BLOODY SCOTLAND 2017: Panel Preview
The Graduates: Past Perfect // 14:30 Sunday 10 Sep 2017
In just a couple days, I’ll be off to Scotland for the annual Bloody Scotland crime festival! I am so excited about this trip, and can’t wait to share it with you. You can read all about Bloody Scotland in my Crime Festival Preview, but today I'm going to be focusing on one of the (many!) exciting features of this festival: the "Pitch Perfect" program, and its "Graduates" panel.
Pitch Perfect is an opportunity for new crime writers to pitch their novels to a group of publishing professionals, and to make things even better, Bloody Scotland also includes a panel featuring Pitch Perfect Graduates: those who have previously participated in the Pitch Perfect program, and who will share more information about their experiences and career paths since participating in Pitch Perfect! This year’s Pitch Perfect Graduates panel includes an absolutely stellar lineup of crime writers: Steph Broadribb (author of DEEP DOWN DEAD), Joseph Knox (author of SIRENS), and Matt Wesolowski (author of SIX STORIES)!
Today I’m thrilled to share Mini Q&A’s with these rising crime fiction stars to serve as a preview of their Pitch Perfect Graduates panel! In the below Q&A’s, you can learn about the debut novels that have put these writers on the map, the top tips they would give to aspiring crime writers, and much more. You can learn more about this panel on the Bloody Scotland website as well!
Many thanks to Steph, Joseph, and Matt for taking the time to answer my questions! Bloody Scotland, see you soon!
STEPH BROADRIBB, Author of DEEP DOWN DEAD
Steph Broadribb’s debut novel DEEP DOWN DEAD was published by one of my favorite crime publishers, Orenda Books, and it made a convert out of a very hesitant action thriller reader (me!). This gutsy, adrenaline-fueled thriller is addictive and fast-paced, and features a tough female lead, which I always love!
About Steph Broadribb: The first book in the Lori Anderson series – DEEP DOWN DEAD – came out in paperback on 5th January 2017 published by Orenda Books. The second book in the Lori Anderson series – DEEP BLUE TROUBLE – will be out in eBook at the end of 2017 and paperback in January 2018. Her first novel as Stephanie Marland – MY LITTLE EYE – will come out in eBook in November 2017 and March 2018 as a paperback with Trapeze Books (Orion).
About DEEP DOWN DEAD: Lori Anderson is as tough as they come, managing to keep her career as a fearless Florida bounty hunter separate from her role as single mother to nine-year-old Dakota, who suffers from leukaemia. But when the hospital bills start to rack up, she has no choice but to take her daughter along on a job that will make her a fast buck. And that’s when things start to go wrong. The fugitive she’s assigned to haul back to court is none other than JT, Lori’s former mentor – the man who taught her everything she knows … the man who also knows the secrets of her murky past.
Not only is JT fighting a child exploitation racket operating out of one of Florida’s biggest theme parks, Winter Wonderland, a place where ‘bad things never happen’, but he’s also mixed up with the powerful Miami Mob. With two fearsome foes on their tails, just three days to get JT back to Florida, and her daughter to protect, Lori has her work cut out for her. When they’re ambushed at a gas station, the stakes go from high to stratospheric, and things become personal.
Mini Q&A with Steph Broadribb
Crime by the Book: Tell us a bit about your debut novel! If you had to sum it up in one or two sentences, what would you say?
Steph Broadribb: Lori Anderson is as tough as they come keeping her career as a Florida bounty hunter separate from her role as single mother to nine-year-old Dakota, who suffers from leukemia. But when the hospital bills rack up, she has no choice but to take a job that will make her a fast buck. And that’s when things go wrong. The fugitive she’s chasing is JT. He's her former mentor – the man who taught her all she knows - and the man who also knows the secrets of her murky past.
CBTB: What was your favorite thing about participating in Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect program?
SB: Aside from getting the chance to pitch my book to a panel of fantastic editors and agents, for me it was the camaraderie. There was a great team spirit between the pitchers as we gathered, nervously, in the green room beforehand. The Bloody Scotland team were great at helping calm our jitters, and crime writer Lin Anderson and agent Jenny Brown were super encouraging with a little pep talk before we went on. Many of the crime writers appearing at the festival were in the audience, and it was a truly amazing moment to look out from the lectern and see wonderful writers including Eva Dolan and the late great William McIlvanney encouraging us on - crime writers really are the most generous people.
CBTB: What would your top piece of advice be for aspiring crime writers?
SB: Don't give up! Published writers are the ones who've stuck at it. It might not be your first book that gets you a deal, it might not be the second, but keep writing and learning and it will happen.
CBTB: What’s next for you? (Any upcoming releases or ongoing projects readers should be aware of?)
SB: Well, THE LAST RESORT - a Lori Anderson short story that goes back to her training days as a rookie bounty hunter- has just been released on Kindle. The second book in the series DEEP BLUE TROUBLE will be published as an eBook in October and comes out in paperback in January 2018.
CBTB: Last but not least… what are you most looking forward to about this year’s Bloody Scotland festival?
SB: I'm looking forward to performing with my Slice Girls pals at the legendary Crime in the Coo on Saturday night, and I'll definitely be watching the Fun Lovin' Crime Writers doing their thing on Friday after the quiz.
JOSEPH KNOX, Author of SIRENS
Joseph Knox’s debut SIRENS will be released in the US from Crown Publishing in February 2018, and it’s absolutely on my radar! I’ve heard nothing but great things about this book from friends in the UK, and am eagerly awaiting its US publication.
About Joseph Knox: Joseph Knox was born and raised in and around Stoke and Manchester, where he worked in bars and bookshops before moving to London. He runs, writes and reads compulsively. His debut novel Sirens was a bestseller. The Smiling Man is the second in the DC Aidan Waits series.
About SIRENS: Isabelle Rossiter has run away again.
When Aidan Waits, a troubled junior detective, is summoned to her father’s penthouse home – he finds a manipulative man, with powerful friends.
But retracing Isabelle’s steps through a dark, nocturnal world, Waits finds something else. An intelligent seventeen-year-old girl who’s scared to death of something. As he investigates her story, and the unsolved disappearance of a young woman just like her, he realizes Isabelle was right to run away.
Soon Waits is cut loose by his superiors, stalked by an unseen killer and dangerously attracted to the wrong woman. He’s out of his depth and out of time.
How can he save the girl, when he can't even save himself?
BUY LINKS: Amazon UK // Pre-Order on Amazon US
Mini Q&A with JOSEPH KNOX
Crime by the Book: Tell us a bit about your debut novel! If you had to sum it up in one or two sentences, what would you say?
Joseph Knox: Aidan Waits, a junior detective, makes a career-ending mistake and is blackmailed into a nightmare undercover operation that his superiors don't expect him to survive. But when the teenage daughter of an MP runs away to the dark underworld he's investigating, everything changes. He finds himself cut loose by his superiors, stalked by an unseen killer and dangerously attracted to the wrong woman.
CBTB: What was your favorite thing about participating in Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect program?
JK: It was my first time around editors and my first time admitting to the world that I'd been working on a novel for some time. Winning was the kind of validation that helped me go away and work harder for a few more years until the book was ready.
CBTB: What would your top piece of advice be for aspiring crime writers?
JK: Don't rush - I think most books that miss with agents and/or publishers perhaps haven't gestated for long enough. I rewrote Sirens for years and, although it was frustrating at times, and although my family and friends ceased to believe that the book existed, I'm so grateful I did. Occasionally I find an old, early draft and wince at some of the stuff I thought was great...
CBTB: What’s next for you? (Any upcoming releases or ongoing projects readers should be aware of?)
JK: Sirens will be released in paperback in Jan, 2018. The second Waits novel - THE SMILING MAN - will be released in March 2018. I've given it absolutely everything and think it's a big step up from Sirens.
CBTB: Last but not least… what are you most looking forward to about this year’s Bloody Scotland festival?
JK: I think they'd revoke my crime writer's license if I didn't say the Stirling gin!
MATT WESOLOWSKI, Author of SIX STORIES
Another Orenda Books title, Matt Wesolowski’s SIX STORIES will very likely be one of my favorite reads of 2017. This fiercely original and wholly inventive thriller is inspired by podcasts, and delves into an unsolved crime, as told through a series of podcast “interviews”.
About Matt Wesolowski: Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor and leads Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young people in association with New Writing North. Matt started his writing career in horror and his short horror fiction has been published in Ethereal Tales magazine, Midnight Movie Creature Feature anthology, 22 More Quick Shivers anthology and many more. His debut novella The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013 and a new novella set in the forests of Sweden will be available shortly. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. He is currently working on his second crime novel Ashes, which involves black metal and Icelandic sorcery.
About SIX STORIES: 1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound centre. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened in the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who took that fateful trip, and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby. 2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivalled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure. In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries’ mysterious death. And who’s to blame… As every interview unveils a new revelation, you’ll be forced to work out for yourself how Tom Jeffries died, and who is telling the truth. A chilling, unpredictable and startling thriller, Six Stories is also a classic murder mystery with a modern twist, and a devastating ending.
Mini Q&A with Matt Wesolowski
Crime by the Book: Tell us a bit about your debut novel! If you had to sum it up in one or two sentences, what would you say?
MW: An esoteric little writing experiment that combines true crime podcasts with woodland folklore and a murder mystery...
CBTB: What was your favorite thing about participating in Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect program?
MW: I enjoyed waiting for the reaction of the panel to my pitch...that moment was a terrifying cliffhanger in itself. I had no idea whether they would like it or laugh me out of the building!
CBTB: What would your top piece of advice be for aspiring crime writers?
MW: Write what YOU like, don't try and be like anyone else. Wear your idiosyncrasies with pride.
CBTB: What’s next for you? (Any upcoming releases or ongoing projects readers should be aware of?)
MW: I have just finished 'Hydra', a prequel of sorts to Six Stories. It's another podcast series set a few years previously, one of the darkest things I've written.
I have also sold the film rights to Six Stories to Fox Searchlight who are currently putting together a production team. It feels very surreal still!
CBTB: Last but not least… what are you most looking forward to about this year’s Bloody Scotland festival?
MW: I was looking forward to playing football but I have a perforated eardrum so may have to come off the bench as an impact sub....Other than that, I'm actually really looking forward to attending the Pitch Perfect event and seeing what fresh ideas are out there.
Many thanks to Steph, Joseph, and Matt for answering my questions! I'm so looking forward to Bloody Scotland as a whole, and to learning more from these rising stars in their panel The Graduates: Past Perfect! If you're attending Bloody Scotland, make sure to mark this panel down on your calendar - you won't want to miss it!
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