April 2009 Blog Posts (206)

Thriller writers: Are we scary?

I got a chuckle out of last Sunday's post by PD Martin. In the comments section, a reader confessed, "I do have to say that thriller writers scare me a little." Read post.

Added by Kathryn Lilley on April 7, 2009 at 6:09pm — No Comments

25 Things to Do Other Than Buying "A Night at the Operation"

1. Mow the lawn (or shovel the walk, depending on where you live)

2. Empty the dishwasher

3. Figure out why Jim Croce isn't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

4. Go to work

5. Re-read "If I Did It" by O.J. Simpson

6. Watch your DVD copy of the "Joe the Plumber" debate

7. Do the Macarena

8. Tote that barge

9. Lift that bale

10. Search Hulu for the "Hotchkabab" episode of "Green Acres"

11. Try once again to learn how to juggle

12. Try to… Continue

Added by Jeff Cohen on April 7, 2009 at 1:38pm — 2 Comments

AMAZON REVIEWS UPDATE: Authors CAN have their book titles in signatures on reviews

So much has happened in the past 24 hours. I have been contacted by authors, author organization reps, reporters, book marketers, bloggers and finally, someone from Amazon. Amazon has been bombarded by emails from authors, orgs, marketers etc, and last night I noticed that Amazon in Seattle had checked out my blog posts. ;-)

Today I received an email from a senior member of the Amazon Communities team. He apologized and stated that my reviews had been reinstated.

I began… Continue

Added by Cheryl Kaye Tardif on April 7, 2009 at 11:01am — 2 Comments

Books....

Patient Zero - Totall cool read by Jonathan MAberry. I don't know this authero but combining a zombies and super-spes was a cool idea. A little too complicated but all in all a slick idea.

PAths of Glory and the Lost City of Z - a new form of fictionalized history but both books were a good read. It begs the question as to how people so famous in their day can be unheard of 40 years later. Can you imagine someone not knowing who the Beatles were?

Pistol Poets....as good or… Continue

Added by Wayde Klein on April 7, 2009 at 8:37am — No Comments

Latest News on 'A Study in Red', The Movie

After a period of relative inactvity I received news today that the US movie company have entered into co-production with a UK based film company and have appointed writer/director Andrew Jones of Masterplan Films in the UK to adapt the book for the screen and to direct the movie. This is exciting news and is another step towards the eventual metamorphosis of the book into the… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on April 7, 2009 at 4:39am — 2 Comments

Weekly Blog - Monday 6th April

Monday 6th April

There’s been no blog for the last couple of weeks as I’ve been on vacation in Borneo. While I won’t bore you with all the details (or make you sit through the hundreds of photos I took), suffice to say that it’s a beautiful country filled with marvellous people, and I’d like to give a shout out to all my new friends at the Kinabalu Club!

The first thing I did on my return was to check my e-mails as I’d been eagerly anticipating one from my publisher,… Continue

Added by Steven Hague on April 7, 2009 at 2:34am — No Comments

Lush Life and Google's Street View

Richard Price's Lush Life is a fantastic novel for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is its incredible sense of place. The whole book pretty much takes place within a few blocks on New York's Lower East Side.

Now, I've never been to the Lower East Side and the book gave a complete feel of the place, but I was still a little curious to see the area, so I looked up one of the addresses given in the book, 27 Eldridge, on Google Maps and then hit the street… Continue

Added by John McFetridge on April 7, 2009 at 2:18am — 1 Comment

The Dreaded Flashback

I happen to like flashbacks if they aren't too obscure. That's a good thing, because my newest WIP is going to require it. The problem is that obscurity thing; I want each flashback to clarify the overall plot, not make the reader crazy with extraneous detail.

I wrote the first few chapters, which take place in the now, setting up the premise, introducing the characters, and establishing the hook. Now it's time to start feeding the reader bits and pieces of the protag's past so we… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on April 6, 2009 at 10:31pm — 1 Comment

In the last week....

Tuesday I had the chance to hear some of my Maryland writer friends read their work, and all I had to do was read some of mine. Eleven of us gathered at the Howard County Central Library to share our stories, poems and essays printed in “New Lines from the Old Line State: An Anthology of Maryland Writers.” The audience clearly enjoyed it, but no more than I. I’m proud to be in that volume with such talents.

Then over the weekend I had fun at a couple of familiar Borders Express… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on April 6, 2009 at 10:23pm — No Comments

Guest blogger on Killzone

Hi all,
Yesterday I was a guest blogger on Killzone. You can read my post at:

http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com/2009/04/body-dump-sites-and-nice-merlot.html

Hope you like it! And feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks,
Phillipa

Added by Phillipa Martin (PD Martin) on April 6, 2009 at 11:29am — No Comments

Amazon is deleting reviews written by authors who include their book title

Since breaking the news yesterday about my battle with Amazon over reviews (ones I wrote on books I'd read) that they deleted (85 reviews) because I included author of Whale Song in my signature line, I've received emails and phone calls from concerned authors, many who tracked me down via the Internet after reading about me on Twitter, The Write Type or John Kremer's Marketing Tips email. Some authors have already discovered missing reviews; some have gone through the same hassle I… Continue

Added by Cheryl Kaye Tardif on April 6, 2009 at 11:12am — No Comments

PROMOTION

Okay, yes, I'm going to promote my latest short story pubs right here. A selfish act, for sure.

However, you may note that there are two rather new ezines here and a small press print anthology all of which are looking for submissions. So, here they are. (I hope all the links work--tried getting them to be links here on CrimeSpace, but when I looked at a preview, all the links were gone. I went back to what I had copied and pasted from Word. So, you may have to copy and paste--so… Continue

Added by Jan Christensen on April 6, 2009 at 4:00am — No Comments

Was It Just Me...

Or did anyone else have trouble logging into Crimespace over the past week?

I tried to visit the site, but all I'd get was an error screen saying the "connection had been reset" and I couldn't log on. This went on for at least a week, apparently ended today, and I don't know why my "connection" kept getting "reset."

Did this happen to anyone else?

Added by D.R. MacMaster on April 6, 2009 at 2:27am — 3 Comments

Body dump sites and a nice merlot

Today The Kill Zone welcomes acclaimed Aussie author PD Martin, for an in-depth discussion of why crime fiction authors make the most stimulating dinner companions...Read… Continue

Added by Kathryn Lilley on April 6, 2009 at 1:00am — No Comments

The Guardian: 5 Foreign Sleuths to Read

The Guardian recently ran an interesting article seeking to explain the popularity of crime novels set in "exotic" locations -- either written by locals or by foreigners living there. The article makes a few worthwhile points about the basics of this new-ish… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on April 5, 2009 at 4:49pm — No Comments

The Winged Victory by Margot Justes

Also known as the Winged Victory of Samothrace or Nike of Samothrace-the goddess Nike (meaning Victory in Greek) is an astounding massive piece standing at 328 cm. That’s almost 11 ft from the top of her shoulders to her feet and she’s standing on a ship.

Placed at the center of the landing in the grand Daru staircase in the Louvre, the statue takes your breath away. It is overwhelming in its sheer power, beauty and size.

The Victory made of Parian marble from Paros,… Continue

Added by Margot Justes on April 5, 2009 at 2:40am — No Comments

ROGUE MALES: SUBJECT #3, JAMES ELLROY

(Author’s note: Rogue Males: Conversations & Confrontations About the Writing Life, is a collection of author interviews. It includes Pete Dexter, Alistair MacLeod, Daniel Woodrell, Elmore Leonard and James Crumley. Rogue Males also features an account of a trip to the desert to interview crime fiction greats Ken Bruen and James Sallis about the craft of writing. During the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a little background about… Continue

Added by Craig McDonald on April 5, 2009 at 1:30am — No Comments

New Story on Crooked!

I'm very happy to announce my story, Byline, is appearing on Crooked today. You can read it at:
http://www.crookedwebzine.blogspot.com/2009/04/byline-by-jf-juzwik.html

Please check it out if you have some time. If you can, I really appreciate it and hope you enjoy. Joyce

Added by J. F. Juzwik on April 5, 2009 at 12:41am — 5 Comments

Meet Me in VA This Weekend!

Today I have an afternoon book signing at the Borders Express in Springfield Mall from 11 am to 3 pm. Then I'll shoot a video promo for Russian Roulette in the store, which is at 6725 Springfield Mall, Springfield, VA.

It will be the same stuff on a different day Sunday. This time I'll be signing in the Borders Express in Dulles Town Center Mall from noon to 4 pm. So if you miss the other two events, come visit me at 21100 Dulles Town Circle, Dulles VA

Added by Austin S. Camacho on April 4, 2009 at 9:50pm — No Comments

This is the life, Part 1: Germany

You’ll find a lot of writers’ blogs complaining about book tours. Not here. When I find one of my publishers around the world is happy to present me to hundreds of people who want to hear me talk about myself in fascinating places, I sign up right away.

That’s how I found myself in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich with very squeaky… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on April 4, 2009 at 4:37pm — No Comments