He's Back

Mes Amis

First, off cheers to the wonderful double act of Canon and Ball for their cheering comments; suffice to say, I will show them, but only in the metaphorical sense. There will be no weenie waggling. I reckon this might disturb agents/publishers/passers by.

I have returned back to lovely Scotland after spending three rather fun days in Harrogate (and the surrounding area) where so many people were so very nice and friendly and where much drinking was done by all except me who had to drive back to his caravan every night (next year I book early and get in the damned hotel!).

Jane (my agent) is the most wonderful person, so enthusiastic about everything, I just don't know where she gets the energy. Emma (the lovely editor) was absolutely fantastic at encouraging me to get right back on track after my minor setbacks (despipte the major changes, I know they're right about these things that need done, so now I just have to sit down and do it!).

Not only that but every other person in the place was so friendly. I walked in knowing only Jane and Emma's voices from down the phone and thought, "My God, what am I doing here?" but then I started talking to people and most of them didn't walk away like I'd just followed Ray and Charlie's advice. Stuart Macbride (who made an excellent appearance on the Fresh Blood panel) was there and spent a lot of time making sure everyone thought Dundee was scummy (Its just city envy from one who lives in or at least near Aberdeen). I also met a lot of fantastically friendly writers, editors and just plain people. Among those wonderful people were Simon Kernick whose book was up for award, also, and Donna Moore whose debut, Go To Helena Hanbasket, sounds absolutely wonderful (and is available from Point Blank Press sometime soon, I do believe). I am very much looking forward to reading it. Even among some of the real big writers (that Billingham fella's very tall, ho ho!), there were no real egos out to play. Or none I encountered, anyway.

And who knew Mark Billingham - winner, by the way, of the Crime Novel of the Year Award for the excellent Lazy Bones (his later two books have blown that one out the water, though, in my rather humble opinon, so goodness knows what kind of awards they'll get!) - was actually Sean Connery, Humphrey Bogart and Woody Allen rolled into one strangely schizophrenic package (for the fantastically funny Foul Play Raymond Chandler special on the Friday evening, which also featured barnstorming multiple performances - and slightly more stable accents - by Stella Duffy)?

Really, everyone and everything was great fun and I plan to do an update on the CSS wesbite with my full thoughts on everything about the festival. But, my advice for anyone attending is to be as close as they can to the venue. The bar is where its all at, mes amis. Trust me on this. But don't miss the panels and events, either. Philosophy conferences could learn a lot about holding people's attention by studying these! Because as informative as they were the vast majority were greatly entertaining, too.

That and Harrogate is a lovely wee place. Lots of flowers. And support your local bookshop, too, folks: anyone in Knaresborough (real close to Harrogate) should visit their local independent coversave Books who are fantastically friendly. Really, there just ain't enough independent bookshops here in the UK.

And so, mes amis, to bed... (really, I doubt this post even makes sense I'm so damn tired after the drive back)

Au revoir

Russel