The Day I Went Bald

By

George Wilder Jr.…

Just posted the latest issue of Isku to the printers. It's a small press crime fiction magazine that I edit and publish (and also do the layouts for). You can see the cover by Henri Joela in my photos. It's an illo for the story by Timo Surkka, who's one of the last real pulp writers working in Finland, having penned dozens of Jerry Cottons and other stuff for various magazines. It's a nasty revenge story. In translation I have Ed Lynskey, David Terrenoire and Barry Ergang. Other writers are…

posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

So there we were. Sunday evening, heading down the dark highway in central New Hampshire. We were pretty quiet, thinking about my sister's husband, who is dying in a Vermont hospital. It looks like one of those awful, sudden things, except that nobody knows how much longer, etc. Anyway, we were sad.

A storm was heading our way, forecast to start soon, and we were hoping to beat it home, but Ray is not a racecar driver, so all was…

About parenting and the dinner table

www.chrisreddingauthor.blogspot.com

No comment on form, please! But this is where I’ll be for the next week or two … out of the ‘office’ and ski-ming. Plotting. On the hills, on the trails. With the skis and the snowshoes. Getting in touch with those girls in the basement.

I’ve been looking forward to stepping back from the computer for a few days. I have…

Well, the snow fairies came in the night. Not so much the book-finishing fairies. Better get on that myself, eh?

Friday is when I hand in my first TRUE NORTH book — then I can play on the trails. Lots more than I have been able to this past month. May the snow be thick!

This is something I've been wondering, and it directly affects my career, but I already know the answer: How do you write horror that isn't horror? I

hear over and over that "Horror doesn't sell," yet clearly major

publishers are regularly printing books that are horror in most every

sense but the label on the spine. Truth is, there is no loyal horror

readership out there, at least not one that matters enough to…

posted by Doranna

Okay, weird little stutter start to this one--because those of you who want an update on Connery Beagle can find one in his words on his LiveJournal...

Ahem.

My author copies of Dun Lady's Jess arrived the other day. Holy…

Yesterday I made a case for listening as a writing tool. Today I'd like to suggest some ways to listen better, gleaned from years of teaching communication.

1. Prepare to listen. It takes some practice, but if you are conscious of the need/desire to really hear what people are saying, you'll do better. As you enter a room full of strangers tell yourself, "I'm going to learn the names of everyone I meet tonight."

2. Use mnemonics. Salespeople learn names in order to be (or seem)…

Chris Grabenstein's Hell for the Holidays is an entertaining, page turner. If you want to take a chance on winning one of the two copies, you need to enter the contest on my blog, www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com, within the next two days. It's a great kickoff to…

Crap. Has it really been four months since I posted here? Crap. Hopefully this post from my other blog will explain my absence a little!

Meanwhile, I've gotten to work on the next novel. I already have a fair number of rough scenes written, plus an outline and character sketches. I've been contemplating how to go about revising the thing (yes--already!), largely because my last novel was difficult to…

Yes, I am, but that is besides the point.

The new anthology from those great folks over at Busted Flush is out and you should snag one (or a few). Not only does it feature a short story by yours truly, but it is edited by the great Megan Abbott and the stories ROCK. Just think, an anthology of noir stories featuring the types of female characters that usually play second fiddle showing up as the protaganists. That's worth the price of admission alone!

So pop over to…

Recently heard from my editor, who presumably heard it from someone else at St Martin's, who probably heard it from a friend who has a friend who works at Library Journal, that A Treasury of Regrets was recently picked as one of the top five mystery novels of 2007 by LJ. I don't think this list goes to press until the end of the year, but that's what I'm told.

Wow!

Now I'm sure that a terrible mistake has been made here, but until they call me…

Posted by Lorraine (L.L.) Bartlett

I like to start the holiday season early by listening to my Ch ristmas CDs in late October. Naturally, this drives my hubby up the wall. I start out slow with piano instrumentals and slowly move into the more elaborate instrumentals, and finally into vocals by the likes of Celine Dion, Amy Grant, and even Ray…

Yesterday I laid out my contention that listening should be taught, like writing and reading. Authors know that one must observe carefully with the eye in order to be able to capture an image. The same applies to the other senses: we have to hear, taste, smell, and touch with consciousness in order to be able to describe the sensation.

Most people listen badly. Although we spend the largest part of our day listening, not talking or writing, we tend to be thinking of other things as we…

This is the cover of my latest e-book from Stonehedge Publishing. 'The Voice of Anton Bouchard' is a short story collection, with the title piece being a novelette length tale that takes the reader deep inside the mind of a serial killer who is stalking the streets of Paris during a long hot summer. What is surprising in this story is not so much how the killer despatches his vicitms, but why he does it. Other titles in the collection include…