All Blog Posts (12,730)

A Double Life

Posted by Lorraine Bartlett

In the summer, I lead a double life. From Monday through Thursday, I live in the biggest suburb of Rochester, NY. We have a nice house, a money pit (that's an in-ground pool, which by the way, we almost never use because we don't swim--it was here when we bought the place), and four "snug kittens" (for those who used to read Country Almanac and Jo Leonsky's "Country Musings" column, you'll get that reference).…

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Added by Writers Plot on May 29, 2007 at 10:23pm — No Comments

It's not you... it's me.

I'm still living out of boxes in the new house. I hit Ikea hard yesterday for the holiday tax-free sale. Big mistake. I didn't get home until six hours later. Still don't have the shelves I need for these many many boxes of books.

So anyway, I haven't been very active here, or elsewhere online. My apologies. So here's what you missed.

Recent reads: The Janissary Tree, Daddy Cool (Goines), The Song is You (Abbott). Firestorm (Caine), The Ikea catalog show.

Recent… Continue

Added by Michael C. Jacobs on May 29, 2007 at 2:27pm — No Comments

Reviewed by Liz - Summer Mystery Reading Challenge

From my blog, I link to a blog called Reviewed by Liz. The Summer Mystery Reading Challenge was originally scheduled to start on June 1st, but readers are eager to start, so you can start now.

What is their Summer Mystery Reading Challenge? The goal of the challenge is to read six mysteries by authors whose works you haven't read before, and you have until August 31st to do it. It gives readers the incentive to sample new and new-to-you authors. Reviewed by Liz explains the whole… Continue

Added by Lesa Holstine on May 29, 2007 at 9:21am — No Comments

Murder Can Depress Your Dachshund

Selma Eichler brings back Desiree Shapiro, her henna-haired, overweight private investigator, in the fourteenth book in the series. Even a murder investigation can't keep Desiree from her beloved Häagen Dazs macadamia brittle ice cream. In fact, problems with the case give Desiree one more reason to indulge.

And, who wouldn't have problems with her case?… Continue

Added by Lesa Holstine on May 29, 2007 at 9:21am — No Comments

On blogging...

I have a personal blog, on the Google blog site, but I'm not going to keep it up. I'll be removing the link from my personal page here on Crimespace soon, end of this month.

Blogging is weird. Not so much here, where the focus is mystery and I have some credentials and a lot of history in the field; once in a while I do seem to have something to say that's probably worth saying. But in general I am not a good blogger. I do like to read some other people's blogs, and there are…

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Added by Dianne Day on May 29, 2007 at 8:47am — 1 Comment

Opinions...Do they REALLY matter?

For the life of me I simply cannot understand why the opinions of others matters so much to some people. We've all heard the line about opinions being like various parts of the human anatomy--everyone's got one and most of them smell. Maybe it's because I stopped giving a damn what other people thought of me early enough that I was left without that need for approval, but whenever I hear about two adults (kids are always forgiven for not knowing better) fighting over what amounts to a…

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Added by Laine on May 29, 2007 at 7:21am — No Comments

Author Egomaniacs: Do You See What I See?

Which authors do you think are egomaniacs? Any bestsellers you’ve got stashed on your shelves? Newer authors you think are already too big for their britches? Anyone spring to mind?

I’ve been thinking about this over the weekend, for a variety of reasons. One is the comment trail here. Another is a private communication. Then there was that email I referenced last post. And the final straw? The comment trail over at…

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Added by Sandra Ruttan on May 29, 2007 at 7:07am — 7 Comments

Gloria, Hallelujah!

Posted by Sheila Connolly

I said my post of last week was the end of the line for my academic sojourns. Okay, I lied. But this is absolutely, positively the last post in this thread, because my Darling Daughter has graduated. She's moved back into her old bedroom and will be looking for a job (anybody have any good suggestions for a Comparative Literature major?).

But of course we had to have a bang-up, blow-out last ceremony to mark the end of her four years:…

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Added by Writers Plot on May 29, 2007 at 5:41am — No Comments

The Story Behind The Driver (x-posted)

If you scroll down a bit, you'll see my short story The Driver, which was originally published in CrimeSpree Magazine. The first thing to notice is that there are at least five drivers mentioned in the story - the two deputies, the criminal, the good samaritan and the old driver who had been carjacked. I didn't notice that myself until after I had written the story.

Maybe more importantly, there is the… Continue

Added by Steven Torres on May 29, 2007 at 3:23am — No Comments

I, Me, Mine.....George Harrison

"I am born." "I had a farm in Africa" "I have never begun a novel with more misgiving."

Back in the day, novels written in the first person got some respect. When did that change?

I don't know if it's a mystery thing or a "literary" thing, but it seems that writing in third person (or some other variation or combination) gets all the reviews while first person novels are somehow written off as lightweight, anyone-can-bang-them-out yarns. When I started Pushing up…

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Added by Rosemary Harris on May 29, 2007 at 2:54am — 4 Comments

Time, alas

Dear friends,

how do you manage? To invite me as your friend? (Thanks, by the way!)

To view all the exciting websites and blogs that all of you seem to be

able keep? I can't cope with even a quarter of all the information you

offer. I even do not find the time to add to my website diary...

Sorry for being such a lag in answering your chatter or join into your

discussions. At least I am writing my pages for the new book every day,

getting acquainted with my… Continue

Added by Anne Chaplet on May 29, 2007 at 12:41am — No Comments

Life of PI

A few years ago I managed to persuade a real life UK Private Eye to answer some questions for me, and the result appeared in the wonderful Crimespree Magazine. Here it is:

Life of PI

Picture the scene - the backstreet office building looks unloved and dejected. You walk up the dimly lit staircase and inhale the scents which hint at bodily functions you'd rather not dwell on too closely. Actually, it's more than a hint - the smells take you by the throat and assault your nose… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on May 28, 2007 at 10:59pm — No Comments

New Friends at Karibu Books

Participating in the "Write NOW" program at Karibu Books in Iverson Mall was a unique experience. I was one of five authors who started out self-published. Our panel fielded questions from the audience, and we each had a chance to read from our books and speak from the podium. Audience questions were mostly about how to get published, and we tried to clue them in about the joy and pain of doing it yourself.

The authors on the panel represented quite a range of work, from a children's… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on May 28, 2007 at 10:45pm — No Comments

Graphic, Shane Briant

Title: GRAPHIC

Author: Shane Briant

Publisher: Marburg Press

Edition released: February 2005

ISBN: 0957882610

274 pages

Review by: Karen Chisholm

There are a stack of books lurking in a corner in my lounge room that are from little / basically unknown Australian authors and I've been promising to catch up on my reading of them to myself for ages

now. GRAPHIC was my most recent read from that pile and I'm really

pleased I…

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Added by Karen from AustCrime on May 28, 2007 at 5:47pm — No Comments

The Nancy Drew Sweepstakes

This turned up in my email for anyone interested...

Hello,

I wanted to give you a heads-up about a new interactive media marketing campaign that…

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Added by Diana Killian on May 28, 2007 at 2:48pm — No Comments

The Newbie Speaks

I started a new job a few weeks ago, so I cut myself some slack on writing. During my lunch break - typically at Wendy's since the 99 cent menu is all I can afford thanks to gas-gauging - I have some time to focus my thoughts on my characters and plot and where it's going.

Of course, those notes are great when I sit back down at the computer, but time away takes its toll - especially on a story like mine. I have a lot of twists I want to pack into the pages to give readers a…

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Added by Angela Wilson on May 28, 2007 at 9:18am — No Comments

Pointless writing?

A fellow author was bemoaning his sales. He had what seemed to him an important point to make, but his publisher told him it was pointless to write things that were not commercially viable. I assured him there is a place in the market for books that are not bestsellers but present an important message. In my view, the only writing that is pointless is writing done with a broken pencil.

Added by Austin S. Camacho on May 28, 2007 at 6:58am — No Comments

Using My Imagination

I've mentioned before that some of my best idea gathering comes when

I'm walking around the beaver pond, taking a shower, or lying in bed

before falling asleep. This is when I come up with snippets of dialogue

or interesting plot developments.

The other thing I do during these times (and used to do during boring

work meetings or when listening to an especially boring professor) is

wander into imaginary places in my own life. I imagine myself in… Continue

Added by Michael Carr on May 28, 2007 at 4:48am — No Comments

Rain stops play ...

It was nice getting back into the swing of the Glyndebourne (http://www.glyndebourne.com) season last night, but I have to say that Lord H and I were rather disappointed in their production of "Macbeth". Though, whatever they do, the play will of course be more powerful and more human than anything in the known universe ... The singing was first-class, as ever (as far as I can tell anyway - the singer playing Lady…

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Added by Anne Brooke on May 28, 2007 at 3:52am — No Comments