James Oswald thinks up plots on his cattle and sheep farm, and has just won a six-figure deal
The Telegraph - 04 May 2013
James Oswald is talking about his success as a crime writer when he suddenly
becomes distracted and turns to the computer on his battered desk. His “lamb
cam” shows a live feed from the shed some 500 yards across the fields. “I think
that’s a little head,” he says, pointing excitedly.
We cut across a field of ewes to his polytunnel. Inside, a tiny newborn lamb
is crouching next to a ewe. “Here comes the second one,” Oswald shouts, as it
emerges and crouches on the straw while the ewe licks it warm. He creates a new
pen so the ewe and its lambs won’t be disturbed by the rest of the flock. At
last, Oswald is satisfied: “I’ll leave her to clean them up.
“I’ve been up since 5.30am,” he explains as we head back indoors. “As I was
giving them hay earlier, I noticed one of them was struggling a bit and I had to
help the lamb out. This is as hands-on as it gets.”
Oswald’s days are about to get even busier. On Thursday, his debut novel,
Natural Causes, will be published, and two more are expected to hit
bookshelves by next spring. He will have to juggle writing and farming with
interviews and book-signings.
The 45-year-old already has experience of such success, however. In fact, he
has become a self-publishing phenomenon, racking up 350,000 online sales for
Natural Causes and its sequel, The Book of Souls, when he released
them last year for download to e-readers such as the Kindle. The figures
astonished publishing houses that are normally impressed by first-time authors
who can sell 20,000 books, and Oswald was soon at the centre of a bidding war to
publish his work in book form. Penguin won the auction, while the international
rights have already been sold to six countries. The book has proved a critical
success, too, making the shortlist for the Crime Writers’ Association Debut
Dagger Award. More
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