May 2008 Blog Posts (159)

AuthorFest 2008

I'm heading to AuthorFest in less than a month, June 14th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm to be exact. It's at the Schuamburg Twp. District Library in Schaumburg, IL, and it promises to be an interesting day. I'll get to meet some old friends, face some people I've "met" online, and talk about writing. What could be better?

There are four panels: Romance: What's Selling and How to Write It

Secrets to Writing Pulse-Pounding, Page-Turning Mysteries

Power Networking Session: Agents,… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on May 20, 2008 at 10:37pm — 2 Comments

Pennwriters Conference 2008

I spent the weekend in Lancaster PA at the 2008 Pennwriters Conference. My report on the event can be found over at my Writing, etc blog in two parts. The first one is here followed by Part Two.

The conference itself was great. The guest rooms, not so much. And everything was very… Continue

Added by Annette Dashofy on May 20, 2008 at 10:21pm — No Comments

The web and writers

Writers push the web envelope in this NPR story:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89922777

Added by Gigi Vernon on May 20, 2008 at 11:00am — 1 Comment

Win an Amazon Kindle, iPod Shuffle, or other great prizes!

As part of the promotion for my next release (BONEYARD in July) I'll

be holding a series of drawings for an Amazon Kindle, iPod shuffles,

Amazon and Starbucks gift certificates, and signed first editions of

my books. To enter just sign up for my newsletter (which I send out

VERY sporadically) at www.michellegagnon.com. (If you already signed

up, you've been automatically entered.)

By the way, this is a… Continue

Added by Michelle Gagnon on May 20, 2008 at 5:59am — 10 Comments

99 pages down -- 401 to go

I'm still waiting to hear a decision from the editor on CRIMSON SWAN. The suspense in killing me, but I'm trying very hard not to dwell on it. For that reason -- and others such as I actually want to graduate in December -- I've been working on HELLFIRE, my creative thesis.

As of 3:00 AM, May 19, 2008, I have revised and written 99 pages in 2 weeks. Only 401 to go to finish the book. Thankfully, I only have to present 125-150 pages as my thesis this fall. My committee won't read the… Continue

Added by Jeannie Holmes on May 20, 2008 at 4:48am — No Comments

A Number 1 Placing (of sorts) at Amazon UK

Amazon UK have a facility by which it is possible to view the positions of books within any category according to 'Average Customer Review' It doesn't mean a lot I know, but I'm gobsmackingly delighted that A Study in Red is currently number 1 when viewed in that list, which contains over 250 books on the subject.

Please see it at… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on May 20, 2008 at 4:30am — No Comments

Highest Amazon position so far for 'A Study in Red'

'A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper' today reached number 13 in the Amazon UK bestselling Jack the Ripper book listings.

I'm delighted that the book continues to do so well and that the readers are enjoying it so much that they continue to add such great customer reviews to the sites of both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

For the latest listing please see… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on May 20, 2008 at 1:47am — No Comments

Still Dialin' It In

I'm still on dial-up after a full week of trying to get my wireless back. Last week I whined about how hard it is, but here is the up-side of lousy Internet service:

I had a whole week in which I could only write the story. There was no stopping to look up spellings, exact dates, and battle locations, which means my WIP has a lot of *** markings for me to go back to later. Still, the story is what counts, and it's kind of "non-distracting" to have ONLYstory in mind. It will be… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on May 19, 2008 at 11:02pm — No Comments

When BSP is a bad thing

By Donna Andrews

The other day I was at an event sponsored by a writing-related organization. (Maybe it wasn't SinC. Maybe it was MWA. Or RWA. Or a local writing outfit. I'm not telling. Let's call it RISC, for Really Impressive Scribbler's Club.) Anyway, this particular RISC meeting was well attended. Most of the people there were writers--published or aspiring--along with a few avid readers and a few friends and significant others of writers. The meal was edible to tasty, the… Continue

Added by Sisters In Crime on May 19, 2008 at 10:44pm — No Comments

Plotting the End by Margot Justes

I had a great couple of days, took a vacation day on Friday and actually plotted out the end for A Hotel in Bath (I am more than half way done) and I have decided the location for book three – are you ready –Venice, Italy. This one will deal with glass-Murano-of course.

I do love glass, so the location is perfect. I even called to check on a price for a hotel –I set my sites high-very, very high-the Cipriani Hotel-and the e-mail told me to call the 800 number for a really great… Continue

Added by Margot Justes on May 18, 2008 at 11:11am — No Comments

The Church Is Closed

I had my iPod on shuffle the other day and two songs by The Church played in a row: the rockin' "Fraulein" from the early '80s and the oh-so-mellow "Radiance" from 2002's After Everything Now This. It still amazes me how they changed from an excellent pop-rock piece to a sleepy psychedelic outift.

I much prefer their older stuff, so a few years ago I picked up 2003's Forget Yourself, since I read it was less psychedelic and more rock. It was good (I kept seven of the… Continue

Added by Johnny Ostentatious on May 18, 2008 at 7:20am — No Comments

Internet Crimes

Yesterday’s indictment of Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis, who allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, is a long overdue wake-up call to all those who are bullying or harassing others by posting and sending fraudulent messages on the Internet.

Drew was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to… Continue

Added by Christopher Valen on May 17, 2008 at 6:25am — No Comments

The French

The French are my friends. Since I've become an author I've also become a francophile. My books have been translated into a number of foreign languages and were already published in Germany, Russia, the Czech Republic, and a number of other Eastern bloc countries (Japanese history is big there), when I got my first contract offer from Belfond in France. From the very start. this publisher supported my series far beyond anything any other publisher has done for me (that includes the Americans).… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on May 17, 2008 at 4:50am — 3 Comments

Book-signing tour troubles, thanks to gas prices

This weekend I will need to gas up the Miata and, for the first time, I will pay more than $4 per gallon! My friend Lee Fairchild is visiting from Ohio, where he said gas prices are still within the high $3 range. I assured him it would be closer to $4 by Memorial Day.

The price of gas has blown my book-signing budget. I knew going into this that signings didn’t pay for themselves in sales, so I budgeted for gas, food, and, where needed, lodging. Signings sold books and got my name… Continue

Added by Michael Haskins on May 17, 2008 at 4:33am — 4 Comments

SUVs and idiot drivers—a lethal mix

I hate SUVs.

I know that sentiment doesn’t exactly make me unique. But I have a personal grudge against them. More specifically, I’m angry at many of the people who drive them.

Here's why: my eighty-year-old mother’s life changed forever this year, when a woman driving a luxury SUV blew through a stop sign (while yakking on her cell phone, of course). She barreled into the driver’s side of my mother’s compact little… Continue

Added by Kathryn Lilley on May 17, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

It's Character That Matters

I've been having a terrible time with my WIP. The plot I'd envisioned didn't seem to want to happen. The history was a mess (but then, history always is). I've set it aside a dozen times to let it percolate, but nothing worked.

Then I got the character. I knew I didn't have her quite right, but I couldn't make her come into focus. She has to be different enough from my former protag to be her own person, but everything I tried made her lifeless or overburdered the plot with… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on May 16, 2008 at 11:12pm — No Comments

Meet me this weekend in PHILADELPHIA

This weekend I'll really be on the road, zooming up to Philadelphia for a massive book signing. More than 60 of the nation's top writers will gather in Philadelphia for the second Philadelphia Book Festival , the Free Library's annual celebration of reading and literacy. It's held outside the Central Library on the Parkway (18th, 19th & Vine Streets) from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday. If you're in the Philly area I hope… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on May 16, 2008 at 10:09pm — No Comments

Yet another 5 Star review for 'A Study in Red'

The readers of A Study in Red continue to give it some very good reviews. This short one just appeared on the Amazon UK site.

I'm delighted that people seem to be enjoying the book so much

Regards to all

Brian

Fantastic read, 15 May 2008

By Mrs. Doreen E. Oakley - See all my reviews

I could not put this book down, riveting and so well researched.Well done Brian I am on the lookout for more of your work.

Thanks

Doreen E… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on May 16, 2008 at 6:34pm — No Comments

Sheep Among Wolves - a review of Gone Baby Gone

Despite the huge amount of bad turns Ben Affleck has taken in his career, I've always retained a soft spot for the guy. Maybe it's residual affection for his work in Kevin Smith's best movie, Chasing Amy (and even for the more critically derided Jersey Girl), or for his work with writing compadre, Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. It may even be for his work on… Continue

Added by Simon Avery on May 16, 2008 at 9:51am — No Comments

"Cries and Whiskers" is nominated!

Wow! Got home from the party at Kate's to find out Cries and Whiskers has been nominated for the David G. Sasher, Sr., award for best mystery of 2007. The "Davids," as they're known, were established by Deadly Ink, a mystery conference held at the end of June in Parsippany, NJ. I won't be there, but here's hoping! At any rate, it's very nice to be nominated.

Added by Clea Simon on May 16, 2008 at 3:29am — No Comments