Promote your book with some acting talent

Want to do something different to promote your next book? How about this? Select certain sections of text and condense them down to the raw dialogue - in other words, turn them into snippets of audio drama. Then get a bunch of talented amateur actors, furnish them with copies of the ‘script’, get them on a mic together and see what happens ...

As part of the promotional strategy for my new Heck novel, ROGUE (published on the 24th of this month, but ready to preorder right NOW), I’ve done exactly this, producing new and, I hope, quite original book trailers. And in today’s blogpost, if you say tuned, you can see AND HEAR them. 

You’ll also note the several images with which I’ve peppered this post: those are the actors themselves hard at work on the project. If you want to know how it all happened, you’ll need to stay tuned a little bit longer.  

In addition today, I’ll talk about my horror output now that we’re getting to the darker end of the year, and to round things off, will hit you with another of my new-look Thrillers, Chillers, focussing on some of the latest books, both old and new, that I’ve recently read and which have really done it for me.

Before any of that, though, let’s get onto the subject of ...

Trailers ... trailers ... trailers ... trailers ...

The first thing to say is that I’m not here today to tell you how to make a book trailer. Initially, because I’m not by any means a font of knowledge on this matter. But in addition, because the internet is already full of professional and artistic individuals offering this service to writers, and though they’d obviously charge, they can do a far better job than me.

What I AM going to talk about, though, is the brand new step I’ve taken this year - brand new to me at least - as part of the promotion package for the new DS Heckenburg thriller, ROGUE (the ebook of which, I reiterate, can be pre-ordered right now, though both the ebook and the paperback will be available immediately on October 24): 

It’s this dramatisation business I alluded to earlier.

I’ve no doubt there are several questions you’ll already want to ask about this. So, let’s go:

1) Why bother doing your own promo?

Well, it’s an understandable position to take. We all like to think that our publishers and their promotions people will take care of publicity. They should do. And most of the time they do, and sometimes they’re even successful ... but not always. In truth, I’ve never met a working author yet who doesn’t gripe at least a little bit about his or her experience of the mass-market publicity machine.

But even if you implicitly trust your publisher to showcase your new book in the best way possible and literally drive an avalanche of sales, how can it hurt you do some promotional work yourself? Most of us do that already, of course. We sit on panels at literary festivals, we attend launches and signings, we give interviews to the press, we write guest blogs for book review websites. But in this age of mass media, there are other things we can do too. Granted, not all of them are cost-free, or can be done on a whim and require next to no time or effort ... but I suppose it all depends how much you want to put into promoting your latest piece of work. It’s your call in the end. No one will force you.

2) Isn’t self-promotion a bit self-indulgent?

Well, the short answer is: Yes, of course it is. But if you want people to read your book, or even just be aware that it’s out there, what else are you going to do? Yes, word of mouth will travel, but it doesn’t always travel quickly. Unless you’re prepared to pay for big advertising, there aren’t too many other avenues open to you. 

3) Won’t internet folk just get sick of seeing you talking about your own book, and switch off?

Absolutely they will. Which is why it pays dividends to think laterally, varying what you are doing in terms of promo, experimenting a little, creating a campaign that is slightly different from the norm, and perhaps more interesting each time. In truth, the only limit to what you can do here is the limit of your imagination, but it’s easy to say that. In any case, today, we’re only going to talk about one new method. The one I’ve already mentioned: dramatising passages from the text, getting seriously talented people to perform it, and then weaving it all into a series of eye and ear-catching trailers. Here’s how it happened in the case of ROGUE ...

Audio drama

My wife (and business partner), Cathy, and I, are fortunate enough to both be members of WIGAN LITTLE THEATRE, a dynamic, multi-award-winning operation, which produces top quality on-stage drama at a rate of one play a month, all the year round. Yes, you heard that correctly - ALL the year round. this means, producing about ten plays, invariably to semi-professional standards, every year. After one such exceptional production, Tim Firth’s Sheila's Island, way back in April this year, it suddenly struck me as astonishing that I hadn't tried to make use of this remarkable pool of talent to assist me on the publicity trail. And when I raised this issue in the theatre bar with a group of actors who Cath and I are particularly friendly with, I was amazed at how keen everyone was to participate.

Of course, it wasn't as simple as that.

The first thing I had to do was select chunks of the new book, ROGUE, and narrow them down into pieces of drama, create mini-scripts in effect, which I could then send out to people who didn’t know much about the plot at this stage, and thus had no real context. Next, I had to secure a producer/director/production manager, who could turn what at the time was a still a concept rather than a workable plan into something solid. Then I had to secure a recording date on which everyone would be available. And then find a recording venue, a studio in effect. 

The first of these challenges I met quickly because the positive response from all concerned had kindled my enthusiasm no end. It was also the case that I was very in tune with ROGUE by this time. Though I’d completed it several years earlier, Cathy and I had been working hard to devise promotional strategies, and so had refamiliarised ourselves with the book massively. The actors meanwhile were very receptive to my context notes, and so that hurdle was overcome relatively quickly as well.

Securing a production manager/techie guy was also relatively painless. My first port of all was Cash Productions, as owned and operated by pro TV cameraman and movie-maker, Iain Cash, who was more than willing to lend us his expertise. But it was after this when the problems started. All those who'd initially agreed to participate were still willing, but by now it was summer, and so the holiday season was approaching and all the kids were off-school. It was going to be asking a lot therefore to find an afternoon that would suit everyone, and not just the cast, but Cash Productions too.

Somehow, we managed it. Don’t ask me how. Sorry if you were expecting pearls of wisdom on this. I honestly think we just got lucky on that front.

In terms of studio space, this was even more complex. Obviously we had to try and keep the costs down, which meant trying to avoid hiring somewhere. In the end we settled for our own house. We had enough room thankfully, and our springer spaniel Buddy, who’s been moping a lot since the loss of his brother last year, was content to sit quietly and be petted. This would also enable us to reward our amateur cast with as much food and booze as they could manage once the recording session had wrapped.

With everything in the can, it was then a matter of Iain Cash and I going into postproduction, assessing the raw material we’d gathered, editing where necessary - and we had to do a lot of that because, by design, we’d recorded far more than we knew we’d need (to keep trailers interesting, you must keep them short and tight) - and then splicing it all together as effectively as possible.

As to whether we’ve succeeded in that, you can be the judges. Several of the trailers we made - or perhaps I should call them SOUNDBITES - are posted below. Just make sure you TURN THE SOUND ON when you check them out, as otherwise that will defeat the whole object.

I won’t deny that we’re on a learning curve here. As far as I know, this is the first time something like this has ever been done to promote a book. I could be wrong on that, of course - don’t hold me to it. But I’m reasonably confident that readers and book fans won’t have encountered this very often before.

Is it something we’ll do again when the next book comes out? Very likely. And I suspect we’ll be better at it then. I urge all writers who want to do their bit when it comes to promoting their upcoming work to consider trying something similar, because if nothing else, you’ll have one hell of a time while you’re doing it.

My thanks now go to Iain Cash and Cash Productions, and the Wigan Little Theatre crowd, Mark Lloyd, Stacey Vernon, John Churnside, Helen Gray, Joey Wiswell, John Dudley, Nicola Reynolds and Tara Haywood ... for going above and beyond the call of duty to make this thing happen.

One final time, ROGUE hits the shops both as an ebook and paperback, on October 24. And now ...

The scary stuff

It’s almost Halloween. So, it would be pretty remiss of me not to mention some out-and-out horror stuff. I think I’ve just got time to remind you all that ELEMENTAL FORCES has now been published. It’s the latest entry in the excellent anthology series, ABC OF HORROR from Flametree Press, as edited by the tireless Mark Morris.

My own contribution (my second to this series, I’m proud to say), is Jack-a-Lent, a Liverpool-set crime story drawing on the old myths of the city, which very quickly becomes riddled with supernatural terror. If that isn’t enough to interest you, look at some of the other authors involved. I mean, it’s a no-brainer really, isn’t it.

On a similar subject, I’m going to mention, as I do every year around this time, SEASON OF MIST, my autumnal coming-of-age horror novella, first published in 2010, and still available as a paperback, ebook and in Audible.

Looking beyond October 31, in fact probably from the day after November 5, we’ll be thinking increasingly about Christmas. And if you like Christmas spook stories, why not grab another novella of mine from 2010? 

SPARROWHAWK, one of my favourite pieces of work to date, is also available in ebook, paperback or Audible. 

It’s set in early Victorian London during a bitterly cold Christmas, wherein a range of festive spectres are summoned to confront an embittered veteran of the Afghan War.

On top of that, if Yuletide scare-fare is to your liking, you might also try IN A DEEP, DARK DECEMBER, or THE CHRISTMAS YOU DESERVE, two collections of my Christmas spook stories, which again are available in Kindle, paperback and Audible.

And now, to finish things off today, as promised ...

THRILLERS, CHILLERS, SHOCKERS AND KILLERS

Works of dark fiction  that I have recently read, thoroughly enjoyed and heartily recommend (sometimes with a few lighter ones mixed in).

BY BIZARRE HANDS by Joe R Lansdale (1989)

The weird preacher whose obsessive lunacy always brings death. The Gulf Coast camping trip that quickly turns hideous. The roving teen troublemakers who get far more trouble than they can handle. Lansdale’s first collection of short stories is a mixed bag of horror and crime, but written to perfection, packed with odious fragments of humanity, terrifying scenarios and fist-in-the-face violence so gut-thumpingly brutal that you’ll never forget it.

SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING by Alan Sillitoe (1958)

In the late 50s, a Nottingham factory worker causes domestic chaos with his drinking, his carryings-on with married women, and his general disrespect. All-time classic of working-class literature, still as raw, energised and passionate in the 2020s, and of course, flawlessly written, taking the reader right back to another time and place, making the boisterous world of the Angry Young Man as real today as it was then.

SOME WILL NOT SLEEP by Adam L.G. Nevill (2016)

‘The beautiful tall house on the hill’, where trespassers may suffer lifelong damage. The roommate engaged in something unspeakable. The innocent children menaced by the abominable pig thing. The isolated cottage in the Nordic wilds, and the monstrosity that calls it home. And much more. A masterclass in genuine, continuous terror. Nevill writes magnificent prose, but his stories cut like ripsaws.

ROOM AT THE TOP by John Braine (1957)

A former POW embarks on an ambitious career in an industrial Yorkshire town, using every trick in the book, and the local women, to advance his interests. Less an Angry Young Man diatribe, and more a bitter-sweet romance as a young tough learns the hard way that he’s a tad less pitiless than he thought. A stark picture of austerity-ridden postwar Britain, lovingly and handsomely evoked and deeply redolent of a land on the cusp of social revolt.

THE GRAVEYARD APARTMENT by Mariko Koike (1993)

A Tokyo family takes a new apartment amid a complex of old temples and derelict cemeteries, but soon wish they hadn’t. A real slow burner this one but jam-packed with all the typical jolts of eerie horror we find in Japanese spook stories, finally building to a bone-jarring climax. Koike writes with chilling effectiveness, while Deborah Boliver Boehm translates in style.

THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi (2008)

When US author Doug Preston moved to Italy, he became fascinated by a series of grotesque murders committed by ‘the Monster’, a predator who was still at large. His own investigation followed, and this is it. A masterclass in True Crime, packed with grim detail, but endlessly tense and intriguing (especially when the authors themselves become suspects!), and delving deep into Tuscan lore, arcane ritual, rumours of secret societies etc. As absorbing as any work of fiction.

HECK is back, ROGUE ready to pre-order

At long last I’m able to post this. The e-book of ROGUE, the next Heck novel, Number 8 in the series, is now available for pre-order right HERE, with the paperback to follow shortly.

It will officially be published on October 24, and all you have to do make sure you get it the moment it comes available is follow this LINK.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, thanks very much to all of those Heck fans and loyal readers who encouraged and cajoled me with their messages and posts throughout the period when Heck was ‘off the air’. A change of publisher coincided (tremendously unfortunately) with the Covid crisis, and the Mark Heckenburg series was not the only project to hit the buffers because of this.

I wish we could have got things going again a little sooner, but looking back now, the world as I knew it after Covid was very different from the world before. People had left their positions and others’ priorities had changed. What once had been hot no longer was. The upshot was that it soon became apparent I was going to have to put in way more work than usual if I wanted to see the next DS Heckenburg novel, which was already written (and had been for a couple of years!), see the light of day.

Thankfully though, that time now has come. I’ll be talking a little bit more about it further down, when I offer you a first glimpse of the Dramatis Personae of this all-new Mark Heckenburg thriller.

In addition today, I’ll be posting another Thrillers, Chillers, hitting you all with another quick blurb for each of the novels or anthologies that I’ve recently read and been impressed by.

ROGUE

Who’s Who

ROGUE picks up pretty much where KISS OF DEATH, the seventh Mark Heckenburg left off, Heck now on the trail of the two anonymous hitmen who gunned down 26 of his friends and colleagues and left him to take the blame. That’s all I’m going to say for now about the synopsis. If you can’t live without at least a little bit more, I suggest you get yourself over to the Amazon SITE, where it’s currently on pre-order, and feast on the slightly more extensive info we provide there. 

If, on the other hand, you simply MUST know everything, all I can say is get your order in. It isn’t too long until October 24.

And now, as promised, a rollcall of all the key characters in ROGUE (some of whom regular readers will recognise, some of whom are completely new to the saga) ...

Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg

Formerly a detective sergeant in the Serial Crimes Unit sub-section of the National Crime Group, currently on suspension. An instinct investigator rather than an analyst. Not exactly a maverick, but he does prefer to go it alone, and is constantly frustrated by what he considers the inadequacies of the job’s higher echelons. Can be ruthless but mostly is affable, though at present he’s carrying a lot of grief, along with a lot of suppressed anger.

Detective Constable Gail Honeyford

One of Heck’s best and most loyal friends in the job. She is feisty, outspoken and excitable, and sometimes insufficiently respectful of her supervisors, for which she often gets reprimanded.

Detective Chief Superintendent Gwen Straker

SIO on Operation Sledgehammer and a very popular supervisor, Gwen has a maternal style rather than a bossy one, but like all good mothers, she can be firm when it’s required. Very measured. Doesn’t get shouty but can lay the law down when she needs to.

Detective Inspector Jude Penhaligon

Internal Investigations officer, so an outsider from the start – but that doesn’t bother her. Very well educated, cool and analytical. Doesn’t miss much and rarely gets ruffled.

Director Joe Wullerton

Director of the National Crime Group, and one of Britain’s most senior and respected detectives. A gruff but approachable commander, who’s politically savvy enough to trust his top investigators (though he sometimes wonders why). Close to retirement but still a calm, capable leader.

Detective Superintendent Mike Garrickson

A throwback to the ‘good old days’. A diamond geezer who’s often so close to the underworld that he could equally be a villain. However, he’s deceptively clever and shouldn’t be underestimated.

Snake Fletcher

A classic inner-city toerag. A metalhead drug-user, spiv and sneak thief, who has also worked as Heck’s informer, though recently it’s become apparent that he has been playing for other teams. A weaselly, cowardly rat.

Dana Black

Heck’s older sister, and though she doesn’t always approve of his methods (and dislikes the cops anyway), she and he are the only two left of their family, and so the bond is tight. Very working class in her attitude and manner.

Leroy Butler

A former bank-robber but with a code of ethics. He dislikes the police but feels he owes Heck because Heck once took a terrible risk when he pulled his children out of a housefire.

Detective Constable Gary Quinnell

Another of Heck’s mates. Big boisterous character, a Welsh rugby union player and something of a roughneck even though he’s also a practising Christian. Tough as teak.

Kyle Armstrong

President of a Manchester Hells Angels chapter, and a dangerous, violent career criminal. At the same time, a cool, calculating customer who no one should underestimate. Devilishly handsome.

I should add that this isn't the entire list. The names and details of certain other participants have been withheld for the time being to avoid hitting you with any unfortunate SPOILERS.

THRILLERS, CHILLERS, SHOCKERS AND KILLERS

Works of dark fiction  that I have recently read, thoroughly enjoyed and heartily recommend (sometimes with a few lighter ones occasionally mixed in).

CHILD OF GOD by Cormac McCarthy (1973)

A rejected misanthrope goes it alone in the Appalachian wilderness and slowly degenerates into a predatory beast. Short but disturbing novel from the king of dark fables, and a far cry from the ‘subnormal mountain man’ horror some may expect, the antihero at its heart de-evolving through neglect and isolation. Sad, distressing, and a groundbreaker in its effort to understand extreme deviance.

THE ENTITY by Frank De Felitta (1978)

An LA single mother is raped repeatedly by a half-seen being, but an investigating psychiatrist suspects it’s a painful delusion created by trauma. Non-sensational, psychologically complex but fictionalised account of true-life events that shocked America in the 1970s. More like a case study than a horror novel, highly intelligent and soberly paced, and though hair-raising in parts, cleverly keeping many possibilities open. 

MULADONA by Eric Stener Carlson (2016)

Texas 1918, the height of the Spanish Flu catastrophe. An abandoned boy falls victim to repeated visits by a demon, who, if his identity isn’t discovered during the course of seven terrifying tales, will drag him to Hell. Effective blend of Hispanic myth and occult horror, with a literary subtext about ignorance, fundamentalism and hypocrisy. Packed with full-on scares, and exquisitely written.

IMPERIUM by Robert Harris (2006)

The struggles of lawyer, Marcus Cicero, during the dying days of the Roman Republic. Political chicanery par excellence, set in a distant but not unfamiliar world, Harris hitting us with complex, intriguing tale and vividly evoking an era long gone.

GRENDEL by John Gardner (1971)

A retelling of the Dark Age poem but from the perspective of its main antagonist, Grendel. A marvel of fantasy fiction from an author who left us too soon. Mythology, philosophy and much metaphysical pondering combine to create a thinking man’s epic, complete with comedy, tragedy, heroism and brutality. At the same time a study of isolation, which asks lots of questions but provides no easy answers. A stunning literary feat, well worth its ‘modern classic’ status.

TESTIMONY by Mark Chadbourn (2014)

True case of an idyllic Welsh farm, which malignant spirits soon turn into a literal Hell. A British Amityville minus the charlatanism, the eerie tale of Heol Fanog is better known now after recent TV publicity, but for the full skinny read this excellent study by Mark Chadbourn, who flexes his journalist muscles in leaving no stone unturned to hunt an elusive truth. Very thorough, very engrossing, very frightening.

A host of devils arriving here this autumn

You’re probably all getting sick of reading about ROGUE, the next Mark Heckenburg novel (which is out this October). But today, you’re not going to need to read about it. You can hear about it instead.

Because, exclusively in today’s column, I’ve posted a clip of my good self reading the book’s prologue. In addition today, because I’ve got lots more to report in this second half of 2024, I’ll be intro’ing two new novellas I have out by offering you, in each case, the official blurb from the book’s back cover, and a couple of choice snippets.

Hopefully, you’ll find all this sufficiently interesting to stick around for a few minutes. However, I know that time is often short, and so, without further ado, let's get cracking with the ...

New titles

Those who are eagerly awaiting ROGUE - and I’m really delighted that you’ve made yourself known to me, because it proves that there is still a sizeable chunk of readers out there who are dying to know what happens next in the Heck universe - should be pleased to hear that as the final proof-read is now complete (here it is above, in progress), the book has now gone off to be typeset and the production wheels are rolling.

Anyway, there’s been enough teasing done about this. Let’s get into the meat ...

Here is ROGUE, the (four-minute) Prologue ...

Hope you all enjoyed that.

There is still a bit of time to go between now and publication - we haven’t got an actual pre-order date yet, but rest assured, it’ll be on here at torpedo speed when we do. However, you can now buy either or both of my two new novellas this autumn.

First up, we have another Heck outing. This one was is set several years ago, before the recent catastrophic events. It’s called KILLER INSTINCT.

I’ll start with a blurb, and after that a juicy snippet:

When a frantic burglar tells Heck that he’s found photographs of ghastly crime scenes in a privately-owned cellar, Heck initially treats it with scepticism ... but then remembers that there are many gruesome murders in the unsolved file. 

Alarmed, he wonders if the Serial Crimes Unit has missed a particularly vicious assailant. And yet none of this sickening evidence marries up. The locations are different, the implements are different, the methods used, though in all cases terrifying, range widely across the spectrum of tortured insanity.

These can’t all be victims of the same perpetrator. But if that isn’t the case, what in God’s name is going on here?

And now the snippet ...

Metal clattered again, and a pair of headlamps sprang into life. With a low, clunky rumble, a vehicle emerged along the shadowy passage. A white high-sided van, battered, rusty and dented, an empty steel rack occupying its roof.
     It halted at the alley entrance, signalling to go right. It was difficult to see who was behind the wheel, but in truth it could only be one person. Heck hurried around the first of the idling taxis and leaned in at the passenger window.  
     ‘Do you take card?’
     The driver, a hefty bloke wearing a khaki jacket and a flat cap, nodded. ‘Sure do.’
     ‘Good. I’ll give you two hundred minimum …’ across the road, the van turned right, ‘if you follow that van.’
     The driver pulled a face. ‘Don’t waste my time, mate.’
     ‘I guarantee you I’m not, but we’ve got to go now, or we’ll lose him.’
     Along the road, the van stopped at a red light. The driver meanwhile gave Heck a long, quizzical look. ‘This really happens?’
     ‘It’s a first for me too.’
     ‘I dunno. Who are you?’
     Heck showed his warrant card. ‘Police.’
     ‘Two hundred?’ The driver pursed his lip. ‘Make it three and we’re on.’
     ‘Deal.’ Heck jumped in.

     The van left Upminster by zigzagging its way through several residential housing estates before hitting the open countryside.
     ‘The hell?’ the taxi driver muttered. ‘Is he lost?’
     ‘Far from it,’ Heck replied.
     ‘This a real bad boy, then?’
     ‘To be honest … I don’t know.’
     ‘You don’t know?’
     ‘Never can tell,’ Heck said. ‘So, stay on him. But keep it nice and steady, eh? Let’s not give him a heads-up.’
     ‘Bloody hell.’ The driver looked shaken, as though it had taken him this long to realise what it was he’d undertaken. ‘Is he armed?’
     ‘Again, I don’t know.’
     ‘Lord help us! And I only charged you three hundred ...’
    

Still with us? Good, because here is the next of the year’s new releases.

ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE, from Absinthe Books, is a project I haven’t spoken about very much, because all discussions were embargoed until last month, when it was launched at Worldcon in Glasgow. This one is another cop story, but it’s a cop story with a difference. While it has the trappings of a crime thriller, it’s actually, as you may deduce from Greg Chapman’s amazing artwork, an occult horror.

I won’t say anything else about it at present, except that, here’s the official blurb, and following that, a choice extract:

The midnight cathedral filled with fire

The leather-clad monstrosity that kills with a spiked mace

The unholy pact between man and demon

Cynical London cop, Dora “Mac” McDougal, of the Metropolitan Police’s elite Organised Crime Command, has a strike-rate that is second-to-none, mainly because of her cavalier approach to rules and regulations. However, when Mac discovers the whereabouts of a cop-killer whom she has a personal beef with, she literally throws caution to the wind.

This animal in human form took out the only guy she ever cared about. And only one response is possible to that.

However, when Mac’s off-the-books revenge mission takes her north, she finds herself in a woe-begotten town, itself in the grip of supernatural evil. And uncovers a devilish plot to unleash torturous death on an epic scale.

Throughout her twenty-year war against the nation’s deadliest criminals, Mac could never have dreamed how many lower levels of darkness there still are, all just waiting to unleash their malevolent forces.

And here’s the sneak preview I mentioned ...

With a sweeping right hand, it struck her across the face. It wasn’t a punch so much as a raking talon, the extended nails on their shrivelled, stick fingers rending her cheek open. With frantic squeals, she kicked and punched. Another shot went wild above their heads before she released the weapon, and forced herself through the next gate into the garden itself.
     Here, it was all knee-deep thorns and bracken, which tangled her legs and threw her down. As she scrambled to her feet, the thing caught up with her again, the fog of its foetor overwhelming as it clenched its fist in the collar of her jacket and hurled her sideways. She flew through the undergrowth, slamming hard into a solid upright beam or post, which knocked all the breath and stuffing from her, the blow to her ribs so fierce that she thought she’d pass out. She had to wrap her arms around it just to stay on her feet.
     Again, she sensed the thing looming up behind. She swung around, fists balled, but already it was onto her, those wiry talons clamped on her throat as it shoved her back into the post. The face was an inch from hers. Even in the red-tinged gloom, she saw those lifeless, sunken orbs, the nasal gap where the nose had fallen away, the sagging lower jaw hanging from wasted, string-like muscles ...

TWO new Heck thrillers due out in autumn

It’s nice to see all the excitement generated about the new Heck novel, ROGUE, which will be published in October (keep watching here for pre-order details). 

But I now have some additional exciting news (if you’re a member of the Heck fan club). I’ve had no choice but to sit on this for a little while, but today I can reveal that, as well as the new Heck novel, ROGUE, this coming October will also see publication of a brand new Heck novella, KILLER INSTINCT, which is set several years ago, when all was hunky dory in the Serial Crimes Unit, and the recent devastating events hadn’t taken place.

I don’t want to say much more about it for now, because I’ll be going much bigger on this one in the days to come, except to add that it’s being published by BOTH Press (Books on the Hill, Clevedon), as part of their award-winning initiative to produce dyslexia-friendly books for British adults. 

As with ROGUE, pre-order details will appear on here and all over the social networks just as soon as I get them.

But now we must take account of those who are new to this party and perhaps wondering what all the fuss is about.

So, apologies to those who are already familiar with the Mark Heckenburg saga, but I’m going to need to dedicate the bulk of today’s blogpost to those who aren’t.

And by that, I mean that I’ll be giving you all a quick rundown on the story so far. Just a quick reminder of what’s already occurred, if you like, Heck’s past investigations in chronological order etc.

Before we do any of that, I also want to mention again my new publishers, Thomas & Mercer, whom I finally hooked up with in person at the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate last week. I’ll also, if you stick with today’s column to the end, be posting a few more blurbs, connecting you to novels, anthologies and such, which I've recently read and enjoyed.

Harrogate

For those who don’t know about this annual summer knees-up, it’s a huge if very relaxed occasion, crime and thriller writers from all over the world, plus agents, editors, publishers and the like, not to mention bloggers and readers, gathering at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, to compare notes, drink beer, swap stories, drink beer, attend panels, presentations and launches, drink beer, buy lots of books, drink beer, enjoy each others’ company, and drink beer. I think you get the general idea.

(If you don’t, check out this image of Buddy chilling out in the Old Swan garden. This should give you a rough idea how nicely laid-back it is).

Anyway, the usual splendiferous time was had by all. But from my POV, it was particularly fun this year as at last I got the chance to sit down and chat with the latest bunch of high-powered publishing people who’ve finally decided to take a punt on my writing.

In truth, you cannot overstate this.

As an author - at least, from my perspective - there are two things about this business that matter more than anything else.

a) Producing the best work you can in the time available.

b) Producing a piece of work that gets out there into the world and is read by many.

Every writer, of course, is the centre of his or her own universe. But even if you weren’t that, if you manage to create something you really consider to be special, you’re desperate for it to reach as wide a readership as possible. So, you can’t help but be absolutely delighted when a mass-market publisher, with all that financial muscle to promote and publicise, signs you up.

I’m very fortunate as for most my career I’ve been in the hands of big hitters: HarperCollins (where the Heck books began), Orion (for whom I wrote two stand-alones, ONE EYE OPEN and NEVER SEEN AGAIN) and Thomas & Mercer (for whom I have another stand-alone due out next year, DEATH LIST, which is slated for publication in spring).

Not everyone has happy stories to tell about working in the mass-market, but my experience thus far has been almost exclusively good, and I can’t stress enough how smooth a journey through the Thomas & Mercer process DEATH LIST has so far had. I’m very happy to be working with the good people of T&M, who so far have been very accommodating to all my thoughts and ideas.

I don’t want to talk too much about DEATH LIST at this stage. It’s a few months off yet, and the big news on my front at present concerns ROGUE. But I would say that I gain as much out of writing individual, free-standing thrillers as I do adding to the Mark Heckenburg canon, so, with any luck, my future path will now involve plenty of both.

Anyway, as promised ...

HECK: THE STORY SO FAR

(in chronological order)

A WANTED MAN (short story, published March 2015)

Our first visit to Mark Heckenburg’s police career. It’s the early days, and Heck is still a uniformed copper, serving in Salford, Manchester. Frustrated by the mundane nature of his work, unhappy with the situation at home, where his family are now estranged from him due to his joining the police, and irritated with many of his colleagues, particularly his supervisors, whom he finds to be uninspiring leaders, he dreams of better things. Then, while on a solo mobile patrol late at night, he gets a sniff of the local housebreaker and rapist known as the Spider because of his ability to climb walls and enter premises through the narrowest of gaps. Heck could call it in, but he’s had enough of the bosses at present. Instead, he determines to catch this goon on his own. That won’t just raise his standing in the job, it will finally make him feel that he’s at last making a difference. The problem is that the Spider is elusive, and the dingy, rain-soaked rooftops of Manchester will prove a perilous hunting ground.

BRIGHTLY SHONE THE MOON THAT NIGHT (novella, published December 2017)

It’s a very snowy Christmas Eve, and Heck, having reassigned to the Met Police and now a detective constable working CID in Bethnal Green, has agreed to man the office alone while everyone else goes home for the holiday. There isn’t much to do. It’s all paperwork, but outside the snow is falling heavily, blanketing the East End, creating problems everywhere. This doesn’t stop Gemma Piper, a fellow DC and someone Heck has become amorous with, popping in to see him while she’s off-duty, dressed as a sexy Santa. They are enjoying each other’s company, when Heck gets a phone call from Jenny Askew, the wife of a bank robber he sent to prison for 17 years. She has just been terrified by a very weird group of carol singers, who tried to gain access to her house. When Heck looks into it, another blagger’s wife has also had a visit, though in her case she’s been tortured and murdered. Convinced that someone is hunting the loot from the robbery, none of which has yet been recovered, Heck realises that several women dotted around London are now in extreme danger. But the blizzard is severe, the snowfall so heavy that all support units are impeded, and he and Gemma must track this bunch of killers on their own, before anyone else falls prey to them.

DEATH’S DOOR (novella, published June 2018)

Heck and Gemma’s relationship is feeling the strain. They love each other and have even set up home together in Finsbury Park, but Gemma is constantly alarmed and annoyed by the risks Heck takes to get the job done, while Heck himself is feeling peeved that Gemma has been earmarked for higher things. They are still only detective constables, but she has now caught the eye of various promotion boards. However, Heck is distracted from these problems when a woman living alone in Bethnal Green complains that she has a peeping Tom, an unknown man who regularly comes to her house at night and looks in through the windows. It doesn’t initially seem serious, but then Heck makes enquiries and finds that, ten years previously, a similar complaint was made by a woman living alone at the same house, and was ignored – and that woman was later murdered, a case that remains unsolved to this day. Is this some monstrous coincidence or is history about to repeat itself in the most macabre way. Heck suspects the latter, and is determined to be there to stop it.

STALKERS (novel, published February 2013)

Heck is now a detective sergeant, working within the Serial Crimes Unit, which is part of the National Crime Group. He had no idea when he applied for this post that ex-girlfriend Gemma, whom he hadn’t seen for several years, was now the detective superintendent in charge of SCU. They respect each other professionally, but that’s where it ends. Gemma, still the ultimate straight bat, mistrusts what she considers to be Heck’s cowboy approach to policing and is not even happy about the huge numbers of hours he puts in, because she knows this stems from his lonely private life and is concerned that it isn’t healthy. At present, Heck is attempting to connect 38 unexplained disappearances of professional women up and down the country. National Crime Group director, Jim Laycock, isn’t persuaded by Heck’s meticulously compiled comparative case analysis and insists that he take some leave. Gemma, who has a different view, forces Heck to take 10 weeks off but tacitly approves his continuing to investigate while he’s on leave. The only problem here is that it leaves him minus backup and resources, which isn’t the best position to be in as he slowly closes on a shadowy syndicate who even within criminal circles are a source of fear and concern: the Nice Guys Club.

SACRIFICE (novel, published July 2013)

Britain is rocked by a series of apparent ‘calendar killings,’ the murders all occurring on and seemingly appropriate to special feast days. A tramp walled into a chimney on Christmas Eve. A courting couple pinned together through their respective hearts by a single arrow on Valentine’s Day, etc. The Serial Crimes Unit is allocated the case, with Gemma as SIO, but when there are three roadside crucifixions on Good Friday, all hell lets loose. The pressure on the investigation team increases tenfold, even Heck and Gemma struggling to deal with it. When the press dub the maniac ‘the Desecrator’ and point out that his targets are selected randomly – they could literally be anyone and could be abducted at any time of day – the powers-that-be demand a shakeup. They want new investigators and a new plan. But while Gemma is taking all this heat on herself, Heck is making headway. To start with, there has to be more than one killer. Perhaps there’s a whole cadre of them. But as he pieces a trail of hard-won clues together, it leads, incredibly, to a public school in the leafy heart of England.

THE KILLING CLUB (novel, published May 2014)

When several murders of wealthy men occur in different locations around England, the MO always different, they aren’t initially linked. But when Heck identifies the victims as suspected clients of the Nice Guys Club, who, though they’ve been closed down in Britain, are still under investigation overseas, it becomes apparent that Nice Guys operatives who escaped the initial sweep have now returned to the UK and are looking to silence potential witnesses. A massive investigation now confronts the Serial Crimes Unit, which is complicated all the more when Nice Guys assassins come after Heck himself. After the events of STALKERS, he’d be the most damaging witness who could possibly take the stand, and there is no way that this deadliest of crime syndicates can allow that to happen. To Heck’s fury, Gemma responds by having him taken into protective custody, and when he breaks out of it, he himself becomes a fugitive.

DEAD MAN WALKING (novel, published November 2014)

Heck and Gemma are no longer on speaking terms after what Heck considers to be her betrayal of him during THE KILLING CLUB. As such, and as part of a new nationwide initiative to embed experienced detectives in rural areas, Heck has sought reassignment away from the National Crime Group, to the Cumbria Police, specifically in the mountainous region of the Langdale Fells. Resources are thin on the ground here, but there is plenty of crime, and Heck keeps busy. But then suddenly, two female hikers are brutally attacked, an act of unprovoked lethality, which has all the hallmarks of the Stranger, a serial killer who many years earlier terrorised Devon and was supposedly put out of action when Gemma Piper, then a mere detective constable working as an undercover decoy, shot and, as far as she’s aware, mortally wounded him. As a terrible winter fog descends on the Lake District’s higher peaks, completely cloaking the picturesque but isolated village where Heck is based, Gemma travels north, just in time for a whole new spree of murders to commence, a ruthless and very cruel individual attacking secluded settlements, remote farmhouses and the like, and anyone at all, male or female, whom he captures alone on the high moors. Could it really be the Stranger? Isn’t he supposed to be dead? Heck and Gemma must join forces to confront him, but as the fog thickens and resources are stretched, they feel increasingly cut off from the police network. The killer meanwhile, whether he’s the old one returned or an eager copycat, launches one murderous attack after another, with no one ever seeing or hearing him ... until it’s too late.

HUNTED (novel, published May 2015)

His relationship with Gemma partly patched up, though still far from perfect, Heck returns to the Serial Crimes Unit, where Gemma requests that he look into a curious case down in Surrey. A wealthy businessman has suffered a series of unlikely accidents, one of which has finally been the death of him. Gemma doesn’t consider this an SCU case. Surrey CID are already on it, but as a favour to her mother, who was a good friend of the deceased, she asks Heck to go and lend a hand. He does so, though he isn’t received warmly by the investigating officer, Detective Constable Gail Honeyford. Honeyford is single-minded and ambitious, never likes being mansplained to and is particularly firm that she doesn’t need any help. However, this latter changes when the case expands, Heck picking out other fatal accidents across the Home Counties, which might well have been engineered by someone. They can scarcely believe that they could have a ‘prankster killer’ on their hands, who likes to play huge practical jokes on random targets ... so huge that they nearly always prove fatal. The case grows exponentially as more and more incredibly inventive and horrific ‘accidents’ are added to the list. But it’s an increasingly confusing picture, Heck and Gail’s area of interest ranging from the South London badlands, where a local gang has been terrorising publicans with a series of late-night robberies, to the high society of Surrey’s land-owning elite. It’s also a concern when evidence emerges that the killers know all they need to about the cops pursuing them, and are planning some nasty surprises for them as well.

KILLER INSTINCT (novella, due for publication October 2024)

Heck visits prison to interview Dick Nesbit, an old lag about to go down for aggravated burglary. Nesbit can’t stand the thought of facing hard time and wants to make a deal. In return for some kind of amnesty, he offers an address where he recently broke in and saw photographs all over the basement walls depicting brutal murder scenes, some of which sound as if they might match unsolved crimes in the east of England. A police visit to the premises, warrant in hand, reveals no trace of any such images, but Heck is increasingly convinced that the death scenes described to him now match a range of open murder cases across the UK. The problem, at least from Gemma’s POV, is that none of these are a fit for each other; each case is currently in the hands of a different investigation team because there is no sign of a common MO. Heck wonders if this lack of MO may be the MO itself, but it seems even more unlikely given that his chief suspect is Ken Kozowski, a respected landscape photographer with no criminal record whatsoever. When Heck undertakes a one-man obbo, it feels on the surface like a lost cause, but there is something about this guy, Kozowski. Is he perhaps a bit too squeaky clean?

ASHES TO ASHES (novel, published April 2017)

John Sagan is an urbane everyman, who, to look at him, wouldn’t say boo to a goose. But in reality he’s a torturer-for-hire, working mostly for the underworld. He travels the country taking his ‘Toybox’ with him. It looks like an ordinary caravan, but in fact it’s a mobile, soundproofed torture chamber. At least, this is what the gossip mongers say. The problem Heck has is that he can’t prove any of it and can’t even lay hands on the Toybox. In the meantime, SCU are diverted north to deal with a madman called the Incinerator, who kills his victims with a homemade flamethrower. Heck doesn’t particularly want to go as the epicentre of the crimewave is Bradburn, Lancashire, the hometown he left so many years ago and has no desire to revisit. But then he works out that the Incinerator might actually be a hitman in an underworld war, the opposite side of which have now taken on their own enforcer, the recently vanished Sagan. It’s a no-brainer. Heck’s going up there and he’s getting involved.

KISS OF DEATH (novel, published August 2018)

With the Serial Crimes Unit under threat due to ongoing police cuts, Gemma Piper, to avoid the disbandment of her department, joins forces with another team hanging by a thread, the Cold Case Squad, who are under the command of an old mentor, Detective Chief Superintendent Gwen Straker, to undertake Operation Sledgehammer. In this dedicated but far-reaching enquiry, a number of very dangerous fugitives still believed to be at large in the UK have been targeted for detection and arrest. Heck, now with a new partner, Gail Honeyford, who has recently joined SCU, is sent to Humberside on the trail of a career bank robber who is also wanted for a double-murder. Progress is steady, until Heck obtains a pen-drive containing footage apparently showing their target fighting for his life in some kind of vicious gladiatorial combat. Heck is stunned. Could these very violent and dangerous offenders all have disappeared recently because they have been abducted and, for someone’s entertainment, been forced to fight each other to the death? It seems impossible. Who would have the wherewithal to mount such an operation? And why would they do it? There must be more to this than mere vigilantism. Gemma and Gwen are uneasy with the whole thing but trust their best detectives’ instincts. Heck and Gail thus travel back to London, the trail leading them into a world of snuf movies, contract killings and ultra high-level organised crime.

ROGUE (novel, due for publication October 2024)   

When Heck miraculously survives a mass shooting at the Ace of Diamonds pub in North London, during which 26 of his fellow police officers are slaughtered, he becomes a suspect. None of those supervisors who know him believe he could really be involved, but nevertheless, he is put under surveillance. Heck himself emerged from the massacre unscathed, but with one important piece of evidence in hand, which he is certain will lead him to the shooters, an anonymous two-man hit team who no one even saw coming. However, he won’t share this clue with the official investigation team. He is too twisted up with hatred and a burning desire for revenge. Armed only with this single but vital clue, he evades the police cordon that has been placed around him, and heads north through the desolate landscape of the British winter. En route, he puts more and more clues together, slowly closing the distance between himself and the murderers. He also acquires an illegal firearm. Because things have gone too far for Mark Heckenburg. Mowing down his friends with automatic gunfire. Shooting the woman he loves. Arrest and conviction isn’t good enough for offenders like these. Some crimes are simply too heinous, and some criminals simply deserve to die. This time, Heck’s not just going to be the cop, he’s going to be judge and executioner too. But what he hasn’t allowed for is that the killers know he is coming. They are very ready for him, and have placed some truly nasty obstacles in his path.    

THRILLERS, CHILLERS, SHOCKERS AND KILLERS

Recent works of dark fiction that I have read, thoroughly enjoyed and now heartily recommend.

PAPER GHOSTS by Julia Heaberlin (2018)

A Texas woman abducts an elderly man and, determined to prove him the serial killer responsible for her sister’s disappearance, takes him on a hellish road trip. Raw, creepy travelogue of a crime thriller. Lacking in action, but captivatingly written in the Southern Noir tradition, and constantly posing the question: is he or isn’t he?

CRISSCROSS by F Paul Wilson (2004)

Another episode in Wilson’s Adversary Cycle, Repairman Jack this time infiltrating the Dormentalist Temple, a NY-based cult hellbent on creating a worldwide catastrophe. Slickly written and hugely clever, and featuring the usual array of complex, high-stakes predicaments. Energised and enthralling. There are few do ‘supernatural horror meets hardcase thriller’ as well as Mr Wilson.

THE RULE OF THREE by Sam Ripley (2024)

Disparate characters investigate a frightening urban legend and uncover a possible series of murders. Exceptionally well-written mystery from Tom Wood (writing as Ripley), a deep dive into the world of urban myths and troubled minds, and a constant sense of impending doom. Massively intriguing and packed with twists and turns you genuinely didn’t see coming. Classy stuff indeed.

DEEP STORM by Lincoln Child (2011)

A doctor joins a top-secret drilling gig on the Atlantic floor, only to learn that the prize below the seabed is a thing of colossal power and mass terror. Withstand the avalanche of scientific detail, and there’s much to enjoy in this deep ocean sci-fi thriller. The unique environment is vividly captured, the atmosphere taut, the basic concept as high they come. It’s got Hollywood written all over it.

WHOSE LITTLE GIRL ARE YOU? by David Craig (1974)

When London gangsters abduct a security chief’s family, to force him to assist with a major heist, a drunken ex-cop determines to foil them. Gritty slice of 1970s Noir, competently if not prettily written, thin on characterisation and filled with painful scenes of alcoholism, and yet it remains an absorbing page-turner. Its moral ambiguity and tough, sleazy tone strike a grimly authentic note.

STARVE ACRE by Andrew Michael Hurley (2020)

A husband and wife inherit a barren stretch of Yorkshire countryside, only to learn the hard way that this has always been ‘a bad place’. Ultra subtle psychological/supernatural chiller, eloquently written and deeply evocative of the quiet woods and high dales. Think MR James, think ‘70s TV terror (only with an extra-horrific finale). Should sit comfortably among the folk horror classics.

MOOD SWINGS by Dave Jeffery (2024)

The Halloween dinner for two that descends into nightmarish horror. Life and death in the suburbs as irrational fear becomes a national pandemic. The mortician with a talent for repairing the dead, but also an urge to collect them. Plus, other thought-provokingly gruesome treats. A bunch of short, sharp shockers, expertly and concisely written, all delving deep into our everyday fears and phobias.