This is a fantastic festival, and probably the only event for book-lovers where you can see Roman legionnaires riding on a Sherman tank. I'll be talking about the research for The Day That Went Missing, and how family history also counts as History. More details here.
I was asked to write an Opinion piece for the Observer about reaction to the publication of The Day that Went Missing, including my own reaction to having written a memoir. How does it feel once it's out there? What was the point? 'Now I’m faced with the question of what happens next. What is a memoir actually for? There seems to be a lot of memoir about, but I can only speak for myself and wordsearching the typescript I discover the book contains 434 instances of the word Nicholas or variants. I have filled the pages with Nicky, with Nick-Nack, Nickelpin, Pinwin, all my brother’s various rescued nicknames. His solo photograph in beach-tinted Kodacolor is bold on a hardback
The novel Acts of the Assassins is now out in the USA, but it's in disguise as The Apostle Killer. I'm not quite sure why the wonderful Melville House felt the title had to change, but they're the experts in the US market, and unlike 52% of my compatriots I haven't yet lost faith in experts. I think the word 'Killer' might have been persuasive - whatever else Acts might be, it's a killer thriller, a thriller about killers, and I can imagine the subset of readers who like that kind of thing is quite large. Lo and behold, The Wall Street Journal then picked out the title for special mention in their review: 'This is a smart, sly unpredictable
Acts of the Assassins is out in paperback in the UK from early March, and the cover is ... exactly the same. And why not? If it ain't broke don't fix it. I love everything about this cover, from the red and black to the hint of icon, not to mention the funny. Don't think I ever had a cover before that made me laugh. The folk at Vintage have added on some quotes from the reviews and a reminder that the novel was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize. I was incredibly happy to be involved with the most interesting novel prize this country has. I know I would say that, but try Kevin Barry's Beatlebone or Max Porter's Grief
On the Open Book programme on Radio 4 (I never know what I'm going to say) I said that too much reverence for biblical stories and any refashioning will be tedious. Too little and the updated version becomes facetious. There are observable symptoms for both. In every over-reverential re-telling of a New Testament story the author cares far too much about what language the characters are speaking. 'I'll have the fish,' said Peter in Aramaic. The facetious disease is just as easy to recognise - Jesus returns to earth in the present day and smokes dope. Of course he does. Updated, Jesus is always a stoner. It's just easier to explain him that way. Luckily there are alternatives. Gospel Noir has antecedents, if not exactly a history.