I’m not all about Amazon. Mostly, but not all. I’ve put BOTTLENECK on Nook and Kobo right from the off –

Nook link

Kobo link

Amazon UK link | Amazon US link

Getting some very positive feedback on BOTTLENECK, which is a blessed relief more than anything. Oh, I was on the cover of Monday’s Herald.

To find out about my upcoming releases – sign up to the mailing list. I usually pre-release the book by this means, so it’s the best way of keeping on top of my books.

In other news, I’m just about ready to start the first draft of SNARED, the first DS DODDS mystery.

— Ed

BOTTLENECK is officially out today on Kindle and Kobo for £3.99 and $6.49 (other channels, including paperback and Nook will likely be 31-Mar-14) –
Kindle –
Amazon UK Link
Amazon US Link
(other territories live now)
Kobo –
Kobo link
Hope you enjoy it! First chapter is just after the break.
— Ed
Join my mailing list

BOTTLENECK

Chapter one

      Alistair Cameron pushed the body of his guitar against its amplifier sending squalls of feedback coruscating through the room. His free hand reached down and adjusted the controls, making the noise swell. He looked over at Roddie pounding the drum kit and realised the song wasn’t going to end any time soon.
Grinning, he unstrapped the guitar and propped it against the amp before setting to work on his pedal board, fifteen Boss and Fender units interconnected in an array he’d taken months to perfect. He applied a layer of delay before gradually increasing the reverb. On a beat, his right hand slammed down on an overdrive pedal then a distortion two bars later, while his left mimicked a foot and added a wave of wah wah.
Through the noise, he could just about pick up Roddie’s clattering drum pattern signalling the end. He looked over at Gary, head down and noodling away on his bass, keeping some semblance of song together. Their eyes locked. Alistair nodded at Gary then over at Roddie who swept into a long snare roll stretching over four bars. Alistair gradually switched off pedal after pedal before carefully retrieving his guitar just in time to crash in on the final chord.
The sound stopped dead, echoes of the cymbals dying away.
“If there was an audience,” said Gary, “they’d be going mental just now.”
Alistair nodded as he looked around the practice room, four whitewashed walls and a bare ceiling above a concrete floor, the equipment of two bands rammed into the tiny space. “Not long till we have a proper crowd.”
Roddie grinned. “You almost didn’t make the last chord there. One pedal too many.”
Alistair shrugged, trying to affect the cool the singer of a band should have. “I was tempted to put another one on.” He sat down on his amp and flicked it to standby. “Reckon that’s us for tonight?”
“Think so,” said Roddie, before reaching round and tossing a can of beer over to Alistair.
“Cheers.” He inspected it, a cheap supermarket brand. He wasn’t one to turn down free beer, so tentatively opened it, careful not to catch the gush of foam on his clothes, shoes, guitar or pedals. The floor got it instead, another sticky patch that would take weeks to clear.
“That was a good practice,” said Gary.
“Damn right.” Roddie avoided the spray as he opened his can.
“Nice to kick back and relax now,” said Alistair, feeling genuinely spent from the exertions of running through their twenty-five minute set four times, almost eradicating errors.
“Not quite,” said Gary, taking a sip of vodka straight from the bottle.
“Eh?” said Alistair.
“Tonight’s the night,” said Gary, mouth twisting into an evil grin.
Alistair rolled his eyes. “You still on about that?” he said, trying to sound tired.
“Aye, and I won’t stop until you finally do it.” Gary picked up a copy of The List, the Glasgow and Edinburgh what’s-on guide, and showed it to Alistair. “The deal was, I arrange the gig and you go for a wander down there.”
Alistair shook his head. “You’re such a bloody child.” He looked around, desperate for an excuse. “I need a torch.”
Gary grinned again as he took one out of his hoodie pocket. “Here you go. No more excuses.”
“You really want me to do this?” said Alistair, trying to sound grown up, challenging Gary to see the error of his childish ways.
It didn’t work. Gary prodded him in the chest. “A deal’s a deal,” he said, punctuating each word with a poke.
Alistair’s eyes pleaded with Roddie.
“Don’t look at me,” said the drummer. “This is between you pair.” He cracked open another beer before belching.
“Fine,” said Alistair, feeling his blood rise.
Gary turned to a dog-eared page. “Here.”
It was an interview with Expect Delays, the local band made good. Alistair was obsessed with them, almost as much as Gary. Top five singles, a number one album and supporting U2 at Hampden next week. Miles better than playing to the proverbial ‘three blokes and a murderer’ at Bannerman’s, like they would on Sunday.
“What am I supposed to be looking for here?” said Alistair.
Gary’s fat finger pointed to a chunk of interview text. “This bit.”
Alistair read the interview with Neeraj Patel, Expect Delays’ guitarist, talking about the practice room they used as an unsigned band in Edinburgh.
“I know they practised here,” said Alistair. “That’s why we got the room.”
“That’s not it,” said Gary. “Read on.”
“Right, so they went for a wander along an old street under the Old Town? Big deal.”
“Says you can walk for miles under here,” said Gary. “Can’t believe they did that, man. It’s fate. If we do it, maybe we’ll get signed, too.”
“I don’t think it works like that,” said Alistair, sweating despite the cold.
“You’re not going back on our deal, are you?” said Gary.
Alistair tried again with the maturity act, this time folding his arms. He got nowhere. “Right, fuck it,” he said, getting to his feet and snatching the torch from Gary.
“Good man,” said Gary.
Alistair stormed out of the room, swinging the torch by its cord. They were on the second level down and the entrance was on the next, the lowest. He waited with Gary while Roddie locked the door then headed down the stone stairs.
He heard the sound of at least one other band bleeding through the walls. He checked his watch – still another fifty minutes till they had to lock up.
Alistair stopped by the heavy door and turned round. “You coming with me?”
Gary rubbed his hands together. “Of course.”
“Wouldn’t miss this for the world,” said Roddie.
Alistair grimaced before marching on. The lack of whitewash was the only difference between the rehearsal space and the old street.
An old paraffin lantern hanging from a wall reminded him of Mary King’s Close, the sanitised tourist attraction he’d visited with school.
This was different – an ancient road that led off Niddry Street before the buildings of South Bridge sprang up in the nineteenth century. The smell of damp – always present in their room – worsened as they progressed deeper.
They came to a crossroads that opened out slightly. Alistair quickly ascertained two of the paths were bricked up, leaving right as the only option. He shone the torch into the gloom, the beam dying long before it reached a distant wall. The hair on his arms pricked up. He swallowed hard and marched on, trying to recall the exact terms of the deal – he reckoned another hundred footsteps ought to do it, but he didn’t know whether Gary would see it that way.
“What was that?” said Roddie.
“Your burp,” said Alistair, briefly turning round.
“No, I swear I heard something.”
Alistair gritted his teeth and strode on, determined to get it over with. After another fifty or so paces, the path curved hard to the left. He was aware of their breath behind him, loud in the darkness. “This’ll do.”
“Nowhere near enough, mate,” said Gary. “Keep going.”
“Come on, man,” said Alistair.
“Don’t ‘come on, man’ me.” Gary stabbed a finger at his chest. “I say when it’s over, not you.”
Alistair pushed on. After another twenty seconds, he stopped dead and turned to face the others. “I swear I heard something.”
Gary scowled. “Quit it. Roddie’s trick didn’t work on you, so you’re trying it on me now?”
Alistair swivelled back round, the torch dancing on the stone walls. The light bounced off something metallic. “What’s that?”
“Enough,” said Gary.
“I mean it,” said Alistair, pointing down with the torch. “Look. Something’s glinting.”
“Might be some old money or something,” said Roddie. He laughed and spoke in a stupid voice. “Maybe it’s gold. Maybe a treasure chest.”
“I doubt it,” said Gary.
Alistair inched forward, flicking the torch across the ground. As they approached, he saw something long and thin. He stopped and looked closer. A screwdriver. He crept on, training the torch ahead. The light shone on something and he let out a gasp.
A body was propped against the wall.

Just spotted an interesting article about me on crime fiction lover, one of,y very favourite online review sites –
Link
— Ed
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Had a blast this afternoon – listen back at the following link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03xgn2h#clips
–Ed

Released on Monday 17th March, here is the book blurb for BOTTLENECK, CULLEN 5 –

Acting Detective Sergeant Scott Cullen almost has the stable relationship and promotion he’s long coveted. The uncertainty surrounding the imminent Police Scotland restructure and his crippling caseload both take their toll on him. Now living with his girlfriend, her own burning ambition puts a strain on their relationship and her health, traits they both share.
But when a body is discovered in the abandoned streets underneath Edinburgh’s Old Town, Cullen struggles to identify the victim before trawling the depths of the Scottish music scene, digging up old scores in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Now, as he returns to the Angus home town he’s long since left, Cullen finds himself spread thin, hunting across Scotland for a killer who leaves no trace. As Scotland’s police forces are centralised into Police Scotland, Cullen is dragged into the murky world of internal politics, blocking progress in the case and jeopardising his own career.
BOTTLENECK is a tense police procedural novel about greed and ambition that will suck you in from the start.
Intended as a series jumping-on point, BOTTLENECK is Book 5 in the Edinburgh-based police procedurals starring DC Scott Cullen which have been compared favourably with Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham, Christopher Brookmyre, Ed McBain, Elmore Leonard and Stuart MacBride.

— Ed

I’ll be appearing on BBC Scotland’s Culture Studio tomorrow with fellow Tartoin Noir authors Alex Gray and Craig Robertson talking about how the changes to Police Scotland have impacted crime writers –

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rlrlq

— Ed

 
Just a quick note to say I’ll be appearing at Dunbar this coming Friday (the poster says it much better than I can) –

Quick post to say that SHOT THROUGH THE HEART is now free at Amazon and all other retailers.

“An enjoyable tale that I found difficult to put down. The lead character, Mark Campbell, is well developed and believably flawed while the story line is suitably spooky.” 
– 4/5, Scottish Field, February 2014 issue
Mark Campbell, historian and author, is desperate to finish his new book on the infamous Highland Clearances when his researcher mysteriously disappears. Abandoning his depressed wife and new baby, Mark rushes to a remote Scottish village to investigate.
But when he gets there, all is not what it seems. Who is the attractive landowner, Lady Elizabeth Ruthven, and why is she housebound on a remote loch island? Why are wild dogs hunting him? What really happened to the researcher?
Mark’s investigation is soon overwhelmed by a series of unnerving events, plunging him into a nightmare of vampires and devil worship. Can he make it back home to his family in one piece?
SHOT THROUGH THE HEART is a thrill-ride adventure set in the Scottish Highlands, cleverly weaving the supernatural with history. It will grip you right through to its shocking conclusion.

Amazon UK Kindle link

Also available at Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Sony eReader and in paperback.
— Ed
 

 
Unfortunately, I’m going to have to delay the release of BOTTLENECK by a couple of weeks to Monday 17-Mar-14. Sincere apologies for this, it’s entirely my own fault. Nothing major, just juggling a few too many plates just now. It will be more than worth the wait. As someone told me recently, I’ve made a real mistake calling it that. Should have stuck with SPANNER IN THE WORKS…
Anyway, here is the artwork for the book – it’s a radical departure from the style of the previous books and I’m really happy with it –

 
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be posting the following things for you –

• Cover reveal – today
• Blurb – next week
• First chapter – following week

This is a pretty difficult decision to make but I think it’s important. I’m trying to release the highest quality work I can and not cut the corners I used to. I am getting better at understanding how much work is involved in the production of a book. This one is the best thing I’ve done by a good distance and I’m determined to get it right.
Thanks again for all of your support.
— Ed

Last Friday I did a video shoot to publicise BOTTLENECK and show you lot around the Edinburgh of the Scott Cullen books. Here it is –
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz-z7NNtPM4?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360]
Link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz-z7NNtPM4
More BOTTLENECK stuff will be appearing over the next week or so.
A few other things –
1)  SHOT THROUGH THE HEART is now FREE on Amazon – http://mybook.to/edjamesheart – and all other places (I’ve noticed Nook so far)
2) DYED IN THE WOOL is reduced to £2.99 on Amazon – http://mybook.to/edjamesdyed
3) Been a busy boy of late, sign up to the newsletter to find out precisely what in the next couple of days – http://eepurl.com/pyjv9

— Ed

Saw this news story, which is reasonably similar to DEVIL IN THE DETAIL, proof that real life is stranger than fiction –
guardian
— Ed

I’d previously blogged that the fifth Cullen will be out on 14th Feb. It’s looking like it’s going to slip a bit to the 28th, ironically due to an editing bottleneck, entirely of my own making (all will become clear soon). I’ll start posting some info soon – cover, blurb, excerpt – but we’re planning some big stuff for the launch.
Had a nice review in The Scottish Field magazine for SHOT THROUGH THE HEART –
“An enjoyable tale that I found difficult to put down. The lead character, Mark Campbell, is well developed and believably flawed while the story line is suitably spooky.”
– 4/5, Scottish Field, February 2014 issue
In other news, I’ve buggered my back. Watch a fat man doing Pilates…
–Ed
Ghost in the Machine is free – http://myBook.to/edjamesghost

2013 was quite a year for me, to say the least.

Looking back to where I was last year – selling about 200 books a month, heavily in debt, heavily overweight – I’ve come along way. I’ll cover the books in some detail in this post, but I’ve managed to clear all of my credit cards debts (more than £10k) and I’ve lost three stone, though I think the Christmas break has pulled that back a bit, shall we say. I also had Lasik eye surgery, which has been brilliant, if a lot more expensive than I though it would be.

(Note – this post might be a bit boring for most of my readers, but hopefully any other writers out there will get something out of it)

2013 Review

A year ago, I had two books out and I was doing okay, selling 200 a month, making a couple of hundred quid (offset against the laptop and apps I bought), and I was just entering into the final edits for FIRE IN THE BLOOD, Cullen book three.

Since then, I’ve published FIRE, and have gone on to publish DYED IN THE WOOL, the fourth Cullen, and also the first in a new series, SHOT THROUGH THE HEART. I’ve also finished Cullen five – BOTTLENECK – and am about to complete a bridging short story/novelette/novella, which will need a name at some point, of course. That’s fairly good going, I think…

Fast forward to now, and my sales are pretty much 200 a day. I have downloads of 800-1,000 a day on GHOST. I’m selling over 5,000 books a month of the others.

Wow.

What the hell happened? A few things.

Perma-free

First, and probably most important, was making GHOST IN THE MACHINE perma-free. This obviously requires a bit of hacking of Amazon, but since it kicked in during January, I’ve had 159,410 downloads (as of Sunday, so it’s definitely cleared 160k by now).

The downside of this is that it’s not just fans of police procedurals who are downloading this, it’s just people with Kindles. It seems like I’ve bored a few people with GHOST (sorry, it’s the genre), but have snared a lot more into Cullen and his world of idiots and idiocy. Thank you if you’ve taken a punt on my books this year and enjoyed them.

Judge a book by its cover

Second, changing the book covers. It’s amazing how many people judge a book by its cover.

Old cover –

New cover –

Prior to doing this, GHOST had been between 300 and 500 in the free chart. A couple of plugs on some websites and it rose into the top 100 in mid-September, where it has stayed ever since, rising as high as no 4 in the UK and 98 in the US.

Thanks to Kitty for the redesigned covers, they’ve helped so much.

Series Sales

Third, having a solid series has clearly helped. The four Cullens are doing very well, with DEVIL having shifted over 8,000, FIRE over 4,000 and DYED over 2,000. I’ve played with the FIRE price recently, and its hopefully going to encourage people to get into the later books. DEVIL has been in the top 100 and FIRE in the top 200 in the UK, both outselling all of Ian Rankin’s output on Kindle at one point. That’s my hero. That’s crazy.

Me, me, me

Fourth, getting a publicist really helped. My name is out there now. In some parts of the country, I’m “Angus author Ed James” and in others “East Lothian author Ed James” (it doesn’t take Cullen to figure out which counties). I was on BBC Radio Scotland talking about my books and my commuting cycle. Cheers to Kenneth Stephen of Heartland Media. Awesome guy.

Ficks mie rawngg typings

Fifth and final, getting a professional editor was huge. DYED IN THE WOOL and SHOT THROUGH THE HEART are miles better than the earlier stuff I did, mainly because Rhona went all psycho bitch (her words) and tore them apart. They were really difficult to edit, but the lessons have been learnt, so much so that one of my long-standing alpha readers thought that the first draft of BOTTLENECK had been fully edited. I think DYED was the first book where I was close to serving my apprenticeship, and hopefully you’ll see that improvement in BOTTLENECK.

Supernature series

A final note is that SHOT THROUGH THE HEART isn’t getting that much love. No, sales, not love – people seem to really enjoy it, which is great, including a couple of people finding Cullen through it. But it is not quite doing as well as if I’d spent the time on another Cullen. I kind of forget how much of a nightmare it was to break GHOST IN THE MACHINE, basically needing another two books out. Looking back at this time last year, I sold 41 copies of GHOST in a week, compared to 38 of SHOT this week (which was 77p vs £1.99), so I shouldn’t worry. The real thing was in writing it and learning from that, plus getting myself all worried that I’d put all my eggs in one basket with the Cullen series.

When I was writing it, I was getting a bit fed up of Cullen, and the sales hadn’t kicked in, so motivation was a bit low. Writing DYED had been hard, editing had been harder, and I worked out again how much I love writing and also freshened my writing up a bit. I loved plotting and writing that book. It was very different to a Cullen, very similar in a lot of ways, and the last third was a real change to my usual writing and I learnt a LOT. And I learnt to love Cullen again.

Other tedious stuff

In terms of the long-term goals, amazingly I’ve pretty much met what I thought would be 3-5 year goals. The way the sales graph has exploded upwards has meant that I’m earning more from books gross than I did in my full-time job this time last year. I’ve got the income going into a limited company just now (in case there’s a tax man reading), but that’s mental.

In my professional life, as professional as I get anyway, I managed to break free from a permanent contract and get into the world of self-employment. This has been a great thing for me, aside from earning decent money for the first time in my career, I’ve got one step closer to doing the writing full-time. 

I worked in London for seven months as penance, though. It was an interesting experience, from the 4.45am alarm call to getting off the train at 10pm on a Thursday and working from home on Friday. If nothing else, it got me the opportunity to exploit for publicity. The London stuff is going to get ploughed into CRASH INTO MY ARMS (Supernature 2), and poor DI Simon Fenchurch will suffer for it like I did.

One thing that London did give was lots of free time, when I wasn’t drinking. Ahem. I did a hell of a lot of writing on public transport, but I was able to get a fair whack done in my grotty little hotel room. I did get to the point where I didn’t think I was being productive enough and I worked myself pretty hard in November and December, getting BOTTLENECK drafted and edited, ready for other eyes.

This year, I’m back working in Edinburgh. I’m so happy about that. I’ll be back on the train from North Berwick to Edinburgh and out to the Gyle. That’s two solid hours of writing every day. The secret to my success has been momentum, I’ve rare
ly let it up in the last two years. Having that time available for writing will be good.

2014 Goals

What do I want out of 2014?

First, I want to end it writing full-time. As I said earlier, I could do it now, but it’s possibly a bit too much of a risk to take. I could do with some savings and so on before I get stuck into writing full-time. Amazon could kill off KDP tomorrow. Hopefully, the arse won’t fall out of the sales in the meantime.

Second, I want to publish three books, maybe a fourth, and some shorter fiction as well. I want to get two more CULLENs out by the summer, the second SUPERNATURE (which will draw heavily on my time in London) and start a new police procedural series which will partner the CULLEN books. I’ve got so many ideas that I could write full-time for a year and still have loads left in the bank.

Finally, I want to take more time off and relax a bit more. 2013 was a great year and I was really frantic, but I’m wary of not learning what happened to Iain Banks. Writing lost a true legend last year, one of the best writers ever, and a truly great man. I need to pace myself and relax more. I’ve been able to manage the on-off a lot better when I was doing BOTTLENECK, and it’s something I’ll take forward into next year.

I hope that post doesn’t seem too mercenary and money-oriented. The real reflection for me is that I’ve gone from being an unskilled amateur to someone who could make a living out of this in the space of a year. I have loved writing every single word I’ve committed this year (over 250,000 I think). I’ve loved interacting with people on Twitter, Facebook and email (seriously, I love talking to people). I’ve appreciated every single review on Amazon or Goodreads or on your website, even the bad reviews (in some cases, especially the bad reviews and especially the American ones).

Anyway, hope you lot have a great 2014 and all your dreams and wishes come true, or at least that you have fun and don’t get too stressed. In the next couple of days, I’ll be putting out a pop culture review of 2013 (written but I don’t want to spam the hell out of this).

— Ed

Book links –

Ghost- Free – http://myBook.to/edjamesghost
Devil – £1.99 – http://mybook.to/edjamesdevil
Fire – £1.99 – http://mybook.to/edjamesfire
Dyed – £3.99 – http://mybook.to/edjamesdyed
Shot – £1.99 – http://mybook.to/edjamesheart

I found this old post lurking in my drafts. Weirdly a lot of prescient stuff in there. I think Al Guthrie became my agent two weeks after I wrote this.
MUSIC
2013 has been a weird year for me in terms of music.
I finished the year listening to the twin bastions of seventies radio – LED ZEPPELIN and STEELY DAN.
You read that right.
They really helped me through BOTTLENECK. Led Zep are a band I’ve loved since I was 20s, though this year saw me buy their entire back catalogue, and especially loving IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR, their controversial swan song, which features country+western, calypso and squelchy synth bass amongst other things. Hearing those musicians play, though, and it just sounds amazing.
STEELY DAN are one of those utter shit bands that I hated for a long time. They finally got me this year. They are probably the cheesiest thing I’ve ever listened to, but good god, they’re good to listen to and get lost in as background.
Prior to that, I’d been listening to some decent stuff. I found the BALANCE series of compilations on Spotify, really good mixes of techno and house that help me blot out the rest of the world as I hammer out the words.
Other notable old bands I got into last year were XTC and Kraftwerk, both of whom I’d admired for a long time (MAKING PLANS FOR NIGEL and COMPUTER LOVE, respectively) but had never got into them. This year, I did. XTC, in particular, are a genuinely good band.
Notable new releases from 2013 for me were few and far between. As I get older, I pay less and less attention to new music. Stuff I’ve enjoyed this year has been the new Bowie THE NEXT DAY, which is a great record, with WHERE ARE WE NOW? being among his best material. Boards of Canada’s GEMINI was very strong, though not as good as their early stuff. Johnny Marr’s THE MESSENGER had some great tunes, reminiscent of his best stuff (The Smiths, of course), even though his vocals were a bit Oasis at times… My Bloody Valentine are one of my favourite bands of all time, and I once played in a band that owed a heavy debt to them – their comeback, mbv, was good, but reminded me of a bootleg more than a proper album. Thom Yorke’s debut solo LP, THE ERASER, was an incredible record, and I’m not the world’s biggest Radiohead fan – his latest “band” Atoms for Peace, released AMOK, a continuation of that record in sound and quality, and then fell out with Spotify, meaning I had to buy it. Harrumph.
Other stuff I’ve spent a lot of time with this year, would be Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s entire back catalogue. An incredible band.
Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat released his best record a couple of years ago, a collaboration with jazz musician Bill Wells called EVERYTHING’S GETTING OLDER, which I’ve returned to many times this year. It’s beautiful and features some of the grumpiest of Moffat’s “singing” ever.
In terms of techno, Higher Intelligence Agency were a new discovery if old, and I listened to them a lot when putting DYED IN THE WOOL to bed.
I love the guys behind Basic Channel and Maurizio, and listened to all of that stuff a lot. I found their Rhythm & Sound dub techno output on Spotify this year and got into that a lot.
In all, not a great year, but not bad.
BOOKS
This year, I got a Kindle. I love it. It’s so much better than dead tree books and I’ve read so much more and so much better stuff. I’ve also used it to clear my second-hand book habit and I’m buying stuff direct from the author.
Thought I’d read more this year, but then there were a couple of absolute monsters I got through – as well as loving crime (and general Scottish fiction), I’m into sci-fi (or speculative fiction if you’re snobby about it) and, more recently, fantasy (though the few wizards and goblins, the better).
Most recently, I got through two China Miéville books. First, THE SCAR is part two of the BAS-LAG series, though it basically shared a universe with the first. Generally, it was strong on world building (a floating city is an incredible idea) but it was just such a massive read which didn’t pick up the pace like PERDIDO STREET STATION, part one. THE CITY AND THE CITY, however, was amazing – a detective story set in a split city, where two cities exist in the same space, “unseeing” each other. Very strong and highly recommended.
The first thing I read on the Kindle was Charles Stross’s MERCHANT PRINCES series, the first six books. They sat on the edge of sci-fi and fantasy, and were strongly-written and developed. If I was a Hollywood exec, I’d look at optioning this and cutting it down to a single film – the story only really emerged in the fifth and sixth books, but what a punch at the end. I’ve been a long-term follower of his blog and the man’s immense world knowledge shines through this. Very highly recommended.
THE EVOLUTIONARY VOID was the third part in a Peter F. Hamilton trilogy which took me through the last few months of 2012 and into this. As with everything else the man writes, the scale was epic. While not as good as the COMMONWEALTH saga, in my opinion, this series was entertaining as hell and well worthy of the read.
Right, onto crime. First, three masters. I read KILLER ON THE ROAD and CLANDESTINE by James Ellroy, two early books, and I wish I could write anywhere near as coherently as he does.
Next was Allan Guthrie – I read TWO-WAY SPLIT and KISS HER GOODBYE back-to-back and was as blown away as I was with THE SLAMMER. Sadly, it seems like Guthrie’s output has been curtailed of late, but these novels were exactly what I look for in crime – crisp, articulate and full of evil idiots doing stupid things repeatedly.
Thirdly, one of my highlights of the year was getting a book signed by Ian Rankin at the launch of SAINTS OF THE SHADOW BIBLE, and going all fanboi on him. Needless to say, the book is up there with last year’s STANDING IN ANOTHER MAN’S GRAVE, the return of Rebus. This built on that and expanded the roles of DI Clarke and DI Fox. He really is the master.
A real surprise for me was THE UNBURIED DEAD by Douglas Lindsay, the first DS Hutton thriller. Wow. Everything I loved about the Guthrie books is present, wrapped in a police procedural framework full of the sort of coppers that make my lot seem competent. Brilliant and free – just get it.
I’d had two James Oswald books waiting the arrival of the kindle and I devoured them in September. NATURAL CAUSES and THE BOOK OF SOULS feature DI McLean running through some fairly standard police procedural fare – the hairs on my arms stood on end, though with the spooky stuff that was going on in both books. Definitely looking forward to book three early this year.
I had the pleasure of doing a swap-review with Jason Beech, who loved GHOST. I really enjoyed OVER THE SHOULDER and absolutely rattled through it. Editing issues aside, it was a fresh and original tale in a hackneyed genre. Very good.
I also caught up on two over my favourite authors. The late Iain Banks’ STONEMOUTH was very solid, if not one of his very best books. Irvine Welsh’s SKAGBOYS was as electric as TRAINSPOTTING all those years ago.
COMICS
I got my first ever iPad this summer. One of the big things is it’s allowed me to get back into comics, using the amazing Comixology app. I’ve never been one for the big superhero stuff, really, preferring subversions of it by the likes of Mark Millar and Grant Morrison.
One of the strongest titles I found this year was the solo HAWKEYE by Matt Fraction, which took one of the most stupid superheroes and turned him into a character with flaws and depth. It had the feel of an edgy HBO series, a million miles away from the over-the-top Marvel films.
On that topic, IRON MAN 3 is, to me, the best superhero film ever, even better than the first BATMAN, THE DARK KNIGHT and either of the first two X-MEN films. Aside from the real-world feel – failing technology, mistakes, errors – it had one of the best twists I’ve ever seen.
I took up the offer of every single WALKING DEAD comic, 117 issues for £60-ish, and it was well worth it. Really smart storytelling and worldbuilding, and the sort of stuff I’m aiming for with the SUPERNATURE series.
Another comic of note was MANHATTAN PROJECTS, which took the sort of LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN thing but using real-world scientists to do comic stuff. Entertaining, and the art was reminiscent of Frank Quitely, probably one of my very favourite artists.
I’ve got a whole load of stuff synced on the iPad that I haven’t had time to get into, including Alan Moore’s FROM HELL and a load of Garth Ennis stuff. The man is a genius, and a huge influence on me – PREACHER is one of the best things ever in any form.
FILMS
Films were pretty poor this year.
Aside from IRON MAN 3, there wasn’t much joy. The second HOBBIT was a ripping yarn, very entertaining. I’m definitely among the pro-Jackson camp – the additions to what was frankly a bloody tedious book have added a lot to it, and the weaknesses of the film tend to be weaknesses in the source material, namely a ridiculous amount of deus ex machina.
The second STAR TREK film, INTO DARKNESS, was decent, not amazing. Benedict Cumberbatch was very good, but it’s made me itch for seeing a series with that cast, like that’s every going to happen.
THE WOLVERINE was average at best, and MAN OF STEEL was just turgid. I’ve never been a Superman fan at the best of times, but that story was so generic it hurt.
Watched some decent stuff off Freeview and Lovefilm, but I can’t honestly think of anything that’s worth writing home about, to be honest.
TV
TV was great for me this year.
One of the biggest surprises was from probably the most stupid comic character again, the Green Arrow (Hawkeye being, of course, Marvel’s answer to him). The TV show ARROW had exactly the sort of qualities that made the DARK KNIGHT films so strong – a believable and driven protagonist, strong supporting cast, a brilliantly ambiguous baddie played by John Barrowman, and that whole real-world feel. Series two has got even better for me.
I’ve still not finished LOST, which is more a time thing than anything, plus the other half doesn’t like it.
I’ve really enjoyed watching WEEDS on Lovefilm, a sort-of female version of BREAKING BAD (next on the list). Very funny and very crazy.
We got Sky in October and that’s really been good for two reason.
One – lots of good TV. Watching season two of ARROW for one. DRACULA has been enjoyable (again, similar to SUPERNATURE) and we’ve started watching ELEMENTARY, which is basically an American version of SHERLOCK (speaking of which, I’m so looking forward to watching that tonight).
Two – FOOTBALL.
I’ve loved football for so long, and we’ve never really been able to afford it, so I bit the bullet and got it in. The other half loves her football now and it’s quite amazing how good the English Premier League is – virtually every match we’ve watched has reminded me why I fell in love with football in the first place.
In terms of football, my two teams are doing pretty well this season, compared to disasters last season. Aberdeen are near the top of the Scottish Premiership, in the pack chasing Celtic, whereas Newcastle United are confounding everyone with their continued chase of the top four. Let’s be honest, I doubt I’ll give much of a toss about the Champions League next season, but it’s fun this season.
FOOTBALL
I’ve loved football for so long, and we’ve never really been able to afford it, so I bit the bullet and got it in. The other half loves her football now and it’s quite amazing how good the English Premier League is – virtually every match we’ve watched has reminded me why I fell in love with football in the first place.
In terms of football, my two teams are doing pretty well this season, compared to disasters last season. Aberdeen are near the top of the Scottish Premiership, in the pack chasing Celtic, whereas Newcastle United are confounding everyone with their continued chase of the top four. Let’s be honest, I doubt I’ll give much of a toss about the Champions League next season, but it’s fun this season.

Quick note to say that SHOT THROUGH THE HEART is free for the next couple of days –
http://mybook.to/edjamesheart
Don’t say I’m not good to you!
— Ed

2013 is drawing to a close, just over a week to go until the year goes up by one. Over the next few days, I’ll do some reflection on the pretty bizarre year I’ve had, in both of my professional careers…
Right now, I’m on my Newtonmas holiday break. I finished my project in London on Friday, and I’ve got something lined up in Edinburgh for the New Year, so my travel mental will cease or certainly be curtailed drastically. I’m planning a week of full-time writing before I start, just to make sure that I like doing it full-time (of course I will, but if I end up playing Oceanhorn all the time, then I need to rethink some stuff…
In the meantime, I know I’ve been really quiet of late, so I thought I’d update you lot on what’s happening with the books and that, eh no?
IMPORTANT NOTE –
 
(well, not that important) there will be another newsletter coming out in the next few days. Subscribe at http://eepurl.com/pyjv9
BOTTLENECK (Cullen 5)
I finished the second draft of the next Cullen, BOTTLENECK, this week. I wrote it at a stupidly frantic rate of 27,000 words a week, and then edited in a week. It’s with my four alpha readers just now, and early feedback is certainly positive. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get it out in February, but that isn’t a promise yet…
COWBOYS AND INDIANS (Cullen 6)
Like the back-to-back release of BACK TO THE FUTURE 2 & 3 or the rubbish two PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films (hey, I like the fourth one), or [don’t mention THE MATRIX sequels, it was just standalone, right?], the sixth Cullen will follow hot on its heels, maybe May or June. COWBOYS AND INDIANS is a story I’ve been itching to write for a long time, and was going to be Cullen 3 until other books took precedence. Anyway, I’m so keen to work on it that my brain decided to start coming up with amazing ideas at 7am this morning, so I had to get up and write it all down before I forget. Pretty pleased with what I’ve conjured up – my writing technique has taken on a new level of plotting, I think.
After that, I’ll get round to SUPERNATURE book two, plus there’s another series I want to kick off (related to Cullen, in case you’re wondering), before I get round to BAREBACK, Cullen 7.
Happy Newtonmas one and all.
— Ed

First, Cullen 3 is on an Amazon Countdown deal just now. Currently, it’s 99p and will rise to £1.99 before going back to its usual £2.99 –

Universal Amazon link – http://mybook.to/edjamesfire

I’ve got two books in the UK paid Amazon top 400 chart as I type this. Which is wow.

In other news, I’ve been really quiet but incredibly busy. I’m currently over 70,000 words into the first draft of BOTTLENECK, Cullen book five. Pleased with how it’s going. I’ve been absolutely battering it, getting a couple of thousand words written before work most mornings and then a few hours in the evenings. Most productive days are travel days – flight on a Monday get me about 3,500 in the morning, and the train back on a Thursday gets me 6-7,000. Got caught up in the travel hell on Thursday and managed to write 9,557 words in a single day. (Bear in mind that DYED IN THE WOOL draft 1 was 96,000 words in six weeks, I’ve done over 70,000 in three weeks, WHILE HAVING A FULL-TIME JOB!) I do think I might have hurt myself…

Current expectations are that a February release might not be impossible… Next project will be Cullen six, COWBOYS AND INDIANS, before I do Supernature book two – seems like SHOT THROUGH THE HEART is starting to get some lovin’.

Back to the word count.

— Ed

Had a curious email from amazon this morning. Apparently there have been complaints about FIRE IN THE BLOOD – curiously, not about the amount of swearing or the actions of a certain DI, but the use of the word “outwith”.
Outwith –
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/outwith
This is a word I use all the time. It seems to be a Scots word, meaning the opposite of within, e.g. “The dilithium crystals are operating outwith their usual parameters, Captain”. I’ve no idea how non-Scots cope without this word – without doesn’t work, does it?
Strange. Anyway, I’ve told them to add it to their master dictionary. Let’s see if they do.
— Ed

So, that’s SHOT THROUGH THE HEART out of my hands and onto your Kindles, and the paperback should be out in the next week or so, [I’ve gone Kindle-exclusive on this, so if you’re an iBooks or Nook or Kobo or whatever user, then sorry, but that’s just the way it is] – the paperback is on the Createspace store now https://www.createspace.com/4504848.
My attention has turned to BOTTLENECK, Cullen no 5.
This little bugger has been nagging away at the back of my skull for over a year now. It was as I was pulling together the final novel-length outline for FIRE IN THE BLOOD that I stumbled across the central idea. It’s taken a wee while to get round to writing it – the working lifestyle change, plus publishing another two books has delayed my Cullen schedule a bit. I’m pleased with the core ideas now and it’s going really well.
Where I’m at is the outline stage. As I’ve explained so many times before, I’m an Architect when it comes to writing [[George RR Martin link]] and I like to get a really tight outline done before I start writing properly. It’s probably come from my experience in bands – it’s much more cost-efficient to have practised the hell out of a song before you go to a £25/hour studio to record than to go into a studio and jam some ideas together. As it stands, I’ve got 52 actions, of which I’ve done thirteen. Some are tiny, some are quite big and will spawn many other actions, but it’s all just putting flesh on the skeleton now. The core story is nailed, just got a few bits and bobs to add here and there, some jokes, subplots and so on.
I think I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m going to do NaNoWriMo to finish it. Well, the stars aren’t aligning here… I think I’ve got another week or so before this outline is perfect and then I’m on holiday for a week. It’s been a bit of a bloody nightmare year, so I’m actually going to switch off from writing totally and chill out. I’ve got a solid month of writing and then an edit before anybody else sees it. My main experience this year has been to get as much right in the first few drafts to avoid the hell of editing.
One thing I’m going to make more of is the Newsletter – please subscribe to it over >>>. It’s pretty decent and honest and I don’t spam with it. Also, if you want to subscribe to receive updates to this blog, that’ll help keep you informed of when books are due to come out.
— Ed

SHOT THROUGH THE HEART is free today on Amazon! Go get it! One off offer!
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Other territories are available…
Here’s the first chapter –

Strolling along the ancient farm path, the loch to her right was bathed in moonlight as the midsummer sun began slipping behind the mountains. She got her mobile out to check the time – just after midnight. She’d be back in her hotel room by half past at the latest. 

She was surprised to feel happy as she savoured the embers of a fun evening. Smiling, she thought back to the meal, her mouth watering as she remembered the tender lamb cutlets, perfectly prepared.

Walking slowly, hoping to defer her return to the real world and work, she breathed in the smells of the countryside, wild garlic mixing with the tang of damp moss. She’d possibly regret her late night in the morning, but that was then, not now.

A howl came from behind her.

She’d read that they’d started reintroducing wolves into the Highlands, following the success with sea eagles. The land was creeping back to its pre-human times, and it pleased her to think that it was another step on the way.

She heard another howl, this time much closer. A few answering calls came from the field to her left. She couldn’t tell how far away they were. Quickening her pace to match her pulse, she stumbled in a pot hole she hadn’t spotted.

A howl emanated from right in front of her.

She stopped dead, unable to see anything, and waited, swallowing hard. Nerves jangling, she focused on blocking out the distant car noise, listening only for the movement of wolves. She didn’t know if they would kill someone but she didn’t want to put it to the test.

Three more howls rang out from in front, much closer this time. She caught sight of a wolf appearing through the hedgerow, brazen with its attitude, its fur an unusual shade of bright orange, almost like a fox but much larger.

Turning back towards the island, she started to run. Glancing behind her, heart pounding, she saw the wolf trotting slowly, keeping a distance. Hurrying, she was intent on increasing the gap between them. She was covering the ground she had sauntered down in mere seconds, berating herself for not being quicker getting back to the hotel – maybe she would have avoided the wolves.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she closed in on the gatehouse that sat across the small expanse of water leading to the island. She quickened her pace as she approached the edge. She stopped dead and climbed down the ladder onto the flagstones, now submerged. The ford through the loch had been just about passable when she left.

Launching herself forward, the water soaked her jeans up to her thighs, making her progress slow. She slipped and caught her knee as she landed, sending her sprawling under the water. She struggled up and started wading through, continually looking behind at the pair of green eyes looming over the edge. They were keeping a watching brief. She climbed up the steps at the far side.

Through the pain, desperately trying to catch her breath, she told herself she’d made it.

She was safe.

Looking up, her heart sank as she noticed that there were no lights on in the castle.

And then she saw a wolf approaching from the castle gates, flanked by another two.

She could only stand and watch as they slowly changed shape – the canine forms gradually stretching and contorting until three human beings replaced them, each with sharp talons emerging from the ends of their fingers.

…
Hope you enjoy it…
— Ed