Want to know what it's like to write about political scandal?

Word Nerd chats with Cynthia Dennis, who wrote a memoir of her father's attempt to become the governor of Kansas. The interview is here.

Posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

I was sitting under my favorite tree in Maine and gazing around the campground where we spend as many days each summer as we can manage. Our site is on the main roadway through the woods among the sites and near the bathrooms (good), the laundry (even better) and the septic dump station (not so good).

What does that have to do with writing? Funny you should ask. Our little trailer (just big enough for one person, or, if they're really really…

To celebrate the release of HEAD GAMES, the good people at Bleak House Books have provided three signed copies of the trade paperback edition of my debut novel, as well as one of 250 rare, limited edition signed, dated, numbered and fingerprinted editions of the novel from Bleak House's new "Evidence Collection" for a special contest.

Also, five copies of a special chapbook containing the short story "The Last Interview," the story that introduced HEAD GAME'S narrator, Hector…

Authors speak of their works in progress in a variety of ways: with excitement, with concern, with joy, and with anticipation. There's a feeling that comes with starting a new manuscript that for me is an odd combination of thrill and dread.

It wasn't always that way. When I first began writing, I just wrote, and when I finished that first MS, I was thrilled to be "done" with a "book." Wrong on both counts. It certainly wasn't done, and it never became a book. It's just a collection…

Over the years, authors who wanted to promote their books directly to the public had one main option; you had to physically travel across the country conducting book signings and readings in various bookstores and praying that people would show up. This meant spending money on flights, hotels, transportation and meals. This traditional type of book tour is expensive and very few publishing companies are willing to pay for them. But now, authors have a new method of ‘touring…

Last night (Tues. Sept 11) I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Lillian Cauldwell on Internet Voices Radio. Lillian was a wonderful interviewer and we had a fun conversation. She had read my book, Burden of Memory, and most of our discussion was about that. Of course I put in a couple of plugs for In the Shadow of the Glacier (which isn't yet out, so Lillian couldn't get one). Lillian said that Burden reminded her of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. Very high praise indeed. The interview…

First Kill

Ah, they say you never forget your first and I’m here to tell you that’s exactly right.

The International Thriller Writers have adopted a Debut Authors Program affectionately known as "First Kill", just another great benefit to being an ITW member. "Virgin" authors get one chance at launching their debut book, because once the…

posted by Doranna Durgin

So the hullabaloo is dying down, but that doesn't mean it's time to rest easy as writers--not even though scribd has pretty much changed its tune when it comes to responsiveness in removing stolen works, or that SFWA, at first inundated by snarling disapproval because of the mistakenly removed works caught in the initial removals, isn't now hearing a whole lot more from readers who fully understand and support a writer's need to…

Mr. Rodgers used to sing about them, but most of us don't know them anymore. Even though I'm rural and have lived in this area forever, I don't neighbor much, seldom talk to the mailman or go next door to borrow something.

That doesn't mean I don't have connections. The internet, anonymous monster that it can be, is a creator of networks. I "know" people through this medium that I'll never meet. I share ideas with them, tell them about my mood today, and frequently ask for their help…

IRELAND - Clifden Arts Week 2007 Clifden Arts Week 2007 20-30 September -

Celebrating 30 Years of Clifden Community Arts Week 1977 - 2007

If you're in Ireland this month you will NOT want to miss Arts Week in Clifden. Go to the website and take a look; you won't want to miss: Christy Moore, the Dubliners, Altan, Mary O'Malley, Desmond Hogan, ..Argentinian poets Gerardo Gambolini and Jorge Fondebrider, Carol Anne Duffy, Tony Curtis, Shaun Griffin from Nevada, Michael…

Fall is in the air here in Central Illinois. I know because I woke up this morning to a crisp chill breeze floating through the open window in my bedroom. I smiled. Fall is my favorite season for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the departure of allergies and the emergence of gold, red and all the colors in between on the neighborhood trees. There's football of course, although baseball is still around, and the occasional (and illegal inside city limits) smell of burning…

I’m between contracts, at a crossroad in my career, wondering what to do next. Should I continue to write the same comfortable stories with characters I know and love? Or should I leave my comfort zone and try something new and bold? I decided to throw the question out to the…

Just posted a review of this interesting, startling debut book from Australian Author Chris Womersley:

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/node/2755

Too much work and too little time. 'Tis a common occurence around here lately. Grad school classes have been in session for a couple of weeks now, and I'm already running behind on my reading for two classes. Oh, and I'm also behind on A WICKED TURN and HELLFIRE. I just need to have two of me. That would solve a lot of problems.

But enough whining...

I'm looking forward to attending THRILLERFEST 2008. I've heard some rumors regarding what will be happening -- expanded…