Tim's Newsletter - June 2023
Just the time for a summer read
It’s a cliché of publishing that for ages nothing happens, and then… nothing happens. Rinse and repeat. Stand by for June, then, when we break out of the holding pattern. This is the month when you can, at long last, read Catfish Alley. More news on the rest of the series, too; refining chaos on the fantasy novel; and an interspecies love story. It’s all happening at Infinite Ways to Fail.
Catfish Alley is coming!
Editing has finished, the cover is signed off, and Catfish Alley is published by SpellBound Books on 27 June. If you prefer an ebook, it’s already up for pre-order on Amazon. (Paperbacks will be available from publication day onwards).
I once had a girlfriend back in Scotland, Lorna, who was into astrology, karma, healing crystals and all that shite. She always said the universe had a way of knowing when you needed something and providing for you. In my experience, what it generally provides is a kick in the bollocks.
Tommy Chisholm is in trouble.
His dream life in Barcelona is unravelling. He’s broke, his writing career has stalled, and maybe it’s time to pack up and go home.
But then he’s recruited by an organised crime gang to help them rob an art gallery. His financial worries will be over at a stroke, and all he needs to do is seduce someone he’s never met.
Everything is going perfectly. Until he loses his head over the woman he is meant to be exploiting.
I started writing Catfish Alley in April 2021, so it’s been a long time coming. I hope you think it was worth it!
But what if I want more Catalan crime?
Catfish Alley is the first in the ‘Barcelonoir’ trilogy, and there should be a formal announcement about the second and third volumes soon. The second book, Casanova Street, is a thriller about what can go wrong when you start laundering money, and Diamond Boulevard ends the series with ‘one last job’ - a meticulously planned heist that goes perfectly, until it doesn’t…
You can find out more about all three books on my website.
Fantasy world
It has been strange to see all the crime books getting going while I’m neck deep in a fantasy novel. This is at the point in the first draft where I have no idea how it’s going to end up. In fact, it’s a train crash—quite literally: there is a train, and it crashes.
It’s been an interesting challenge to write a book which so closely follows on from A Little Poison, which I wrote in 2019. In the intervening period I’ve written the three crime novels plus a never-mention-it-again attempt at a historical, and unsurprisingly I’ve forgotten a lot of what happened. The characters are still clear in my mind, and I can get them squabbling with each with very little effort, but the smaller details—street names, favourite drinks, odd customs—have required some re-reading.
The two plotlines are unhelpfully resistant to joining up at the moment. It may be that I’m expecting twins.
Cat Pic of the Month
The peacock which spent most of May in the garden is still around, but he is starting to yearn for home (the Green Door healing centre, about half a mile away). Magnus will be devastated by his departure, as they seem to have become friends—although in every relationship, there is always one party who is more invested:
Here he is, looking out wistfully at his camouflaged playmate.
Until July
I hope you enjoy your summer reading—especially, but not exclusively, if it’s Catfish Alley. Let me know what you think of it. Small presses (and their authors) are always extra-grateful for reviews, so if you want to pop one on Amazon, consider yourself an honorary member of the Order of the Peacock!