Brit Grit Alley features interviews, news and updates on what's happening down British crime fiction's booze and blood soaked alleyways.
A Brit Grit Alley guest column:
Paladins by Aidan Thorn
Life has been good
to me, I can write that today as I sit here healthy. Eleven years ago I didn’t
feel so lucky, it was maybe a week before Christmas 2004 when I found a lump on
my right bollock (I can say bollock, it’s fine, I’m a gritty crime writer – ask
anyone). I went to the doctor and within days I was at the hospital, by New
Years Eve 2004 I was back at home one bollock lighter and a cancer patient.
Whilst all that was going on for me, a Tsunami had hit Thailand. It barely
registered with me – in fact it’s fair to say that at the time I couldn’t give
even half a fuck. Looking back I feel terrible to think I was that
self-involved. All those lives lost and destroyed and all I gave a shit about
was what was happening to me – not cool.
I just didn’t get
it, why me? I was in the gym every night and when I wasn’t I was running, I ate
healthy and I didn’t take the piss with my drinking. I have to admit I went
pretty dark for a while - again I’m not proud. The thing is I actually was one
of the lucky ones, they caught it early and apart from the mild inconvenience
of regular blood tests, scans, X-Rays and hospital appointments I didn’t really
suffer at all. Well, unless you count not being able to shit for about two
weeks because it was too painful!
So, why am I
telling you all this (and when I say all I mean the three or four people that
bothered to click through from a Facebook or Twitter link I’ve posted)… Well,
as I said earlier I’m a writer and through that I’ve had the privilege of
meeting some incredible people, mostly through social media. I’ve been lucky to
have been published by great people like Darren Sant and Craig Douglas at Near
to the Knuckle, Ron Earl Phillips and the teams at Shotgun Honey and The Big
Adios, David Barber on his ‘Thrills’ sites, Tom Pitts and Joe Clifford at Out
of the Gutter, Gary Duncan at Spelk, Wednesday Lee Friday at the Horror Within…
I’ve been in books published by the Near to the Knuckle boys, Andy Rivers at
Byker Books, Paul D. Brazill and Andrew Scorah… And all the time these guys have
been publishing me I’ve been meeting great people that they’ve also published…
There’s a great and supportive community of writers that work together and help
each other out. One of the people I met through this network is a wonderful lady
called Henrietta Furchetnicht, herself not a writer, but her husband Craig is –
and a bloody good one at that. For a while they shared a Facebook account and
so we became friends, and I’m so glad we did. See Henri is battling Multiple
Myeloma a nasty fuck of a cancer that no one deserves, but definitely not a gem
like Henri. And yet, Henri faces this bastard with bravery, wit, intelligence,
and verve and a great many of us writer types have observed from afar as she’s
gone through her treatment. Yes, there have been struggles and we’ve seen them
and many have willed her on, but what I’ve seen most is a woman who loves life
and is determined to live it. She makes me look back at the 25 year old me that
got pissy because he lost a bollock and feel ashamed. If I could go back and
speak to that guy I’d hold Henrietta Furchtenicht’s Facebook timeline in front
of him and I’d say “Look you moppy little shite, that’s how you deal with this
shit!”
I’ve been so
inspired by Henri’s story (I’m not calling it a journey, this ain’t the fucking
X Factor!) that I just felt I wanted to do something. And what better thing to
do than to get a bunch of great writers together, writers I love and friends of
Henri’s and Craig’s, and put out a charity anthology in support of the Multiple
Myeloma Research Foundation. So I approached a few writers and I couldn’t
believe the response. The initial plan was to have around 10 substantial short
stories in the book. I approached around 20 writers, expecting a bunch of knock
backs and then I was going to approach another 10 or 20… I couldn’t believe it
when within hours of the first batch of emails, nearly everyone had said yes.
So, please if you’re a writer and you weren’t asked to contribute, it’s really
not because I didn’t want you, it’s just because I was overwhelmed before I’d
even taken a serious look at it. And the reason for the great response – well
every one of them wanted to do something for Henri, as soon as I’d said it was
for her, they were in.
So, Paladins was
born a fitting name that means a warrior that is fully devoted to kindness and ridding
the universe of evil. Mark Wilson came up with the name, and he also designed
the stunning artwork that you can see here. Craig Douglas has also been a huge
supporter, by offering his excellent formatting services for the book. And then
we come to our authors, every one of them a star, top talent and generous of
spirit. You might not think it to read their work, but these guys have big
caring hearts and deserve your attention, so thank you, Christopher Davis,
Gareth Spark, Craig Furchtenicht, David Jaggers, Bill Baber, Ryan Bracha, Jason
Beech, Graham Wynd, Cal Marcius, Darren Sant, Linda Angle, Matt Mattila,
Gabriel Valjan, Keith Nixon, Robert Cowan.
The stories in this collection all feature someone in need
or someone helping someone else. Every story is told with passion, there’s a
lot of bad language and horrible situations but fuck it, that’s life and these
tales deal with the darker moments of it – and they’re great.
Paladins is available as an ebook and the
paperback is out now http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paladins-Keith-Nixon-ebook/dp/B01C8B7E7K/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456858749&sr=1-1&keywords=Paladins
There'll be more carryings on down Brit Grit Alley very soon, sorta kinda thing, like.
