EXQUISITE, Sarah Stovell’s ‘expertly crafted’ thriller debut, published today by Orenda

Sarah Stovell’s ‘powerful and assured’ debut thriller, EXQUISITE, is published in paperback today by Orenda books. It is also available on audiobook from WF Howes, narrated by Katie Scarfe. Sarah will be celebrating the launch at Cogito Books in Hexham at 7.30pm tonight.

The book is already generating huge amounts of praise. It is a Lovereading book of the month, with Shelley Fallows writing: ‘I was completely swept up in the brilliance of Sarah’s carefully constructed plot that had me constantly questioning the outcome and eagerly turning the page… It was a chilling read, expertly crafted and difficult to put down.’ The Sunday Times Crime Club also called it ‘a remarkable debut in the crowded psychological thriller field, written with great sureness of touch and tone — it already feels like a summer bestseller’ in a starred review.

Bo Luxton has it all - a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name. Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend. When they meet at a writers' retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops ... Or does it?

Breathlessly pacey, taut and terrifying, EXQUISITE is a startlingly original and unbalancing psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

The EXQUISITE book tour began on 1st June and runs for 38 days with almost 80 blogs involved - see the poster below to catch up with its journey!

Rights are sold in Germany, France and Sweden.

Sarah Stovell was born in 1977 and spent most of her life in the Home Counties before a season working in a remote North Yorkshire youth hostel made her realise she was a northerner at heart. She now lives in Northumberland with her partner and two children and is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Lincoln University.

Praise for EXQUISITE:

‘EXQUISITE is a powerful and assured debut thriller. Slickly claustrophobic and delicately wrought this arch story of obsessive forbidden love taken to the extreme will have you squirming in your seat even as you're driven to turn the next page. A must-read for 2017’ — Sarah Pinborough, author of BEHIND HER EYES

‘I bloody loved it. So clever, so beautifully written, such brilliant characterisation and THAT ENDING! This book is going to be MASSIVE! It has all the special little things that make it stand out from other psychological thrillers and it had my tummy in knots. I'm going to be shouting about this one for a long time. Definitely in my top reads for 2017’ — Lisa Hall, author of BETWEEN YOU AND ME

‘A perfect literary thriller. A moving, gripping story told in beautiful prose. The twists keep coming until the very last page. I loved this book.’ — Erin Kelly, author of THE POISON TREE

‘Sarah Stovell writes beautifully. In her latest novel she combines that skill with a thrilling dramatic narrative. Exquisite in every way.’ — Essie Fox, author of THE SOMNAMBULIST

‘Whip-smart, lushly written and truly page-turning. I loved EXQUISITE, from the misleading simplicity of the premise and right down through all the dark depths of the she said/she said narrative. Sarah Stovell is a thrilling talent’ — Holly Seddon, author of TRY NOT TO BREATHE

‘Beautifully written and perfectly twisted, I was sucked deeply into the intertwined worlds of Alice and Bo and found myself reading through my fingers, compelled yet terrified at what the outcome might be ... And that ending. Just wow. There could not be a better title for this book’ — S J I Holliday, author of the BANKTOUN series

 ‘Addictive, terrifying and beautifully written, EXQUISITE is up there with the best psychological thrillers I’ve ever read. Fucking awesome’ — Chris Whitaker, author of TALL OAKS

 ‘Beautifully written, atmospheric and sexy, EXQUISITE is a satisfying psychological thriller with real class' — Cass Green, author of THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

STUART URBAN INTERVIEWED IN SCREENWRITING GOLDMINE MAGAZINE

BAFTA nominated writer and director Stuart Urban has a four page spread in this month’s Screenwriting Goldmine magazine. He talks to interviewer Angela Hagan about starting his career at 13, his experience of the industry, what it’s like winning awards, and how he likes to write.

The following is an extract, but you can read the full interview by subscribing to the magazine via this link: https://www.screenwritinggoldmine.com/open-door/

You are no stranger to awards ceremonies, what’s it like winning a BAFTA?

It’s amazing. I won twice in my thirties when I was ‘gosh the world is at my feet’ but it isn’t like that at all – it goes up and down! I remember winning the BAFTA for An Ungentlemanly Act and my wife saying; ‘we’re made!’ And then I spent the next six months out of work, as is often the case! It is, of course, wonderful to get one but it doesn’t guarantee anything, though certainly people will take you more seriously. I think nowadays it is a much more vibrant period than, say, the eighties and the nineties. Back then was a more rarefied world and there wasn’t as much work. But, on the other hand, if you were at the BBC on the fifth floor in the drama department you would put together an exciting script and a cast and you didn’t have to go through the whole commissioning loop like you do now. If you had a good package, it got made.

You took your first ever film to Cannes aged 13 - what advice do you have for very young screenwriters/filmmakers?

If you want to be a filmmaker the positive thing is that there’s no excuse for not picking up your device, whether it’s an iPad or iPhone, to make, shoot and edit your own films. That’s great and a democratic revolution in the last few years. However, there’s an immense wave of people doing it, therefore to rise and push your head above water is a lot more difficult. And you have to think more than ever before about how you’re actually going to place your work in front of the public, whether you do a niche subject or an issue-led drama or the kind of thing that’s happening in the world that you care about. More competition means your work must be that much more outstanding and you have to work very hard at it, such is the huge rise of applications to film festivals. It requires even more application and discipline and dedication than before. Yet it’s still possible to make incredible breakthroughs - the film recently, Tangerine, was all shot on an iPhone about trans people in LA, so it can be done.

Do you write every day?

At the moment I’m researching, which is one of my great displacement activities! Everything is relevant, and it’s rewarding, though one can over-research. I tend to write quite fast. I can usually write a first draft of a one hour drama in about four weeks, and sometimes I have written a feature script in that time. It depends how much factual cross checking and compliance you have to do. For example you don’t have to back up every conversation or fact, but not doing so can lead to a long time to unpick it all when the legal team asks ‘So did Hazel really have kinky sex in the dentist chair with the gas mask on?’

TV and film is well known for being a tough industry – how tough do you have to be to get on?

The art of the game, once you get to a certain level, is to get on with people, justify yourself often and have a very thick skin. If that’s not you I’d say don’t go into it, it’s too stressful!

Any real advice that you can give to new writers?

Be incredibly tenacious and keep writing. It was my sixth screenplay which got made, after I had been very disappointed by the five before which had got nowhere, probably because they were not good enough to be made actually. Then, whatever anyone tells you about a script I think you should only listen to them if A. they’re saying the same as everybody else and B. if they’re paying for it (even if they’re only prepared to pay £100) otherwise, stick to your vision! It took me a few years to get to that level. Also it’s not true that you have to keep rewriting - I personally don’t think they’re paying you to write ten drafts. I do not believe that every script has to have 20 drafts. Lastly, try to be paid to write for anything in any format – all of it is a craft: speech-writing, corporate videos, any kind of paid work.

Deon Meyer’s bestselling FEVER spreads to many shores

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Deon Meyer’s stunning standalone post-apocalyptic thriller, FEVER, has raced to No. 1 on the South African (Jonathan Ball, 2017) bestseller lists, having already been No. 1 there in its Afrikaans edition, KOORS (Tafelberg, 2016), for some time last year. The Dutch edition (A.W. Bruna, 2017) has also shot into the Top 20 in the Netherlands, where Deon was selected as the Crime and Thriller Week’s Author and commissioned to write a special novella – DE VROUW IN DE BLAUWE MANTEL (THE WOMAN IN THE BLUE CLOAK), which features his beloved police detective Benny Griessel and will in due course appear in Afrikaans, English and other languages. His long-time UK publisher, Hodder, will publish FEVER on Thursday 15 June. 

Deon was the second highest best-selling author in South Africa last year, among all the international competition, second only to J.K. Rowling. Meyer-fever is spreading to other countries too, with Grove Atlantic set to publish in the US in September 2017. Joining them for the first time is Deon’s new Canadian publisher, House of Anansi, who will also publish FEVER in September. 

As his editor Douglas Richmond says: ‘House of Anansi is thrilled to be Deon Meyer’s new Canadian publisher. Deon is a tremendously gifted writer with an uncanny talent for storytelling and world-building. In FEVER, he has created a new masterpiece of dystopian fiction, which promises to be one of the most talked about books of the fall.’

And the talking has begun … FEVER has already been hailed by thriller master Stephen King as ‘reminiscent of THE STAND and THE PASSAGE. Great stuff.’

Deon Meyer kicked off UK launch week with The Post-Apocalyptic Book Club at Waterstones Piccadilly on Monday, with Brighton Crime Wave on Tuesday 13 June, a launch at Hatchards Piccadilly on Wednesday 14 June, and publication day on Thursday 15 June. In addition to his events in the UK and Holland this June, Deon is also visiting Spain where his previous novel ICARUS, also featuring Benny Griessel, has just been published. He’ll be touring Germany and France for the publication of FEVER later in the year too. 
See more on Deon’s website, including news of events.

Follow Deon on Twitter.

Deon Meyer is the international acclaimed, bestselling and prizewinning author of crime thrillers, both series and standalone. He won the Deutsche Krimi Preis 2009 for BLOOD SAFARI, Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière 2003 for DEAD BEFORE DYING and Le Prix Mystère de la Critique 2004 for DEAD AT DAYBREAK, which was adapted for an Afrikaans M-Net TV series (SA). THIRTEEN HOURS was the winner of the Barry Award in the Best Thriller category 2011 and was shortlisted for the Macavity Best Mystery Novel Award. He has been shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger three times. Rights in his titles are sold in 30 territories and 28 languages and many of his books have been optioned for film. DEAD BEFORE DYING was filmed for a 6-part TV series, titled CAPE TOWN, featuring his character Mat Joubert.

Praise for FEVER: 
'UK readers, you have a nice surprise coming. No, not Brexit, FEVER, by Deon Meyer. Reminiscent of THE STAND and THE PASSAGE. Great stuff' — Stephen King

‘FEVER bears comparison with landmarks in the genre such as THE STAND ...The novel explores humanity at its best and worst; the crushing loss of civilisation with everything that means for the structure of society...This great book asks us to reflect on our own hidden natures - how would we react if the world we knew came to an end tomorrow?’ — Vaseem Khan, author of The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra

‘FEVER is one of the best books of the year. Deon Meyer is a masterful writer and has created a stunning epic that brims with emotion. The mystery, thrills, and action kept me riveted to every page. Highly recommended.’ — Adam Hamdy, author of Pendulum

Praise for Deon Meyer:
‘Deon Meyer is not just South Africa’s greatest crime writer, he’s up there with the best in the world.’ — Marcel Berlins, The Times

‘Deon Meyer's name on the cover is a guarantee of crime writing at its best.’ — Tess Gerritsen

'Deon Meyer is one of the giants of crime fiction.' — El Mundo

‘Deon Meyer is a top notch plotter and has created one of the best ensemble (and multi-racial) casts of any modern police procedural series.’ — Shots magazine

‘Crime fiction with real texture and intelligence.’ — Independent

Follow Christopher Nicholson's Highland Journey Among the Summer Snows

Christopher Nicholson’s new non-fiction book AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS is published today in hardback by September Publishing.

AMONG THE SUMMER SNOW is an account of a summer's journey through the Highlands of Scotland in search of the snow patches that remain. Interwoven are meditations on the science of snow, the art of observation, the legacy of other walkers such as Boswell and Johnson and the lure of the mountains themselves.

As Christopher Nicholson says: 'The summer snow patches of the Scottish Highlands are magical things. They're beautiful, thought-provoking and enigmatic, not least because of their strange survival. They ought to have melted, but they're still here, like icebergs that have floated and settled high in the mountains.'

Christopher will also be appearing at Wigtown Festival in September, and at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Wednesday 16th August 2017, alongside the nature writer Jim Crumley, for a talk entitled 'Men For All Seasons'. More information can be found  here.

Read the opening paragraph of the AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS here.

See more on Christopher’s website here.

Praise for AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS:

‘This is the kind of beautiful writing that transcends form – in this case nature writing - to arrive somewhere improbable and compelling.’ – Paul Evans, nature writer, Guardian Country Diary and more. 

‘A beautiful book about love and loss, fragility and chance, the wide world and the near world . . . full of intense light and colour, extraordinary glimpses, moving insights and subtle humour.' - Richard Kerridge, author of COLD BLOOD

'This ravishingly lovely book is about thought-snow, summer snow, flight, falling, stillness, memory, loss, mountains, Time, death, survival and everything in between. It is an intense scrutiny of minute worlds, a roaming gaze into the vastness of space, intimate, introspective and questioning.' - Keggie Carew, author of DADLAND

‘It’s a long while since I read a book that made me laugh and cry within just a few pages … A wrong-footing marvel of a book … touching both death’s void, and love, and the beauty of the natural world at one and the same time and in a way that is all the more powerful for its restraint.’ – Books from Scotland

Christopher Nicholson is the author of three novels, including THE ELEPHANT KEEPER, which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and Encore Prize. His third novel WINTER, about the late life of Thomas Hardy, has been adapted for radio as TESS IN WINTER, and sold in Spain and France. He lives in the countryside on the border between Wiltshire and Dorset.

FEVER CITY, TIM BAKER'S EXHILARATING DEBUT THRILLER NOMINATED FOR 2017 SHAMUS AWARD.

Critically acclaimed debut novel, FEVER CITY, by Tim Baker (UK, Faber & Faber; US, Europa) has been shortlisted for the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) 2017 Shamus Awards, in the ‘Best First Private Eye Novel’ category to be announced in September.

An extract of FEVER CITY was previously shortlisted, and ‘highly commended’ for the CWA Debut Dagger, and the published novel (UK, Faber 2016) was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey dagger.The novel has also been published in Italy (Mondadori), and in Japan (Shogakukan).

FEVER CITY is a searing counter-factual conspiracy thriller with three intertwining narratives. Nick Alston, a Los Angeles private investigator, is hired to find the kidnapped son of America's richest and most hated man; Hastings, a gun-for-hire in search of redemption, is also linked to the case. But both men soon become ensnared by a sinister cabal that spreads from the White House all the way to Dealey Plaza and the assassination on JFK. Decades later in Dallas, Alston's son stumbles across evidence that might link his father to the shot heard round the world.

Faber will publish Tim’s next novel, CITY WITHOUT STARS, in January 2018

Praise for FEVER CITY:

‘[A] remarkable first novel …inspired writing, memorable characters and an exhilarating, all but overpowering story.’ – Patrick Anderson, Washington Post

‘Ambitious debut… a bare knuckle take… a noirish storm of corruption, violence and depravity…’ —The New York Times, USA

An inventive take on the great American conspiracy theory...’ —The Sunday Times, Crime Club Newsletter January Picks 2016

‘Sprawling, ambitious and atmospheric…this debut author is the natural successor to such hallowed crime writers as Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy.’—Stylist UK

'Tim Baker paints a lurid, sinister portrait of mid-century America, skilfully layering fact and fiction in a way that will forever change the way you think about the Kennedy assassination. An impressive debut.' – Peter Swanson

‘Another mighty impressive debut by a British author...Baker has the audacity to revisit the web of conspiracies surrounding the JFK assassination and despite the sterling previous contributions to the fictional subject by James Ellroy, Don De Lillo and even Stephen King, comes up trumps.’ – Maxim Jakubowski, LoveReading.com

‘Phenomenal. It's a brilliantly conceived and executed thriller that deftly combines smack-you-in-the-mouth intensity with imagery and prose to die for. It's beautifully stark, brutal when it needs to be, and thoroughly engrossing. There have been some truly great books written about the events surrounding the Kennedy assassination, and Fever City can stand with any of them.’ – Rob Reynolds, author of THE DARK INSIDE