THE END OF ANOTHER YEAR...

Well, as anyone who has been following my blog has already realized, 2009 has perhaps been the most eventful year thus far for me. Aside from the New York trip in July, the French and Belgian tour, and then the mad rush around the East Coast in the latter half of October, it has been the year for translations (books now in twenty-three languages), the penning of the screenplay for ‘A Quiet Belief In Angels’ for Olivier Dahan, the release of ‘A Simple Act of Violence’ in paperback, ‘The Anniversary Man’ in hardback, my appearance on twitter, the posting of numerous videos on the youtube RJ Ellory Channel (Yes, I have my own youtube channel!), and an endless number of UK events, signings and library appearances. 2009 has seen me in Colchester, Lincoln, Exeter, Cumbria, Filey, Whitby, Scarborough, Cambridge, London, Harrogate, Reading, Warwick, Kingston-upon-Thames, Pontypridd, Tylerstown, Leicester, Netherton, and a dozen or more other places around the West Midlands.
For me the writing was all about the writing itself, the intent to engage and entertain, to evoke an emotion with the characters and the narratives. The work has now gone beyond that into the realm of people themselves. The highlights of my year are always the events, the fact that I’m meeting new people all the time, that there are so many readers out there who get involved. I receive endless e-mails, often as many as sixty or eighty a day from all over the world, and I answer every single one of them. The common theme (apart from the one lady who sent me an e-mail to let me know that everyone in her book club hated my work with a passion, and in fact that had now spilled over into an intense hatred of me as a person, and she had been horrified to learn that I had secured another publishing contract and that I was going to insult the world by writing and releasing more novels!) is that people have enjoyed the books they have read, and have plans to read more of them. This, for me, has to be the greatest compliment of all. That someone, having read one book, now plans to read further.
So it is with a sense of optimistic anticipation that I look forward to 2010. The launch of ‘A Quiet Belief In Angels’ in the USA in September was successful, and following on from the immense success of the same book in France it has opened up new markets and a new influx of e-mails! ‘Vendetta’ has just been released in France, and has been received very well indeed, and in June of 2010 the American publishers are going to release ‘The Anniversary Man’ as the second American book. Why they do them in a different sequence overseas is unknown to me, but it doesn’t matter. They are all stand-alone novels, and there is no series to follow.
So, notwithstanding the fact that I have completely unattainable standards are far as my own sense of accomplishment is concerned, I can say that I am relatively pleased with what has been achieved in the last twelve months. I hope for bigger and greater things in 2010, and already we have tours planned for Ireland, Norway, Dubai, France, and then back to the USA to do the Mid-West/West Coast, finishing a tour through such places as Texas, LA and San Diego in San Francisco for the Bouchercon Festival 2010. Bouchercon 2009 (Indianapolis) was absolutely wonderful. It was great to see many old friends again, and to make some new ones.
I hope to return to New York in July 2010 for Thrillerfest, and if so I will post news of that on the website.
Also, as far as website changes are concerned, I did post the list of foreign-language titles and the publisher as I have received a lot of e-mails asking for this info.
So there we have it. A brief update. Despite the fact that 2009 has ended with a completely unexpected and horrendous tax bill (just to make me happy for Christmas!) it has been a good year. I have started playing music again, and my intent – as mentioned in the new updated biog on the website - is to start gigging again in the early spring. You have been warned. The Manta Rays had the reputation for being the loudest band north of London and south of Manchester, and at one University gig (said University remaining nameless) we were the only band in their history to be escorted from the premises by security guards with dogs. The fact that the bass player then proceeded to scale the front of the halls of residence building and try to convince the inhabitant of one room to let him in was also a matter for later investigation by the University Social Secretary. But that was many years ago, and I have certainly mellowed a little since those days. The ethos of Jim Morrison (quoting Blake) that ‘the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom’ was very much my attitude at the time, and I have moved away from that opinion in recent years! I have not slowed down, God forbid, but rather decided to invest my time and energy is slightly more constructive (or rather less self-destructive) activities.
Guided by my brother’s viewpoint that ‘were you only that little bit more intelligent you could have gotten a proper job’, I intend to spend the next year without a proper job. We are releasing ‘Saints of New York’ in the UK in the autumn (more than likely October sometime), and then ‘Bad Signs’ will be out in the autumn on 2011. Beyond that there are more books to come, and I will keep on working, and keep on trying to do better with each one, and with the ever-widening readership we are securing in many countries I hope to be able to actually survive in this ridiculous business at some point in the not-too-distant future. As Hemingway said, ‘Compared to writing novels, horse-racing and poker are good, solid business ventures’. It is not the easiest thing to undertake, and it is certainly not advised if you wish to maintain some semblance of a financially prosperous lifestyle. But, to quote Lennon, if you ‘find something you love then you’ll never work another day in your life’. I am happy not working, and I hope to continue not working in this same vein for many years to come.
I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas. I hope you find time for yourselves, your families, your friends. I also trust that 2010 will be successful on all fronts, and that you all end up getting what you want, not what you deserve!
And with that sentiment, I leave you to the mad last few days’ rush of preparation for the holiday.
Take care, and my very best wishes as always,
Roger.

SUPPORT OF ROOM TO READ AND E-BAY AUCTION...

One day left on the e-bay auction to have your name 'immortalised in print' in a new book. Room To Read is an amazing charity, and I am supporting it, along with several other authors, and we are auctioning the input of your name into a new novel. So, if you want to support this amazing work, and you want to find your name in print in a forthcoming novel, then bid now. You can find this auction if you put the phrase 'immortalised in print' in the e-bay search window.

Good luck!

A MATTER OF EXTREMES...

It is now a week since I returned from the US. Two weeks through New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia, Indianapolis...and before that a couple of weeks in France. I have gone from one extreme to the other. Utter confusion, rushing from one place to another, one event after the other, dozens and dozens of people to see and talk to, and now I am home...

All is quiet.

The only sound of significance seems to be me thrashing a Telecaster!

It seems to mimic the many years I spent writing and writing, and then suddenly - unexpectedly - I am dashing all over the place talking about what I've written and meeting about three hundred people a day!

I have returned to 'Bad Signs' and am working on that again. I hope to have it complete by the end of November at the latest. I am also awaiting word back from France on the screenplay for A Quiet Belief In Angels. There will be work to do, I am sure.

Last night was excellent, by the way. Due to the fact that I was away for much of October, and October is the month of the Birmingham Book Festival, the organisers - primarily Jonathan Davidson and Sara Beadle - set up a launch event for The Anniversary Man at the Birmingham Library Theatre. I did a reading, and was then interviewed by the wonderful Amanda Smyth, author of 'Black Rock'. She gave me a copy of her book and I have started reading it. Most excellent. Anyway, we had a very good turn out, and I have received many e-mails from those who attended to say they enjoyed the event.

I also received an e-mail from my US publisher. He was away while I was in the US and thus we did not see one another, but he e-mailed me to say that things are going well over there, we are making friends and allies, and that we have a lot of hard work ahead of us! Music to my ears!

So I am back in the UK now. Wales Crime Week will see me in Tylorstown and Pontypridd on the 9th of November, and then I am in Milton Keynes on the 12th, at the University of Leicester on the 14th, and then I have an event in Netherton, another at the Screenwriters' Forum, a guest appearance at the Society of Young Publishers and Lord knows what else. All over the place as usual.

Still I know we have a long way to go. Still I know that we have a very small foot in a very big door. Teeth gritted, fists clenched, never slowing or stopping or considering that we have earned a rest...there's another book to write, another event to organise, another person to speak to who might give my work a go if I am able to sufficiently enthuse them. This is the way it is. Perhaps the way it will always be.

A thoughtful mood perhaps, but thankful as well - to everyone who has bought and read the books, and has recommended them to their friends. It is for you that I write the next one, and the next one, and the one after that.

So all that you do is appreciated, and I look forward to seeing you very soon at some event, or perhaps on the train or in the street as has been happening recently!

Best wishes, as always,

Roger.

OFFICIAL, AND YET UNOFFICIAL...WELL, A BOOK LAUNCH EVENT ANYWAY...

Tomorrow evening, 7.30pm, Birmingham Library Theatre in Chamberlain Square, we have an event to launch 'The Anniversary Man'. It's being done as part of the Birmingham Book Festival, and though the book was published back at the start of September I still wanted to do an event in my home city as part of the Festival. I'd love to see as many people there as possible. It is ticketed and the tickets are £5.00, £3.75 on concession, but there is wine and things to eat, and there will be other booklovers so you'll be guaranteed of having the best company in the world...

See you there, I hope, and if you don't show up...well, I'll have to call Ernesto won't I?

Best wishes, as always,
Roger.

LEAVING NEW YORK...

Last day here. Will miss it. New York has become home from home in a way. From the first moment I arrived last July it felt like somewhere I'd been before, somewhere I'd known.

Last night we did a great event at the Mercantile Center for Fiction in the Diamond District, Midtown. Myself, Peter Quinn and Laura Joh Rowland. The Mercantile Center was established back around 1820 by merchants and clerks in the area, long before the advent of public libraries. It quickly became one of the foremost cultural centres in the US, and people such as Mark Twain, William Thackeray and Frederick Douglass have spoken there.

We each presented different books, and though I am on tour to promote A Quiet Belief In Angels, I actually did a reading from The Anniversary Man which is coming out in the States in June, 2010. The plan is to release the UK backlist (Candlemoth, Ghostheart, A Quiet Vendetta, City of Lies, A Simple Act of Violence) every nine months, while also maintaining the same publishing schedule as we have in England for each new book (Saints of New York, Bad Signs etc).

I think I'm going to be returning to New York a good number of times, and probably sooner than I expect! Well, what can I say? No complaints here.

So I have half a dozen radio interviews to do now, and then I am flying out of here at about 6.00pm US time. I arrive back in the UK about 10.00am on Thursday morning, and then I'm driving down to Surrey to do an event at Waterstones in Kingston-upon-Thames.

Hope to see some of you there!

Best wishes, as always,

Roger.

THE END OF AN ADVENTURE...

The end of an adventure is simply nothing more than the point at which another adventure should begin...

However, the current American Saga draws to a close. Through New York, Nashville, Miami, Indianapolis, Atlanta, yesterday in Philadelphia (where Jack and I had Philly cheese stakes at Pat's down on Passyunk, where we saw the Liberty Bell and the station at 30th Street...and well, so many other things on a flying visit through a remarkable city), and now back in New York where there was an event last night at B&N in Tribeca, and afterwards Manhattans at the Harrison, and this morning a whole bunch of radio interviews with KTOE-AM, WOCM-FM, CRN, and Knucklehead Radio out of Maine, and tonight there is an evening with Overlook at the Mercantile Center for Fiction on 47th Street, and tomorrow morning more interviews with 'Where World Leaders & Thinkers Come To Chat', WDIS 1170 AM, KCMN-AM, WASN, The Frankie Boyer Show and Mountain Public Radio...

And then home to England...

What can you say? What words could be used to describe what I have experienced, the people I've met - my dear, dear friend George Easter, and Ali Karim, David Gulli, Larry Gandle, Mike Bursaw and Steve Warne who did so much at Bouchercon to get people buying my books...

And new friends like Laura Caldwell and Marcus Sakey, and Melissa von Siegel at the Gene Casey 'Lone Sharks' gig we went to down at Hill Country...and hell, it's endless...

These are once-in-a-lifetime things that you wish would happen more than once in a lifetime.

Like John Lennon said, 'Life is the thing that happens when you're making other plans'. It's not a rehearsal. It's living. And sitting in Barnes & Noble in Tribeca last night, talking to people I've never met before and more than likely will never meet again, and talking about the long haul back of me and how many years it took to arrive at this destination, just puts it all in perspective.

It's been something else. Next year I'm going to do the other side of the country, and we'll have to wait and see what happens there.

Until later, best wishes as always,

Roger.

SOMETIMES THERE ARE THINGS THAT JUST LEAVE YOU SPEECHLESS...

Well, this evening I went out to Winnetka, a really beautiful suburb of Chicago, and I met some readers at the Book Stall at Chestnut Court, Pam and Gerald and Mary amongst them. I don't really know what to say. Sometimes you meet people and their enthusiasm for what you do is a little overwhelming. To find myself the better part of 4000 miles from home and to have someone appear with first edition hardbacks of 'Candlemoth', and for that person to tell you that they have every book you've written and they have read all of them... Well, you can imagine.

The event was wonderful. Book Stall at Chestnut Court is another one of those absolute gems of an independent bookstore, and whatever it takes we have to do whatever we can to keep these stores going. This is the last bastion of unbiased and non-commercial book recommendation in the world. Booksellers - real booksellers - are a dying breed, and only by supporting such bookstores will we keep them alive.

After the event I was driven to Buddy Guy's Legends Club. Here I saw the incredible Matthew Skellor. Now, for me, Sonny Boy Williamson and Sonny Terry have always been the 'one and onlys' as far as blues harpists are concerned. The tone, the warmth, the feeling back of their playing is unbelievable. I have to be honest and say that I had never heard of Matthew Skellor, but after this evening I am going to make it my business to buy this man's albums and follow his career. An astoundingly good player. Really astounding.

And Lurrie Bell, one of the true blue legends of Chicago blues guitar was there, and he guested on a good half a dozen numbers. Incredible tone, a wonderful voice, and much under-rated. The man is insanely good, and he played much of the guitar on Skellor's latest album 'These Kind of Blues'.

So what can I say? A great event in Winnetka, and then a few hours of great food (Chicago Jambalaya) along with Jack Daniels, 3-2-1, Matthew Skellor, his guitarist Billy Flynn, and then a guest appearance by the extra-terrestrially good Lurrie Bell. Could life be better? That's a hell of a question. Maybe if my wife and son were here to enjoy this with me, only then could it be better.

Indianapolis tomorrow. Bouchercon. The Big Book Festival. Hell of a thing.

Speak soon, and best wishes,

Roger.