Crime Writer in the making

By John Freeman on 11 July 2008

Our congratulations to downthetubes contributor and former editor of the critically-acclaimed fanzine Eagle Flies Again Ian Wheeler, who has just been announced as the winner of this year’s Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival competition, which takes place in his home town of Harrogate.

The short crime story competition challenged writers to come up with a 300-word thriller, with all the entries tales following on from this sentence:

“Next to the body lay a bottle of Theakstons Old Peculier and an upturned book; it was a crime novel and the already lurid jacket was spattered with real blood.”

The festival gets under way next Thursday (17 July) with a range of events with top authors including Jeffrey Deaver and Val McFermind, held in Harrogate’s Crown Hotel.

• Click here to read all the entries to the competition, including Ian’s story
• For tickets for the Festival go to www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime or telephone 0845 1308840.

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.