David W. Robinson's Blog: Always Writing, page 62
March 5, 2012
Who is David Shaw?
During the last few weeks, during the flurry of book launches, first Cathie Dunn's Dark Deceit, followed by Mandy James' Righteous Exposure and then my own Filey Connection, Crooked {Cat} Publishing put out a brief announcement to the effect that they had signed up David Shaw.
But who the hell is David Shaw? We're told that he's written a psycho-sci-fi thriller entitled Voices, but that's it. We can't find a picture of him and he's not even listed under Crooked {Cat}'s authors. Google the name and you get all sorts of listings, but nothing that resembles a novelist specialising in thrillers.
But I know all about David Shaw. Why? Because David Shaw is me.
Now you're all groaning and saying, "Tell us summat we don't know."
Why the need of a pen name? Under my real name, David Robinson, I turn put fairly light-hearted stuff. The Sanford 3rd Age Club Mysteries are cosy crime and you'll find a vein of humour running through them. The same applies to my 77p Space Truckers shorts. Even my latest project (super secret for the time being) crime capers of the more adult kind, are fairly laid back.
But I do write much darker material. The Handshaker is an example, and so, too, is Voices. They are gritty tales, usually with a heavy psychological bent, which rely partly on sci-fi themes, or at the very least stretch suspension of disbelief much further than David Robinson's works.
When self-publishing, I made the mistake of putting out The Handshaker and Voices under the name David Robinson. It serves only to confuse readers. They can pick up The Filey Connection and then find The Handshaker written by the same man, yet the two are light years apart both in terms of approach and content. It's an error I can't yet put right regarding The Handshaker, but when I offered Voices to Crooked {Cat}, and they accepted, it was the perfect opportunity to divorce the works of David W Robinson and David Shaw.
Voices is scheduled for publication some time in May, and I'll have more to say about it then. In the meantime, watch this space and listen.
You cannot ignore the voices in your head.
March 3, 2012
My Place
A cold and miserable Sunday north of Manchester. What else can you do but dream of far off summer, cooling beers, sandy beaches, the whisper of the sea lapping the shore…
Today I have a guest post running with Cathie Dunn, author of Dark Deceit, and the subject of my post is Filey, complete with a short excerpt from the novel.
If you'd like to know more about this delightful little resort on the Yorkshire coast cut on over to Cathie Dunn – My Place.
Diabetic Disappearance
Yesterday saw the long-awaited release of The Filey Connection. Maybe it should have been retitled The Fiasco Connection.
Not that Crooked {Cat} Publishing or anyone else got it wrong. Neither did I. But there was a huge gap in the launch where the author (me) was AWOL.
To get some perspective on this, suppose you were hosting a dinner party and while your guests were waiting for their egg and chips, commenting on the weather, the state of the economy and Mrs Heginbotham's hysterectomy, you excused yourself and disappeared for two hours.
Well that's exactly what I did yesterday. Left the party without so much as a by your leave. Just switched off and disappeared.
When I got back I hinted that there was a woman involved, and posed the question, what can you do with a woman, a packet of bacon, two litres of washing up liquid and an energy saving light bulb. The answer (and someone got pretty close to it) is you could do as the woman (your wife) tells you and pay for them at the supermarket checkout.
It was a suitable, emergency excuse, but it was also a lot of hot air. The truth was more worrying. I had one of my rare diabetic turns, and had to hit the sack for a couple of hours to sleep it off.
Type 2 diabetes runs in our family. My grandma suffered, so do two of my uncles on that side of the family. When I passed 50 without it taking hold, I thought, "Ha ha, missed me." I was wrong. It was just lurking in the background waiting until my back was turned before leaping out at me. I was diagnosed last year.
It's no great shake as far as I'm concerned. I have other health problems which are more severe, but with which I cope. My blood sugar is controlled by diet only… at least it was. After yesterday, I've arranged to see my GP next Thursday and we may just need medication.
But of all the days when it could have attacked me, it had to pick yesterday. Bugger!
Before you start to bombard me with theories on how the potential excitement of a book launch could have tripped my system, it doesn't hold. I've done so many of these things that they're second nature now and I don't even get a sweat on. My system actually clicked out last weekend when I went off the rails diet-wise. The best advice I could gather indicated that it should have been back on song by Tuesday/Wednesday at the latest, after putting things right on Sunday evening. Instead it deteriorated and hit rock bottom at 12 noon yesterday. Double bugger!
So that's it. Launch day for The Filey Connection and everyone wondering what happened to the author for a couple of hours. Bugger to infinity!
I'd like to thank those people who showed up for the launch, the buyers and commenters, the assistance of Crooked {Cat} Publishing, and the usual mob of supporters like Maureen, Trevor, Mandy, Marit, Michela, Cathie… and if I've forgotten anyone, don't take it personally, I can't be arsed going over there to see who did comment.
But most of all I'd like to thank my bloodstream for making sure that what should have been a day of knockabout celebration turned into the biggest mystery since Joe and the gang investigated The Filey Connection.
Bugger to infinity plus one!
BTW, if you're at all interested, The Filey Connection rose as high as number 42 (life, the universe and everything) in the Amazon British Detective Chart and although it slipped, it was clinging on to number 77 this morning, so thanks again for your support.
March 1, 2012
The Wait Is Over
The Filey Connection is released by Crooked {Cat} Publishing.
You can find it for the Kindle at Amazon UK and Amazon USA and in all formats at Smashwords.
And just to give you a taster, here's a short reading from Chapter Two.
In this extract Joe, having been informed of Nicola's death in a hit and run accident, is making his way to the Foundry Inn where the incident took place.
Podcast Powered By Podbean
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The Filey Connection a Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery by David W Robinson is published by Crooked {Cat} Publishing.
The Filey Connection: On the Launchpad
Every post for the last six days has been concerned with The Filey Connection. At midnight tonight (GMT) Crooked {Cat} Publishing release the book on the Kindle and in other formats through Smashwords. Links will appear here early tomorrow morning.
So what is The Filey Connection? You'll have to read it to find out what the connection is, but basically, it's a cosy crime whodunit with the management trio of the Sanford 3rd Age Club, Joe Murray, Brenda Jump and Sheila Riley, as the amateur sleuths who solve the mystery.
I'm a great aficionado of mysteries. Whether sci-fi, horror, paranormal, hard boiled or cosy crime, I will read them. Ever since I began to write fiction with the intention of publication, almost all my work has had an element of mystery about it, an intellectual puzzle for the central characters to solve.
When I first decided I wanted to write a series of detective novels, I immediately dismissed the police procedurals. Not that there's anything wrong with them, but I simply could not be bothered with the research. My knowledge of police procedure is that they're always on hand to give me a ticket when I'm parked where I shouldn't be.
It had to be an amateur sleuth shoving his nose in where it didn't concern him. Fair enough, you say, but why an old crumblie?
Well, to begin with, I'm a crumblie, physically if not intellectually. Secondly, and more important, it's only old gits and children during the holidays, who would have enough time on their hands to go chasing murderers. Everyone else is too busy earning a living.
Does that mean The Sanford 3rd Age Club Mysteries are aimed at an audience of crumblies? No. Definitely not. They are designed for any reader of any age who likes to read whodunits not littered with graphic sex, violence and bad language. These things are alluded to in the tale, but they are not spelled out. What is murder if not violent? Do you really need the blood, guts and gore? Why is Nicola known as Knickers-off? Do I need to draw a diagram? And I see no value in littering the tale with foul language. My neighbours hear enough of that from me when I'm trying to get the toaster to work.
Instead, The Filey Connection is a tale of murder (is there more than one? Read it to find out) set in a pretty little seaside town on the Yorkshire coast, investigated by a grumpy businessman and his friends who employ observation and intelligence to solve it.
Does they crack the case? Again, you'll have to read it to find out.
***
The Filey Connection, a Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery, by David W Robinson, is published by Crooked {Cat} Publishing on Friday March 2nd 2012. Read a pre-release review at The Little Reader Library
February 29, 2012
Character Interview: Sheila Riley
With 48 hours to go to the release of The Filey Connection, we meet the third member of the Sanford 3rd Age Club management team, Sheila Riley. Sheila is another youngster in her fifties. A former school secretary, when her husband, Peter, a police inspector, died she decided the time was right to leave the world of education and joined Joe in the Lazy Luncheonette.
DWR: Sheila, you're seen as the educated member of the team. Is that something you find gratifying?
Sheila: Brenda, Joe and I all had the same education, and don't let anyone kid you that I'm smarter than them. I think the difference between us lies in our approach to life. Brenda can be very emotional you know, and for all his logical and deductive abilities, Joe's mind leaps about like a jackrabbit. From an early age, I was taught and think calmly. It may not get the steak and kidney pudding served quite as quickly but at least it gets to the correct customer.
DWR: you and Brenda are best friends, yet you have different attitudes to widowhood.
Sheila: Even when I was younger, I never approved of transient relationships. When we were teenagers, Joe once confessed that he fancied me. I knew right away what he meant by that and I refused to take second place to his father's café. These days I prefer to live alone. I don't feel the need of company. When that changes I shall probably do something about it.
DWR: As one of the founder members of the Sanford 3rd Age Club, how do you react to the charge that you're all locked in a time warp dominated by the music of the sixties and seventies?
Sheila: Do you imagine that applies only to more mature people? Most generations are defined by their taste in music and fashion. My mother liked Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra, my children are all fanatical about Madonna and the Pet Shop Boys. We prefer Abba and The Carpenters. Why? Because the music reminds us of those wonderful years when we were setting out on our journey through life. There's nothing fuddy-duddy about it. Just nostalgia.
DWR: Do you find that having been married to police inspector is of any use when Joe's on an investigation?
Sheila: Occasionally, yes. Joe's niece, Gemma Craddock, is a CID officer, and she can usually guide him, but there are those occasions when my admittedly limited knowledge of police procedures help. But to be really honest, I find my education to be a better asset. Again, it's that habit of stepping back and thinking calmly about things.
DWR: Speaking frankly, I'd have thought working a place like the Lazy Luncheonette, a truckers' cafe, is beneath you.
Sheila: Snobbery has no place in my life. I arrive for work at seven every morning, I work with some lovely people… and Joe… and most of the lorry drivers, factory hands, and the dray men from the Sanford Brewery, are fun and easy to get on with. Unlike so many people, I don't get out of bed dreading the thought of a day's work. Instead, I look forward to it every morning.
DWR: Do you ever wish that Joe had the same attitude?
Sheila: Don't let his irritation fool you. Joe loves the Lazy Luncheonette. If the building and his ex-wife were both on fire, Joe would call the Fire Service to the café first.
***
The Filey Connection, a Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery, by David W Robinson, is published by Crooked {Cat} Publishing on Friday March 2nd 2012. You can read a pre-release review at The Little Reader Library
February 28, 2012
Character Interview: Brenda Jump
Today we meet another member of the management trio of the Sanford 3rd Age Club, Brenda Jump. Although we should never discuss a lady's age, Brenda freely admits to being anything but a lady and describes herself as 55 years young.
DWR: Looking back on your life, Brenda, did you ever imagine that you would end up as an assistant in a truckers' café?
Brenda: It wasn't what it planned, no. Colin, my late husband, had quite a well-paid and responsible position in the Borough Surveyors' Department and I worked in a bank for most of my life. I ended up a senior teller. When Colin died, I felt the time was right for a change. Banking was becoming too sales oriented and I didn't want that constant pressure. Joe was looking for staff, so I came to work for him and I've never had cause to regret that decision.
DWR: The grapevine has it that you and Joe had a bit of thing when you were teenagers.
Brenda: It's true. We were going steady for about three months just as we left school, but Joe was as single-minded then as he is now. All he cared about was the café. It was just a teenage fling and even if Joe hadn't been so work-minded, I don't think anything would have come of it. I like to spend, Joe's more like a squirrel. He stores his nuts for the lean times. They say you can't take it with you, but they really mean is Joe hasn't worked out a way of taking it with him
DWR: Unkind souls say you're a little too free with your, er, shall we say, favours? How do you react to that?
Brenda: It's unfair. Yes, I have men friends, and yes if I fancy a bloke enough we'll get it on together, but what the hell, this is the twenty first century, and just because I'm over fifty it doesn't mean I'm dead from the waist down. But I'm no tart. I'm not like Knickers-off Nicola. I was married to the same man for twenty eight years, you know, and I never strayed once. But I don't care what people say about me, as long as I don't hear it. Take it from me, life's too short for not enjoying yourself.
DWR: When you're on one of the Sanford 3rd Age Club outings, you seem to spend an awful lot of money on designer fashions and fragrances. Don't you worry about your financial future?
Brenda: Colin left me with a bob or two. I earn a wage at the Lazy Luncheonette and I spend my money as I see fit. Not all us Yorkshire folk are Joe Murray clones, you know. Besides, if widowhood has taught me anything it's that you never know what's round the corner, so what's the point in saving for the next rainy day? You might not be around to put your umbrella up.
DWR: You were one of the three founders of the Sanford 3rd Age Club. How did you see the club in your mind's eye?
Brenda: Sanford is a wonderful town, but like most places it caters more for the youngsters than it does the oldsters. We're not all knitting and bingo fans, you know. We wanted to create a friendly society where like-minded individuals could get together regularly and enjoy themselves the way they used to, only without the irritation of parents waiting for explanations when you rolled home at three in the morning. And it's worked.
DWR: Did you ever imagine the club would be such a success?
Brenda: Can't speak for Joe and Sheila, but yes, I did. Many people call us a mob of middle-aged rockers, but that's only envy. Freedom is how we see it, and think about this; most of the music the boy bands are singing these days, we remember them first time around. The Sanford 3rd Age Club breathes new life into its members, and even if the body count usually begins to rise when we're in town, it all adds to the fun.
DWR: Finally, Brenda, do you have any advice for those who would try to outwit Joe and his detective skills?
Brenda: I've seen 'em try everything from threats of physical violence and impersonating police officers to women getting him into bed, and none of it worked. But, trust me, it can be done. You just have to come at it from the right angle. Go for his wallet!
***
The Filey Connection, a Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery, by David W Robinson, is published by Crooked {Cat} Publishing on Friday March 2nd 2012. Read a pre-release review at The Little Reader Library
July 20, 2011
Who is Joe Murray
click here
July 18, 2011
An Heir to Murder
and you can read the review and learn more about the title on Amazon Kindle at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005BR0NO0
July 17, 2011
Space Truckers - 5-Star Review
Great entertainment for less than £1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0057FKKMG
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