John Rickards and/or Sean Cregan are... the Nameless Horror

A rather spiffy review for THE LEVELS has appeared at Crimeculture (alongside something for some “Mosby” bloke). Go and read, and then if you’re anything like me, look up some of the longer words.

They sat on the jumbled rooftop of a tenement out by McGregor Hook, a frozen spit of land sticking out into the estuary where the Murdoch hit the sea. It was home to a swarm of amusement parks in the days of Barnum, long decayed by World War Two when low-rent housing mushroomed along the peninsula, before a doomed attempt at reviving it as a tourist spot to rival Atlantic City in the seventies. Now it existed in shabby limbo, a faded picture postcard of a nowhere nothing town, a tattered memory of old summers blasted by the cold wind off the ocean, watching habour-bound ships and the rest of the world pass it by. The tenement’s owner had had the idea of turning the rambling roof into a coffee house and cafe. Ran trelliswork between the TV aerials and rusting AC units, covered over a section by the battered roof access with a green canvas bivouac, dotted wooden lawn furniture and tables around the place. Started serving customers who came up the vine-covered fire escape down the side of the building. The Hook’s zoning authorities either didn’t know about it or didn’t care.

Maya sipped hot lemon and ginger and tried to watch the entrance. Difficult through the trellises hung with dead brown plants. Fisk had chosen the place to meet, repeatedly told them to be sure they weren’t watched or followed, that he’d split if there was any sign of trouble. Hadn’t wanted to leave home, hadn’t wanted them to come to him, hadn’t wanted to talk over the phone, so this was it. Hard, she figured, for anyone to watch who he spoke to, harder still to eavesdrop.

“Julius is taking his time finding the kid,” she said.

“He’ll come through. He’s a good man.”

“I hope nothing’s gone wrong, a buyer already taken it, something like that.”

“He’ll come through,” Garrett said again.

Normal embloggenation will recommence in the next few days – I finally have workable internet at home again – but in the meantime, it’s pub date for THE LEVELS and here’s a charming competition for you lovely people to enter. Two freebie copies and eternal fame and glory could be yours…

As I write this we’re a little under two hours into 2010. I expect to be called to Jupiter to investigate a strange obelisk any day now. I’ve just managed to inflame a bout of gastroenteritis by overdoing the decorating at the new flat, but on the other hand, it’s not like I had much choice; moving day’s Wednesday. Happy New Year all, and think of me wishing I could eat like a normal human being when you nurse your hangovers tomorrow.

However, I enter the year bearing a meagre gift, the first of a random and possibly never to be completed series of extras to coincide with the release of THE LEVELS, my author copies of which showed up this week. If you point your browser antenna on your intermotrons at this link you’ll find a rather neat minimalist bit of desktop wallpapery. Obviously it’ll only be to your taste if “neat” and “minimalist” (not to mention “black and white”) appeals to you, but it looks quite swanky with my desktop setup. I’m a tart like that.

Enjoy, and let’s hope 2010 brings me the ability and/or desire to consume solid food again.