Highly paid newsreader and the first winner of Strictly Come Dancing, Natasha Kaplinsky, has joined the judging panel for the 2012 Orange Prize for fiction. Kaplinsky will work with fellow judges Lisa Appignanesi, Victoria Derbyshire, Natalie Haynes and Joanna Trollope to choose the best book written by a woman. According to Trollope, who will be chairing the judging panel the “different professions” of the five judges will bring different perspectives to the prize. These different professions are journalist, broadcaster and author…
Author Interview – Carver Greene
19 September 2011 by Leave a Comment
Carver Greene is the author of the fantastic new military thriller, An Unlawful Order, which I reviewed today. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the characters and the whole idea of a military story featuring a strong female protagonist so I asked Carver for some insight….
James Patterson is the world’s highest paid author
23 August 2011 by Leave a Comment
Crime writer James Patterson is the world’s best paid author according to Forbes magazine. Creator the Detective Alex Cross and the Women’s Murder Club, Patterson earned a mind-blowing £50.9 million last year ($84 million). Second placed writer was romance queen Danielle Steel who looks like a pauper in comparison, having earned a paltry £21 million. Other familiar names on the list include Stephen King, John Grisham and Stephanie Meyer, creator of the Twilight series. I think I’m going to get into this writing lark. £50 million a year sounds like a nice little earner – just about enough to keep up with my movie and book habit…
Kill and Cure
26 July 2011 by Leave a Comment
A run of the mill thriller with too many characters and not enough character development
One of the basic laws of crime thrillers is that they must have a flawed hero – the rule breaking detective, the alcoholic journalist or the idealistic doctor. We’ve all read the novels and recognise the standard characters, some are great, some are woefully cliché ridden. Stephen Davison’s addition to this rolecall is the hero of Kill and Cure…