David W. Robinson's Blog: Always Writing, page 37
June 30, 2013
A Busy Weekend and a Crooked Cat Sale
It’s been an eventful few days. Crooked Cat launched another fantastic title on Friday.
Expected by Sarah England, described as not exactly chicklit, but a comedy for women readers, smashed its way into the humour charts, and rattled up the Amazon overall rankings to outshine six of my eight STAC Mysteries, and it’s still shining away there, proving itself an excellent choice.
Over the weekend, two STAC Mysteries received rave reviews. A Halloween Homicide picked up a four-star, and The Filey Connection, the very first title in the series, collected another five-star. In the meantime, the latet release, The Summer Wedding Murder, sits at #2 in the Amazon UK British Detectives top 100, and it’s hovering between 500 and 600 in the overall charts. A creditable performance for the first 10 days.
Finally, to round off the weekend’s news, I’ve just been informed that Crooked Cat Books are holding a summer sale, with most titles in the catalogue reduced to about 77p until Tuesday, get yourself over to their pages and stock up on a few bargains while you can.
June 27, 2013
Knobs and the Genesis of Joe Murray
I keep saying there’s more than a touch of me in Joe Murray. Here’s a little tale to demonstrate what I mean.
I’ve just come back from our local hypermarket, where there’s a travelator to and from the underground car park. If you don’t know what a travelator is, it’s an escalator, but instead of forming steps, it’s flat, like a tilted conveyor belt. When you wheel your trolley onto it, the wheels are locked into the griddle beneath your feet, when you get to the top or bottom, your trolley is naturally pushed off onto level ground.
I was coming down the down travelator (useful, since getting down the up is hell’s teeth, especially with a trolley full of groceries) when I noticed at the bottom four people chatting and blocking access to the up side. Someone complained and they moved… to block the exit of the down side.
Blocking the up is a nuisance. Blocking the down is plain stupid because the trolleys coming down are going to be ejected and they have nowhere to go other than into you.
As I got near the bottom I called out, “Coming through,” for which I received murderous glares, until the trolley ploughed off the belt and they had to move or be mowed down like pins on bowling lane. This caused mutinous grumbles. I’m not known for mincing my words, so I told them how daft it was to block off the exit, more grumbles, and in the end, I declared them “Knobs” in a voice loud enough to be heard in Manchester.
It’s precisely the kind of situation where Joe would have reacted exactly as I did, and that’s where he comes from.
It’s also quite easy to dismiss me (and Joe) as grumpy old men, but what about the sheer idiocy of people, young and old which makes us grumpy? We all do stupid things, and I’m not perfect. I make my share of mistakes, but for most of the time my brain is in gear. I think about what I’m doing. I use my common sense, and as I said to the knobs at the bottom of the travelator, if it had been a level crossing would you stand on the railway line chatting? Obviously not. Then why do they assume the bottom of an escalator, where the people coming down have nowhere else to go, is the ideal place to stand around gossiping?
Call ’em what you like; knobs, dipsticks, brainless dicks, it all amounts to the same thing… the perfect target for my grumbles… and Joe’s.
Catch up on Joe’s latest irritations in The Summer Wedding Murder, currently at #2 in the Amazon UK British Detectives top 100, is available for download from:
Amazon UK (Kindle)
Amazon Worldwide (Kindle)
Smashwords (all formats)
Crooked Cat Books (MOBI, EPUB, PDF)
And in paperback from
June 23, 2013
A Record Breaking Chart Hit
The Summer Wedding Murder was released on Wednesday last week, and for the first day or two, I wondered just how well it was not likely to do. It made quite a sluggish start, leaping into the Amazon UK Kindle Brit Detectives chart, and then rapidly dropping out again on several occasions.
All that changed yesterday when it moved into the top ten of that chart, and drew The Filey Connection along with it.
Then, yesterday evening, it moved to an overall ranking of #645, which pushed it into the top five at #4, where it remained overnight, almost four hundred places higher in the overall rankings, than the book in the #5 slot.
At 6:30 this morning, I checked the chart again, and The Summer Wedding Murder had leap-frogged G.K.Chesterton’s Father Brown to take over the NUMBER THREE slot.
It’s a record for a STAC Mystery title. The Chocolate Egg Murders climbed higher in the overall rankings, and The Summer Wedding Murder may yet climb further, but Chocolate Egg had fiercer competition in the British Detectives arena, and therefore never climbed higher than #5. The Summer Wedding Murder has gone further.
I keep a close watch on the genre chart with good reason. Getting into the top 100 of the overall rankings takes something extra special, but the genre chart raises the visibility of the title amongst readers who are particularly looking for traditional British Detective whodunits, the kind of cozy crime novels of which the STAC Mysteries are an example. In many ways, therefore, the British Detectives chart is more important than the overall bestseller list, which comprises all genres. It would be nice to hit both, but hey, I’m not holding my breath.
Will it climb higher? The titles ahead of The Summer Wedding Murder represent some serious competition. Agatha Christie and Rachel Abbot. I may push Hercule Poirot, but Rachel is recognised as one of the best British crime writers on the Kindle, and to press her for the top spot, I really would have to hit the top 100 of the overall rankings.
***
The Summer Wedding Murder, STAC Mystery #8 is available for download from:
Amazon UK (Kindle)
Amazon Worldwide (Kindle)
Smashwords (all formats)
Crooked Cat Books (MOBI, EPUB, PDF)
And in paperback from
Writelink: Because We All Have to Start Somewhere
I’ve been a scribbler for as long as I can remember, but I only began to take it seriously in the 1980s, and even then I confined myself to writing factual articles and short stories. I didn’t turn my attention to novels until the 1990s, and there was a fair break while I wrote (unsuccessfully) for TV.
Late in 2004, things took a dramatic turn when after yet another rejection, I decided I needed some help. So I joined a writer’s community: Writelink.
What I found was a cheerful bunch of scribes all ready, willing and happy to lend their expertise and advice on this and that. I threw myself in with them, and began to learn. Three years on, I had my first acceptance, a full length novel entitled The Haunting at Melmerby Manor, picked up by Virtual Tales, an American outfit who put out e-books and POD paperbacks. One of my favourite tales is how that novel began as a single chapter on Writelink, which the writers advised me upon.
I’m still a member and these days a moderator for Writelink, although time constraints mean I call once a week to ensure everything is as it should be. I’m there and gone in less than ten minutes.
I made many friends on that site, including Writing magazine columnist, fellow Crooked Cat author and Writer’s Bureau tutor, Lorraine Mace, who produces crime fiction under the pen name Frances di Plino, and my editor, Maureen Vincent-Northam, author of Trace Your Roots and co-author, along with Lorraine of the Writer’s ABC Checklist.
Laurie Clayton is another fine writer I met through Writelink, and so too is Trevor Belshaw, who turns out excellent children’s fiction under the pen name Trevor Forest. (Something to do with him being a Notts Forest supporter… well I never said these people were sane.)
Nipping over to Writelink this morning, just to check there are no issues in need of moderation, I note that the site has changed over the years, but the friendliness, the willingness of other writes to help those who need it, has not.
Any writer putting up a piece of work in the Arena, will find helpful comment. No one ever says, “Don’t give up your day job.” Instead they offer opinions on how the work can be improved.
We all have to start somewhere and if you’re new to writing and in need of a helping hand? Give Writelink a look. If I hadn’t done, I don’t know where Joe and Co would be.
***
The Summer Wedding Murder STAC Mystery #8 is available for download from:
Amazon UK (Kindle)
Amazon Worldwide (Kindle)
Smashwords (all formats)
Crooked Cat Books (MOBI, EPUB, PDF)
And in paperback from
June 21, 2013
Another Top Twenty Hit
Last Wednesday (June 19th) saw the release of The Summer Wedding Murder, the 8th STAC Mystery, and it’s already made the top twenty in its category.
At six o’clock BST this morning, it sat at #13 in the Amazon UK Books/Crime Thriller & Mystery/British Detectives top 100.
This is a remarkable achievement in less than four days, and as always it’s the reader to thank. I only write the things, I merely let people know they’re there.
It may or may not hold this position, but whatever happens over the coming days and weeks, it’s already eclipsed the previous titles in the series. Murder at the Murder Mystery Weekend took several weeks to make the top twenty, My Deadly Valentine never made it, The Filey Connection makes occasional forays into the top twenty before dropping out again, and the best ever performance came from The Chocolate Egg Murders, which made the upper reaches of the chart in five days. The Summer Wedding Murder has beaten it by one day.
What’s the secret?
Hanged if I know. Perhaps it’s the mix of a classic, British grumpy old man, and a whodunit puzzle, or maybe it’s the ordinariness of the characters. One reviewer described them as “like people you’ve met at some time.”
I do know that I enjoy writing them. Finding new ways for the two women to wind up Joe is fun, finding new ways for him to exercise his outspokenness and new gags to drop into the text, is an amiable way of passing the time. And Joe is not the heroic type of detective. He’s short and slight, not big and beefy. When it comes to a fight, there’s only ever going to be one loser: Joe Murray. So he doesn’t get into fights.
Whatever the reason I’m glad that so many people find him and his two companions to be good company.
***
The Summer Wedding Murder STAC Mystery #8 is available for download from:
Amazon UK (Kindle)
Amazon Worldwide (Kindle)
Smashwords (all formats)
Crooked Cat Books (MOBI, EPUB, PDF)
And in paperback from
June 19, 2013
Released Today and Already a Chart Hit
The Summer Wedding Murder, the eighth STAC Mystery, was released at midnight. I checked on its progress at 6:30 this morning and it had already entered the UK Kindle British Detectives Top 100 at number 85.
At the same time the other seven were placed here and there in the same chart, and the two volumes of Flatcap humour were also in their charts. This means that of the 12 books I have on sale, no less than ten were showing in their respective category top 100s.
As always, this has nothing to do with me. I don’t sell these books. I simply make people aware that they are there. Their popularity is done to you, the readers, and I thank you all.
The Summer Wedding Murder is only the latest in the STAC series, not the end. I’m currently working on STAC #9, Costa del Murder, and STACs 10 and 11 are already past the planning stage.
If this is the first time you’ve come across STAC, you may be wondering what they’re all about.
They are cozy British whodunits, in the tradition of Holmes, Poirot, Marple, Father Brown, etc. (although I’m not comparing STAC to such classics). They’re written with a good deal of humour, much of which stems from the grumpiness and tight-fistedness of the central character Joe Murray. There’s a lot of me in Joe. No man ever had a tighter grip on his wallet.
There is no violence, no really bad language and when it comes to sex, we always stop at the bedroom door. They are simply entertainment, with a puzzle at the core, and a satisfactory outcome.
You can follow the adventures of Joe & Co in any order. Some books refer back to other titles, but STAC is a series not a serial.
In the meantime, there’s a party on Facebook to celebrate the launch of The Summer Wedding Murder, which as well as being the eighth STAC Mystery is also the 50th book published by Crooked Cat.
You’re more than welcome to joins us but bring your wedding photographs and suggestions for the most useless wedding gift all all time.
***
The Summer Wedding Murder, STAC Mystery #8 is published by Crooked Cat Books and is available for download from:
And in paperback from:
June 17, 2013
Two Days Left and Flatcap Has His Say
With two days to go to the launch of STAC #8, The Summer Wedding Murder, my old friend Flatcap has popped up wondering why he hasn’t had an invite.
Not that he would have gone. “I’ve no desire to watch another poor sod committing himself to penal servitude.” he said when I broached the matter with him.
As in most areas, Flatcap is an expert on marriage. “I should be,” he said. “I fell for it not once, but twice. I’ve had over forty years of conjugal confrontation and according to my calculations if I’d shot the pair of ’em I’d have been free a week last Tuesday.”
Flatcap’s current exposition, Flatcap’s Guide to UK Holidays, has just collected its sixth review.
Nothing escapes his cantankerously comic observations, no detail of vacation irritation gets away unscathed, making this Les Dawson-style rib-tickling rant a treat.
High praise from Iain Pattison, an acknowledged expert in the art of the short story, a man with an impressive record in writing humour, a blogger and competition judge for no lesser an organisation than the Writer’s Bureau. If you enjoy a good laugh, then take a look at his current title, the seriously rib-tickling Is That A Pun In Your Pocket.
Not that Flatcap is grateful for such praise. “It’s the natural order,” he told me.
Flatcap’s Guide to UK Holidays current sits at number 12 in the Amazon UK Kindle Humour/Parenting & Families top 100 and I think Flatcap is quite pleased about that, although you’d never get him to admit it.
Instead he will simply grumble on about the non-invitation to the Summer Wedding. “You’d think they’d want me there to cheer them up.”
***
Flatcap’s Guide to UK Holidays is exclusive to Amazon Kindle.
The Summer Wedding Murder, STAC Mystery #8, from Crooked Cat Books is released on Wednesday June 19th. Check out the launch party on Facebook.
June 16, 2013
With Three Days to the Launch
We are running round like blue-arsed flies.
What a curious expression. Why would a blue-arsed fly be running anywhere?
I digress. Wednesday sees the launch of STAC #8, The Summer Wedding Murder, and with any e-book, things move a lot faster than they do with print and traditional publishing. You can be making adjustments right up until a minute or two before the official launch.
Course, you shouldn’t have to, but that’s the mark of my administrative qualities; a startling ability to drive Crooked Cat, my publisher, up the wall or over the edge. I worked as an administrator once, but I got fired cos my admin was crap.
There’s the usual launch party on Facebook, and everyone is welcome, but we’re going for something slightly different this time. We want to see pictures of you in your wedding finery and we want you to suggest gifts for the bride and groom. No boring ordinary gifts, please. The more unusual the better and there will be giveaways for the most useless item(s) offered. Clean, decent and suitable for younger readers, please.
So get yourself over to Facebook and find out what all the fuss is about.
And remember: if the bride is feeling nervous on her wedding day, think how the murder victim will be feeling.
June 15, 2013
Four Days To Go
To the launch of The Summer Wedding Murder, which will see Joe, Sheila and Brenda invited to a wedding in the summer. Bet you didn’t see that coming.
Summer Wedding is the eighth STAC Mystery, which is a surprise to me. When I set out on this road, I figured I had maybe two or three titles, five at best, yet here we are at number eight. Better yet, I’ve almost completed number nine, and numbers ten and eleven are already planned.
Summer Wedding sees a slight departure in that it doesn’t include the whole of the Sanford 3rd Age Club. The wedding in question is within the Staines family, and our three sleuths are invited because they are old friends of Alec and Julia Staines.
There are some other, interesting aspects to the tale, which I won’t go into here. Am I preaching or setting up the next book? Well, it’s a bit of both really, but you’ll find out when you read it.
As a bonus, this title also includes the opening chapter of the next STAC Mystery, Costa del Murder, which is due out early September-ish.
There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle about the title of STAC #9/ it was originally Costa del Murder, I changed it to Costa del Death, but then as the story progressed, the characters took over and it’s reverted to Costa del Murder. Bloody typical. Is it any wonder I can’t get my life under control when even my fictional creations take over?
You’ll noticed that the cover of Summer Wedding has been attached to the right hand sidebar, but it doesn’t go anywhere at the moment. That’s because I don’t yet have the Amazon Kindle link it’ll be there by Wednesday.
The Summer Wedding Murder, STAC Mystery #8 is launched about midnight Tuesday/Wednesday and as usual there’s a launch event on Facebook. If you want to come along, you’re more than welcome.
June 10, 2013
Monday’s News
It’s another Monday morning, the weather is spoiling itself and as usual, I’m manacled to the workstation.
I’m a bit behind with a number of bits and bobs on this blog, but that’s not without reason. The fact is I’m working on the next STAC Mystery (no, not the one released next week, the one after) and it’s going rather well. I’m hesitant to interrupt the flow when I’m writing so freely, so I stick with it to the exclusion of everything else.
This morning, I got bored with it, so I’m taking a couple of hours out to update this blog and deal with a few other matters.
We’re nine days away from the release of STAC Mystery #8, The Summer Wedding Murder, and well geared up for it. There’s a massive party on Facebook and you’re more than welcome to come along. It’s wedding themed, so bring a virtual gift. There will be giveaways for the most useless item(s). We could with pictures, too, of you in your wedding finery (note: if you’re a naturist and you got wed in altogether, you can skip this bit. I don’t need all that flesh to put me off my dinner).
News of the other STAC Mysteries is good. This morning, six out of the seven were still in the UK Kindle, British Detectives chart. The odd one out was The I-Spy Murders, but it’ll be back in the lowers reaches before the day is out, I’m sure. Murder at the Murder Mystery Weekend keeps dropping out and coming back in, too. That was the first title to hit the chart back in November last year, would you believe. Seven months, it’s been there. A creditable performance and as ever, it has nothing to do with me. It’s all down to you wonderful readers.
Flatcap is also making his mark. Flatcap’s Guide to UK Holidays has been in the upper half of UK Kindle Humour/Parenting & Families (!!!) chart for about a month, and the second volume of his advice, Flatcap’s Guide to Sex sits in the top 30 of the same chart. This volume is vital for any man (or woman) who wants to know everything about the carnal from the man who knows everything about the carnival. Lisa, a reviewer, wrote, ‘absolutely made me laugh out loud’. Thank you Lisa. Flatcap aims to please, especially when he’s in the smallest room.
Finally, The Handshaker, the dark and gritty thriller which was released last January, is on the move again. Overnight it leapt about 200,000 places. Please be advised, this title is not a STAC Mystery. It contains graphic scenes of sex and violence, particularly against women, and the language reflects modern society.
Always Writing
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