Douglas Skelton
19May

Worlds within worlds

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Douglas Skelton and the strands linking his fiction

Four different series.

Plus one standalone (that wasn’t meant to be a standalone, but that’s another story).

That’s my writing output since I left the world of non-fiction behind me to concentrate on fiction.

Davie McCall – four book series set in Glasgow’s underworld.

Dominic Queste – Two books, plus a couple of short stories, about (sort of) private eye, movie buff and smart arse that were much lighter in tone.

The Janus Run – that standalone that wasn’t meant to be a standalone but did turn out to be a standalone. A New York conspiracy chase thriller that was my tribute to the action and thriller movies of the 1970s and 80s.

Rebecca Connolly – Slowing the pace with seven lyrical thrillers set (mostly) in the Highlands and Islands.

Jonas Flynt – Six historical thrillers featuring Jonas Flynt, thief, spy, gambler, killer and man of honour.

A few of you might already know all this, having been by my side throughout the anguish, disappointment, rage and occasional triumph that are the constant companions of authors in this crazy business we call publishing.

What you may not know is that, despite these books all being different approaches, set in different locations and even time periods, they are all linked.

Characters from the Davie McCall books appear in some of the Rebecca Connolly stories. Even Davie himself shows up briefly in The Blood is Still. Although unnamed, he is the guy with the dog in the Inverness bar who warns Rebecca about the man she is with, telling her he will bring her heartache.

That appearance should clear up any mystery concerning the ending of the fourth in the Davie McCall series, Open Wounds.

DCI Val Roach appeared in the second Queste novel Tag – You’re Dead. She then joined the ensemble of characters in The Blood Is Still and remained with the Rebecca Connolly series until the end.

But it was the first Dominic Queste novel, The Dead Don’t Boogie, that introduced a shadowy group that haunts every book since.

In that book the Excelsis Corporation is the big bad behind all sorts of mayhem. Although not named, another multi-national entity fulfils a similar function. In the Rebecca Connolly series that group sits in the background, manipulating events to their benefit. In Where Demons Hide we learn it was formed in Scotland by a former Knight Templar who escaped the slaughter of his order in France with his fortune intact.

In the first Jonas Flynt novel, An Honourable Thief, we are introduced to the Brotherhood, a secret society of powerful men that has existed from the day Jerusalem Mordicant, that Knight Templar, established it. They control politicians, crooks and businesses in order steer history to their benefit. It is that group who sit behind events in the Rebecca Connolly books and to Dominic Queste as Excelsis.

Four different series.

One standalone (that was never meant to be a standalone).

One world…

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14May

The film fan as crime writer

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If you know me, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of the movies/films/cinema/flicks, call them what you will.

I have been for as long as I can remember. Black and white, colour, mono, stereo, Dolby, even some silent comedy, I don’t care what they are, I enjoy them. I’ve never taken to 3-D, though.

As a child, thanks to telly when they used to show such fare regularly, I was introduced to James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne and Errol Flynn. I was a Glasgow boy so it was the two-fisted stars I was drawn to. Later I learned to appreciate other kind of films – romance, musical, comedy, horror – but back then if a western or gangster or a sword-fishing picture was on, you’d find me sitting there and watching with rapt attention.

I can never forget Cagney’s final scene in ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’ as he is being led to the electric chair, at first defiant, then craven. Did his tough little mobster really show yellow, or was it in response to a plea by his best friend – a priest, no less, in the shape of Pat O’Brien – to not let the young men who idolised him be further impressed by bravery?

Likewise his death scene in ‘The Roaring Twenties’, on snow-covered church steps. He used to be a big shot but not anymore.

And Bogart, cracking wise as Philip Marlowe and being tough as Sam Spade, and getting all moody when Dooley Wilson tinkles out ‘As Time Goes By’ in ‘Casablanca.’ He’ll always have Paris but the problems of two people didn’t matter a hill of beans.

John Wayne, riding tall in the saddle (because it was on a horse). Twirling that Remington in ‘Stagecoach’, leading the cavalry in John Ford’s westerns, and telling James Stewart who really shot that varmint Liberty Valance. And, later, doing the twirling thing two-fisted and telling ‘Lucky’ Ned Pepper to fill his hand in ‘True Grit.’

Flynn, being helluva brave and noble as Robin Hood, saying “Welcome to Sherwood, milady” to a shimmering Olivia de Havilland (yeah, I noticed the ladies eventually) and swapping tough talk with Basil Rathbone over clashing blades.

That was my childhood (along with a host of TV shows, mostly westerns like ‘Cheyenne’, ‘Maverick’, Bronco’, ‘Bonanza’, ‘Sugarfoot’) and it extended into adulthood. I watch movies, I read about movies, I listen to movie scores (I present a weekly movie music show on Southern Sound radio – you can listen on the web every Saturday at 4pm on www.southernsound.org.uk), I have movie posters on my walls.

Yeah, I kinda like movies.

I used to write about them, too, as a critic with a local newspaper in the west end of Glasgow. That was fun.

I’m still writing about them, but these days it’s a little bit more subtle.

There are little cinematic Easter Eggs littered throughout my fiction. Some are obvious, some perhaps not so much.

In my latest book, A THIEF’S JUSTICE, (published by Canelo in hardback and ebook this week), there is a tiny little nod to ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ If you read it, you can’t miss it.

Do you do it on purpose, I hear you ask, or is it accidental?

Well, I’ll tell you. (That single line there is a tug of the forelock to ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ I can’t help myself).

I do it purposely. I believe that it doesn’t get in the way of the storytelling and it gives me an additional level of fun in the writing.

They don’t all make it to the final book. Editors will suggest lines are cut for various reasons, either they don’t work, or they get in the way of the narrative.

In the first Davie McCall book, BLOOD CITY, there was an entire section that never appeared in print concerning Davie and his friends settling down to watch the John Wayne western ‘Rio Lobo’ on TV, only to find it has been delayed by the storming of the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980. One character was not pleased at his viewing pleasure being disrupted by the live feed of the SAS freeing the hostages from the group who held them captive. However, the section didn’t add anything to the story, apart from providing a sense of the period and that had been established earlier.

The entire series is inspired by the book and film ‘Shane’. That inspiration, a man who has grown tired of the life he has led, extends to the Jonas Flynt books today.

The Dominic Queste novels are one long tribute to movies and popular culture, thanks to Queste himself being a movie buff. ‘The Janus Run’ was effectively my own tribute to the action and conspiracy thrillers that I love from 70s and 80s, and the works of Robert Ludlum, although set in present day.

Even the Rebecca Connolly thrillers have movie references throughout. A line here, a reference there, a genuflection to something I love.

See if you can spot any in CHILDREN OF THE MIST, coming in July.

Maybe some day I’ll give you a list of my favourite films of all time. But right now, I need to go.

I’ve got a movie to watch…

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4Feb

Ten years of making stuff up

Posted by: douglasskelton3 Categories: blog entry
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A memory came up on Facebook the other day that kind of brought me up short.

Mostly these reminders are good, sometimes not so good. This one made me realise that, while I often think I waste too much time, it turns out I really haven’t.

It’s been ten years since my first novel BLOOD CITY was published. Some of you know that I had books out there prior to that but they were all non-fiction. My very first book was published in 1992. Which is quite incredible because I’m only 32.

Yeah, I’m snorting at that myself.

Anyway, 2013 saw me finally make the leap into fiction and here’s what I’ve done since:

Three further Davie McCalls;

Two Dominic Questes;

One stand alone in THE JANUS RUN (which wasn’t supposed to be a stand alone but them’s the breaks, kid);

One fact book about Scotland;

Five Rebecca Connollys (the fifth coming in July);

One novella, co-written with Morgan Cry (aka Gordon Brown);

Two Jonas Flynts (the second coming in May);

Three comedy plays;

One comedy sketch show;

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Add to that I’ve produced various short stories, blogs, podcasts and articles, have fronted one documentary and appeared in others, have appeared at festivals and events, including numerous attempts to find that plot with the Four Blokes.

Also, by the end of the year I’ll have written another Rebecca and another Jonas.

So that means in ten years I will have written 16 books, along with everything else.

No wonder I’m tired!

We won’t talk about the ups and downs of life and love, pandemics and when I ran out of milk. We all have hurdles we have to overcome.

Ok, Douglas, so what’s the point of all this? Are you just showing off?

I’m glad you asked that (yes, I am showing off). There is a point. And it’s this:

Sometimes you’re making progress and you don’t realise it. Writing is a lonely occupation, we sit alone at a desk and make stuff up. Speaking personally, that often does not come easily. There are days when I can barely string two words together, let alone reach my 2k target. However, I persevere because it’s my job. This is what I do.

As Stephen King once wrote, sometimes you’re doing good work when it feels like all you’re managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.

Sometimes, though, what you’re shovelling really is a load of manure. But hey, that’s what subsequent drafts are for.

A lot happened in those ten years and when you’re on the merry-go-round of life sometimes the world just slips by in a blur and even though you think you’re only going round in circles you are actually getting somewhere. 

I am thankful that my books see the light of day. I am grateful I can make a living at this – I’m far from Mr King’s income bracket but I can pay the gas bill (so far).

Yes, sometimes life gets in the way. But there’s an old adage that writers write. One word follows another, one sentence follows another, one paragraph follows another. Soon you have a chapter, and then another and another and then you have a book. 

Another adage – they don’t need to be good, they just need to be written. Good can come later.

Sixteen books in the years. Yes, there were – and are – times when I think I cannot write and there are no more words. In truth, I’m feeling that now. But it will pass. The words will come, they will become sentences, etc., etc.

How? To quote Shakespeare in Love, I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

But then, I am a mystery writer.

Sort of.

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27Nov

New three book deal for the Rebecca Connolly series

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I was delighted when the news was revealed that I have signed with Polygon for three further Rebecca Connolly books.

With three already published and a fourth coming in 2022, the new deal will bring the series to a total of seven over the following years.

Polygon have done the series proud, selling them into audio with Isis Publishing and also to Gyldenhal/Cicero in Denmark, Dumont in Germany, Skyhorse/Arcadia in the USA and Gema in Greece.

But thanks also must go to the readers, booksellers, librarians, reviewers and – last but by no means least – bloggers who have supported the books. Thank you so much to you all.

Click on the link for the full details:

https://birlinn.co.uk/2021/11/25/polygon-announces-three-book-deal-and-rights-sales-for-douglas-skelton/

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