Laura Hruska, Soho Press Editor-in-Chief

I first met Laura Hruska in March 2009 when I called into the Soho Press office, near Union Square in New York City, to discuss my debut novel which she had acquired for her respected independent press. She was a lady of senior years, and slight build, but had a fierce intelligence about her that burned so bright you couldn't fail to see it. She was also clearly a deeply passionate publisher, and I was sure from then on that I was in good hands at Soho. But then, I already knew that, seeing as everybody I mentioned Soho Press to, including my agent, told me Laura was one of the best in the business.

I met Laura for a second time, again at her office near Union Square, when I visited New York once more in October 2009, just as I was embarking on the US tour Soho had generously organised for me. This time I noticed Laura was a little frail, but still she had that diamond-bright presence that stood out in a room full of very bright people. I gave her a box of confectionery I'd bought from the chocolatier next door as a small thank you for the work she and everyone at Soho had done for me. It seems like a very, very small thank you now.

I learned today that Laura Hruska passed away on Saturday after a long illness. This news has deeply saddened me. My heart goes out to Laura's loved ones, and all those who worked with and respected her, both within Soho Press and throughout the wider publishing community. I owe Laura a huge debt of gratitude for giving my writing career such a great start in America, and I will be forever thankful. I feel honoured to have known her for the short time I did.

Today's the Day: THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST Published in the USA

So, today is October 1st, and by debut novel THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST is officially published in the USA by Soho Crime, the respected independent New York press. I'd like to thank all at Soho, including my editor Laura Hruska, marketing director Ailen Lujo, and publicist Justin Hargett - you've all been a pleasure to work with so far.

Don't forget, there's a chance to win one of five signed copies of THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST in my previous post, as well as one of the very last copies of the limited edition signed and numbered short story collection, THE SIX.

To celebrate the launch of THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST, I'll soon be setting off on a six city US tour:

13th October, 7:00pm: Partners & Crime
44 Greenwich Ave, New York, NY

15th-18th October: Bouchercon 2009
Hyatt Regency, Indianapolis IN (visit www.bouchercon2009.com for details)

19th October, 7:00pm: Poisened Pen (with Peter Lovesey and James Benn)
4014 N Goldwater Blvd., Suite 101 Scottsdale, AZ 85251

20th October, 6:30pm: Murder by the Book (with Peter Lovesey and James Benn)
2342 Bissonnet St, Houston, TX 77005-1512

21st October, 7:00pm: M is for Mystery (with Peter Lovesey and James Benn)
86 East Third Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94401

23rd-25th October: Mile Hi Con 2009
Hyatt Regency Tech Center, Denver CO (visit www.milehicon.org for details)

Catch a(n Amazon) Rising Star and Put it in You Pocket...

Now that Declan Burke has put the Crime Always Pays blog out to stud, someone has to come up with cheesy puns for blog titles. It might as well be me.

Anyway, it's been a while - just over three weeks, in fact - and a busy three weeks it has been. Most of my time has been taken up by finishing the sequel to THE TWELVE (a.k.a. THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST), and giving it a very quick spit and polish before sending it to my agent, and a couple of critique angels. Now I am filled with dread, wondering what my agent Nat is going to think of it. Nat Sobel does not mince words, so I am bracing myself.

There has also been a rather splendid development, which I would like to illustrate with the following image:


THE TWELVE has been selected by Amazon UK's reading panel as one its eight Rising Stars for autumn 2009. Once every six months or so, Amazon chooses eight debut novels as part of the Rising Stars initiative to highlight new authors. I am delighted to be one of them. And there's more - at the end of the promotion, whichever book has the most good reviews will be deemed the winner! So, if you've read THE TWELVE, please do me a solid, and click here right now to see my Amazon page and submit your review. And as an extra favour, you could spread the word and encourage other people you know have read it to do the same. My book is the first to be featured, and the page includes a brief Q&A with yours truly.

In other news

More press reviews of THE TWELVE have been coming in, including the Sunday Tribune who said it was "A stunning first novel", while London Lite said it was "an unqualified triumph."

It may have escaped your attention, but the USA publication of THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST is fast creeping up. I've temporarily taken down the dedicated website for it with a view to revamping it in the coming days. I will have much more to say about that in the coming weeks, including getting all gushy and excited about the accompanying American tour where I will cross the entire continent just a few days, and meet lots of people I've been dying to meet for ages, including a certain Betsy Dornbusch, and hopefully Aerin Bender-Stone. Which is nice.

I'll make another blog post next week in which I will officially reveal a very poorly kept secret about an event in Belfast this coming November...

Readers of the Lost ARC

My apologies for using a pun worthy of Declan Burke for my title, but I'm a little over-excited because I received the advance reader copies (or ARCs, or Uncorrected Proofs, or whatever you wish to call them) of The Twelve today from the wonderful Briony Everroad at Harvill Secker. I got ten, and they're already all spoken for. I'll be lucky if I get to keep one for myself. See, aren't they lovely?



For the sharp-eyed amongst you, the white cover is not a departure from the original design - it is simply to mark these out as advance copies, rather like white label demos from music's vinyl days (yes, I'm that old).

I've been flicking through my single copy all day, and something strikes me as very odd: This doesn't feel like my book any more. I recognise words and passages, remember what was going through my head when I wrote that particular line of dialogue and so on. It is all comfortably familiar, yet somehow different, like a friend who moved away and has come back changed.

Almost two years of growing and nurturing this strange thing, gutting it and putting it back together again, then months of incremental changes - they're almost over. There have been minor tweaks since the version I now have in my hands (like the word 'Acknowledgements' really needing an 'A' on the front, or several continuity blunders I spotted on the last read-through, e.g., magical disappearing and reappearing coats), but the next version I see will be it - done, finished, final, forever cast in stone.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. To steal a line from the wonderful movie Swingers, "Baby's all growed up."

In Other News...

Here's the revised Soho Press cover for The Ghosts of Belfast, as The Twelve will be known in the USA (the grey type will be silver in reality, by the way). I like it a lot more than the previous version. In fact, I like it a lot.

Gerard Brennan is Having a Good Month

My blogging friend Gerard Brennan just announced some exciting news on his blog: he has been taken on by literary agent (and acclaimed crime writer) Allan Guthrie of Jenny Brown Associates. I've said it several times already, but it bears repeating - congratulations, Gerard, this is well deserved and long overdue.

And it comes in the wake of some short story successes. I posted the other day about Gerard's recent appearance in Thuglit, and he also just had a story appear in Three Crow Press.

Keep up the good work, Gerard.

In Other News

Congratulations are also due to Chris F Holm for a fine horror-crime mash-up that recently appeared in the Beat to a Pulp ezine.

I have received the final version of THE TWELVE's UK cover...

The differences are subtle, but I do think this version seems more balanced and cohesive. And that tag line is a nice touch. It's a recurring line of dialogue from the novel, so well done to whoever thought of putting it on the cover.



I also received the US design for THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST (as THE TWELVE shall be known there). This time it follows the corporate branding of Soho Press, with the characteristic white stripe for the title.

The Ghosts of Belfast to be Published in the USA by Soho Press

I'm delighted to report that THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST will be published in the USA by Soho Press, the independent New York house. Laura Hruska acquired it as part of a two-book deal from my ever-excellent agent Nat Sobel, and the book has found a wonderful home. Soho Press publish a range of literary and crime fiction, often set in foreign locales, and quite a few UK authors pitch their American tents there.

I'm particularly excited to receive this news among the doom and gloom currently shrouding the publishing industry. This report at TheBookseller.com was especially discouraging. It's good to know there are still publishers like Soho Press, and indeed Harvill Secker in the UK, who are willing to take a chance on a new author even in these uncertain times.

I'm told I'll have a cover design for the UK edition very soon, and when it appears I'll share it here along with some breaking news...