I’ve been a James Lee Burke fan for a number of years and always look forward to his next novel. Two of his books, “Heaven’s Prisoners” and “In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead”, have been made into movies. Heaven’s Prisoners, released in 1996, starred Alec Baldwin as Dave Robicheaux and featured a terrific supporting cast including Kelly Lynch, Mary Stuart Masterson, Eric Roberts and Teri Hatcher. I really enjoyed the movie and especially Baldwin’s performance.
So, I was…
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Added by Christopher Valen on March 14, 2009 at 9:48am —
6 Comments
Many of us over 50, WAY over 50, or on the way to 50 are quite confused about how we should present ourselves. We're unsure about the kind of image we are projecting and whether or not we are correct as we try to conform to current fashion.
In spite of what you may have seen on the streets, the following combinations DO NOT go together and should be avoided:
1. A nose ring and bifocals
2. Spiked hair and bald spots
3. A pierced tongue and dentures
4.…
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Added by Tory Richards on March 14, 2009 at 6:58am —
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From Issue #5 of Astonishing Adventures Magazine, "A Red Lipstick"
Lara calmly turned to the mirror and said as she dabbed her lip “I’m hungry and you’re gonna get us kicked out of here before we get a chance to eat…if they don’t call the cops first.” The mention of the police dimmed the wattage of Guy’s sneer for less than a second and only someone who knew him would’ve even noticed.
“I ain’t worried about the heat; I got them in my pocket like my blade. You should… Continue
Added by Cormac Brown on March 14, 2009 at 3:08am —
1 Comment
Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof
Issue: April 1, 2009
Mating Season.
Loomis, Jon (Author)
May 2009. 304 p. St. Martin's/Minotaur, hardcover, $24.95. (9780312367701).
When Kenji Sole is found stabbed to death in her lavish Provincetown, Massachusetts, beach home,
Detective Frank Coffin and Sergeant Lola Winters have no lack of suspects. The beautiful and wealthy
victim had a voracious appetite for sex with a rotating cast of older, married… Continue
Added by Jon Loomis on March 13, 2009 at 11:43pm —
12 Comments
I recently read an editor's comment that she wasn't accepting Tudor-based materials anymore because that era has been "more than adequately covered." Being the author of a soon-to-be-released Tudor mystery, that got my attention, and I must admit, the Tudors have been dissected and analyzed plenty lately. I can't help it if I've always been fascinated with the period. It's Shakespeare's time, for heaven's sake.
That led me, however, to wonder if the Knights Templar might not be a bit…
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Added by Peg Herring on March 13, 2009 at 10:42pm —
3 Comments
JA Konrath & Jack Kilborn Cornered By Rob Walker (an interview and a reunion)
Today my Friday the 13th blog at Acme Authors Link dared welcome the indomitable JA Konrath to our humble niche of the internet. Konrath is the author of six thrillers in the Jack Daniels series, all named after drinks. He’s also got a new book coming out, a horror novel, under the pen name Jack Kilborn, called Afraid. You can visit him at http://www.jakonrath.com/.
I stalked…
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Added by robert walker on March 13, 2009 at 2:00pm —
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It really is remarkable what a vast array of
devices we now have at our fingertips, in this enlightened year of 2009!
Why, I can remember not so very long ago (well, maybe a
little long ago) growing up in Saskatchewan and getting 2 -- count 'em, 2 -- channels on the television set, and having to wrestle with an
unruly set of rabbit ears to get those! And one of those 2 channels was
CBC francais!! (Let's not…
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Added by Donna Carrick on March 13, 2009 at 7:30am —
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Well, as usual, Anthony nominations have crept up on me and I, a publicist by trade, have done no publicity on my own book (a shoemaker's children have no shoes type of problem...).
I would LOVE to get my publisher and artist (Severn House and Piers Tilbury) a nomination for best cover art for BEAN THERE, DONE THAT (see my photos--the coffee beans are bullets). They've done SUCH beautiful covers for me and alot of Bcons don't have a Cover Art category.
Soo...anyone going…
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Added by Sandra Balzo on March 13, 2009 at 2:04am —
5 Comments
Do author blog tours work, or are they a big waste of time and energy?
Follow my experiment at
http://tinyurl.com/cdcc7q
Added by JA Konrath on March 13, 2009 at 12:47am —
1 Comment
Friday evenings are often good for book signings, and I’ll try one this week. I’ll settle in at the big Borders in Waldorf, MD at 6 pm. If you’re in the area, find us at 3304-A Crain Highway.
Added by Austin S. Camacho on March 12, 2009 at 10:01pm —
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It's become customary to give your protag a problem to deal with on top of the required crime to solve. He's accused of murder AND alcoholic. She's targeted for murder AND struggling with a cheating husband. More often than not, he or she is in physical danger AND harassed by a parent, living or dead, who screwed him or her up royally and made simple, day-to-day living difficult.
I won't comment on the American addiction to Blaming Parents for Absolutely Everything. But I notice that…
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Added by Peg Herring on March 12, 2009 at 8:45pm —
4 Comments
Chapter One
The baby was a white fist of flesh. Mama had placed the ultrasound photo atop her dresser in a sterling silver frame. That night, when the pain bent her over in the kitchen, I imagined that same white fist punching her insides black-and-blue. When Daddy called from the hospital to tell us she’d lost the baby, my brother Cyrus said I shouldn’t worry. He said the baby didn’t feel any pain, that at nine weeks it wasn’t anything but a ball of meat squirming in Mama’s stomach.…
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Added by Chris Tusa on March 12, 2009 at 4:05pm —
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I'm glad to see that Amazon has made Kindle books compatible with iPod and iPhone because 7 of my books are on Kindle. This opens them up to a whole new world. On the other hand, I still like to read real books. It takes all kinds.
Added by Alan Cook on March 12, 2009 at 8:16am —
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Hey all. New story up at
Pulp Pusher. Hope you like it. It's my first female protagonist. More info and a trailer for the new tv show I'm editing is on my
website.
Enjoy.
Eric
Added by Eric Beetner on March 12, 2009 at 4:02am —
1 Comment
Okay, I know I'm being a little picky, but in the book I started yesterday, the author uses his protag's name at least twice in each paragraph. It makes me wonder how many people read for him, because somebody should have said, "Do a word search and eliminate about two-thirds of those instances. That's what pronouns are for."
I think this is a great example of what reading aloud does for an author. If he'd heard even a page or two, all those "Jill" repetitions would have become…
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Added by Peg Herring on March 11, 2009 at 9:26pm —
3 Comments
"Dear Pastor Rehwinkel: I am very sorry to add this additional burden to your work."
That's how John List started his confession in a letter to his pastor in 1971. List went through numerous reasons - or excuses - as to why he had murdered his own mother, wife and three children.
John List was an accountant and a devout Lutheran who had severe financial problems such as a mortgage he couldn't pay and he was also quite concerned about…
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Added by Gitte on March 11, 2009 at 6:19pm —
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No, it's not a publishing contract. It got me pretty excited, though. The AV Club did my "Taste Test."
If you are not familiar with the AV Club (avclub.com), you will probably be scratching your head. The AV Club is an off-shoot of the popular satirical magazine, "The Onion." The AV Club differs, however, because it is based on actual events. Think the A&E section of your newspaper twisted into a sardonic tornado.
Back in November 2008, I stumbled upon a bag of…
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Added by Benjamin Sobieck on March 11, 2009 at 1:00pm —
4 Comments
This forum is quite an honor. All of the people on the panel were involved in some way with Gerard Schaefer - This forum in in conjunction with National Victim's Week.
Added by Yvonne Mason on March 11, 2009 at 4:37am —
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As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, I've been working on a new thriller.
Read post.
Added by Kathryn Lilley on March 11, 2009 at 2:49am —
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I recently read two books, both well-written for the most part. However, one provided a surprise at the end that satisfied me as a reader while the other sort of backed out of the story with little attention paid to the killer's motives, in fact, with some doubt as to who actually did what. I want more than that.
I most admire writers who are able to focus everything in the story toward the climax. Characters who at the end do what they do because we know them and expect just that.…
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Added by Peg Herring on March 10, 2009 at 9:30pm —
4 Comments