All Blog Posts (12,730)

Ladykiller's Early Reviews!

"Ladykiller is a fast, thrilling read!" -- Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine

"I absolutely loved Ladykiller. Excellent writers, kept you wanting to pick up the book every moment you had time to read. The book will definitely be recommended to my bookclubs and anyone else I have a chance to tell."

-- Barbara Liss, BookClubs

"Ladykiller is addictive, intense, and not for the faint of heart." -- Armchair Interviews

"I would recommend…

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Added by Meredith Anthony on March 29, 2007 at 5:18am — 1 Comment

How old is your protagonist?

What got me thinking about this was a great line I heard recently, about Queens being the new Brooklyn. That reminded me of a line that comforted me a lot a couple years back, about 60 being the new 30. And that made me think about how Archie Goodwin in the Nero Wolfe books used to refer to women he considered slightly over the hill as "on the shady side of 30." I suspect I'm not alone in finding the 20s the less interesting side of 30, and hardly anybody thinks 35 or even 40 ushers in middle… Continue

Added by Elizabeth Zelvin on March 29, 2007 at 5:15am — 10 Comments

Queer Up North and hobnobbing with the stars ... almost

A fairly relaxed day today. It feels soooo good to get my luggage back. Everything feels much calmer, as if I’m really here now rather than being in transit. Hmm. Maybe I do attach too much importance to my things after all. But they’re my things. Thank goodness it’s counselling tomorrow, eh? I obviously need the input.

And the office is glad I’ve got my case, as it means I can finally donate the Madeiran honey cake to the National Office Cake Shortage Society. Hmm. It’s lovely too…

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Added by Anne Brooke on March 29, 2007 at 5:06am — No Comments

Support the Independents

This is my first "post" since joining Crime Space, and I'm probaby preaching to the choir (sorry for the cliche) but it's something that needs to be said.

I had an event at the Mystery Company in Carmel Indiana this past week, along with several other writers, and we had over 70 people in attendance. This was due, in no small part, to the efforts of store owner Jim Huang.

Jim has been a big (and early) supporter of mine as I suspect he has with many of you. And Jim is only one…

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Added by Brandt Dodson on March 29, 2007 at 4:51am — No Comments

A Hell of a Woman

After a surprising eleventh hour invite, it looks like my short story “Cutman” has been accepted for publication in the forthcoming Busted Flush antho A HELL OF A WOMAN: An Anthology of Female Noir, edited by Megan Abbott. “Cutman” is about a very butch female cutman (the person who stops cuts from bleeding during a match) and a girl boxer. My Helen Nielsen piece will also appear in the same anthology. I don’t have a pub date yet but I’ll post it… Continue

Added by Christa Faust on March 29, 2007 at 3:50am — No Comments

ACME AUTHORS LINK -acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com

Hi folks,

Today I'm blogging about a blog. I've joined a great band of authors in a team blog called Acme Authors Link. Our members write in such diverse fields as mystery, humor, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy, even a how-to book on writing.

I've just posted my blog contribution today. It's about how much I hate & love writing.

I invite you to stop by and visit at ACME AUTHORS LINK…

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Added by Morgan Mandel on March 29, 2007 at 3:16am — No Comments

Some Thoughts About Scenes

A tidbit from James Scott Bell's book Plot & Structure. "Most

often, the best way to create a memorable scene is to intensify the

clash. Two characters oppose each other. They have the strongest

possible reasons to do so."

It took a long time for me to internalize this lesson. In my earlier

stories, there is a lot of physical movement of the characters, as a

substitute for plot movement. Similarly,… Continue

Added by Michael Carr on March 29, 2007 at 1:54am — No Comments

This one's for Swierczy

I just heard that I've made possibly my most remarkable foreign sale of all. (And believe me, if you've read my stuff you'll know that any foreign sale for me is remarkable.) The Polish edition of Asimov's science fiction and fantasy mag will publish my short story SOME HELP FROM STANLEY (which first appeared five years ago in The Third Alternative). It's really a noir story, with the added "sf" element that the disembodied voice of Stanley Kubrick plays a part.

Anyway, for this I…

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Added by Charlie Williams on March 29, 2007 at 12:30am — No Comments

How I learned to write (an ongoing series)

I used to read the Hardy Boys and Sherlock Holmes. That inspired my love

of mysteries. But I'm realizing more and more that after elementary

school, I didn't read many books until college. The occasional Michael

Crichton, sure, but otherwise, not too much.

What I did read, however, was comic books. Spider-man, Batman, X-men, whatever. I

devoured them. I could remember reading the same story arcs several

times a month. And while I didn't realize it at the… Continue

Added by Dave White on March 28, 2007 at 9:52am — No Comments

Helen Nielsen

I’m writing a short piece on 50’s era pulp mystery author Helen Nielsen. My fixation on Nielsen started because of this photo on the back of the Dell edition of DEAD ON THE LEVEL (aka Gold Coast Nocturne):

I just love that challenging, tough guy stare. She looks like she could take more than half of her male contemporaries in a fair fight.

I could go on, (and on and on) but I’m saving it for the write up. I’m… Continue

Added by Christa Faust on March 28, 2007 at 8:43am — No Comments

Finding Time to Read

I was just about to make a big book order when I asked myself the ol' question: When will I have time to read all these books?

Added by Gerald So on March 28, 2007 at 7:11am — No Comments

Luggage? You must be joking ...

Bloody BA. Bloody BA courier. What the bloody hell do they think they’re doing?? Honestly, they’re so thick they couldn’t stuff a bloody luggage trolley up their own arses and turn it. And how I wish I could do the deed for them – that would be sooooo satisfying. We waited up till nearly 11.30pm last night for the non-existent ruddy delivery, and I am shattered today as I then lay awake worrying about it. Their bag-tracking system & website information is…

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Added by Anne Brooke on March 28, 2007 at 6:26am — No Comments

World Horror

I’m heading off to Toronto this week for the World Horror Convention.

I’ll be doing:

- A signing with the fabulous Sarah Langan, author of the truly terrific debut THE KEEPER, also a nominee for a Stoker for First Novel, in the Dealers Room at the Toronto Marriott (the con hotel) on Friday at noon (HWA booth).

- A mass autographing on… Continue

Added by Alexandra Sokoloff on March 28, 2007 at 5:51am — No Comments

Limited Edition Project

Three days to order sans S&H my homemade, multi-multimedia project Hitler: Five Impossibly Possible Love Stories. You get: CD; 5 poems; 2 films; a booklet; interactive experiment; moveable parts; book with protected covers. PC/Mac friendly. Order 1/50 signed & numbered copies here. Watch infomercial…

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Added by Paul A. Toth on March 28, 2007 at 5:25am — No Comments

Telemarketing demons

Encouraged by the success of putting CREDO online, I put SELL IN HELL up at YouTube this morning. This is one of my earlier short films, from a few years ago.

It won't prompt the level of theological debate that CREDO has, and isn't anywhere near as technically sophisticated as I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY, AND I'LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN, but it won BEST WRITING at the Toronto Giggleshorts Comedy Film Festival and has… Continue

Added by Keith Snyder on March 28, 2007 at 3:55am — No Comments

Second Class Citizens?

I just finished reading Christine Falls, the much ballyhooed new book by John Banville. Mr. Banville won the Commonwealth's highest writing honor, the Man Booker Prize, in 2005 for The Sea. He penned Christine Falls under the pseudonym Benjamin Black. In fact, the copy I picked up at …

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Added by Keith Raffel on March 28, 2007 at 3:51am — 3 Comments

Gosh, am I really this popular?

I just clicked on the main page and saw my own photo at the upper left in the section "Popular Members". Hard to believe I'm really this popular - I'll bet Crimespace does this to all the guys and gals to make them feel good. I'll have to check back and see. In the meantime, it's a hefty rush to see myself there in the place of honor.

As I threatened to do in my last blog, I read my poem about my negative YMCA experience at the Lark Tavern last night and it went over well, especially…

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Added by Julie Lomoe on March 28, 2007 at 2:41am — No Comments

Anatomy of Fear Video

Check it out. The promo video for my new novel Anatomy of Fear. You can see it if you go to http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780060881979/Anatomy_of_Fear/index.aspx

And soon it will be up and in a larger format on my wesite (still being overhauled) at www.jonathansantlofer.com

Originally my publisher was going to have me reading from the…

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Added by Jonathan Santlofer on March 28, 2007 at 1:51am — 6 Comments

Currently Reading...

Joe R. Lansdale's Lost Echoes. So far, it's a great book about a young man who can pick up images of violent deaths and actions based on the sound waves absorbed in the surrounding areas (sounds complicated, but Lansdale explains it clearly and makes it work). He's depressed and an alcoholic (alcohol helps keep the impressions out) and meets another man, an alcoholic former martial arts instructor, who helps him to get a handle on his abilities and who becomes something of a surrogate… Continue

Added by Craig Larson on March 28, 2007 at 12:30am — No Comments

Entertainment or Education? An Author's View on Movies and TV

I am a visual person. Those of you who know me have heard me say this a million times. That is the key to a great book for me. I have to see it playing out in video in my mind. (Keep that in mind if you are submitting a book to me...LOL). If I can't see it as it's happening, I just won't enjoy it. Two of the best examples for me are Nancy Martin's Blackbird Sisters mysteries and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series. For me, their writing is so vivid that I can see all the details.…

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Added by Echelon Press on March 27, 2007 at 11:21pm — 1 Comment