Video Chatting with R.J. Ellory

With the degree of media frenzy that has accompanied the arrival of England’s Downton Abbey to American television viewers this winter, it can be easy to forget that England has a long history of cultural exports to this country that long predate the critically acclaimed Edwardian drama. From Shakespeare to Chaucer, the Beatles to the Stones, to Jeeves and Wooster, many of England’s most beloved native stars have received equal if not greater fanfare from audiences abroad as they have from supporters at home.

At Overlook we’re no strangers to the alluring charm of British culture. Looking at the list of English authors we’ve published over the years, including such luminaries as Dickens, Wodehouse, and Fry, it should be no shock to learn that we are devoted Anglophiles ourselves. Among our favorite contemporary English writers is R.J. Ellory, the man behind such gripping thrillers as A Quiet Belief in Angels, The Anniversary Man and A Simple Act of Violence. This winter we released his latest novel, A Quiet Vendetta—an epic history of the Italian Mafia in America told through the story of one assassin’s life. To promote the new book Ellory travelled to the United States last month, making stops in cities including Brooklyn, Charlotte, Houston, Austin, and Scottsdale. Along the way he found the time to stop by the Overlook offices to discuss his latest book, chat about his favorite bookstores in the United States, and brief us on the upcoming US release of his debut novel, Candlemoth. Check out the videos, below.

As a professional writer, R.J. Ellory has visited countless bookstores on author tours across Europe and the United States for readings, signings, and Q&A sessions. Here, he explains why he shares a passionate love of bookstores with book buyers and readers everywhere.

A Quiet Vendetta is the latest thriller in a long line of critically acclaimed and award-winning crime novels from Ellory. In this video he explains the background of a book that traces the influence and origin of organized crime in America across five decades, and talks about what it takes to write a likeable villain.

This summer we’ll be releasing R.J. Ellory’s debut novel Candlemoth for the first time in the United States. Here, Ellory gives a sneak peek at the book that started it all.

A Night of Events: THE FRY CHRONICLES, A QUIET VENDETTA & A KILLER’S ESSENCE

Tomorrow night brings two out-of-town Overlook authors, as well as one northeastern native to bookstores across New York for an evening of readings, signings, and lively discussion. Award-winning English novelist R.J. Ellory, author of A Quiet Vendetta will be joined by A Killer’s Essence author Dave Zeltserman to promote their latest crime thrillers at Brooklyn’s BookCourt, while English comedian, actor, and autobiographer Stephen Fry will host a reading of his latest memoir, The Fry Chronicles at Barnes & Noble, Tribeca.

Heralded as one of the top practitioners of dark crime fiction writing today, Dave Zeltserman is the author of nine novels, including his most recent NYC-focused thriller, A Killer’s Essence. Shots ring out just a few feet from a Manhattan mystery bookstore. A woman is shot point blank, and her fingers severed. A prominent financier is found in a dumpster on the Upper West Side, again shot in the face. Underneath the BQE, a pack of dogs are fed poison and then shot execution-style. For NYPD detective Stan Green, these grisly murders can only be the act of one man—someone seriously deranged and seriously committed to a calculated, homicidal plan.

“Zeltserman’s lean but muscular style, so evident in ‘Killer’ and ‘The Caretaker of Lorne Field,’ is just as sharply honed here.” The Boston Globe

“A Killer’s Essence is a five-star psychological crime thriller liberally seasoned with Chef Zeltserman’s zesty secret sauce of subtle horror, jalapeno-hot sauce and intense intrigue, and has more twists that newfangled light bulbs. Stephen King fans will find the Hitchcock-like suspense and soft-core horror to be a spine-tingling thriller. It is one of my Top Ten Picks for 2011.” – The Big Thrill

Imagined by one of today’s premier thriller writers, R.J. Ellory’s A Quiet Vendetta begins with a seemingly straightforward crime: the New Orleans kidnapping of Catherine Ducane, the daughter of Louisiana’s governor. The cops react quickly, expecting the usual demand of a ransom for Catherine’s recovery, but the twisted, menacing nature of the case begins to grow clear when the mutilated remains of Catherine’s bodyguard are discovered.

“An engrossing tale about organized crime from the perspective of a kidnapper whose agenda will keep you guessing until the end.” – Entertainment Weekly

“An absorbing crime novel from Ellory (A Simple Act of Violence) covering more than 50 years of mob violence and American history . . .this is a brilliantly conceived tale of greed, politics, family loyalties, and vengeance.” – Publishers Weekly

Beloved actor, comedian, and writer Stephen Fry continues his life story in The Fry Chronicles, a brave, funny, and revealing coming of age memoir. Fry is best known for his comedic television roles, often played alongside his best friend and Cambridge classmate Hugh Laurie: the pair joined forces in the sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and later played P.G. Wodehouse’s legendary duo in the 1990s series Jeeves and Wooster. In vibrant, starkly honest prose, this memoir tells the story of Fry’s inspiring transformation from troubled teenager to adored entertainer, tireless activist, and genuinely contented individual.

“Funny, poignant, exhausting.” – The Washington Post

"Honesty can be painful to read, but Fry is cheeky and thoughtful in equal measures, making this a must for his legion of fans.” —Publishers Weekly

We’ll be posting photos and videos from both events later in the week, so if you can’t make it to either reading, be sure to return here for a full recap. For thrill-seeking readers located outside of New York, R.J. Ellory will be taking A QUIET VENDETTA on the road this week to the following bookstores:

Wednesday, January 25^th

Park Road Books (Charlotte, NC)

7:00 PM

Thursday, January 26^th

Murder by the Book (Houston, TX)

6:30 PM

Friday, January 27^th

BookPeople (Austin, TX)

7:00 PM

Saturday, January 28^th

The Poisoned Pen (Scottsdale, AZ)

5:00 PM

"It’s high time Ellory takes his rightful place on crime fiction’s A-list."

We love the entire R.J. Ellory ouvre, but we're especially thrilled to see Booklist award a glowing (and starred!) review to his upcoming thriller A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE. Stay tuned for information on his U.S. appearances!

BOOKLIST
Issue: May 1, 2011
A Simple Act of Violence (starred review) Ellory, R. J. (Author)
Jun 2011. 464 p. Overlook, hardcover, $24.95. (9781590203187).

Ellory (author of Strand magazine’s Thriller of the Year winner, A Quiet Belief in Angels, 2009) is back with an amazing new novel. It’s not only a mystery with enough plot twists to keep the most jaded fan of the genre guessing, it’s also a high-speed car chase of a thriller. The bones of the book are structured around the well-reported CIA/Reagan/Bush complicity in skimming money from the cocaine trade to build the infamous drugs-for-guns bridge that supported contra intervention in Nicaragua.

Launching from a seeming “simple act of violence,” Ellory lures the reader into a Machiavellian tapestry of international proportions. The premise is deceptively simple: two Washington, D.C., beat cops are assigned to a series of murder cases that appear to be the usual and customary work of a psychopathic serial killer. However, the further they get into the case, the stranger the possibilities become. Many writers who attempt to construct a novel with levels of geopolitical intrigue found here wind up producing a string of lame polemics or, even worse, a conspiracy-theory rant. It’s a tribute to Ellory’s mastery of his craft to note that he avoids these pitfalls completely.

This is a superbly entertaining book and one that will endure in the reader’s thoughts long after the last page turns. After several fine novels, it’s high time Ellory takes his rightful place on crime fiction’s A-list.

R.J. Ellory in the FINANCIAL TIMES

One of our favorite authors, R.J. Ellory, was recently profiled in the Financial Times. A few of our favorite parts are below.


Watch for his CIA thriller A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE coming this summer from The Overlook Press! Below, a few of our favorite excerpts from his Q&A with the FT. Go here to read it all!

Roger Jon Ellory began writing in 1987, producing 22 novels in six years, but he remained unpublished until he returned to writing in 2001. The first of his eight thrillers, Candlemoth, was published in 2003. A Quiet Belief in Angels (2006) has been translated into 23 languages and several of his books have been shortlisted for Crime Writers Association awards. Born in Birmingham in 1965, Ellory lives in the West Midlands with his wife and son.

What book changed your life?

The Shining by Stephen King. When I was 13 and quarantined for chicken pox in my school dormitory, I would hear the footsteps of nurses in the corridor and by the time I’d got to the door to look, there was nobody there. I realised then the power of fiction.

...

Who are your literary influences?

I read as many writers as possible who make me feel embarrassed about how clumsy my words are: Steinbeck, Faulkner, Hemingway, Capote, Cormac McCarthy, Annie Proulx.

....

Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with?

Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John Steinbeck, Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Conan Doyle, Audrey Hepburn and Elvis.

An Intern's View: R.J. Ellory at Partners & Crime Mystery Booksellers

Our fearless publicity intern Michael meets British thriller writer R.J. Ellory in this latest dispatch from the front lines:

"As someone who is still adjusting to the rigors of working long hours indoors at an office, there is no greater joy than the much coveted out of office assignment (even on days as hot as these past few have been). This past week I had the supreme pleasure of hauling some posters down to Partners & Crime, one of my favorite NYC bookstores (located at 44 Greenwich Avenue) for the purpose of promoting an author reading that took place last night, July 6th at 7:00 pm.

The only thing that can make an out of office assignment better than a run of the mill errand is the opportunity to meet an Overlook author. Yesterday I met not only R.J. Ellory, author of the recently published novel The Anniversary Man and guest of honor/reader/book-signer at last night’s event, but I was also introduced to Overlook authors David Carnoy and Peter Quinn. In the case of Ellory, I actually had a chance to chat with him in the office and was impressed with his ability to confuse me with a bona fide Overlook employee.

Although I’ve worked at other Overlook sanctioned events in the past (loyal readers will recall my rainy night at an Amanda Palmer concert last month), this was my first official author reception and I was more than impressed with the turnout. Perhaps even more entertaining than the selected passage that Ellory chose to read from his latest novel was his improvised question and answer discussion with the audience that followed. Roger answered several queries at great length, ranging in topic from his own personal history as a writer, his choice of “the American canvas” as a subject for so many of his books, his favorite writers, and the twenty-two unpublished novels he has written that are collecting dust in his England loft.

Ellory’s most insightful quip arrived when he attempted to define “classic” literature – books like Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood or the works of Annie Proulx and Willa Cather – the literature he most cherishes as a reader and the kind he strives to emulate and write himself. He defines these genreless classics as those that are so compellingly crafted and paced that they can’t be read fast enough yet so beautifully written they must be savored slowly.

Although I didn’t stick around long enough to get my copies of Anniversary Man or A Quiet Belief in Angels signed, I was able to at least score some free dinner (catered events are by far the best), which is more than enough to entice me to attend Overlook’s next New York author reading. David Carnoy, author of Knife Music will be reading at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes and Noble next week on Thursday July 15th at 7:30 pm."

Intern Adventures Continued

Today Intern Michael returns with an update on what he has been working on this summer as a member of Overlook’s publicity team.

Overlook author Robert Forbes poses with a friend at ALA '10 in Washington DC

Last week marked the completion of my first full month as an intern at Overlook, and in the short amount of time that I've spent working here I've learned some valuable lessons about the ins-and-outs of book publishing. Let me share some with you.

1.) When it comes to visiting authors, interns are to be seen and not heard.

Just kidding. Before starting at Overlook I couldn’t have guessed the number of visits that a publishing house receives from visiting authors. Between meetings with editors and layovers on book tours, Overlook has a steady stream of writers coming and going on a weekly basis. Since the beginning of June I’ve met a handful of Overlook authors including Peter Quinn, the author of THE MAN WHO NEVER RETURNED, and next week I eagerly expect an introduction to R.J. Ellory during the launch party for his latest novel, THE ANNIVERSARY MAN on July 7^th at Partners & Crime in the west village. Everyone that I’ve met so far has been incredibly friendly and if I have any bitterness it’s only because I wasn’t invited to lunch when Katie Arnoldi (POINT DUME) came to visit last week.

2.) Everybody gets free books.

You would be amazed by the number of requests for review and desk copies Overlook receives on a daily basis. On any given day I can expect to collect, package, and ship anywhere between five and fifty titles for reviewers, bloggers, journalists, and teachers. If I wasn’t working so hard as an intern (and if I wasn’t able to pilfer materials from the library for myself from time to time) I would definitely get into the business of book media. These people must have more books in their collections than the New York public library. Jokes aside, I’ve also learned how important this relationship is in book publishing, between publishers and media. Without reviewers (that is, the people who really really love to read) there wouldn’t be any way for us to sustain this industry.

3.) Write Write Write Write Write

If you thought that authors pen a lot of words, you would be surprised by the amount of material that publicists write during a normal work day. Between press releases, promos, pitches, galley letters, and media correspondence, my bosses type away at their computers for what seems like hours on end. Recently they’ve entrusted me with the responsibility of writing some original copy and I think I’m getting the hang of it! Today I will be reading galley copies of Susan Hill’s upcoming release SHADOWS IN THE STREET and a new nonfiction title SOUTH AFRICA'S BRAVE NEW WORLD and then taking a stab at writing up some press materials to send out later this week.

While it may not appear that the life of a publishing intern is all fun and games (especially since the US got eliminated from the World Cup and no one will be sneaking off to watch games during lunch breaks) there is certainly more excitement to be found at Overlook beyond book mailings and media outlet research. As I write this post my bosses are out of office on assignment at ALA in Washington DC, and I can only imagine the fun they must be having hob-knobbing with fellow book nerds. If the stresses and rigors of travelling become too much for them to handle, I’d be more than happy to cover the next out of state convention (Frankfurt in October anyone?).

Robert Forbes with copies of his Overlook books BEASTLY FEASTS and LET'S HAVE A BITE