Is Philip Marlowe spinning in his grave?

It’s official.

Yesterday my crime novel, Cambodia Darkness and Light, was short listed in the category of best unpublished manuscript by an emerging writer in the 2010 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

The judges said the following about Cambodia Darkness and Light:

Ex-cop Max Quinlan is working his third missing person’s case, and he’s already out of his depth … He’s in Cambodia, on the trail of disappeared Melbourne gem-trader Charles Avery, hired by his deep-pocketed sister. Avery is the kind of man ‘everyone had met’ but ‘no one knew’ – and he’s deeply enmeshed with the Khmer Rouge. This is a fast-paced, richly atmospheric spin on the Chandler-esque disillusioned gumshoe, keenly informed by the turbulent politics and history of Cambodia.

It’s not everyday you get your work compared to one of the masters of crime fiction, Raymond Chandler. Hopefully, he’s not spinning in his grave too much at the suggestion that my Vietnamese Australian ex-cop turned missing person’s investigator has anything in common with Philip Marlowe.

Best of luck to the other two shortlisted writers in the unpublished manuscript category. Peter Temple’s crime novel Truth is among the books shortlisted for the Vance Palmer fiction prize. Hopefully, its inclusion will continue to push crime fiction, particularly, Australian crime fiction, further into the literary mainstream in this country. You can find the full shortlist in all categories along with all the judges comments, here.

The winners will be announced on September 28.

As anyone who has tried to get their first book published will tell you, it’s a long road. I’m thrilled with the shortlisting and hope it’s the next step on the way to Cambodia Darkness and Light eventually seeing the light of day on bookshelves.

Interestingly, my wonderful partner and crime writer Angela Savage was the recipient of the prize for unpublished manuscript in the 2004 awards. This lead to the publication of her first book, Behind the Night Bazaar. Her second book, The Half Child, also featuring the Bangkok-based female PI Jayne Keaney, has just been released with Text and is available in bookstores. Jayne’s second outing sees her embroiled in an adoption scam in the sleazy southern Thai town of Pattaya. It’s a great read.

And while we’re on the subject of prizes, a huge congratulations to Australian author Garry Disher who has picked up a Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction for his book, Wyatt. A review of this book, the seventh featuring the professional criminal and hold-up man, Wyatt, featured on Pulp Curry earlier this year (if you haven’t seen it you check it out here). After receiving considerable international praise, it is great to see the Wyatt books get the attention they deserve locally.

I’m interviewing Garry about Wyatt, the process of writing and the state of crime fiction in Australian for the next issue of Crime Factory, due to hit your computer screens in a few weeks time.

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0 Responses

  1. Congrats Andrew. “The New Marlowe” – high praise indeed!

  2. Cambodia Darkness and Light is a great book and you deserve this: http://angelasavage.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/partner-in-crime/

  3. Terrific news – deservedly high praise – a good publisher would be mad not to take a look at the manuscript. Congratulations!

  4. Congratulations, Andrew ! Could I get you to sign a copy when it’s published? A suggestion: have it translated into French – the Frenchies still have this thing for le Cambodge……Germany has “Nachtmarkt”, France should have “L’obscurité et la clarté du Cambodge”, no ?

  5. Pingback: The Half-Child launched « Angela Savage

  6. Thanks, Kim, much appreciated. Any ideas about potential publishers that might be interested?
    Andrew

  7. Congratulations Andrew! Quite an achievement in of itself whether you snatch glory or not. It will undoubtedly give it exposure in all the right places. Make sure you keep giving us updates on how it goes.

    Alex

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