You could wait for a lifetime...

...to spend your days in the sun-shee-yine.

Oh, hi there. Say, did you know that I am guest blogging today over at David Belbin's blog, talking about Booze and Burn / Fags and Lager, the second installment in the ongoing story of Royston Blake? You can also hear "Cigarettes and Alcohol" there, a song which I chose for the occasion. Is that a leftfield choice or what? Many thanks to David.

Erm, did I mention that Booze and Burn is going cheap on Kindle? £1.99/$2.99. Oh, I did, didn't I? I guess I've done it again.

Blakey on Tour - aside #4

I am still cracking on with this, just holding it back a bit as we get into the nitty gritty territory. Thanks for reading this far, those who have. There will be more soon. Come rain, high water or shit storm, Blakey's Tour will continue

Booze after reading

Today sees the publication of BOOZE AND BURN, AmazonEncore's re-issue of Fags and Lager. This is the book about which one broadsheet critic sniffed "personally I think these books should be issued with embarrassing orange jackets and made to do menial community service in penance for their yobbery", before donning his tweed jacket and heading down to the MCC.

Meanwhile Metro said "Blake is the perfect antihero, engaging as well as terrifying, his delusions of hard-man grandeur fuelling fierce black comedy. Delivered in Blake's rich vernacular, Fags and Lager is yokel Tarantino".

I kind of prefer that one, but the straw-chewing image of Tarantino is troubling.

You can get Booze and Burn CHEAP on Kindle: £1.99/$2.99. Give it a go. It's all about Royston Blake.

Left Lion Interview

Interview with me on Left Lion, Nottingham's culture and listings mag. We talk about Graven Image and other stuff. Thanks Robin Lewis.

Cheapo Deadfolk and stuff

Do you have a Kindle or other e-reading device? DEADFOLK is now available on Amazon.co.uk for the mad price of 99p. (You can also get it for 99c on Amazon.com.) Please download it if you are of half a mind to. Would be great to see Royston Blake riding high in the charts.

For anyone following Blakey On Tour, it will be back shortly. I have had a ton of stuff on of late, but Blake's troubles have been nagging at me all the while. We're gonna see this baby through to the end... whatever that end may be.

Finally, in a sort of last round-up of the USA stuff, I stayed on for an extra day after the Amazon extravaganza and BookExpo and managed to crash the Mulholland Books party down the road. Great to clink glasses with some of the peeps there, including Duane Swierczy and Jason Starr (pic). What a week it was. I will be forever grateful to the Amazon crew for shipping me over there. Some top people working there and they know how to make a splash.

Charlie on Tour #2

You learn all kinds of things when you have a website. Some are things you don't want to learn, like the fact that people get all kinds of ass problems. I don't know why google leads them to charliewilliams.net, but any combination of "ass" and "rash" does just that. The latest being "I got a rash in my ass and it is wet". My advice? Go inside. Then you'll eliminate the rain and just have the rash to contend with.

Hey, this was meant to be a post about BookExpo America, which is where I have been today, after a posh Amazon do last night on the top floor of the Empire State Building, or somewhere. The thing about trade fairs such as this is that I can spend all day there, talking to a thousand people, and not know what's going on. There is always some publishing world intrigue that goes way over my head, even though everyone is apparently talking about it, you later hear. Or maybe it goes *under* my head? Have you thought about that, huh, publishing world? Either way, I have never got to grips with the publishing business. To paraphrase Barry Manilow, I write the books. He writes the songs, me the books. Between us we get it covered. (Massively obscure trivia fans, I reference one of Barry's songs in Graven Image. Which one?)

Politics and wilful ignorance aside, it was a blast. Meeting guys whose books I have read and dug such as Duane Swierczynski, Jason Starr, Megan Abbott and Jack Ketchum... finding new ones whose books have got me interested such as Johnny Shaw, Shaun Morey and John Rector... this is what it is all about. Plenty of others too and I feel bad for not printing a long list, but we aren't big on long lists here at the Charlie Williams Blog. You know that.

Someone told me Ice T was there today. I can't believe I missed him. I am of the generation and 80s tribe that revered him as a Hip Hop pioneer. But I ain't talking about Cop Killer... I'm talking proper old skool.

Blakey interview

Allan Guthrie rather bravely interviews the man himself - Royston Blake. Does he survive? Find out.

Many thanks to Al for the frank questions.

Charlie on Tour #1

Hey, I am in NYC for BookExpo America. I'm sure the lady at border control thought I was a bare-faced liar, but she let me through anyway, begrudgingly. (Hey, I wasn't lying!) Sadly Royston Blake didn't fare so well. When the man frisked him the wrong way he sort of exploded, and they dragged him away. It took 10 of them, I swear. Not sure where is now. Maybe I'll link up with him on the way back.

It is nice here in New York. Kind of like the original York (which it was clearly based on), but with slightly more yellow hansom cabs. I am lagged to the eyeballs and the pit is calling, but hunger calls louder, so I just went round the block and bought a muffin. That is the best muffin I have ever known! I also bought a couple of beers, which I can't make the same claim for. Cold and wet though, which is the important thing.

Tomorrow I meet my generous hosts from Amazon, who are down from the Peruvian ranforests or wherever the Amazon actually is. I hope they don't get too freaked out by the cars and things. You worry about these remote tribes. Still, they speak very good English, because I have talked to some of them on the phone. They also have pretty good taste in books, I reckon.

And hey - ebooks save those trees. (Especially at $0.99.)

Blakey on Tour - aside #3

Not been much from Blakey this week, has there? I assure you that it is down to sheer not having enough time. That and laziness... but the understandable kind of laziness, that kicks in when faced with obligations looming. Next week I'm at BookExpo in New York, so prob not much touring from Blakey then either. But I promise he will be off in that burger van again right after. Or possibly the hearse, if he can get it out of the police pound. Until then, we'll have to leave him in the dire straits he finds himself. Thank you to everyone who has been following it. Please come back. Blakey needs you!

(Oh, and BTW, Deadfolk - Royston Blake's first outing - is currently 99c for Kindle and $5.99 paperback on Amazon.com. Cheap pricing on Amazon.co.uk next week too, I hear.)

Royston Blake's Top 10 Reads

Ever wondered what a guy like Royston Blake might read? Perhaps you'd like to find out what literary works shaped him, so that you could read them too and maybe become a bit more like him? Reader, your prayers are answered. Jenny Davidson asked him (via me) to spill the beans for her Light Reading blog, and he duly obliged. (Who knew Michael Knight went to Hazzard County?)

Many thanks (and a few apologies) to Jenny!

Happy Birthday ST

Ah, 1986. The Beastie Boys' "Fight For Your Right" on the radio, Rocky IV showing down at the Odeon... and Peter Ayrton breathing life into a new publishing house called Serpent's Tail. "Committed to publishing extravagant, outlaw voices neglected by the mainstream," goes their mission statement. I don't know if it was the same back in the 80s, but it sure has lived up to that objective for most of the quarter century since. Happy birthday Serpent's Tail. Without you, the High Street bookshop would be a whole lot greyer.

BEA Interview

Interview with me conducted by Helen Smith. I reply in my usual slack-jawed way to her incisive questions about BookExpo and the USA in general. Helen is the author of Alison Wonderland and Three Sisters, amongst others.