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COPS WRITING CRIME - 2 new members for The Squad! One British, one Canadian.

27/9/2018

Many thanks to Ian Patrick (already a Squad member) for suggesting the first new member today, plus I found one more new member in my own research.

This now takes us to 133 in number, with another British cousin and another Canadian cousin joining The Squad!
That's 133 cops and ex-cops (and some PIs) who have taken to writing crime fiction. You won't get more realistic crime tales than those from this Squad!

So, we have joining us today:
1. Neil Lancaster - Lancaster spent 25 years in the Metropolitan Police in London. He's about to publish his first crime novel.
2. Desmond P. Ryan - Ryan served for about 30 years with the police in Canada, I believe in Toronto. He has just published his debut crime novel.

Our Squad now consists of:

61 American
38 British
9 Australian
7 Canadian
4 New Zealanders
3 Finnish
2 Dutch
2 Swedish
1 French
1 Bahamian
1 Norwegian
1 Italian
1 Czech
1 Russian
1 Hungarian

I'll keep adding more as I come across them, and if you know of any others please feel free to drop me a line.

Check out The Squad:
Also: Cops Writing Crime

And please remember, my list is only for CRIME FICTION - not all the true crime and/or memoir writing by cops and ex-cops that's out there (as good as so much of that is).

Cheers,
ABP

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COPS WRITING CRIME - An Anthology Project - Call out for interest.

26/9/2018

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"A Blue Anthology - Cops Writing Crime" (Working Title only)

If you follow my blogs and tweets, you'll know about my project "Cops Writing Crime". Starting last year, I set out to collect all the crime fiction authors I could find who had served (or are still serving in some cases) as police officers or related law enforcement roles. I've also included a handful of PIs. My interest in this category of crime writer, apart from being one myself, is the sheer realism that I've found in any crime fiction I've read from ex-cops.
Check out The Squad - Also: Cops Writing Crime

As at today (26 Sept. 2018), I've collected 131 members for The Squad, from all over the world. I'm not aware of any similar project, let alone an anthology dedicated to this cohort of crime fiction writers. Well, I'm going to change that and have a lot of fun in the process.

I'll firm up all the parameters in due course, but I'm keen to hear from members of The Squad who would potentially be interested in contributing.
I won't be able to pay you, but it's an opportunity to have some fresh short story work published in what I think will be a unique collection. I'm intending both print and digital versions, and I will send all contributors a copy or two.
If you're not in The Squad, but think you should be, then drop me a line.

I'm also keen to have another author (or two) who could be an official co-editor with me (I'm happy to shoulder the work, but a source for second opinions and reality checks would be invaluable).

Cheers,
ABP

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COPS WRITING CRIME - Another American member joins The Squad!

26/9/2018

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Many thanks to Phil Stewart for emailing me with a suggestion for another member to join our Squad.

This now takes us to 131 in number, with another American cousin joining The Squad!
That's 131 cops and ex-cops (and some PIs) who have taken to writing crime fiction. You won't get more realistic crime tales than those from this Squad!

So, we have joining us today:
1. Sean Lynch - Lynch served as a police officer in the San Francisco Bay area for nearly 30 years. He has written numerous crime novels since then.

Our Squad now consists of:

61 American
37 British
9 Australian
6 Canadian
4 New Zealanders
3 Finnish
2 Dutch
2 Swedish
1 French
1 Bahamian
1 Norwegian
1 Italian
1 Czech
1 Russian
1 Hungarian

I'll keep adding more as I come across them, and if you know of any others please feel free to drop me a line.

Check out The Squad:
Also: Cops Writing Crime

And please remember, my list is only for CRIME FICTION - not all the true crime and/or memoir writing by cops and ex-cops that's out there (as good as so much of that is).

Cheers,
ABP

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"Between Juárez and El Paso" - a great hard-boiled read by Alec Cizak.

20/9/2018

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I'll confess up front that I am already a rusted-on fan of Alec Cizak's work - if you follow my blogs, you'll probably have read my reviews of others of his books.
This novella is one of the Drifter Detective series with a common protagonist, but produced by different authors. This strikes me as an interesting approach, one which I haven't encountered before in my reading (and I haven't read any of the other authors).
However, this offering from Mr Cizak is outstanding. I really enjoyed it from start to finish. Whilst at first feeling quite different on a number of levels from his other work I've read, at the same time it's a classic hard-boiled tale, with a tough and cynical PI, Jack Laramie. The setting is not long after WW2, which Laramie and his client, Shel Eastman, served in together, the effects of that awful experience lingering in their minds and infecting their lives and choices. As always, no spoilers from me, but the tale is gripping and dark. The tough PI works the case, but with dark, tragic events - not unusual for Mr Cizak's work. Plus, as I always love with his work, the social commentary is rich, incisive and damning.
If you like hard-boiled and noir, then I highly recommend this book. And its slightly alternative slant on the hard-boiled genre is a delicious surprise.
Cheers,
ABP

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Gender equality in Parliament - here's a radical, and yet simple, solution!

18/9/2018

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In the last few weeks, we've seen in Australia a rising debate about the numbers of women in a male-dominated Parliament. And not forgetting, of course, the reported issues of bullying, intimidation and misogyny. Sounds like a truly toxic work environment, to be frank.
Now, I am all in favour of gender equality in our Parliaments, although I'm not under any illusion that suddenly politics will become awash in integrity and decency. I elaborate on that post further below.
This is a reissue of a blog I put out last year on this subject. Given the current interest in the subject, I offer my radical, yet simple, solution again. It would actually be damned easy to have a 50-50 gender split in our Parliament.
Cheers, ABP

June 2017 Blog:
If you follow my blog (as spasmodic as it can be - sorry, working on that!) then you'll know that every now and then I digress away from writing and books, and I have a rant about something in society that gives me the shits. Today is one of those days. Not that I thought of this today, it was on the weekend, but I'm finding the time this evening to blog.

Now, plenty of people have called for gender equality in our Parliaments. And I am so on board with that one. The thoughts I was having the other day, and I've no idea why (but then I often have zero idea why my brain heads off in various directions at times), concerned the issue of bunches of mainly men sitting around (which accurately describes all of our Parliaments in Australia) and making all sorts of laws about how women can, or more often, cannot have control over their own bodies. Let's mention abortion, sex work, tax on tampons, equal pay...and the list could continue. I won't even get started on how religions treat women, since I'm going to confine myself to Parliaments.

Now, whether or not women getting into positions of political power leads to any discernible changes to the way we're governed is probably another subject. I've seen plenty of women in positions of power in government agencies, and they're just as ego- and power-driven as their male counterparts. And quite a few of the women we currently have in our Federal Parliament seem quite indistinguishable in terms of humanity and compassion from their male colleagues (there are, of course, exceptions to this). Then again, there is an argument to say that these women become like this because they have to compete against the overwhelming male contingent. Anyway, this is not my point, as interesting a debate as it is. Maybe in a future blog...

As an aside, I have a personal friend, Fiona Patten, who is a Victorian MP. Fiona epitomizes the huge value that great, committed women can add to politics - 50% Parliamentarians of her humanity and ability, we wouldn't even recognize the place. I dream...

My research online this week: Here in Australia, at a Federal level, our Parliament (both houses) is 32% female. Our Canadian cousins manage 29%, and our New Zealand neighbours come in at 31%. The world average apparently is 23%. Over in Rwanda, they manage 64% - GO Rwanda! Who would have thought? Bolivia achieves 53% (outstanding), and Cuba cruises in at 49% (great effort, have a cigar!).

So, how could we achieve gender equality in the Australian Parliament? My solution is radical, but so bloody simple. I'm going to put it in terms of the House of Representatives (for overseas readers, this is our lower house, where government is formed), but the principle could be applied universally.
Now, our House of Reps has 150 seats, so 150 constituencies across Australia elect 150 MPs. And in the House, currently, 29% of those MPs are female. Now, we occasionally hear ideas about quotas and the like. The problem with that is that you may end up getting an MP to meet an artificial quota, rather than electors voting for the candidate they perceive to be the best for the job, in their eyes. And the latter is what democracy is supposed to be about, notwithstanding the corruption of democracy by the political party system - again, maybe a future blog...

So my radical but simple idea is as follows:
We don't want more MPs, so keep it at 150. However, merge the current constituencies into 75, and have 2 MPs elected from each, 1 male and 1 female. So whichever constituency you live in, you front up on polling day and are given 2 ballot papers - 1 to elect your male MP and 1 to elect your female MP. Et voila! Gender equality in Parliament - 75 male MPs and 75 female MPs. And all elected by the people, not pushed up via quota systems. Sure, the party political system will try to control this too, but, hey, at least there will be gender equality in our Parliaments. It has to be worth a try?!!!

Food for thought, my friends

Cheers,
ABP.

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Thrilled to be delivering another Westwords workshop for young people!

14/9/2018

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I'm delighted to be doing a crime writing workshop for young people again, as a guest for the wonderful Westwords program - a program to encourage creative writing interest and skills in young people around western Sydney.
Last year, I delivered crime writing workshops on behalf of Westwords for some young guys at Granville Boys High School. I certainly enjoyed the experience - something completely new for me. And I hope the lads found the chats equally as enjoyable - they sure had plenty of questions about my cop background with my crime writing!
And so I was thrilled to be invited to deliver another workshop which will happen next week. And a rather larger group this time!
I'll be spending 2 hours chatting crime writing with about 90 year 11 students at Arthur Phillip High School in Parramatta.
Think I'll need to be on my game for this class! So, we'll be chatting over the crime genre, getting into more detail around the hard-boiled school (of course!), and doing some short writing exercises. And I'll even be sharing a couple of bits of Harry's World with them - at least some bits which are okay for a not-quite-adult audience! If you've read Harry, then you know exactly what I mean.
Again, it's great to be encouraging an interest in writing, especially crime, with young people.
Cheers,
ABP
And here's the link to the Westwords website: www.westwords.com.au

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COPS WRITING CRIME - 2 new members of The Squad!

8/9/2018

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I've found two new members for The Squad. This now takes us to 130 in number, with a new British cousin and a new American cousin joining The Squad!
That's 130 cops and ex-cops (and some PIs) who have taken to writing crime fiction. You won't get more realistic crime tales than those from this Squad!

So, we have joining us today:
1. Colin Campbell - Campbell served with the West Yorkshire Police for 30 years. He has written numerous crime novels since then.
2. Laura Burke - Burke joins our handful of PIs turned crime fiction writers. She worked for 20 years as a PI in the USA. She has written numerous novels across genres, with plenty of crime fiction in the mix.

Our Squad now consists of:

60 American
37 British
9 Australian
6 Canadian
4 New Zealanders
3 Finnish
2 Dutch
2 Swedish
1 French
1 Bahamian
1 Norwegian
1 Italian
1 Czech
1 Russian
1 Hungarian

I'll keep adding more as I come across them, and if you know of any others please feel free to drop me a line.

Check out The Squad:
Also: Cops Writing Crime

And please remember, my list is only for CRIME FICTION - not all the true crime and/or memoir writing by cops and ex-cops that's out there (as good as so much of that is).

Cheers,
ABP

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COPS WRITING CRIME - 2 new members for The Squad! One British, one Canadian.

COPS WRITING CRIME - An Anthology Project - Call out for interest.

COPS WRITING CRIME - Another American member joins The Squad!

"Between Juárez and El Paso" - a great hard-boiled read by Alec Cizak.

Gender equality in Parliament - here's a radical, and yet simple, solution!

Thrilled to be delivering another Westwords workshop for young people!

COPS WRITING CRIME - 2 new members of The Squad!

A.B.Patterson

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