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?

[Sheri Fresonke Harper]

Oh, my gosh, I'm always the last one to make it to the bar. That's because I can't hold my weight in liquor and when I do sip, I forget that I'm not drinking water..whoa. A Singapore Sling goes well, especially in Asia or where ever I can happen to find myself,usually with a golf club in hand. I've played with writing some short stories with a heavy high-tech, high-action pace with lots of steamy emotion thrown in. My novels are usually post-apocalyptic, just give me a reason (not enough cherries) and I'll find a new way to kill everyone, gently though. I don't do much blood and guts and I have a terrible sense of humor that makes most people grimace in agony but a few wierd souls laugh. I, too like green best and want to save the world from folks like me.

[Lilo]

I'll bite, just so you won't be the last (now you're the second to last).

Don't feel bad about not being able to hold your weight in liquor, I'm sure that I can handle enough for both of us.

In crime fiction... I'm a reader only. Sadly, I spend enough time blogging true crime that I don't have time to think any fictional stuff up. That, and I have two top secret (not anymore I suppose) true crime books hidden away out of fear of sending them off somewhere and having someone actually read them.

[Lynette Hall Hampton]

Though I've been a member here for a while, this is the first time I've tried the bar. I usually stay out of those places - no, I'm not passing judgement - it's by necessity, not choice. Alcohol in any form is a poison to my system. A sip of wine almost makes me go limp and a glass puts me in the hosiptal. I've tried a few virgin drinks, but somehow this didn't seem to be the way to go. Most times I sit back and enjoy a diet Coke while friends are sipping the pretty fruitty drinks.

I've been lax about coming to the crimespace site because I've been busy getting a couple of novels ready for publication. Finished the final proof of the next one last week - ECHOES OF MERCY - it's a sequel to my novel, JILTED BY DEATH. It should be available in August. Hope so because my book launch party is planned for August 30.

I'v always been a writer. I wrote my first novel when I was 8 years old. It didn't sell, but it was my start. I kept writing through school and in college. My first sales were non fiction articles for magazines, a little poetry and a few short stories. I continued to start novels (I bet I have a hundred novel beginnings in my files) but I got serious about it in 2000. My first published (mystery) novel came out in 2003. I wrote a couple of non-fiction books in 2004 and 2005, and had a second novel (romance) published in 2006. It was one of those beginnings I had started many years ago and decided I wanted to continue it. My third novel (mystery) will be out next month. I have a fourth one, a different mystery series, with a different publisher and they say it will be out sometime in 2008, but have not given me a firm publication date.

Though writing keeps me busy I still have time to do other things I enjoy. I work 2 and one half days a week, make jewelry, paint (oils), take an occasional trip to the beach, read, and most important of all - play with my two grandchildren.

I've already decided that to get all I want to do completed in this lifetime, I have to live to be 167.

[Janet McClellan]

Hi, I am Janet McClellan author of the Tru North mystery series, a Lynne Fhaolaine mystery and a Windrow Garden Romance. Additionally, I have authored numerous criminal justice and criminology academic articles including articles on serial murder, child animal cruelty and adult violence links, the symbology of violence and others. I am currently completing my PhD in criminal justice with a dissertation that focuses on the issues associated with violent offender profiling by examining the works of Godwin, Holmes and Holmes, Keppel and Walker and Kocsis et al. I have over 20 years experience in criminal justice as a police officer and corrections manager in addition to my college and university teaching experience. I have a NING site that contains information about crime, criminals, criminal justice research, and discussions exploring solutions to criminal behavior. Those who enjoy asking questions and searching for answers will find helpful ideas and links. Please consider visiting and joining the site Crime Investigation-Research ... http://researchincrime.ning.com "Where the mystery ends, justice begins (C)

I look forward to all our conversation here and in Crime Investigation-Research. My best to all.

[Krystal Waters]

My name is Kristine.. I am a writer who writes novels, short stories and prose poems. (This isn't the best picture of me!) lol I had to search so I hope I don't scare you off. I enjoy meeting people and good conversations as well as learning and recieving good critiques from my work. I have heard this ia great site and I am excited in becoming part of this community of writers.

[Kelli Stanley]

I'll take you up on the drink ... whiskey sour, easy on the sour.

Thanks, Daniel, for this terrific network. I just signed on, and (unlike the army) it just keeps getting better!

Let's see ... I'm a writer. I'm also a classicist, a film noir fan, a comic book collector and a cultural custodian of the twentieth century. My favorite colors are blue and green (is the green thing a writer thing?); my first novel (in a new genre and new series) hits the world July, 2008. The name is Nox Dormienda (A Long Night for Sleeping); the genre is Roman Noir.

That's a description as well as a pun on French literary criticism. The series is set in Roman Britain, 83 AD. The protagonist is a hardboiled doctor-cum-detective named Arcturus. This isn't your typical history mystery, but it's how I decided to use my Master's in Classics.

The second book is finished, I'm researching the third, as well as a second series set in 1939 San Francisco.

I've got a happy and stable family life (no kids, but a lot of pets) which is why I can venture into the noir zone and safely return. Those poor Woolrich type souls who lived the genre ... well, let's say that's not my ambition. I'd much rather write about it, and even then the pain lingers.

I'll be at Bouchercon in September (look for me at the bar, of course).

I'm looking forward to meeting the citizens and lingering over many a good discussion in between sips of my bourbon. Speaking of which ... about that drink? ;)

[Jeannie Holmes]

Hi, I'm J. K. (No relation to Ms. Rowling. lol)

I'm a grad student at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, studying English with an emphasis in creative writing. My favorite colors are, in order, purple, black, and silver. When I'm not reading classic literature or writing academic papers, I'm writing dark urban fantasy fiction -- taking supernatural elements/creatures and placing them in our modern world to watch them run amok -- with a forensic science twist. If I had to describe it in three words, it would be "UNDERWORLD meets CSI." In other words, I blend the supernatural (mostly vampires) with the traditional thriller or mystery and throw in a reasonable amount of forensic science to crack the case. I also write book reviews for my campus newspaper. Getting paid to read, I love it! lol

Writing wasn't my first career choice. At the age of five, I really wanted to be a belly dancer. Unfortunately, I have no rhythm and two left feet. I moved on to the visual arts but quickly realized that my talents in that area are also limited. I came to writing through a process of elimination. I've always been an avid reader and have tried my hand at writing over the years, but never seriously considering writing as a career until a few years ago.

I've completed a few short stories, but only a few because they eventually turn into novellas or novels. I've had two nonfiction works published. Let's see...current projects... My first novel, CRIMSON SWAN, is currently in submission to editors and I'm working on its sequel, A WICKED TURN. Both CS and AWT are set in Mississippi (my home state), but I'm working on another novel that's set in Denver, Colorado, titled HELLFIRE. I'm either really ambitious or a glutton for punishment. I haven't actually figured out which I am yet. lol

My home life is never dull. No kids, but I have four cats -- Chaos, Panic, Disorder, and Nugget -- plus a computer geek for a husband. If I'm not tripping over a cat, I'm manuvering around computer parts.

Okay, I think that's about all I have to say for myself at the moment. As for that drink, I'll have a venti white chocolate mocha from Starbucks or a classic zombie cocktail. Yeah, I know the zombie is old-fashioned but it still packs a punch. ;)

[Jacqui Horwood]

hi, i'm jacqui and i'm australian all the way back to the 1860s. very dull - not a convict to be found. i'm a mum to a nearly 3 year old and i'm already cursing the time i wasted during my single days when i was too lazy to write. i like to write crime and general stuff. i had a bit of success a couple years back when i won the scarlet stiletto award for best crime short story. that really inspired me. i'm currently writing the first draft of a novel. i'll be looking to all you published crime writers for inspiration and guidance. right now, though,i need that cute barman to come over here with a glass of charddy.

[Gordon Patzer]

Janet,

Have you left your employment at the University of Alaska, Anchorage effective the end of summer 2008?

Gordon

[Libby Cudmore]

I'll have a sloe gin fizz, if you're buying, sweetheart.

I'm Libby. Somewhere in life (senior year of college) I got all turned around and wound up writing crime fiction. Probably all those back-to-back showings of Sin City and that first read of The Long Goodbye. Stuff like that messes a girl up in ways she can never recover from.

What do you want to know? I'm hopelessly retro, romantic, good humored, unforgiving. I like Tom Waits and Morrissey, Clive Owen and Ewan McGregor, high heels and vintage dresses, Raymond Chandler and Steve Purcell.

I just finished my first crime novel, which is less of a novel and more like five narratives loosely strung together. I like it! It takes place in a fictional city (which is more or less based on Binghamton, NY aka the greatest city on earth!) and covers everyone from a cop who likes to jack off at crime scenes to an alcoholic errand boy accused of murdering a mobster's girlfriend. It's a neo-romantic-retro-pulp-noir, I tend to describe it as a little Chandler, a little Tarantino, a little Tom Waits, a tad Arthurian.

Anyways, it's nice to meet you all!

XOXO,
Libby

[John McFetridge]

Oh wow, this is the place for you.

[Daniel Hatadi]

What he said. Cheers and welcome aboard!