Tag: authors

David Barker

Welcome to fellow Urbane author David Barker whose debut novel, Blue Gold, was released in 2017, followed by Rose Gold, 2018and White Gold, 2019forming the Gaia trilogy. He lives in Berkshire with his wife (a picture book author) and daughter.

Hi Dave, how lovely to see you in my virtual cocktail lounge. What can I get you at the bar?

D: A Sea Breeze, please! (Vodka, cranberry juice and grapefruit juice. Very refreshing.)

The last time we met was at your launch for White Gold but can you recall where we first met in real life?

D: I can’t honestly remember, but I think it was probably at a Vanguard Reading night down in Camberwell or Peckham. They were great evenings of established and wannabe authors reading extracts from their latest works over a drink and a pizza. Great fun!

Yes we did. Then later we both read from our books there. First impressions?

D: You were very friendly. And what a fantastic smile. 😊

Any points in common?

D: Both part of the Urbane stable of authors. And we both enjoyed nights out at Vanguard Reading, of course.

Tell me about your latest book?

D: The final part of the Gaia trilogy, White Gold, was out in May 2019. It’s an exciting stand-alone adventure but also draws together several threads from the previous two books, hopefully into a satisfying conclusion.

D: Some readers/reviewers are desperate for a fourth instalment, but I’m giving the main characters a well-deserved break.

What are you working on now?

D: I’ve been working on some children’s fiction since last year but haven’t found a home for the stories yet. (Urbane Publications don’t do children’s fiction.) I’ve also been tinkering with a new darkly comic thriller. If I can get the plot and characters to work, watch this space!

We’ve all been deprived of the books events we love.  What would be your dream panel (at any event) – subject, fellow panelists or a Q&A with someone you have met or would love to meet?

D: I would love to have been on a panel with Douglas Adams. I adore his books. He was a genius about many things, so it wouldn’t matter what the discussion was about. Oh, and Gillian Anderson, just because she’s Gillian Anderson.

That’s a bit cheeky but I’ll let you off. What are you most looking forward to when lockdown is finally lifted?

D: Heading to Devon for some time near the sea and enjoying a pint of beer.

Is there anything lockdown has made you think about/want to do?

D: I dug out an old Airfix kit that’s been lurking in the loft for many years and finally started putting it together. It’s a very big and complicated model of a WWII airplane called the Mosquito. No idea what I’m going to do with it once finished!

Well good luck with that! And thank you for joining me virtually!

Follow David Barker on Twitter @BlueGold201 and find out more about his books here.

Vicki Goldman

It’s a delight to welcome writer and journalist Vicki Goldman to the Cocktail Lounge. Last year the opening chapters of her Jewish-themed crime novel, The Redeemer, won her the accolade of first runner up in the Capital Crime New Voices Award.

Hi Vicky, how lovely to see you in my virtual cocktail lounge. What can I get you at the bar?

V: Hi Anne. Thank you so much for inviting me – it’s much more spacious than I expected. Many people who follow me on Twitter (or know me in the “real world”) will be aware that I am particularly partial to a shot (or two or three…) of Thunder Toffee Vodka. But I am currently staring into my sunny garden and realise that I fancy something more refreshing, such as a Pimms and Lemonade (with fruit and ice, of course). If your bar stocks are running low (because I know many people have been drinking more alcohol than usual during lockdown), my other usual drink is a vodka and orange.

Knowing you’d be here, I stocked up on Thunder Toffee Vodka! So where did we first meet in real life?

V: We first met at First Monday Crime, which takes place in London on the first Monday of each month with great author panels and socialising in the pub afterwards. I was possibly lurking in a corner somewhere and you possibly dragged me into a conversation to share our love of crime fiction!

First impressions?

V: You put me at ease straightaway. Since then we have had great chats at more First Monday events and also at book launches and festivals. It is always lovely to see you.

Funny isn’t it, I thought you were quite intimidating – not realising you are shy. Points in common?

V: We seem to have quite a lot in common, as we are both journalists and also love crime fiction (although you are published and I’m not there yet!). We often share a laugh on Twitter at some of the ridiculous press releases that arrive in our inboxes.

And we both had non-fiction books published by the same company. What are you working on now?

V: By day, I work as a journalist and editor, specialising in consumer health, writing for various magazines. I am also freelance health editor for Bupa, updating the consumer health information on the website. Around 18 months ago, my day job and the book world collided when I decided to use my skills and experience elsewhere. I now proofread fiction for Orenda books and I have edited memoir for Mirror Books – a welcome break from some of the heavy health writing topics.

V: I review books for LoveReading and I am writing crime fiction too. I was first runner up in the Capital Crime New Voices Award 2019 with the first chapters of my Jewish-themed crime novel, The Redeemer. I am currently writing something that is crime but also a little spooky, which is a set in a former prison. I am not that far in, but several people are giving me a kick (I mean, push) to get it written.

Love the idea of your WIP so get on with it! Sadly we have no “real life” book events at the moment but what would be your dream panel?

V: This is a hard one for me to answer as I have never been on a panel. But if I was on a panel right now, it would likely be as a moderator, which terrifies me a little (okay, far more than a little).

V: Thinking back to the First Monday events I have been to, I think a panel featuring Susi (SJI) Holliday, Steph Broadribb, Rod Reynolds and Chris Whitaker would be great fun and I would learn a lot as they are all talented writers. They would certainly put me at ease, though I am not sure that I would be able to control the direction (or content) of conversation at all!

Having been on two panels with Rod, I think you’re on to a winner there. What are you most looking forward to when lockdown is finally lifted?

V: Probably some “me” time (writing in solitude at home, wandering aimlessly around a bookshop or even just sitting in a park). I also can’t wait to meet up with some friends who don’t live nearby – this would usually be in central London (eg the Waterstones Piccadilly 5th floor bar), but sadly I can’t see that happening for a long while.

Is there anything lockdown has made you think about/want to do?

V: I really appreciate what I do have here – my family (husband and two teenage sons) and some work to keep me busy (although I am always looking for more). I know others aren’t so fortunate. I also appreciate the support of my closest friends, who make me laugh when I’m feeling down or anxious and listen when I need to chat.

Well it was great to chat with you today, Vicki, and good luck with your WIP.

You can find out more about Vicky’s Editorial services here and follow her on Twitter: @VictoriaGoldma2

Barbara Nadel

My guest today is award-winning crime writer Barbara Nadel. 

Lovely to see you again, Barbara. What can I get you to drink?

B: Hi Anne. Thanks very much. I’ll have a raki with ice and water please. Lovely Turkish anise spirit. Mmm.

Although I don’t actually drink any more, because this is “virtual” I will let my hair down.

Do you recall where we first met?  All I remember is being in awe of you.

B: You know I really can’t remember. I know I’ve known you for a long time and that the last time we met up was at Morecambe & Vice last year. It’s always so great to meet up, just wish that I had more time for lovely crime festivals and CWA events. I think you’re lovely, by the way. You do so much whilst writing your fab books. I’m such a slouch when it comes to publicising my stuff and doing events. Not that I don’t try, but I’m not terribly confident with on-line stuff and often my family commitments mean I can’t get out and about as much as I would like. That you were in awe of me is really flattering but quite bizarre!

Well we never know how we appear to others, do we? One point we have in common is Essex where I went to school.

B: Yes, I do live in Essex at the moment, although I have lived all over the place. I was born and brought up in East London and that is the place I most identify with. Like you I’m a family person and have a grown up son as well as lovely four-year-old grandson. Animals are a big part of my life, especially cats, I love the tiger picture on your website. I so often bond with people over cats – big or small.

I took that photo at London Zoo with my daughter and granddaughter so it feels special. Taking them out will be a treat post lockdown. What are you looking forward to?

B: Being with my family and friends again. I miss my son and grandson SO much and just would so love to cuddle them now. There’s also my mum as well as all my mates who I just long to talk to in person. I’m not alone in lockdown though as I do have my husband and my two cats and my axolotl, Hattie, for company. Something I want to do when the lockdown is over is learn to dance the Tango. What, I hear you cry, is someone with two left feet doing that for? Well, Tango is massive in Istanbul (or was before lockdown) and so I am thinking of exploring this phenomenon via the medium of crime fiction. I don’t think I’ll have Ikmen dancing, he wouldn’t, but I think that someone, as yet unknown, may have attended a milonga (Tango dance event) with ill intent.Another thing I’m looking forward to is when we are allowed to travel again. Can’t wait to get back to my beloved Istanbul as well as making a start on my exploration of Albania. I’m setting a new crime fiction book, possibly the start of a series in Albania during the 1930s. A very interesting time in that country when, although seemingly allied to the fascist regime in Italy, Albanians were actively helping those escaping from Italy and Nazi Germany. Albert Einstein was able to leave Europe to go to America because the King of Albania, Zog, gave him an Albanian passport. Won’t be starting this book until 2021, but I’ve already got a title which is The Apothecary’s Shoes.

I love the sound of that new series. So at an event what would be your idea of a dream panel?

B: Oh I’d love to be part of a discussion about the nature of magic and reality and where those two realms meet – if they do. Magic, both on stage and as an esoteric concept has obsessed me for almost my whole life. You’ll find it threaded through all my books. As for participants well, I think that ideally some of them might be dead, but let’s not be small-minded about this! Firstly I’d have to have prominent 19th century Hungarian Professor Josef Vaneck, court magician to Sultan Abdul Medjid. People still puzzle over how he did his signature trick. Lovely Derren Brown would be a must as well as Maxine Sanders from the world of Wicca and ritual magic. Cleopatra knew a thing or two, so we’d have her as well as my crime fiction mates Quentin Bates, Ewa Sherman and Dr Noir. They all know a lot about Icelandic elves. For a little eye candy we’d have to have Dracula and finally, Miriam Margolyes, to tell us all we’re talking nonsense.

Wow that’s some panel and I’d love to be in the audience. So what’s next bookwise?

B: At the moment I’m dividing my time between writing my next Ikmen book – a double murder this time – and producing detailed synopses for the person who has been chosen to write scripts for an Ikmen TV series. Still not certain of course, but I am keeping everything crossed as I would love to see the old git on the screen.

The next book of mine to be published, by Headline on 12 May, is called Blood Business, number 22 in the Cetin Ikmen series. To whet your appetite it begins with a spooky exhumation in Istanbul’s largest graveyard. As usual it’s full of the energy of Istanbul and its people and will, I hope, encourage as many folk as possible to go there when they can. If lockdown is teaching me anything it’s that I miss my friends and family so much it almost hurts. When we all get out of this I’m going to run around visiting all my people and places regardless of cost.

However, I have been poor during the course of much of my life and so psychologically this will not be easy. Money has always been a problem and so I’ve got into the habit, over the years, of holding back from things I want for fear life will fall apart and I won’t be able to pay the gas bill. I was one of those kids who went to a school above my pay grade and so I got used to being the one who didn’t go on the trips abroad. Then it sort of came to define me. But no more my friends! From now on there’s not going to be any more freaking out about money and I will bloody well see who and what I want! Which means a lot of crime fiction festivals next year!

Let me hear an “Amen” to that!

Been lovely having a good chin-wag Anne and look forward to seeing you soon. I must say, the raki was intense!

Barbara I’m sure people reading this will now know why I’m in awe of you! It was a joy to have you in my virtual lounge and I’m really looking forward to a big hug next time we meet.