All Blog Posts (12,730)

How To Write A Mystery

I'll be participating in this group event sponsored by Sisters In Crime, along with Eric Stone, Gay Toltl Kinman, and Bruce Cook:

How To Write a Mystery
July 14
2-4 P.M.
Burbank Library, Buena Vista Branch
300 N. Buena Vista
Burbank, CA 91505

Added by Christa Faust on July 10, 2007 at 5:36am — 4 Comments

Amazon Woman

Everyone Heard Her Scream

Yes, I did scream when I saw my debut book—No One Heard Her Scream—already available on Amazon.com for presale. Check it out for yourself. I did. (Authors are strange. Alert the media.)

I’ve also got…

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Added by Jordan Dane on July 10, 2007 at 2:31am — No Comments

Add The Juice Of Two Lemmings

Posted by Sheila Connolly

My daughter is learning to cook. She has a shiny new college degree, but unfortunately it didn't cover the culinary arts. Somehow over the years, I thought setting a good example (yes, dear friends, we ate home-cooked meals together every night in our house!) would be enough to set her on the right path. Apparently I was wrong.

My mother was a competent cook. She put together balanced, if unimaginative, meals–meat, starch, vegetable. She gave…

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Added by Writers Plot on July 9, 2007 at 10:27pm — No Comments

Noir City Northwest, Report #3

Day three’s theme was a cinch to figure out. Black hearts in Technicolor. Throw in Slightly Scarlet and you’d have yourself a party. Just check for your wallet and your kidneys on the way out.

According to the fest’s program notes, 1947’s Desert Fury is a cult classic waiting to happen, ripe with homoerotic… Continue

Added by Vince Keenan on July 9, 2007 at 6:17pm — No Comments

Review - Amongst the Dead, Robert Gott

Title: AMONGST THE DEAD

Author: Robert Gott

Publisher: Scribe

Edition released: April 2007

ISBN: 978-1-921215-24-7

270 pages

Review by: Karen Chisholm

AMONGST THE DEAD is the third novel in Robert Gott's William Power series. William is an "aspirational" but failed Shakespearean actor, turned Private Investigator who finds himself in very unusual circumstances in the Top End of Australia during World War II in AMONGST THE DEAD.

William and his brother… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 9, 2007 at 5:35pm — No Comments

Want FREE autographed books?

"Great Summer Reads Contest" - read any 3 or more Kunati titles to enter. Contest will open shortly but start reading now.

No purchase necessary. You can buy the books, borrow from a friend or library.

Proof of reading could win you 1-3 FREE books.

More info at:

http://www.kunati.com/great-summer-reads-contest…

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Added by Cheryl Kaye Tardif on July 9, 2007 at 3:40pm — No Comments

I signed, I got published, I chilled out!

Last week was quite the roller coaster ride for me. My Independence Day began with a successful book signing at the Waldenbooks in Landmark Mall. Mall traffic was lighter than usual, but the store manager told me when I left that I had been responsible for 24 percent of the day's sales. I rode that joyous news back home to a wonderful cookout with a small collection of good friends.

The weekend brought less exciting news. My schedule seems to have overloaded the book distributor's… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on July 9, 2007 at 10:55am — No Comments

Don't Forget to Enter My Contest

I hope a lot of you are busily thinking up ideas for a victim or murderer in my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. The details are in the blog before this one.

Yesterday, I attended the San Joaquin chapter of Sister in Crime which meets in Fresno. Patricia Smiley was the guests author--and I was glad to meet her and bought two of her books. She was an entertaining speaker and very friendly.

Next month, I'll be doing a panel with two other authors about working with small…

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Added by Marilyn Meredith on July 9, 2007 at 9:17am — No Comments

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my

I'm going to Bouchercon in Alaska in September and, as part of the trip, I am doing the Authors To Schools programme. They send you out into the Bush (or, as I know it The Middle Of Nowhere) for a few days to a local school.

I'm going to a small town in south west Alaska with about 600 residents and which you can only reach by small plane or boat. Except in winter, when you can drive on the river.

I'm really really looking forward to it. My mum, however, thinks I… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on July 9, 2007 at 7:16am — 4 Comments

An Update on my Amazon numbers...

My Barnes and Noble numbers are very different from my Amazon numbers. At B&N, my numbers, at the moment, are 467,137. My Amazon numbers, however, have dropped into the 1.4 million zone. I hope to start turning these numbers around in about ten days (that is, the 18th or so) which will still be about ten days before the book is officially out in the world. Here's what I'll be…

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Added by Steven Torres on July 9, 2007 at 6:46am — No Comments

First Drop

Zoё Sharp grabs hold of the reader's throat in the first sentence of the Charlie Fox debut thriller, and never lets go. I was caught with the opening sentence, "For the third time that morning I shut my eyes tight in the absolute and certain knowledge that I was just about to die." Sharp, and Charlie, surprise the reader from page one, and continue the suspense and… Continue

Added by Lesa Holstine on July 9, 2007 at 6:04am — No Comments

Helix Considered As A Time of Semi-Precious Stones

by guest blogger Lawrence Watt-Evans

As managing editor of Helix, I have three jobs. I handle the money; I provide a second opinion on stories when Will Sanders, the senior editor, wants one (which isn't all that often); and I write an editorial for each issue.

Well, almost every issue; I don't have one in our fifth issue, as it got bumped to make room for a guest. (I'll be back in…

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Added by Writers Plot on July 9, 2007 at 5:32am — No Comments

Americanization and why I (heart) Ray Banks

I’ve been reading lots of British authors lately and it’s got me wondering about the whole Americanization debate. The claim that the average American reader can’t handle unfamiliar British spellings and books by Brits ought to be “Americanized” in order to sell to the McDonalds and Starbucks set.

Well, if the average American reader can’t cope with words like “tyre” or “kerb,” they’d probably be utterly mystified by Ray Banks’ Cal Innes novels. Which is a shame, because they’re… Continue

Added by Christa Faust on July 9, 2007 at 5:30am — 4 Comments

Body in Question

One of my best resource books I found Is "Body in Question--Exploring the Cutting Edge in Forensic Science" by Brian Innes. It has gruesome, detailed pictures that supplement the discussion of how Forensic Scientists do their work. The focus of the book is on police procedure--finding the victim and learning about who they are, establishing time of death, establishing cause of death, linking evidence to the guilty party, and understanding the mind of the criminal, oh, and a big discussion about… Continue

Added by Sheri Fresonke Harper on July 9, 2007 at 5:17am — No Comments

Wisley and the leisured classes

Spent a wonderful few hours at Wisley today with Lord H. We wandered round the gardens, smelt the utterly glorious roses and watched the bird-feeding area for ages. Astonishingly, we saw a family of young greenfinches, a pair of goldfinches and also a pair of chaffinches. As well as a young robin. Bliss. Plus the obligatory wood pigeon. Hmm, not quite so bliss there then. Anyway, it was really nice, and hugely relaxing.… Continue

Added by Anne Brooke on July 9, 2007 at 3:45am — No Comments

The Sound of Murder

I just posted an audio flash story (look over there to your left... no, up a little... yeah, that's it!) It's a little over three minutes long, and I'd like your opinion on it.

It's called "Sweet Over-Indulgence" and I both wrote and produced the audio version.

Tony Burton

Added by Tony Burton on July 9, 2007 at 2:36am — 3 Comments

Noir City Northwest, Report #2

There are no introductions at weekend Noir City matinees, so it’s up to me to guess the day’s theme. I’m going to say shaky California marriages. Either that or heavies named Smiley.

Pitfall was the movie I was most looking forward to in the festival’s line-up, because it’s based on a novel by… Continue

Added by Vince Keenan on July 8, 2007 at 6:11pm — 2 Comments

‘THE NIGHT FERRY’ SAILS STATESIDE JULY 10

I was going to tell you all to strap on the your Mae Wests (life vests) but that would suggest THE NIGHT FERRY was about to go the way of the Titanic on its maiden voyage. That ain’t going to happen. We’re avoiding all icebergs and sailing into a long hot summer.

And to kick it off, the LA Times has given THE NIGHT FERRY an absolutely rave 1000-word review. Staff writer Tim Ruttan called it ‘a vibrant and utterly contemporary new mystery’ and went on to write, ‘THE NIGHT FERRY is an…

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Added by Michael Robotham on July 8, 2007 at 4:48pm — No Comments

Crimespree #19

We are officailly in year four of Crimespree Magazine as we ready to ship issue 19 on Monday.

Cover story with Lee CHild and Gregg Hurwitz...

To Subscribe just go to:

http://www.crimespreemag.com/subscribe.html

Here are the full contents:…

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Added by Jon Jordan on July 8, 2007 at 2:27pm — 1 Comment

Great book

Am reading Open Me, the debut novel from Sunshine O'Donnell. Oh man, is it great. O'Donnell tackles the cult of wailers - professional weeping women hired to "mourn" at the funerals of the rich and famous. She successfully pairs fact with fiction in a really great read.

Not everyone can do that.

This book is great for book groups. It's got incredible emotional abuse of children, legislative documents and quotes from wailing training manuals that will curl your…

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Added by Angela Wilson on July 8, 2007 at 2:15pm — No Comments