Graven Depository

It has come to my attention that non-UK readers can pick up a copy of GRAVEN IMAGE cheap AND POSTAGE FREE at Bookdepository.co.uk. When I pretended I was in the USA, it said $6.02 USD. As our American brethren say - pretty neat, huh?

One drawback: it's not available yet. But the book is not published until April 1st, so we should wait, right? And pre-ordering is all the rage at the moment.

The Ying and the Yang of it

GRAVEN IMAGE isn't officially published for another five weeks but we've seen two early and conflicting reviews. The ying and the yang, if you will. First this one from David Paine of local organ the Worcester News, which starts out:

In author Charlie Williams’ attempt to write gritty dialogue there is great emphasis on bad language.

This doesn't bode well, does it ? Let's pull that teflon cloak on...

While I don’t particularly have a problem with that and accept it is used in everyday life, particularly a stressful situation like Leon finds himself in, other authors like Simon Kernick, who for me is the master of this genre right now, manage to create pace, tension and fear without overdoing it with the profanities.

Let's just say it doesn't get much better than that. But hey, I defend to the death every man's right to express his own onion. I mean opinion. Let's move onto the yang, shall we? The Nerd of Noir starts out:

Leon has fucked up something terrible.

This is already my kind of review!

Though much is often made of voice and madness when discussing his work, I think short shrift is too often given to the fucking delightfully gritty worlds Williams creates, from dingy bars packed with shiftless professional drinkers to the lonely streets where only half-retarded wannabe thugs dare to tread, fritting away the night posing like their favorite crime flick characters to impress their easily amused friends.

Long live the Nerd. And David Paine. Just to show there's no hard feelings, here is a special tribute to you:

Hair of the Dog

Big session last night? Did you paint the town red... followed by a splash of technicolour on the way home? Get your head out of the toilet bowl and into a book, using Paul D. Brazill's handy guide to literary hangover cures over at Mulholland Books. And yes, I am very proud to say that the soon-to-be-reissued (in May) Deadfolk is in there. Keep it right next to your Alka Seltzers.

Graven Freebies

Do you want a chance of winning a copy of my forthcoming novella GRAVEN IMAGE? I am giving away five next week. All you have to do to be in with a shout is "like" my fan page on Facebook. Not on Facebook? Fret not - there are other great ways to be in with a shout. You could join my mailing list. Or do an Amazon (UK or US) review of any of my books and then email me. In fact, I'll give you THREE TIMES the weighting if you do that because I could do with some more Amazon reviews. Does that sound fair? Sure it does.

I spit on your Graven

As already pointed out by the fabulous Ray Banks, anyone wanting to get ahead of the Crime Express game can now do so. GRAVEN IMAGE and the other three books can be snagged here right now, free postage in the UK and everything. That's more than 1.5 months early! Yes, it's blatant CHEATING, but I won't tell.

Let's pick a random blurb to paste here.... Ooh, it's GRAVEN IMAGE by Charlie Williams... what an embarrassing coincidence!

It knocks the wind out of you, reality does

Brothel bouncer Leon shouldn’t be here. A week ago he stepped over the line, maiming a slap-happy VIP punter. But he can’t stay away. Not with his daughter Kelly being so young and vulnerable. If he can sort it out with Graven, take the kicking he knows he’ll get, maybe they can call it a debt paid. But when Kelly goes missing Leon realises what kind of debt is due.

Check that out!

Matlock, 12th March

Matlock: I've always thought that's a great name for a town. Tough and no nonsense. Matt Lock, private eye. He'd be somewhere between Mike Hammer and Matt Scudder, pissed up on whisky but still asking tough questions or blowing heads off. The right heads.

I will be in Matlock on Saturday 12th March as part of the Derbyshire Readers' Day (which seems to be two days, starting on the 11th, but never mind). Find me on a panel alongside Danuta Reah, hosted by Stephen Booth, which goes by the title "Keeping it Short", or something. Either way, it almost coincides with all three of us (along with the legendary Ray Banks) having Crime Express books coming out on April 1st, and those babies are certainly short. And to the point. But probably not very sweet. Check them out here. And dig those covers. Then, *ahem*, think about pre-ordering.

So, can you make it to Matlock? Check out here for details. Scudder and Hammer will probably not be in attendance, but Reah, Booth and Williams surely will. And maybe Matt Lock himself.

NB: Matlock was also a main location for the amazing Shane Meadows film DEAD MAN'S SHOES. If you haven't seen it, find it.

Planted a few heifers

I swear I was after something important, but while looking through (google-translated) Russian reviews of Deadfolk I came across:

"The protagonist gets in the head 20 times, wets himself five freaks and 4 innocent people, including fishermen, planted a few heifers, runs through the city covered in blood, a week carries rotting corpse on the seat beside the driver and swearing at each step. But - a dynamic, funny and exciting. Read disgusting. Make a movie - you will be Academy Award”

Seriously, who wouldn't buy?

Deadfolk will be back

Please check out this new cover for Deadfolk, which will be reissued on 10th May (US/UK):


We're on the cusp of a new era, ladies and gents. Royston Blake is coming back and he is coming back hard.

**** folk

Nearly end of Dec and I still haven't done a post for this month. AFAIK, I have done at least one for every month from Jan 2005, so I'd better pull something out of the bag. But you know how it is, right? I'm either in a blogging mood or not, and the nots can go on for weeks. And there's nothing worse than a post about nothing, unless you're Jerry Seinfeld. So here's a little fact for Royston blake afficionados:

I almost called Deadfolk "Simple Folk".

It's true. I sent it out under that title to an agent and he rejected it, saying various vaguely derogatory things about it. I decided he must be criticising the title and not the text, so I gave it a new one and hit the jackpot with my next submission. But here's another fact:

When people ask me why it's called Deadfolk, I don't know what to say.

I could go into some artsy explanation but I end up telling them it's just called that. Curiously, the ones who ask tend to be the ones who haven't read it yet, so the answer must be in there somewhere.

A happy new year to all you folks, be you dead, simple or just normal.

Papa's got a brand new pigbag

Been a bit slack here of late. But you know that means I've been busy, right? Or just drunk. You decide.

Next spring sees the publication of my novella GRAVEN IMAGE by Five Leaves Press. It's crime but it's also a bit out there, as all my stuff probably is. It also has a great cover. To mark the occasion I will be taking part in an event to do with Derbyshire Readers' Day. Details TBC.

The re-launch of Royston Blake (Deadfolk, Booze and Burn*, King of the Road plus the new one - ONE DEAD HEN) is coming along nicely, with a new set of covers being worked on as we speak by the world's top artists and designers. Hopefully I'll be able to unveil those some time soon, but until then you could bookmark the pages and maybe think about pre-ordering. Either way, they're coming out one month after the other starting next May. It's gonna be a summer-long carnival of Royston Blake.

I've done a piece about getting Deadfolk published for You're Booked, the writing-related website from the good people at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. Make sure you check out the other stuff on there too by folks such as Lee Child, John Harvey and Colin Bateman. But only after reading my one.

Other than that, let's just keep on rocking and rolling. And writing.

*Fags and Lager

Pulp of the Day: WHITE TRASH by Beulah Poynter

"Mattie Horn might be bawdy and direputable--but she was still beautiful enough to draw the town's most respected citizens down to the Hollow where she lived. And if her own charms failed, there was always her daughter Hagar--not yet eighteen, and pretty as a picture. The trouble was, Hagar wanted to be a respectable citizen herself. Tiring of visits on the sly, she took up right out in public with the preacher's son. Her boldness, and a slight dip into sin by Deacon Elihu Spry, brought down the wrath of the whole brutal community on the heads of the scarlet woman and her daughter"

Interestingly IMDB has a listing for an actress of the silent era called Beulah Poynter, born 1886. WHITE TRASH was published in 1952, making silent Beulah 66 at the time, if I can still add up in my head OK. Wouldn't it be great if they were one and the same?

FAC 5

Check out Crime Factory 5, which is dedicated to the memory of Dave Thompson. In there amongst the great features and fiction by top people is a chapter of the next Royston Blake novel ONE DEAD HEN. Here we find Blakey getting interviewed by one D.I. Dave Borstal.

Kudos to Keith Rawson, Cameron Ashley and Liam Jose for doing a sterling job on this one. Not mention the great contributors: Sandra Ruttan, Stephen Blackmoore, Paul D. Brazill, Richard Godwin, Patti Abbott, Jim Winter Matthew C Funk and many more!! With features by Andrew Nette, Gary Lovisi, Jimmy Callaway, Eric Beetner and the Nerd of Noir.