My First Novel Was Turned Down By

I Am, Of Course, A Frustrated Rock Star - I'd Much Rather Be A Rock Star Than A Writer. Or Own A Record Shop. Still, It's Not A Bad Life, Is It? You Just Sit At A Computer And Make Stuff Up.

I Don't Have Many Friends. It's Not Because I'm A Misanthrope. It's Because I'm Reserved. I'm Self-contained. I Get All My Adventures In My Head When I'm Writing My Books.

I Took The First James Kelman Novel, 'the Bus Conductor Hines', Home To My Dad. I Thought, 'my Dad Will Like This; It's Written In Scots.' But My Dad Said: 'i Can't Read That.' He Was Reading James Bond And John Le Carre. That Was Part Of What Attracted Me To Crime - The Idea Of Getting A Wide Audience.

No Matter How Many Awards You've Won Or How Many Sales You've Got, Come The Next Book It's Still A Blank Sheet Of Paper And You're Still Panicking Like Hell That You've Got Nothing New To Say.

Rebus Was Eating Breakfast In The Canteen And Wishing There Was More Caffeine In The Coffee, Or More Coffee In The Coffee Come To That.