David W. Robinson's Blog: Always Writing, page 56

The Handshaker – Excerpt

It’s a wet and chilly Tuesday here on the outskirts of Manchester, so permit me to liven up your day with an excerpt from my thriller, The Handshaker.

In the extract that follows, hypnotist Alex Croft has received a mysterious and anonymous note through the post. On the advice of his girlfriend, Patricia Sinclair, a barrister, he has brought the note to Scarbeck police station. Much to his surprise, Detective Inspector Millie Matthews has dragged him off to an interview room where she is now preparing cassette tapes for a formal, recorded interview.

“Are you going to tell me what this is about?” Croft pressed.

Matthews, who had returned to labelling the cassettes, looked up again and this time there was a definite hint of exasperation in her pear shaped face, a frown etched into the clear brow, a narrowing of the pupils to tiny darts, their laser intensity aimed right at him. “I don’t know what this is about, Mr Croft, but I do know that the envelope you brought me may be important. And that’s before I’ve had a look at its contents. Now will you please be patient a little longer? Superintendent Shannon will not be long.”

Croft risked a glance at his watch. 9:25. At this rate, he would be hard pressed to make his appointment with Sandra Lumb.

He frowned inwardly. Sandra would have to wait. There was something about the envelope that had caused all this fuss and despite the nagging doubts that he was getting into deep waters, he wanted to know what. If only she would give him a hint.

He looked across at her again, her head bent over the labels as she wrote them out.

“My father’s a judge you know. Queen’s Bench Division.”

“I know.” Still she did not look up.

“You seem to know an awful lot about me,” he complained.

“You’re Scarbeck’s only celebrity.”

“Aside from The Handshaker.”

At that she froze and held herself rigid for what seemed like a long time, holding a cassette tape in her right hand, the pen in her left. Slowly she raised her head, bringing her eyes up to meet his. Croft felt a shudder of nervousness run through him. He buried it under a barrage of self-recrimination. He was a master hypnotist, a man accustomed to being in control. What’s more he had done nothing wrong. What did he have to fear from a police officer; a woman at that.

He castigated himself for that final thought. The fact that Inspector Matthews was a woman was completely irrelevant. Trish was a woman too, but more than capable of dealing with any opponent, male or female, and similarly, Ms Matthews would have undergone extensive training in maintaining control with either sex.

“What did you say?”

So much time had passed between Croft’s comment and her response that he had forgotten what he said. Something about The Handshaker, was it?

“What did you say about The Handshaker?” she repeated.

His words had obviously touched a nerve. “You commented on my celebrity status in reference to Scarbeck. I simply said that these days, The Handshaker is the best known export of this town.”

The intensity had returned to her eyes again. He felt as if they were bows, ready to unleash their arrows and impale him. “What do you know about The Handshaker?” It was almost as if she were accusing him.

“What I read in the press and hear on the radio.” Croft was subliminally aware that he had already slipped into the curt, defensive responses of the accused.

Matthews put down the cassette tape. “Where were you in the early hours of this morning?”

Her question hit him like a hammer and apprehension struck through him again. Surely she didn’t think he was The Handshaker? “At home, in bed, with my partner, who by the way is –”

“Patricia Sinclair,” Matthews interrupted, “the barrister. I already know.”

“Well there you are then.” Croft made an effort to go on the attack. “Inspector, this pussyfooting is getting to me. Will you please say what the hell is on your mind?”

Matthews sat back in her chair and tossed the pen on the table alongside the cassette. “All right. Tell me about The Handshaker. Tell me why he’s called The Handshaker.”

His heart began to beat stronger. She really did think he was The Handshaker. Could he prove that he was not? He wasn’t sure.

“I, er, I don’t know,” he rambled. “I thought either you or the media gave these people their nicknames. The Yorkshire Ripper, The Black Panther, The Handshaker.”

She did not answer, but instead threw another question at him. “Do you own a Smith Corona typewriter?”

Spotting the opportunity, Croft went on the attack. “If you know so much about me, you should be aware that I’m a sixties freak, and I do own a manual typewriter, but I don’t believe it’s a Smith Corona. I think it’s a Remington.” Controlling his insecurity, Croft modulated his tones, keeping them calm, yet challenging, and said, “I love cryptic crosswords, I love computer adventure games where you have to engage your left brain to solve the puzzles, but this particular riddle is becoming tiresome. Would you please explain what is going on?”

At last, she yielded. “We are involved in an investigation into the so-called Handshaker killings,” she explained. “I don’t know how much you know about police procedures –”

Croft interrupted her. “More than you may imagine. I told you, my father is Sir James Croft and my partner is Patricia Sinclair, QC.”

Matthews’ only response to his interruption was a slight sigh before she continued. “When we have a serial killer like The Handshaker, we get a lot of, er, nutters, for want of a better word, confessing. For that reason, we withhold certain information from the press and public. When someone rings in or comes in the way you have, we ask about that information, and if they cannot supply the correct answers, we know we’re dealing with a timewaster. One of the pieces of information we hold back is the reason he is known as The Handshaker, and another item we hold back is the fact that he writes to us after every killing, and all his notes have been produced on a Smith Corona manual typewriter.” She held up the envelope. “I can’t be sure until forensic tests have confirmed the typeface as a match, but this envelope appears to be from The Handshaker.

***

Enjoy that? Want to learn more?

The Handshaker is available for the Kindle from Amazon UK and Amazon Worldwide and in all other formats from Smashwords.

The Handshaker: to take his hand is to invite death.

Getting Better, Catching Up

Still a bit behind schedule, but striving to catch up, I’m guest-posting this week on Nick Daws’ blog concerning my recent foray into KDP Select with The Handshaker. You can read all about my thrilling adventures, here.

Apologies are also owed to my good friends Maureen Vincent-Northam and Lorraine Mace. I said I would drum up guest posts for both and right now I haven’t done either.

My current poor health has a lot to answer for.

One thing that wasn’t my fault was the delay in responding to comments on the Goodreads Q+A which is running until June 9th. Apologies again to those concerned, but the notification system went haywire and I didn’t even realise the comments were there. That’s now been corrected and I’ve replied.

Yesterday was a good day. At one point late last night I had no less than three titles in several Kindle UK genre charts. Helped by the Crooked Cat May Weekend Sale, Sanford 3rd Age Club Mysteries, The Filey Connection and A Murder for Christmas were riding mid-table in the British Detectives top 100 and The Handshaker sneaked back into the hard-boiled chart.

It means people are reading my work and (hopefully) enjoying it, and that does me more good than any amount of prescription pills.

A Weekend Sale, a Brand New Cover and a New Trailer

Health issues continue to dog me, but I have to work through them (hey up, get the bleeding violins out, he’s chasing sympathy).

Crooked Cat are having a huge spring sale this weekend. Voices, is exempt because it was only released on Friday, but the rest are on sale at about £1.50…ish. A rake of talented authors like Cathie Dunn, Frances di Plino, Michela o’Brien, all working their little cotton socks off to entertain you. And then there’s me.

If you’re looking for a great read, get on over there and fill your basket while prices are low.

If you look just to your right… (no; the right of your screen, not the bloody sideboard) … you may notice that The Handshaker has had a bit of a makeover. It has a new cover. I got fed up of the old one so I threw it out and produced this one instead. The 100,000 words inside haven’t changed. They’re still as riveting and frightening as ever, so get yourself across to Amazon or Smashwords and download it before the price of electricity goes up. Note: the cover may take a day or two to change on Amazon.

Thanks to the painkillers, there’s not enough of my brain firing on all cylinders to write a shopping list never mind a novel, so I thought sod it and gave The Handshaker trailer a makeover, too.

I don’t want you having to wander all over the web looking for it, so here it is. See how I think of you?

 

 

***

The Handshaker is available from Amazon UK, Amazon Worldwide and Smashwords

Voices is available from Amazon UK, Amazon Worldwide and Smashwords

The Filey Connection is part of the Crooked Cat Spring Weekend Sale and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon Worldwide

Details of the Crooked Cat Weekend Sale can be found on the Crooked Cat Site and the Facebook Event page.

Overworked and Underpaid

It’s been a busy old week. Late on Monday, arthritis struck with a vengeance when my left hip and knee suffered a flare up, leaving me effectively immobile and doped up on strong painkillers until yesterday evening.

There’s never a good time to suffer the agony of seized joints, but I could have lived without it this week. I had too much to do.

For instance, yesterday saw the release of Voices, through Crooked Cat Books. That was an all day marathon on Facebook, where I had to duck out now and then to sleep off the effects of the painkillers. It was like catnapping on Valium.

I’m over the worst of it and in a hurry to catch up, but there’s no easing of the pressure because today sees the start of the Crooked Cat Weekend Sale. Because it was only released yesterday, Voices has been exempted from the price reductions, but if you’re looking for a quality read on your Kindle, get on over there. Many of the titles are going for half price from now and throughout the weekend.

The Handshaker needs some boost, too, but before I do, it needs a new cover. The existing one isn’t sparkling with the readers. There’s a day or two’s work or I never saw one. And finally, to coincide with the release of Voices, I should have recorded a reading from it, but thanks to a spring cold, I’m croaking like a bullfrog on full reheat.

In the supermarket with Her Ladyship this morning, I spotted the lid on a jar of beetroot that perfectly sums it all up.

I know how it feels.

OUT!

[image error]

Voices by David Shaw is out.

Chris Deacon: a man who survives the horror of a bomb attack only to learn he has been robbed of the ability to speak.

A man plagued by strange phantoms; a man who hears Voices in his head.

A man who journeys hundreds of miles to a remote house in the middle of the Northumbrian forest to rid himself of these nightmares but instead finds himself confronting a long forgotten experiment of the Cold War, its vile progeny waiting to take their rightful place ruling the world…

The Voices

And Chris Deacon is the only man who can stop them.

Voices

You can’t escape what is in your head. 

If that little taster isn’t enough, check out the updated trailer.

 

There’s also an ongoing Author Q+A at Goodreads centred on Voices and my other works. Feel free to pop over and ask you questions.

Published by Crooked Cat Books, Voices by David Shaw is available for the Kindle from Amazon UK and Amazon Worldwide and in all other e-formats from Smashwords.

Voices – Two Days to Go

[image error]

With less than 48 hours to the launch of Voices, I’ve set up an Author Q+A on Goodreads. You don’t need an invitation. Just come along and pose your question. You’ll need a Goodreads account, but hey, any serious reader or writer should have one anyway.

Although the primary concentration is on Voices, you are permitted to ask questions regarding any of my books, and there are folders set up for The Handshaker and The Sanford 3rd Age Club Mysteries or even questions about me. No spoilers, please, or if you must, stick to the appropriate threads.

Don’t get too personal, either. There are those things I refuse to divulge, even to my missus. I never disclose my PIN, I don’t tell anyone where I keep my wallet, and whether or not I take Viagra is entirely my affair.

That aside, feel free to join in from May 10th to June 9th at David Robinson Author Q+A and I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

Voices

Coming this week to an e-reader near you.

[image error]

A bomb attack. Chris Deacon wakes from a 28-hour coma to learn that he cannot hear and he cannot speak. A man who finds himself tormented by two phantoms; a military officer and a grotesque, tiny dwarf: Colonel Gun and Egghead.

As his hearing slowly returns, he begins to hear The Voices muttering away unintelligibly in the background. And then, Colonel Gun and Egghead begin to speak to him, showing him visions of what happened to them, how they came to be what they are.

Prophetic dreams show him the deaths of other survivors, hinting that he may be next.

In a desperate effort to restore his sanity and rid himself of their vile influence, he follows a trail to a remote, hidden and decaying garrison house in the wilds of Northumberland, and there he confronts the true horror of The Voices. Not what they are, but what they intend to be.

A man alone, a man unable to communicate, Chris Deacon knows that you cannot escape what is in your head.

Voices by David Shaw is released on Thursday, May 10th by Crooked Cat Books.

A Spookies Compendium (again)

It’s time to bore the socks off everyone again with a bit of history, so pay attention, there’ll be an exam at the end of this post.

I’ve been a member of Writelink for six or seven years now. Back in 2005, I used the site’s Arena forum to put up the opening chapter of a piece entitled The Treasure of Melmerby Manor. The idea of Arena was that more experienced writers would comment on pieces, advising the writer how it might be improved. You might think that having been a freelance and novelist for over 20 years at that time, I wouldn’t need such advice. Wrong. We all need constructive feedback at one time or another.

In amongst the general plaudits for the piece were some constructive ideas from two ladies: Maureen Vincent-Northam and Lorraine Mace.

I took their advice away, tinkered with the opening chapter and worked and worked and worked on the piece as a whole until, would you believe it, The Haunting at Melmerby Manor was published by Virtual Tales in 2007.

VT went into liquidation last year and the rights reverted to me. I self-published it along with a sequel, The Man In Black, and then I threw both novels together, added a short story to come up with A Spookies Compendium, which is now enrolled into KDP Select. That in turn means I can promote it by making it free for 5 days out of every 90. More about that in a moment.

I count Maureen and Lorraine as two of my best, online friends, so much so that Maureen now edits all my work (other than blog posts and tweets) and Lo and I exchange ideas and opinions on crime and thrillers, (which she writes under the nom-de-plume Frances di Plino). I guest post on both their blogs and one of these days, when I can be bothered, I may ask them to guest post here. Their co-authored work, The Writer’s ABC Checklist, is the only reference book I keep to hand.

Their advice on Melmerby Manor was invaluable. Had it not been for their input I don’t know that it would ever have been completed, never mind published.

And there you have it. Now you know who to blame

As for A Spookies Compendium, I said I can make it free occasionally. Well it’s free right NOW, but only for the weekend. It’s exclusive to Amazon Kindle, so shoot over there while stocks last.

A Spookies Compendium is exclusive to the Kindle from Amazon UK and Amazon Worldwide.

Makes Sense to Me

Just over a year ago, fed up of the constant round of submission, rejection, submission, please rewrite, rewrite, submission, rejection, I made the decision to self-publish on Smashwords and The Kindle.

Before Christmas, I turned that decision partly on its head when Crooked Cat accepted The Filey Connection. Since then, they’ve also accepted Voices, written under my pseudonym David Shaw, and the next Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery, The I-Spy Murders (due out June 28th).

So what changed my mind?

Well I haven’t completely changed my mind. I still self-publish some titles, and in every book there is a complete list of available titles front and back. It goes without saying then, that every time I publish something, I have to update that front and back matter.

Diversionary question: If it goes without saying, why am I saying it?

I’ve just done that this morning and it took me three sodding hours. Three solid, bloody hours of reformatting, adjusting links, eliminating some links, adding others, and then uploading

It also goes without saying (but again I’m gonna say it) that I’m fed up. In fact, up, I have never been so fed.

When you work with a publisher like Crooked Cat, you take a cut in royalties, but the upside is you get increased visibility and respectability (yes, there are those people living in the dark ages who think all self-publishing is vanity publishing). But you also get to do without the three hours of brain strain that I’ve just been through.

My good friends Laurence and Steph Patterson, who run Crooked Cat, may not see this in the same light, but it goes without saying (for the third time) that I’d much rather they did it than me.

And now I’m going to take my dog for a walk… well he walks, I limp.

 

The F Word(s)

Picked up a post by the entertaining Liv Rancourt which had been passed to her and she had to come up with ten things beginning with D.

Liv said commenters would get a letter of their own. I commented and I was allocated the letter F. So here are my 10 F’s. (Comment for your own letter, but be advised, it’s not as simple as you may think to come up with 10 relevant ideas)

Filey (Think The Filey Connection and you’ll get it.)

Forthright (because I am)

Faithful (which is how I see myself and my wife)

Father (after my dad, I’m probably the world’s worst)

Fast (you should see the speed at which I turn out books)

Fat (I just took out one letter and it fits me to a T)

Fornication (well it’s more polite than the first word I thought of)

Funny (some people think I am, others think I’m just daft)

Filibuster (yes I can talk the head off a cast iron donkey)

Femoral (it’s a nerve in my leg and it hurts)