Mix 150 panellists with a wave of crime writers and readers in two streams spread over four days in the Bristol Marriott and that was Crimefest 2017. I flew in late Friday so caught the second half of the programme, starting with the CWA party in the Palm Court where this year’s Dagger nominees were announced (see the CWA site for the full list). I was asked to be the photographer at a late stage, challenged by the combination of subdued lighting and back-lighting. The fact that I’d changed my pen-name mid-year had not worked its way through to the organisers, and a number of friends frowned at my name-badge. Yes, Jason Foss is really dead I had to explain.
Debut Authors Panel
Mixing with the crowd I met up with Bill Beverley, double dagger winner in 2016 for Dodgers a distinctly different road novel which has been my favourite crime book so far this year. Apparently he was inspired by reading narratives of black slaves who had escaped the Confederacy and were awe-struck by the America that existed beyond their previous horizons. ‘Makes America strange again’ was a good slogan. I also chatted to Luke McCallin about The Man From Berlin, in which he pitched a ‘good German’ policeman into WW2. Shame his Ashes of Berlin is still a bulky hardback and I can’t lug it on my upcoming trip. How to keep a single crime relevant whilst the death and mayhem of war took place all around was another panel theme.
Picking panels (and working out which room they are in in time to get a seat) is Crimefest’s primary challenge. Then there’s the dilemma of whether to support familiar friends or explore something new. I learned that English books have ‘American editors’ to subtly adjust Britishisms for the US market. The Indie panel underlined that self-publishing has to be approached like a business, with as much time devoted to marketing as to actual writing. Professional editing and cover design were unanimously recommended by the panel. Short stories were extolled as opportunity to experiment, write in a new tone and actually finish a tale whilst the beginning was still fresh in the writer’s mind.
Anja De Jager and Felix Francis
Crime festivals are of course great social occasions. It was good to catch up with Fellow archaeology detective writer Kate Ellis, and say hello again to Anja de Jager, Leigh Russell and Mary Andrea Clark among many others. The bar proved to be a great place for (ahem) ‘networking’.
Old chestnuts were picked over, such as how ‘historical’ fiction can avoid simply dressing modern people in period costume, projecting our sensibilities into their actions. Panellists discussed how female characters can realistically make an impact in periods where women were expected to ‘know their place’, without straining credibility. The question was posed of where fact ends and fiction should begin (the truth being we make most of it up!). Several writers addressed ‘the twist’ and how whilst it is a thriller staple, simply awaiting ‘the Big Twist’ should not dominate the reader’s experience.
Anthony Horowitz was interviewed in the Great Hall, then entertained us quite unexpectedly at the Gala dinner. What could have been a straight five-minute after dinner slot with a few jokes turned into a brilliant impromptu cosy crime denuement. Horowitz announced that one of his table guests had been poisoned – at which point Felix Francis gamely ‘died’. One by one the motives and opportunities of the other six table guests were explored and the culprit ultimately unmasked.
Yes I could bore you all with another page of anecdotes, but even blogs have deadlines. With a book room crammed with the latest bestsellers and the backlists of the panellists, plus the goodybag freebies I ended an exhausting but thrilling weekend straining my case capacity and luggage allowance.
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