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Saturday 14 May 2011

Kill Clock Update And A New Cover

Just a brief update on Kill Clock. For those who don't know its history, Kill Clock is a novella that was originally published in paperback by Barrington Stoke. When the digital rights became available, I took a look at the text and decided there were one or two changes I'd like to make before publishing the ebook version.

I made those changes and then passed the revised text along to some trusted readers. They came back with some excellent suggestions, which I've been working on since. I do think that with everybody's help, I've broken the back of this wee fella. I just have to break all its limbs over the next couple of weeks and we'll have something I'm happy with. Yes, writing can be a painful process, especially if you're a book that I've been let loose on.

Meanwhile, I thought it would be a good idea to prepare an omnibus edition of my three novellas. I've called it Three To Kill, keeping up my utterly shameless tradition of stealing titles from classic crime novels. This time, it's Jean-Patrick Manchette I have to thank.

My cover designer, JT Lindroos, has been knocking the ball out of the park recently. This one's no exception. Hope you like it.



Hope you're enjoying the interviews too. Back with more tomorrow.

14 comments:

  1. It's a great cover. Moody and dark. JT Lindroos seems unable to miss.

    Congratulations.

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  2. Terrific cover, worthy of the writing.

    I like the Manchette tribute. I just reviewed his latest one to appear in English: http://dogobarrygraham.blogspot.com/2011/05/book-review-fatale-by-jean-patrick.html

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  3. Thank you both, gents. I haven't read FATALE yet, Barry, but I should have a copy with me soon. Great review. Bunuel and Pinter. Jeez, throw in Ionesco and Jacobean revenge tragedy and you've summed up my late teens.

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  4. Brilliant cover Allan. Lindroos strikes again. Wonder what building is that? Is it a prison? Hospital for the criminally insane? Whatever it is, it definitely has a sense of the foreboding about it. Congrats on the new edition.

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  5. Excellent news and excellent covers. And the interviews are great.

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  6. Yep, JT Lindroos is da bomb. And it's a terrific idea, an omnibus of novellas - hell, if you're not careful you'll pick up the Booker for writing a postmodern fractured narrative of contemporary crime.

    Cheers, Dec

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  7. Thanks, folks. Much appreciate the comments.

    MK -- Not sure about the buildings. The shot is taken from Edinburgh's Cowgate looking up onto either George IV Bridge or South Bridge, that's as much as I know.

    Dec -- Thanks for the warning. I'll try to be careful. Although I heard the Booker comes with a gold sticker and I'm a sucker for those.

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  8. Will THREE TO KILL be released in the States at the same time as it's released in the UK? It's frustrating to read of all this good stuff (including McKinty, Burke, et al) and have to wait.

    (I know, I know, another whiny Yank.)

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  9. Thanks, Paul.

    Dana, I'm fortunate that the worldwide digital rights for THREE TO KILL are within my control, so there won't be any territorial restrictions.

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  10. This is what e-books are for, making available forms like the novella that might not be economically feasible to publish between paper covers.

    Edinburgh is full of weird, claustrophobic views like that, from underground up to bridges without ever stopping at ground level. It's a wonder that the whole city isn't nuts, or at last unbalanced, looking at the world form than angle.
    ======================
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    "Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
    http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

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  11. I'm confident we'll see a rise in shorter fiction, Peter. Most books could benefit from being shorter, anyway, and with ebooks there's a very limited degree of perceived value for the reader in a fatter book.

    And who says the whole city isn't nuts?

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