All Blog Posts (12,730)

Podcast Mania

I've gone crazy about podcasts. Writers Robert Gregory Browne and Brett Battles have done one on writing (http://www.battlesandbrowne.com/), but there's a lot of other resources for authors and readers.

Just started to listen to http://bookexpocast.com from this past Book Expo. Listened to an interview with M.J. Rose about her upcoming book and just started the one on ethics and book…

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Added by Naomi Hirahara on July 25, 2007 at 5:14am — 1 Comment

You can do it. We can help. Maybe.

In my never-ending quest to "girlify," I'm trying to turn our summer cottage into my own private B&B. (Meanwhile, hubby is saying he wants a moose or deer head--ANYTHING--just to make the place more MANLY. HA! There will be NO taxidermy in any abode where I'm living!)

So there we were, with one very expensive piece of molding for the Victorian hallway we're recreating in our cottage hide-away. A very SHORT hallway. The paint was over $40 (and wall prep was $12). The embossed…

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Added by Writers Plot on July 25, 2007 at 3:43am — No Comments

Word Play

Posted by Sheila Connolly

Some time ago, in some magazine, I read an article that fascinated me, about people who find certain words, or combinations of words, extremely funny–far beyond a normal giggle. I'm one of them. Put the right words together and I'm reduced to helpless laughter, to the point of tears. I never know when it's going to happen, and I certainly don't know why.

So, being a proficient Googler, I tried to look up the article. The first problem was deciding what…

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Added by Writers Plot on July 25, 2007 at 3:24am — No Comments

Publisher's Weekly Review of "The First Wave"

Received a fine review in Publisher's Weekly! Interesting how often reviewers get the details wrong. Diana is not Billy's ex-girlfriend, for instance. I wonder how well they actually read the book. And I'm surprised at the degree to which they contradict each other; the Booklist review commented that the villain was easy to spot. In PW, the reviewer says the suspect was hard to determine! Oh well, it's an art, not a science.

"In Benn’s high-spirited second WWII…

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Added by James R. Benn on July 24, 2007 at 11:33pm — No Comments

DEAD CONNECTION tour - Day 8 - July 23

Today kicked off the second week of tour. The lowpoint was the start of the day, when my four year old nephew in Phoenix realized that mommy, daddy, Auntie Alafair, and he were all going to separate places after a weekend of nonstop fun. I thought his little heart was crushed by my imminent departure, but then he started counting all the toy cars he had to bid farewell before school, and I realized he'd probably survive the day all right.

The high points were seeing my 100 year old… Continue

Added by Alafair Burke on July 24, 2007 at 4:26pm — No Comments

Random thoughts

No, I'm not 98 -- since several people commented on my profile age, I decided to put in my real one (49 next month).

The artwork on my profile was done a few years ago as a logo for me. I liked it so much I commissioned artist Erica Well to create covers for my books in the same style. She did a wonderful job~ I'll get them loaded on to this computer and post them on the site soon. She also did the cover for my non-fiction book!

Our rescue dogs are Garth - a basset/beagle mix,…

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Added by Cindy Daniel on July 24, 2007 at 10:16am — No Comments

The Magic of Harry Potter

The True Magic of Harry Potter

I have written a thank you note to JK Rowling. Hand written on paper, of course, as that is how thank you notes should be done.

I felt compelled to write to her, in gratitude for something her latest and last book "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows" brought to me.

I have been reading the Harry Potter books to my daughter since she was five years old. It has been our tradition that with each new book, I read it out loud to her. With the…

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Added by Judy Nichols on July 24, 2007 at 5:45am — No Comments

Thanks, Thomas

Thanks for inviting me over to Book Place. I'll have to check everything out a little later. My Muse is currently beating me over the head with one of her favored Writer Motivating Devices -- a spiked mace.

*sigh*

Time to get back to work.

TTFN JKH

Added by Jeannie Holmes on July 24, 2007 at 2:04am — No Comments

Hammett-Prize

In den letzten Wochen haben die meisten der bekannteren US-Krimipreise ihre Kandidaten nominiert. Lediglich der Anthony-Award fehlt noch, wird jedoch am 24.07.07 folgen.

Weitgehend unbeachtet von der Blog-Öffentlichkeit hat auch der Nordamerikanische Ableger der „International Association of Crime Writers“ (IACW/NA ) die Bücher bekannt gegeben, die für den Hammet-Prize…

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Added by Bernd Kochanowski on July 24, 2007 at 12:33am — No Comments

Promote your book tours--for free! Canada and US authors.

I'm sending this out to all my author friends and I hope you'll pass it on to yours.

While researching sites for my upcoming "Touring the World" virtual book tour in August, I stumbled across a new site that promotes authors book signings and tours. It's created a buzz in the industry, even at…

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Added by Cheryl Kaye Tardif on July 23, 2007 at 5:41pm — No Comments

Updated austcrimefiction site

http://www.austcrimefiction.org has been around for a while now - listing Australasian Crime fiction authors and books, True Crime and whatever else sort of appealed to us at the time.

We've recently been working on an upgrade to the site to make it more interactive for people to get involved on - and that site has now been "launched" (well it's up and limping anyway :) )

If you're interested in Australasian / Australian / New… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 23, 2007 at 5:23pm — 1 Comment

Why I Don't Have Any Tattoos (But Why I Like Them)

Commitment issues. It's as simple as that. I can't come up with any

particular image, word or symbol that I want permanently on my body. I

know myself. I'd change my mind sooner or later and getting tattoos

removed is painful and not all that effective.

The closest I ever came was when I was in college in Olympia, Washington. I used to

hang out on Pacific Avenue in Tacoma and I had befriended a tattoo

artist named Painless Brenda. One night I was drunk. I… Continue

Added by Eric Stone on July 23, 2007 at 3:01pm — 7 Comments

Harry Potter & The Busy Hollows of Sales

Some

people said it would be a mistake to schedule a book signing on

Saturday, July 21 in the wake of an aircraft carrier known as "Harry

Potter." I was in

Macdonald Book Shop in Estes Park, Colorado. This bookstore is

79-years-old. It's tidy, cozy and very well kept. The books

shine.

Just walking in makes you want to read. The staff could not have been

more friendly. Conservatively, I would say 50 percent of the customers

asked if there were any… Continue

Added by Mark Stevens on July 23, 2007 at 10:35am — No Comments

Harrogate - A Few Random Thoughts

Well, I'm home after a wonderful few days in Harrogate. The Festival was excellent, the panels were great, the evening events were fun...but most of all, the company was top class and I had much much fun and many laughs. Some random brief highlights, thoughts and comments:

I was SO chuffed to see Al win the Theakstons. It was a really strong field and any one of them deserved the prize, but, man, I was so thrilled for Al. And he was the only one that I would (and did) shed a few tears… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on July 23, 2007 at 7:48am — 16 Comments

Euro Crime

I run the Euro Crime website and associated blog. They cover
British and (other) European crime fiction. On the website there are
reviews and bibliographies and more recently monthly competitions to
win books and sometimes DVDs. The blog is more for pointers to new
books, award winners, new websites/blogs and also covers tv and film.

http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/

http://eurocrime.blogspot.com/

Added by Karen Meek on July 23, 2007 at 5:57am — No Comments

Cheryl Kaye Tardif on Publishers Marketplace

I am now on Publishers Marketplace.

Please show your support by clicking on the following link:

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/cherylktardif/

(Especially if you are an agent or New York Publisher! :)

Thank you,
Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention

Added by Cheryl Kaye Tardif on July 23, 2007 at 5:34am — No Comments

Yet another reason not to write

I discovered Crimespace after reading about it in the latest issue of The 3rd Degree from Mystery Writers of America. Cool space.

It gives me yet another reason not to write. My agent's going to have a duck. I'm already behind on A WICKED TURN, the second book in my as-yet-but-hopefully-soon-to-be-published series. CRIMSON SWAN, the first book, is making the rounds of editors.

Given that I recently returned from THRILLERFEST, where I was one of the happy volunteers for several…

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Added by Jeannie Holmes on July 23, 2007 at 4:21am — 2 Comments

Hunter S. Thompson Tribute

A Colorado newspaper published a special edition with a tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson. I'd love to see a copy of that.

Added by Sandra Ruttan on July 22, 2007 at 1:34pm — No Comments

The Barry Nominees

Congratulations to all the nominees!

Best Novel

White Shadow by Ace Atkins

Oh Danny Boy by Rhys Bowen

The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler

The Prisoner of Guantanamo by Dan Fesperman

City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin

The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos

Best First

The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

The Berlin Conspiracy by Tom Gabbay

The King of Lies by John Hart

Still Life… Continue

Added by Sandra Ruttan on July 22, 2007 at 1:16pm — No Comments

Alafair Burke at The Poisoned Pen

Alafair Burke, author of the recent book, Dead Connection, and the Samantha Kincaid series, appeared at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale today. She and Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, started out by discussing the fact that they, along with authors Michelle Martinez, Twist Phelan and Tess Gerritsen, all went to Stanford Law School.

Alafair said she worked in the D.A.'s office in Portland, Oregon for five years, which was considered a long time for someone who wanted to teach. She… Continue

Added by Lesa Holstine on July 22, 2007 at 11:48am — No Comments