David W. Robinson's Blog: Always Writing, page 33

Another guest post

Two days to go to the release of The Deep Secret, and I’m appearing on yet another blog, this time belonging to fellow Crooked Cat crime writer, Frances di Plino.

Frances and I are old friends. Under her real name, Lorraine Mace, she is a tutor for the Writer’s Bureau and a regular columnist in Writing Magazine. Those are exactly the kind of friends you need when you’re trying to get ahead in this game.

As Frances di Plino, she has turned out two gritty novels with Detective Inspector Paolo Storey as the central character (and there’s a third due near Christmas) and never let it be said that Frances is afraid to tackle difficult subjects. I’m not prepared to give anything away, but her novels, Bad Moon Rising and Someday Never Comes, reflect the increasingly violent society in which we live.

And it is that very violence which is at the heart of my post on her blog. Is there a need for our crime fiction to be so violent? You can read what I have to say on the matter over on Frances’s blog.

Like its predecessor, The Handshaker, my latest novel is graphic and violent, but even if I have reservations, I don’t apologise for it. When I read daily report of acids attacks, shootings, stabbings, I come to the sad conclusion that as a society, we’re more offended by sex than we are the callous taking of human life.

The Deep Secret is published by Crooked Cat Books on Friday October 25th in all e-formats and paperback. You can pre-order your paperback copy on Amazon and there is a launch event on Facebook to which everyone is welcome.

The Deep Secret: Three Days to Go

The Deep Secret is launched upon an unsuspecting public in just three days, and throughout this week, I’m here there and everywhere with interviews and guest posts.

Today I’m stopping by Ailsa Abraham’s Bingergread Cottage to talk about hypnotism and hypnotherapy.

Ailsa is author of Shaman’s Drum, an occult novel set in a future where mainstream religion is outlawed. Hypnotism fits quite nicely with occult themes, and yet there’s nothing really occult about it.

It’s a curious phenomenon. It’s neither sleeping nor awake, more like daydreaming, but its effect can be profound, especially in simple area like analgesia or bolstering willpower to quit smoking.

So what is this deep secret which is so central to the novel? In fact, The Deep Secret is no secret, but the underlying method is, and it’s that method everyone wants.

Here, in another extract from the tale, is the young Julius Reiniger, having learned the basics of hypnotism from his master, Franz Walter, listening to a lecture on The Deep Secret.

***

In a half drunken haze one evening, his master had once told him that there was a means by which he could hypnotise some people, mainly women, with no words, nothing but a simple stare and the touch of his hand. When Julius pushed him on the matter the following day, Walter became angry, and Julius decided not to pursue it.

Later, sober, Walter called him to the fireside and explained.

“Many doubt it, Julius, but you must believe me when I say The Deep Secret is real. I learned it many years ago from a Romany traveller by the name of Nicolae Munteanu. He was a hypnotist in the fairground sideshow and I travelled with them for a time, throughout the South and East of the country, learning my craft. I was nineteen at the time, the same age as you are now. I quickly realised the potential of this phenomenon and before long, I was enjoying the young ladies of Karlsruhe and Baden-Baden, and Stuttgart. Then Nicolae took seriously ill. He was an old man when I met him. As he was dying, he taught me The Deep Secret, but he also warned me of its dangers. It will give a hypnotist total control in an instant but if it used wrongly, it will lead to the death of the subject. Therefore, Julius, I will not yet teach you The Deep Secret. Later, when you are older, wiser, more discriminating, I will teach you how it works, but for now be satisfied with your progress.”

Julius went to bed that night filled with anticipation and frustration. He wanted to learn, he wanted to master this truly strange art, and he wanted, he so desperately wanted, to learn The Deep Secret.

***

Published by Crooked Cat, The Deep Secret is released on Friday October 25th, available as an e-book or in paperback, and you can pre-order your paperback from Amazon. There is a launch event on Facebook, and everyone is welcome

Another Rainy Monday

We’re just a few days away now from the release of The Deep Secret, and I’m driven to distraction trying to keep with all the places where posts and interviews are happening.

I announced Richard Hardie’s blog last week, and followed it with Catriona King’s and Jean Knill’s.

This morning I’m appearing as a guest of Nancy Jardine comparing the city of Heidelberg as I see it in The Deep Secret, to her vision in her novel, Topaz Eyes.

Elsewhere, Voices received a boost over the weekend with a rapid series of sales, and of course, the popularity of the STAC Mysteries continues, with many of the titles still showing in the Brit Detectives top 100.

We’re coming up to Halloween and one of those STAC titles is A Halloween Homicide. Oddly enough, it’s set over the Halloween weekend in York, one of my favourite places.

So to offset the grim news of energy price rise, just to cheer you up on a rainy, grainy Monday morning, let’s have a little sample from A Halloween Homicide.

 

In the following scene, Joe and the Sanford 3rd Age Club have just arrived at the Palmer Hotel. It’s bucketing down and Joe is about to have his first encounter with Edgar Prudhoe, MP.

“Rotten, bloody weather,” Joe cursed aloud as the double glass doors swung open automatically for him.

Such announcements usually attracted the attention of staff or other guests, but this time, his entrance was upstaged by an argument going on at the counter where a tall, well-dressed business type was arguing with a blonde.

“Do you know who I am?” the man demanded.

“I’m perfectly aware of who you are, Mr Prudhoe,” the blonde returned, “but hotel policy makes no exception for Members of Parliament. Our check-in time –”

“I check in when I bloody well get here,” Prudhoe retorted, “and I don’t expect to be charged for it.”

With no particular interest in politics, Joe could not place the MP, but he could see that the blonde was itching to give him a piece of her mind, even though her position made that impossible. Joe felt himself under no such restriction, but he held back on the grounds that the debate had nothing to do with him.

“Our policy is standard at all our hotels, sir,” the blonde said with barely controlled restraint. “You checked in early and there is a twenty pound charge for that.”

“I’ll not pay,” Prudhoe threatened.

“If you refuse to pay I’ll have no alternative but to ask you to leave,” said the blonde as Joe sidled up to the counter, “and if you then refuse to leave, I shall call the police.”

Joe checked the blonde’s nametag while Prudhoe launched into another tirade.

“You should think about this. By the time I’m through with your bosses, you’ll be out on your ear.”

“I shouldn’t think so,” Joe said, unable to hold himself back any longer. “She has a witness – me – to your verbal abuse.”

Prudhoe rounded on him. “Mind your own bloody business.”

“You should learn some manners,” Joe suggested. “And like all politicians, you should learn to shut up now and again and listen to others.”

Prudhoe turned apoplectic but Joe went on undeterred.

“See, if…”Joe made a point of checking her nametag again. “If Yvonne Naylor here, worked for me, and she didn’t charge you for early check-in, she’d be in hot water. And if she insulted you or threw you out, I’d probably pay her a bonus.”

Does Joe’s first impression of Prudhoe improve? Does Prudhoe’s first impression of Joe get any better? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

***

The Deep Secret is published by Crooked Cat on Friday, October 25th in e-format and paperback. You can pre-order your paperback copy from Amazon

A Halloween Homicide is published by Crooked Cat and available for download and in paperback from Amazon, and can also be downloaded from Smashwords and Crooked Cat Books.

I’m a Guest of Catriona King

We have one week to go to the release of The Deep Secret, and the pre-publicity is gathering pace.

Today I’m guesting on the blog of Catriona King, a smashing lass from Belfast, who writes crime thrillers similar to The Handshaker and The Deep Secret.

Catriona writes the DCI Marc Craig crime thrillers, set mainly in her hometown of Belfast. There are currently four in the series and a fifth is due out on December 13th.

My post talks about locations in fiction, and what you can do with them.

Readers of the STAC Mysteries will know that my books contain a mix of real and fictitious locations. Indeed, Sanford in West Yorkshire, the STAC’s home base, doesn’t exist, and Scarbeck, Croft’s home town in The Handshaker and The Deep Secret is also a fiction.

I’ve more to say on the matter on Catriona’s blog, which you can pick up at: http://www.catrionakingbooks.com/#!david-w-robinson/c1j6v

With only seven days to go and the need to fill in a little space, here’s a short extract from The Deep Secret.

***

It’s 1923 and after the failed Beer Hall Putsch, young Julius Reiniger is on the run from both the State Police and the NSDAP. Arriving in Heidelberg, he is starving hungry and surrounded by food he cannot afford to buy.

A baker stood to one end of his stall, passing the time of day with a woman customer. Julius idled at the other end of the stall, one wary eye on the proprietor. He could not hear their conversation, but he caught the word ‘Hitler’ and assumed they were discussing the botched putsch. Quick as a flash, he took a loaf of bread, tucked it under his filthy shirt, and walked away, along Hauptstrasse.

The woman shouted a warning, the proprietor called out something and then gave chase. Julius ran, hurtling along the narrow, cobbled thoroughfare, avoiding an oncoming tram, and turned sharp right into the fish market. He risked a glance over his shoulder where the red-faced, overweight baker waved a threatening fist at him.

Inwardly, Julius smiled. Hungry he may be, but he could still outrun an old fool like–

His gloating ended abruptly as he collided heavily with a smartly dressed man. Julius fell to the cold cobbles, the loaf of bread rolling from under his shirt to the ground. Momentarily dazed, he looked up into a pure blond, blue-eyed Aryan face that stared grimly back at him.

And suddenly the baker was there too, haranguing him, dragging him roughly to his feet.

The stranger looked on for a moment while the baker told Julius exactly what he would do with him.

“I’ve a good mind to whip you myself, you thieving little bastard.”

“That will not be necessary,” said the stranger.

“Sir,” said the baker with great deference, “I am grateful to you for stopping this vagabond in his tracks, but I think this is a matter for the police.” He glared murderously into Julius’s eyes. “Or perhaps more instant justice.”

“I am the police,” said the stranger and dug into his neatly pressed jacket to bring out a wallet, which he flashed quickly at the baker before putting it away again. “Inspector Röhm, State Police. What seems to be the problem?”

“He stole a loaf of bread and I demand justice. We do have laws against stealing, do we not?”

“Of course.” The inspector looked down upon Julius. “Well, boy, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Julius shrugged miserably. “I was hungry.”

“Decent folk,” observed the baker, “work for their living. They earn wages to pay for food.”

Julius looked him sourly in the eye. “Would you give me a job?”

The baker raised his hand. “I’ll give you a good hiding, lad.”

“There is no need for that,” said the policeman. “We are not barbarians. With your permission, sir, I will take him to the police station and prepare charges. If you come along later this morning and make out the formal complaint forms, I’m sure we can guarantee a quick conviction and suitable punishment.”

One of these men will change Julius’s life forever, but which one?

***

The Deep Secret is released on October 25th and will be available for download as an ebook or paperback, and you can pre-order your paperback now from Amazon with their price guarantee. And everyone is welcome to join the Facebook launch event next Friday.

Launch Mode

We have eight days to the release of The Deep Secret, and as usual, I’m pulling out extra stops in order to publicise it.

The first such stop along the route came last Friday when I guested on the blog belonging to Richard Hardie, author of the Temporal Detective Agency novels. I’m so far behind with work, that I’ve only just got around to blogging it.

Parts of The Deep Secret are what’s known as faction: fictionalised accounts of real events. It doesn’t take up a lot of the novel, but it was one of the more difficult parts to produce. You can see what I have to say about this on Richard’s blog at:

http://richardhardies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/faction.html

Beyond Richard, I’ve also produced pieces for my old friend Lorraine Mace, (cleverly disguised as crime writer Frances di Plino) Catriona King, Ailsa Abraham, Jeff Gardiner and Jane Bwye. While I was doing this, I completely forgot I was supposed to turn out a piece for Nancy Jardine, too, but it’s now in the pipeline.

There may be others, and if I’ve forgotten anyone, I apologise. I’ve done more work for other people over the last few days, albeit discussing my work, than I have for myself.

The Deep Secret, sequel to The Handshaker, is released on Friday October 25th and will be available in as an e-book or if your prefer a paperback, and you can pre-order the paperback from Amazon right now. You’re also cordially invited to the Facebook launch event a week tomorrow.

The Holiday Season Approaches

It’s the start of another grim, wet October week, but there is some brighter news. I just haven’t found it yet.

Around us, the shops are gearing up for their busiest season, Halloween, Guy Fawkes and Christmas

When I was a lad, Halloween was more of an American festival, but it’s caught on here in Great Britain, and the stores are not slow to capitalise on the opportunities, selling a whole range of paraphernalia to cater for the parties.

Naturally, as a writer, I have to bend to the whim of reader tastes, and sales of STAC’s third mystery, A Halloween Homicide, are already picking up.

Guy Fawkes Night is November 5th, and evening of bonfires and fireworks. If you don’t know, Guy Fawkes is often billed as the last man to enter parliament with honourable intentions. He was gonna blow it sky high in what has become known as the gunpowder plot. He was eventually hung drawn and quartered for his crime, and the event is now celebrated on November 5th when effigies of Guy Fawkes, often homemade, are burned on the bonfire, fireworks light up the sky, and traditional foods like potatoes wrapped in foil and roasted in the bonfire, are eaten.

Speaking personally, and cynically, I’d probably burn effigies of Cameron, Clegg, Milliband, et al. Like most politicians, they either don’t have a clue what goes on in the real world, or more likely, they don’t care.

I’m not the only one who’s cynical about the Establishment. Felix Croft, the hero of my darker novels, is too. Manifested in antipathy for his father, a senior judge, it’s mentioned in The Handshaker, and there’s something of a fire and brimstone conclusion to his next adventure, The Deep Secret, which is due out on October 25th, well in time for Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night.

If you prefer paperbacks to e-books, you can pre-order the title at http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Deep-Secret-David-Robinson/dp/1909841234 and they’ll deliver once it’ available. If you’d rather wait, you can always come along to the Facebook Launch Event, a week on Friday.

Beyond November, we’re getting into the big push for Christmas, although, if truth be told, most shops have had cards and decorations on sale since the end of August. Again, it’s a time of year I’m not particularly fond of. I have no religious convictions of any description, and I find the short, dark days very depressing.

For STAC fans, however, there will be a new release in time for Santa’s visit. As we move on in the year, sales of last year’ two releases, A Murder for Christmas and Murder at the Murder Mystery Weekend (which is set over the New Year) are both improving, and that tells me readers are getting eager for festive fiction.

That’s all for the time being. Have a good week.

Halloween Come Early

I’ve had the fortnight from hell, which has persuaded me that the forces of darkness were not bothering to wait for October 31st before hassling me.

I got back from Benidorm on Tuesday 24th September, and my car promptly broke down. It’s proving difficult to repair and it’s still off the road. On the 29th, broadband services in my area went down. They came back on the 30th, but mine didn’t work properly. I’ve spent hours and hours on the phone, and after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with the Customer Services people at my ISP followed by a visit from an engineer, someone finally realised that a few buttons needed pushing at their end. They pushed them yesterday and everything is back to normal.

As a consequence of all this hassle, my stress levels went through the roof, and my blood pressure wasn’t far behind. That sent my general health into a downward spiral, and it’s only over the last twenty four hours that I’ve begun to pick up.

But, I’m back. If not 100%, then getting that way.

And even if I haven’t had internet access, I’ve managed to get some odds and sods done between the interminable and largely unproductive telephone calls.

Preparations are now well in hand for the launch of The Deep Secret, two weeks today. I’ve already done a couple of interviews, and I’ll be guesting on three blogs, discussing various issues which come out of the tale. The details will appear here.

And with Halloween almost upon us, the shops are full of the usual trick or treat/party trivia so my early offering is a trailer for A Halloween Homicide, STAC Mystery #3.

For some reason known best to technically minded people, the video won’t embed in this post, but you can find it on YouTube

Fancy giving your Halloween party a boost? Give them a reading from A Halloween Homicide.

***

A Halloween Homicide, is available to download from

Amazon (Kindle)

Smashwords (all formats)

Crooked Cat Books (EPBU, MOBI, PDF)

Name Dropping

Isn’t it nice when someone gives you a mention?

I’ve known Lorraine Mace for about eight or nine years now. She’s a tutor for the Writer’s Bureau, and she writes the humour column at the back of Writing Magazine, one of the first pages I read every month. As if that’s not enough, working as Frances di Plino, she is also the author of the Paolo Storey novels Bad Moon Rising and Someday Never Comes, both of which are published by Crooked Cat Books.

I read early versions of Bad Moon Rising, and I was impressed. I’m reading Someday Never Comes right now and the standard has been maintained, even, dare I say, exceeded, and in an effort to get the message out there, Franny is giving away two copies on Goodreads. It runs for the whole of October, and all you do to enter is cut over there and fill in the forms.

The Paolo Storey novels are as dark as my own creations, The Handshaker and it’s forthcoming sequel, The Deep Secret. Serious competition, and of course, it’s every author’s duty to deal with the competition. After learning that Lorraine/Frances was signing up with Crooked Cat, I set out plans for dealing with her. These ranged from a simple sniper’s shot to burning at the stake and/or boiling in oil.

Naturally, nothing ever came of it. The missus wanted the lawn mowing.

I digress. The November issue of Writing Magazine landed on my doormat the other day, and as usual I ignored it, until Nik Morton, another fine Crooked Cat author, pointed out that I got a mention in Lorraine’s column.

My first thoughts, in order, were, “I really must thank Lorraine” and “I’d better read it”. So I read it.

Lorraine is talking about productivity and the fact that while she was faffing about with one Paolo tale, I knocked out another five STACs (soon to be six, Lo) and a couple of other tomes.

She heaps praise upon my work (who wouldn’t? Well, my missus for one) but she then goes on to say that if she ever takes up murder as a profession, I’m top of the hit list.

Charming. Here I am slaving over a hot keyboard, struggling with the pain of arthritis, a bad chest and United’s worst start to the season for over 20 years, and now I’m getting thinly veiled getting death threats. And it’s not as if I don’t get enough of those already. If I had a tenner for every time Her Indoors has said, “I’ll kill you, you miserable old bastard,” I’m sure I’d have enough money to get my knees mended.

Naturally, it’s easy enough for me to get my own back. The next time I send Joe and Co to the Costa del Sol, you see if they aren’t investigating the death of a well-known, expat, British columnist, strangled with her own laptop mains lead.

Could I be that petty? It wouldn’t be the first time.

But I’m not worried. The simple fact is, Lorraine would never get away with it. I know some of the best detectives in town, and I don’t just mean Joe Murray. Having read Bad Moon Rising and working through Someday Never Comes, I know that Paolo Storey is Bradchester’s finest.

So if Lorraine, disguised as Franny, does turn up with a Walther PPK, she’ll likely end up nicked by her own creation.

***

Lorraine/Frances was recently interviewed on Talk Radio Europe. Click the link below and you can listen to what she has to say about crime writing and in particular, Paolo Storey and his adventures.

Listen to this interview

Cover Reveal: The Deep Secret

Friday October 25th sees the release of the long-awaited sequel to The Handshaker and now we can reveal the cover of The Deep Secret

The novel picks the story up over a year and a half after the end of The Handshaker, and finds Felix Croft, eager to escape his nightmares, living in the subtropical sunshine of Tenerife. A handwritten manuscript arrives purporting to divulge the secret of instantaneous hypnotic induction using no more than touch.

Back in England, The Handshaker escapes with the help of an accomplice, and sets out on another murderous spree. After an urgent call from Detective Inspector Millie Matthews, Croft has no option but to return to England and finds himself immersed once more in The Handshaker’s thirst for sadistic killing. And before too long it becomes apparent that Croft himself is the target.

In discussions with my publisher, we decided that there is no reason why Croft cannot become a series, and in keeping with that idea, Crooked Cat have reworked the cover of The Handshaker to match the theme of The Deep Secret. Here it is.

The new image has already appeared on the ebooks.

The series will appear under the general title of Murder by Suggestion, hinting at Croft’s main occupation as a hypnotic researcher.

These titles are not gentle, light-hearted STAC Mysteries, but full on, hard boiled crime thrillers, and yet, they’re not police procedurals. Instead, they’re dark, edgy adventures, bordering on the paranormal, but within a solid foundation of what may be possible. Right now, I have five titles roughed out and my best guess is we’ll see one, perhaps two per year.

If you love hard-bitten crime, stay tuned. The nightmare has barely begun.

***

The Deep Secret, the sequel to The Handshaker, is published by Crooked Cat Books on Friday October 25th, 2013.

The Handshaker is available for download from

Amazon** (Kindle)

Smashwords (all format)

Crooked Cat Books (MOBI, EPUB, PDF)

And in paperback from

Amazon**

** for Amazon worldwide, change .co.uk to .com

The Handshaker: The Nightmare Continues

Tuesday is the 1st of October, shorter days are upon us, and we head towards Halloween, that night when the witches ride and dark deeds fill the dark nights.

A fitting time to continue the frightening saga of The Handshaker.

The Deep Secret has taken a lot less time to develop than the original novel, but even so, it’s been almost two years in the making. The novel carries the tale forward, but in doing so, it calls back to pre-war Germany and the catalyst for The Handshaker, the Heidelberg Case.

For anyone who has studied hypnosis, the Heidelberg Case is a familiar tale, and there are as many theories as there are variations on the tale. I based my fictional account on the work of Dr Heinz E. Hammerschlag in his book Hypnotism and Crime (Hypnose und Verbrechen).

I’ve read many wild and wonderful theories of how criminal hypnotist, Franz Walter hypnotised Mrs E without saying a word, but by grabbing her wrist and staring her in the eye. Mind control, telepathy, drugs; I’ve even seen Mrs E described a “genetic somnambulist” whatever the hell one of those is.

What most commentators seem to forget is that Dr Hammerschlag’s work is not original. It’s an extract taken from the notes of Dr Ludwig Mayer, the psychiatrist who treated Mrs E. And yet, no trace of those original documents can be found. Some years ago, I made enquiries at the University of Heidelberg, via the German Embassy in London, and they knew nothing about it.

It’s not difficult to understand why. Walter was tried and sentenced in 1936 when the Nazi state was coming to the pinnacle of its power. Would such a totalitarian regime really incarcerate an extraordinary hypnotist like Walter? Would he not be much more useful to them as an interrogator?

Less than ten years later, the Nazi administration was burning documents by the million in order to cover their crimes against humanity. If Walter really had been dragooned into the ranks of the Gestapo, it’s likely all trace of him was burned.

Given that Dr Hammerschlag’s account is second hand, how accurate is it? Mrs E never recalled a hypnotic induction, but that doesn’t mean to say there wasn’t one. According to her, Walter took her hand and from that moment on, “I lost all will of my own.”

Hypnotism is notorious for producing short-term memory blanks and pseudo-memories, and it may be that she “forgot” the induction.

Whatever the truth, it makes for great fiction, and I hope I’ve done it justice. The Deep Secret weaves the Heidelberg Case, and events in wartime and post war Britain into a tale of violent and frightening crimes in the here and now, pitching one angry man and one determined detective against a vicious, apparently unstoppable killer.

The Handshaker nightmare continues.

***

The Deep Secret is published by Crooked Cat Books on October 25th. Everyone is welcome at the launch event on Facebook.