September 2009 Blog Posts (169)

Author Update

Yesterday it seemed there were few people in town – at least book buying people. Borders in Gateway Center was unusually quiet. Still, many of the people who did come to the store stopped to chat with me and a surprising number went home with one of my novels. It turned out to be a very good book signing.

Also this week my novel Russian Roulette received yet another rave review, this time on the online… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on September 7, 2009 at 6:56am — No Comments

Five Star Review for 'Legacy of The Ripper'

I'm rather delighted that 'Legacy of the Ripper' just picked up another five star review at Amazon.com

Regards to all,

Brian

Here's what the reviewer said:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jack is back?, August 20, 2009

By Edward T. Cook "ETC" (Zion, IL) - See all my reviews

(REAL NAME)

The Legacy of The Ripper

By

Brian L Porter

The story begins with Jack Reid confined to a psychiatric hospital, having been found guilty of… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on September 6, 2009 at 2:40am — 1 Comment

Researching history with Marshall Browne, Robert Wilson and Glen David Gold

I first came across Marshall Browne a few years ago when I read The Wooden Leg of Inspector Anders, about a one-legged detective investigating the Mafia in the south of Italy. Having once lived in a southern Italian town I was impressed by Browne's ability to portray that society, and I liked his investigator, Anders - an eccentric, introspective elderly cop with a false leg. A few years later Browne created Franz Schmidt, a German investigator with some similarities to Anders - he's a… Continue

Added by Nick Gadd on September 5, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments

August Reads

August was a slow month for reading recommendations. Part of this was because my schedule was full and didn’t allow for as much reading time as I like. Another part was because I read several crappy books in August. Here are two worth following up on.

Crime Always Pays, by Declan Burke. Not available to the public yet, I was lucky enough to score an advance electronic copy. The sequel to last year’s acclaimed The Big O, Crime Always Pays picks up just a few hours later,… Continue

Added by Dana King on September 5, 2009 at 4:32am — No Comments

I just signed a new book contract!!

I am thrilled to announce that after my agent, Sandra Bond, spent over a year and a half diligently trying to sell my new mystery series to various publishers in this disastrous economy, she has finally succeeded in finding a home for it at Midnight Ink Books ( http://midnightinkbooks.com/ ), the mystery imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide ( http://www.llewellyn.com/ ). We were getting feedback like "the concept for this series is fabulous and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the manuscript" followed by… Continue

Added by Beth Groundwater on September 5, 2009 at 2:40am — 9 Comments

Booktrailer - Thriller - The Skin

Hey crimespace folks,

Here is the book trailer for my thriller »Die Haut« (The Skin)… Continue

Added by Christian Heinke on September 5, 2009 at 2:34am — 1 Comment

More Thoughts on Writing to your Audience

The month of August should have brought the rewards for many months of writing and revising (not to mention other hassles and expenses associated with getting a book into print). It should have been a month of gathering reviews, the fruits of my labors. I love reviews, all of them.

But there weren’t any.

Perhaps I exaggerate a little. I’m horribly disappointed because I consider THE CONVICT’S SWORD my best book. If any book of mine will ever make an impression, I thought,… Continue

Added by I. J. Parker on September 5, 2009 at 1:31am — 8 Comments

Suffering 101

Palestinians and Israelis take an eternal debate into the classroom, leaving the UN stuck in the middle. By Matt Beynon Rees - GlobalPost

JERUSALEM — In the Book of Lamentations, the people of Jerusalem cry out against the destruction of the city: “Is any suffering like my suffering?”

The answer, of course, is: No. Ever since, Jeremiah’s phrase… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on September 5, 2009 at 1:25am — No Comments

The Helpful and the Not-So-Much

I got an email this morning from a woman who would like to review my book, which is nice ,at least one hopes it will turn out that way. I posted an "Available for Review" entry on a site that lets authors do that, and she responded. The Helpful People part is that she gave me three more book review sites I was unaware of, allowing me to expand my reach on the Net.

On the other side of it, contact with another Internet outreach led to a rather embarrassing situation where my note to… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 4, 2009 at 11:15pm — No Comments

Meet Me Tomorrow in MD

Saturday I stop in at the Borders in Gateway Center. That signing is from 2 pm to 6 pm. The store is at 4420 Mitchellville Rd, Bowie, MD, right across from the Bowie Baysox stadium. Come say hi while I’m there.

Added by Austin S. Camacho on September 4, 2009 at 10:34pm — No Comments

Oldest Bible? Tell it to the Samaritans

UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph reports the discovery of a portion of a Bible from 350 AD in the library of the monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai. The Codex Sinaiticus is written in Greek on animal skin and the newspaper calls it "a fragment of the world's oldest bible." Well, I hate to disappoint the good Fathers in the Sinai, not to mention the… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on September 4, 2009 at 4:50pm — No Comments

Ahhh!!!!!

Is it okay/acceptable for a blog to just have this?

Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean, I could continue the exclamation marks for a few lines, if it’d make you feel better. You know, you think you’ve signed up for something substantive and you get a blog that just has one word in it. I mean, that’d be pretty crap, right? A violation of the unwritten author-reader code of conduct.

Anyway, you’re probably wondering why I’m… Continue

Added by Phillipa Martin (PD Martin) on September 4, 2009 at 1:19pm — No Comments

Dorchester text novel contest

I'm considering joining a contest over on textnovel.com that is provided by dorchester. It has a publishing contract and cash prize. Seems like a good one to join. Maybe some of you should check it out if you're interested. www.textnovel.com And click on the top link that says $2000 Dorchester Romance Contest. Have a good day, I'm off to write...

Added by Dawn Marie Morgan-Mercier on September 4, 2009 at 8:23am — No Comments

Acknowledge no one

Here's my latest post on the International Crime Authors Reality Check blog:

Authors are posturing, self-aggrandizing assholes. At least, that’s the conclusion I’ve reached after noting the trend for excessive “Acknowledgements” growing like mold over page on page of nonfiction books. These days they’re spreading their blight all over novels, too.

Here’s how I think it breaks down.

More than a few… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on September 3, 2009 at 11:36pm — 5 Comments

Winning

I'm not one of those people who wins stuff. I always buy the obligatory tickets for 50-50 drawings, raffles (which in my area are usually for guns, 4-wheelers, or snowmobiles), and three-night stays at a local gambling/drinking/dancing hotspot, which for a couple as boring as we are isn't an enticement. I never win, so it doesn't matter what the prize is.

What I notice about winning is that winning itself is exciting, no matter what the prize. I spoke to an acquaintance yesterday who… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 3, 2009 at 10:22pm — 2 Comments

Meet Me in the Airport Tomorrow

Friday I’ll greet high flyers at the Borders in Ronald Reagan National Airport. It’s the one airport bookstore you can get to without going through security. I’m hoping for a busy travel weekend, at least between 1 pm and 5 pm when I’m there.

Added by Austin S. Camacho on September 3, 2009 at 9:21pm — 2 Comments

Win NZ crime fiction! Competition open to entrants worldwide!

Kia ora from Aotearoa everyone. I just wanted to direct your attention to a little competition I am running on my blog. We've already got several entries from the USA, and it would be great if we could get a few more, from anywhere around the world (the more entrants, the more prizes given).

I am currently running a competition on my blog where people (from anywhere around the world) can win a brand new copy of any NZ crime fiction title of their choice, delivered to them anywhere… Continue

Added by Craig Sisterson on September 3, 2009 at 9:10am — No Comments

Donald Westlake, Deon Meyer, Margaret Maron and Brian Haig

I just got news about a fun eBook promotion. Looks like The Hook by Donald Westlake, Secret Sanction by Brian Haig, Storm Track by Margaret Maron and Dead Before Dyingby Deon Meyer are all priced as $1.99 eBooks! Just visit your favorite eBook store for details. I know what I'm putting on my iPhone! :)

Added by Miriam Parker on September 3, 2009 at 6:44am — No Comments

"Shades of Grey" September

Yow, it's September! And Shades of Grey, my first Dulcie Schwartz mystery, is making its US debut (in reality) with a (virtual) tour.

Yes, I will be doing some line in-person readings. But this time out, I'm focusing on the online world. That means you can… Continue

Added by Clea Simon on September 3, 2009 at 12:30am — No Comments

My Multiple Personalities

More and more, I admire authors who have twenty or fifty or more books out, but I do wonder if they forget what they wrote a while ago. I find it difficult to keep up. There's my first book, which many people I meet in a day in my little town have read and comment on. There's the second one, almost to the marketplace, which editors, proofreaders, and pre-readers have read and need to communicate about. There's the just-contracted one, which is in the first stages of editing, so I've just gone… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on September 2, 2009 at 11:04pm — 3 Comments