Ian Rankin

News:December 1999
Well, after an exhausting touring schedule in 1999, I'm trying to cut down on appearances in the year 2000. This year has taken a lot out of me, with trying to chair the CWA taking its toll also. Having said this, Orion are lining up a fairly heft push in February with the release of the new Rebus, Set In Darkness. We're also hoping to set up a few talks featuring myself and John Hannah, who will star in the TV version of Black and Blue, probably in March or April. They filmed this in November and December, mostly on location in Edinburgh. It was weird to walk around the city and see signs everywhere directing the TV personnel towards 'Rebus', wherever they happened to be filming.
Anyway, no tour dates are organised as yet, and Hannah hasn't promised to put in an appearance. We'll see....
The one thing I can say for certain is that I'll be putting in a few appearances at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August.
On the writing front... I'm currently struggling with a three-part TV drama. This is for the BBC, features a cop (not Rebus) and is set in a fictional fishing community north of Aberdeen. It's going to be a 3-parter, but having never written for the screen before, I'm finding it hard work. A whole new medium really.
Soon as that's out of the way, I'm into the next Rebus instalment. I know what it's going to be about, but I'm saying nothing yet.
There are two small-scale TV projects on the go, one a ten-minute monologue which I've just scripted, the other a thirty-minute film based on a short story of mine.
And that's about it. Lots of work and worry, plus I'm moving home in the new year... always a nice, relaxing event.