Current News
ANOTHER REVIEW OF THE PAPERBACK
Posted on: Friday, October 21, 2011 / 00:00 hrsSuper review for the paperback by Pam Norfolk. 'Authentic, moving, thought-provoking, gripping....Andrew Williams' sophisticated novel set in St Petersburg 37 years before the revolution that overturned Russia is about as good as historical thrillers get.' THANKS! Good to get that sort of encouragement when you are 30,000 words from the end of the next one.
SCOTSMAN FEATURE
Posted on: Tuesday, October 04, 2011 / 00:00 hrsHere's a feature for The Scotsman newspaper on the the extraordinary Scots-Russian connection that is the backdrop of 'To Kill A Tsar'.
Writing History: join the debate
Posted on: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 / 00:00 hrsWriter, Aly Monroe and I have kicked off a discussion on Good Reads exploring the researching, planning and writing of historical fiction. We've set out some of our own thoughts but would love to hear what other readers and writers think. Please click on the title and follow the link.
To Kill a Tsar in paperback
Posted on: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 / 00:00 hrsThe paperback of To Kill A Tsar is published on Thursday September 29th. I'm working on some trumpets...
The last walk from Death Row in Texas
Posted on: Monday, September 19, 2011 / 00:00 hrsClick on the title and read my friend and ex BBC colleague, Mark Dowd's extraordinarily powerful account of the last efforts of campaigners to save Mark Stroman from being executed this summer, and of his final moments. Stroman murdered two men in a 'patriotic rage' after 9/11. In the ten years he spent on death row he became a very different man, and Mark's friend. His execution in July had nothing to do with justice and everything to do with politics and Governor Rick Perry's campaign for the Presidency.
The Poisoned Tide
Posted on: Thursday, July 07, 2011 / 00:00 hrs60,000 words into The Poisoned Tide, the first in my trilogy of spy thrillers set at the beginning of the 20th century. The Poisoned Tide will be published next year and is set in the Secret Service Bureau, as MI 6 was known in its first years. The action takes place in Britain, Germany and the United States, and, as before, is based on real characters and events. One of the characters is Commander Mansfield Cumming, the first head of the Secret Intelligence Service to sign himself 'C'.
THE SCOTT PRIZE SHORTLIST
Posted on: Friday, April 01, 2011 / 00:00 hrsAndrea Levy was the winner of The Scott Prize for her wonderful story, The Long Song. The announcement was made at the Borders Book Festival in Scotland. The actor Robert Powell read brilliantly from the works of all the shortlisted authors before the announcement. Later in the festival bar, someone asked me; 'how does it feel to have your words read by Jesus of Nazareth?' 'Pretty good', I replied.
DEEPBOOK
Posted on: Monday, March 28, 2011 / 00:00 hrsGreat new service for authors and publishers - book ads, interviews, electronic books from video specialists.... Browse our copy of Dickens' Great Expectations, by clicking on the filmed features and interviews with the experts. There are interviews with authors, Fern Britton and Charles Cumming and much more. http://www.deepbook.co.uk/
Historical Writers Association
Posted on: Friday, January 28, 2011 / 00:00 hrsNews of the formation of an Historical Writers Association for all those who write well researched historical fiction and non fiction. http://www.TheHWA.co.uk
Christmas cheer
Posted on: Friday, December 17, 2010 / 00:00 hrsVery nice to find myself in The Mail's Christmas stocking as one of the four thrillers of 2010. Geoffrey Wansell described To Kill as 'a superb evocation of spies, radical passions and revolution in St Petersburg in 1879'. In The Scotsman Christmas list, the book was described by Allan Massie as 'finely realised' with a 'compelling plot', but 'best of all is the moral discrimination with which Williams presents his terrorists to us'.
Great Expectations
Posted on: Thursday, December 16, 2010 / 00:00 hrsFor anyone interested in a new style of e-book, I've been working with colleagues in a company called Deepbook to produce a new edition of Dickens' Great Expectations, with video features shot at the locations that form the backdrop for the book, and interviews with experts. It's free to access, and is aimed at the ordinary reader who'd like to learn a little more about the book, and also for the student. Take a look - we think it's something new, and hope we'll be able to offer the same treatment soon with other books. Paste http://www.vyoo.eu/deepbook/ I would love to hear what you think. In the mean time, work continues on the new novel. The title has changed in the last week and may change again, but I'm making good progress. More soon.
The next book.....
Posted on: Monday, November 08, 2010 / 00:00 hrsI'm well into the writing of a new book for John Murray - a spy thriller set in Germany and the United States in the first years of the 20th century. It is the first of a trilogy of books. Each book will have a different hero but there will be common characters, institutions, story lines, and themes. More soon.
New editions.....
Posted on: Monday, November 01, 2010 / 00:00 hrsTo Kill A Tsar is to be published in a Spanish edition for Spain and Latin America and also in a new Polish edition.
Shots Feature
Posted on: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 / 00:00 hrsHere's a feature I've written for Shots magazine on how To Kill A Tsar was born on the streets of Belfast and Derry, and examining parallels between the Russian terrorists of a hundred years ago and the IRA.......and there's a competition to win a copy of the book too.
INDIE REVIEW
Posted on: Sunday, August 22, 2010 / 00:00 hrsThanks to Barry Forshaw for his kind observations on To Kill in The Independent........ Have just returned from Germany, Austria and Hungary where I've been doing a little research for the next book - and enjoying a break from the computer!
Daily Mail Review
Posted on: Saturday, July 31, 2010 / 00:00 hrsGenerous review of 'To Kill' by Geoffrey Wansell in The Daily Mail on Friday [July 30].
The Guardian
Posted on: Saturday, July 24, 2010 / 00:00 hrsJohn Connell review of 'To Kill A Tsar' in The Guardian [Saturday 24 July]
The Scotsman Review
Posted on: Monday, July 19, 2010 / 00:00 hrsThe writer Allan Massie reviewed 'To Kill' for The Scotsman on Saturday [July 17], and the paper did me proud with a full page.