The Bar

[Daniel Hatadi]

Most forums have a post that serves as an entry point for new members, a place for them to introduce themselves. At Crimespace, that post is The Bar.

As a way of starting it off, I'll introduce myself.

My name is Daniel and my favourite colour is black. Half Romanian, half Croatian, I was born and bred in Australia, the country I've spent most of my life in. Got a degree in Computer Science and by day I'm a programmer in the shady field of gaming. Yes, I program poker machines. This does not mean I carry around a Bat-utility belt and rush over to clubs when people don't get paid. It's an office job, plain and simple. I stare at computer screens all day.

By night, and during my lunch hour, I write. Mostly crime, but I'm not afraid to venture outside the genre if the story I want to tell goes that way. Even then I'd say my fiction straddles the border between crime and other genres. I've only been writing solidly for about the last three years, the first two of which were spent on a comedic P.I. novel set in Sydney. Like many writers, that novel was my journeyman piece, in that it taught me how to write a novel (which is not to say I've stopped learning). Also like many writers, I don't think I want it to ever see the light of day.

I've since moved on to a novel that if I had to describe in one sentence, would sound something like this: "An unwilling hitman becomes part of a crime syndicate that reaches back to turn-of-the-century Sydney." Part crime thriller, part historical dream sequence, with elements of the supernatural. I'm about two thirds of the way through the first draft and I'm getting a big kick out of writing something more serious.

A few short stories of mine are floating around the net and I have a list of those on my profile page. In the interest of brevity, I'll leave it at that.

Now. Who wants a drink?

[Daniel Hatadi]

I too play harp (as you may remember) and guitar, lots of slide too. I feel a Crimespace band coming on ...

[Jack Getze]

We need a drummer!

[Bill Cameron]

My name is Bill and I have no specific favorite color, though in general I favor cool hues. Definitely not orange.

I'm of Welsh-Irish descent, but my traceable family has been in the U.S. long enough that I have no meaningful connection to my old country roots. By day I work as a freelance graphic designer, but lately I've been thinking about getting a job at Starbuck's. The pay wouldn't be so hot, but they offer health insurance.

I write late in the day. I usually try to knock off work by three or four, then write for several hours. I'm a slow, deliberate writer, with much staring off into space.

My first novel, Lost Dog, will be out in April. My one sentence description has two sentences: "Early on a sodden Portland, Oregon morning, Peter McKrall, unemployed smart-ass and kleptomaniac, goes to the park to find his niece's lost toy dog. He doesn't realize his search is being watched by the paranoid killer of the dead hooker he finds instead.'

I'd like a Guinness, plz.

[Toni McGee Causey]

Bill, you'd have a seizure at my house--all warm colors (reds, rusts, yellows and an office that's... orange. Sort of accidentally orange, but it works.)

[Newt Love]

Toni, are you inviting folks over? Coolness! Party at Toni's! Whoo-hoo!

[M.G. Tarquini]

I'm Mindy. My life is boring. My favorite color is red. No, purple. No, no. Red. Definitely red. And purple. But generally red. Or purple.

I have ADD, am indecisive and easily distracted. I have a couple of stories at Spinetingler Magazine where I help out with the editing, bottle washing and whatever else is needed from time to time. I had some things at Flashing in the Gutter (pause for moment of respectful silence) and I was a runner-up in the Philadelphia City Paper Writing Contest this year for my novel, HINDSIGHT, which is locked in that time warp called Interminable Rewrites.

Ooooo...this is starting to look like a bio I could put on my Crimespace page thingy here.

I live in Phoenix.

I write humor.

[Laura Benedict]

Oh, I miss Flashing in the Gutters. Tribe really did the right thing, though. Gutsy!

[Newt Love]

You wrote: My favorite color is red. No, purple. No, no. Red. Definitely red. And purple. But generally red. Or purple.

Yes, but what is the average flight speed of a sparrow carrying a coconut?

Ahah! The cocktail waitress! I'll have a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster. Keep the change.

[Steve Allan]

Whoops. It sounds like Patrick's already had a few too many.

[Jack Getze]

I've been to those meetings, John.

[Dianne Day]

I've been to those meetings too, which is why I can only sit and look at the very cold, very dry martini I ordered in this Bar. And I'm just listening to everybody else for now, but when I get to the end of all the posts, and a quiet moment, I'll introduce myself.

[Newt Love]

Your Martini is so dry...
it has dust in the bottom of the glass.
(good on you!)