Forthcoming Words

Added on 15 June 2015

The screen option on The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson was first taken out seventeen years ago this November. It’s been a long wait, and now the film is finally set for release, receiving its world premiere at the opening night of the Edinburgh Film Festival on Wednesday, before being released into the wild in the UK and Ireland on 24th July.

My first thought, seventeen years ago, was to hit the golf course and wait for the money to roll in. Fortunately, I chose to write other books instead. And I still write other books, even now. So, while the film premiere is probably bigger news than the rest of this stuff, here are some details on forthcoming book projects.

A ROOM WITH NO NATURAL LIGHT

I wrote this five years ago, and now, finally, Blasted Heath will be releasing it as an ebook on 14th July. The delay has all been on me, as I kept writing other things and saying, ‘no, no, release this first.’ Meanwhile I’ve rewritten ROOM several times.

The trouble is that it’s more serious than my usual shtick, so I’ve struggled to feel confident about it. There are no jokes to hide behind. There’s no bad language. No sex. No barbershop. Blasted Heath are going to bill it as literary crime, but really, despite the fact that some people get murdered, it’s not a crime novel at all. It's romance.

I know. Romance. Anyway, there you are. It’ll be out in a few weeks.

WE ARE DEATH

The follow-up to WE ARE THE HANGED MAN is done but not quite dusted. Should be out later in the summer/early autumn, as an ebook. Meanwhile, I’ve been looking at HANGED MAN again, as having reached the end of number two, I realised that in tone it is quite different. More fun. HANGED MAN isn’t really fun. More bleak than fun. So, I’ve been going through it, and while I’m not changing the story at all, and not exactly making it fun, I have been lightening the mood and DCI Jericho’s character somewhat.

It’s probably bad form to rewrite a book once it’s already out, but it’s doable with ebooks, it’s not like I’m rewriting the laws of physics or anything else worth a hoot, in all likelihood hardly anyone will notice and finally, if I can just use my teenagers’ favourite catchphrase, you can’t stop me.

SONG OF THE DEAD

Little further update on Song of the Dead, except that it should be released, in paperback, in the first six months of 2016, by Freight Books.

And finally, back to the movie…

THE LEGEND OF BARNEY THOMSON

There will also be a movie tie-in version, from Freight Books, of The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson released to coincide with the general release of the film in the UK. Despite the fact that it will have a picture of Mr Carlyle on the front, and that they will title the book The LEGEND rather than The LONG MIDNIGHT, it will be the original novel, and not a novelisation of the film script. So, you know, no need to buy it if you’ve already got it.