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  October 2004
Dear Folks, So, did you miss me? I missed you. No, honest I did. Welcome to the autumn/ fall quarterly newsletter and the imminent publication of Nocturnes . . . NOCTURNES 
Nocturnes is officially published on October 11th in the UK and, well, everywhere except the US and Canada, where it will follow on March 22nd, 2005, possibly in a slightly different form. Virtually every copy of the UK hardback edition has been signed, so you should have little trouble tracking down a copy. If you do have any problems, just get in touch with some of the booksellers listed on the website and they'll try to help.
Basically, Nocturnes consists of two novellas, the longest of which is the Parker novella called 'The Reflecting Eye', which provides a link between The White Road and the forthcoming The Black Angel, and 13 short stories, all with a supernatural theme. 
A huge chunk of material about the stories and the background to them has been added to the website, along with an article written, rather hurriedly, for a book-related magazine. You can also check out the lovely US cover for Nocturnes, which is quite different from the equally lovely UK version.
NOCTURNES - SHORT STORIES TO BE READ ON BBC RADIO 4 Five stories from Nocturnes will be read on BBC Radio 4 from Monday October 25th to Friday October 29th inclusive, at 3.30pm. A fine quintet of actors agreed to perform the stories, and they really are well worth hearing because the tales were always intended to be read aloud. The stories, in order, are: 'The Inkpot Monkey', read by Freddie Jones (quite simply, a legend: The Elephant Man, Sons and Lovers, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Dune, The Innocents. . .) The Shifting of the Sands', read by Ian McDiarmid (fine stage actor who has also appeared in Gorky Park and Sleepy Hollow, but is best known to many as the Emperor/ Senator Palpatine in the Star Wars movies) 'Some Children Wander by Mistake', read by Alun Armstrong (excellent British actor who has appeared in Van Helsing, The Mummy Returns, Sleepy Hollow, and Braveheart, as well as a host of BBC and ITV dramas) 'Miss Froom, Vampire', read by Jacqueline Pearce (fab, and very lovely, British actress from The Reptile, BBC's Blakes 7, and White Mischief, among others) 'The New Daughter', read by Niall Buggy (noted Irish actor who most recently appeared in The Reckoning with Paul Bettany, and has also featured in Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy and TV's excellent Father Ted) For those who live outside the UK, or who don't have access to new-fangled radio gadgetry, the stories can be heard on the Internet at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 at the time of broadcast, and further information is available on the BBC's website at www.bbc.co.uk/ni/drama. BAD MEN Bad Men will be published in paperback in the US and Canada on May 1st 2005. You can take a look at the cover here. NEW UK COVERS The rejacketing of the UK editions of the books will be completed by the time The Black Angel is published next year, but you can preview the new look here. THE BLACK ANGEL The next Parker novel, The Black Angel, will be published worldwide in May/ June 2005. We will put the covers on the website before the end of the year, and early in 2005 we'll add the prologue and first chapter. There are more details about The Black Angel here. That's just about everything. Thanks again for all of your kindness and support, and I'm grateful to so many of you for spreading the word about my books. Please continue to add your thoughts, comments and reading suggestions to the discussion forum on the website. They're much appreciated, both by visitors to the site and by me. Peace and best wishes, John
June 2004
Dear Folks, THANK YOU! 
First of all, my thanks to all those who turned up to say hello during the recent very long tour of the United States, to the booksellers who hosted the events, and to everyone who went out and bought a copy of Bad Men. You all made it worthwhile, and I'm very grateful.
APOLOGIES Due to a technical problem, all emails sent to me via the website while I was away from March until May were lost. I'm very sorry, and apologize to anyone who was expecting a reply and now feels ignored. All I can do is ask that you re-send your mail, and I'll get around to it as soon as possible. NOCTURNES
The Nocturnes collection will now be published on October 11th, 2004 in the UK, Ireland, Europe and Australasia, and in January 2005 in the US and Canada. The entire first print run of the British edition has been signed by me, as I thought it might be nice (awful word, but you know what I mean) for those who live in places where I haven't toured yet, or who just like getting a signed book.
A big chunk of Nocturnes consists of the first Charlie Parker novella, entitled 'The Reflecting Eye,' in which Parker investigates the appearance of a child's picture in a deserted, boarded up house once occupied by a now deceased childsnatcher, John Grady, and slowly comes to realize that something has remained in the building throughout the years that followed Grady's death. The rest of the book contains a second novella, 'The Cancer Cowboy Rides,' and thirteen supernatural stories. Each tale has its own illustration and, all told, the book looks very classy indeed, especially when you consider the writer involved. FREE STUFF! As promised earlier in the year, three of the stories that didn't make it to the final collection will be specially bound in a signed booklet and sent out to anyone who would like to add it to Nocturnes itself. We'll post the relevant details on the website, and in this newsletter, a little closer to the publication date, but basically it shouldn't involve more than sending a suitably sized envelope, pre-addressed, along with postage to a special mailing address. See, we care. . . BBC RADIO BROADCAST BBC Radio Four will broadcast five of the Nocturnes stories in the week of October 11th. The stories will be read each afternoon, and we'll pass on details of time, readers etc. a little closer to the date. The five stories in question are 'The Inkpot Monkey,' 'Miss Froom, Vampire,' 'Some Children Wander By Mistake,' 'The Shifting of the Sands,' and 'The New Daughter.' DANGEROUS WOMEN A story entitled 'Mr Gray's Folly' will appear in an anthology entitled Dangerous Women, edited by Otto Penzler, a little later this year. It isn't one of the Nocturnes stories, and publication will probably be in September/ October 2004 through Mysterious Press. TOURING Apart from a probable appearance at Bouchercon 2004 in Toronto in early October, there is unlikely to be much touring between now and the end of the year. Next year should see visits to the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, although details have yet to be confirmed. THE BLACK ANGEL The next Parker novel, The Black Angel, will be published everywhere in April/ May 2005. More details will appear on the site closer to the end of the year but, for the present, the book involves the abduction of a young woman who is 'blood' to Louis. When Louis goes looking for her, Parker is drawn into the search out of a sense of duty to his friend, even as he comes to realize that the girl's disappearance is linked to a church of bones in eastern Europe, to the slaughter at a French monastery in 1944, and to the myth of an object known as the 'Black Angel'. But the Black Angel is not a legend. It is real. It lives. It dreams. And the mystery of its existence may contain the secret of Parker's own origins... There. Don't say that we never tell you stuff. Thanks again to all of you for your kindness and support. Have a great summer - or, if you live in the southern hemisphere, a great winter - and we'll talk to you again in September. Best wishes, John
March 2004
Dear Folks,
Just a short message to let you all know that Bad Men is now available in the US!
The full US tour schedule for Bad Men is now online on the tour schedule page. It begins this Thursday in New York City and continues on through Boston, Maine, New Hampshire, upstate New York, Wisconsin, Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, Colorado, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Arizona, Texas, New Orleans, Nashville, Atlanta, Florida, Virginia, and Pennsylvania! I hope to see many of you soon. Best wishes, John Connolly
January 2004
Dear Folks, 
Greetings to you all, and hope you're happy and well. Just a short email to let those of you who are interested know that Like A Charm, the novel/ linked short story collection edited by Karin Slaughter, will be published in the UK next week. My small contribution is entitled "The Inkpot Monkey," and there are a couple of signing events lined up, as follows:
Tuesday, February 3: Heffers, Cambridge (0044223568568) Monday, February 16: Borders, Oxford Street, London Tuesday, February 17: Waterstones, Manchester Deansgate (00441618321992) All are evening events, and further details can be obtained from the bookstores in question. As things stand, I'll be doing the Heffers event with Karin, Mark Billingham, and one or two others, while I'm not yet certain that I'll be doing the ones in London or Manchester. Anyway, signed copies can be ordered from the stores in question, and US publication follows in May. There is also a competition linked to the collection, and you can enter by clicking here. For those of who who have written asking when my own new stuff is likely to appear, well, Nocturnes will be published in October 2004 in the UK, and in January 2005 in the US, and The Black Angel, the new Parker novel, should be published everywhere in March/ April 2005. A story entitled "Mr Gray's Folly" will also appear in a Warner collection, Dangerous Women, edited by Otto Penzler, to be published in the UK at the end of this year, and in the US in February 2005. 
Finally, tour stuff. Dates for the UK publication of Bad Men in paperback have yet to be confirmed, but there will be some events in March. As soon as we have the details, they'll appear on the website. Within the next week or two I'll post the full details of the US Bad Men tour on the website, but the dates scheduled so far can be found on the tour schedule page, with further events to be added in Georgia, California, Florida and Washington DC/ Virginia.
Thanks to you all for your kindness and your support. All best wishes, John
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