October 2009 Blog Posts (190)

Following The Quest of 'Daughter Am I'

Again I will be at Malcom's Round Table discussing Daughter Am I, but this time we will be focusing on the quest angle. The hero's path, the mythic journey, the quest -- these are all different names for a particular form of story, though the format is so infinitely changeable, that unless you search for all the elements, you might not see the similarities in such diverse… Continue

Added by Pat Bertram on October 21, 2009 at 4:59am — No Comments

Some interesting facts -Crime/Mystery Books in the UK

Crime/Mystery Books

•In the 52 weeks to 13th September 2009 consumers

purchased an estimated 20.5 million crime/mystery books.

•6% of these books were bought as Christmas gifts.

•Retired people accounted for 23% of crime/mystery purchases.

•The average price paid for a crime/mystery hardback was £9.92.

•12% of crime/mystery books were bought online.

Source: BML's Books and Consumers survey.

For more information on this… Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on October 21, 2009 at 12:36am — 3 Comments

THE END - or is it?

I was asked the other day how I feel when I tap out the immortal words THE END at the completion of a novel.

The timing of the question was quite eerie because I was just reaching the final pages of the copy edits of my latest DI Horton marine mystery crime novel Blood on the Sand which is being published by Severn House in February next year. It is the fifth in the Inspector Horton series.… Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on October 21, 2009 at 12:21am — No Comments

The Poet and the Prose-ist, II

Some things that came to mind as I listened to Billy Collins talk about being a poet and writing in general:

Poets start from scratch more often. Whether that's good or bad I can't say, but the novelist has a thread to follow for months, even years, while the poet faces a blank page every day or two.

Poets are allowed to break the rules of writing (such as they are). Playing with language in encouraged. Novelists have more of a job to do, a goal to reach, less time for… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 20, 2009 at 10:27pm — No Comments

Try Me in a Short Story

Good news for those of you who would like to sample the flavor of Hannibal Jones without investing in an entire novel. Now you can purchase a Hannibal Jones short story, “A Little Wildness,” and download it as an e-book. - http://bit.ly/12dgts

Added by Austin S. Camacho on October 20, 2009 at 9:23pm — No Comments

The Dark Side by Roger Rogerson - The Memoir of one of Australia's most notorious ex-cops

For anybody interested in True Crime, Kerr Publishing have just released a memoir by notorious NSW ex-Cop Roger Rogerson.

Roger Rogerson hasn't been a police officer for more than 20 years. Yet his name makes him the most well-known 'detective-sergeant' in Australia.

For more (including some media feedback on the release of the book by 2GB Talkback Radio Host - Alan Jones) please feel free to visit:…

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Added by John Kerr on October 20, 2009 at 10:44am — No Comments

Pat Bertram, Gangsters, and 'Daughter Am I'

Day Two of my Virtual Book Tour, and I am still going strong. This is like saying: I've just run the second block of a marathon and am still going strong. Most of the tour is still ahead of me, but I'm looking forward to seeing what happens, to meeting new people, and visiting new blogs.

Today I am at Malcolm's Round Table for a discussion of gangsters and Daughter Am I. I'd hoped to include more of Malcolm's book, Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire, in the… Continue

Added by Pat Bertram on October 20, 2009 at 4:31am — No Comments

"A Corpse in the Soup" got a great new review on Amazon from Gayle Bartos Pool and the Las Vegas Review Journal did an article on me in the Sunday edition. It was in both print and on line in the Liv…

"A Corpse in the Soup" got a great new review on Amazon from Gayle Bartos Pool and the Las Vegas Review Journal did an article on me in the Sunday edition. It was in both print and on line in the Living Section. Here's the link: http://www.lvrj.com/living/sisters-bond-is-no-mystery-64690112.html

Here's the review:

A Recipe for Murder, October 11, 2009

By Gayle Bartos-Pool - See all my reviews

Morgan St. James and Phyllice Bradner's delightful novel, A… Continue

Added by Morgan St. James on October 20, 2009 at 3:57am — No Comments

What's this rumor/story about a new crime imprint?

I caught a glimpse of a story somewhere about Little, Brown&Co. thinking about coming up with a new crime fiction imprint. Anyone else hear anything?

Neil. . . . care to comment?

Added by B.R.Stateham on October 20, 2009 at 3:08am — 4 Comments

High on Bouchercon

Last night I returned home from Bouchercon and my head is still spinning. I wanted to share the joy before it faded. My plan was to begin a sentence with “The highlight of the conference was…” But the whole thing was one long series of highlights, including:

The panel I moderated Thursday was standing room only and the authors I worked with - Jack Fredrickson, Greg Herren, Adrian Magson and Michael Wiley - were spectacular. Afterward we went to the book sellers’ room and signed a… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on October 20, 2009 at 1:29am — 1 Comment

MORAL DILEMMA

MORAL DILEMMA

By

REID JACKSON

PROLOGUE

Jack had taken a job as an associate detective with a reputable detective agency in San Francisco. After his injuries while on a secret mission for the Navy he quit and took his disability pension. He wouldn’t be content with a desk job.

During one of his assignments he became involved in a MORAL DILEMMA. This is that… Continue

Added by RONALD FEASEL on October 19, 2009 at 10:30pm — No Comments

The Poet and the Prose-ist, Part I

I went to hear Billy Collins speak yesterday. Imagine yourself listening to an hour and a half of poetry...and then imagine something not boring at all. His combination of self-effacing humor and intelligent, fresh play with language made the time fly by, and my friend and I agreed that we're jealous of his talent with words. But that's why he was Poet Laureate and we never will be.

Mr. Collins made some points about writing that apply to all of us, though, and I plan to write about… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on October 19, 2009 at 10:28pm — No Comments

Daughter Am I Blog Tour 2009

Today is the first day of the Daughter Am I blog tour, and frankly, I'm a bit nervous. Although I always intended to post to my own blog every day, I've only managed to average three or four times a week, yet here I have committed myself to thirty-five days of guest blogging, together with at least a brief post here to keep everyone up-to-date on my touring activities. That is a total of 70 bloggeries in 35 days! Do you think I can do it? Of course I can -- I will have… Continue

Added by Pat Bertram on October 19, 2009 at 1:00pm — No Comments

'Publisher Seeking Authors!' Danger, Will Robinson?

'Publisher Seeking Authors!' Danger, Will Robinson?

by Earl Merkel

October 16, 2009, 9:05 am

A writer e-mails me to ask about ad ("Publisher Looking for Authors!").

I reply-- but is your answer different? Respond, and I'll forward your comments.

--Earl Merkel

-----------------------

Original E-Mail to Earl Merkel:

Sent: Thu, Oct 15, 2009 10:17 am

Subject: FW: publisher looking for… Continue

Added by Earl Merkel on October 19, 2009 at 4:30am — 1 Comment

A Little Write-Humour (getting all Mozart-y on you!)

They say the first step toward self-improvement is admitting one has a problem. To that end, I stand in front of a virtual room of perhaps thirty people on this cool fall morning, somewhere in Canada…

Me: Hello. My name is Donna and I am a writer.

#Group: (Mild applause.)

Cindi (the moderator): Welcome, Donna. What brings you to our… Continue

Added by Donna Carrick on October 19, 2009 at 2:10am — No Comments

Free Download: "The Arsonist"

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Added by Mike on October 19, 2009 at 2:06am — No Comments

Bringing up the rear

So, the good news is I placed third in Eric Beetner's FIST contest with my flash "Uncle Sal". The bad news is my prize of Eric's new novel, One Too Many Blows to the Head, co-written with JB Kohl, is still at the printers. I guess I'll just have to be patient. Anyways, in the meantime, please enjoy my story up now on Eric's blog.

Added by Jimmy Callaway on October 18, 2009 at 11:45am — 2 Comments

The storyboard

I’ve started work on the page proofs for the Aussie release of book 5, Kiss of Death. However, I decided to spend this blog talking about the storyboard for The Killing Hands book trailer…I mean, you guys don’t need to know if there was a typo on page 54 of my page proofs, now do you?!

I’ve gotta say, it was pretty exciting when I saw an email with two attachments – one PDF file and a QuickTime file titled “storyboard”. Of course, my natural reaction was to madly click on the… Continue

Added by Phillipa Martin (PD Martin) on October 17, 2009 at 10:35am — No Comments

long time no see

I've got too involved with FaceBook and neglected crime! I had a new book out in September, the 18th Daisy Dalrymple mystery:

The 17th, Black Ship, came out in trade paperback the same day:

And Daisy reached England at last, with BLACK SHIP this month, preceded by the first three titles, with brand new covers:…

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Added by Carola Dunn on October 17, 2009 at 7:54am — No Comments

Another Cool Review

I think I've introduced you to Loretta Craig before, and she’s back with another book review.

I first met Loretta in April at a writer's event. She is an aspiring mystery author although we might not know when she hits the best seller list because there's already a mystery writer with the same name.

To my great joy, Loretta became a fan. She read The Troubleshooter and reviewed it. When Russian Roulette was released she did the same. And now she’s sent a nice note about… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on October 17, 2009 at 7:07am — No Comments