Favorite Mystery/Crime Writer: Ian Rankin

Ian Rankin

Photo and text below from Ian's "About" page at
https://www.ianrankin.net/landing-page/ian-rankin/ian-rankin-about/

Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature.

 

After university and before his success with his Rebus novels, Ian had a number of jobs including working as a grape-picker, a swineherd, a journalist for a hi-fi magazine, and a taxman. Following his marriage in 1986, he lived briefly in London where he worked at the National Folktale Centre, followed by a short time living in France, before returning to Edinburgh.

 

Ian’s first novel Summer Rites remains in his bottom drawer, but his second novel, The Flood, was published in 1986, while his first Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses, was published in 1987. The Rebus series is now translated into twenty-two languages and the books are bestsellers on several continents. In addition to his Rebus and Malcolm Fox novels, he has also written standalone novels including Doors Open, which was televised in 2012, short stories, a graphic novel – Dark Entries – and a play (with Mark Thomson, the Royal Lyceum Theatre’s Artistic Director) Dark Road, which premiered at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in September 2013. A second play, Long Shadows, starring John Rebus, was co-written with Rona Munro and staged in 2018. There are also a number of novels under the pseudonym ‘Jack Harvey’ and in 2005 he collaborated with singer Jackie Leven on a CD. His non-fiction book Rebus’s Scotland was published in 2005.

 

Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, Ian won America’s celebrated Edgar Award for Resurrection Men. He has also been shortlisted for the Edgar and Anthony Awards in the USA, and won Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and Germany’s Deutscher Krimipreis.

 

Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Hull, Abertay, St Andrews and Edinburgh as well as The Open University. In 2019, he donated his archive of over 50 boxes of manuscripts, letters and paperwork to the National Library of Scotland.

 

A regular contributor to BBC2’s Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin’s Evil Thoughts on Channel 4 in 2002 and Rankin on the Staircase for BBC Four in 2005. In 2007, Rankin appeared in Ian Rankin’s Hidden Edinburgh and Ian Rankin Investigates Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde also for BBC Four. Ian has been the subject of ITV’s South Bank Show and BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs where his choice of music included Joy Division, The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison.

 

Ian has received an OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his wife and two sons.

To learn more about Ian Rankin and his books, go to https://www.ianrankin.net/.

BLACK GROTTO: Kindle Giveaway Has Finished / Books In Scotland

Just Published!

                                                

The Kindle e-book giveaway on Amazon for my new fantasy novel, BLACK GROTTO, has finished!

I want to thank everyone across Europe and in the U. S. and Canada that participated. I hope you enjoy your copy of Black Grotto!

Facebook Post: Mrs MacIntyre's Coffee House in Edinburgh, Scotland

Below is a Facebook post from Mrs MacIntyre's Coffee House in Edinburgh that I'd like to share with you. To view the post more clearly, click on it, and to see the actual post just search for Mrs MacIntyre's Coffee House on Facebook. If you're ever Edinburgh, it's a wonderful place on the Royal Mile. 

To learn more about BLACK GROTTO or any of my books, go to the BOB'S BOOKS link at the top of this blog.

Home From Scotland & A New Review Of Rooms

Writing in Edinburgh

I'm home from my trip to Scotland. I thought I'd try to finish my new fantasy book, Black Grotto, while I was there but didn't quite make it. I accomplished a lot, though, and I'm working on Chapter 24 now. I'll let you know how it goes.

I spent two weeks in Inverness and loved being there. It's right in the middle of the highlands and has a population of about 47,000. I worked every day, and also enjoyed the people, the culture, the music, the food, some good beer and a little whisky. But mostly, I loved working on the book. Being in Scotland added a lot to the writing.

The last week I was in Edinburgh, and most of my writing time was spent in the Scottish National Library. It was a very motivating and inspiring place to work. Also, every day I ate breakfast at a place called Mrs MacIntyre's Coffeehouse. It's run by a wonderful family. They had great food, and it was a cozy and warm place to start my day.

One of the owners of Mrs MacIntyre's, read my first science fiction book, Rooms, and wrote a review on their Facebook page. If you CLICK HERE, you'll be able to take a look at it.

BLACK GROTTO Excerpt: Chapter 1

Edinburgh, Scotland

In Edinburgh, Scotland Working on Black Grotto

I left Inverness yesterday on the train. It was a beautiful trip as you travel through Cairngorm National Park and then along the Scottish coast going south to Edinburgh.

Now, I have to find my places to write here. Luckily I've spent quite a bit of time in Edinburgh, so I have a good idea where those might be. I'll be working here for another week before going home.

I'm still working on chapter 23. It's taking a while, and tomorrow I have to read the first four chapters of the book again before I can finally complete that chapter. It's been an important and interesting one to write.

Also, I've begun handing out copies of Chapter 1 for people to read. I'm going to attach it here so you can take a look. Just click on this link to read Chapter 1.

A New Review of BEATRICE from Amazon

5 Stars

A Must Read for People Who Love an Exciting Fantasy Wrapped Within a Mystery

I've never read a fantasy/mystery quite like this before. I loved it! I really enjoyed all of the characters, and the setting in Edinburgh, Scotland was a superb choice for the content of the story. The plot was exciting, intricate, beautifully written, and the ending packed a punch and left me wanting more. I couldn't put it down! My congratulations to the author for successfully writing yet another story that not only entertains but also speaks to our capacity as humans to either hinder or advance our evolutionary growth through the choices we make. Can’t wait for the sequel!

Updated Beatrice and Rooms Review

I've just updated my new Fantasy/Mystery/Thriller Beatrice on Amazon. I've changed the cover slightly and made some small changes in the text. I've also included a short description and a quote below.

Description of Beatrice

Magic, mystery and historical events combine in this unique, modern day fantasy written about a family in Scotland. Ewan Bauman was about to have his eighteenth birthday party on his family’s old and venerable estate outside of Edinburgh. On the night of the party, however, a traumatic event occurred that caused his mother, sister and he to lose fragments of their memories, including everything that had happened that night. It haunted them and pushed them apart, but after twenty years, the tug and pull of that night could no longer be ignored. They had to find out what happened. Their search brought them closer together, but it also took them to a very dark and sinister place - one that they could never have imagined - a place from which they might never return.

“I attempted to reach out and touch something solid that I could push against. I had no sense of up or down or movement. I couldn’t feel or hear or smell, but I could see, not in the usual way, but in insignificant bursts that came sporadically as my eyelids opened and closed and opened and closed.  Within those small, fractured moments, I could see that I was surrounded and trapped in a dense, cinnamon-stained vapor that swirled into oblivion. I couldn’t remember how I’d entered that hell, and I had no memory of it ending.”

I've just received a new review of ROOMS that I've placed below.

Beautiful Story With A Timely Message

This book offers a timely view into a future brought on by the consequences of corporate greed and war. As I journeyed with Rad through the Old One's Room, I was not only entertained. I felt Rad's joy and reverence for the Earth and it's people. I felt his growing desolation as he witnessed the slow destruction of the Earth within each successive level of the Room. I struggled with him as he worked with Sparks and Zeer to bring health and hope to the demoralized Terran population.

Since the author left this story open to a sequel, I will be excited to see how his writing style evolves and how he ties the planet Loon (where The Old One and Zeer reside) to Earth and the other human outposts scattered throughout the universe.

New Rooms Review & New BEATRICE Description

Before I talk about Beatrice, I've included below a recent new review of Rooms from Amazon.

Beautiful Story With A Timely Message

This book offers a timely view into a future brought on by the consequences of corporate greed and war. As I journeyed with Rad through the Old One's Room, I was not only entertained. I felt Rad's joy and reverence for the Earth and it's people. I felt his growing desolation as he witnessed the slow destruction of the Earth within each successive level of the Room. I struggled with him as he worked with Sparks and Zeer to bring health and hope to the demoralized Terran population.

Since the author left this story open to a sequel, I will be excited to see how his writing style evolves and how he ties the planet Loon (where The Old One and Zeer reside) to Earth and the other human outposts scattered throughout the universe.

I've included a short new description and a quote from my new Fantasy/Mystery/Thriller Beatrice below. I've just recently published it on Amazon.

Description of Beatrice

Magic, mystery and historical events combine in this unique, modern day fantasy written about a family in Scotland. Ewan Bauman was about to have his eighteenth birthday party on his family’s old and venerable estate outside of Edinburgh. On the night of the party, however, a traumatic event occurred that caused his mother, sister and he to lose fragments of their memories, including everything that had happened that night. It haunted them and pushed them apart, but after twenty years, the tug and pull of that night could no longer be ignored. They had to find out what happened. Their search brought them closer together, but it also took them to a very dark and sinister place - one that they could never have imagined - a place from which they might never return.

“I attempted to reach out and touch something solid that I could push against. I had no sense of up or down or movement. I couldn’t feel or hear or smell, but I could see, not in the usual way, but in insignificant bursts that came sporadically as my eyelids opened and closed and opened and closed.  Within those small, fractured moments, I could see that I was surrounded and trapped in a dense, cinnamon-stained vapor that swirled into oblivion. I couldn’t remember how I’d entered that hell, and I had no memory of it ending.”

BEATRICE IS PUBLISHED ON AMAZON!!

BEATRICE is done and published on Amazon. It's in paperback and can be downloaded to your Kindle as well. It's been about 6 months since I started writing the book, and it's quite different from my first novel. This is an Adult Fantasy-Mystery-Thriller and has been a very intricate and interesting book to write. The characters are rich and varied, and it's been a lot of fun putting all the pieces together to arrive at the climax.

I've included a short description and a quote from the book below. I hope you enjoy Beatrice!

Description of Beatrice

My name is Ewan Bauman, and the year was 1987. It was October, the month of my eighteenth birthday. We were going to have a huge bash at our old, historic mansion near Edinburgh. On the night of the party, however, some traumatic event occurred that caused Mother, Fiona and I to lose fragments of our memories, including what had happened that night. No one in the medical profession could determine why or help us remember. It haunted us and pushed us apart, but after twenty years, the tug and pull of that night could not be ignored. We had to find out what had happened. We did, and the search brought us closer together again, but it also took us to a very sinister place - one that none of us could ever have imagined - a place from which we might never return.

“I attempted to reach out and touch something solid that I could push against. I had no sense of up or down or movement. I couldn’t feel or hear or smell, but I could see, not in the usual way, but in insignificant bursts that came sporadically as my eyelids opened and closed and opened and closed.  Within those small, fractured moments, I could see that I was surrounded and trapped in a dense, cinnamon-stained vapor that swirled into oblivion. I couldn’t remember how I’d entered that hell, and I had no memory of it ending.”

BEATRICE Will Be Published Very Soon & A Recent Review of ROOMS

Before I talk about Beatrice, I've included below a recent new review of Rooms from Amazon.

Beautiful Story With A Timely Message

This book offers a timely view into a future brought on by the consequences of corporate greed and war. As I journeyed with Rad through the Old One's Room, I was not only entertained. I felt Rad's joy and reverence for the Earth and it's people. I felt his growing desolation as he witnessed the slow destruction of the Earth within each successive level of the Room. I struggled with him as he worked with Sparks and Zeer to bring health and hope to the demoralized Terran population.

Since the author left this story open to a sequel, I will be excited to see how his writing style evolves and how he ties the planet Loon (where The Old One and Zeer reside) to Earth and the other human outposts scattered throughout the universe.

"Beatrice"

I've finished all the work on Beatrice, and here's the cover! It's been a joy to write this book, and as always, I've learned a great deal and continue to work hard on my writing. One of the things that I especially like about Beatrice is that it has so many twists and turns. I think there are a lot of surprises and interesting scenes in the story and a unique cast of characters that Ewan and his family discover along the way. I especially enjoyed writing about Fergus lister, the family's favorite taxi driver and Marta Pottinger. She actually has a big part in the book, and there are quite a few scenes that take place in her home.

Today, I finished uploading all the files to CreateSpace and completed the design of the cover. It's done. The book will probably be up on Amazon in the U. S. and other parts of the world within two days or so. Then I can publish the Kindle version as well.

After I finish this project, I'm going to stop writing for a little while and work on getting an agent. I know that will take some time and effort, but I'm looking forward to the process. In the meantime, my books are on Amazon, and people are buying and reading them, which makes me very happy and pleased.

Below I've included a new, shorter description of Beatrice with one quote from the book. I'll also probably include the first two chapters on my blog in a few days, just like I did with Wheatgrass and Rooms.

Description of Beatrice

My name is Ewan Bauman, and the year was 1987. It was October, the month of my eighteenth birthday. We were going to have a huge bash at our old, historic mansion near Edinburgh. On the night of the party, however, some traumatic event occurred that caused Mother, Fiona and I to lose fragments of our memories, including what had happened that night. No one in the medical profession could determine why or help us remember. It haunted us and pushed us apart, but after twenty years, the tug and pull of that night could not be ignored. We had to find out what had happened. We did, and the search brought us closer together again, but it also took us to a very sinister place - one that none of us could ever have imagined - a place from which we might never return.

“I attempted to reach out and touch something solid that I could push against. I had no sense of up or down or movement. I couldn’t feel or hear or smell, but I could see, not in the usual way, but in insignificant bursts that came sporadically as my eyelids opened and closed and opened and closed.  Within those small, fractured moments, I could see that I was surrounded and trapped in a dense, cinnamon-stained vapor that swirled into oblivion. I couldn’t remember how I’d entered that hell, and I had no memory of it ending.”

Tree/Moon Image from:

Forest Blue Moonlight Wallpapers.. Digital image. Travelization. N.p., 30 June 2012, Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <www.travelization.net>.

New Book: "Beatrice" - Sixth and Final Draft & Updated Book Description with Two Quotes

(Forest)

The sixth and final draft of my new book, Beatrice, is almost done. I will be publishing it on Amazon in Europe and the U. S. very soon.

Below, I have placed an updated description of the book and two quotes. The first quote is from Chapter 3 and the second is from Chapter 24.

Please read the description below and let me know what you think, and if you haven't yet, don't forget to check out Rooms and Wheatgrass by clicking on the book images on right-hand menu.

Description of Beatrice

Chapter 3 Quote

“It had been at least two months since I’d seen Mother and spoken to her, and I knew that it wouldn’t be easy to talk with her about that last year we’d lived in our mansion. Just as with me, I knew that her memories were fragmented, and whenever Fiona or I would try to talk to her about it, a dark cloud seemed to surround us. Mother would simply refuse to discuss it. But this time…this time it had to be different. This was something that needed to come out. I knew none of us could ever be happy or content in our lives until we’d faced it. We had to discover together what had happened, and if we could, maybe then we could finally put it all behind us.”

My name is Ewan Bauman, and the year was 1987. It was October, the month of my eighteenth birthday, and we were going to have a huge bash at our old, historic mansion on our estate outside of Edinburgh.

However, the night of the party was also when Mother, Fiona and I lost pieces of our memories. Afterwards, none of us could recall anything that had happened during the party or for the rest of October. We even had trouble remembering some events from the Christmas of 1986 up until that time. It haunted and changed each of us to have a part of our lives simply vanish. We tried to get medical help, but the doctors were never really able to pinpoint a cause or bring back any of our memories.

Whatever traumatic event had produced the loss of memory had also damaged my family. We left our home on the estate, moved to different parts of Scotland, and from then on, there always seemed to be a wall between us - a dark hole that none of us was willing to look down.

Finally, in 2006, the tug and pull of that missing portion of our lives brought the three of us back together again. I’d decided that this simply had to end. I would take three months off work, and with the help of Mother and Fiona, we would dig into this and figure it out ourselves.

We did, and the search brought us closer together, but it also took us to a very sinister place - one that none of us could ever have imagined - a place from which we might never return.

Chapter 24 Quote

“I attempted to reach out and touch something solid that I could push against. I had no sense of up or down or movement. I couldn’t feel or hear or smell, but I could see, not in the usual way, but in insignificant bursts that came sporadically as my eyelids opened and closed and opened and closed.  Within those small, fractured moments, I could see that I was surrounded and trapped in a dense, cinnamon-stained vapor that swirled into oblivion. I couldn’t remember how I’d entered that hell, and I had no memory of it ending.”

Tree/Moon Image from:

Forest Blue Moonlight Wallpapers.. Digital image. Travelization. N.p., 30 June 2012, Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <www.travelization.net>.

New Novel BEATRICE: First Description and Quote from Chapter 3

Before I talk about Beatrice, I just wanted to remind you  to check out my adult science fiction novel, Rooms, and my young adult novelette, Wheatgrass: An Irish Fantasy on Amazon if you haven't yet.

New Book: "Beatrice" - Fifth Draft is Complete & the First Description of the Book

(Forest)

The fifth draft of my new book, Beatrice, is finished. It now has thirty chapters and almost 78,000 words. All that I have left to do is read it one more time for content and very minimal editing, and I will publish it on Amazon.

Below, I am including the very first description of the book with a short quote from the third chapter and another from chapter twenty-four at the end. I am very excited about Beatrice and am thrilled to be this close to publishing it.

Please read the description below and let me know what you think.

Description of Beatrice

Chapter 3 Quote

“It had been at least two months since I’d seen Mother and spoken to her, and I knew that it wouldn’t be easy to talk with her about that last year we’d lived in our mansion. Just as with me, I knew that her memories were fragmented, and whenever Fiona or I would try to talk to her about it, a dark cloud seemed to surround us. Mother would simply refuse to discuss it. But this time…this time it had to be different. This was something that needed to come out. I knew none of us could ever be happy or content in our lives until we’d faced it. We had to discover together what had happened, and if we could, maybe then we could finally put it all behind us.”

My name is Ewan Bauman, and the year was 1987. It was October, the month of my eighteenth birthday, and we were going to have a huge bash at our old, historic mansion on our estate outside of Edinburgh.

However, the night of the party was also when Mother, Fiona and I lost pieces of our memories. Afterwards, none of us could recall anything that had happened during the party or for the rest of October. We even had trouble remembering some events from the Christmas of 1986 up until that time. It haunted and changed each of us to have a part of our lives simply vanish. We tried to get medical help, but the doctors were never really able to pinpoint a cause or bring back any of our memories.

Whatever traumatic event had produced the loss of memory had also damaged my family. We left our home on the estate, moved to different parts of Scotland, and from then on, there always seemed to be a wall between us - a dark hole that none of us was willing to look down.

Finally, in 2006, the tug and pull of that missing portion of our lives brought the three of us back together again. I’d decided that this simply had to end. I would take three months off work, and with the help of Mother and Fiona, we would dig into this and figure it out ourselves.

We did, and the search brought us closer together, but it also took us to a very sinister place - one that none of us could ever have imagined - a place from which we might never return.

Chapter 24 Quote

“I attempted to reach out and touch something solid that I could push against. I had no sense of up or down or movement. I couldn’t feel or hear or smell, but I could see, not in the usual way, but in insignificant bursts that came sporadically as my eyelids opened and closed and opened and closed.  Within those small, fractured moments, I could see that I was surrounded and trapped in a dense, cinnamon-stained vapor that swirled into oblivion. I couldn’t remember how I’d entered that hell, and I had no memory of it ending.”

Tree/Moon Image from:

Forest Blue Moonlight Wallpapers.. Digital image. Travelization. N.p., 30 June 2012, Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <www.travelization.net>.

New Book: Second Draft Completed

New Book: "Beatrice" - Second Draft is Complete

(Forest)

The second draft of my new book, Beatrice, is finished. This draft went from 72,000 to 76,000 words, and there are now twenty-eight chapters. As I thought, the book got bigger with each edit. That seems to be a trend.

Ever since I started this book, the ending was something that bothered me. I just wasn't sure what I would do to end it. The rest of the book had been very intricate and each chapter seemed to almost write itself, but not the ending.

I finished, but wasn't satisfied. The final chapter just didn't work. It obviously was bothering me because one night I dreamed a different ending, and that was it. I got up that night and wrote down the idea. The next morning, I was finally excited about how I would end it, and then I spent time adding and changing to make it right. I'm very pleased now. I'm going to publish the book within a couple of weeks, and then I'm going to stop writing for a while. I'm a bit burned out.

I've planned a sequel to Rooms and now Beatrice has a sequel as well. That wasn't planned from the beginning, but now I know it has to happen.

After I get Beatrice published, I'm going to concentrate only on my agent/publisher search and writing in my blog, and as I mentioned in my last post, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to enter Beatrice in this year's Amazon Breakout Novel Contest. I'm looking forward  to it.

When Beatrice is finally finished and published on Amazon, I'll let you know. I'm really looking forward to it. I think my writing is improving every day, and it will be fun to see how it does.

Also, if you haven't yet, please don't forget to check out Rooms and Wheatgrass: An Irish Fantasy on Amazon.

Tree/Moon Image from:

Forest Blue Moonlight Wallpapers.. Digital image. Travelization. N.p., 30 June 2012, Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <www.travelization.net>.