Wild West eMonday - the aftermath

Did we sell many westerns?

Well, once can only hope but what is clear is that the day was a huge success. Total hits on the day totalled a grand 1,276 and with the overnight hits the total is now well over 2,000.

I would like to thank everyone who contributed:
Chap O'Keefe
David Cranmer
Nick Morton
Charles Whipple
Joanne Walpole
Chris Scott Wilson
George G. Gilman
Solstice Westerns
And of course those wonderful people at Black Horse Westerns

Also a big thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on the various posts that made up the day. I do hope many of you bought a western eBook on Wild West eMonday but remember for western fans everyday can be Wild West eDay. There's an endless stream of eWesterns being published so that readers never need be without a wild west fix. Leisure Westerns in the US are bringing out many new and classic westerns each month, Solstice Westerns is a new imprint that we'll soon be hearing more about and in the UK the well respected Black Horse Westerns imprint have taken their first tentative steps into the world of eWesterns. And that's not to mention the countless other publishers who carry westerns.

So until next time - keep the faith and remember, the western is the genre too tough to die.

D C I BANKS - AFTERMATH

This was shown on ITV back in September and marks the television debut for Peter Robinson's detective, Chief Inspector Alan Banks and it was successful enough that the program makers have decided to film more of Robinson's fine crime novels.

Author Peter Robinson was interview on the Archive was back in Feb - click HERE to read the interview.


The Banks books are excellently structured crime novels, with convoluted plots that grip the reader and out of all the fictional coppers Alan Banks is one of the most real feeling. But how has the character transferred to the television screen? Well in my opinion, very well.  Actor Stephen Tomkinson can emote with his eyes closed and all his thespian skills are brought to the fore to ensure Banks comes across as a credible screen creation. The straightforward way in which the story is told does make this seem clichéd at time, which is a pity because the book most certainly wasn't. And the twisty plot points are telegraphed well in advance. At the end I was waiting for a twist that just didn't come. The story also slows down too much in places and things tend to drag

Out of the two recent crime debuts I think I preferred Thorne which unlike Aftermath, cast aside the tried and tested structure for British crime dramas and went the American route - once we British made the best television drama in the world but over recent decades the US has taken the lead and we Brits can not produce anything like The Wire, 24, Deadwood or Dexter. So Thorne was wise to mimic the faster American style while Aftermath is paced like an old episode of Frost or Morse.

Still there's more to come and I did think that Tompkinson was excellent and the source books are absolutely excellent, so I do hope the series does well. Hopefully future episodes will be far better paced.

MORE CRIME DRAMA - YOU CAN BANK ON IT

ITV have announced that after the ratings success of their adaptation of Peter Robinson's Aftermath, they are to produce further dramas based on the D C I Banks books.

Due to begin filming in the spring of 2011, the six episodes will have three stories told over two episodes of which are adapted from the novels of Peter Robinson; Playing with Fire, Friend of the Devil and Cold as the Grave.

DCI Banks: Aftermath attracted a healthy audience, with 6.7 million viewers tuning in for the first episode and 6.9 million viewers for the second part. Laura Mackie, ITV Director of Drama Commissioning said “DCI Banks launched really strongly and already feels like a great new addition to our roster of crime dramas. We're looking forward to bringing a full series to ITV1 next year."

Francis Hopkinson, Executive Producer has said he is sure viewers are looking forward to the new series. "We're delighted that so many people enjoyed Stephen Tompkinson as Inspector Banks and with three more brilliant novels to work from I'm certain that viewers will look forward to returning to Yorkshire in 2011."

Writer Peter Robinson said that he hopes to make DCI Banks a staple of prime time for ITV. "I was thrilled to hear that the DCI Banks pilot was a great success and that Left Bank Pictures and ITV are going ahead with a series of three more adaptations of my novels. You can only do so much in one two hour adaptation of one novel, so I hope this will give everyone a chance to build on the success they have already had and make DCI Banks a staple of prime time ITV series for years to come."


The Archive says: That together with Mark Billingham's Thorne, Banks may become television's next superstar coppers. Move over Morse and Frost the new guys are in town.