How I Came to Write This Book: Simon Swift

"How I Came to Write This Book"

BLACK SHADOWS

I have always been a writer. My earliest memories contain the writing of stories. As a child, I had dreams of being a film star, a spy or an author. It was clear that of the three, writing was my real passion, and dreams aside I was never going be cut out to be the next James Bond or Marlon Brando! Every opportunity I got, I would write whether it be stories, poems, reviews and I am sure, quite a lot of nonsense along the way.

For a while, life took over and writing took a back seat to playing the doting husband and father, kicking a football around on a Saturday afternoon, and bettering the lives of young children as a teacher. I suppose during this time I became more of a reader, devouring heaps of great books, from Ellroy's LA Noir to Haruki Murakami's awe-inspiring work. Old detective novels from the likes of Spillane, Chandler, Hammett, Max Allan Collins and Bill Pronzini were constant companions. It was clear, that soon I would return to my own writing, although the writing of Black Shadows was a very slow and steady process...

I started writing Black Shadows many years ago. After University, I embarked on a 12 month odyssey of adventure, travelling the world with my beautiful girlfriend. Alongside the odd pair of clean clothes and a stack of paperbacks, my most treasured possession was the notebook, which contained the chrysalis of my own hardboiled novel.

Upon hearing about Authonomy, a new website for aspiring authors, I gave Black Shadows a thorough edit and decided to upload. Authonomy was a rollercoaster journey, but did introduce me to many great people, some offering invaluable advice. It wasn't all good, but what it did do is give me the opportunity to polish and improve the novel. Black Shadows attained a gold star from authonomy in January 2010, on the way to becoming the all time top ranked crime novel and generating a record of over 1000 reviews.

Whilst waiting for the review, I took a deep breath and decided it was time to start querying agents. The first time I got a request to see the full manuscript my heart leapt. This happened many times and I received a good deal of positive feedback but unfortunately no deal. When the review from HC came through a couple of months later, to my immense relief it was very positive, in places it could even be described as glowing. Although HC were not offering a deal the review carried a clear message that Black Shadows was of publishable standard, but would be more suitable to a small niche press.

After submitting to Wild Wolf Publishing in August 2010, I was offered a contract to publish in January 2011. It was a hell of a long wait, and more than once I felt like it wasn't going to happen. When it did, I have to say, it felt great. The goal was always to get the story out and read and at one point, I had the dilemma of having more than one contract offer. What would normally be a writer's dream actually felt quite burdensome. I had to make the right decision!

Errol, the main character, has been developed over many years. I suppose he was born from a thousand mysteries, encapsulating Sam Spade, Phil Marlowe, Mike Hammer and more recently Max Allan Collins' Nate Heller. And of course with a good dose of Simon Swift mixed in there. I wanted to make him much more three dimensional than the typical wisecracking private eye, but not lose that authenticity and hardboiled grittiness.

Black Shadows is such a labyrinthine mystery, it was a constant worry, ensuring I maintained all the interweaving plotlines, subplots and red herrings. My intention was to steep it in history, the real life death of Dutch Schultz being the inspiration, and to weave the fiction around this.

I am currently putting the finishing touches to the sequel, The Casablanca Case, a much darker novel, which reveals much about the friendship of Errol Black and Hermeez Wentz. This is a crime mystery story, but also a tale about murder, betrayal and love.

Although Black Shadows has only been out a short while, it has already garnered some great online reviews to go with the Harpercollins' one.

Bestselling author and queen of the hardboiled novel, Debbi Mack, gave it the big thumbs up, as did bestselling crime author, Jake Barton. It was also featured on noir legend Alan Guthrie's crime blog and upcoming author Dan Holloway's. As Errol would say, "It is the start of something big!"

Website: http://errolblack.weebly.com/

Publishers website: http://wildwolfpublishing.com/SSwift.aspx

Amazon paperback (UK): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Shadows-Simon-Swift/dp/1907954082/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1301345022&sr=1-11

Amazon paperback (US): http://www.amazon.com/Black-Shadows-Simon-Swift/dp/1907954082/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1301345022&sr=1-11

Amazon kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Shadows-ebook/dp/B004TAFNCM/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=A3TVV12T0I6NSM&qid=1301345022&sr=1-11

Waterstones online: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/simon+swift/black+shadows/8542180/