We alternately call them crime novels or detective fiction; may even trivialize them as “mystery stories”, inadvertently classifying them with the likes of the Five-Find Outers. They include some of my favourite authors: Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, H.R.F. Keating, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell… and it’s only recently that I have learnt that another term for this sub-genre of fiction is the “police procedural”. And this term, in turn, throws up two names: Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.

The Man on the Balcony is the third book in the Martin Beck series by this husband–wife team. The series is so-called because it features a Stockholm-based police detective of the same name as the central character, even though his colleagues appear to get just as much print-space.

Without further ado, read the review. More will follow as soon as I am able to get hold of the other books.

~PD

New Year’s day is really only just another day. On the other hand, it does signify a new beginning, a chance to leave behind the baggage of the year past and look to the future with optimism. Miraculously, it also suddenly frees us from the introspection and retrospection that the last weeks of December invariably bring. Given all this, it is perhaps the best time to draw up the courage and look back…

In every way 2008 was a mixed year. We called 2007 the “Curse of the 1976-ers” and 2008 was supposed to be a good year because we deserved something good. Well, there was some good, and some not. At the personal level there were significant “endings” — some were painful, and some a relief and a chance to move on. But there were beginnings too, new territories charted.

For a year that raced past, it seemed interminably long at times. The IIT Kanpur Literary Festival seems an age away — was it only nine months ago? Of course, 2008 will always be the year I finally visited Scotland, traversed the Loch Ness, saw David Tennant and Patrick Stewart on stage, and generally holidayed by myself in a strange land. In ways that are difficult to articulate, those were perhaps the most important three weeks of my year.

Work-wise it was again very mixed. My decade-long relationship with Sage came to an end. Giving up the journals that had always been part of my working life and had provided new perspectives to my fairly blinkered existense was hard. But it was also the year I joined the Minerva team; finished my third book; and had a literary agency sign me up.

In a completely egoistical way, I always consider my birthday as the start of my new year. And also, I detest new year resolutions. Then again, there’s really no bad time to make a list of things to do, is there?

• Do more Web design: Release at least one free design per quarter.
• Upgrade my Webby skills (finally learn Javascript?) or give up paid Webby work.
• Finish at least one of my “under construction” writing projects, preferably Kinnel’s Prison.
• Redesign Writeside.net and the Halvard Casle Data Network.
• Write more book reviews for my site. (The Martin Beck one is almost ready.)
• Submit my tax return. Argh…

So here’s to 2009… with hope in our hearts, as the song goes.

~PD

Please help: I need to come up with a good title for my book series, and for some reason I’m completely rubbish at titles.

For those of you who’ve forgotten — or don’t know — what the books are about, here’s a quick recap:

1. A Shadow in Eternity
2. The Key of Chaos
3. The Timeless Land

Now, I do have some options for a series title, which follow, but please feel free to suggest anything else.

1. The Sands of Time Trilogy: My publisher really likes this, but I am not completely sure about it. The first thing it brings to mind is the Longfellow poem about leaving behind footprints on the sands of time.
2. The Halvard Series: Too generic? What if I write more books with the same setting? Will it confuse readers?
3. The Halvard Castle Trilogy.
4. Maya.
5. The Ai’diyar Prophecy: To-the-point, leaving the option to write more on the same characters later on with no chance of confusion. However, the word “prophecy” may be misleading in the context of the books…
6. A Shadow in Eternity: This is what I unofficially call it; in my MS the second and third books are titled, A Shadow in Eternity II: The Key of Chaos and A Shadow in Eternity III: The Timeless Land.
7. Anything else?

All comments and suggestions will be much appreciated.

~PD