Well, it seems not. So far the stories the local paper have printed in anticipation of the event and for World Book Week have attracted few comments, and those somewhat snarky - a photo of Stoke City superstar (and former Saint) Peter Crouch, reading with local children, elicited only rude remarks about the school and incredulity that Crouchy could read. It's a crying shame, because Stoke-on-Trent has a lousy reputation for educational attainment and a sense that the community is getting behind this idea might help to dispel that. But it's early days, and with just over three months to the event, I need to consider whether I can use it to promote my own literary efforts.
Opportunity number one is the writing competition announced by the Sentinel. A chance to show off my skills in a short story competition, no less. And sadly, no more: a mere 1,000 to 2,500 words. A hundredth of the wordcount I usually reach telling a tale. By my standards, 1,000 words is practically Haiku, a mere tweet. Still, I could have a go - I even have an entertaining idea for what I could use as a theme. I'm just not sure 2,500 words will enable me to do it well enough.
Opportunity number two is to promote what I already have and the fact that, all being well, I should have a 'new' book (the paperback of Limited Capability) ready to 'launch' in time for the event. It'll take a clever bit of marketing and a massive chunk of luck to get the Sentinel interested in novels that fly against their usual line on Social Security issues, by casting alleged benefit cheats as the heroes and a fraud investigator as the villain (not to mention that infamous reference in the preface to Gary Pike as 'the Daily Mail in human form'). But it may be that raising an issue that always gets the comments flying in on real life stories is the very thing to get people interested in a literary festival who would otherwise think it's not for them. If, that is, they can get past the fact that Severe Discomfort and its companion volumes take place 250 miles away, apart from Stoke-on-Trent's cameo appearance as adopted home to the redoubtable Geordie feminist Daphne Randall.
Opportunity number three is to attempt to catch the attention of any literary movers and shakers in town for the event. I think I can safely rule out David Starkey as a potential patron and my writing seems to have little that would recommend it to Joanna Trollope. There's always talented local crime writer and self-publishing success story, Mel Sherratt, though. I have considered getting in touch with her before, but it's difficult to know how. I'm sure high-profile writers get sick to the back teeth of being pestered by 'fans' wanting them to read their own work, and I haven't even got the feeble excuse of being a fan. That's no criticism of Mel's writing; I simply don't read crime novels, just as I don't tend to get into police procedural TV shows or series. Or gore, violent crime or serial killer-themed writing or films generally. And if there is a polite way of striking up a conversation with a writer that begins, 'I haven't read any of your books and they're not really my thing, but...', I haven't worked it out yet.
But perhaps there's a thriller waiting to be written on whether a small city like Stoke-on-Trent big enough for two fringe-haired former housing officers with literary ambitions? "With the city's first literary festival approaching, a charismatic local crime writer seems sure to be the star of the show. But an ambitious and jealous older rival, hungry for success, has murderous plans to steal the limelight..."
Not really, of course - even Iain Duncan Smith isn't really in mortal peril from me (not while my archery kit is buried away in a spidery corner of the loft, at any rate), so Ms Sherratt can surely rest easy. Mind you, as a story it could be a proper page-turner, but it'll definitely take me more than 2,500 words to tell it!
Over to you, Mel?
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