Frank Miller update…

For those of you interested in what’s happening in Frank Miller’s world, I thought I’d write an update.

I’m currently working on the next book – working title Life Extinct – which picks up right after the last chapter in Under the Knife. Then Miller is going on holiday for a little while. Some people might rejoice, others might be sad, but he’s not going away entirely.

I have a ton of ideas for not 1 or 2 new series, but 4. Now, number 4 is just an idea floating about in my head right now, but 1,2 and 3, are definite.

The first new series – which some of you know about already – features ex-FBI agent Scott Marshall. I had started writing this when I kept seeing reviews from readers saying they couldn’t wait for a new Miller. Having the next idea already lined up for Miller, I decided to put Scott aside for the time being and crack on with Miller.

The other new series is also going to be set in the US. Featuring two ex-army guys who are recruited for a clandestine operations group. Unique? Hardly. But I am a big fan of Mark Dawson, only having recently discovered his books, and other thriller writers. I had written a short story for a competition years before I self published. I enjoyed doing that, and I promised myself that one day I would really bring those characters in the story, back to life. Now, I am going to change their names, and change their background a bit. I have quite a few ideas for these guys, and a solid idea for the first one. More as it gets closer to the time to publish them.

And finally, the 3rd definite new series. Set once more in Edinburgh, these books will feature DI Harry McNeil ( and a big thank you to Cindy and Cheryl! ) who is put into the cold case squad. The books were inspired by real-life cold cases in Edinburgh that I was reading about online. I have 3 fixed ideas for him at the moment, and like the other 2 new series, he’ll be launched in 2018.

So where does that leave Frank Miller? He’ll be waiting in line for his turn to make an appearance in 2018. I still have plenty of ideas for Miller to keep me going. Like everything else in life, it’s finding the time. (I use that excuse to get out of doing the dishes, too.)

What’s next for me? Why, the website of course! I messed that up a while back and since I’ve been busy making the books into paperbacks, it ate into my time. (Broken Wheels is last but will be done by the end of the year.) I really want to get this website done soon as I feel I’m missing out on connecting with my readers. Then, I will be able to interact better with you, the readers, and I want to hold competitions, like signed copies of the paperbacks and other things.

You, the readers who like my work, make this all worthwhile. I’ll be setting up a clubhouse soon – a phone box. Then hopefully as my army of fans grow, we can move to a bus shelter. Then as the numbers swell, we can move onto a bus itself, and sit upstairs in the back, singing, shouting, swearing and whatever else hooligans get up to. Maybe we could call ourselves the John Carson Bad Ass Club! Okay then, maybe just the John Carson Fan Club. Back to the phone box idea…

If anybody wants to contact me, feel free. I will read and reply to every email.

It’s johncarsonbooks@yahoo.com.

And that’s it for now. Maybe I’ll rename the blog “Watching Paint Dry” for people who think this is long-winded…..

Rain Town is finally here

 

Frank Miller number three is now on Amazon. It’s been a while since I started it, but the shoulder injury slowed down the process. Now I’m back to 95% fitness, it means that I can spend more time at the keyboard.

I’m working on a short story that will be launched before the next novel, which itself should be out sometime late summer. But, like all great plans…

Something I meant to add in the afterword of Rain Town was a mention of the Smellie Maternity hospital. There had been some shenanigans going on with some of the staff, so I didn’t want to do the fabulous staff of the NHS a disservice by saying it happened in a real hospital. So, this is my version of Edinburgh, and it’s fiction, so I made up a new maternity hospital. Just like I made up the psychiatric hospital in Silent Marker, The Royal Scottish. Ten years ago, I was rushed into the Royal Infirmary and they had to do emergency surgery on me to repair a double femoral hernia. All the staff were brilliant and took great care of me, fixing me up. That’s why the nurses in Rain Town are fictitious, and so is the Smellie. So called after a doctor from the 16 – 1700’s, who encouraged doctors into midwifery. A real doctor.

There are many more Miller books to come. Thanks for the reviews, and especially to the people who enjoyed them.

Please feel free to friend request me on Facebook – johncarsonauthor.

Thank you one and all. It’s you guys who make the writing all worthwhile.

John.

 

It’s been a while…

…since I’ve posted on here, but like the bad penny, I’m back!

In the first year since I launched Crash Point, I also launched Silent Marker, book 2 in the Frank Miller series. So what happened to book 3, Rain Town? I hear you ask. Let me tell you. Me deciding to save money by doing some DIY is what happened. The start of our driveway was broken up when we got this house, so I thought, how hard can it be to mix some concrete and slap it down? Have a quick squint at YouTube, bought the stuff and Bob’s your uncle.

That part of the plan worked. Now, I have a back injury so I have to be careful, and lifting an 80lb bag of concrete mix was out of the question. So I roped in my two daughters, and between the three of us, we basically threw it into the wheelbarrow. So far so good, but what I didn’t realise at the time was, I had torn the tendon in my shoulder. What I thought was stiffness form the physical work, turned into excruciating pain. I couldn’t lift my arm properly, couldn’t sleep on my left side. Couldn’t type! Well, couldn’t type for long. My shoulder was on fire and somebody had hit my elbow with a hammer.

The doc sent me for an MRI, and that was when they discovered the tear. What to do? Rest! she said. And this is going to take months to heal, but only if you rest. If you don’t, it’s not going to get better, then a surgeon is going to go in and fix it. So I rested it while doing a little bit of work on Rain Town.

I’m happy to say that I am at 90% recovered. Enough to start typing in earnest again.

After people taking the time to write reviews for my books, one thing kept cropping up; the proofreading. So it was time for an overhaul. Starting with Crash Point. I employed a new editing company and have been working with a fabulous editor, Dave Arden. I am working on the edits he sent back right now. He’ll get the revised copy back to go through again, then I’ll get it back, another read-through and then the re-edited version will go live. Then it’s back to Rain Town, then I’ll get Silent Marker done. I can’t work on both books at the same time, so Rain Town will have to come first.

This is the timeline for the upcoming months:

Re-edited CRASH POINT  –  Jan 2016

RAIN TOWN – 1st Quarter 2016  –  Who’s more dangerous? The serial killer you’re hunting, or the one you never knew existed? Every year, thousands of women go missing in the UK, some of them never to be seen again. A killer stalks the streets of Edinburgh, trawling through the thousands of tourists during the Edinburgh International Festival, looking for prey. He finds a target, and she disappears, and despite a missing persons report, she’s never seen again. This time he’s made a mistake; the American female isn’t a tourist. She’s a local. And there was a witness. But shortly after seeing the woman die, the witness is incarcerated for an unconnected crime. When he’s released, instead of going to the police, he decides to profit from the American’s death. The killer is taking out anybody he thinks might have been told, but DI Frank Miller is assigned the case, and soon, the witness, the killer and the detective will clash in an explosive showdown…but not before more lives are taken…and somebody close to Miller is on the list…

Re-edited SILENT MARKER – 2nd Quarter 2016

CROSSING OVER – 2nd Quarter 2016

DEAD ON ARRIVAL – 3rd Quarter 2016

So again, thank you for all the reviews. I do listen to what my readers say, and the new and improved copies of my first two books should hopefully reflect that!

So all it leaves me to say now is, all aboard the John Carson express! Join me for the ride – it’s going to be fun!

 

 

Back to work!

Finally, we’ve moved into our new home, and what is now my office was a storage room, just like the old place had become before we moved. We couldn’t move in this room, as it looked like the boxes were breeding. So it was all hands on deck, and the boxes were culled, one by one. My computer was set up, book cases were installed, and desk chair brought up from the basement, and now I’m set to go.

Frank Miller was waiting patiently with the rest of the crew like a bunch of union conspirators. “Listen, John, get your lazy arse in gear and get typing, or else.”

Or else what? I hate to think. Or maybe my wife said that, I’m not sure. And she’s a lot more scary than Frank Miller.

If she even knew I was typing this instead of writing…

So the good news is, fingers will be smacking across the keyboard and the book will be finished soon! And then the “wannabe” Ian Rankin (as one reviewer put it!) will have two books out for your visual gratification.

Look out world, John Carson has left the building. Well, just to go and pick up daughter #2, who’s on a half day. You can’t get rid of me that easily! (As much as some of you would like to!)

Murdering car salesmen…

..in fiction of course!

Writing about one of the characters in my latest novel, a car salesman, brought back memories of my experiences of dealing with real-life salesmen.

We’d all love to, right? I’m sure we’ve all read the stories where somebody got screwed over by a car salesman (or woman, because I’m not sexist!) and thought, “Oh, the poor sod! How could he have got taken so badly?” Let me tell you why.

The salesman was a better liar than the buyer (and a we bit of poetry thrown in there for free!)

Anybody who has gone shopping for a new car – whether it be brand new or new to us – has encountered the polished, smarmy, fake-smile, cheating, no-good (enter your own expletive here.) Some people fall for the BS. It’s not their fault. These guys are professionals after all, highly trained to part you from your money.

Now, I’m a car guy. I love ’em. If I had a gazillion dollars, I would build a house with a twenty car garage. And that’s just for the expensive ones. I used to collect car brochures when i lived in the UK, and one way to get them for free was to go to a car showroom.

However, this posed a few problems. I mean, you can’t just walk in, grab a few brochures, then walk out again. So we encountered Mr. Shark smile. Luckily for me, I had a friend who was also a car nut. Let’s just call him Fred (not his real name.)

Fred didn’t collect brochures, but he loved cars. He also loved beer, but that’s for anther blog. Fred and I figured out that if I was to get free brochures, we would have to do more than just walk into a showroom. So what did we become? Better liars than they were!

It’s true. Me being a car nut, I read everything I could about cars, bought car magazines every week, and digested them cover to cover. This was before the internet mind. I knew a lot about cars. So much so, that I could run rings round any car salesman. After all, they were just there to make a sale, and take somebody’s money. It was always my thought that if you were going to sell a product, shouldn’t you know everything there is to know about it? Apparently not if you’re a car salesman.

So Fred and I – overnight – were successful businessmen who had sold our contracting company, were starting a new venture, and had loads of disposable income. It was so easy to pull the wool over their eyes, it was laughable. We had them drooling. I kid you not. Fred and I could have become professional liars, if there was such a job (I know lawyers are, but they don’t count.)

Fred and I didn’t just go to bread-and-butter showrooms. Oh no, it was the high end ones for us. The key? Don’t go in wearing a pair of jeans. Dress smart but casual. Don’t wear trainers (sneakers) but a nice pair of shoes. I had read that a car salesman would look for two things; your watch and your shoes. So we dressed smartly.

I remember going into an upscale dealership in Edinburgh, and was looking at a Ferrari. It was an open top. I saw some young guffy approaching and I said to him, “Nice car.” He looked at me as if I was a piece of crap. He replied, “They’re all nice cars.” His face was like thunder. Then he turned and walked away. I thought then, You’re toast, mate.

So this guy disappeared. And we saw the sales manager. And boy did he get a whiff of my BS that day. Fred and John were in businessmen mode. I expressed my disdain at being treated like I was some clown who just collected car brochures and had walked in off the street…ahem. Yes, well, you know what I mean.

He apologised and said he would get the salesman back out. Fred looked at the man and said, You surely jest? We wouldn’t buy a packet of chewing gum from him. The salesman said, okay, that’s fine. We then said that we were interested in some of the Porsches they sold. Now, bearing in mind that at this point, all I really wanted was a couple of brochures, and then I would have left, but guffy the salesman threw the glove down!

There was a beautiful Porsche 928 in the showroom. We wanted to drive it. No problem said the manager. And they rolled it out. This sports car had two little seats in the back, really designed for children, but for a laugh, Fred said he would squeeze in there. And he did. It was all I could do to not laugh. And off we went. This car was fantastic. And we went back, and Fred said as we were getting a car each, he wanted to drive a Porsche Boxster. As this was only a two seater – and the manager was thinking, Cha-ching!- at the prospect of a double sale, he let us take it out. I remember it was bright yellow. But could this little car shift? You bet your boots it could.

Then when it was finished, the manager was expecting us to sign on the dotted. Whoah! Hang on there, fella. Not so fast. I don’t know what colour I want yet. I don’t know what exact spec I want. Can I have a brochure to take home and read through? Here’s my phone number (fake) and I’ll call you tomorrow. So we left with our brochures having had a nice wee afternoon of driving cars we couldn’t afford!

With those drives under our belt, we went into many more showrooms and refined our spiel. Proving that once again, we were better liars than they were.

And this skill transferred to America, when I moved! It seems that no matter where you go in the world, they all have the same set of skills. Lie, and part people from their money. And once again, I find that I’m a better liar than they are. I have had some great test drives here in all sorts of cars. Except one time, when I was wanting to drive a pick-up truck, but started off giving the salesman some BS about buying my wife an SUV as well, and this SUV was a Buick Enclave. I was going to take it for a drive and the car wouldn’t start. The salesman told me, and this is no lie, that it wouldn’t start because the car was parked on a hill. The showroom is at the top of a hill and there were a lot of cars parked facing upwards. Something to do with the fuel not reaching the engine. I couldn’t take him seriously after that. And my daughters were with me. I just walked after that. Can you really imagine spending tens of thousands of dollars on something and giving the credit to somebody who shouldn’t even be let loose selling toasters?

I remember reading in the paper a while back that a dissatisfied customer took his car back to the dealer, walked in and told them to get away from their desks at the window, then drove the car through the window into the showroom.

Why my blog about cars today? I read a story last week about a man who was so dissatisfied with his BMW M6 and the treatment he was getting from BMW, that he drove it to the Frankfurt Auto Show and he and his friend smashed it with a sledgehammer and an axe! Look it up on YouTube. It’s brilliant!

I don’t drive a BMW in any shape or form, so I can’t vouch for there reliability. But I do drive a 10-year-old minivan. Sure, it’s American and things do go wrong, but she’s a belter. And of course, being a tight-Scotsman, if I can fix things myself, I will. For instance…

The rear, power sliding doors. On the Chrysler Town and Country (Voyager, if you’re in the UK) it is renowned for the wires to break in the wiring harness for the rear doors. I didn’t know this when mine – yes, both of them – stopped working, almost at the same time. I went to my local Chrysler dealer and was told, If it’s the motors, you’re looking at $2,000 dollars to replace them. Each! So 4 grand just to get my doors to slide open by pressing a button. Did I need that? Yes, as the doors are quite heavy.

I went to an independent place. He said he would need to replace the wiring harnesses – over $100 each – but by doing that, he would have to replace another load of stuff, then add the labor charges on top and it – by my estimate – was going to cost nearly $1,000.

Then I went onto the net, and Googled the problem. There it was! Loads of people had the same problem, as it was a known design fault. So onto YouTube and how to fix it. Turns out, easy peasy. Disconnect battery, undo the plastic “chain” that covers the wires, find broken wire, I connected them with a wire connector, taped it and put the “chain” back. So, with the free help of a guy on YouTube (I thanked him) and the tape, connectors and a wire-stripper, I got my power doors back for the measly sum of $15! Saving myself $3,985!

I love my van, but I still have the hankering to go out to showrooms and do some lying now and again! I wish they would open up a Bentley dealership near me…

Ian Rankin murders people…

Yes, it’s true, Ian Rankin does murder people, but only on paper of course!

I’ve met Ian a few times, and he’s a true gentleman. Like a few of the authors I’m going to mention. I think that writers are so approachable, at least the ones I’ve had the good fortune to come across.

I saw Ian chair an interview with Faye and Jonathan Kellerman at the Lyceum in Edinburgh. That was a good night. The husband-and-wife writers were really entertaining, and it was good to hear them talk, even although I hadn’t read their stuff. One thing I remember Faye saying was that she liked to jog, but being that they lived in LA, she jogged with her attack dogs. Me, I just go jogging with the wife. Better than having a Rottweiler! (Kidding my dear, kidding.) So, I found out that Ian was doing a talk at a library some time after that.

So I first met Ian at the talk he was giving in Newington Library way back in 19 (puts hand across mouth and coughs at this point.) Yes, it was back in 19-something, a long time ago. I was diddling with the idea of writing a crime novel. I wanted to see if I could garner some sage advice, and I did. Ian took the questions with such patience. I mean, he’d probably been asked the same ones a million times. Afterwards, I was talking to him about writing. Again, he answered some more questions. I met him again at the Edinburgh Book Festival that summer, and he himself told me about the council course for writing the following November, at which he was going to be the tutor. He said I should apply and come along. Which I did.

We were all waiting in the reception area for Ian to appear and when he did. he came in a and said Hi to everybody, and when he saw me he came across and said, “How’s the novel coming along?” He remembered. What a great guy.

The following February, I went along to Ian’s book launch (I won’t say what one, as that would give the timeline away!) and I was early so I looked around at the almost empty rows of seats. And who did I see sitting there? None other than Quintin Jardine. This was in Waterstones West End branch, up the stairs. I asked him if he minded if I sat next to him. He said no, and we got talking about writing, I told him I was a fan, and mentioned that I wanted to be a crime writer. Once again, encouragement from a published writer. Magic. What a night that was. Seeing both Ian Rankin and Quintin Jardine in the same place, but one of them being just an ordinary guy, sitting in the audience.

Fast forward a few years, and me still writing. Not published mind, but not giving up either. I felt that writing was in my blood. I was always thinking of story ideas and developing new characters. I can’t remember how I found this writer, but I started writing on his forum. His name? Stuart MacBride. He was blogging, telling everybody about his upcoming crime novel, Cold Granite.

Stuart told us, the readers, about how he had got his big break. I won’t go into that detail here, but I wrote to him quite a few times (no, a restraining order wasn’t issued, thank you so much) and he was a great guy. So his book was launched in that year (okay then, it was 2005, since you were wondering) and he was appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival. He was great on stage, and afterwards, I introduced myself, and he remembered me. My wife and I then went over to the Spiegeltent where they served beer. And I liked beer. Stuart came in with his wife, Fiona, and we got talking. And drinking. He was a great laugh, and we talked about writing and getting published. His advice to me; don’t waste too long on one project. Some guys spend years on the one book. I took his advice. When I couldn’t get my book picked up, I started another. So, time passes that evening, and then I was aware of this big guy standing at our table. Security. He asked if we wouldn’t mind drinking up as they were closed. I said, “The bar’s closed?” He said, the whole book festival is closed! We were the last four people in Charlotte Square gardens that night. It was past midnight and I hadn’t even noticed. But Stuart was a gentleman, patiently answering my questions.

Previously to this, I had been reading and writing to Lee Child’s forum. I became what his webmaven – the inimitable Maggie Griffin – a Reacher Creature. Fans of his. (Again, no restraining orders were issued.) I met a writer on there, an ex copper from Birmingham. He asked, does anybody else write that’s on here? I answered him, and we’ve been internet friends for coming up 14 years now. A great guy and a great writer. We shared stuff. This guy, also called John, hadn’t been published, except in magazines. He has shared a lot of writing with me, from different genres. Now, you have heard of a barn find, when somebody will look in a barn and come across a rare Rolls-Royce or something, and it turns out to be worth a fortune? That was what I felt like when I read John’s work. He had written a detective novel and I was blown away by the part I’d read. I asked him, how the hell haven’t you been published? He’s written thrillers too, which I have read parts of. Again, a publisher skipped by them. Why? However, I digress.

Lee Child. I met him. My future wife was American, came from New York State, so when I was over in NY, I saw that Lee was doing a signing in Maggie’s store, Partners & Crime (not, In crime, but & crime, just to clarify) and we decided we’d drive down to Manhattan. It was May 15, 2002. He was brilliant. I got some photos taken with him and some of the fans. He invited me and Debbie to his launch party in Fiddlesticks, a boozer just along form the store. Again, here was a published writer giving me advice, and being nice about it, not thinking, I wish he would bog off.

So in 2003, Debbie was over in Scotland, and we met Lee again at a signing. Then a year later, we got a letter asking if we would like to join him at an after-launch party. This time, it was being organised by another fan of his, who lived in Penicuik. Now, this man has his name in the dedication of Without Fail – Jack Hutcheson – because Jack sent Lee a list of titles after Lee told him he couldn’t pick out one of his own titles. And Lee used one of Jack’s suggestions. So the book was launched. The Enemy. Brilliant book, btw, and Reacher is a brilliant character. So Jack – Hutcheson, not Reacher! – had organised a private room in The Roxburgh Hotel in Edinburgh, where a select few people were invited, and Debbie and I were two of them. What a brilliant night. Lee talked and answered questions and it was just superb.

Every writer I’ve talked to has always given me encouragement. Not one of them has said, Oh bog off and stop bothering me. That’s why if anybody – other than my cat – asks for my opinion on writing, I would be more than happy to give my advice. Even a self-published writer can have points of wisdom – like, yes, do stop for coffee at regular intervals, and no, do not make it decaff. The floaters you see before your eyes will go away. Eventually.

So, many thanks to all the writers who have given me advice over the years. Let’s not forget Matt Hilton, who writes terrific thrillers featuring Joe Hunter. And Ed James, who writes the very funny Scottish crime novels featuring Scott Cullen. As a nod to them, I’ve posted links to their latest books, below. Thanks guys.

Oh, and before I go, one quick plug; Thu 19 Feb sees my book reduced for a week, in the USA and the UK. 99c / 99p.

IAN RANKIN – SAINTS OF THE SHADOW BIBLE.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saints-Shadow-Bible-Inspector-Rebus-ebook/dp/B00BU1DH1M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424362666&sr=8-1&keywords=ian+rankin

QUINTIN JARDINE – HOUR OF DARKNESS  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hour-Darkness-Skinner-Mysteries-Book-ebook/dp/B00I9EBM8S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424362749&sr=8-1&keywords=quintin+jardine

STUART MACBRIDE – THE MISSING AND THE DEAD   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Missing-Dead-Logan-McRae-Book-ebook/dp/B00LZG6H00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424362847&sr=8-1&keywords=stuart+macbride

LEE CHILD – PERSONAL    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Personal-Jack-Reacher-Lee-Child-ebook/dp/B00IK1J9QM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424362974&sr=8-1&keywords=lee+child

MATT HILTON – THE LAWLESS KIND   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lawless-Kind-ninth-Hunter-thriller-ebook/dp/B00DS9G2S4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424363024&sr=8-1&keywords=MATT+HILTON

ED JAMES – WINDCHILL   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Windchill-Scott-Cullen-Crime-Book-ebook/dp/B00N0XK22A/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1424363073&sr=8-5&keywords=ED+JAMES

Every one of them a star!

A little music while I work

At the weekend, I saw my oldest daughter listening to something on her laptop. Being a nosy sod…ahem, I mean, a concerned parent, I asked her what she was listening to. She said, it’s Spotify.

Now, me being a dinosaur when it comes to anything that even resembles new technology, I asked what Spotify was. Don’t get me wrong; I love new technology. All the gizmos you can get in cars now, that will start your car using your iPhone (and in the case of Hyundai’s BlueLink, will even let you set the temperature), and all sorts of gadgets. I love ’em. My problem is, I don’t have any patience. I want something to work first time, or it’s the biggest piece of junk that was ever invented. I hate instructions that come with something that is solely drawings of how to do it (Ikea) but I guess we’re lucky this is a Swedish company. If it was British, the drawings would show a wee man either sleeping or making tea while the contents of the box are in an untidy pile in the middle of the living room. But I digress.

Spotify. It’s a music site that lets you listen to music. Easy peasy. You can pay for the premium service, or you can listen for free with adverts. Being a tight Scotsman, I opted for the free service. Now, I hear you cry, isn’t that like taking an artist’s stuff for free? Well, there’s two thoughts about that. First of all, you can’t download it (as far as I’m aware) just listen to it. And secondly, this is music that I bought years ago that I’m listening to. Bought and paid for, but no longer have the vinyl. Yes, yes, I’m that age when I bought vinyl when I was younger. I remember when a 45 was more than just a gun. So, another thing in my mind is, when you’re listening to Spotify, you might come across some music that you really like, akin to going into the fridge and finding that there is one Entenmann’s chocolate donut still in the box (they taste so much better when they’re in the fridge – imo). So you’ve discovered a band called Skelpyerarse and like them and then you go to Amazon or iTunes and buy their stuff. Just like when you look at an author’s page on Amazon and try the first few chapters before buying the book. Moral: it’s not nicking the stuff, it’s sampling it! Ta da!

Right. So with the help of oldest child (who is not a techno dinosaur, and berates her father who is) I download Spotify to my computer. I listen to music while I write. And when I get into the book, the music fades into the background. So I’m browsing Spotify and I decide to search for China Crisis. A band from the 80’s, because I unashamedly love 80’s music. That’s when I really started buying records (note to young people: records were the things that music was on, back in the “old days”.)

I only bought a few China Crisis songs, way back when, but then I recently bought them again on iTunes. (See? Not nicking them, but buying them, twice!) So I let this music run on Spotify, and then some songs stood out. Like some live tracks. One in particular, It’s Everything, from their greatest hits. You know how you hear a tune and it sticks in your head? This track is stuck now. So I’ll have to go and buy the album from iTunes now.

So, listening to music on Spotify has gained a sale for China Crisis. Your welcome, boys.

And whoever came up with Spotify, good on you!

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to the first blog post of John Carson author. Now, this may not seem exciting to you at first, but this day will go down in history as the first day of John Carson’s blog, alongside other notable facts from Feb 15, like in 1903 when the first teddy bear went on sale (we all had one, just like an opinion), in 1998 Dale Earnhardt won his first Daytona 500 and let’s not forget my Canadian friends, who celebrate the adoption of the Maple Leaf flag in 1965.

So yes, I am proud to be a part of this day in History. And if you’re reading this blog, you too can say, Yes, I remember where I was when John put up his first post! You’re welcome.

So, a little bit about me. I’ll try and make this a little bit like speed-dating; sit down, have a quick chat then move on to the next one. Only this is better than speed-dating. You don’t get your heart broken, and when you leave, you don’t feel like, Well, that’s another five minutes of my life I won’t get back. 

Frank Miller wasn’t my first detective. No, that was another guy altogether. I wrote a couple of novels featuring him, and I got some mixed feedback. One agent loved him, but thought that the writing needed quite a bit of tidying – kind of like my sock drawer; they’re in the right place, but they’ve been thrown in haphazard. I wrote the next one, and this was a great improvement. Words from Ian Rankin; he told me, “You’re on a steep learning curve.” And no truer word was said. The second one had mixed reviews too, ranging from “I love this character, but the book needs tidying up”, to, “I hate this character’s name. In fact, I don’t like much about this at all.”

Rather than be dismayed and think, well, I’ll give up writing and go do flower picking instead, I sat down and created a different detective. And Frank Miller was born. Now, he took a while to complete, but he finally made it, and I sent him out on his life journey. He came back battered and bruised after going through the British postal system (one agent called me to complain that the package I sent smelled of booze! Like I’d dowsed it in beer before sending it to her. I still don’t know why it smelled that way. Probably one of the night-shift in the sorting office spilled his can or something), and he was tired of being sent back and forth to London, only to be returned. So he went for a holiday. Bottom of the sock drawer-on-Sea. That’s where he languished for the longest time. Then I read a blog by the brilliant writer Dean Crawford. He described how he packaged his submission, and landed an agent.

Now, my wife said to me, have you sent your book out to every agent possible? I said, no. She said, dust it down and send it out again. She re-read the first three chapters and told me one thing; cut to the crime scene quicker. I had a long, drawn-out piece of drivel going on. So I chopped it, and tightened it up. I also managed to get my query letter down to one page, which I had struggled with. I used Dean’s template and it worked. I also changed the title to Crash Point. (I won’t say what the other title was, because I might use it in the future.) Then I sent it to the agent Dean had landed, and then I got an email back saying the agency wanted to represent me. Wow. It worked. I rewrote the book after getting revision suggestions from the agent, and just when he was going to do a line edit to give it to an editor at a major publishing house, he left. Not just the agency, but the publishing world altogether. I had asked him before, Do you still think this book is publishable. He replied, I wouldn’t be working with you if I didn’t.

After he left, I thought about the future of the book, and saw that some writers had made a go of self-publishing, and I decided that this would be for me. So with help from my wife, we uploaded it to Kindle. She’s the technical expert, and I’m lucky to have her on my side.

So, that’s how Frank Miller came to be on Amazon.

Feel free to drop me a line. All comments and emails are welcome. Remember – together, we can do this!

Please check out my interview at the fabulous Lynsey Adams’ blog. Link is below. I’m one of the up-and-coming crime authors of the month for Feb 2015.

https://theresbeenamurder.wordpress.com/

And here’s the links for my book CRASH POINT on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

See you all soon and thanks for stopping by.

John