Linwood Barclay's Blog: Linwood Barclay

I'm sitting on a tiny balcony of The Garland Hotel in Burbank, which apparently, in an earlier incarnation was owned by Beverly Garland, the actress, whom I only remember from My Three Sons, near the end of the series, when she was Fred MacMurray's wife. Does that date me, or what?
It's a nice place, and soon I will be going to the Burbank Library's Buena Vista branch to give a talk on Broken Promise, which came out yesterday (as well as the mass market paperback release of No Safe House).
Last night I was in Scottsdale at the fabulous Poisoned Pen bookstore, run by Barbara Peters. We had a nice crowd come out, and Barbara took me out for dinner afterwards. I don't know of anyone more plugged in to what's going on in crime fiction publishing than Barbara. She's terrific.
Tomorrow, I head to San Diego for a stop at Mysterious Galaxy, then it's on to Austin and Houston, and then two stops in Florida before I head back to Canada a week from today.
There have been a lot of terrific reviews for Broken Promise already, and many of you have said very nice things over on my Facebook author page.
Thank you for that.
So, time to start getting ready for tonight's event. More later...

So I did my first blog post back in December, and here it is nearly May, so I need to get a little better at this.
Blanket apologies. But I've been busy...
I normally write one book a year, but because the next three novels are linked, I felt a need to write them close together. I might get to the third book and think of something I needed to add to book one.
So I wrote three books in fifteen months.
Book one, Broken Promise, is out this summer, and the book two will be out in March. The third -- that's the only one left to do any serious editing on -- will be out in November of 2016.
In addition, I have written an e-book novella that is related to the three books that will come out between one and two. Not sure of the exact date yet, but probably November or December.
So now that most of the work is done, I'm going to coast for a while.
However, I will be doing a US tour starting around July 28. That night I expect to be at the fabulous Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale. Other stops include San Diego, Burbank, Austin, possibly Houston, and two stops in Florida. Details to come as the dates firm up.
And in September I will be coming to England and Scotland to promote Broken Promise. Again, details to follow.
I'm hoping, before the US tour, I get to do some actual reading. I have a stack of books to read in June and July when we get away. Right now, I am reading an advance copy of Don Winslow's The Cartel, a sequel to The Power of the Dog. It's about the drug cartels in Mexico, and is an epic piece of work. Also waiting for me on the bedside table are a new book by George Pelecanos and Richard Price, that one he wrote under another name, but which also has his real name on the cover. I simply don't get that. But he's a great writer, so what the hell.
New Stephen King on June 2, as well. Was very happy to see him win the Edgar for Mr. Mercedes.
Okay, all for now. Will try to post before another five or six months go by.

WeIl, here it is, my first shot at a Goodreads blog.
It's been a busy year. I usually write one novel every twelve months. That's been the routine for the past ten or more years
But in 2014, I wrote two novels, and in January, I'm going to start another.
That's because, for the first time, I am writing a trilogy. Book one, which will be out next summer and is called Broken Promise, I wrote from about January to April. And after taking about a month off, I started into book two, which will come out in 2016. I sent the first draft of that novel to my editors last week.
Why write two books in a year?
Because a trilogy is, at least in my mind, like one VERY long novel, I'm worried that as I get into books two and three, I will think of things that need to be set up in book one. And I only have a few more weeks where I can tinker with the first book.
So, at least book two is done (first draft, anyway) and I did, in fact, go back into book one to accommodate things in book two. Sometimes it was just a line of description, the addition or subtraction of a few words. But those little things count.
So until the end of the year, no writing, except for maybe this blog, and some Christmas cards. Well, even those are done. I'm going to coast for a while. Eat too much. Drink too much. Spend time with family.
Read. (The latest from Michael Robotham, Walter Mosley and Mark Billingham, plus and advance of the new book from the amazing Becky Masterman, await.)
And I'll probably binge-watch a few shows. We stumbled onto Rectify a few nights ago and are three episodes into season one...