I began writing mystery stories in the sixth grade, and made it a lifelong habit. I live in the foothills of the Ozarks with my husband and son, and have three published novels out.
Elizabeth Peters, Dick Francis, Sue Grafton, Joan Hess, among others, and a number of indie authors, such as Pauline Baird Jones and Katherine Smith. Always on the lookout for new ones, though.
Movies And TV Shows I Like:
Stargate: SG1, Atlantis, SGU
Farscape
CSI (the original)
House
Doctor Who (old and new)
NCIS
Bones
Any number of older crime series, now available on DVD
My son's a budding rock guitarist. He's got stacks of books of popular classic rock songs, and puts on the disks to play along with them. Fortunately he doesn't turn up the amp very loud unless we're out of the house, but I pity the neighbors while we're gone, lol!
Hi, Pepper. I noticed you're a Sue Grafton fan. When I was an undergraduate at the University of Louisville (late 70s, early 80s), you could often find me and some other young writers hanging out near the office of an English professor named Leon Driskell. One day, Sue walked up to say something to Leon, and he introduced her to the group. This was probably about the time she was working on A is for Alibi. Leon told the group, "Expect to hear a lot of good things about Sue Grafton in the future." Boy, did we.
Glad you enjoyed the link to Tess. I thought the whole thing was pretty funny, too.
Hi Pepper, thanks for the invite, I'm much obliged. Just wondering, after checking out your profile, what you define an 'indie' writer as ... is it like someone who isn't published by one of the big companies, or someone who self-publishes? Just curious ... Cheers, Dec
Hi Pepper, thanks for getting back to me. You're right about the self-pub way being a hard buck (I co-published with Hag's Head, but it's more or less the same thing) but to be honest, the bucks aren't really where it's at for me ... I have a decent job I like, and I write for pure enjoyment (and occasional exorcism) ... The Big O did the rounds of most of the big UK publishers, and the rejection letters more or less said 'not commercial enough' ... but I didn't need it to be hugely commercial, hence the co-pub route. It's been a fun journey so far, and we've already broken even, so now I'm wondering if I'll do it that way again ... you really get your hands dirty this way, it's a whole different experience to my first book. Anyway, glad to hear from you, and chat soon ... Dec
Thanks, Pepper, for the congrats. I'm really pumped about being an Eppie finalist. Now all I need to do is sell about 200 more books to afford to go to the Epicon. Have a merry Christmas and a multi-published year.
We are looking forward to the movie. I don't like the Ori and will be glad to see that story line settled. Sounds like they are doing a few movies - that will be good.
Now just tell me you like Buffy and Highlander and we are in business.
It is Warwick Castle in England. Was there a few years ago and it is the only castle I have pictures of so that has to be the one I used here (or it could be a scene around Oxford but it looks like Warwick to me)
Thanks for the input, Pepper. What I know about epublishing would fill a thimble. I have nine out-of-print books that I thought I'd recycle through an ebook publisher, but no one seems to have heard of ePress-online, so I thought I'd check with someone who knows. When I accessed Fictionwise and saw the $1,000 setup charge I thought, 'Whoa, I'm not paying to be published.'
Hi Pepper, Thanks for inviting me to become a 'friend'- that expression always makes me smile and think of the school playground. Congratulations on your novels. It's tough getting published and just as tough building your name and readership, but you keep going, and as long as readers enjoy your novels you think, 'I'll get there.' Besides, writing (like you say) becomes an obsession. I too started writing mysteries whilst at school. I'm not sure how old the sixth grade is but I wrote my first mystery novel aged 11. I also listen into the conversations on the Internet and social networks and I'm on Facebook. Bye for now. Pauline.
I will certainly let you know. Murder Mystery evenings seem to be growing in strength over here. I'm always looking for different (and legal) ways to promote my novels, and myself, of course, as an author brand. I did an eight hour book signing on a ferry crossing in conjunction with a bookshop in May, which was great fun, and as it is the National Year of Reading over here, supported by our Prime Minister, I was able to capitalise on this too. Seen the comments about e books. All my novels and business books are available in e books. I have a great UK publisher for them, but the majority of my sales are in the States, which I am certainly not complaining about, and the reviews for my novels from the States are very encouraging. They seem to be very popular with library readers over there. My business books are also available as audio books and soon all my novels will be, my e book publisher is also into this area, and again download sales particularly in the States are good. Not sure if Jean Henry Mead will read this comment, Pepper, but with print on demand she could bring her books back into print under her own imprint and make them available through her web site and contacts. Forgive me if I am already preaching to the converted or going over old ground but wondered if any of this might help. Bye for now Pauline.
Pepper, I'd like to interview you for my Mysterious People blog. Email me with your bio, web and blog sites to Seniorsleuth@aol.com, if you're interested.
Whiskey Creek Press
Jun 1, 2007
Pepper Smith
Jun 1, 2007
Pepper Smith
Jul 3, 2007
Jude Hardin
Glad you enjoyed the link to Tess. I thought the whole thing was pretty funny, too.
Jul 6, 2007
Pepper Smith
Jul 11, 2007
Jack Getze
Jul 14, 2007
Pepper Smith
Jul 14, 2007
Declan Burke
Aug 10, 2007
Declan Burke
Aug 11, 2007
J. D. Webb
Dec 16, 2007
Todd Robinson
Dec 18, 2007
LC Fraser
Now just tell me you like Buffy and Highlander and we are in business.
Jan 31, 2008
LC Fraser
Feb 1, 2008
Jack Getze
Feb 8, 2008
Jack Getze
Feb 8, 2008
Lee Lofland
Oh, take a peek at my blog, The Graveyard Shift, if you get a chance. It's a pretty good companion site to the book.
http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/
Thanks so much.
Feb 23, 2008
L.J. Sellers
Mar 8, 2008
Barri L. Bumgarner
May 23, 2008
Barri L. Bumgarner
May 28, 2008
Jean Henry Mead
Jun 8, 2008
Jean Henry Mead
Jun 8, 2008
Jean Henry Mead
Jun 8, 2008
Jean Henry Mead
Jun 8, 2008
Pauline Rowson
Jul 23, 2008
Pauline Rowson
Jul 24, 2008
Rhys Bowen
Aug 6, 2008
Beth Groundwater
Thanks for becoming my friend--I'm always happy to find fellow mystery authors in online communities.
Aug 7, 2008
Tory Richards
Aug 13, 2008
B.R.Stateham
About author photos--that's just a casual observation on my part. And yes . . . there are always exceptions!!
Feb 12, 2009
Jean Henry Mead
Thanks,
Jean
May 10, 2009
RONALD FEASEL
be kind
Sep 28, 2009