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COLIN CAMPBELL: A Life Most Ordinary

Written by Colin Campbell

“If you think you’re beaten, you are.

If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you like to win, but think you can’t.

It is almost certain you won’t.

Life’s battles don’t always go

to the stronger or faster man,

but soon or late the man who wins

is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”

My dad gave me that over twenty years ago. Actually, he clipped it from the bookies section of the Racing Post, so I’m guessing the idea was, if you think you can win, you’ll place your bet. And lose. Bookies aren’t stupid. But neither was my dad. Bottom line was, if you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will. I believed in myself.

In the publishing game, that was a big swing for the son of a lorry driver, who grew up with holes in the knees of his jeans. My mum used to patch them by taking the pockets off the back. I didn’t have a wallet. Nobody from a council estate became an author. I loved reading. And I loved writing. At school. But becoming a published author? That was for university bods and Ian Fleming. People with posh accents. Not a Yorkshireman.

“Soon or late the man who wins is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”

I don’t know if you’d call it winning, but having twenty-six books published is a long way from losing. There have been highs and there have been lows. I’ve thought about packing it in. I thought I was going to be a millionaire. I thought I was the best thing since sliced bread. None of those things were true. But the Racing Post wouldn’t let me forget. The man who wins is the man who thinks he can. No exclamation mark.

Colin with mike stotter I won’t bore you with the struggling years. Elmore Leonard said it best. “Leave out the parts people skip.” I’ll skip right to the here and now. With a few nods to important bends in the road. Lee Child read one of my early books and helped me get an agent. Donna Bagdasarian – said agent – suggested broadening my scope by setting my very English crime books in America. That might have been the single most important piece of advice I ever received. Because from there, Jim Grant was born; a Yorkshire copper who is sent to America to interview a prisoner, and ends up staying. In, Jamaica Plain, Grant popped out fully formed. With a dry sense of humour and a, don’t take any shit attitude. Many adventures followed.

Another detour, was being feted in New York by one of the Big Five publishing houses. At a lunch behind Grand Central Station, I was told to create a different character in America, since no publisher wanted sloppy seconds. I fell back on Vince McNulty, a Yorkshire ex-cop who had starred in Northern eX, one of my English crime books. I resurrected McNulty and gave him a job as technical advisor for a tinpot movie company in Boston. Final Cut started my second series. The Big Five publishing house dropped off the radar. But McNulty wasn’t a quitter.

Okay. Those are the bits you could have skipped. The here-and-now is coming right up.

Level Best Books. The Golden Years. That’s how I would categorise the final straight. Not over the sticks. No sharp left turns. Not over the water jump. A clear run to the finishing line. Shawn Reilly Simmons and Deb Well saw the potential in my writing, and contracted several of my standalone novels, and all of my children’s books, as well as continuing both the Jim Grant and the Vince McNulty series. So far, they have released, Silent Flight Holy Night – my Christmas orphanage plane crash book – and Devil’s Coast – my, When Harry Met Sally, if Harry was a thief and Sally was a drug lord’s daughter on the run through Spain, France and Italy book. In very short order, they will soon publish, The Early Grave of Sophie Laville – another dark but uplifting children’s book – and, Short Ends – the continuation of Vince McNulty’s journey. Followed quickly by, Night Delivery – my PTSD firefighter delivering to coffeeshops on the night shift, who is hijacked by a hitman and two ex-military veterans that want his refrigerated truck for very different reasons.

That’s the immediate future. Looking ahead, 2026 should see another children’s book, The Boy Who Burgled Hartley’s. A new Jim Grant thriller, Dark Sugar Bay. And another Standalone novel, Silent Coast. But that’s not the big news. Level Best Books are also going to republish the backlist Jim Grant and Vince McNulty novels, bringing the entire series under one roof. That’s the icing on the cake. And I haven’t even mentioned the cherry on top yet.

I was recently introduced to a British actor who has appeared in TV shows, Slow Horses, Foyle’s War, and The Diplomat, and movies, Back to Black and Last Night in Soho. He also does voice work for audiobooks, having narrated for Andy McNab, Tony Parsons, Simon Michael, and the entire Flashman series of novels. We are preparing to work together on producing audiobooks of the backlist Jim Grant and Vince McNulty series, and any new novels contracted with Level Best Books. That’s a total of 27 titles and counting over the next few years. To say I’m excited is an understatement. If my dad were still alive, he’d be pointing to that clipping from the Racing Post. And I would be smiling, as the man who thinks he can. Triple exclamation mark.