Writers' Writers (a short report)

Adrian McKinty and Declan Burke made for an awesome double act at last night's No Alibis event. Both writers opted not to read from the books they were there to launch (McKinty's Falling Glass and Burke's Absolute Zero Cool). Instead they entertained the audience with a frank and oft times scathing dialogue about the state of the modern publishing model. A lot of what was said I wouldn't dare write about here for fear that I might be sued for libel. What I can tell you is that it was a fascinating insight into the minds of a pair of excellent writers who are masters of their trade.

Incidentally, Stuart Neville, David Park and Andrew Pepper were among the crowd. I wish I had the presence of mind to snap a few pics but I haven't been at the top of my game this week. I'm sure they'll pop up on the No Alibis website and/or Facebook page at some point. I'll post a link when they do.

If you didn't get to the event you should make it up to yourself by buying Falling Glass and Absolute Zero Cool as soon as humanly possible. Both books are a master class in crime fiction that doesn't conform to the old and tired model.

No Alibis Event - Burke and McKinty

Declan Burke and Adrian McKinty
Thursday 18th August at 6:00PM
Tickets: FREE

No Alibis are very pleased to invite you to celebrate the launch of Declan Burke's latest novel, ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL, and FALLING GLASS, the latest novel from Adrian McKinty, in the shop on Thursday 18th August at 6:00 PM.

Declan Burke was born in Sligo in 1969. He is the author of EIGHTBALL BOOGIE (2003) and THE BIG O (2007). He is also the editor of DOWN THESE GREEN STREETS: IRISH CRIME WRITING IN THE 21st CENTURY. His new novel, ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL, is published by Liberties Press in 2011. He lives in Wicklow with his wife Aileen and baby daughter Lily, and hosts a website dedicated to Irish crime fiction called Crime Always Pays.


Absolute Zero Cool is a post-modern take on the crime thriller genre. Adrift in the half-life limbo of an unpublished novel, hospital porter Billy needs to up the stakes. Euthanasia simply isn’t shocking anymore; would blowing up his hospital be enough to see Billy published, or be damned? What follows is a gripping tale that subverts the crime genre’s grand tradition of liberal sadism, a novel that both excites and disturbs in equal measure. Absolute Zero Cool is not only an example of Irish crime writing at its best; it is an innovative, self-reflexive piece that turns every convention of crime fiction on its head. Declan Burke’s latest book is an imaginative story that explores the human mind’s ability to both create and destroy, with equally devastating effects.

Adrian McKinty was born and grew up in Carrickfergus. After studying philosophy at Oxford University he emigrated to New York City where he lived in Harlem for seven years working in bars, bookstores, building sites and finally the basement stacks of the Columbia University Medical School Library in Washington Heights. In 2000 he moved to Denver, Colorado where he taught high school English and started writing fiction in earnest. His first full length novel, Dead I Well May Be, was shortlisted for the 2004 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and was picked by Booklist as one of the 10 best crime novels of the year. In mid 2008 he moved to Australia. He is currently working on a new crime novel for Serpents Tail called The Cold Cold Ground. His website can be found here.


An old associate of regular McKinty hero Michael Forsythe, Killian makes a living enforcing other people's laws, collecting debts, dealing out threats. Now Forsythe sets Killian up with the best paid job of his life. A prominent, politically connected, Irish businessman, Richard Coulter, needs someone to find his ex-wife and children - for half a million. Reluctant to take it, but persuaded by the money, Killian travels across the world for his briefing from Coulter himself. Once on the trail, Killian discovers the real reason Coulter's ex is running, and helps her take refuge amongst his people - a community of Irish Travellers, who close ranks to look after them. McKinty is at his continent-hopping, pacy, evocative best in this new thriller, moving between his native Ireland and distant cities within a skin-of-his-teeth timeframe.

We, expect this event to be very popular, so avoid disappointment and book your spot early. You can email David, or call the shop on 9031 9607.

Best Week Ever!

Well, maybe not the best week ever. This kind of stuff doesn't surpass the births of three wonderful kids, or marrying the girl of your dreams in Cyprus (I'm a very lucky guy in the family department). But in terms of writing achievements, this is the kind of week that's up there alongside signing with my agent, Allan Guthrie, working with so many of my favourite writers as a co-editor, publishing a novella to Pulp Press and those ever-important nods from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in the form of SIAP awards.

This week I wrote 'The End' on a manuscript that's taken over a year to get close to right (from planning to writing), received my contributor copies of The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 8 and found out that Requiems for the Departed has been nominated for a Spinetingler Award. So frickin' sweet.


If you want to vote for Requiems for the Departed, click here.

If you want to pre-order The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, click here.

If you want to read a recent article about me and my writing, click here.

And as if things couldn't get any better, I've read the first few chapters of Adrian McKinty's Falling Glass today. Why the hell did I wait so long to crack open that one? Well, I'll tell you why. As with all of McKinty's books, I knew I wouldn't have been able to put it down once I started it. It was already hard enough to open that damn manuscript I was working on every night after the kids went to bed (every night? Really, Gerard? ed.). I didn't need to make it even easier to slack on it. (Shut up, ed. gb.)