Click here to watch a brilliant interview with the author of the captivating, fast-paced Ryan Lock series Sean Black.Listen to Sean talking about how he “did time” in an American Supermax Prison as part of his research for DEADLOCK, published in hardback this month and find out everything you need to know about prison riots, America’s deadliest gangs and exactly why he had to buy a bright red jumper…For more information on Sean Black and his fabulous Ryan lock thrillers, visit his website here.

Priya Basil, author of Ishq and Mushq talks to theasianwriter about her new novel The Obscure Logic of the Heart…

Click here to read the interview in full, below is a sneaky peek….

Firstly I have to congratulate you on your second novel. Your style’s grown and developed and you’ve tackled some really difficult issues with The Obscure Logic of the Heart. Can you talk us through what was different, in a writing sense, second time around?

The satisfactions and struggles of the creative process were identical to those I experienced the first time around: the urge to write a great and lasting story was accompanied by the exact same doubts about failure. The writing itself was easier in some technical respects because of things that I’d become aware of while editing the first book.

The deep entanglement of a corrupt government and illegal arms trade juxtaposed the lovers’ own dilemmas was a powerful way to weave the story. I really felt like I was being educated the whole time I was reading. What inspired you to explore this in your novel and what research went in to make the plot plausible?

I always knew that the main character, Lina, would have a strong impulse to ‘save the world’, which would clash with the private realities of her own life. During the early stages of writing, the problem of piracy in the Indian Ocean, along the coast of Somalia, made lots of headlines. One particular incident, about a ship carrying arms, caught my attention because of Kenya’s alleged involvement in the procurement of those weapons. I began to read up about arms dealing, and was shocked by the scale of the trade, especially the illegal aspect of it. I immediately felt that I wanted to support all efforts to curb this trade and make it more accountable, and the best way for me to do that was through my writing. I am now also a supporter of the Control Arms Campaign, a global civil society alliance campaigning for an Arms Trade Treaty that will protect lives.

The amazing Priya Basil, author of ISHQ AND MUSHQ and THE OBSCURE LOGIC OF THE HEART is coming to a book group near you.   

If you have ever wanted to get up close and personal with an author, now is your chance.  Wherever you are in the world, if you have Skype, Priya is only a click away so get in touch and pick up a copy of the absolutely fantastic THE OBSCURE LOGIC OF THE HEART. 

For more information, please click here or to take a look at Priya’s brilliant website click here

Happy reading!

Against the sounds of the methodical tramp of a Roman legion, the roar of berserking Viking raiders, the clash of steel on steel as medieval knights get stuck into a melee, the crackle and pop of musket fire and echoing boom of cannon, Transworld historical novelists Giles Kristian (author of the Raven Viking novels) and M. C. Scott (author of Rome: The Emperor’s Spy) risked life and limb – well, lost voices and writer’s cramp – as they talked about and signed their books at English Heritage’s massive two-day re-enactment event – the ‘Festival of History’ – at Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire last weekend.

 At Transworld, we are immensely privileged to have very dedicated authors who meticulous research the content of their books to give the reader a compelling, absorbing and factual account of events past.  Sean Black is an author who goes just that one step further to produce his enthralling Ryan Lock thrillers. 

In order to get into the head of his main character – Ryan Lock - Sean enrolled on a 24 day close protection course along with several others including an ex-German Special Forces sniper and a member of the Mafia.  To add further to the ordeal, Sean was subjected to gruelling training, police drills and ‘simulated’ attacks; at one point he was pushed to the ground at gunpoint and soon learnt why the base used plastic bed sheets…

Ostensibly every man’s dream, Sean was taken to a disused air field, handed the keys to half a dozen cars and taught offensive and defensive manoeuvres before being flown to Prague for fire-arms training.  Sean maintains that these were the most enjoyable weeks of his life… to this day we fail to understand why!  If all of this wasn’t enough, Sean also did time at Pelican Bay Supermax in California, home to America’s most violent prison gangs where 75% of inmates are serving life without possibility of parole.

So there are writers that research and then there are writers that research and we are glad Sean is the latter as the brilliant paperback of Lockdown hits the shelves today with Deadlock in hardback on the 22^nd of next month. 

To read more about Sean, visit his website: http://seanblackbooks.com/

As we approach Belinda Bauer’s TV Book Club appearance on More4 this Sunday evening, it seems that television viewers aren’t the only ones setting their sites on the Transworld crime debut of 2010, BLACKLANDS.

Henry Sutton of the DAILY MIRROR said: 

“Belinda Bauer has shifted the boundaries of what makes a truly gripping, terrifying thriller. Imagine Thomas Harris crossed with Kate Atkinson and you still won’t be close. Aside from a ridiculously assured prose style, and a superbly well-crafted plot, what Bauer does is to combine real and chilling psychological insight with top-notch, absolutely terrifying suspense… Right from the start you know you are reading something both new and with real guts… Bauer brilliantly brings to life both Avery’s deranged and unravelling mind, and Steven’s stoical yet naïve rational. The denouement, on a foggy Exmoor, will leave you breathless.”

Laura Wilson of THE GUARDIAN believes: 

“This astonishingly assured debut, from journalist and screenwriter Belinda Bauer, for once lives up to the hype… Told in lucid, uncluttered prose, the description of the effect of this correspondence on both parties is genuinely chilling… With little in the way of graphic detail – Bauer is too good a writer to jerk us into the past with clumsy italicised flashbacks – Blacklands is a world away from the ‘torture porn’ school of crime fiction, and a hundred times more effective in terms of visceral impact….. Steven… is impeccably, even heartbreakingly, well-imagined… As well as detailing the frustrating powerlessness of childhood, Bauer also paints a vivid portrait of the rupturing effect of a child’s murder upon a family, with its aftermath of fractured, stunted people with only one reference point in their lives… a psychological tour-de-force about the cruelty of hope and, ultimately, the triumph of innocence.”

Read the rest of this entry »

John Boyne joined debut novelist Rosie Alison at the SW11 Literary Festival in Waterstone’s Clapham on Monday night. John read from his latest book THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE and he and Rosie, who co-produced the film of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS, answered questions about working together on the film. John clearly remembered Rosie’s initial call back to him in 2005, which led of course to the film’s release exactly a year ago. The book continues to enjoy enormous commercial success for both David Fickling Books and Transworld.

Sir Terry Pratchett’s latest children’s book Nation has deservedly been long listed for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for 2009!

In a diversion from his phenomenally successful Discworld series, Nation is set on a South Sea island and tackles the aftermath of a natural disaster. Washed up on the shores of a remote island, two kids from cultures half a world apart have to learn to get along and survive. Dealing with death and the trauma of loss, Nation has a dark edge that is compelling reading.

The winner will be announced on 8 October 2009, following the unveiling of the shortlist in September. The award is the only children’s prize in which authors are judged by their peers and previous winners have included Philip Pullman, Ted Hughes, Anne Fine and Jacqueline Wilson.

Authors Celia Rees, Andy Stanton and Patrick Ness (last year’s winner) are judging the prize along with Julia Eccleshare.

For more information please visit the Guardian Website.