Hot Lead - The new journal of the wild west.

I've read a fair few fanzines in my time, contributed to many, but the one thing most of them have in common (apart from the enthusiasm for their subject matter) is the way they were  cheaply produced, often printed on A4 sheets and simply stabled together, with artwork poorly reproduced. Sometimes fanzine producers would splash out and produce a magazine in A5 format, but by and large  they still looked like a poor relation (even if the writing was sometimes superior)  to the professional magazines that dominated.

That ain't the case these days. And the premier issue of Hot Lead, the fanzine devoted to western fiction paperbacks, can stand up alongside any professional publication - excellently produced, using Amazon's own CreateSpace system, with artwork that is clean and vivid and words that are well edited and wonderfully written. Hot Lead then proves that there is little difference to what a group of enthusiastic fans can produce and the glossy magazines that fill the news-stands. Though in fairness Hot Lead does benefit from having Justin Marriott the man behind the excellent Paperback Fanatic in the editing chair.

The first issue comes in at a respectable 60+ pages and is dedicated to a group of western writers known collectivelly as The Piccadilly Cowboys. There is an interview with George G Gilman, the man responsible for the ever popular Edge western series, and regular readers of this blog will know that I am a huge fan of this series - indeed, I was responsible for bringing the first of the Edge books to the digital world of eBooks, before Malcolm Davy took over and has since brought virtually the entire series into digital print. Paul Bishop gives us an article that explains  the origins of the Piccadilly Cowboys, and Steve Mayall, a name well known to western fans, bring us the first of his regular review section, The Cowpoke Critic. These are just some of the highlights to this magazine which is  positively bursting with wild west goodies.

'Each issue of Hot Lead will have a theme running through it', explained co-editor Paul Bishop. 'Issue #2 will be Western cover art...Issue #3 will look at the Adult Westerns...#4 Western paperback series with women main characters...#5 current Western wordslingers from William W. Johnstone's and Ralph Compton's fiction factories to Ralph Cotton, Cotton Smith, and more (all of this is subject to change)...'

Me, as a  lifelong fan of the western genre can't wait for the second issue, nor those that are to follow and would like to stand both Justin Marriott and Paul Bishop a drink (a whiskey in a dirty glass) for producing my new favourite magazine. The best place to score a issue of this excellent publication is from Amazon and I do urge fans of the western genre to do so.

Free Limited Promotion

It's my first serious crime novel - previously I've worked within the cosy genre, mixing crime and gentle comedy but Down Among the Dead  marks my first venture into straightforward thriller territory. I'll still be working within the cosy genre - fans of my popular Granny Smith series will be pleased to see a new title in early summer - but I intend to alternate between series, and Down Among the Dead is the first Chief Inspector Frank Parade wartime mystery - I've already plotted out the second - working title, If Only the Dead Could Talk so I am hoping that readers take to the character of Frank Parade. My team of advance readers have given great reports on this book, calling it thrilling and a real page turner. And I do hope many of you take a chance on this book - you've got nothing to lose if you follow the special offer detailed below.


1940 – France has fallen and Britain stands alone against the might of the German war machine; a fierce battle for supremacy of the air rages in the skies as the Battle of Britain hits full stride.

For Chief Inspector Frank Parade, and his much depleted team there are many challenges to policing the small Welsh mining village of Gilfach Goch, for whilst miles away from the theatres of war the Home Front faces unique challenges of its own. The wartime demands thrown on the country mean that each officer in Parade’s team must do the work of two men – three even.

Soon the already overwhelming workload is increased when not one but two bodies turn up, and Parade finds himself having to investigate two murders as well as cope with everything else thrown his way.

‘Chief Inspector Frank Parade is going to become the new superstar cop. An excellent book.’ *****

The book is available in both paperback and eBook and for a short period you can download the eBook version for zilch - yep believe it or not, whilst the paperback will set you back several pounds you can grab a digital copy to be read on your eReader, computer screen , phone or tablet for free - all I ask is that you please leave a honest review on Amazon, Good Reads or, if you have one, a blog - reviews are the single most valuable tool to any writer - they help greatly to get a book noticed.





CLICK USA


CLICK UK

Special Thriller Promotion

It's my first serious crime novel - previously I've worked within the cosy genre, mixing crime and gentle comedy but Down Among the Dead  marks my first venture into straightforward thriller territory. I'll still be working within the cosy genre - fans of my popular Granny Smith series will be pleased to see a new title in early summer - but I intend to alternate between series, and Down Among the Dead is the first Chief Inspector Frank Parade wartime mystery - I've already plotted out the second - working title, If Only the Dead Could Talk so I am hoping that readers take to the character of Frank Parade. My team of advance readers have given great reports on this book, calling it thrilling and a real page turner. And I do hope many of you take a chance on this book - you've got nothing to lose if you follow the special offer detailed below.


1940 – France has fallen and Britain stands alone against the might of the German war machine; a fierce battle for supremacy of the air rages in the skies as the Battle of Britain hits full stride.

For Chief Inspector Frank Parade, and his much depleted team there are many challenges to policing the small Welsh mining village of Gilfach Goch, for whilst miles away from the theatres of war the Home Front faces unique challenges of its own. The wartime demands thrown on the country mean that each officer in Parade’s team must do the work of two men – three even.

Soon the already overwhelming workload is increased when not one but two bodies turn up, and Parade finds himself having to investigate two murders as well as cope with everything else thrown his way.

‘Chief Inspector Frank Parade is going to become the new superstar cop. An excellent book.’ *****

The book is available in both paperback and eBook and for a short period you can download the eBook version for zilch - yep believe it or not, whilst the paperback will set you back several pounds you can grab a digital copy to be read on your eReader, computer screen , phone or tablet for free - all I ask is that you please leave a honest review on Amazon, Good Reads or, if you have one, a blog - reviews are the single most valuable tool to any writer - they help greatly to get a book noticed.

CLICK FOR UK

CLICK FOR US

Tight Bastards

And the best crime author of all time is.....

Browsing aimlessly, as you do, I came across a 2015 readers poll held by WH SMITH to find the best crime writer of all time - it was an interesting list with Brit author, Peter James winning the top spot for best crime writer EVER.

WH SMITH wrote in their blog -

After reading your recommendations for some fantastic detectives, underrated crime books and books that would work well on the big screen, we had an inkling that there were a few fans of certain authors in our midst. As the crime & thriller period of #WHSBookmarks started to draw to an end, we decided to take it to the vote and cruelly ask you to narrow down all your favourite authors to choose just one to be the best crime/thriller author of all time. The nominations came pouring in, including a huge mix of authors, from the classics who are considered the godfathers/mothers of their sub-genre to modern bestsellers to little-heard-of names that have made a big impact on you. In the end though, our winner won the crown by a landslide, leaving us in no doubt as to who you think is worthy of the title of The Best Crime/Thriller Author of all Time.



I do like Peter James myself, but is he the best ever? I suppose it's all subjective but the list is interesting with some surprises - household names like  P D James and Thomas Harris only poll at 19 and 18 respectively. And Ruth Rendell should most certainly be higher than 13 -  Conan Doyle comes in at 21 while the poet of crime, Raymond Chandler is a miserable  47. Still lists like this are perfect for debate -  below is the full list from 1 to 99 and here 's the  LINK to the original article.


AND THE FULL LIST READS:

1. Peter James

2. James Patterson

3. Val McDermid

4. Ian Rankin

5. Agatha Christie

6. Martina Cole

7. Sheila Quigley

8. R. C. Bridgestock

9. Karin Slaughter

10. Tess Gerritsen

11. Mark Billingham

12. Patricia Cornwell

13. Ruth Rendell

14. Karen Rose

15. Chris Carter

16. Lee Child

17. Simon Kernick

18. P. D. James

19. Thomas Harris

20. Stuart MacBride

21. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

22. Matt Johnson

23. John Connolly

24. Dennis Lehane

25. Dan Brown

26. Henning Mankell

27. Jo Nesbo

28. Peter May

29. Harlan Coben

30. Gillian Flynn

31. Dick Francis

32. John Grisham

33. Sarah Hilary

34. Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling

35. Mandasue Heller

36. Linwood Barclay

37. Kimberley Chambers

38. N. J. Cooper

39. Michael Connelly

40. Nicci French

41. Faye Kellerman

42. Jeffery Deaver

43. Kathy Reichs

44. Jonathan Kellerman

45. Colin Bateman

46. Ed McBain

47. Raymond Chandler

48. Reginald Hill

49. Sophie Hannah

50. Alan Bradley

51. Tana French

52. Patricia Highsmith

53. Simon Toyne

54. Michael Robotham

55. Dean Koontz

56. Mo Hayder

57. Louise Penny

58. Edna Buchanan

59. Dorothy L. Sayers

60. Brian Freeman

61. James Rollins

62. J. D. Robb

63. S. J. Watson

64. Stieg Larsson

65. Lindsey Davis

66. Elizabeth George

67. C. J. Sansom

68. Chris Brookmyre

69. Karen Long

70. Michael J. Malone

71. Lisa Gardner

72. Leigh Russell

73. Tom Rob Smith

74. Tim Weaver

75. Karin Fossum

76. Chaz Brenchley

77. Helen Giltrow

78. Jim Kelly

79. David Hosp

80. Andrea Camilleri

81. Sam Millar

82. Edgar Wallace

83. John Le Carre

84. Stephen King

85. Ellis Peters

86. Ann Cleeves

87. Peter Robinson

88. Bill Todd

89. Ed James

90. James Sallis

91. Sara Paretsky

92. Josephine Tey

93. Margarey Allingham

94. Martin Cruz Smith

95. Jeff Abbott

96. Lee Weeks

97. John Harvey

98. James Lee Burke

99. Edgar Allan Poe

Book Review: Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter

The original jacket cover

Inspector Morse is one of those household name characters,  the kind of fictional detective familiar to even those people who have never read a word of the original novels from which he sprung. And to be honest until I picked up Last Bus to Woodstock, the first of the novels and originally published way back in 1975, I was one of those people. I've likely seen every episode of the TV series, as well as much of the spin-offs Lewis and Endeavour, but the original novels had escaped my attention.

What struck me about Last Bus to Woodstock is how different the character of Morse is to the version John Thaw portrayed on our screens - the Morse here is a much seedier character, borderline creepy old man, drives a beaten up old Lancia instead of the sleek Jag and is several years younger than his sidekick, good old Sergeant Lewis. There are some touches of the more familiar Morse -  he loves crosswords for one thing, and adores his classical music. And the plot is as intricate as any presented in the TV versions.

The cover blurb - Beautiful Sylvia Kaye and another young woman had been seen hitching a ride not long before Sylvia's bludgeoned body is found outside a pub in Woodstock, near Oxford. Morse is sure the other hitchhiker can tell him much of what he needs to know. But his confidence is shaken by the cool

inscrutability of the girl he's certain was Sylvia's companion on that ill-fated September evening. Shrewd as Morse is, he's also distracted by the complex scenarios that the murder set in motion among Sylvia's girlfriends and their Oxford playmates. To grasp the painful truth, and act upon it, requires from Morse the last atom of his professional discipline.

A more tasteful cover design

Of course the book was written in the 70's and as such displays a lot of the attitudes of that decade so I don't think it should be jumped on for the sexist nature of many of the characters, Morse included on times, but several of the passages dealing with rape can give the modern reader a jolt. The old joke - Confucius he say, woman with skirt up run faster than man with trousers down - is even spoken by one character at a particularly unsettling passage in which several characters question the fact that rape can actually exist. However during the time the book was written these attitudes were quite common, and one can't condemn Dexter for writing to the times rather than some far more enlightened period in the future.

In fact in many ways this book reads like historical fiction - there is no Internet, no mobile phones, no DNA, women are typists with shapely legs and a major plot point depends on the slowness of the British postal system. That said it is still a superior detective novel and rewards the reader with a well drawn out plot and puzzles a'plenty.

I am told that this book is not typical of the series as a whole and I will be reading more books in the series, in fact I intend to read the entire series before 2018 is out, so it will be interesting to see how the character develops over later books. So as they say - watch this space.

Bill Crider...

The Internet and its ability for networking has changed our lives - without the Internet all the name Bill Crider would have meant to me -  just another of American writer of  the mysteries and westerns that I like so much. However, he became a good friend and although I never met him personally I did get to know him quite well via the world wide webbie thingie. When I first broke into publication, all the way back in 2009 with Tarnished Star, Bill was one of the first to offer a review - you can read that HERE.

There's a downside of course to  this ability to so easily connect with people - and when the news, not unexpected, that Bill recently passed after after a long and courageous battle against cancer arrived, I felt as if I'd lost a close friend, someone important to me and you know even although our relationship may have been conducted electronically, broad-banded across oceans, it was a real friendship. I may not have physically looked into his eyes, but through his words, our correspondence I felt his soul. Bill was a warm, kind, caring man with such a well developed sense of humour that I swear he had a little Welsh blood somewhere in his ancestry.

Bill was best known for the Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series, but in all he published more than fifty books, covered many genres from westerns to horror novels. Only a writer can fully appreciate the demands the craft puts on a person, the time it eats up and yet Bill always managed to find the time to offer advice to new and seasoned writers alike.

Bill led a full life, died a courageous death, and his memory will be cherished not only by those who knew him personally but the many many thousands of us to whom he offered the hand of digital friendship.

God Bless you Sir.