Silencers And Stuff

I’m still working hard on Dark Justice, the new Dan Shepherd book. Just hit 120,000 words. It’s funny, I was trying so hard to bring it in at 110,000 words but it just won’t have it and all the signs are that it will end up as long as the last three – ie 135,000 words.

I got another email about mistakes in Live Fire – mainly the fact that I had a revolver with a silencer and silencers don’t work with revolvers. I’d already arranged for that to be changed in the mass-market paperback edition, which will be out in September. The reader also pointed out that blanks won’t chamber a second round, though I’m still not sure that’s true. I fired a replica Glock last year loaded with blanks and I’m pretty sure that it ejected the round and chambered a second. I didn’t fire it a second time because I had fired it in my flat in Maida Vale and it was very, very loud and there was a strong smell of cordite that lingered for days! But he did spot a couple of other things!

Anyway, here’s the first email from the reader:


This is another really good yarn. Keep up the good work. I have a couple of comments which just might improve future efforts.

1) On page 15 a safety is flicked off a large revolver. There is NO SAFETY ON A REVOLVER - either large or small.

2)On page 262 et seq the subject of blank ammunition comes up. Nobody even slightly familiar with blank ammunition would mistake a live round for a blank round. Even were that true, a magazine loaded with blanks would not re-cycle a semi auto pistol unless the pistol was fitted with a very obvious blank adaption device. If the pistol was cocked and a blank was up the spout it wold go "bang" but with no back pressure the breachblock would not be forced backward to allow another round to be chambered. So - only one blank cartridge would be fired. The 9mm blank was used extensively in Commonwealth armies when training with both the sten SMG and the Browning auto (semi) pistol. It would work well in the Beretta 92 and because that is a double action pistol it wold not even have to be cocked before firing provided a round was loaded Just pull the trigger.

By the way...I think fracture and break --as per bones--mean the same.

I think the term wheel base is used to measure the length of a vehicles' wheels " fore and aft"

Finally, good luck with the glass cutter on page 470...perhaps however we can excuse this on grounds of artistic license.

I look forward to your next book. I always enjoy them. Regards. Lorne Newson


Here’s the reply I sent!



Cheers, Lorne!

Yeah, I'd spotted the revolver with a safety and have changed that for the paperback edition.

Re the blanks. I have a blank-firing Glock replica....it's been a long time since I fired it (very noisy and not a good idea in North London!) but the last time I did I'm pretty sure it ejected the empty casing. That means the receiver must have gone back, which I assume means that a new round was chambered. Or is my memory playing tricks with me?

I'm flat out on the new book, hoping to keep mistakes to a minimum!

Best wishes,

Stephen

PS What was wrong with fracture, wheel base and the glass cutter? I'm confused!

And then Lorne got back to me....


It is my understanding from a career in police work and therefore more than a few times in emergency wards that a fracture and a break are the same. That is not the impression I got from your comment about the injured nose. I also learned that I have been known to be wrong (on very rare occasions of course) so check with a doctor.

My interpretation of your description of setting the ramps up so the vehicle (was it a SUV?) could cross was you intended the term "wheel base" to be the measurement of the distance of the wheels from side to side.(Thereby telling you how far apart the ramps should be placed) Expressed another way, the measurement between the two (for example) rear wheels. I think " wheel base" is the measurement of the wheels from front to back, for example the distance from the right front axle to the right rear axle

Your books very much appeal to me, perhaps because of my military /police background. After retirement from the RCMP I was the Chief Provincial Firearms Officer for British Columbia, Canada and adminstered all laws regarding guns. I was also an avid collector of military cap badges, so you can see why I might relate to Dan.

Regarding the Glock...I can't say, but I do know the 9mm blank would not cycle the action on either a Browning service pistol or the Sten SMG.(nor a Schmeisser SMG) Nor would the 30 NATO blank cycle the F.N. Rifle. The same applies to the .303 and (and how I loved that weapon except for carryng - 21 lbs -the darned thing) the Bren LMG. During army field training - so the machine gun would fire fully automatically- the military used to attach a (yellow as I recall) adapter onto the muzzle to ALMOST block the expulsion of the gasses thereby allowing blowback in the case of the sten and to allow the gases to go through the gas block in the case of the Bren. In my CPFO days I loaned a schmeisser to an army armourer for a military demonstration and he fashioned a somewhat ingenious device whereby he took a piece of bent steel, - somewhat like a capital letter "L" and used a couple of hose clamps to fix the thing to the barrell with the shorter horizontal part of the "L" across the muzzle. He had bored a hole in that and put a threaded bolt thru the steel with the thing actually protruding inside the barrel, thereby restricting the gas expulsion and acheving his "blowback"

Glass cutter. Most modern window in high buildings are of the type that if they are knicked or broken they do not fall down in shards of broken glass but in fact the whole window is reduced instantly to small pieces about the side (or smaller) of a pea. You will see this type of glass in the side and rear windows of automobiles. Also in windshields except there they put a thin layer of rubber between two sheets of glass for safety reasons, hence the term "safety glass". In double glazed glass, sometimes ordinary window glass is used but from what I've seen a glass cutter is only effective in dealing with a flat piece of glass and for the length of the sheet. A straight line, or even a wavy line scored in the glass with result in a break along the score mark when the glass is "bent" I don't think it would work on a double glazed window. Might just as well break the damned thing and get on with the shooting.

So here I am, a Mr Smart guy with 4 criticisms. Even if I'm right 3 out of 4 it might be constructive. Best Wishes on the next book. Lorne Newson



He made good points, and I certainly never realised that a break and a fracture where the same thing! Anyway, here’s my reply to Lorne!


Cheers, Lorne,

Well, the great thing about being a writer is that you learn something every day. Who knew that a break and a fracture were the same thing? I always assumed that a fracture was a slight break, like a crack, and that a break meant that it was literally broken. Wrong!! Now I know better!! Thanks for pointing that out and I'll try to get it changed.

And wheel base. Who knew? Well, you obviously did! I always assumed that wheelbase referred to the width, I had no idea it was the distance between the axles. Makes a nonsense of my copy, obviously, so I'll try to get it changed!

I'll check my Glock when I get back to the UK but I'm pretty sure that it does put a second in the chamber after it has ejected the first. Maybe because it's lightweight?

The glass cutter? I don't know. I know that a guy cut a circular hole in my bathroom window to fit an extractor fan, but having said that I didn't watch him do it. I think you're right and in future I'll stick to the old faithful piece of sticky-backed plastic and an elbow!

Thanks again for putting me right. I've just hit 120,000 words on the new Dan Shepherd book, and I've got my fingers crossed that there are fewer mistakes this time!

Best wishes,

Stephen

A Rose By Any Other Name

Hodder love Nightingale the book but not the title! My agent is now trying to come up with better titles, which is no easy task!

Here are a few suggestions:

The Price of a Soul

The Price of Your Soul

The power of the devil

A date with the devil (one novel four years ago)

Deal with the Devil – (three novels in the last five years)

The Mark of the Devil

You’re Going to Hell

Descent to Hell

The negotiator

Negotiations with hell

Negotiate with the devil

The Fall to Hell

The Fall

The Falling Man – (Falling Man is a novel by Don DeLilo, 2007/2008)

You Can Fall Forever

Supping with the Devil – (Supping with the Devils is non-fiction political journalism by Hugo Young, 2003)

The Devil You Know – (At least five novels in the last five years)

The Fires of Hell

The Smoke From Hell

The View From Hell

The Map of Hell

A Date with Hell

Blood From Hell

The Cost of a Human Soul

The Map of the Human Soul

Map of the Soul

The Blood and the Fires

Blood and Fires

There is no Redemption

No Judgement but the Last

Nightingale and the Devil

Nightingale and the Fires of Hell


I think of all of them I like Nightingale And The Devil best, but we'll see what Hodder think!

The Land Of Smiles

I’ve spent a lot of time in Thailand over the past twenty-five years, and have always enjoyed my time there. But the country has started to change, and not for the better.

It’s no longer as good value as it used to be, and food and drink is now often as expensive as it is in London. The pollution is terrible, the food full of pesticides, and the roads are probably the most dangerous in the world, with a death rate four times that of the UK.

But it’s the crime rate that has really gone through the roof, with tourists being targeted for robbery, fraud and physical attacks on a scale unheard of before. I used to recommend Thailand as a holiday destination for all my friends, but now I’m reluctant to do so.

A recent scam is to falsely accuse people of shoplifting at Bangkok Airport. It has been widely reported in the local press but not so much overseas because the scam artists usually target South East Asians, especially Indians. But recently they entrapped a British couple, so the story has been reported by the Sunday Times of London.

I have to say, I no longer shop at the Duty Free stores at Bangkok Airport because I am worrioed about being caught in a simlar scam!What happens is that goods – sometimes as small as a packet of cigarettes – are planted on a tourist. The goods are magically discovered by a security guard and the cops are called. The tourist is then told that if he pays ‘bail’ of several thousand pounds he can leave the country. If he doesn’t pay, he goes to prison and it can take years for the case to come to trial. Almost everyone pays. Frankly you’d be stupid not to!

Anyway, the British couple have vowed to fight the case in the Thai courts, but previous experience suggests that they would be wasting their time!

Having said that, the company that runs the duty free shops in the airport has put its CCTV footage on line which does seem to show a wallet being pocketed! Have a look for yourself! http://www.kingpower.com/2009/popup/pop_case2.html

A recent survey found that more than fifty per cent of the Thai people regarded their institutions as corrupt, but that on balance corruption was a good thing because it helped society function! So long as that attitude persists, things will only get worse in the Land Of Smiles! My advice to anyone coming to Thailand is to do your shopping in the city - most goods are cheaper there anyway!

A British couple who were falsely accused of shoplifting in Bangkok airport and were forced to pay £8,000 in bribes to secure their release are to take legal action for compensation.

They were the victims of an extortion racket that has ensnared other foreign travellers at the airport, which handles most of the 800,000 British visitors to Thailand every year.

Stephen Ingram, 49, and Xi Lin, 45, both technology professionals from Cambridge, were detained by security guards as they went to board Qantas flight QF1 to London on the night of Saturday, April 25.

They were accused of taking a Givenchy wallet worth £121 from a King Power duty-free shop and were handed over to the police. An official release order from the local Thai prosecutor’s office subsequently conceded there was no evidence against them.
They were freed five days later after a frightening ordeal in which they said they were threatened and held against their will at a cheap motel on the airport perimeter until they had handed over the money.

The bribes were paid to an intermediary named Sunil “Tony” Rathnayaka, a Sri Lankan national in his fifties who works as a “volunteer” interpreter for Thailand’s tourist police (motto: “To serve and to protect”).

“Our main motivation is to protect other innocent British tourists from being caught up in this nightmare,” said Ingram last week. “We intend to take every legal means to recover our money and obtain justice.”

Last week Rathnayaka admitted in a telephone interview that he had received cash and money transfers amounting to more than £7,000 from the Britons. He said the money was for police bail and for a payment to a figure he called “Little Big Man” who could withdraw the case against them.

“In Thailand everyone knows it’s like that,” he said. “They can go to jail or they can just pay a fine and go home. It is corruption, you know?”

Rathnayaka also agreed that the “bail” — about £4,000 — was never returned to Ingram and Xi. Thai law says bail should be refunded.

In a detailed statement the couple said they were first detained at an airport office of the tourist police and later taken to cells at a police station in an isolated modern building on the fringes of the airport.

Rathnayaka confirmed that he met them in the cells on the morning of Sunday, April 26, and arranged the “bail”. The police kept the couple’s passports. Rathnayaka then escorted Ingram and Xi to the Valentine Resort, a lurid pink motel a few hundred yards from the runways. They were to remain there for four days.

During that time, Rathnayaka warned them not to tell anyone about their plight, especially the British embassy, lawyers, friends, family or the press.

However, on April 27 they sneaked out of the hotel and found their way to the embassy, where they met Kate Dufall, the pro-consul.

According to the couple, she told them the embassy could not interfere with the Thai legal system and put them in contact with Prachaya Vijitpokin, a lawyer.

Vijitpokin and a colleague, Kittamert Engchountada, of the Lawyers Association of Thailand, urged them to stay in the country to fight the case and have since assembled a dossier for potential prosecutions.

However, Ingram said the couple were so terrified by this stage that they decided to meet the demands for money, which they raised by bank transfers from Britain direct to Rathnayaka’s account. The Sunday Times has copies of the transactions.

Ingram and Xi were put on a British Airways flight to London early on Friday, May 1, having received their passports with official documents from prosecutors and police stating that no charges were to be brought against them.

They have said they are willing to return to Thailand and testify to try to stop the extortion if the government will guarantee their safety.

That could become a priority for Thailand, which has suffered a series of blows to its tourist industry through economic and political upheaval.

Inquiries last week established that Rathnayaka and his accomplices have continued preying on tourists who end up in police custody after being accused of theft from the airport duty-free shop. “I am just helping people,” he explained. “I don’t get paid to do this. All the embassies know me.”

Officials at the Danish embassy confirmed that a Danish woman fell into Rathnayaka’s hands about two weeks ago and was allowed to leave Thailand only after handing over more than £4,500.

When a Sunday Times journalist posing as a businessman in trouble contacted Rathnayaka last week, the first thing he said was: “If it’s a case, for example, of shoplifting at the airport duty-free then I can help. Bail is 100,000 baht (£1,800).” He later declined an interview, saying the Sri Lanka embassy — which employs him as an interpreter — had told him not to speak.

The Foreign Office said consular officials had offered to raise the case with the Thai authorities at the time but had been asked by the couple not to intervene.

A spokesman for King Power duty-free said the company had strict rules for evidence to be submitted to the police in shoplifting cases, but added: “We cannot control what happens after that.”

Not Getting Much Work Done

I'm not getting much work done as my daughter's two kittens keep walking over my computer! Hodder have decided to publish the Nightingale book in January (with a different title!) so the new Dan Shepherd book will now be published in July 2010 so I have plenty of time!

Flat Out!

Haven't posted for a while because I'm flat out on Dark Justice. I hope to finish in the next ten days. My friend Anthony Horowitz won our race - he has already finished his new book but then his did come in at 85,000 words! I'm just about to hit 110,000words.

I got some good news this week in that Hodder and Stoughton want to publish Nightingale (though they don't like the title!) They want it and two more books so for the next two years I'll be doing two books a year, which will be interesting! With any luck I'll be taking a few hours off tomorrow to go and see a screening of Anthony's new TV series, Collision. Okay, got to go, my laptop awaits!

Stranger Than Fiction

Unbelievable! I'm working flat out on a book about vigilante cops in North London(Dark Justice, 103,000 words) and what happens? Vigalante cops are arrested in North London. Am I ahead of the game or what?


Six Metropolitan Police officers have been suspended after being accused of using a form of water torture against suspects.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating the alleged ill-treatment, said to have taken place during drugs raids in Enfield, north London, last November.

Scotland Yard is refusing to comment on the nature of the allegations but sources say the officers have been accused of pushing suspects' heads into buckets of water.

The claims came to light during an internal force investigation, when a police employee raised concerns with the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) about the conduct of a handful of officers.

The DPS conducted its own investigation before referring the matter to the IPCC in April.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Whilst the investigation is ongoing it is not appropriate to make assumptions. That said, these are serious allegations that do raise real concern.

"The Met does not tolerate conduct which falls below the standards that the public and the many outstanding Met officers and staff expect.

"Any allegations of such behaviour are treated very seriously, as this case illustrates, and if found true the strongest possible action will be taken."

In February, ten officers from Enfield's crime squad were suspended and another two placed on restricted duties after an anti-corruption probe into claims over the mishandling of property.

Eight, including one detective sergeant, remain suspended and two remain on restricted duties. The six suspended over the conduct allegations are among them.

A spokeswoman for the IPCC said: "During a proactive Metropolitan Police Service Directorate of Professional Standards investigation into allegations of mishandling of property by the crime squad in Enfield Borough which is being investigated by the IPCC, the IPCC was briefed regarding the actions of police officers executing the specific warrant."

Five people were arrested during the raids on November 4.

Money From South Africa

I am flat out on the Dan Shepherd book - just hit 102,000 words - otherwise I'd get in touch with Mr Thembi!



Urgent Transfer From:Mr.Thembi Zakiri.
18 Sunheight Randburg East
Johannesburg South Africa.

Dear Sir, or madam
This may appear a bit surprising to you but very beneficial as a matter of urgency,I am desperately looking for a foreign partner whom i can trust to handle some investment or fund movement.

I am Mrs.Thembi Zakiri,Son of late Mr.Frank Zakiri, who was murdered by the Zimbabwean veterans and irate black people. I am writing from South Africa.if well executed as your contact is via AMERICAN ONLINE INTERNET NETWORK through the consultancy directory during my search for a reliable and honest person to transact this business with.

I write to solicit for your special assistance to a family shattered by a tyrannical government led by a dictator and his(ZANU-PF)ruling party-president Robert Mugabe. Because of land and farm land crisis in Zimbabwe,the government secretly sponsored the war veterans and some irate party members to dispossess the land being occupied by white farmers.This action has led to the killing of some members of opposition party including my father(Frank Zakiri).

But before the death of my father,he anticipated some dangers and so he deposited the sum of US$15.4m(Fifteen million four hundred Thousand United States Dollars) with the help of reputable Bank in south Africa with the intention of using it to open fertilizer manufacturing company among other companies in our neighbouring country (Swaziland).

The war veterans and some supporters of(ZANU-PF)ruling party trooped into our compound and axed him(my Father)to death.Since then,they have been terrorizing me. I managed to escape to a neighbouring country,South Africa as a political asylum seeker(Refugee).But my position in South Africa does not permit me to open an account or run any huge financial business.

That is why I want this fund to be transferred into your private account so that you will assist me to invest it in your country.Hence,if you agree to assist me,i will offer you 20% of the money for your assistance,5% will be for the possible expenses incurred in the process of this transaction,while 75% will be for my investment in your country through your assistance.I need your urgent and confidential response.

Best regards,
Mr.Thembi Zakiri

Upon your immediate response,I will immediately arrange and send to you all the informations that will empower your good self in finalizing the transaction with the bank here in south Africa I will also send to you the agreement that will protect both interest.And also further information about yourself is necessary for I can not play on this.Waiting for your prompt and positive response