A happy coincidence

There are good days and there are not so good days and it makes sense to cherish the good days. Yesterday was, for me, definitely a day to remember fondly. The new Hard Day’s Night Hotel in the centre of Liverpool saw the official launch of Waterloo Sunset, coupled with the launch of my firm’s short story competition; details of the latter can be found at www.maceandjones.co.uk The competition entry fees will be donated to Local Solutions, a social enterprise with which I’ve long been fortunate to have an association. They do marvellous work in Merseyside, helping vulnerable people of all ages to live independently and to maximise their potential.

Around a hundred people showed up for the event, and the atmosphere was terrific. The main speaker was Colin Hilton, whom I first got to know about 15 years ago when he worked in the education sector in Knowsley, and was a witness in a case I conducted. Colin is one of the good guys, and I was delighted a couple of years ago when he was appointed chief executive of Liverpool City Council. He’s a great advocate for literature, as well as for the merits of the great city, and he spoke with real passion about the progress that Liverpool has made in the past few years, after decades of being regarded as an economic dead zone.

For me, by a happy – and in fact, quite amazing - coincidence, on the very day of launching the competition, I received the news yesterday morning that my story ‘The Bookbinder’s Apprentice’ has been shortlisted for the CWA award for best short story of the year. I’ve not quite recovered from the surprise yet, but when I do, I’ll have a bit more to say about this, and I also hope to have a photo or two from the event to share. In the meantime, it’s off to Bristol for Crimefest, but thanks to the wonders of Blogger’s post scheduler, I’ll be talking about one or two other books over the next two or three days.