BBC Radio Ulster Noir

I finally got around to listening to the "Belfast Says Noir" documentary, a Marie-Louise Muir and Steven Rainey investigation. Adrian McKinty actually blogged about this over three weeks ago, but I've been to Texas and back since then (seriously, Austin, Texas). A chest infection has slowed me down a little, and I was lucky enough to catch up with it 4 days before it disappears from the BBC Listen Again service. Jump on it now. There's an impressive list of contributors too. You'll find further info about each of the Northern Irish crime writers featured on this here blog:

Stuart Neville
Adrian McKinty
Claire McGowan
Steve Cavanagh
Brian McGilloway

Quite a lot to pack into one half hour programme! There's an even longer list of established and upcoming Northern Irish crime fiction writers who weren't featured, which kind of proves one of the points Brian McGilloway made in his interview: "A rising tide lifts all the boats." I'd be delighted to see this continue to grow. The sky's the limit, after all.

I imagine it's simply a timing issue, but Steve Cavanagh didn't mention the new podcast he does with Luca Veste: Two Crime Writers and a Microphone. I listened to episode 7 of their new show today. I laugh-coughed out loud more than once. Check it out through iTunes, YouTube or whatever Android podcast app you use (I listen via BeyondPod).

If you don't happen upon this post within the next four days, you can content yourself by checking out the writers' work instead. All of the above were featured, or had an editorial role, in Belfast Noir.

I might actually listen again, again to Ulster Says Noir if I need some motivation to write, and I'll definitely continue to listen to Two Crime Writers and a Microphone. It's the podcast I've been waiting for. More on that in a future blog post.

Arts Extra

I was on BBC Radio Ulster's Arts Extra programme today. Here's a link to the Listen Again thing.

I forgot to mention that:

Signed copies of The Point are available at No Alibis.

I will be doing an author event in Waterstones Belfast on Saturday 17th December at 2PM and Waterstones Ballymena on Monday 19th December at 6:30PM. These events have been postponed. Details of new dates to be confirmed.

The kindle edition of Wee Rockets has popped up on Amazon a little ahead of its release date in the UK and US.

I'm a terrible salesman.

Still, it was nice to chat to the delightful Marie-Louise Muir.

All Right on the Night?

We're just hours away from the launch of Requiems for the Departed at No Alibis Bookstore. The books are at the store, there's wine in the boot of my car, we've generated as much buzz as we could manage and there's nothing much I can do now but wait for 6:30pm to come around...

Damn you, Father Time. Give that egg-timer a shake, will you?

Anyway, I hope we get a decent crowd and that Dave sells a boatload of books. And I hope we don't run out of white wine. I nicked a bottle from the stash last night and would feel a bit wick if anybody's left wanting.

By the way, I was interviewed by the cool, elegant and scarily intelligent Marie-Louise Muir on BBC Radio Ulster last night. If you missed Artsextra, here's a link to the Listen Again thingy. It turned out quite well, I thought.

Radio Gaga

I happened to catch a couple of very interesting and Northern Irish crime fiction-related interviews on Radio Ulster over the last couple of days.

First up, Stuart Nevellie chats to William Crawley about winning the LA Times Book Prize here.

And Colin Batemen chats to Marie Louise Muir about The Day of the Jack Russell and The Sunday Times right here.

Listen to them as quickly as you can, folks. These Listen Again links have a very short life span.

Radio Boy

Back in July, BBC Radio Ulster's The Book Programme ran a story on the boom in Northern Irish crime fiction. They kindly got in touch with me and asked me to take part. I did a wee bit of blathering for them and they edited in such a way that I came across almost intelligibly. It's amazing what they can do these days.

Anyway, usually the BBC listen again links only stay live for seven days, and that was indeed the case for the episode I appeared in. But yesterday I was having a look around The Book Programme website to see if there was a new series coming along any time soon. Much to my surprise, the links to the previous series are now live again! So, if you missed it the first time around, you can listen again, see?

Just go to The Book Progrgamme's web page and click on the Maeve Binchy episode. The crime fiction piece is about fifteen minutes in, just in case you haven't time to listen to the whole show.

Go on, click the link. What else do you have to do?

Media Frenzy

BBC Radio Ulster's The Book Programme ran a piece on Northern Irish crime fiction on Saturday morning. Naturally, they contacted Colin Bateman to say a few words, since he is the man as far as our wee sub-genre is concerned. But they let their standards slip just a little and let me in too! And you can listen to it anywhere in the world thanks to the handy Listen Again feature on the BBC website. If you're a bit impatient, the crime fiction piece is about 15-20 minutes in. Just forward it on. It's a good show though, so you should listen to it all. Here's a link. It should be available until next Saturday.

And did you get the Belfast Telegraph on Saturday? There was a pretty cool interview with one Adrian McKinty in it. Apparently, if you see him at a lapdance club, he's just doing a bit of research. Unfortunately, I can't find a link to it on the Bel Tel website. Gah!

Here's a picture of it instead.


My wife's camera is pretty darn snazzy, so if you click on the image to enlarge it, it's actually quite readable.