So I didn’t get selected for the BLOODY SCOTLAND short story competition with my entry, WHISKY IN THE JAR.
I’m not too disappointed – I’m not a short story kind of guy, I barely read them and that’s the first time I’ve written one. It was an enjoyable experience – doing serious in-depth research on a topic I know bugger all about and writing a whole case in a really tight 3,000 words (come on, that’s a chapter!).
It has a lot of assumed history, as in it’s a sequel to DEVIL IN THE DETAIL, so Cullen and Bain and Caldwell are all in there and set up from before, so reading it cold might be for the best. Lesson learnt is that a short story should probably be standalone for a competition. I’m pleased with it – it was great fun to write and really kicked my mojo back into gear after publishing GHOST.
Good things can come out of adversity – my immediate thoughts are to expand it into a slightly longer form, most likely a novelette. It’ll be published probably around about the same time as DEVIL so that you’re getting a good load of Cullen action together.
But for now, I’m all about finishing DEVIL IN THE DETAIL – I’m up to 59% complete on the latest draft so I should complete it by the weekend and then it’s off to my trio of editors. Shaping up nicely – only three scenes I need to go back to so far; pretty pleased with the pace; the new characters seem to work well; the old characters are up to their tricks…
Finally, I’m going to refresh the artwork for GHOST to coincide with the print version and the publication of DEVIL. Some really cool new artwork on its way!
— Ed