Debbi Mack

Profile Information:

Hometown:: Queens NY
About Me:: I'm a hardboiled mystery author and reader, with one novel, IDENTITY CRISIS, featuring Stephanie Ann "Sam" McRae, a female lawyer/sleuth, and short stories in the CHESAPEAKE CRIMES anthology and The Back Alley at http://BackAlleyWebzine.com. I'm currently seeking an agent/publisher for the sequel to IDENTITY CRISIS and have lots more ideas for more books in that series.

I've written three other novels--two Sam McRae novels and a crime caper. Currently, I'm working on a thriller.

I'll also have another short story published in CHESAPEAKE CRIMES: THEY HAD IT COMIN', to be released by Wildside Press in March 2010.
I Am A:: Reader, Writer
Website:: http://www.debbimack.com
Books And Authors I Like:: Authors: Walter Mosley, Sue Grafton, Robert Parker, Reed Farrell Coleman, Carl Hiaasen, Mercedes Lambert, Ross Macdonald, Alex Carr/Jenny Siler, Margaret Millar, James Sallis, Judith Van Gieson

Books: anything by the listed authors, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, The Road and No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Movies And TV Shows I Like:: Movies: The Departed, LA Confidential, Chinatown, Memento, Pulp Fiction, North by Northwest, Shadow of a Doubt, Frantic, In a Lonely Place, Out of the Past, Double Indemnity, Mystery Train, The Cheap Detective, The Big Sleep (with Bogart), La Femme Nikita, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Big Lebowski, almost anything by the Coen Brothers or Woody Allen, The Searchers, Fort Apache . . . I'd better quit here

TV Shows: The Shield, The Wire, Rescue Me, Damages, Weeds, Californication, Saving Grace, The Closer

Comment Wall:

L. A. Starks

Welcome to CrimeSpace!
LAS

Nov 9, 2007
joe miller

Hi Debbie,

Welcome.
I'm working on a proposal for an agent that I met recently. Any advice for a rookie...LOL

Joe

Nov 11, 2007
David L. Hoof

Debbi,
Is your Chesapeake Crimes contribution the same collection as sponsoered by Sisters in Crime? They have a large and active and very social chapter in Baltimore.
Welcome to CS,

David

Nov 12, 2007
JackBludis

'S about time you got here. I see that you, too, discovered Cormac McCarthy.

Nov 13, 2007
JackBludis

Some really good people in this group: Reed Coleman, Jim Winter, Damn, the rest are slipping my mind.

Nov 13, 2007
David L. Hoof

Debbi,
It's a good group. Lots of writers at all levels and ages, a good network. Mystery Loves Company is the bookstore in Baltimore at which they meet. They were generous enought to hos a book signing for my latest. Montly meetings deal with member news and feature a speaker, often a specialist on crime scenes or forensic psychology, anything that relates to mystery writing.

Nov 14, 2007
Todd Robinson

Take it back. TAKE IT BACK!!!!!!!!! They can put a Yankees hat on my cold, dead brow. Until then, I remain one of the Boston Faithful - although I do root for the Mets...when they play the Stinkees.

Dec 2, 2007
Todd Robinson

Yeah... It's not easy being a fan these days...

Dec 3, 2007
Lawrence Kelter

Debbi: Thanks for the sharp eye. I'm off to work, but already made the correction. I'll check out your website and write back soon.
Larry

Dec 4, 2007
Rick Mofina

Heart of Darkness is best read on a very hot summer night, a humid one.

All the best Debbi

Dec 31, 2007
Brian L Porter

Hi Debbie,

Thanks for the congrats. Please feel free to cast a vote or tow if you feel inclined, I could always use some more support. Great to hear from you and hope to talk more in the future.

Brian

Jan 7, 2008
Margot Justes

Debbi,
You are right, I will be doing a lot of marketing. I just posted a blog on the topic.
Margot

Jan 20, 2008
Margot Justes

Debbi,
You sound like an expert. A Hotel in Paris is my debut novel. I am learning fast, never thougt I'd get this far.
Margot

Jan 20, 2008
Debbi Mack

Aw, heck, I don't know if I'm an expert. I do know that when I had a book out, I made a point of taking any opportunity I had to tell anyone who would listen. And I'll do it again when I get the next one published.

And if I slack off, my husband will be there to remind me to keep it up. I owe a great deal to him. He's always encouraging and supporting me. And telling all his friends to "buy the book," too.

Debbi

Jan 20, 2008
Mark Stevens

Great list of books. Love seeing Eugenides' Middlesex listed. You can love 'serious' fiction and crime fiction; I switch back and forth all the time. I've heard great things about Cloud Atlas too. Don't know if you enjoy outdoor sorts of mystery / thrillers, but thought I would pass along the suggestion of Antler Dust. Great reviews and it's fairly reasonable now (used) on Amazon.

Just looking for readers!

Cheers, Mark
Also: www.writermarkstevens.com

Feb 11, 2008
Mark Stevens

Debbi,

Thanks. I'd love to know what's on your brother's list & I'll put Cloud Atlas on the "serious fiction" (what's the diff?) TBR list. Cheers, Mark

Feb 11, 2008
Mark Stevens

Love John Dunning -- very good stuff. Great main character. I JUST read Fractal Murders (and posted a review on Amazon). Some excellent parts, some that were just too long and go nowhere. Interesting premise, that's for sure, and some dogged sleuthing. Cheers, Mark

Feb 12, 2008
L.J. Sellers

Just stopping by to say Hi and good luck with the search for an agent/publisher. It does seem to be an endless process, doesn't it?

Mar 8, 2008
L.J. Sellers

Script writing is a blast. It's so bare bones, yet so powerful. And comedy is such a treat for me. (My crime novels are rather intense.) But you can only accumulate so many unsold scripts, and then it's time to get back to work.

Mar 8, 2008
Doug M. Cummings

Like the website and your book looks interesting. On my list of summer reads!

Apr 16, 2008
Debbi Mack

Thanks, Doug! Unfortunately, being one of the Quiet Storm authors who cut and run when the s--- hit the fan, the book is out of print. :( But you can still get used copies on Amazon or bn.com.

Apr 17, 2008
Doug M. Cummings

I enjoyed The Searchers for the creative genius of John Ford, but it was depressing as hell and, the older I get, the less I enjoy the depressing ones. Sons of Katie Elder and the goofy Rio Bravo are probably two of my favorites...along with True Grit.

Apr 17, 2008
Margot Justes

Hi Debbi,
I just re-read your comment from January- were you ever right. The newbie that I am, it is tough getting your name out there. I always thought-it's a great story, well done, surely it will sell. Not so, need that name recognition, so-a lot of promoting...
Margot Justes

Jul 13, 2008
Debbi Mack

Hi Margot,

I feel your pain. There are SO many great authors who go unnoticed because, for whatever reason, their books aren't (or weren't--some have died before their time) promoted enough or they don't know the right people or they aren't in the right place at the right time. Just hang in there, keep at it, don't give up.

Jul 13, 2008
David L. Hoof

Earlier you mentioned that you had submitted to an anthology linked to Sisters in Crime's Baltimore group. Each year they do a short story collection with all stories set in the Chesapeake Bay area. If you're still doing this kind of story, or have some oldies you want to dust off and submit, you should know that Cornell Maritime Press is doing regional fiction of the Chesapeake. Contact info is: Managing Editor, Cornell Maritime Press, PO Box 456, Centreville, MD 21617. Phone: (410) 758-1075, website: www.cmptop.com The call for MS came on firstwriter.com. Suggestion: call first and find the editor's name, so you can personalize your query. Hope this helps.

Aug 19, 2008
David L. Hoof

Know where you are now, that is, what you have and don't. Act accordingly. When I first got into this business, a best-selling friend of our family advised, "Save everything you write. You never can tell." Now I'm advising you to do the same. If you save stories, eventually you'll have enough for a collection. And never lose heart. Fourteen years after it was first written, and deemed inadequate for submission, a novel of mine was picked up for production as a film. This wasn't planned. I wasn't chasing anything. It just happened that someone with a need chatted with someone who knew me and voila.

Aug 19, 2008
Debbi Mack

I couldn't agree more. I still have my first "practice novel." Haven't gotten it published yet, but maybe someday. . .

Aug 19, 2008
Lisa

cheers debbi, i'll have to take a look at his stuff. i hear he's really good. we just had 3 days over 40 degrees, so some of that cold would be nice as long as there was rain involved with it!

Feb 1, 2009
Donna Moore

Hi Debbi - thanks for the invite and thank you so much for your lovely comment! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Makes me happy to hear :o)

Feb 10, 2009
JackBludis

Looks like Monterey to me.

Jul 19, 2009