Thursday 1 March 2012

Criminal Splatterings

It seems as there is a glut of short story competitions on the go. Yesterday, Ayo reported on a collaboration between Faber and Faber publishers and Stylist Magazine. Today, I have had an email from Bloombsury Publishing who, in association with the Writers and Artists Yearbook, is launching their challenge to writers to create a crime story in a 1000 words or less.
This is the press release:
Every other month one of Bloomsbury's Crime authors will be laying down the creative gauntlet with an original short story thus setting the theme for that month. Then it's over to you, the British public, to do your worst. Criminally speaking of course!


Every other month, we will chose ONE winner and their story will be featured on the Short Sentence website. Once the competition has closed all the winning stories will be published as a Short Sentence eBook along with the Featured Authors' stories. This will be available for free from all online book retailers. Each winner will also receive a Day Rover ticket to the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate (2013) and a selection of Bloomsbury books. Four Runners up will receive a selection of Bloomsbury books.

We will announce OVERALL WINNER during National Short Story Week in November 2012. The overall winner will win a place at the Writers and Artists Yearbook conference for 2013 and a Weekend Rover Ticket for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate (2103).

The competition launches with a short story from debut crime author Parker Bilal, author of The Golden Scales, on the theme of DECEPTION. Rules and details of how to enter are on the website - http://www.shortsentence.co.uk/ So all you budding writers out there, no more excuses, get writing!

Other authors taking part include Conor Fitzgerald, Anne Zouroudi, Tom Mogford and James Runcie

And talking of an ex-Bloomsbury writer, J.K. ROWLING has gone over to the dark side, well Little Brown really, for her next book. "Although I've enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world," she said. There were rumours going around last year that she would be writing a crime book. Perhaps her next door neighbour, Ian Rankin might have something to do with it (if it's true, of course)?

HENRY SUTTON's new book has been bought by Harvill Secker. The Daily Mirror books editor Henry Sutton, has sold a crime novel which features a fictional crime writer, David Slavitt, at its centre. My Criminal World will be publish in 2013. The story focuses on struggling crime wrtier Slavitt, whose agent insists his new book needs more blood and guts. Interspersed with Slavitt's story are extracts from the crime story he is writing, which get more and more violent as the story progresses; the extracts will be published as a separate e-book.

After reading Trackers by DEON MEYER,  I wondered how he was going to follow this up.  Word has it that Laura Seegers has just finished translating Sere Dae which will be published as Seven Days by Hodder & Stoughton

And in case you thought I had forgotten World Book Day, those jolly nice people at Goldsboro are giving away books - well, not exactly but with a 20% discount off all orders from stock items for one day, 1st March 2012. Place your order on their website on the 1st March 2012 and all books that are published and in stock (not pre-orders -unpublished titles) are availble to buy using coupon code WBD2012 and you will get 20% off. This doesn't include postage and can not be used with any other discount.

Falcón will arrive in 2012
And to finish off, I bumped into Robert Wilson at the Orion XXth Party and he tells me that Sky Atlantic are filming the Javier Falcón books. According to their website,
To be shown in 2012, Sky Atlantic is proud to announce the production of a four-part crime drama, set in Seville and based on Robert Wilson's bestselling novels .Javier Falcón is a Chief Inspector in the Seville police, a brilliant detective whose personal and professional life is compromised by dark secrets from the past in this ambitious and complex new series.

The first story to be adapted is The Blind Man of Seville, which follows Falcón‘s investigation into a brutal killing which stirs long forgotten memories. As Falcón investigates the crime, and finds himself drawn to the widow of the victim, he discovers the secret truth about his artist father’s violent history in Tangier and the Spanish Civil War. The second story to be adapted is The Silent and the Damned, in which a double suicide takes Falcón to an exclusive area of Seville where wealthy neighbours keep their secrets well hidden and there’s more in the freezer than just food.

The role of Javier Falcón, a Chief Inspector in the Seville police, will be played by Marton Csokas, best known as Elven Lord Celeborn in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy Joining Csokas in FALCÓN: The Blind Man Of Seville are Charlie Creed-Miles (The Fifth Element, Harry Brown) as Ramirez, Falcón’s deputy in the Seville Police and Hayley Atwell (Captain America, Any Human Heart) as Consuelo Jimenez, the widow of a murder victim who may also be the number one suspect. Emilia Fox (Silent Witness, The Pianist) will play Ines, the estranged wife of Falcón, whilst Kerry Fox (Cloudstreet, Shallow Grave) is his sister, Manuela. Veteran actor Bernard Hill (Titanic, The Lord of The Rings) takes the role of Ramon Salgado, wealthy art dealer and friend of Falcón’s father, the renowned, but now deceased artist Francisco Falcón. Santiago Cabrerra (Merlin, Heroes) will play Judge Esteban Calderon.

Marton Csokas stars as Javier Falcón  Photo copright SKY Atlantic





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