Off on the road to St Andrews

Mes Amis

Yes, the other day I was in sunny St Andrews for a brief stock signing at the local Waterstones - - its nice to get to pastures new every once in a while and while St Andrews no longer seems to have a music shop, it does have some grand second hand shops including one where I picked up some old Perry Mason novels and the how-can-I-resist Four Square Edition of Tarzan and the Ant Men, wherein our hero is taken prisoner by a tribe of people who are a mere eighteen inches high!

Anyway, it was a bizarre experience being the author sitting at the front of the store, but shout outs must go to Julie and the team for making me feel welcome indeed. And to the people who took the time out to have a chat with the author and even buy the book!

Reactions are interesting so far. Being on the front lines means you often get people's unvarnished opinions as "why would an author work in a bookshop?" Because, of course, we're all richer than God.

Anyway, people have been very very kind about the book with the only complaints so far coming from those who believe "bad language has no place in literature." Or that crime fiction should only be "like Agatha Christie". Fair enough. Its not that kind of book, and it assumes that the reader accepts that people don't always speak properly or use language in the "proper sense". As Billy Connolly says, swearing is a language all of its own. There is no English equivalent for "fuck off".

And I'm hardly in the same league as, let's say, Irvine Welsh.

Anyway, I'm not going to get in a rant about swearing. Mark Billingham does this beautifully enough in his intro to Jen Jordan's brilliant collection* EXPLETIVE DELETED.

But I'm happy with the reaction to the book so far, and I'd just like to thank all those people who have taken the time to write to me or the publishers, or even track down where I work to talk to me about the novel. Seriously, folks, its appreciated.

Au revoir

Russel

*Yes, I'm in it, so yes, this is a plug, but seriously, my one aside, there are some excellent stories in this one fingered salute to short crime fiction, and the sequel, UNCAGED, is probably going to be even better.