December 2008 Blog Posts (187)

'A Study in Red' - More Good News from Canada

I'm delighted that my award-winning novel 'A Study in Red - The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper' continues to do well on Amazon (Canada). Out of 197 books listed on the subject, this morning 'A Study in Red' was listed as the number 11 best selling book in the category,… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on December 7, 2008 at 10:53pm — No Comments

Christa is…

Christa is…

I’ve been resisting the trend of microblogging a la twitter/facebook/myspace/etc for a variety of reasons. First of all, while I may be wildly extroverted in some ways, I’m actually a very private person in many others. I don’t mind sharing my opinions, my writing process and some occasional bits of more personal ephemera with my readers in a structured essay-like form like this. However, I have no desire to share an ongoing play by play broadcast of the daily mundane… Continue

Added by Christa Faust on December 7, 2008 at 2:02pm — 4 Comments

Real and Reel Science on CSI MIami by Margot Justes

I missed last week’s blog, another one of those weekends where real life took over, and I wound up with a miserable cold-which leads me to this blog.

I actually spent some time watching TV-one show-CSI Miami-I was asked to watch because my daughter (the scientist) actually participated in the research for one of the instruments they used; brand new, very exciting research with incredible potential, desorption electrospray ionization or DESI for short.

The instrument can… Continue

Added by Margot Justes on December 7, 2008 at 10:07am — No Comments

As timeless as imagination...

I posted this image of Niagara Falls, Canada sevaral days ago, because it stirs something in me. However, I wasn't sure at the time what I wanted to say about it, or why such a simple and recognizable image should excite my fancy the way it does. After all, almost every Canadian family has this exact photo in their album. As scenes go, it has become a visual cliche, almost meaningless in its… Continue

Added by Donna Carrick on December 7, 2008 at 3:21am — No Comments

DELTA MAGAZINE reviews FRESH FROZEN by Darden North

Reprint from DELTA MAGAZINE - Nov/Dec 2008 issue - Page 31

Book review written by Denise Grones

Fresh Frozen by Darden North, Ponder House Press

Where else do you find a handsome, young doctor, a gorgeous socialite, a thief, a flamboyant personal shopper and a grisly murder plot? All in a Darden North novel, of course. North, a Cleveland native and practicing obstetrician and gynecologist in Jackson, has just released his third medical… Continue

Added by Darden North, MD on December 6, 2008 at 11:09pm — No Comments

My First Guest Visits my Author Blog on Saturday

I will be hosting my first guest on my author blog (bethgroundwater.blogspot.com) on Saturday, December 6th, and I hope folks will stop by and read the blog and comment on it. My guest will be Jean Henry Mead, who writes senior sleuth mysteries and western historical novels. She's a former award-winning photojournalist and magazine and small press editor as well as a news reporter/editor. The book that will be featured in this blog visit is A Village Shattered, the first novel in her Logan… Continue

Added by Beth Groundwater on December 6, 2008 at 10:01am — 1 Comment

Query Me This

(Also available on One Bite at a Time.) Annette Dashofy, a contributor to the excellent collective blog Working Stiffs, has provided a link to a PW article by agent Stephen Barbara that arrived to me though Sisters in Crime via a friend. Barbara’s subject is “The Great American Query Letter,” and comments on what he clearly considers to… Continue

Added by Dana King on December 6, 2008 at 6:38am — No Comments

Betty Webb at Acme Today - Friday, Dec 5

We have a special guest today, mystery author, Betty Webb, at http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com

Please stop by and leave a comment if you wish.
Thanks,
Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com

Added by Morgan Mandel on December 6, 2008 at 3:30am — No Comments

How Many Chavs Does It Take To Screw In a Lightbulb?

New blog post at: http://mitziszereto.wordpress.com

Added by Mitzi Szereto on December 6, 2008 at 3:10am — No Comments

I'm a Consultant!

I'm so pleased that my good friend Graeme S Houston who is responsible for the fantastic covers of many of my books has opened his new publishing house. Mythica Publishing is now accepting submissions in all categories and genres and I'm so happy to be able to say that two of my works have been slected by Graeme as the first two books to be published by Mythica. As I've previously announced 'Arcadia 22 Heavy - Mayday' by Harry Porter and 'Of… Continue

Added by Brian L Porter on December 6, 2008 at 3:00am — No Comments

A Revolutionary mystery!

Long-time friends Jill Lepore and Jane Kamensky didn't set out to write a bodice ripper in Blindspot (Spiegel & Grau). But when the two historians – Lepore is the David Woods Kemper professor of American history at Harvard and Kamensky is chair of Brandeis' history department – started drafting a two-character sketch for the 70th birthday of… Continue

Added by Clea Simon on December 6, 2008 at 2:30am — No Comments

Tapping: A Blog Carnival for Edgar A. Poe and his 200th Birthday

We celebrate the 200th Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe - also in Germany. I've just started a - > Blog Carnival. How important was/is Poe for detective fiction, what saying other authors about his life and work, and do you still read Poe? You could write a blogpost in english (or any other language) and give me a short hint. So I will link all the post about Poe until January, 19th, 2009 - his… Continue

Added by Ludger on December 6, 2008 at 12:58am — No Comments

Down Time Is Downright Frustrating

Call me crazy -- wait, don't do that. I'm just a little overly focused on the next task, which frustrates me in terms of creative work. I can't seem to write if there's something big on the horizon.

Take yesterday, for example. I direct a large community choir, and it was the day of our annual Christmas concert. I had everything ready to go by noon and the concert was at 7:30. Even with getting dressed and all that, I had a good five hours with nothing to do. Should be great writing… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 5, 2008 at 9:18pm — No Comments

Justice Interrupted/ Gary C. King

"Justice Interrupted is an internet radio show hosted by three crime bustin' babes -- hot chicks with a penchant for protection, prevention and prosecution!" That's how the show would be promoted, no doubt, back in the "old days." Print promotions would feature bikini clad vixens, clutching briefcases, cavorting wildly in the Halls of Justice. The pitch for network TV adaptation would be something like "okay, it's BAYWATCH except on concrete, urban, and these lifeguards REALLY save lives!"… Continue

Added by Burl Barer on December 5, 2008 at 2:49pm — No Comments

The Case of the Junked Jobs

At my main blog I do a series of Private Eye parodies to illustrate problems with the business side of show biz, and I've decided to start posting them here too.

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It was a busy day for my lone wolf operation, my phone was ringing off the hook, people were missing stuff, and when their stuff went missing they needed me to find it.

Because I'm Furious D, and I'm a dick, a private… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on December 5, 2008 at 6:30am — No Comments

Switch debuts in OZ

A friend of mine Down Under picked up a copy of SWITCH today at his local bookstore and sent a couple of pics to prove that I'm a published author. Since I haven't seen a copy of the real book yet, it was a great thrill to know it really did exist ;-) To celebrate the launch, Australian author JJ Cooper posted a Q&A with me on his crime blog wherein I divulge my secret plan to appear on Coronation Street ;-) You can read it… Continue

Added by Grant McKenzie on December 5, 2008 at 5:02am — 2 Comments

Just In Case

If you’re flying the friendly skies out my way Friday, stop into the Borders Books in Reagan National Airport. I’ll be there signing books for weary travelers from noon to 4 pm.

Added by Austin S. Camacho on December 4, 2008 at 10:19pm — No Comments

Helpful Hint for New Writers

I've been giving workshops on writing for a while now, and there are lots of things to think about. I want to help aspiring writers as much as possible, and that includes a bit of inspiration (you can do this), a bit of warning (it isn't easy) and a lot of practical advice from someone who read and rated other people's writing for a very long time. There's no way to tell a person everything he needs to know. A lot of it is picked up from noticing good writing, focusing on your own writing, and… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 4, 2008 at 10:08pm — No Comments

Gender Bias

Or "Why I'll probably never receive a Nobel Prize." More information here

Added by Michelle Gagnon on December 4, 2008 at 3:13pm — 14 Comments

November Reading

(Cross posted on One Bite at a Time.) A pretty slow month for several reasons, not the least of which was a family visit over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Some oldies but goodies got read, though, starting with

Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett

I'd read it before and thought it was okay, thought I'd read it again in light of my (hopefully) more discerning taste. Yep, it's all they said it was. Tightly written, and it moves along with the staccato rhythm of gunfire, of… Continue

Added by Dana King on December 4, 2008 at 1:58pm — No Comments