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Citizen Gav

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first registered 05.06.08

last online 7 days ago

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about me

Hi, I'm a 30-something writer who lives in Glasgow. I love crime, thriller, horror and adventure books. I also love movies, comics and music, and I think that comes out in my work. What I like writing is thrillers: sometimes straight up, sometimes with a gothic or psychological bent. I think thrillers, particularly crime fiction, tell us more about the time and place in which we live than any other genre.

I've uploaded a few of my works in progress, as well as my novella 'Halfway to Hell', and a compilation of my short stories. The short stories are my 'singles', so that's probably a good place to start. All comments and criticism are very welcome.

I've had some success with publication so far: my story 'A Living' was shortlisted for the Quick Reads Get Britain Reading award, and published in the Sun Book of Short Stories. I've also had stories published in Scribble magazine and First Edition.

favourite books

LA Confidential (James Ellroy), The Right Stuff (Tom Wolfe), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon), American Gods (Neil Gaiman), The Shining (Stephen King), Farewell My Lovely (Raymond Chandler), Bonfire of the Vanities (Tom Wolfe), American Tabloid (James Ellroy), Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk), The Deep Blue Goodbye (John D Macdonald), Daredevil: Born Again (Frank Miller), Watchmen (Alan Moore), The Sandman (Neil Gaiman), Salem's Lot (Stephen King), A Kiss Before Dying (Ira Levin), Carter Beats the Devil (Glen David Gold), The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett), Resurrection Men (Ian Rankin), In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (James Lee Burke), Falling Angel (William Hjortsberg), Intensity (Dean Koontz), Different Seasons (Stephen King).

my websites

    

HarperCollins is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Self-publish with CreateSpace

my bookshelf

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my books

Halfway to Hell (short story)

 

Halfway to Hell (short story)
Gavin Bell
rank 5319

Halfway to Hell (short story)

Gavin Bell

Johnny Park is 200 miles from Phoenix... and halfway to Hell.


Johnny Park is a capricorn, a Brit in America, and a damn good bank robber. Following a botched heist, Johnny and a small crew of mismatched miscreants rendezvous in the small desert town of Halfway, Arizona. Things go from bad to worse when their fence is found murdered, and it soon becomes clear someone has followed them to this dusty speck on the map with the intention of killing each member of this disparate group.

Unable to cut his losses and run, Johnny must deal with a suspicious sheriff, a knockout redhead, and a gang where the only person he trusts is himself. Are the murders related to the heist, or has a phantom from the past come to Halfway to enact a bloody reckoning?

Hard boiled violence and mystery collide with desert noir as Johnny realises he's stuck in the desert with a killer and he's out of bullets... and friends.

This fast-paced novella will appeal to anyone who likes their thrillers straight up, with no skimping on violence, gunfights and car chases.

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Skin Deep

 

Skin Deep
Gavin Bell
rank 5319

Skin Deep

Gavin Bell

An amnesiac plagued by nightmares of a murdered girl uncovers more than she bargained for when she investigates her own past...


Claire Chester is a woman without a past. Recently afflicted with psychogenic amnesia, she lives in Glasgow’s upmarket west end with her husband, slowly trying to piece her life back together. It doesn’t help that she’s plagued by nightmares about a mysterious black-clad teenage girl, or that she has a nagging suspicion that someone is watching her.

Who is the ethereal teenage girl that stalks the corridors of her dreams? Who is the mysterious raincoat-clad man that haunts her days? Could they both be figments of a damaged imagination?

As she begins to investigate her own secret history, Claire becomes entangled in a web of conspiracy, blackmail and murder...

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incomplete
 
Cut Short

 

Cut Short
Gavin Bell
rank 5319

Cut Short

Gavin Bell

Short story collection spanning mystery, horror and weirdness.


1 ~ It's Not You, It's Me
2 ~ Faith's Reconstruction
3 ~ Kitty
4 ~ What Was in the Cellar
5 ~ The Misfortune Teller
6 ~ A Job Worth Doing
7 ~ The Room
8 ~ The Luckiest Corpse in the River
9 ~ Her Favourite Colour is Death
10 ~ Pavane
11 ~ Spacious Three Bedroom Flat
12 ~ A Living

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The Room

 

The Room
Gavin Bell
rank 5319

The Room

Gavin Bell

Rear Window on the internet. With a twist.


Steve, an incapacitated architect in a deadend relationship, whiles away the hours on internet chat rooms. One day he discovers a fascinating self-help group called 'The Room' whose members are almost religious in their devotion to the group. Some innocent voyeurism takes a darker turn when one of the members of The Room confesses to a murder. What Steve does with the information will create a spiral of horror he is powerless to escape...

A dark psychological thriller, The Room is a screenplay you won't forget.

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latest

sassychick wrote 16 days ago

Hello Citizen Gav, Would you mind reading my novel? I'm looking fo....

ndaye wrote 122 days ago

(rafica_4ndaye@yahoo.com) My name is rafica i saw your profile toda....

Jesse Powell wrote 201 days ago

I write women's adventure. Men, fear not, I do not drown my heroine's....

j.l. wood-miller wrote 263 days ago

Hello Mr. Bell: My online excerpt from “An Unfinished Innocence” e....

DThomas wrote 367 days ago

Hi I was wondering if you will check out my book Iniko's Children: P....

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my comments

latest

I wrote 333 days ago

Bikerjob - thanks for the comments. First of all, towns can absolutely have identities. Try comparing Manchester to London, or Sydney to San Francisco - those towns all have strong, unique identites. Most towns do. I think you're broadly right, some of the writing in this version could be tig... view book

I wrote 367 days ago

Thanks everyone for your comments! Debbie - I actually did flesh this out into a full novel which I keep meaning to post on here. It was picked up by an agent based on this version, but unfortunately I didn't get a bite from any of the big publishers. view book

I wrote 829 days ago

Hi Clare Thanks for the suggestion, I'm going to check out Twisted Tongue. Yeah, I know short stories aren't where the money is, but I thought it would be a good idea to put up bite-sized stories for people to try out; I think a short stories section would be great on Authonomy - sort of like a s... view book

I wrote 953 days ago

Wow, that was fast - thanks Jane! You might be right about quickening the pace a bit, this was my first attempt at a novel and I was trying out a more stately pace than I've used in the past. I still definitely want to finish it, but it's on the back burner at the moment as I'm developing another... view book

I wrote 1073 days ago

Thanks! Sorry, need to check in here more often. Yeah this one or Cut Short, really! Gavin view book

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