Barrelful of Praise

TP: So, first up, congratulations ... you done pulled off quite an achievement.

AG: Still coming to terms with it. I swear, it’s like I’ve stepped into a parallel universe where everything’s tinged with a rosy glow.

TP: Was a surprise to you?

AG: Now there’s an understatement. Yes, I genuinely didn’t believe I had a chance in hell. Never been so shocked in my life as when my name was read out.

TP: Where was you when you heard the news?

AG: All the shortlisted authors were on a panel at the Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. Natasha Cooper led a discussion of the books for about 45 minutes and then Simon Theakston announced the winner and my knees rapidly turned to overcooked spaghetti.

TP: And that lovely wife a'yours, Donna, what she saying 'bout it?

AG: Well, she didn’t make it down to Harrogate with me, which is something we’re both regretting. It was an amazing night but I felt very far away from her. We’re just very proud of what Two-Way Split has achieved.

TP: She ain't got that three-large spent on some rock or other already?

AG: We’ve always had a running joke that she only married me so she could buy diamonds when I became rich.

TP: But you'll throw her a wodge, right?

AG: What’s mine is hers. Apart from my book collection. That’s mine.

TP: Was some serious competition you done beat...

AG: The shortlist consisted of Stephen Booth, Christopher Brookmyre, Graham Hurley, Michael Jecks, Stuart MacBride and myself. The longlist had some even bigger names on it. So, yeah. Formidable. And such a terrific and magnanimous bunch of guys.

TP: Who'd you have picked as the winner, Al?

AG: I haven’t read all the books, but my guess would

have been between Stuart MacBride and

Christopher Brookmyre with Stephen Booth

breathing down their necks.

TP: You have any green down?

AG: No, but I’d loved to have seen the odds. Guarantee I’d have been the 100/1 outsider and I wouldn’t have been foolish enough to waste my money betting on myself.

TP: You had some big time rivalry brewing up with the man from the North ... bearded fella?

AG: All very gentlemanly. We listed our worst Amazon reviews on our blogs, for instance. Played to our weaknesses.

TP: He over it now, right? I mean, he got the Dagger already...

AG: I heard from a trusted source that Stuart had gone on a killing rampage throughout North Yorkshire, slaughtering all the livestock within a ten-mile radius of Harrogate (he’s never been quite right since he got kicked in the head by a dead cow). Seems to have calmed him down for now, though.

TP: The Pusher hears a lotta things, and I hear a lotta folk saying your award is well deserved, what you say to them? You musta had a lot of folk offering congrats...

AG: Yeah, just delighted so many people voted for me. And it’s great to hear that folk are saying Two-Way Split is a deserving winner. But, you know, I’m sure all the books on the shortlist would have made worthy winners. So much just comes down to opinion, taste and luck.

TP: You had some struggles getting Two-Way Split into print back in the day, you must be feeling kinda like you showed 'em now...I'm right?

AG: Many of the agents and editors who turned down Two-Way Split in their hundreds (honest) said it was well written and eminently publishable. Just wasn’t something they felt they could sell or knew how to publish well. I’m sure they were right. It’s a different kind of crime novel. Not a thriller, not a detective novel, no mystery element. Fortunately, Mark Stanton at Jenny Brown Associates, PointBlank Press in the US and Polygon in the UK saw the book’s idiosyncrasies in a positive light and I’m delighted that their faith has been rewarded.

TP: One last thing, I know you is teetotal...what the hell you gonna do with that grog barrel they gave ya?

AG: Have you seen it? It’s just a little fella, and it’s empty. It gets pride of place in my study.