Kerry said: I had recently hoped to serve as editor for a
book, very well written, nice gritty style, the narrative
involving street gangs here in Hamilton. There's a long
history of gang activity in this city. None of the larger
publishers would touch it, probably because they felt there
wasn't a market for it outside Hamilton. There's a lot of
Canadians figure this city is exceptional for this type of
thing.
Hamilton is a brilliant choice. I grew up in Muskoka, so I¹m
quite familiar with southern Ontario. And if you could work
in political corruption in Hamilton you could really have
some fun.
One of the main things that bothers me is that we have a lot
of presses here propped up by government grant money. I
appreciate the fact that, were it not for these grants, these
publishers wouldn¹t be in business. And I accept that as a
reality, but it means they do not need to concern themselves
with marketability and sales. In my wildest quirk outside of
my usual reading I actually really enjoy H. Mel Malton¹s
Polly Deacon series, but publishers like Rendezvous depress
me. They would have us think the cops are all stereotypical
donut-eating, bumbling idiots who can¹t connect two dots, and
thank goodness the realtors and puppet makers are out there
solving murders.
Gag.
Okay, so I cut slack for Mel¹s series, because Polly is so
delightfully irreverent, but it¹s no wonder people don¹t take
Canadian crime fiction seriously. A huge percentage of it is
barely one step removed from Murder She Wrote. The last
Canadian crime fiction book I read I threw against the wall,
and I¹m actually opposed to book abuse.
Why doesn¹t someone start a publishing company that does some
dark Canadian crime? My husband and I spend hundreds annually
on books. We still buy a good chunk of what we review, but we
finally gave up on doing a Canadian issue this year. Two
years running almost impossible to get cooperation. I emailed
publishers and agents last year to try to get authors
interested in being interviewed... I just don¹t have the time
for it anymore.
The reality is that authors such as Giles Blunt have
demonstrated that the setting can sell to readers if the
writing is strong.
Margaret Laurence was about as bleak as it gets. Toss in a
crime and I could write books set in Canada... I¹d just have
to call it literature.
Cheers, Sandra
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