29 Jun 2012 02:22:26
Niall Leonard, aka Mr Fifty Shades of Grey, or the husband of bestselling erotic novelist EL James, has won a book deal of his own.
The millions of fans of James's erotic trilogy are likely to be disappointed, however: Leonard will not be providing a male perspective on the dark relationship traced in his wife's books, which are told from the viewpoint of a young college student who falls for a businessman with bondage fantasies. Instead, he's been signed up for a young adult thriller in which a 17-year-old finds his stepfather bludgeoned to death and becomes the police's prime suspect.
"He wasn't breathing. The crown of his head was a sticky mass of blood," writes Leonard in Crusher, out in September from Random House Children's Publishing – part of the group that also houses his wife's publisher Arrow. "My dad had been sitting at his desk, plugged into his music, and someone had crept up behind him and hit him over the head, and kept hitting him until he died. His eyes were open and his glasses had fallen off, and there was blood coming from his mouth and clotting in his beard, and the house was empty and silent."
A TV screenwriter who has worked on Wire in the Blood and Monarch of the Glen, Leonard was challenged by James – real name Erika Leonard – last year to take part in Nanowrimo, which sees participants attempt to write a novel in a month. The novel he wrote, plus two others, were then acquired by Random House.
"Crusher is a story I have wanted to write for years, and it finally all came together last November, when my wife encouraged me to take part in the Nanowrimo novel-writing event," said Leonard. "I am thrilled and delighted that RHCP have picked up Crusher for publication, and it's a fantastic honour to join the distinguished names on their writers' list."
Publisher Annie Eaton called the novel, in which the teenager Finn sets out to find the real killer of his stepfather, an "electrifying story". "Niall's writing is immensely assured, he is a fantastic new voice for teenagers and this is a truly exciting acquisition for RHCP," she said.
The news comes as Amazon.co.uk announced that James has become the first author to sell more than one million books in its Kindle store, and that the first novel in her trilogy is now the bestselling Kindle book of all time, currently outselling the print book at a rate of more than two to one
