We’ve never been compared to Roddy Doyle before, possibly because he’s a devilishly handsome cove who happens to write bestsellers, but the Bookwitch – aka Ann Giles – has remedied that omission in no uncertain fashion, to wit:
“I’ve just read The Big O. It’s rather like The Commitments, hardboiled … The Big O is about an interesting group of people, who are all more or less into crime of some sort. It’s not so much black and white, as various shades of grey. But they are very likeable, even though they use the f-word most of the time … I’m not going to give away the plot, which centres on kidnapping, but I can tell you it all builds up to a hilarious ending.”
Bleedin’ rapid, as Jimmy Rabbitte might – and in fact does – say himself. Why not hitch a ride on a broomstick all the way over to Bookwitch, folks, and tell Ann we said she’s the sweedest Swede we know …
Call it reverse snobbery if you will, but there we were last week banging on about how the Listowel Writers’ Week fiction prize had ignored Irish crime fiction bar Benjamin Black’s (aka John Banville’s) Christine Falls. How wrong were we? Erm, very. Since then it’s been pointed out to us (ad nauseum) that, of the other four nominees, Claire Kilroy’s thriller Tenderwire (right) has garnered Patricia Highsmith comparisons, Gerard Donovan’s Julius Winsome might well be the crime novel of the year, and Patrick McCabe’s Winterwood is a first-person(s) account of schizophrenic psychosis. Which means that only the winning novel, Roddy Doyle’s Paula Spencer, wasn’t a crime novel … Hmmm, consider us suitably chastened. All of which is a roundabout way of reminding you that the Dublin Writers’ Festival kicks off tomorrow, with Gerard Donovan and Rose Tremain opening proceedings at The Project, Temple Bar, at 6pm. Will the dreaded phrase ‘crime fiction’ be uttered? Probably not …
Don’t get us wrong, we’re delighted to have something fresh to read on Ray Chandler, but are we really still making ‘The Case for Raymond Chandler’? “The creator of Philip Marlowe has been called an imitator and a hack, but he deserves his lonely, disillusioned corner in the American literary canon,” says Allen Barra over at The Salon … As far as we’re concerned, that case is closed, gone and very probably lurking at the back of the lost-luggage rack in Brazzaville: Chandler was Hemingway with a sense of humour, end of story … The rather nifty Aussie crime blog After Dark My Sweet has the long-list for the 2007 CWAA Ned Kelly Awards, the results of which will be announced at The Age Melbourne Writers’ Festival in September … Update-Update-Update … Benjamin Black, aka Vincent Banville’s brother, didn’t scoop the €10,000 Irish Fiction Award at the 37th Listowel Writers’ Festival for Christine Falls, the gong and substantial cheque going instead to Roddy Doyle (right) for his novel Paula Spencer. And there was us thinking a crime novel actually had a chance of winning. We are such silly spoons … Sorry about the short notice, folks, but Belfast’s cracking crime bookstore No Alibis hosts an intriguing night’s writerly wibbling tonight, when Christopher Phillips holds forth on philosophy and love in the 'Socrates Café' in order to plug his new book, Socrates In Love. This coming after the (ooo-er, missus) monthly Candle and Mirror poetry evening … Finally, the news that Jason Starr and Ken Bruen are releasing Slide, another collaborative effort, through Hard Case Crime this coming October sent us scurrying to YouTube to track down Bernard and Manny’s attempt (below) to co-write a children’s book, The Elephant and The Monkey, about a liquorice-eating, trombone-playing, bottle bank-dwelling (erm) mouse. Sure, ’tis genius, to be sure. That’s all for this week, folks – enjoy the weekend and y’all come back now, y’hear?
Another Irish literary festival, another who’s-not-who of Irish crime fiction. Yep, it’s the turn of Listowel Writers’ Week to virtually ignore the scruffy cornerboys and assorted low-lives who scribble nasty words on grubby pages, with only Benjamin Black’s Christine Falls (left) representing the nauseatingly popular genre. Nominated alongside Roddy Doyle (Paula Spencer), Gerard Donovan (Julius Winsome), Pat McCabe (Winterwood) and Claire Kilroy (Tenderwire), Black is on the short-list for the Irish Fiction Award 2007, to be decided May 30 – even though his biog on the Writers’ Week site makes no mention of ‘Benjamin’, ‘Black’, ‘Christine’ or ‘Falls’. Odd, that – although yon blurb spoofs on about quite a bit about John Banville, for some bizarre reason. Anyhoo, we’re rooting (metaphorically, sadly) for Claire Kilroy (right), partly because she’s the only gal on the short-list (solidarity, sister) but mainly because she’s the hottest fox since they cremated Basil Brush. Boom-boom, etc. Seriously, though, there’s a €10,000 prize going for the Irish Fiction Award, which isn’t to be sneezed at, even if you do win it for (eeek!) writing a crime novel – eh, John?
We’ve never been compared to Roddy Doyle before, possibly because he’s a devilishly handsome cove who happens to write bestsellers, but the Bookwitch – aka Ann Giles – has remedied that omission in no uncertain fashion, to wit: 
