Criminal Tendencies

I’ve received my author copy of an interesting new anthology, Criminal Tendencies. It’s published by Crème de la Crime, and £1 from each copy is to be donated to the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline.

Mark Billingham contributes an introduction, and Lynne Patrick, the presiding genius at C de la C, has assembled a varied range of contributors – including Caroline Schiach, who won an international competition that gave her the chance to see her story in print alongside those of such notable figures in the genre as Reginald Hill, Peter Lovesey, Peter James, Sophie Hannah, Andrew Taylor, Val McDermid and Simon Brett. Chris Nickson, winner of a regional competition, also has a story in the book.

My contribution is a story called ‘Mindstalker’, which first appeared six years ago in an anthology edited by Maxim Jakubowski and M. Christian, The Mammoth Book of Future Cops. As the title of the anthology suggests, the story is very different from the rest of my work. Writing it was an interesting experiment, and I’m glad to see the story have a second outing, especially for such a good cause.

I’m looking forward to reading this book – I’ve read a handful of the stories before (in fact, two appeared in anthos I have edited) but I’ll be coming to most of them afresh. And here’s hoping that the Helpline funds are nicely boosted by the book’s sales.