Where I might be going to promote the books is still in the works, but this much I do know: I will be doing a Canadian tour in early March for the release of Far From True, which will kick off in Vancouver at the new Cuffed crime fiction festival.

 

Details are being posted as they become available. If you're in the Vancouver area, this is worth checking out.

 

I'm also going to be at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England in July.

 

In April I'll be at festivals in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and Picton, Ontario. Details are still being worked out, so I'll let you know more in a future newsletter. You can also keep tabs on me at www.linwoodbarclay.com and on Twitter and finally, on Facebook. 

Speaking of nice guys: if you had told me, back when I was sitting in a Toronto theater in 1976 with my fiancé, Neetha, being scared to death watching Carrie, that my name would end up in a Stephen King novel, I'd have said I thought that unlikely. But in King's latest collection of short stories, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, there's a reference to me in a creepy short story called "Morality". A teacher is so drained from his job, he cannot get to his writing at night. "Many nights the most creative thing of which he found himself capable was reading a few chapters of the latest Linwood Barclay." Okay, it's not quite like Alexander McCall Smith making Ian Rankin an actual character in his 44 Scotland Street books, but it's still enough to give me a thrill.

When I was a kid, my three favourite thrills were Mission: Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the latest James Bond movie. In 2015, they were all back. Tom Cruise returned in the fifth Mission movie, which I saw, and enjoyed. And we were in the theater for the opening day of Daniel Craig's latest, and possibly last, outing as Bond in Spectre. The movie has had mixed reviews, but it had everything I want in a Bond movie. A good story, a nasty-piece-of-work villain, great set pieces, gorgeous photography, beautiful women. Thoroughly enjoyed it, although I missed Judi Dench as M. She gets about fifteen seconds. Judi Dench is my all-time favourite Bond girl.

 

While in London I found this poster for a Man from U.N.C.L.E movie. It's framed now and hanging in my office at our place in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

But the movie I was most looking forward to was U.N.C.L.E. I credit the TV show with inspiring me to write. At the age of 11 or 12, I was typing up thirty- to forty- page novellas based on the adventures of Solo and Illya. The Guy Ritchie film departed a lot from the show, but I was okay with that. The first twenty minutes are great, the film lags a bit for the next forty, then takes off until the end. It's a lot of fun. Given that it's an origin story, the crime-fighting agency U.N.C.L.E. isn't even formed until the last minutes of the film. The movie was clearly intended to kick-start a franchise, but I have my doubts that'll happen. It didn't perform that well at the box office. I think it hurt that it came out when Mission: Impossible was still going strong. How many rehashes of 1960s spy shows do you need in one summer? But fingers crossed they'll do another one.

At 9 p.m., there's Homeland, The Good Wife, The Leftovers and The Walking Dead. At 10, there's The Affair. Thank goodness for AppleTV and DVRs.

 

And how would I rank these shows? The Affair is interesting but sometimes bores and annoys me. The Good Wife, a solid drama for years, seems pretty silly this year. Something is off. The Walking Dead remains grisly fun. Homeland is totally on top of its game. Who needs Brody?

 

And the best show on TV that no one is talking about? The Leftovers.

 

We also binge-watched the new Netflix, Marvel Comics show Jessica Jones. Six episodes in, it seemed, every bit as good, or better, than Daredevil. But from then on, the show seemed to spin its wheels. I don't think they had enough story for thirteen episodes. They should have done seven or eight.

It used to be a major event if we got to Paris. My wife Neetha and I first went there a couple of years after we got married, around 1980, then a very long time went by before we got there again. In 2003, The Toronto Star, where I was a humour columnist at the time, sent our entire family over. I wrote a series of articles under the title of "The Barclays' Last Family Vacation". Our kids were in their late teens, and it seemed unlikely we'd ever be doing a major trip like that all together again.

 

But then around 2009 my books started coming out in translation in France, and they've done very well, so we've been over there almost every year since for one thing or another. We've gotten to know the city - at least the central part - well enough that when we go now, it's a bit like going home. We have our favourite restaurants and shops and places to hang out. And we don't have to open a map app on our phone to find them.

 

But the real joy has been the publishing friends we have made at Belfond and J'ai lu. They've been so supportive, and taken such good care of us when we've been over for events. They are absolutely terrific people.

 

So when the terrorist attacks happened, our thoughts turned not just to Paris, but to our friends. From what I've been able to find out, they're all okay, but it doesn't make the events any less tragic. These are scary times, but what can you do but carry on with your lives? Paris has been through worse, and it will get through this, too. 

I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and very Happy New Year. Here's hoping you find plenty of books under the tree, or wherever you find your presents - maybe even a copy of Broken Promise.

 

See you in 2016!  

Linwood