June 2008 Blog Posts (161)

One Way to Be a Successful Writer

We get all sorts of advice about query letters, pitches, writing styles, words per day, and on and on. But there are two things that help you in the world of writing that have nothing to do with your own work. They have to do with someone else's.

Read other writers' work. Read the writers you aspire to be like and try to decide what it is in their work that you admire. Read writers you don't like and figure out what they're doing wrong, at least in your opinion (remembering, of… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on June 30, 2008 at 10:48pm — 2 Comments

'A Study in Red' is a Book of the Month!

The members of 'The Jack the Ripper Forums' www.jtrforums.com have made my novel 'A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper, their 'Book of the Month', and have opened a thread for discusssion of the book at http://www.jtrforums.com/showthread.php?p=47100#post47100

I'm flattered that, of all the books on the subject available to them for discussion, they have chosen mine for the first of this new feature on the forum. As the JTR Forum is one of the largest… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on June 30, 2008 at 10:27pm — No Comments

Genre Flash 2 is out

Melbourne Sisters in Crime have just released Genre Flash 2 - an updated list of current releases and books from local Sisters (and Brothers in Law) authors.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/node/4696

Will point you to the list. There's some great new books listed in this Genre Flash so make sure you check out what's happening here.

Added by Karen from AustCrime on June 30, 2008 at 1:44pm — No Comments

"What up, ditch?"

For years I've been fond of calling everybody "bitch". But that's a little too politically incorrect for me, so I'm now using "ditch". It's kinda cool 'cause I get lots of double takes.

Added by Johnny Ostentatious on June 30, 2008 at 1:28pm — No Comments

Meet Me On Line Tomorrow

You'd have to be in Virginia to see me today at the Borders store in Dulles Town Center. But no matter where you are we could talk tomorrow.

Monday night I will be proud to be a guest on a blog talk radio program called Book Bridge: From Authors To Readers. The fifteen minute segment is a specialty program for African American authors to talk about how their books cross genres and appeal to a broad and varied audience. The show begins at 8:30PM Eastern and you're all invited to call… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on June 29, 2008 at 11:09pm — No Comments

Switch ARC arrives from UK

The book proof for Switch arrived today from the UK. It's quite a thrill to be able to hold a bound copy of my book for the first time, to realize that it's real. The book was selected by Bantam for their "Proof of the Month" promotion, so every member of the company was invited to pick up a free copy at work. So that's very cool. Copies of the proof will now be distributed to book buyers and the media, plus a couple copies will be sent to established authors in the hopes they'll… Continue

Added by Grant McKenzie on June 29, 2008 at 6:56am — 5 Comments

Coming out from under the rock

Haven't been over here in ages. Frantically writing the first of a new mystery series about a tattoo shop owner in Las Vegas. It's the ultimate write what you DON'T know, since I have no tattoos, don't plan to get one, and I've lived in New England most of my life. Just got back from a trip to Vegas, where I did a lot of driving around and taking notes and pictures. Everything's brown there. And hot. That whole thing about "dry" heat? Heat is heat, wet or dry.

And if I didn't have… Continue

Added by Karen E. Olson on June 29, 2008 at 2:25am — No Comments

Reminder - signings this weekend

I told you that today I'll meet new friends at one of the Books-A-Million stores in Alexandria, VA from noon to 4 pm at 6230 N. Kings Highway.

Tomorrow I return to familiar ground at the Borders store in Dulles Town Center. The mall is at 21100 Dulles Town Circle in Dulles VA. I'll be there for the after church crowd, from 1 pm to 4 pm. Come by and say hi, and get a signed novel.

Added by Austin S. Camacho on June 29, 2008 at 12:29am — No Comments

So, okay, it's not exactly Tuesday. It was when I started this list, though! After I made this list and read it over it struck me that practically all of them are fantasy or science fiction. I guess…

So, okay, it's not exactly Tuesday. It was when I started this list, though!

After I made this list and read it over it struck me that practically all of them are fantasy or science fiction. I guess that explains what I write.

1. All three of The Lord of the Rings movies – the best fantasy movies EVER

2. Star Wars, the very first, the original and still the best, with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi close behind. I like… Continue

Added by Karen McCullough on June 28, 2008 at 7:00am — 3 Comments

My First Book Review!

From Sarah Weinman's Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind:

Karen Dionne: Freezing Point

Karen is the brainchild behind the wonderful writer's forum Backspace, and finally, her debut thriller is about to arrive this fall. The action is nonstop and the hot button issue - finding untapped resources to solve a growing drinking water shortage - is timely in light of rising populations, global warming and other signs of the economic… Continue

Added by Karen Dionne on June 28, 2008 at 6:44am — No Comments

Finally Signs of Life

We spend most of our time bent over our keyboards, wondering and worrying about life outside our small creative space. Mostly we worry. The publishing world communicates infrequently and only after long periods of time – and then usually with a tight deadline.

So authors have to deal with the waiting and the paranoia of gradually becoming convinced that it’s all over, that they haven’t made the cut, that they have been consigned to the garbage dump of the lost and forgotten thousands… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on June 28, 2008 at 5:25am — 3 Comments

Tesseracts Thirteen Looking for Dark Fantasy and Horror Submissions

Chilling Tales of the Great White North

Written by Editor Choice

Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing announces Tesseracts Thirteen, a Dark Fantasy and Horror edition, is now open for submissions.

The 2009 anthology asks for Dark Fantasy and Horror genre short fiction or poetry, 5000 words or less. Submissions are accepted commencing immediately and received post-marked as no later than October 31, 2008. The anthology will arrive on shelves in trade paperback… Continue

Added by David Morrell on June 28, 2008 at 3:16am — No Comments

The Second Amendment

Yesterday’s 5-4 Supreme Court ruling striking down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns and affirming the right to have guns for self-defense in the home raises the question, yet again, as to the meaning of the Second Amendment. Does the amendment specifically protect an individual's right to own guns, or is that right specifically tied to service in a state militia?

The Second Amendment reads, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the… Continue

Added by Christopher Valen on June 28, 2008 at 2:32am — 8 Comments

Writing What We Love (R)

Should you write what you like or what will sell? I find that among my works, I can't say which is better or best; I love whichever one I'm working on right now. I can't imagine being told what to write, and I guess that taking the creativity out of a person's work is what makes a writer a hack. Although I understand the need for editorial intervention once I'm done, before that point I have to write my story. It is this that makes me reluctant to join critique groups that exchange… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on June 27, 2008 at 11:05pm — No Comments

Deadly "toilet lid spiders" and other urban myths

A few years ago, I received a panicky email from a friend of mine, warning me about a venomous “Two-striped Telemonia Spider” that had been discovered lurking under the toilet lids in public bathrooms. Read the blog post.

Added by Kathryn Lilley on June 27, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

REMINDER - Meet me this weekend

I told you that today I’m at the Borders in BWI airport.

TOMORROW I’ll meet new friends at one of the Books-A-Million stores in Alexandria, VA. That signing is from noon to 4 pm. Even though I used to live in Alexandria I’ve never signed books there so this will be extra fun. Make sure you come to the right store. It’s the one at 6230 N. Kings Highway.

Then Sunday I return to familiar ground at the Borders store in Dulles Town Center. The mall is at 21100 Dulles Town… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on June 27, 2008 at 10:26pm — No Comments

Article in 'The Journal of The Whitechapel Society 1888', 'Whodunnit?...I Dunno!"

Soon after the release of my novel 'A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper', I was approached by the editor of the Journal of 'The Whitechapel Society 1888' and asked to write an article for their June issue, telling of the genesis of the book. The society, based in London, studies not only the crimes of Jack the Ripper, but the history of Victorian and Edwardian London in general. I felt privileged to be asked to contribute to the journal of this prestigious society, and the… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on June 27, 2008 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Roland Longville Number Five, and site redo

Lady Midnight is finally off to the publisher. I have a web developer working on a new look for my web site. I'm working on two books that are stand alone crime novels that are not part of my series. I am loving it right now. I am pumped and open to hearing from my kindred in crime. Writing my heart out down in Dixie.

Added by Timothy C. Phillips on June 27, 2008 at 6:57pm — No Comments

Signings--From the sublime to the ridiculous

"Sublime" is a bit of an exaggeration. "Ridiculous" is not. I had two signings last month that were a study in contrasts.

The first was for the Eugene Symphony Guild. I was invited to be the speaker at one of their fund-raising dinners in a member's home. A couple of dozen people paid $30 apiece to hear me babble for an hour or so before they got their dinners. And 10 guild members dashed around producing and serving and clearing up the dinners. Apparently something went wrong with… Continue

Added by Carola Dunn on June 27, 2008 at 10:04am — 1 Comment

Hard Luck Stories

Isn't that cool? It's the illustration by Jean-Pierre Jacquet for my story in Hard Luck Stories.

Dave Zelsterman and Ed Gorman did a fantastic job editing what will, for now anyway, be the final issue of Hard Luck (never say never, guys) and it's a tribute to the pulp era. James Reasoner's story is a great south seas noir (now that's a sub-genre) and Bill Crider's story is also terrific.… Continue

Added by John McFetridge on June 27, 2008 at 3:48am — 1 Comment