Killer Women newsletter - July 2016

I thought my followers might be interested in the newsletter I have begun to subscribe to, Killer Women, which comes out monthly.  Check it out below and be sure to sign up to receive your own via the Killer Women blog:

Welcome to the Killer Women Club and to our July 2016 newsletter! Hello to new subscribers who’ve discovered the Killer Women Club since our last newsletter—it’s great to have you with us. Expect insider scoops, stories, exploits and updates from the dangerous world of crime writing. Each month a different Killer Woman takes a turn as editor of this newsletter, sharing personal writing news, festival updates and recommendations on new crime fiction, TV drama and films. This month is my turn, and I’m very excited to be sharing the news that I’m chairing the Fresh Blood panel at the first-ever Killer Women Festival. Four debut authors will be talking about their amazing books, how they got published and how they’re getting on with their second novels. A brand-new festival with brand new talent that we can’t wait to share with you. Discovery is the watchword of writers. We love to open locked doors, reach into dark corners, stir at shadows. We relish how wide the world is, how diverse and inscrutable. Certainties matter far less to us than possibilities (and impossibilities). Books broaden our horizons, at the same time as bringing people closer together. We write to explore, but also to connect and if we can reach a stranger with our words? We’re happy.    Just lately, as I sat in the sunshine outside a London café with fellow Killer Woman, Alex Marwood, I was struck by how much the constant stream of strangers was the perfect backdrop for our chat about the Killer Women Festival, and also our Whydunnit crime writing workshop for Harrogate. An earlier adventure with country living had convinced me that writers need to remain at the heart of things. It’s one of writing’s strangest contradictions: that such a solitary art is nevertheless best performed when we’re sunk to our elbows in the world. I’m about to embark on a fresh round of edits to the fourth book in my D.I. Marnie Rome series, Quieter than Killing. You might think I’d want peace and quiet for this task, but I work best with the fizz and buzz of a city around me.       When I’m not elbow-deep in edits, I’m binge-watching Orphan Black on Netflix which has an extraordinary set of performances by its lead actress as several cloned ‘sisters’. You never doubt for a second that these are different people. I find myself wondering which sister she likes playing best, and what joy she must have felt when she discovered she could make millions of us believe in her distinctive creations.

With this in mind, I’m really looking forward to what I’ve been calling our ‘Silver Scream’ panel — actually called ‘I Preferred the Book/Film’ — with Paula Hawkins, SJ Watson, Louise Doughty and Alex Marwood. Chaired by Erin Kelly, the panel will chat about the experience of having their books adapted for the big screen. I loved it when Louise told us, ‘At the full cast read-through for Apple Tree Yard we all had to introduce ourselves and I found myself bursting out with, “I’m Louise Doughty and this is all my fault!’”     Finally, if you’re looking for the perfect pool-side crime novel this summer (hot and cold and creepy) then try Sabine Durrant’s Lie with Me or keep your eyes peeled for Laura Wilson’s Beach Noir recommendations coming soon to the Killer Women blog.     All of us at Killer Women are thrilled that the first female-led crime writing festival in London will be held at Shoreditch Town Hall on October 15, and we’d love you to come. Buy your ticket for the Killer Women Crime Writing festival here. See you there! Sarah Hilary       Copyright © 2016 Killer Women, All rights reserved. Get in touch: info@killerwomen.org