It's Chilli out there!

The new book, Dr. Yes, is being launched at an unusual venue - a marquee at Belfast's annual Chillifest. Chillifest is part of the Open House festival, and it features a No Alibis tent which will be hosting the book's release on Saturday, September 11 at 2 pm. The event itself is free, but it's a fiver to get in to the festival itself, which has lots of other attractions, including food, beer, wine and live music. Official release date is September 30, so this'll be your chance to pick one up early, or indeed, to get ridiculously drunk.

Dr. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The new Mystery Man novel, Dr. Yes, is being published on September 30th, which is a month earlier than previously announced. If you're on the island of Ireland there are four events lined up to support this - one being at the Big Oak Literary and Arts Festival in Derry on the weekend of September 19th, then there's a launch at Waterstones in Dublin in the first week of October, and also an event at a theatre in Blanchardstown in North Dublin (sorry I don't have the date to hand - on my hols in Florida!) . There will also be a launch event in Belfast. This will again be staged through No Alibis, but for a change this will most likely be taking place outside of the store - reason being that October also sees the debut of my first stage play, National Anthem, which is on at the Baby Grand Opera House for two weeks. We're hoping to hold the book launch in tandem with the play, so watch out for details of that. Once again I've been fairly remiss about updating this ol' blog, but if you are interested in keeping better informed, why not join me over on Facebook, where you'll be overwhelmed with detail......

And the winner is.....

Very happy to report that 'The Day of the Jack Russell' has just won The Last Laugh Award for the best comic crime novel published in the UK in 2009 at the international CrimeFest. Didn't even know I was in the running! I think an extra drink at the Dublin launch of the book on June 9th is in order. Everyone welcome! It's at The Gutter Bookshop.

Come join me....

....on Facebook!

Upcoming events......

.....I'm doing a few different events in the upcoming months if anyone wants to drop by, depending on what part of the world you're in, of course. In May I'll be appearing at Lincoln Book Festival, and I'll also back over to England in July for the Harrogate Festival. In June I'll be doing my first proper reading in Dublin for many's a year at the new Gutter bookshop, which seems to be fast carving out a niche for itself as a venue for writerly events. This one is to promote the paperback launch of 'The Day of the Jack Russell'. The same month will also see the publication of the first in a new children's series: 'SOS: Icequake!' to be swiftly followed by 'SOS: Firestorm!' with a third just about to be started.

I had thought that the third Mystery Man story, 'Dr. Chicago' (or indeed 'Dr. Yes', depending on what the publishers ultimately decide is better) wouldn't appear until 2011. Although I finished it several months ago, it took a while to get a new contract sorted out and so it only got submitted last week. But now it looks like it's going to be squeezed into the Autumn schedule this year, so you should hopefully be looking for it come November. Then the idea is to get to work on the new Dan Starkey book.

Nothing to report yet on the TV front - broadcasters still have to decide if Mystery Man is going to happen, and the same applies to 'Alice Glass', the original crime script I came up with a while back.

I haven't been involved in the movie biz proper for years - not in fact since 'Wild About Harry' back in 2000. Interestingly Warner Bros. have recently optioned it for a remake....though I should point out that they option lots of things that never get made, so I'm not buying a Ferrari on the strengh of it. Meanwhile, some of you may remember my novel, 'Empire State'. It was the fourth I wrote, and it has been out of print for some considerable time. There was also nearly a movie version, but it all fell apart in the wake of 9/11. Now there are rumblings that it might be up and running again. Keep you posted.

Next time: I'll tell you about the play wot I wrote, and where you can see it.

The Day of the Real Jack Russell

.....the paperback of the second Mystery Man book, The Day of the Jack Russell, isn't too far away from publication now, and should start appearing in the shops towards the end of next month. Those who have read it and aren't from Northern Ireland, may think I made up the fact that MI5 has a regional headquarters just up the road from my home town, or that I merely imagined that if some kind of nuclear holocaust obliterates London, security servies will be administered from a sleepy little town just outside Belfast. Well, think again. It's all over the news this morning that the Real IRA just blew up a car bomb outside it. Thankfully nobody killed, but one person slightly injured. The Real IRA themselves are a mysterious group believed to number no more than two men and a wee lad. They have nothing to do with The Pretend IRA, or the Imaginary IRA, or indeed the Surreal IRA, who were responsible for last year's custard bombing in Londonderry.

These promises.....

......it has been a long, long, long, long, long, long time since my last blog post. Various technical reasons (i.e. I'm useless) combined with me looking around for some different way to do the website and failing to come up with anything which really turned me on/launched my boat. are to blame.

I've also shifted a lot of my more newsy stuff over on to Facebook, so anyone who wants to join me there feel free to send a request. I'm not proud, I accept anyone, apart obviously from Free Presbyterians. Oh, alright.

So what has been happening these past few months?

Nothing. Everything. It always feels like things are quiet, that the pace is slow, and then when I look back I see that actually there's lots going on. Workwise I've finished writing the third Mystery Man novel, provisionally called 'Dr. Chicago'. Not sure when it's coming out as I'm waiting to sign my next contract with Headline. But the good news (or bad news, depending on whether you're my mortal enemy or not) is that they're buying the rights to some of my backlist, which means that all of the Dan Starkey books will be back in print. Hard to believe that it has been five years since the last one, 'Belfast Confidential'. I thought then that I probably wouldn't write any more, but I probably just needed to rest him for a while, so he's coming back. The book will/should/could/might not be called 'State of the Union' and the opening line will/should/could/might not be:

'Fuckety fuck fuck fuck, here we go again.'

And that's all I have, no plot, no anything. It'll almost certainly be a couple of years before it's out, so don't hold your breath, unless of course you're very good at holding it, in which case, hold it.

As ever, I'm juggling a few other projects. I've been working hard on a new series of children's books, The SOS Adventures, the first one of which, 'SOS: Icequake' comes out in June, swiftly followed by another, 'SOS: Firestorm'. These might be described as 'environmental thrillers', or, indeed, might not.

TV-wise I've written a 60-minute pilot for a Mystery Man series, and another sixty minute pilot for a tv original called, 'Alice Glass' - both of these are at the stage where they just need a yes or no from TV controllers, so they'll either get made or they'll disappear off into oblivion. That's the nature of TV.

I also have some VERY INTERESTING news about something else, which is a bit of a departure for me - no, it's not the pole dancing - about which I'm sworn to secrecy at least for a couple of weeks.

Oh, I'm on a roll now. What else is there? I've been to India for a week courtesy of the British Council, which was great, and those very wonderful people at the University of Ulster are making me a Doctor of Letters in July.

Fucking hell, I haven't just been blowing my own trumpet, I've been blowing the whole orchestra. Oh - that doesn't sound right. But you know what I mean. I suppose that's what these things are for.

Drawing a line...

For technical reasons I need to start a new blog which means that all my previous pearls won't appear here, but for those of you who absolutely have to read them you're in luck...just click here to go to the previous blog. Enjoy....