I Am a Cult - Guest blog by Colin Cotterill

 

Exposed brickwork is all the rage in Surrey. My Uncle John has an entire bathroom that looks like it was carted over directly from Berlin. But I get the feeling the naked bricks here at the Zuela Guesthouse in Luang Nam Tha, Laos, are more a homage to the cost of plastering. My room’s like a cell. No fridge. No TV. No modern arty pictures of men on buffalos. No closet safe. No closet. No feeling in my limbs after a night on the compressed bread mattress. Outside, the rains are crashing down on the banana plants and the roads are flowing red with mud. The power goes off half-a-dozen times a day. But, believe this if you will… they’ve got Wi Fi. Not even the Hilton gives away the internet for nothing. I just finished a tour of twelve cities in the ‘civilized’ side of the planet and not once did I get free wireless. But here in the hills of the north I can sit at my wonky desk and surf the world. I love this country.

How can I not have extreme feelings for a place that made me what I am today? A cult. Yes, I did spell that correctly. It’s written there in black and white on my laptop. ‘Colin Cotterill is one of the most highly regarded "cult favorite" crime writers today’. One of my two fans sent me the link. I was overwhelmed. I was elated. I didn’t know what it meant. I looked it up. Was I really a quasi-religion? I don’t think so. That only left definition 2.

a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : the object of such devotion

So that was it. Like the hula-hoop and the slinky, I was a fad. The people in the next room at the Zuela obviously did not realize that I was the object of devotion or I wouldn’t have had to bang on the bricks with my flip flop last night to get them to shut up. And how would this cult following change me? Obviously not financially, because I believe devotees of a cult are generally reluctant to stick their hands in their pockets in fear that it might spoil me. Commercial success is the death knell for cults like me. And how did it come about, this cultdom? Just ten years ago I was staying in guest houses like this because it was all I could afford. Now I’m here on research. I can wash off the red street mud in a four-star hotel when I get back to Thailand. How did I begin along this path?

(cue harp music played by a tall slim woman with long dark hair and glasses)

It all started in 2000 when I wrote the first of my Lao books, The Coroner’s Lunch. I guess I knew then I wouldn’t be jabbing my nib into the mainstream artery of crime fiction. In fact, I didn’t even consider myself a crime writer. I thought I was just writing stories. (Eight of them last count). Only moderate and playful gratuitous violence. Absolutely no obscenity unless you’re really easily offended. Just a bunch of nice quirky characters doing quirky things. Comparable to other writers only with regard to the exotic location. . I hadn’t set out to make depressed people write rude things about me on Amazon or be disgraced by my books. I wanted my readers to have fun. Colin the Entertainer, that’s what I was.

 I argued myself blue in the face that I wasn’t a crime writer and what happened? They handed me a Crime Writer’s Association Dagger award. You try to argue you’re not a crime writer once that’s happened. So I guess, subconsciously, all the while I was pulling away from the norm. I didn’t want to be in someone else’s genre. I wanted a genre all my own. I briefly considered vampire whodunits. Toyed with Noir fairy stories. But I’m not the serious type. If I weren’t so painfully shy and didn’t need several hours to be spontaneous, I would have been a stand-up comedian. So my new series, my truly cult adventure, would have to be funny.

Four years ago I moved to the south of Thailand to a quiet fishing village on the Gulf. Monkeys collected coconuts. Jelly fish bobbed. Dogs scratched. Some might have considered it boring. I found it utterly charming. There was so little crime that the local jail didn’t even have a lock-up. So what better premise to launch a cult series than to turn this peaceful haven of innocent squid fishing into the hub of sin and iniquity of the Eastern Seaboard? I needed characters who were not clichés nor Thai stereotypes. What better way to achieve that than to take those same stereotypes and turn them upside down? What happens when the beautiful Thai transsexual ages twenty years? What happens to the traffic cop who refuses to take bribes? What happens to the body builder who is a cowardly lion? The tough female investigative journalist who has no crime to report? The organized matriarch whose mind is slowly being turned by dementia? Throw a few mysteries into this mix and a dollop of the ridiculous and what do you have? Killed at the Whim of a Hat, and its follow up, Granddad, There’s a Head on the Beach.

I don’t mind being a cult. In fact I’m quite proud about it. What would I do with all that money, anyway? And look where it’s got me. I’m at the wonky desk at the Zuela reading emails from the organizers of September’s Bouchercon to which I am being sent as the token overseas fad. I’m being emailed reviews from German magazines and south African newspapers. My British publisher is hounding me for a new book. My Swedish translator tells me that ‘wanker’ isn’t in the dictionary. All this and I am a mere cult. You wait and see what happens when I get the Nobel.

 Colin's new book is KILLED AT THE WHIM OF A HAT and is on sale now!

He is also one of the guests of honor at Bouchercon in St. Louis

Want to be entered to win a copy of the new book?
shoot an email to
Jon@crimespreemag.com


We'll be sending out at least two!

Love Your Independant Bookstores

Joe Hill is doing something very nice and very generous.
In order to help independent bookstores he is running a contest to help them drum up more business. Details are here on his blog.

And you should just read his blog anyway, he's a sharp guy that Joe Hill.

The contest is pretty simple, buy books at an independent bookstore. Follow the simple instructions and you could win really cool stuff.

And don't forget, we're running a contest as well. Send me a phot of you buying a new book, with the bookstore in the shot and you are entered into a drawing to win some of the extra books we've been buying. Some authors are sending us books to give away as well.
Send your photos to Jon@crimespreemag.com
The original blog post for the contest is here.

I think the message is getting pretty clear,
BUY BOOKS!!!!

ON HOLIDAYS, NEWSPAPERS, 07’S BEST OF AND THE YEAR TO COME

hi all from the Crimespree desk. I’ve taken over the ‘puter tonight and I’m “working” so naturally I have an urge to blog. I think it must be those recessive writer genes.


Happy Holidays!!


I’ll let Jon give you the blow by blow on all things Christmas but guys? Five days to go and all gifts but 2 are purchased and wrapped, decorating, baking, candy making and dipping scratched off except for Jon’s chocolate covered potato chips. We’re going into true holiday mode. Company is coming and going, we’re to-ing and fro-ing and all is well in our own little corner of mystery. As I hope it is in yours.


Newspapers……


This next bit is fairly close to what is known as B.S.P. but really it’s meant as an observation from the sidelines. I got a call from Jen4 last Saturday, my name was in a book review. I was declared “notable” in the Chicago Tribune. I have to say the warm fuzzies are staying with me (and for those of you who know Jon, yes he bought up every print copy left on the newsstand and no, I don’t scrapbook). EXPLETIVE DELETED was an ambitious project edited by my very own JEN4 and she included a story I wrote, took one look at, and knew had no publishing possibilities. That’s my own personal F@#K. I thought she was pretty darned kind to include it and worried over calls of the “N”(epotism) word. For that alone, “notable” was cool. But to see my name mentioned with the other contributors? Mind blowing. And now I know a little of the feeling writers must feel when mentioned and/or compared with others. And it’s way cool. Especially in a year where any mail I’ve gotten on things jotted down (print or net) have been on obituaries. Is this my forte? I guess we’ll all find out together.


I see best of lists beginning to appear on the internet and I confess, I’m a peeker. So I’m not sure where I’ll end up and thought I’d mention just a few books that inspired before I’m tainted by others opinions.


Ruth’s OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD…..


I can’t mention Laura Lippman who continues to be even better with every book but whom about I cannot be objective anymore. Read everything. Enjoy it all. Watch her growth. So…


First , that dreaded last week of Dec. release date made a truly great Crime Fiction book go not unheralded, but strangely unremembered last year and out of real competition this year. FIND ME by Carol O’Connell is a wonderful book. I’ve been mostly hot on the Mallory character since her inception but FIND ME brought us back to the sociopath Mallory is and took us all on a roadtrip that won’t be forgotten soon.


The long delayed American release of the GRAVE TATTOO by Val McDermid took a bit of wind out of all the hype but all the hype was well deserved and 2007 was when it came out. Outside of her Jordan/Hill series this is a book that takes place in several different locations, in several different timelines, with several different P.O.V. And yet GRAVE is an effortless read. Not many could do this but it is unsurprising that McDermid can. She is an unstoppable force.


March saw a fellow Scotsman’s book come out stateside as well. It was on my list last year and will remain on the list forever. THE NAMING OF THE DEAD by Ian Rankin is a must read in any year. EXIT MUSIC (U.K. 2007) is a great note for Rebus to go out on but every note is in play while reading NAMING.


THE WATCHMAN. Robert Crais has married his highly successful thrillers with the Elvis and Joe we all fell in love with. Combining all of his skills, this may be my favorite Crais read of all time. I suspect he’ll make me eat these words at some future point in time.


In the names I cannot understand missing files I’ll include:
Colin Cotterill(ANARCHY & OLD DOGS), Greg Rucka (PATRIOT ACTS), Michael Koryta (A WELCOME GRAVE),Mike Harrison (RUBY TUESDAY) & Vicki Hendricks(CRUEL POETRY).


THE “WOO” has legs, versatility, and depth file:


Could two books be more unalike then John Connolly’s THE UNQUIET and Charlaine Harris’s ALL TOGETHER DEAD? Not Really. Connolly’s thoughtfully drawn out story of decades of secrets and Harris’s seemingly “lite” story of a gal on an adventure may both get the woo label but THE UNQUIET is so literary in themes it cries for the author to be the next Jonathan Lethem inductee into the hallowed halls of literature that appeals to the masses and the other? Harris proves it is possible to laugh your way through a well crafted mystery until it is time to cry. Two very credible scribes writing beyond labels in very different ways.


Denis Mina’s Paddy series ( THE LAST BREATH) is still my favorite series of this decade. Several months after reading Greg Hurwitz’s THE CRIMEWRITER I can still quote passages. Declan Hughes(THE COLOR OF BLOOD) is huge in this house. Likewise fellow Irishman Ken Bruen. PRIEST is a book to break the heart. Bruen is a writer who makes that okay.


In the new kids category…. coming in early and giving “Killer Year” credibility are Sean Chercover (BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD) and Marcus Sakey (THE BLADE ITSELF). The joy of reading WHEN ONE MAN DIES by Dave White, a truly outstanding first mystery, after pub date was a highlight of my reading year. From Bleak House, two stood tall this year. Craig MacDonald’s HEAD GAMES & Bill Bryant’s KEEP IT REEL. Neither are new writers, but they are new to print and both delivered the goods. The folks at Bleak House continue to find talent. My other fav first has to be LAST RITUALS by Yrsa Siurardottir, although a translation it is my first experience with the author and I say it counts. (I didn’t read the Hart book yet).


Short Stories:


Three stand tallest for me (well four really but see the second part of this long winded blog) Hellman’s CHICAGO BLUES, Penzler’s THE BIG BOOK OF PULPS and Akashic’s WALL STREET NOIR.


Non-Fiction
okay, so the book about the serial killer guy who worked in L.A. and his home town that everyone is talking about? I threw it across the room when the author started to get clever, moving back and forth between timelines and adding too many point of view. It is a fascinating tale, but it did not sing out in execution the way two others did for me. First up is THE DAUGHTERS OF JUAREZ. The horror of it is awe inspiring. The culpability we all share when we buy a car or baby powder is horrific. Theresa Rodriguez deserves a lot of recognition for telling a story no one wants to hear. And my second selection? Published in 2006 (okay I was late finding it) THE PHILOSOPHY OF NEO NOIR is a must read for all who’ve ever taken part in the debate “what is noir?”. And for giggles, from the same press (University of Kentucky Press), I recommend THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE X-FILES (and yes the “N” (epotism) word applies here.


And with that I’ll leave you all with the words you can never go wrong with Bill James…


Ruth

Ira Levin Gone?

How can it be? I almost got to meet him this past summer. For health reasons he did not attend The Annual Mystery Writers’ Festival but he did judge all of the presented plays. I was looking forward to meeting this man, who like most of my generation I met through the movies. I consider myself lucky that I went back to read the books. And I'm honored that even as he he felt less healthy he cared enough about our genre to continue to help create new magic. Preservation of the mystery screenplay was as important to him as it is important to Jon and myself. The fact that he was willing to put his name in the mix in such an interactive way says a lot about a man who was often disappointed by what Hollywood did with his own work.

For he had a voice from the beginning. Plot twists and observations on society that became genuine gems when presented with his singular and sometimes sincere but often comical cynicism. The best case in point for this may be THE STEPFORD WIVES. Presented by Hollywood two times, Levin’s novel never got the screenplay it deserved. In fact, the second adaptation was in reality closer to his book than the first. For The Stepford Wives was surely a commentary on fear. The mundane fear of the average suburbanite for the then new movement called “Woman’s Lib”. How strange it was to sit down and read this book for the first time in 2003. I saw all the elements I’ve come to recognize in my own generation of books. There was “tuckerizing” (where characters are given the names of people from the mystery community and friends who’ve come to matter to a writer). There were shout outs (to bookstores, restaurants, books), and there was this gem of a plot, which is the part that Hollywood tried to get. And did in both movies but the book is where it’s at for me. Written not to be a big book, but to tell a story he wanted to tell.

I still remember reading Sandra Prowell’s novel WHEN WALLFLOWERS DIE. I couldn’t scope out the end for the very fact I could not imagine anyone leaving ROSEMARY’S BABY with only 35 pages to go. Talk about your red herrings. Levin had the narrative skills to take his reader from the beginning to the end. If you start one of his novels, you finish it. He was hailed by Anthony Boucher and he won the MWA award for best first novel with A KISS BEFORE DYING. It is a book that stands up today 50 years later as one of the best first novels ever written. it should be on the reading list of anyone who wants to read and/or write in the mystery genre. ROSEMARY was his second big success and Roman Polanski nailed the premise. I should know, I watch this movie annually and continue to find new minutia in the performances of the actors every time (especially the late John Cassavettes and Ruth Gordon). A chillier movie was never filmed.

THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL caused controversy. Using real life evil (Mendele) to entertain the masses was very controversial in the early seventies. I say Levin brought the horror of the Holocaust home to a generation and made us realize that the evil that was then will continue until we stop it. We haven’t learned the lesson yet but Levin did his best.

The list of great work that started as books and/or screenplays & moved into movies continues. NO TIME FOR SEARGEANTS, DEATH TRAP, and yes, SLIVER. SLIVER the book was chilling to read and whenever I have an opportunity to see the movie I do. Guilty pleasure that doesn’t stand up to the book though it may be, it is certainly Sharon Stone’s best movie and the relationship between her and Billy Baldwin in the film captures the feel of the book more viscerally than any other film adaptation of Levin’s work.

So I’m sad today. Sad we’ll see no more from this great voice. But I’m glad he left the work behind to read and view again and again. Both in screenplay and novel form Levin always had a story to tell living up to that “best first” from MWA and making everything he did “lasting”. And that last project? The Annual Mystery Writers' Festival? I know Zev Buffman won't let him down.

Ruth

Robert Crais - The Watchman


Robert Crais has a new book out in 7 days. The Watchman is the first book to star Joe Pike from the Elvis Cole series and it's an ass kicker. I finished it in two sittings, around 4:30 in the morning causing a lovely book hangover the next day at work.

Pike asked someone a favor a couple of books ago, and now it's time to pay back the favor, keep watch over a spoiled rich girl who saw something she shouldn't have. So Pike does what he does best and sets out to keep the girl safe. With a bit of help from Elvis he's also trying to find out exactly who wants her dead.

It's a great book.

Robert Crais will be on tour for the new book and you can check out where here:
Robert Crais The Watchman Tour

Get the book, and go see Mr. Crais!