April 2009 Blog Posts (206)

Watch your Morning Coffee

I like to point you to books that will be good additions to your personal library, or web sites that might help you find them. Today I want to tell you about a new on line television show from WVTA Television called “Morning Coffee."

David Ewen, producer of my Blog Talk Radio show, Book Bridge, has started a televised program on the web to promote authors, publishers, writers, and book sellers. The first… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on April 14, 2009 at 10:35pm — No Comments

People Watching

I'm spending my days in a hospital this week, so I'm doing a lot of observing. You might call it eavesdropping, but I have to be there, and I can't close my ears, so there.

Anyway, it's great fodder for drama, the juxtaposition of tragedy (illness, death, emergency) with the daily routines of life (gossiping, laughing, teasing). I have never been able to comprehend how medical people do it, but I greatly admire those who are good at it.

Then there are the snippets you get… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on April 14, 2009 at 10:17pm — 1 Comment

Crime Always Pays, Punk

One of my favourite blogs is Declan Burke's excellent Crime Always Pays, which does for Irish crime fiction what the famous toucan does for Guinness. As a Welsh crime writer, I assume I'm the next best thing to an Irish crime writer, so Declan includes me today in his long-running interview series "Ya Wanna Do It Here or Down the Station,… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on April 14, 2009 at 9:21pm — 2 Comments

Review: The Bullet Trick, Louise Welsh

The Bullet Trick is Louise Welsh’s second novel, which deftly follows up on her first The Cutting Room . Like her first book, this is a story that shoots for the gothic and carnivalesque in a mystery setting, but this one doesn't quite hit the mark.

William Wilson is a magician on the last leg of a faltering career when an old friend asks him to do a second-rate show in a London strip club. What happens during the show drags Wilson into the violent aftermath of a… Continue

Added by Richard Kunzmann on April 14, 2009 at 6:00am — No Comments

The London Book Fair 2009

The London Book Fair kicks off next Monday and is a great place to learn more about the publishing industry with free seminars and lots of publishers present. For published writers and those wishing to be published it's a good way to research the market and find out who is who. You can pick up new ideas at the fair, make new contacts, check out what kind of titles publishers are publishing and network with other authors, and those in the book business.

My… Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on April 14, 2009 at 2:58am — No Comments

Elvis, Literacy and Advice for Aspiring Writers: An Interview with Deborah LeBlanc

Reader's Entertainment caught up with author Deborah LeBlanc while she was on the road and somehow convinced her to answer our "interesting" questions. lol

Thank you Deborah for finding the time to chat with us! Let's go right to the Q&A!

Question: Who are in your top 10 spaces on MySpace?

DL:

I have MySpace set on random top friends, so today my top 10 are:

1. Stephen

King

2. Dean Koontz

3. Lorrie Jones

4.… Continue

Added by Sheila English on April 14, 2009 at 2:00am — No Comments

The World Is Too Much with Us

Looking at a week where Life interferes with Art, so let's let the blogs be short.

Layers. I write in layers, reading over and over and finding each time places to add depth. The question then, for all of you who have written a zillion books: does it come to the point where you put it all together more easily? Does the number of revisions lessen over time? Not that I mind them; I just wonder.

Added by Peg Herring on April 13, 2009 at 10:52pm — 2 Comments

Author Update and the Big Book Giveaway!

Friday afternoon at Borders in Washington Dulles International Airport was another fun time of ups and downs as the store filled up after a landing, then thinned out for a while. I got to send my novels off to Zimbabwe and Ghana, among other places.

Saturday I hopped up to Baltimore to read from my story in Maryland Writers Association anthology. It was an intimate little group at the Roland Park Branch Library, but since I’m a fan of many of the other authors in the book I get a… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on April 13, 2009 at 10:12pm — No Comments

Two more 5-star reviews for 'Dracula Doesn't Live Here Anymore'

The paperback edition of my short novelette, Dracula Doesn't Live Hre Anymore' (Eternal Press) has picked up two more excellent reviews at the Amazon.com website and I'd like to share them here if I may:

Dracula Doesn't Live Here Anymore, April 8, 2009

By J F - See all my reviews

This is an extremely engaging tale. While it is a short piece, you still get to know the principal characters remarkably well. First, you… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on April 13, 2009 at 7:12pm — No Comments

Tel Aviv at 100

Israel’s hippest, most tolerant city celebrates its centenary

By Matt Beynon Rees on Global Post

TEL AVIV—Purple fireworks sprayed off the roof of Tel Aviv’s City Hall last week to open festivities marking a century since Zionist pioneers began construction of the “first Hebrew city.” Watching among the crowd in Rabin Square, Marko Martin wept.

A German… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on April 13, 2009 at 5:41pm — No Comments

A Beginner's Guide to Crime Fiction

One of my most-frequented Web sites, avclub.com, recently posted a primer for crime fiction. It's a useful guide for anyone looking to get into the genre. The article lists gateway authors, who beginners should avoid and where the initiated should aim. Read it by clicking here.

No, I'm not affiliated with avclub.com. I just like the site. It is an offshoot of the deliciously satirical rag "The… Continue

Added by Benjamin Sobieck on April 13, 2009 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment

Easter Greetings

Happy Easter, albeit a tiny bit late. We all find meaning in our own way. For me as a Christian, the resurrection reminds me that we all have the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances.

As a writer, I see a broader meaning that everyone can benefit from. Easter says that yes, you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there.

Added by Austin S. Camacho on April 13, 2009 at 1:04pm — No Comments

Weekly Blog - Monday 13th April

Let’s get straight down to business. This week, I’m pleased to reveal the cover art for the second in the Zac Hunter series, Blood Law:

I’m really pleased with it, and I think that my publisher, MIRA, have done a great job. The shot of the L.A. skyline across the base of the image echoes that employed on Justice For All’s cover, providing continuity and highlighting the urban theme of my books, while the image of Hunter in… Continue

Added by Steven Hague on April 13, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all and wishing us all happiness and success. Joyce

Added by J. F. Juzwik on April 13, 2009 at 6:01am — 1 Comment

Zinged by Joyce Carol Oates!

From today's New York Times Sunday Magazine:

Joyce Carol Oates: "If you're going to spend the next year of your life writing, you would probably rather write 'Moby Dick' than a little household mystery with cat detectives."

Oh, REALLY?? And have you ever tried writing a mystery with cats in it, Ms. Oates?

Added by Clea Simon on April 13, 2009 at 4:42am — No Comments

Synopsis/Pitch and Bullet Outlines - how to write 'em with Free Samples!

It's happening at http.//murderousmusings.com Rob Walker gives away the secrets that sold over 40 novels. It has to be commercial, it has to be compelling, and it has to be succinct but how do you condense a 90,000 words into a synopsis and an outlline? Here's how. Find me at Murderous Musings as I am on Blog Tour for DEAD ON coming out July from Five Star.

RoboWriter Rob
www.robertwalkerbooks.com
Before there was a word KONRATHIAN in the dictionary...there was Rob

Added by robert walker on April 13, 2009 at 1:13am — No Comments

Why isn't there more sex in mysteries? Discussion today at the Kill Zone

Do mysteries have enough sex? Bestselling suspense author Eric Stone poses that question today at the Kill Zone. Read the post.

Added by Kathryn Lilley on April 13, 2009 at 12:30am — 9 Comments

Somali pirates, Sri Lankan slaughter, and capybara meat in a roquefort sauce

I was a guest on the BBC World Service's The World Today programme this morning. It's an eclectic news show which ranges from Somali pirates, to the Sri Lankan government's bloody new assault on the Tamil Tigers, and the taste of capybara meat (a clandestine delicacy in Venezuela apparently, although the BBC's reporter sampled it in a roquefort sauce, which strikes me as a terrible mistake.) You can listen… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on April 13, 2009 at 12:17am — No Comments

TV Appearance

I was on Sacramento and Co. It's a morning show on ABC News 10. They talked to me about my books and being dyslexic. You can see the interview here. Enjoy!

The clip appears courtesy of Sacramento and Co at News 10 (ABC).

Added by Simon Wood on April 12, 2009 at 11:59am — No Comments

One of my blogs selected by Writer’s Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for writers!

I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around this, but my authors' blog, MURDER BY 4 http://murderby4.blogspot.com , has been selected as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writer's Digest for 2009!

For those not familiar with MURDER BY 4, this writers' blog was launched in February 2008 to give readers and writers and insider's look at the lives of four published authors; Aaron Paul Lazar, Kim Smith, S. W. Vaughn and me :)… Continue

Added by Marta Stephens on April 12, 2009 at 8:29am — 3 Comments