Some pics from the launch

Presumed Dead had a brilliant welcome into the world at Waterstones Argyle Street a couple of weeks ago. I've been too busy with next year's book to blog about it, but here are a few snaps of me being quizzed ably by Douglas Skelton.

I've been delighted by the response so far, and it's easily been the best-reviewed of all my books. If you want to see what people love about it, you can get it from all good bookshops.

*Meaningful pause* I have a train to catch.

I've boarded a train bound for Harrogate, and am looking forward to my first trip to the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. I'll be hosting a table at the author dinner on Saturday, and generally mingling all weekend, so if you're headed to Yorkshire, I hope to see you there.

In the meantime, here's a few more cuttings - click through to read the full reviews and check out these fine blogs.

Hopefully my journey will be less eventful than the one Carter Blake takes in The Time to Kill...

Douglas Skelton posts his review along with notices for Matt Bendoris and TF Muir:

"The previous two books in the series gave us little hints to Blake’s past, nothing much, just little nods and winks, but this time it comes raging back to haunt him. If the past is a foreign country, Blake’s past is one the government would not advise travellers to visit ... I’m a sucker for thrillers on trains. From ‘The Lady Vanishes’ through to ‘Breakheart Pass’ and, my personal favourite, ‘Narrow Margin’, there’s nothing more exciting than riding the rail and pitting your hero against the bad guys. And Cross does it incredibly well."

Civilian Reader reviews the first two books in the series - can't wait to hear the verdict on the third:

"Put simply, The Samaritan is superb. My favourite new thriller series, long may it continue! A must-read for all fans of thrillers and gripping fiction. Both of these novels are very highly recommended."


Lastly, Crime Thriller Girl selects The Time to Kill as one of her top 10 summer reads - be sure to check out the rest of the top 10!

"THE TIME TO KILL is an adrenaline rush from the first page to the last. Packed with stunning set-piece action sequences, and an emotional punch as you discover more of the rather mysterious Blake’s backstory, this cinematic action thriller is like reading Reacher crossed with Bourne plus added fabulousness."

An Author's Guide to Surviving a Signing

Courtesy of Lisa Gray

So the launch of The Time to Kill took place at Waterstones in Argyle Street, Glasgow on the evening of 29th June. It went really well, thanks to some skilled questioning by fellow author Douglas Skelton and a great turnout from supportive friends, readers and bloggers.

After the excitement had died down, it got me thinking that one of the things I’ve learned since the publication of my first novel, The Killing Season, is that there’s a lot more to a signing event than, well, signing.

There are many different formats to author appearances, from panel discussions with other writers, to Q&As, to solo ‘An evening with…’ style events. There are some features common to almost all, though, and like all good boy scouts know, it’s important to be prepared.

With that in mind, here are my eight top tips for surviving a signing:

1. Expect the unexpected

A lot of times, you’ll be asked the same questions:

“Where do you get your inspiration?”
“Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?”
“Do you put people you know in your novels?”

In my experience, though, there’s always an unexpected question at every event. Like the opening question from a book group I attended: “What is wrong with you?”

2. Water

If it’s an event that involves you giving a reading or talk, and / or answering questions, one thing is guaranteed: you’ll be doing a lot of talking, and it helps to keep your voice lubricated.

3. Keep the reading short

I’ve been surprised to find that some authors absolutely hate giving a reading. Having done a few myself now, I understand why – reading your work out loud in front of an audience is a completely different skill from writing it. It’s a performance. Given that writing is a fairly solitary profession, it can be disconcerting to have an entire roomful of people staring at you.

I don’t love readings, but I don’t hate them either, and I think I’m getting better at it with practice. Besides, the reading is a pretty effective hook to hang the rest of the event on, and it gives you a chance to showcase some of your best work.

Unless you’re a gifted performer (and even then…) my advice is to keep the reading short. The last thing you want is a portion of your audience falling asleep. 3 minutes is ideal, 5 is probably the maximum.

Courtesy of Gordon from the Grab This Book blog

4. Ask the audience some questions

This was a great tip given to me by Sarah Ward, and it works a treat. Try asking the audience a few general questions near the start. What kind of genres do they read besides crime? Do they prefer to read on paper or ebook? Stuff like that. Nothing challenging, like asking for their 12 point plan to bring about world peace.

It warms them up and gets them used to a bit of back and forth. This pays dividends when you’re looking for their questions later on.

5. It’s nice to split the work

An interview is a good format - having someone conversing with you about your book and asking some more structured questions about your work. Douglas was great a couple of weeks ago, and at my previous launch, Craig Robertson even sprung a surprise quiz on me, which I failed miserably. It’s fun to have another writer or journalist on stage with you, not least because it halves the amount of time you’ll be speaking.

Courtesy Gordon again! 

6. You can’t predict how well-attended a particular event will be, but it doesn’t really matter

I’ve done events with over 100 people and events where only 3 people have turned up, and thoroughly enjoyed both. You can tweet and blog and Facebook about upcoming events to your heart's content, but you will never know what the turnout will be like until you get there.

The bottom line is, if one person shows up, they’ve made an effort to be there, so you have to show them a good time. And besides, that person might tell a bunch of their friends how great your book is. And how unfazed and down-to-earth you were about the fact that nobody showed up.

7. Bring a pen

Kind of obvious this one, but it’s difficult to sign a copy of your book without one. It’s your call what type of pen to use – a good old fashioned Sharpie is my standby – but I’ve seen authors use bespoke stamps and different coloured pens to be a little fancier. The most important thing is, make sure whatever you write with uses permanent ink and won’t smudge.

8. Always, always, ask how the person you're signing for spells their name

Even if the person tells you they’re called Tom, there’s a chance their name may actually be Thom.

That's it for now. If you came along to the launch, thanks again. If you missed it and would like to come along to a future event, check out my events page where you'll find details of my upcoming whereabouts from the Harrogate festival to an Oxfam bookshop.

And if you'd like me to come and speak near you, just ask your local library or bookshop to get in touch, I love to go to new places.

The Time to Kill - launch

At a loose end on Wednesday June 29th? Come along to the launch of...

The Time to Kill

by Mason Cross

7pm, Wednesday June 29, 2016

Waterstones, Argyle Street, Glasgow

Join acclaimed Tartan Noir author Douglas Skelton (Blood City, Open Wounds) in conversation with Mason Cross for the official launch of his new novel The Time to Kill, published by Orion.

The Time to Kill is the sequel to the Richard & Judy Spring book club selection The Samaritan, and follows mysterious manhunter Carter Blake on an all-new assignment. This time, the hunter becomes the hunted...

There will be a reading, a Q&A and a signing. More importantly, there will be free wine. The event is free and all are welcome. You can register for free tickets here to let us know you're coming:

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What works for me

This is my first attempt at joining in a Blog Tour, and first of all I'd like to say thanks to my fellow Orion author R.S. Pateman for asking me to join in. You can visit his blog to find out more about his writing process, and you can also pick up the paperback edition of his debut psychological suspense novel The Second Life of Amy Archer from Thursday - it comes highly recommended.

The idea is, I answer four questions about writing, and then ask another couple of writers to join in next week. Reading over a few of the offerings so far, it's fascinating and strangely comforting that everyone's techniques are so different from one another. I guess the only correct way to be a writer is the one that works for you.

So bearing that in mind, here's my answers:

What am I working on? 

I'm currently putting the finishing touches to the second Carter Blake novel, The Samaritan, and also starting to think about what's going to happen in the third instalment.

I wrote the first draft of The Samaritan in around five months, which is much, much faster than I wrote The Killing Season, so it was nice to get a few weeks away from it before turning in a rewrite at the end of January. I've since made a few more edits after discussion with my editor, and I think there'll be a few more tweaks before we lock it down.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

In a lot of ways, it doesn't.

That might seem a strange thing for an author to say about the beautiful and unique snowflake he's created, but it's true. I love crime fiction and thrillers, and when I started to write The Killing Season, I consciously incorporated a lot of the classic tropes of the genre: the driven serial killer, the mysterious outsider brought in to break the case, the professional law enforcement agent caught between playing by the rules and doing what's right. I wanted to use all of these conventions but still create a story that felt fresh and contained a few surprises and made the reader want to keep turning the pages. The reviews seem to bear this out: some of them say they were expecting a solid, run-of-the-mill thriller and got more than they expected.

On reflection, I think The Killing Season contains a lot of the same elements as other books in its genre, but there's nothing exactly like it, and that seems to be its secret weapon.

Why do I write what I do? 

Short answer: because I've always loved reading crime, mystery and thrillers, and it's what I seem to be good at.

When I started out writing my own stories, I did what everyone else does and tried to write in the style of my heroes. I tried a lot of genres on for size: horror, noir, adventure, mystery, psychological thriller, even science fiction. Over time, I developed my own style and, almost to my surprise, I found that what I was best at was at the thriller end of the spectrum.

I think all of the influences from other writers and genres inevitably feed into what I do, though. I'm often told my writing is very cinematic, and I take that as a big compliment. I guess that comes from my love of cinema, and perhaps also the fact that I'm a lifelong comic book geek. Certainly, when I'm coming up with my stories, I tend to imagine them in quite a visual way, coming up with a scene or setting that looks exciting and dramatic in my mind's eye.

How does your writing process work?

I always feel a twinge of guilt when I say I plot my books in advance, because I know Stephen King wouldn't approve. I write a fairly detailed synopsis before I begin, because it's important for me to have a plan in place, even if I don't follow it to the letter. One of my favourite quotes is from Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said that when preparing for battle, "plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." In fact, I like that quote so much I used it in my book.

As long as I know roughly where I'm going, I'm free to improvise and come up with better ideas as I go. The end of a book is often quite different from what I sketched out in the synopsis, because I need the weight of the book behind me to know exactly how it should end.

I have a full-time day job and three young children, so absolute adherence to a set writing regime isn't an option, unfortunately. My one rule is that I have to write at least 500 words a day. Often (particularly once I'm deep into a book) I'll aim for 500 and end up doing 1,000 or 2,000 words instead, but I find it's vital to have a modest target to make sure I fit in some writing every day.

Luckily for me, I can write almost anywhere: in pubs, in cafés, in bed, on park benches, on the train, in hotel rooms... even occasionally at my desk at home.

I prefer to type because I'm one of those writers who likes to tweak as he goes, and that's so much easier when using a computer. If I'm out and about without a laptop, however, I'll happily get the words down on a notebook and type them up later that night. I have to make sure I'm quick, though, because my handwriting is borderline-illegible even to me.

Most days, I settle down to writing in the evening, once the kids are in bed. If I've managed to squeeze in some extra writing earlier on in the day, so much the better. If not, I make sure I get some words down in a more or less coherent order before I can turn in for the night.

And that's pretty much it: I try not to look back too much and keep bashing out the words until I have a first draft. After that, I put it aside for a few weeks, and then I spend a lot of time rewriting and polishing and plugging in the necessary research. For that part, I print the whole manuscript out and go through it with a pencil and different colours of highlighter to help me work out exactly what to change, get rid of, or flesh out. That part is just like Stephen King tells you to do it.

And that's it from me. As I said earlier on, part of the deal is I have to infect two more unsuspecting authors with this blog chain, like some sort of blogging zombie, and here are my chosen victims:

Michael J. Malone's debut novel Blood Tears won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers, and his most recent book is The Guillotine Choice. Check out his blog, May Contain Nuts, for his instalment of the blog tour and lots more great stuff.

Douglas Skelton has published 11 books on true crime and history. His first thriller Blood City was published by Luath Press in 2013, the first in a series set on the tough streets of Glasgow from 1980 onwards. The second, Crow Bait, will be published in 2014. You can find his blog here.