Matt Rees's Blog (182)

Outrage: Raymond Chandler in the trash

The last decade has been one of outrage piled upon outrage, from 9/11 to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, on to Hurricane Katrina, the Asian tsunami and the smart-ass bankers who thought they ruled the world they were in the process of destroying. On the first day of the new decade I was faced with someth… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on January 4, 2010 at 1:24am — 3 Comments

New year, new blog

One of my favorite Italian writ… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on January 2, 2010 at 3:45am — No Comments

Beckham guest posts on my crime blog

… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on December 31, 2009 at 8:27pm — No Comments

In your face Tom Jones: I'm a Welsh icon

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Added by Matt Rees on December 28, 2009 at 12:00am — 1 Comment

My part in saving the environment

I like to do my bit to help the effort to save our planet. Last week in Rome… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on December 25, 2009 at 7:59pm — No Comments

Setting up an author blog

Because I’m such a hip and happening author, I’m redoing my blog. A… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on December 24, 2009 at 11:02pm — No Comments

My Manchurian Candidate

One of my biggest boosters has been Bill Ott, reviewer for the pre-publication revie… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on December 22, 2009 at 12:18am — No Comments

4-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians?

My latest dispatch on Global Post -- a week or so after it posted, because I've been in Italy and, well, the Middle East wasn't on my mind...I didn't miss the taste of humus too much either, not with all that saltimboca and gelato... Palestinians are divided; Israelis too. Not a good basis for negotiation. By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPo… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on December 21, 2009 at 4:26am — No Comments

Big Mouth recommends my debut as "bloody good but a little bit different" for Christmas

Scott Pack, controversial publishing guru and self-dec… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on December 21, 2009 at 4:15am — 4 Comments

PW stars new Omar Yussef novel

Publishers Weekly, the pre-publication review, stars… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on December 21, 2009 at 3:55am — No Comments

Best Mystery Books of Year

The Samaritan's Secret… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on December 5, 2009 at 12:22am — 5 Comments

Ass-backwards on Gays

When it comes to homosexuals, Palestinians have it all ass-backwards. That led… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on December 3, 2009 at 11:58pm — 4 Comments

In Bethlehem, the Third Intifada approaches

Rain on the streets of Bethlehem can't cool simmering tension. By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPost BETHLEHEM, West Bank — A writer seeks the surprise of a “man bites dog” story. The most violent times of the Second Intifada, which took place under the leaden winter skies of early 2002, gave me mine. I wrote about Arabs in the rain. I… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on November 29, 2009 at 11:35pm — No Comments

Scene of the Crime

I went back to the spot where I killed my first man yesterday. I killed him four years ago. I return every few months. Each time I arrive, it’s so peaceful I can’t believe anyone really died. But, even though I’m a writer of crime fiction, someone really did. I walked across a dirt lot, puddled with the afternoon rain, past the empty reservoir at the head of the valley. Below me the village of Irtas drifted down toward the convent where they hold the annual lettuce festival. The buildings finge… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on November 26, 2009 at 11:59pm — No Comments

Where BBC radio producers get their ideas

I was invited to appear on a BBC World Service programme last weekend. If you’ve ever wondered how radio producers feed their on-air people interesting information about their guests (thus enabling them to create a breezy “chemistry” and to relate the day’s news stories to the knowledge or experience of the guest), here’s the questionnaire sent to me for The World Today by Affan Chowdhry, along with my responses. If you try to imagine what your answers would be to some of the questions, I think… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on November 25, 2009 at 8:59pm — No Comments

Why Israelis pick Tarantino over Spielberg

Latent shame over the Jews' failure to stand up to the Nazis is cited as a reason for the success of "Inglourious Basterds." By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPost JERUSALEM, Israel — Quentin Tarantino’s "Inglourious Basterds" is the definitive Israeli movie. The bloodthirsty revenge fantasy of Jewish soldiers crushing German skulls with baseball bats… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on November 23, 2009 at 11:18pm — 1 Comment

My Palestinian crime novels, Ethiopian marathoners and Michael Jackson's glove on the BBC

I was on the BBC World Service's The World Today chatting about my Palestinian crime novels today. Because of the nature of the show, I also was asked my opinions on Cairo's muezzins, Ethiopian distance running and the value of Michael Jackson's rhinestone-encrusted white glove (you remember, the one he wore at the Motown Awards the first time he ever did the moonwalk). Haven't you always wanted to know what I… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on November 23, 2009 at 4:51am — No Comments

What's behind claims about Israel's organ trade?

By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPost JERUSALEM — Donald Bostrom, a freelance Swedish journalist who wrote an article this summer accusing Israeli officials of trading in Palestinian organs, came to Israel late last month to defend his piece at a conference on the media. Neither Bostrom, who needed a bodyguard because of the stir his article has caused, nor the media came out looking good. At the confe… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on November 22, 2009 at 8:50pm — No Comments

Researching the novel

Novelists aren’t journalists. Research for a novel isn’t the same as researching a journalistic article. I’d have thought that was too obvious to need stating. But then I became a published novelist, and I realized that people thought the two things were rather the same. I was a journalist for almost 20 years before my first novel was published. THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM is a crime novel set in Bethlehem during the intifada, and I’d spent over a decade covering the Palestinians by the time… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on November 20, 2009 at 1:07am — 1 Comment

Less about suicide bombers, more about suicides

Michael Anthony is the author of MASS CASUALTIES: A Young Medic’s True Story of Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq (Adams Media, October 2009). His book is drawn from his personal journals during the first year he spent serving in Iraq. You can read my interview with him… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on November 18, 2009 at 6:49pm — 1 Comment

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