Tara Moore "Fade to Dead"

This is my friend Tara's latest novel, published by Urbane Publications, and available from all good online stores and crime festivals.   Just as Trotskyites in the 1970s were urged to "make the turn to industry" (i.e. go and become agitators in the workplace, rather than intellectualise in universities), writers are being incessantly urged to write crime. Tara has had a long career writing commercial women's novels, with a hint of the dark in the last ones, until her agent urged her to turn to crime.  As I don't read much crime (or much of anything  at the moment) it would be a long slog to become a crime writer, and the results would not be as satisfying as this is. I particularly liked the main character, DI Jess Wildacre, although apparently some reviewers do not.  I found it funny in places, and very grim in others.  You feel all the frustrations that the police team feel with this serial killer and it seems impossible to see how they can find any evidence.  It's a relief when they do.  I didn't see the twist coming either.  What more can I say?  Read it yourselves.

A submission to a publisher

I have never submitted one of my novels directly to a publisher before - and today I have.   A few weeks ago I attended a mini literary festival called "Margate Bookie" where I met (amongst others) Matthew Smith of the newish independent publishers "Urbane Publications".  I heard him speak at WhitLit in May, and Tara was so impressed that she signed with him.  I interrogated him about his publishing model, which he calls "collaborative publishing" and involves more input, and work, from authors.  But the work is chiefly of the going around and doing signing and speaking about your book - which I can't see would be totally arduous.

I sent him a note 2 weeks ago, and didn't get a reply and I was a bit discouraged, but now I thought, Oh sod it, just send it to him.  He had said I could if I wanted to.  I think we were both being a bit "cool".  Today I received another lovely rejection from Juliet Pickering who said she just didn't "do" suspension of disbelief and thus not magical realism...but many other agents would.  I cheekily asked her to suggest a couple of agents to help cut down the slop of submissions.  We'll see, I've also done one agent submission this morning - so I'm hoping!

Anyway, I am full of grandiose ideas about how this novel will do commercially - and wonder what to do next - I had planned lots of agent submissions this week, but if Matthew likes it I will be writing a different sort of letter.  And maybe I could focus on US submissions instead.

The unnerving thing is that I know about this, I am feeling an internal resolved confidence that I haven't felt about anything for years (oh wait - did I know TRF was going to be published - ulp, I think I did).  Then again I sort of knew that I would get some interest in another quarter (not being explicit here for fear of making assumptions) and I have had, just need to do the necessary work first.  Anyway, we'll see.  Of course one is always hopeful about a new production, but the fact that I've had so much really good feedback on this one does make me more confident.  Of course there are those whose response is "Urggh - fairies" (who include the author of Duncton Wood - a series of books about talking badgers).  But most people love the premise - the uber rational meeting the irrational world.  One reader enjoyed the fairy sections more than the real world ones - and that seems to be a good thing - suggesting I've successfully conveyed the relative dullness of Deirdre's world - compared with the intensite of life in Faery... the opposite of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell - which is a most wonderful, incomparable, book.  And may be that tension between the two worlds is something I want to consider - if I continue to write about the "interface" between these worlds.  Traditionally faery isn't much fun... all the appearances are just glamour...to hide the truth of what it's really like, and of course because it was important to distinguish between the false pleasures of faery and the true pleasures of Heaven...

The real inspiration of the book though is the Pilgrim plays of Sebastian Bankiewicz - which deal with real humans who come into contact with faery or magical matters.  He bases his stuff in English folk traditions...but still comes across examples of belief in the "old ways"... white magic etc.  I should have researched that more.