Today, I have
awarding winning crime author, Chris Longmuir sitting round my pool and talking
about Devil Porridge. It is Chris’s latest book, but do you know the true
meaning of Devil’s Porridge? No, then please sit back and Chris will give you
an explosive thumbnail account!
Thanks for inviting me to sit round your pool, Pauline. We
have had some beautiful sunny days in Scotland this summer, but I must say the
heat here is greater and I’m sweating already – sorry, should I have said
perspiring (more polite), or glowing (ladies don’t sweat, they glow, or so I‘m
told!). Ooh! Is that a cool drink you’re offering me? And very welcome it is
too. What’s that you say? You have some questions for me? Just let me get a bit
more comfortable and then we can begin.
It is great having you back here and of
course do help yourself to the cool drinks. Now whilst you settle down, I’m
dying to learn about your latest book, so let’s clink glasses and then you take
it away…
Devils Porridge is your latest book, but
before we talk about this, how many books have you published.
You do realise that
anything to do with numbers is anathema to me, that’s because any counting I
have to do depends on my fingers. So let me see, I still have enough fingers to
count my books. I’ve got three books in my Dundee Crime Series, plus I made a
box set of them. Then I have two books in my Kirsty Campbell Series, plus a
historical saga, and a nonfiction book on ePublishing and Indie crime fiction.
Let me count, the fingers I’m holding up? Yes, that seems to be seven books in
total, eight if you count the box set. Phew! I’m glad that’s over. You’re not
going to give me any more counting tasks, are you?
Only because we’ve already downed one bottle
of bubbly! Right back to the questions… I believe they are different genres,
why is this?
When I was with a
traditional publisher they don’t allow you to get out of the box they put you
in. So I was firmly nailed into a contemporary crime fiction box. But I like
variety, and when the muse hits it doesn’t respect publishers’ genre boxes, so
I found traditional publishing very restrictive. In order to escape these
restrictions I became an indie publisher, and now I can write what I want in
the knowledge my publisher (me) is not going to say you can’t do that.
I really love
writing different genres, although it does pose problems in satisfying readers’
expectations. Some of my readers are clamouring for more Bill Murphy books,
some want another historical crime, and I do have some who want me to continue
with more historical sagas. Over and above that, I provide a lot of advice to
indie writers when I’m asked, plus I do workshops on ebooks and self
publishing, so I want to do another nonfiction book based on my workshops.
You won a prestigious award back in 2009 /
2010 how did this come about?
That’s right. I won
the Dundee International Book Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes for
unpublished books. It came with a publishing contract and a fairly sizeable
cheque which, at the time, was the largest cash prize for a book competition.
Unfortunately they have now cut the value of this prize in half, but it’s still
well worth winning. I bought my first Apple Mac computer, and did the Orient
Express to Venice, with my prize money.
The book that won
the prize was Dead Wood, which is book two in the Dundee Crime Series. Book One
was written at this time, but wasn’t published. I had three finished novels in
my bottom drawer, otherwise known as my computer’s hard drive, before I won the
prize and got my first novel published. So, you could say I was an overnight
success, after twenty years of writing!
Devil’s Porridge is a strange title, how did
you come by this?
I’ve had that title
under wraps since 2008, which was when I first decided to write this book, and
I actually came across it in an article Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in 1916, after
he visited Gretna Munitions Factory. There is also a museum at Eastriggs called
The Devil’s Porridge Museum, easily found through a Google search.
Gretna Munitions
Factory was a vast place. Nine miles long and four miles wide, and they built
two new towns, Gretna and Eastriggs, to service it. At the Eastriggs end the
munitionettes mixed guncotton and nitroglycerine together, with their bare
hands, into a paste needed for the manufacture of cordite which was the
propellant used in bombs. The paste the munitionettes kneaded in lead drums was
likened to a porridge consistency, and it was this that Conan Doyle named
Devil’s Porridge. Here is what he said “Those
smiling khaki-clad girls who are swirling the stuff round in their hands would
be blown to atoms in an instant if certain very small changes occurred. The
changes will not occur, and the girls still smile and stir their ‘devil’s
porridge’, but it is a narrow margin between life and death.”
This book has been
on my back burner for several years, but it’s always been in the back of my
mind, nagging me to be written. It’s tied in with my pioneer policewoman
character as well, because the early policewomen were sent to service the munitions
factories. And what better place to set a murder mystery story than a munitions
factory which makes Devil’s Porridge. (I have included a historical endnote in
the book for those readers interested in the historical background.)
What era is Devil’s Porridge set in?
It’s set in 1917
during the First World War. There are some historical events which I’ve woven
into the fabric of the story. The Silvertown explosion, for example, did take
place. Vernon Kell, and William Melville were real people working for MI5.
Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of the time has a walk-on part. And the visit
by King George V and Queen Mary did take place at Gretna on 18th May 1917, although
there is no record of the assassination attempt which takes place in my novel
and is purely fictional.
Can we expect more for Kirsty?
Of course. But in the next book she will be back in Dundee
as the city’s first policewoman. Kirsty came about when I found out there was a
policewoman in Dundee between 1918 to 1921. At that time there were only two
policewomen in the entirety of Scotland. The other one was in Glasgow. So,
Kirsty just fell into my lap, and what writer could resist writing about such a
unique character. It’s writers’ gold. So, watch this space, Kirsty will return.
Absolutely fascinating! Thank you so much for all of this,
and also for leaving your beautiful Scotland to sit round my pool. I am already hooked on your latest novel, but
then I have read your crime novels and know from experience they are filled
with facts and fiction.
Find out more about Chris by visiting her web site and do
look at reading her books, they really are page turners… all of them!
This
is a criminally good read.
Links
:
Chris Longmuir
Books
Historical books
Nonfiction
As always thank you for stopping by and now you know what Devil's Porridge is... fascinating!
That's it for today, I hope the sun is shinning on your face and in your heart.
Until next time…
Love
Pauline
xxx
2 comments:
Thank you for interviewing me round your pool, Pauline. I'm back in Scotland now and I've stopped glowing! It was a pleasure to be with you today, and what on earth did you put in those drinks, I'm all woozy and giggly?
LOL! Chris, I think it was more the explosive talk about Devil's Porridge that go us going. xxx
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