May 2008 Blog Posts (159)

On High in Blue Tomorrows - a rambling review of Inland Empire

So, on Saturday I picked up David Lynch's last movie, Inland Empire on DVD.

And I watched it last night.

Where to begin?

Hmm...

OK, so like much of Lynch's recent output, Inland Empire is baffling, beautiful, hypnotic and frustrating, all at once. It begins for the first hour to make a sort of sense. Laura Dern plays a actress who takes on a new… Continue

Added by Simon Avery on May 13, 2008 at 12:42am — No Comments

Sandra Ruttan's What Burns Within

What Burns Within by Sandra Ruttan marks the debut of a police procedural series, one that is a must-read for anyone who appreciates the genre. The reader follows RCMP Constables Tain, Hart and Nolan through the investigation of three difficult cases, until the officers discover their cases converge.

Tain, Hart and Nolan are three officers who "share a common tendency toward insubordination and independence." They were split up due to fall-out from a difficult case. Now, the… Continue

Added by Lesa Holstine on May 13, 2008 at 12:24am — No Comments

LISTEN TO ME - TONIGHT!

Today I get to do some virtual traveling. You can "see" me on David Ewen's Blog Talk Radio program, Today's Author. David interviews a different writer every Monday evening. I'll be his guest tonight at 9 pm. Listen in live tonight. -

Added by Austin S. Camacho on May 12, 2008 at 10:42pm — No Comments

When You're Published They Think You Really Know

Of course the real line is "When you're RICH..." but it still works. As I travel around, hawking my book and talking about anything people want me to talk about, I get lots of questions from people who'd like to be published. "How do you write a query?" "Do I need an agent?" "How long does it take to write a book?" "How do you know what will sell?"

I have no answers. I have an experience, and I have lots of author acquaintances who have had experiences. None was exactly like mine, so… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on May 12, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Ted's Blog -- My Golden Reliever, May 3, 2008

This weekend, Alex and I were very pleased to hear that our nine-year-old son, Ted, had written his very first blog! Inspired by his blogging parents, Ted decided that he would like to join the blogging world. There was, however, one glitch in his plan. He had no place to upload his story. So, with immense pride, I promised to display Ted's first ever blog on my site. With luck, we will soon be able to get him his own space. In the meantime, without further ado, I…

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Added by Donna Carrick on May 12, 2008 at 10:09pm — No Comments

Maybe now

Well, tomorrow I stop being a full-time reporter and become a nearly-full-time videographer. My newspaper has a lively and growing Web presence, and tomorrow I'll start doing a daily online newscast spotlighting what's coming up in the paper. It's a great opportunity for me to learn how to do something new, increase my marketability and break out of a really well established rut. On the other hand, it's a whole lot of stress on top of the overflowing portion I've already got. What I'm hoping… Continue

Added by Janet Ortegon on May 12, 2008 at 1:56pm — No Comments

What Kind of Horse Are You?

Listen to the Blogcast

What Kind of Horse Are You?

I'm not a clothes horse. I select outfits for comfort, not style. In other words, I'm a comfort horse.

When I was twelve, my father told me that he would gladly pay for any and all beauty treatments. He liked his women well-kempt. My mother was more of a comfort-first sort of gal, so this was his way of suggesting that I try a…

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Added by Jane Cleland on May 12, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

Citizens' Police Academy: Terrorism and Gangs

I’m a little late posting this, but hubby and I were away for a few days on a much needed vacation.

(Cross posted on Working Stiffs)

We had another two-parter this week, beginning with Detective Ashley Thompson’s presentation on CAT Eyes, or Community Anti-Terrorism. It’s a nationwide program developed to eliminate racism and… Continue

Added by Annette Dashofy on May 12, 2008 at 6:06am — No Comments

Book Trailers by Margot Justes

When I first started writing, I thought the idea was to finish a good manuscript. Make it exciting, have a good solid mystery, an amateur sleuth, tie it up neatly at the finish. Voila, a completed manuscript. A book.

Not so easy…tougher than it looks. My characters veered off course, I had to learn to write romance and combine the mystery. OK, I did that. Rather well too, I think.

I even managed to sell it. I now can hold an actual copy of my book in my hand. It took me… Continue

Added by Margot Justes on May 11, 2008 at 8:09am — No Comments

How I Met Your Mother

After blowing through the first season in about a week, I started watching the second season on DVD last night. Goddamn, what a TV show! Best sitcom I've seen in a long time. Nice to see great writing and an excellent ensemble cast. And Neil Patrick Harris can actually act!!! Who knew?

Added by Johnny Ostentatious on May 11, 2008 at 5:35am — No Comments

Serial Killers or Urban Legend

The hottest crime story in Minnesota and on the Internet involves the death of Chris Jenkins, a University of Minnesota college student whose body was found in the Mississippi River in February of 2003. Originally ruled “undetermined” or “drowning” by the Minneapolis Police Department, the cause of death was recently changed to “homicide” because of the dogged efforts of Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte, two retired NYPD detectives.

Gannon and Duarte have investigated more than 40… Continue

Added by Christopher Valen on May 10, 2008 at 3:09pm — 1 Comment

Corpse brides, and other strange things people do with dead bodies

Call me morbid (which you kinda have to be when you’re a mystery writer), but I was fascinated to read an article put out by CNN, which describes all the strange things people do with dead bodies.

Corpse brides and ghost marriages

In China, there is an old practice of providing “ghost marriages” between women and deceased bachelors. I gather the practice got started so that no woman would have to die as a spinster (no way… Continue

Added by Kathryn Lilley on May 10, 2008 at 10:00am — No Comments

Raw Deception Two

She is diabolical, she is deceitful, she is dreadful, she is a killer, and she's a mother that no child wants to have. She is the nightmare no real man wants to have. Kidnapping and murder have devoured her fat soul. My skillfully written crime fiction novel is heart pounding, thought provoking, jaw dropping, and wickedly informative. Its funny buy very serious. In Raw Deception Two, Dee Moore is going to get very pissed. She meets and falls in love with her garbage man and he winds up breaking… Continue

Added by George Wilder Jr. on May 10, 2008 at 2:07am — No Comments

Freneticity

I made up the word, but if Shakespeare and Poe can do it, so can I. My definition is "the feeling that the pace of life has surpassed one's ability to absorb it."

Marketing a book can be all-consuming. The author should do so many things that she might have to give up some other things in order to cope: things like eating dinner and bathing. Every time one thing is handled, another comes to mind. The newly-published author should be visiting/contacting bookstores, libraries, and… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on May 9, 2008 at 9:57pm — No Comments

On LIne Today, In Person Tomorrow!

Today you can read my Mother's Day essay in the form of a guest entry on The Stiletto Gang blog. -

Tomorrow I get to visit a Borders store I haven't been to before. It's the one at the Gateway Center in Bowie, MD. It should be easy to reach for my Maryland friends, at the northernmost end of Mitchellville Road, just west of the Route 50/Route 301 interchange at exit 13. For those of you addicted to Mapquest, the address is 4420… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on May 9, 2008 at 9:49pm — No Comments

Out sick, New Books, and Contest for Betty Webb's books

I've been out of work this week, out sick with a nasty cold and fever. Once the fever broke, it was a good week for reading - Bob Greene's latest book, an Edgar winner, two cat books. Check out my blog at www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com for the book details. And, details about a contest to win autographed copies of two Betty Webb titles - Desert Wives and Desert Run.

Added by Lesa Holstine on May 9, 2008 at 12:38pm — No Comments

Been awhile since I visited here...

so sorry if anyone's been coming to my page and wondering why it's not updated. I've been spending a lot of my time over at Goodreads.com lately. I haven't been able to read as much as in the past (last year, I'd read 30 books by this time; this year, a disappointing 14!), so that may be part of it. Plus, busy at work. The most recent book I read (and loved) was Nevada Barr's Winter Study, which marks a return to Isle Royale for her park ranger heroine, Anna Pigeon (an earlier book, A Superior… Continue

Added by Craig Larson on May 9, 2008 at 4:02am — No Comments

Readers Appreciate the Simple Things

I'm reading a book by Beverle Graves Myers. Her protagonist, Tito, was castrated as a youth so that his beautiful operatic voice would not change. Ouch. Bev's plots are good and her history fascinating, but I'd like to comment on an aspect that might be overlooked. She remembers to remind the reader periodically of who the characters are.

I'm always reading more than one book, and I read in snatches: fifteen minutes here, a half hour there. Plots are easy, at least the good ones are.… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on May 9, 2008 at 12:00am — No Comments

Thanking the greedy-little-bastards or, how high gas prices help writers

I have left my Jeep under the house (I live in a stilt house, I didn’t bury it) and bought a 2001 Miata. The Jeep got 15 mpg, on a good day, and the Miata gets 30 mpg most any day. I have gone from almost $100 a week in gas to about $30. That’s a pretty good savings. I am also a lot more aware of my running around in the evenings and on the weekends and schedule things now, like dinner, movies, a trip to the Hog’s Breath.

According to my friends, and reports on the news, I am not… Continue

Added by Michael Haskins on May 8, 2008 at 5:52am — No Comments