What’s happened since I’ve been away?

Friends, fans and readers alike. Amazingly, it’s been two years exactly since my last WordPress blog. And boy, has a lot happened since then!!

Two Springs ago, I told you how I was preparing for the publication of my third Detective Constable Dominic Strider crime novel, Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere. Best laid plans and all that?

Since then, well, let’s not dwell too much on the details, but in summer 2019 we sold our flat (the process was a nightmare). I subsequently had health issues caused by the stress and needed medical check-ups (another nightmare). Then a certain little bug started creeping its pernicious way into our lives…..

These things have all conspired to distract me from my novel-writing for quite a while, unfortunately.

Throughout it all, there have been two constants, which I am very lucky and grateful to have.

The first is my undying enthusiasm to get my novel in print. I think it’s the best thing I’ve written since the first one (and is possibly better, as I have definitely matured as a writer).

The second constant has been my wonderful publishers, David and Kelly from Britain’s Next Best Seller. They too have been affected by the spread of the virus, as has every aspect of our daily lives, work, ambitions and relationships.

But David and Kelly have kept in touch throughout, even saying they’d understand if I wished to take my work elsewhere. I refused to do that because a) they are awesome people, and b) loyalty is profoundly important to me.

So we have reached the two-year anniversary of my last blog on WordPress. I have completed another final proofread of my book, and thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in DC Strider’s action-packed, laddish (and sometimes tragic) world.

Regarding ‘Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere’, my third DC Strider crime novel

I think it’s the best thing I’ve written since the first one (and is possibly better, as I have definitely matured as a writer).

We have the cover design to agree, then we are good to go. Is it too ambitious to think we might be releasing this summer? Who knows?

But I have waited for so long, what’s another few months, when I know the book looks great, my publisher has done a brilliant job for me, and they have exciting PR opportunities lined-up including a podcast, interviews, press and such like.

And – when lockdown finally finishes in the coming weeks and months – I even plan to revisit Chester for the first time in ages, to walk those same streets that Strider patrols, knowing that whatever life throws at him – a bomb threat, double murder, a treasure hunt and a personal tragedy in Road to Nowhere – he will survive and thrive.

As will we all. So please stay safe and healthy, have the vaccine, keep reading, and I look forward to seeing you at some socially-distanced book signing one day in the near future.

• My Author’s Page on Amazon.com

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, DETECTIVE?

‘Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere’ starts on the first day when policeman Dominic Strider joins Chester CID.

He is immediately plunged into action when he finds a bomb outside Chester Cathedral, primed to detonate in four minutes. With no sign of the bomb squad, he has only one option to avoid disaster – he recklessly picks up the bomb and runs through the crowded city centre streets with it, hoping to throw it in the river before it explodes. Well, they say you should always start your novel off with a bang!!

That’s only Chapter 1.

Who planted the bomb and why? Who murdered a local newspaper reporter and an elderly lady, and what’s their connection to the mysterious disappearance of a treasure trove? Can DC Strider catch the bank robbers and drugs kingpin bringing misery on the city? And why does DC Strider dress up as a Roman centurion to save his best friend’s life?

All these questions and more will be answered in the book.

• 

  The Rows

• 

  Chester Cathedral

• 

  King Charles Tower, City Walls

Preparing for publication – the final proofread

They say writers can get ‘word blindness’ from reading their own work over and over.

Which is why it was important I had a break of several months between submitting my 3rd novel – Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere – to my brilliant publishers Britain’s Next Best Seller, and giving it one final proofread.

I re-read it again this week, while on leave (in Chester actually, where my DC Strider novels are set!), and found a lot of really tiny mistakes I’d made – a missing colon, here, an extra letter here, etc. Small stuff for sure, but important to get them corrected too, perfectionist that I am.

All of these corrections have been submitted to BNBS now, and I look forward to the next stages of publication, including discussing the cover design and getting a marketing plan in place (I’ve already started contacting some local booksellers about arranging book signing sessions).

As a former newspaper reporter and currently working as a comms professional for the government, accuracy in my work is of paramount importance. But so too is keeping that distance….

So finish your work and leave it alone. Lock it in a drawer, go on holiday, just forget about it for a few weeks. Then you’ll return it feeling renewed, with a fresh pair of eyes. Just take your time, don’t skim over the text, read it slowly and carefully. And don’t let your ego get in the way – we all make mistakes, so be open to the fact you’ll have inevitably messed up a spelling here, some punctuation here. Just mark it down and either make that correction yourself or send it onto your publisher.

If it’s the latter, I find it easiest to write down the page number and which line on the page the correction occurs, what my mistake was and, in bold, what it should actually read.

So best of luck with your own work, and giving it that one final check. And if you can get an editor to go through it as well – that’s even better. New readers might spot things you keep missing.

At the end of the day, whatever way you do this, all we writers want is the best, most professional-looking, perfectly-written book possible. 🙂

• 

• 

• 

  Chester map

• 

• 

  Eastgate Clock

MORE INFORMATION

My website

My Author’s Page on Amazon.com

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, DETECTIVE?

‘Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere’ starts on the first day when policeman Dominic Strider joins Chester CID. He is immediately plunged into action when he finds a bomb outside Chester Cathedral, primed to detonate in four minutes. With no sign of the bomb squad, he has only one option to avoid disaster – he recklessly picks up the bomb and runs through the crowded city centre streets with it, hoping to throw it in the river before it explodes.

Well, they say you should always start your novel off with a bang!! That’s only Chapter 1.
Who planted the bomb and why? Who murdered a local newspaper reporter and an elderly lady, and what’s their connection to the mysterious disappearance of a treasure trove? Can DC Strider catch the bank robbers and drugs kingpin bringing misery on the city? And why does DC Strider dress up as a Roman centurion to save his best friend’s life?

All these questions and more will be answered in the book. 

Just 5 days left to help me achieve my dream of publishing my new crime novel!

Hi there – you’ve got just 5 days left to support the innovative campaign to help me publish my new crime novel ‘Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere’. Have you pledged your support yet?

Being a small family firm, my publisher doesn’t have the massive cash flow of the multinational companies. So instead, they’ve come up with a great way to try and raise enough money to help authors get published.

They launch Kickstarter campaigns for each author. My Kickstarter campaign is here. Why not visit it today, watch the video of Chester – which I produced and edited myself – and click on DONATE now.

Just a £1 donation gets you a FREE downloadable copy of my book; just £8 gets you a paperback copy; and £12 gets you a signed copy of the book. There’s also collections of books – mine and crime books from other authors – to buy for £20 and £30 if you’re a crime fiction addict!

But I simply cannot get published without your help please! The Kickstarter campaign finishes this Friday – 14 December 2018 – so please take a few seconds to click that link now, watch and enjoy the video, and click DONATE. You won’t regret it! 🙂

MORE INFORMATION

My website

My Author’s Page on Amazon.com

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, DETECTIVE?

‘Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere’ starts on the first day when policeman Dominic Strider joins Chester CID. He is immediately plunged into action when he finds a bomb outside Chester Cathedral, primed to detonate in four minutes. With no sign of the bomb squad, he has only one option to avoid disaster – he recklessly picks up the bomb and runs through the crowded city centre streets with it, hoping to throw it in the river before it explodes.

Well, they say you should always start your novel off with a bang!! That’s only Chapter 1.
Who planted the bomb and why? Who murdered a local newspaper reporter and an elderly lady, and what’s their connection to the mysterious disappearance of a treasure trove? Can DC Strider catch the bank robbers and drugs kingpin bringing misery on the city? And why does DC Strider dress up as a Roman centurion to save his best friend’s life?

All these questions and more will be answered in the book. All we need is your support to get it published please! 🙂

Two weeks left to help me get published – have you joined my Kickstarter campaign yet?

You’ve just two weeks left to join my Kickstarter journey and help me get my latest crime novel published.

My publishers, being a small family-run firm, just don’t have the capital investment that’s available to large conglomerates. So instead, they help authors like me achieve their dream of getting published with a different, innovative new way.

They launch Kickstarter campaigns for their authors. Everyone has a fundraising target and one month to achieve it. Raise enough cash and you get your book published. But if you don’t raise enough funds…..  😦

My Kickstarter campaign is to get my new crime novel ‘Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere’ published. I have a target set at £850. But I’m nowhere near that yet – and I need your help please, my friends.

Please click on the link above and watch the KS video of Chester landmarks (which I produced and edited myself).

Read more about WHY I have turned to Kickstarter to try and get published, and PLEASE click on the ‘Donate’ button to pledge your support.

For just £1 you will get a downloadable copy of the book. For £8 you’ll get a paperback version of it and a signed copy for £12 – that’s IF I can manage to raise enough to get it printed and released, that is!!

Many thanks in advance for all your help and support, and many regards! 🙂

MORE INFORMATION

My website

My Author’s Page on Amazon.com

Kickstarter campaign launched – let’s get my latest crime novel published!

Hi there. I’m writing with some superb news about my 3^rd crime novel ‘Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere’ – and how you can help get it published please! 🙂

Having tried in vain for many months to find a big name literary agent, I happened by chance to meet a lovely couple, David and Kelly, who run a publishing firm in the North East called Britain’s Next Best Seller.

As they don’t have the capital investment available to the corporate giants, they run Kickstarter campaigns to raise enough money for each author to get their book published with them.

My Kickstarter campaign started today (Thursday 15 November 2018).

Please visit the link above, watch the fun video (which I produced and edited myself), and I hope you’ll be kind and generous enough to click on ‘donate’ and support me please.

Just £1 gets you a downloadable version of the book or £8 gets you a paperback copy (scheduled to be printed – hopefully – in early 2019!!). It’s £12 for a signed copy, if any of you are keen for my signature. 😃

For my part, I will be promoting the heck out of this on all my social media for the next 30 days, while the publishers have arranged for paid-for ads on Facebook and Google.

When (hopefully) we’ve raised enough cash for it to be published, there’s a publicist who will work with me to get interviews into London papers (where I live) and Chester ones (where my crime novels are set).

Meanwhile I am currently contacting all the local bookshops I can to try and arrange book signing sessions next year.

So it’s exciting times and I very much hope you’ll come along with me on this incredible journey.

Please visit my Kickstarter page, watch the video and make a donation. However small, it all really helps me to achieve my dream of getting my 3^rd crime novel published.

Many thanks in advance and many regards, all the very best! 🙂

MORE INFORMATION

My website

My Author’s Page on Amazon.com

Praise be!

A phrase I use often at work (that’s my day job in government communications) is ‘Praise from Caesar!’ 🙂

It means you’ve received some encouraging and complimentary words from someone higher up than you, usually the big boss. Well, something similar has just happened in my ‘second job’ as a crime novelist.

I can’t reveal too much yet because we haven’t signed contracts, but a publisher has been reading my 3rd Detective Constable Dominic Strider mystery, entitled ‘Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere’.

He told me he was “really enjoying it”, loved how Strider wasn’t a typical clichéd copper, but was “a fully rounded character” and how the numerous jokes were “making him laugh out loud”.

Wow oh wow, I was genuinely blown away by his comments. After all, he doesn’t have to be nice or kind to me. He has the power to turn me away and say ‘no’. But he’s enjoying the book and, well, fingers crossed……..

Satisfied readers

It got me thinking about feedback for my first two Strider novels – ‘No More Lonely Nights’ and ‘Long & Winding Road’ – which were printed around a decade ago. Both are available in paperback and on Kindle via Amazon.

Social media wasn’t so prevalent 10-12 years ago, and so the best ways to market these two books was in my newspapers (I’m a former journalist) and via word of mouth.

Chris Smith, book launch of No More Lonely Nights

No More Lonely Nights

Long & Winding Road book cover

Launch of Long & Winding Road

The first book – ‘No More Lonely Nights’ – was launched in a Chester bookshop that’s sadly no longer with us. I held other signing sessions for it in both Chester and Ellesmere Port.

And when I held signing sessions for the second book – ‘Long & Winding Road’ – a lot of people were what you’d call ‘repeat business’. They’d enjoyed the first novel so much they were back for more!

The company of strangers

Everyone who’s ever written a book knows how lovely it is when family and friends praise it. But in the words of Mandy Rice Davies, in the Profumo scandal: “Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?”

So, to me, the very best feedback has always been strangers. The customers who come to your signings (see above).

The people who leave me 5-star reviews on Amazon, lauding the twisting plots, the grittiness of the locales and crimes, the complex and fascinating character of Strider himself.

The wife of a local politician (who’d never met me, and had no reason to be nice about my work) who told me the first book was “a cracking read”.

But my all-time favourite piece of feedback comes from a boy aged 12, who approached me at a signing session for ‘No More Lonely Nights’ at Borders Books in Ellesmere Port. I wouldn’t let him buy a copy of the book because it contains violence, swearing and a sex scene. But he asked me what the plot was about anyway. I told him…..

His reply, which he shouted across the store: “OMG, that sounds absolutely awesome!!”

He then ran off excitedly to tell his mum, who promptly bought a copy. Gee, I wonder if that boy is reading this blog today. All grown-up, I really hope his enthusiasm for my work remains undiminished.

Keeping it balanced

In the interests of balance, I should tell you about any negative reviews I’ve received. A few people have been mildly complimentary – one colleague said the first book was “good, but too laddish for her” – and others have said they liked it without elaborating, which makes you think it just wasn’t their cup of tea. Fair enough.

But truth be told, I have never, ever had a bad review. Not ever. Hope I’m not jinxing things by saying that! 🙂

Which leads me back full circle to the publisher, who’s currently halfway through my 3rd book, and loving it. I’ll keep you posted on what happens next. But I’m anticipating something very exciting indeed!!

MORE INFORMATION

My website

My Author’s Page on Amazon.com

 

 

 

Welcome to Chester!

With my blogs now attracting more and more ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ both on WordPress and social media, I’m absolutely delighted that more and more people are being introduced to the wonderful City of Chester.

As well as being my home town, Chester is, of course, the stomping ground of Detective Constable Dominic Strider of Chester CID – the super-sleuth in my three (to date) completed crime novels.

To me, that’s one of the greatest pleasures in writing my Strider books. Being able to introduce people to Chester – a city most people in the UK and some from abroad have heard of, but many have never visited.

Eastgate Clock

Eastgate Street

No More Lonely Nights

Long & Winding Road book cover

The Rows

The Rows

The Rows

Sure, they’ve probably heard that it’s an ancient Roman city with almost complete City Walls still intact (and which you walk around safely, admiring the exquisiteness of the compact city centre as you complete the hour-long circuit).

They have probably heard it has an ancient Roman Amphitheatre, half exposed and half buried. That the settlement boasts a magnificent gothic Cathedral and sits on the majestic River Dee.

And they might even be able to name-check The Rows, that unique two-tier mainly wooden shopping structure – ie shops upon shops – which you won’t find anywhere else in the world.

But Chester is far more than a sum of its parts. It’s a splendidly complex, unique, wonderful, sometimes magical, occasionally frustrating, little city with a big heart and a lot to say for itself. I know that first-hand, having lived and worked there for 15 years.

I don’t just know the ‘surface’ Chester either… the city centre you might shop in, socialise in, and work in.

No, having been a local newspaper reporter for those 15 years, I know its good points and bad points, its strengths and weakness, its hidden underbelly. The twilight world of police investigations, backroom political deals, corruption and crime. The council estates a mere stone’s throw from the Town Hall and Cathedral, which contain people whose lives are a million miles away from the middle class, the gentrified, the great and the good.

It’s in these two disparate worlds that DC Dominic Strider treads, and which his first-person narration brings so evocatively to life in my novels.

Strider doesn’t just walk down the main shopping streets, places you could pick out on a basic city centre map. He knows the lesser-known streets too, the built-up estates and tenements, the dark alleyways filled with shadow and menace. And above all he knows the people…. the good, bad and sometimes ugly.

He is your guide into the sometimes public, sometimes hidden, always fascinating City of Chester. He’ll tell you the city’s history but also put a human face on it.

So if you can’t make it up to Chester yourself any time soon, then check out my two published Strider novels No More Lonely Nights and Long & Winding Road – both available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.

And keep reading/following this blog, because one day soon I should have fantastic news about my 3^rd Strider novel, which takes us back to his earliest case. It’s called Strider Begins: Road to Nowhere, and it starts – as all good stories should – with a bang!!

MORE INFORMATION

My website

My Author’s Page on Amazon.com

Compare and contrast – which is the best city?

My wife and I have recently returned from a week in York –and it’s fair to say we fell in love with that wonderful city.

However, this could really put the cat among the pigeons, because York has an unofficial rivalry with Chester.

That’s Chester, the wonderful medieval city in which I lived and worked as a local newspaper reporter for 15 years. Chester which is the setting for my Detective Constable Dominic Strider novels. Chester which I write about so passionately in my books and blogs, and the subject of the pictures on this very page.

So it was with conflicted loyalties that I walked around York earlier this month, and we couldn’t help comparing and contrasting both cities. As Harry Hill used to say: Which is better? There’s only one way to find out….. FIGHT!!!!!

York is inevitably bigger and has the added benefit of its Viking past. It’s the birthplace of Guy Fawkes (allegedly) and Joseph Roundtree the confectioner (find out more in the chocolate factory tour!). It also has a wonderful ruined abbey from the time of Henry VIII and tonnes of shopping streets, including the famous Shambles medieval lane. Which is full of Harry Potter shops, weirdly…..

Chester is most certainly smaller, but I think it wins out on three fronts:

• Chester’s City Walls are smaller, safer to navigate, take far less time to complete a full circuit and envelop the city centre only, affording you wonderful views wherever you go on them. York’s walls are nice in patches, but go on for miles, wrap around a council estate and industrial park, and crucially – in these health & safety conscious modern times – are quite dangerous, having no railings in many places
• Chester Cathedral is stunning, gothic, modern in places but ancient in others. It’s big enough, but not too big that you can’t get round it in an hour and see everything. It’s full of quiet chapels to light a candle and say a prayer, away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. York Minster is very nice of course, but we felt it was too vast and, well, a little bit dull. It was very ‘same old, same old’. Just my opinion of course, but it wasn’t the highlight of our visit
• And finally, Chester is of course home to DC Strider, star of my crime novels and, indeed, the star of a short film – a locked room mystery I made many years ago. Born and bred in Chester, if you cut Strider in half, he’d have the city’s name running through him. His love for the city, its history and architecture, and his self-appointed role as their knight protectorate is unquestionable. As is my final answer to the poser: which city is ultimately better? Chester!! 🙂

MORE INFORMATION

My website

My Author’s Page on Amazon.com

Chester Cathedral

King Charles Tower, City Walls

Long hot summer in the city

Setting my DC Dominic Strider crime novels at various points in the calendar means that, inevitably, at least one of them will be set in the long, hot summer months.

That happens to be the case with my first – and most personal – novel, No More Lonely Nights. NMLN takes place over one hectic August weekend in the height of a scorching hot summer.

In retrospect, I must have been going for a sultry, film noir type feel to the storyline. Maybe A Touch of Evil or Body Heat – well, the story features both evil characters and, er, a lot of body heat generated by Strider and his love interest, the visiting American journalist Kate Laughton!

Having lived in Chester for 15 years means I’ve experienced many lovely summers – and some really grim ones too! I got married on July 1^st 2000 – and it tipped it down with rain all day!!

When the sun comes out, so do the tourists and residents alike, and it’s these that Strider must reluctantly bump along with in NMLN as he tackles the killer of a local prostitute, armed robbers, police corruption and threatening letters sent to the local MP.

Sun-speckled locations used in the novel include The Rows, the medieval two-tier shopping system; the Kaleyard Gate area and Cathedral grounds themselves; The Groves alongside the river; Eastgate Clock and The City Walls; the Roman Amphitheatre; and a fictional pub by the canal (scene of a huge fight and, later, where Strider calls in reinforcements); alongside various homes and businesses pertinent to the plot.

Chester is stunning to visit in the summer months and, thankfully, is home of dozens and dozens of tea shops, cafes and restaurants – all of which are generously air-conditioned!

So if you want to walk the hallowed streets where DC Strider still treads to this day, get yourself down to Chester this summer. You won’t regret it!

King Charles Tower, City Walls

Chester Cathedral

The Rows

Chris Smith, book launch of No More Lonely Nights

No More Lonely Nights

The Rows

Chester Cathedral

MORE INFORMATION

My website

My Author’s Page on Amazon.com

Meghan, The Queen and the ever-changing face of Chester

So wonderful to see my old city of Chester getting some international coverage last week, with a visit by the lovely Meghan Markle and some old lady (OK, OK, I know it was The Queen!!)  😀

As part of their itinerary, they dropped into Storyhouse in Northgate Street, which in the olden days was the Odeon Cinema, one of my favourite haunts when I lived there. Sadly the Odeon closed years ago.

After standing disused for a while, this 1930s art deco listed building has been wonderfully converted into a library, meeting space, theatre venue and small cinema. Megan and The Queen toured the building before unveiling a plaque to officially open it, and watched a performance by local schoolchildren.

You can find out more about their visit from my old newspaper the Chester Chronicle (I was a journalist there in another life).

 

To me, the Royal Visit demonstrates the changing face of Chester City Centre. I once wrote a film script in which the manager of the Odeon was visited by Cupid himself (a bungling version of Cupid anyway) to set right his disastrous love life. The Odeon no longer exists.

Other scripts and stories I’ve written over the years also reference venues and locations in Chester that either don’t exist anymore or have drastically changed since the days I knew them.

The biggest change has happened to the police and where they work in the city.

My first two novels starring my detective character DC Dominic Strider referenced the former Cheshire Police HQ in Nuns Road, opposite the magistrates’ court.

This seven-storey building was abandoned by the police a decade or so ago – they moved to a new HQ in Winsford. In recompense for leaving Chester, the police opened a new Chester, Ellesmere Port & Neston divisional police station on the Blacon council estate in Chester, and opened a tiny police office in Chester Town Hall.

So in my first two novels – No More Lonely Nights, and Long & Winding Road (both available in paperback and on Kindle) – I have Strider working in the old police HQ in Nuns Road.

By the time I rebooted the character and started writing the 3^rd (completed) and 4^th (half-completed) novels, the old HQ had long gone. What to do? So I decided to simply ignore what had happened to the old HQ, and just gave Strider an office in the Town Hall police base instead.

On the one hand, this is annoying and ruins any sense of chronology in my books. On the other hand, the ever-changing city centre landscape makes an author like me think on my feet, allowing me to change and adapt my own work so the Chester in my 3^rd and 4^th books – and beyond – represent Chester just as it is today.

That is the modern, constantly-evolving Chester that Meghan and The Queen enjoyed visiting so much last week.

No More Lonely Nights

Long & Winding Road book cover

Chester Town Hall

 

 

MORE INFORMATION

My website

My Author’s Page on Amazon.com