February 2008 Blog Posts (177)

Help for book clubs

I know we're not ALL writers in here. If you build your library by belonging to a small book club, you might sometimes be lost for words after reading a new book. What should your reading group be discussing after this week's read? Well, one way to decide is to checkout Reading Group Guides.com - http://www.readinggroupguides.com - which is really an online community for reading groups. You can register your club there, and find reading guides for just about every popular book. Plus they offer… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on February 26, 2008 at 11:05pm — No Comments

Jimmy Breslin, the Mafia, and Omertá

Jimmy Breslin could write a grocery list and I would want to read it. His collected columns, in at least two books, are exciting reading because of how he records characters, especially criminal characters. The small details he catches are wonderfully revealed in his writings. While he often uses wit in presenting details, the underlying facts of criminals, especially the old Mafia, comes through as he attended, cold, brutal, and often foolish.



Any mystery writer that uses organized… Continue

Added by Michael Haskins on February 26, 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments

Interview with John DeDakis, mystery author and senior editor of CNN

I've posted my interview with John DeDakis, author of FAST TRACK and senior editor of CNN on MURDER BY 4 today. John's new book, BLUFF, will be out later this year.

Added by Marta Stephens on February 26, 2008 at 3:56am — No Comments

Paradise Lost meets La Femme Nikita

I know...it's been forever and a day since I updated this thing. I'm still working on re-write/edit of CRIMSON SWAN. Illness, holidays, and the start of a new semester slowed me down, but the end is in sight. Yay! Most of my time lately has been divided between the edits and working on my creative thesis. I'm scheduled to graduate with my MA this fall, so I'm actively writing and editing my thesis, HELLFIRE.



I could have used CRIMSON SWAN as my thesis, but I wanted to challenge… Continue

Added by Jeannie Holmes on February 26, 2008 at 2:27am — No Comments

Press release for 'Glastonbury'

Rain Books have sent out the first round of press releases for my forthcoming release 'Glastonbury'. As they are in Canada I'm not familiar with the publications they use over there, but they have sent me a list of newspapers they have sent the release to in the UK, which includes 'The Times'. I'm impressed by the long list of newspapers around the country that they have submitted the release to. This is what they've said about it:

Rain… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on February 26, 2008 at 12:33am — No Comments

What is valuable to you?

I was reminded recently that the things we hold most precious are only precious to us, not anyone else. You can't self your friendships. You can't list respect on E-Bay. And the most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no trade-in value.

Added by Austin S. Camacho on February 25, 2008 at 10:46pm — No Comments

Weekend Warrior, My Version

The weekend was devoted to a huge Renaissance Festival, where I was ensconced at a table to sign books. It seemed to me that at a place where people gather who love history would be a good venue for publicizing MACBETH'S NIECE. I was both right and wrong.



Of course, it rained first thing. Hard. My "signage", as the manager called it, was destroyed as I spent my time on protecting the more valuable books I'd set out. (My hair we won't even mention.) Around noon the rain cleared, and… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on February 25, 2008 at 9:27pm — No Comments

Virtual Tales upgrade

My crime novel, 'The Burning' is a Virtual Tales publication. For a short time, there's a special offer available:



To showcase the new website and delivery upgrades, Virtual Tales will

be offering a 30% discount off all purchases made at their website

(www.VirtualTales.com) from Friday, February 22nd through Sunday,

March 9th. The special discount will automatically be applied to each

item as it is added to the shopping cart. There is no limit to the

amount… Continue

Added by Jackie Tritt on February 25, 2008 at 5:13pm — No Comments

Inspired or Tired?

Can all writing projects be made into sellable art or should some just go away permanently? As I've been a reviewer for many years, I can sometimes spot when an author has pulled something out of a back drawer. I blasted someone in a review (and I rarely do that) who had written excellent YA then came out with a very bad one with outdated teen stereotypes - clearly this one was written a long time ago and the author thought no teens would notice?



But sometimes this works: Evanovich,… Continue

Added by Love Is Murder Conference on February 25, 2008 at 6:50am — No Comments

My last wonderful week!

The highlight of my week was a complete surprise. When I went to speak at a meeting of Arlington Chapter of the Jaycees a vaguely familiar fellow sat beside me and shook my hand. After a shameful delay I realized he was my fraternity bother Mark Altman. In my own defense I haven't seen this guy in 34 years or so, and we’ve both changed a bit in that time. But he remembered way more about me than I would have expected, including the superhero-littered skyline mural we painted on the wall in The… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on February 25, 2008 at 6:36am — No Comments

Ken Bruen liked my novel. KEN BRUEN LIKED MY NOVEL!!!

It wasn't Christmas or my birthday, but I got the most incredible present yesterday: a message from Ken Bruen in my CrimeSpace email telling me in lyrical terms how much he liked DEATH WILL GET YOU SOBER, which he'd just read. The first thing I said after "REALLY???" (who sez you can't screech in text?) was, "Is this a joke?"--just like the people who can't believe it's really Ed McMahon from Publishers Clearinghouse at their door with the check for $10,000,000.



After Ken reassured… Continue

Added by Elizabeth Zelvin on February 25, 2008 at 12:40am — 2 Comments

Virtual Tales promotional: 30% off titles

Virtual Tales has revamped their website and are doing a 30%-off promotional of their titles until March 9.



This also means that links to Fraterfamilias on the site have changed. The new one is: http://www.virtualtales.com/Science-Fiction/Fraterfamilias.html, so please update any links that you have to the novel's ordering page at Virtual Tales. The Virtual Tales address hasn't changed… Continue

Added by Paula R. Stiles on February 24, 2008 at 6:43pm — No Comments

Night of the Living Dead

Anyone who doubts the existence of zombies need only venture out into the winter hinterlands of central and northern Wisconsin. In tin-sided buildings the color of dried mustard, they cluster in communion with the seven deadly sins. Under the guise of progress they profess to enrich the Native Americans of our state through the tawdry tourist attraction that is Indian Gaming.



The drive in is a metaphor for the failed promise of our state’s casinos. A wide four-lane highway delivers… Continue

Added by Karyn J. Powers on February 24, 2008 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Sucking it Up

It must be the February blahs. Blogs all over the sphere are springing up with the periodic lament of a writer’s plight. Rejections, how meager our rewards are in relation to the quantity of our souls left on each page. It gets old, navel-gazing raised to the level of whining. Let’s refine the argument.



The question is: Why do you (personally) write? If you write solely for the joy of putting stories on paper, then you're already successful; have a ball.



If you write to… Continue

Added by Dana King on February 24, 2008 at 7:33am — 5 Comments

The Godfather at Pulp Pusher

Pulp Pusher updates with a new interview from Edinburgh journalist David Lewis who has tracked down the Godfather of Tartan Noir, Frederic Lindsay, read it ... here

Added by Tony Black on February 24, 2008 at 6:07am — No Comments

Believability In Fiction

Maria and Lawrence have been expressing different opinions about Robert Crais’ THE WATCHMAN and part of their exchange has centered on the issue of believability and suspension of disbelief.



Quoting Maria: I didn't have trouble with the suspension of disbelief because none of it is supposed to be terribly believable. For me, it was no different than a space story--lots of guns, lots of fighting and…

Continue

Added by Sandra Ruttan on February 24, 2008 at 4:36am — 5 Comments

putting away the scissors and paste

I am trying to streamline my life a bit, so instead of trying to occasionally post to my blog here, I'm using the RSS feed gadget on my member page to feed items from my main blog. That means this is the last of me you'll see in the blog feed section of Crimespace's front page. (Hurrah! they all cried.)

Thanks to Daniel for pointing out how to do this in the Crimespace FAQ.

Added by Barbara Fister on February 24, 2008 at 3:24am — 4 Comments

Finding My Way: Thoughts on Plotting

Finding My Way: Thoughts on Plotting

Listen to the Blogcast

In Antiques to Die For, the third Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery, I wrote without an outline. Boy, was that a mistake. Twenty-twenty hindsight and all that. Writing without an outline worked out pretty well in the first two books in the series, but man, it sure didn't with this one.

Not that I knew it at the…

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Added by Jane Cleland on February 23, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

Crimespree 23 ready to ship feb 25th

In this next issue:

From The Editor by Ruth Jordan

Newsbits – happenings around the mystery world

Lori Avocado in Alaska

Small Publisher Spotlight: Busted Flush

Fiction: THE BEWITCHED by by James Patrick Hunt



Cover story: Crimedogs

Anthony Neil Smith, Victor Gicshler and Sean Doolittle



Crimespree on the Road: Love is Murder

Sex Drugs rock and roll...and a comic Thriller by Raymond Benson

The Parisian Jungle; French Crime fiction… Continue

Added by Jon Jordan on February 23, 2008 at 10:00am — 1 Comment

The Seeing Eye Dog

"Hi! This is Mari. Are my glasses in yet?" Hopefully, I queried Kaiser a third day in a row. When I ordered my glasses I was told "Seven to ten working days." I made my first call at working day six, hoping, against hope, that they might have come in early. On day eight I was told that it would probably be Friday...the tenth day, and THEY would call me. On day nine the receptionist told me "Calling won't get you your glasses ANY faster."



"Yes, it will." I insisted. "If I call you… Continue

Added by Mari Sloan on February 23, 2008 at 9:30am — No Comments

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