Quintin Jardine's blog

The unfortunate truth is John, those typos are probably on the printed version as well. Spell-checkers are convenient, but also dangerous, and  digitisation doesn’t require a complete reset. As for that word, well spotted, but no, it isn’t a brain-freeze by anyone, other than me, because it is misspelt. (I confess, it should be ‘Mercès’.) In the part of Spain in which that scene is set, people use Catalan, rather than Castellano. It’s the official language, with 10,000,000 speakers, and that character is one of them. It’s used in public communications, in schools, and in general conversation.

Whatchaonabout, Martyn? A Rush of Blood has been available for the last six months via the website on http://www.campbellreadbooks.com. It’s in hardback and trade paperback at the moment, and it will be there in mass market form next February.

Why do you call yourself jellybaby? And what’s your favourite colour? Congratulations on your voracity for books. My next? The Loner, a mystery with a difference, is due out in hardback next March.

E-book availability on Waterstones and WHS confuses me too. I’m looking into it, and I’m told that ‘It’s technical’, and that they’ll be available soon. They are all on Amazon Kindle, though.

Hold on! You did 20 Skinners in six weeks? That makes you the world record holder. If there are other claimants out there I’d love to hear from them.

Thanks for your message. The first thing I have to say to you is that there’s a world of difference between Bob Skinner and Skulduggery Pleasant. The second is that while it’s been a long time since I had a twelve-year-old, if I had I’d be holding back for two or thee years before I introduced her to Bob. Your 17-year-old though, he’s a candidate, not least if his cultural influences are drawn from video games. That said, in a way I envy him; I’d love to look at that world, but I have two problems with it, those being generational and time.

I’ve just read a piece of sports gossip alleging that Wayne Rooney’s Damascus moment may have a lot to do with the fact that his weekly pay packet has gone up to £250,000. If that’s true, it sets a new world record for the price of loyalty.

Second day in Vancouver after my first of two events last night, and I’m enjoying it as much as ever. Muchas gracias to Hal Wake for the invitation to the excellent Vancouver International Writers’ and Readers’ Festival, to Linwood Barclay and Gail Bowen, my co-panellists on the Revue Stage, and to our incredible moderator, Senator Larry W Campbell, former Mayor of Vancouver, who doesn’t look a bit like his official photograph. First thing Larry said to me last night, was ‘My grandfather was from Bellshill.’ I replied, ‘Big deal, so was mine,’ and we were off from there. I don’t know how we wound up discussing the anaesthetic qualities of Buckfast Tonic Wine in front of a live audience, but we did.

To the guy from Singapore who sent me the diatribe about Glock firearms, (sadly I am unable to retrieve it from the bin so I can give him a name-check) I think you for sharing your expertise, but I still prefer my version. Yours may have been factually accurate, or may not, but whatever; it was boring, and I wouldn’t inflict it on my readers.  Now let me leave you with a fundamental truth. Nobody loves a smart-arse.

Yes, Gavin, you dare mention that, for sure. As it happens, I’m in the middle of Mortal Causes myself. TV is a regular question for me, and my answer  doesn’t vary much. It won’t happen unless I have complete assurances that the translated Skinner would do justice to the written character, and to his team. In all probability that boils down to ‘No.’  When I start writing screenplays I’ll worry; until then, I won’t. Many thanks for your enthusiasm.

Man I admire your application; that’s more than three books a month. Slow down, please. I can’t keep up. Future publications? I’ve posted this before but it’s worth repeating. A Rush of Blood in paperback, February, The Loner, a new hardback, not part of either series, in March, then Grievous Angel, that’s Skinner 21, in hardback in June.

Scotland avoided humiliation last night. In fact they played well enough to score twice against Spain and few sides do that these days. Pity about the three in the other direction. Another ref might not have given that penalty, and very few would have yellow-carded Whittaker, given that he had his back to the ball, but the guy we had last night lacked the courage to use his common sense.

There is hope for our national football side, but it will be a long haul. The first step for me would be to make Craig Levein responsible for all levels of the game, from playground level up. Since he has no more than half a dozen games a year as a team manager, there’s no valid argument against. Something has to be seriously wrong with youth development when we have a 40-year-old centre-back, and when we have to raid Sunderland reserves for a Mancunian right-back on the basis that someone’s just remembered that his dad was from Glasgow. It would also help if the Old Firm stopped signing talented young players for significant sums of money, then stalling their progress by treatingthem liek apprentices.

Yes, there is hope, the sun is coming over the hill, not setting behind it. Finally we have a coach who’s up to the job; now we need to empower him, and have patience.

There’s a small miracle happening here. I don’t think it’s raining. Haven’t been able to say that very often during the last four days. I  took three inches of water out of the pool yesterday afternoon and I may have to do the same again this evening. Still, the family are back and we are a dog-free zone again.

Glad you’re enjoying the series. Sorry about the late nights. If it’s any consolation, I’m posting this at midnight.

. . . is getting bloody serious. Three days’ pretty much non-stop and I’m not talking about a light drizzle either. Approaching Ark conditions.

This morning I had occasion to refer to Waterstone’s website. To my surprise, I found that they are offering, for delivery on December 9, something they are calling Untitled Primavera. I was even able to put a copy in my shopping cart, although I wasn’t daft enough to pay for it.

For the avoidance of doubt, there will be no such publication on that date; the third Primavera Blackstone novel is scheduled currently for publication in January 2012. My apologies to anyone who was planning to give this book as a  Christmas present. Not that the howler had anything to do with me, but I’m embarrassed nonetheless, that such a mistake was made in the first place, (whether it was by Waterstone or my publisher I know not) and that it remains uncorrected so close to the non-existent publication date.

For the record, the next QJ publications are A Rush of Blood, in paperback, next February and The Loner, a brand new stand-alone novel, in hardback, £12.99, next March.

I wish I could tell you that’s possible, Phil, but all I can say for sure is that you can find them all on Amazon, in Kindle format.

Thanks, Colin. I know about that one. FLW, P475. Why do you assume that it’s an error or oversight? Its purpose is to show that Stevie lives on in the hearts and minds of his colleagues. (That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.)

Been to gym. Hot, sweaty, and the new router’s still not connecting to the internet. Dinner guests tonight; maybe someone round the table will know how to acquire an IP address.

Jobs we hate. Trying to set up a new wireless router. I give up. Off to the gym.