We are the world (of crime fiction)
My advance copy of Following The Detectives: Real Locations in Crime Fiction (right) is on the way; you can pre-order yours at bookstores and computer terminals near you.Maxim Jakubowski edited this collection of essays about fictional detectives and the cities and countries where they work and live. I contributed chapters on Andrea Camilleri's Sicily and Arnaldur Indriðason's Iceland, but I'm just a sixth-magnitude star in a coruscating firmament of crime-fiction luminaries that includes authors, critics, commentators and men and women about the international crime-fiction scene such as:
- Martin Edwards
- John Harvey
- Barry Forshaw
- Sarah Weinman
- Declan Burke
- J. Kingston Pierce
- Jakubowski himself
- And more.
© Peter Rozovsky 2010
Labels: Barry Forshaw, Declan Burke, Detectives Beyond Borders in books, Following the Detectives, John Harvey, Martin Edwards, Maxim Jakubowski, reference, Sarah Weinman
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 10:48 PM
23 Comments:
I looked today into the possiblity of ordering it at our Indie bookstore in the U.S. and no dice. But don't worry, U.S. readers. I've ordered something from Book Depository quite recently and it was fast, reliable and efficient.
Great news! I can't wait to get it.
Seana, do you mean ordering for yourself, or for the shop?
You'd likely know the details better than I would, but apparently there are legal barriers to selling foreign editions in the U.S. of books that are slated for American publication. And there is at least a chance this book could get a U.S. deal. Its UK and Canadian availablity will dovetail nicely with Bouchercon, which would be an excellent opportunity to flog some copies, but we'll see what happens.
In the meantime, I may order from the Book Depository. I don't know how many contributor copies I have coming, and I may well want more!
Great word coruscating. You dont see it much these days. I first came across it in a Patrick O'Brian novel. Also describing the sky. Liked it then like it now.
This book sounds good. I once did a self guided walking tour of Sam Spade's San Francisco. You can actually visit his (and Hammett's) apartment on Post Street. Back when I was there the owner of the place was kind enough to let me in and have a look around.
Simona, if circumstances allow, there's just a chance I might be able to put a copy in your hands around Bouchercon time.
Adrian, I try to use coruscating any chance I have to do so. Didn't Seana feature it on her Confessions of Ignorance? Or was that scintillating?
Bouchercon is planning some Hammett/Sam Spade related events, and I hope to take part. In preparion, I've been reading some Continental Op stories. The man was good, even better when he didn't flirt with ghost stories. And yeah, he did so at least once.
Peter, I was checking to see if it came through a publisher that we deal with so I could get in a couple for the store today, or alternatively a distributor, and the answer is, not yet. You're right, there are U.S rights that other countries can't just override, at least at present. Luckily there are ways around this for the individual reader.
And yes, both coruscating and scintilla showed up on my blog, and both are good ones, especially now I know the meaning of them.
A scintilla is a little animal that used to be made into luxuriant fur coats, isn't it?
I've got all kinds of questions about the legalities and practicalities of importing books. I should probably do a bit of research before I start asking them.
Is there a Stieg Larsson chapter?
I would have thought that would bring in the punters.
There is a Sweden chapter, but I'm guessing it will take in a number of that country;s fictional detectives. The author, Barry Forshaw, also wrote the recent biography of Larsson, but he's also written widely about crime fiction, including a recent encyclopedia of British crime fiction, so there's no reason to assume the Jakubowski volume will be excessively Larsson-centric,
It's chinchilla, the little animals unfortunately grown for making into coats. The idea makes my skin crawl.
And, an fyi to anyone who hasn't yet read "The White Gallows," by Rob Kitchins, do so. It's a "can't-put-down" read, up all night to finish, that sort of thing.
The protagonist is a likeable guy with a lot of emotional depth, putting his feet one foot in front of him each day trying to do his best at work and at home.
And the story is a good one.
Can't wait for the third book to see where this character goes.
I was just kidding. In fact, I know more than a scintilla about chinchillas, neither of which is a cedilla: ¸ or, under a letter, Ç.
Thanks in re "White Gallows."
Wonder if Ogden Nash ever wrote a poem about "a scintilla of a chinchilla," in the same vein as his poem about a "lama" and a "llama."
Also, I throw in my two cents about how good is Book Depository about promptness and efficiency. And they do answer emails of inquiry about one's order or if a book is in stock, etc.
And they have free shipping anywhere in the world--an astounding feat.
The only problem is the constant urge to order books from them, those that are not available here in libraries or bookstores.
Does the llama eat limas in Lima?
Your comment adds to the good things I've heard about the Book Depository. The first book I order from them may have my name in it!
Good kind of problem to have though, isn't it, Kathy?
Congratulations on having your name in the first book you'll receive from the Book Depository.
And, Seana, yes, it is a good problem to have, but budgeting is the problem.
Since I've been reading these blogs on international crime fiction, my TBR list is growing
by leaps and bounds. (I have a list now in two different rooms, and keep one in my daily planner, too, and am constantly adding titles and authors' names to it).
I always check with my library system but it takes forever to get international books and, most aggravating of all, they often purchase one copy of a book and put it in the main library and make it noncirculating! Who can deal with that?
So more books on the To Be Ordered from the Book Depository list.
And now that Petrona is listing book reviews by country, my own TBR list just tripled.
And the constant dilemma is this: having the goal to read globally, vs reading home-grown page-turners, which keep cropping up.
Thanks, Kathy.
Budgeting can be a problem whrn it comes to books. Budgeting and space. And time, too.
If your library is going to make fiction noncirculating, I hope you have a comfortable library.
We are fortunate to have such problems, I think. Except for that non-circulating library one. Although comfortable chairs would solve a lot. It's something the Santa Cruz library lacks, so I know whereof I speak.
Some fiction is noncirculating, especially some international crime fiction.
But U.S. fiction is bought in large quantities and circulates.
The noncirculating books aren't in my branch, and not convenient so it's back to the Book Depository and Amazon.com for new or used books or Abe Books, actually for some.
Sarah Weinman's website, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind has a post about the soon-to-be available book.
Not only does she mention her contributions to it, but lists other contributors as well.
I had seen her post. Thanks.
Someone told me that one of the advantages for publishers and editors of anthologies is that they get 10 or 12 or 15 authors plugging the book on their blogs and Web sites. This is an example.
When will this book be available in the U.S.?
I've heard no word yet on a U.S. deal for the book. It is up on Amazon's Web sites for Canada and the U.K., and the Book Depository also lists it.
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