and I just know it's gonna be a good'un.

There is something weighing on me, though, like a terrible burden. I am a troubled man. You see, some friends of mine bid at a charity auction for a BMWZ4 for the weekend – and they gave it to me for my 40th birthday. Wel, I cashed it in this weeked and the car that now sits outside has to be returned today. It's not just any old Z4 – it's a curvy M Sport z4 with the muscular body pack, lower suspension, agressive bumpers front and back and . . . well, it's not mine is it? It's going to be hard to hand those keys back.

Anyway, it was great to have it for the weekend. We had some sun, so the lid came off and the children had a ride and decided it's 'the coolest car in the whole world, Daddy'. We had a good drive in it, my wife and I muddled it all in with an anniversary weekend with some friends, spending a night at the fantastic Rockliffe Hall – and I did the school run this morning so the childrens' friends could see them in the cool car. And when I dropped my son off, we followed Alan Shearer's car down the road.

And now . . . well, it's back to the garret with the pinhole windows. Coffee, tea, the computer, me and my imagination. I'm loving my renewed vigour for this book and I know it's all going to work well now that I've identified what didn't feel right. I'm excited about all that, of course but, well . . . do I really have to give the car back?

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Authors' Club – Best First Novel Award 2011

The Authors' Club has updated its website with some details about this year's Best First Novel Award.

The shortlist was selected by a panel of club members. The chair of judges, literary critic Suzi Feay said:

"From a very strong longlist of 12 books it was difficult to prune, but after a tense discussion six titles clearly came to the fore. We have a wonderfully diverse shortlist. Reading all six will take you on a epic voyage to the far north; to a mystical English mansion; a dangerous dead-end town in Brazil; into the mind of a most original female narrator; through three eras of gay London; and headlong into an gripping Indian mystery. All these authors have the potential to go on to brilliant careers."

(via Best First Novel Award « Authors' Club.)

The guest adjudicator Joanne Harris, and the winner will be announced on 14th April 2011.

It's fantastic to see DRY SEASON included on that shortlist.

DRY SEASON by DAN SMITH shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel award 2011

It's all in the title of the post.

I heard yesterday that Dry Season is one of six novels shortlisted for The Authors' Club 'Best First Novel Award'. It is, of course, fantastic news. Dry Season has yet to reach a large audience, but it's news like this that reassures me the book is a good read, and it might help to let people know that it's out there, watiting for them to pick it up.

It's a very strong list of novels which includes Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai (winner of the Costa prize for Best First Novel 2010), Farundell by L R Fredericks, Grace Williams Says It Loud by Emma Henderson (Orange New Writers Book of the Month, Shortlisted for Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2011,  and longlisted for The Orange Prize) , London Tryptych by Jonathan Kemp, and The Still Point by Amy Sackville (winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys prize).

Phew.

I had to read the announcement a few times to make sure they'd got it right. Yep. Dry Season by Dan Smith. It's on there.

Well, I'm extremely proud that a little ole book about a damaged priest coping with guilt and violence in an isolated Brazilian backwater made it onto the shortlist – and if it raises the book's profile and garners a few more readers I'll be a happy man.

Incidentally, if you haven't read it yet, it's available in paperback at all good book stores (as they say) as well as in the Kindle and ibook stores.

Dry Season shortlisted for Best First Novel award

It's all in the title of the post.

 

I heard yesterday that Dry Season is one of six novels shortlisted for The Authors' Club 'Best First Novel Award'. It is, of course, fantastic news. Dry Season has yet to reach a large audience, but it's news like this that reassures me the book is a good read, and it might help to let people know that it's out there, watiting for them to pick it up.

It's a very strong list of novels which includes Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai (winner of the Costa prize for Best First Novel 2010), Farundell by L R Fredericks, Grace Williams Says It Loud by Emma Henderson (Orange New Writers Book of the Month, Shortlisted for Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2011,  and longlisted for The Orange Prize) , London Tryptych by Jonathan Kemp, and The Still Point by Amy Sackville (winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys prize).

Phew.

I had to read the announcement a few times to make sure they'd got it right. Yep. Dry Season by Dan Smith. It's on there.

Well, I'm extremely proud that a little ole book about a damaged priest coping with guilt and violence in an isolated Brazilian backwater made it onto the shortlist – and if it raises the book's profile and garners a few more readers I'll be a happy man.

Incidentally, if you haven't read it yet, it's available in paperback at all good book stores (as they say) as well as in the Kindle and ibook stores.

 

Genre . . . literary . . . what does it matter?

So that's World Book Day/Night over and done with, then. Bang or whimper? Not sure, it was hard to tell from where I was sitting. Anyway, what I saw quite a lot of in the programmes on BBC was the literary vs genre rivalry carry-on. It's a bit 'playground' really, like two children arguing over whose dad could beat up whose. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.Reading is reading, writing is writing. Why can't we enjoy it all? Sure, there's some crappy genre fiction just like there's some crappy literary fition, but everyone has different tastes, right?

The Culture Show special had a literary reader sampling genre fiction and investigting why people like crime or thrillers or romance, while the following programme was all about finding literary authors . . . and what struck me is that 'literary' is a genre, isn't it?

Anyway, who am I to say? All I know is that it makes me wonder where I fit in. I don't know which box I should get into. Whose bed. You see, I'm not sure my writing adheres to any of those genres, whether it's crime, thriller, literary or whatever.

For a moment, watching those programmes, I thought maybe I need to be more genre specific – follow the big names by inventing an action hero for a series of thrillers, or creating a cop for a series of crime novels – but the truth is that I like a wide range of books and stories and I don't really set out to write in any specific genre. I just write what comes out and hope that it will appeal to people. The only problem for me (and my publisher) is getting people to pick the books up. If you only read crime/romance/thrillers/literary, you might not think Dry Season is for you . . .

. . .but you might be wrong.

World Book Day / Dry Season Day!

It's world book day today and my son's school is having a day for comic book and cartoon characters – he's only five, so anything too literary might be inappropriate. After all, it's about having fun, right? Anyway, he scooted to school this morning as . . . Tintin. Oh yeah. Blue jumper, white shirt, brown trousers tucked into his socks, quiffed hair and a small dog (not real). Actually he looked great, and he'll give those Spiderman upstarts a run for their money.

Also, in celebration of World Book Day (naturally) Dry Season is published in paperback today. It's not a coincidence, no, not at all.  So, be prepared for the world to seem like a different place.

Lovereading.co.uk has even listed Dry Season as one of its featured books of the month under 'Debut Books' which is very exciting. Hopefully a lot of people will see it and maybe a few will even give it a try.

Oh, go on, buy a copy, it's great.

 

Related Articles

Actors and authors join World Book Day celebrations (telegraph.co.uk)
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Celebrate World Book Day and the launch of our Book of the Month offer (guardian.co.uk)

Laaaand'n

Phew, survived the half-term trip south of the border. We gathered our passports, had our innoculations and headed down to Laaand'n mate. It's always a little overwhelming for us northerners to see all those motor cars and marvel at your fresh running water but . . . well, we got by. Staying with friends and family close to the metropolis was great, and we even ventured into the land of tall buildings and commerce to visit the Doctor Who Experience. 3D films, cracks in time, being attacked by daleks, controlling the tardis . . . the children would have loved it!

Only kidding, the children were there. Somewhere.

Click to view slideshow.

 

 

 

 

Beat it into submission

DARK HORIZONS page proofs read, checked and in the bag. Hey, I even managed to get through without making too many changes. Just a few touches here and there. So it's looking good for publication May 26th.

DRY SEASON is out in paperback on 3rd March, so that's not long either. Conincidentally it's World Book Day on that day – or maybe it's no coincidence? Maybe it's some kind of karma? Y'never know.

And, on top of all that, I've finished reading through the draft of another novel. Phew. It still needs tweaking here and there but it's coming on strong! Maybe it's time to put it down and walk away. I'll circle it for a while, pace back and forth, watch it from the corner of my eye, but I reckon its best left alone for a spell. I'll let it rest before I go at it again with a fresh attack. These novels, you know, sometimes you have to beat them into submission or they'll make you mad.

I'm not buying it.

Seems like there's always someone trying to sell me something. If the phone rings during the day, its usually a 'courtesy call' from somebody offering me some kind of insurance. Or maybe it's an energy supplier telling me their energy is the cheapest – but, God knows, they'll put it up the second I switch. If the doorbell rings, it's someone touting double-glazing or some kind of protective seal for my roof tiles. Perhaps a young offender with a bag of cleaning products.There're the Kleeneze people, the energy suppliers, the people selling pizza cards, the people selling curry cards, the people who trim hedges, the people who cut trees, people selling gym membership, the Jehova's Witnesses, all of them trying to sell me something I don't want and am not going to buy.

And then I turn on the telly and what do I get? David Cameron trying to peddle his 'Big Society' con. Slash and burn. Pay more, work more, get less. . .

Well, I'm not buying that either.
Everything's pay more, get less, and his idea is no different.
Related Articles

Cameron: I need you to invest in Big Society (telegraph.co.uk)
Cameron gives every bit of his passion (guardian.co.uk)
Is David Cameron turning the corner with the Big Society? (guardian.co.uk)
David Cameron's big blather about the Big Society (mirror.co.uk)
The Big Society 'will turn Britain into Somalia' – TUC chief (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
'Big Society' wood hampered by bureaucracy and red tape (telegraph.co.uk)
Letters: Big idea or big delusion? (guardian.co.uk)

Truly, their grit is true

I have an image in my head of a film I saw many many years ago. Actually, I have two images. The first is of a young girl standing by a river. She has great determination in her expression, a hint of fear, and in her hands she holds a Colt dragoon percussion revolver. When she finds the courage to shoot it at the man she intends to kill, the recoil knocks her off her feet. The other image is of an eye-patched, pot bellied bear of a man with horse's reins in his bared teeth, a pistol in one hand and a rifle in the other as he rushes headlong into the fray, head ringed by the smoke from his weapons.

The film is, of course 'True Grit'. Now, I never was a big fan of John Wayne and although I love a good western, The Searchers was the only one of his that really did it for me. But now the Coen brothers have made a new version. Not a remake of the film, but another version based on the novel by Charles Portiss.

Jeff bridges – The Dude himself – as Rooster Cogburn. Matt Damon as LaBoeuf. Josh Brolin as Chaney. The brilliant Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross.

So I went to see it yesterday and can recommend it. They even recreated those scenes I remember so vividly from the John Wayne version but, for me, they're even better this time around.

The scenery was amazing, the acting great, the story's a classic and there's even a man in a full bear outfit. Yep, you heard right. A man in a bear outfit. What more could you possibly want?

 

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