All Blog Posts Tagged 'literary' (21)

Another good year at Bookstock

There is a distinctive change in my signings these days: I'm actually making money.

Most of us who write never talk about the pay, which is usually abysmal. We write because we must, and we write because we have something to say and want people to hear it. Money is nice, but no one being realistic expects to make a fortune.

Most of my signings over the years have ranged from quiet to excellent: before this year, probably the best one took place several years ago at the Borders…

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Added by Stephen Seitz on July 28, 2014 at 12:39am — 1 Comment

The Controversial Life of a Book: The Wilde Passions of Dorian Gray

The Controversial Life of a Book: The Wilde Passions of Dorian Gray is now at Errant Ramblings: Mitzi Szereto's Weblog.

http://mitziszereto.com/blog/the-controversial-life-of-a-book-the-wilde-passions-of-dorian-gray/

Added by Mitzi Szereto on December 12, 2013 at 9:30am — 2 Comments

Pauline Rowson at Pontarddulais Library, South Wales, talking about crime writing and her crime novels

The second stop on my book tour of South Wales on the publication in the UK of the tenth in the DI Andy Horton crime series, Death Surge,was at Pontarddulais, a town situated just under ten miles to the north west of…

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Added by Pauline Rowson on October 10, 2013 at 8:26pm — No Comments

Pauline Rowson, author of the DI Horton Marine Mystery crime series to share platform at CrimeFest 2013

Jeffery Deaver and Peter James are lined up to take part in this year’s Crimefest and I'm delighted to be there with them.

Peter James and Pauline Rowson, looking very happy or a bit sozzled! CrimeFest 2011

I haven't met Jeffrey Deaver but I am sure that his Thriller Writing Seminar as part of the festival’s Crime…

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Added by Pauline Rowson on March 25, 2013 at 6:11pm — No Comments

Faith and a Box Full of Clock Parts

Thrilled to see my guest essay on writers keeping the faith despite self-doubt on Psychology Today! Here's an excerpt:

"I’m ten years old. My Big Ben-style alarm clock has stopped working. Maybe I wound it too tightly, maybe it’s just worn out. Whatever the reason, the alarm hasn’t gone off in days.

I know I can fix it, if only I can get a look inside. When I tell my …

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Added by Karen Dionne on January 30, 2013 at 12:04am — No Comments

A New Opportunity at Amazon Studios: Create the Official Book Trailer for Noir Novel

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Added by Vincent Zandri on December 3, 2012 at 12:06am — 2 Comments

MURDER BY MOONLIGHT Pre-Orders

"You truly feel what the author is trying to convey to the audience of readers as you become within yourself part of the hunt: Who, What, Where and How we're the murders committed. I highly recommend this book."

--Amazon Vine Program Reviewer

Pre-Order the novel that's based upon one of the most shocking axe murders to ever occur in Albany....MURDER BY MOONLIGHT:…

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Added by Vincent Zandri on July 1, 2012 at 1:05am — No Comments

BANAL: A Digital Noir Short, is Released!!!

If you like Stephen King inspired, existential noir, this might be the "short" for you...

Grab it right here:…

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Added by Vincent Zandri on June 12, 2012 at 3:32am — No Comments

Creating enduring characters is the answer to a continuing literary career

Robert McCrum's excellent article in the Guardian at the weekend rang home with…

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Added by Pauline Rowson on July 18, 2011 at 6:59pm — No Comments

Involved Reading Versus Automatic Reading

Sometimes you feel like a rut; sometimes you don't.

There are books that are automatic. You know the characters, know how they're going to react. You know, generally, what situations they will encounter, and you know they will triumph in the end. Books of this type, when well done, are entertaining, and authors like Sue Grafton and Lee Child do well with them.

Non-automatic books take a different type of writing. The reader does not know…

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Added by Peg Herring on June 13, 2011 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Literary Review: MOZART'S LAST ARIA 'lively, well-researched, very clever'

In the current edition of London's Literary Review, Jessica Mann leads her roundup of new crime novels with this praise for MOZART'S LAST ARIA, my historical thriller about the great composer's death: "Matt Rees has drawn a lively portrait of eighteenth-century Vienna and of characters whose names now live only because of their connection with the composer. This novel is well-researched, very clever and written in clean, suitably… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on May 10, 2011 at 6:25pm — 1 Comment

The Prestigious Matt Rees International Literary Prizes

I have observed in this space before that author bios tend to be short on interesting detail and overfull of prize lists. Philip Roth, for example, doesn’t seem to exist, according to his bio. He doesn’t live anywhere, nor was he born. He simply receives prizes. This week I’m reading a very good historical novel by a writer who shall remain nameless. Perhaps it’s best that she…

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Added by Matt Rees on April 29, 2011 at 3:47am — 4 Comments

Kate Atkinson: Bouchercon 2010

I owe a lot to Kate Atkinson. She wasn’t by any means the first crime writer I read, not even the one who has most influenced me. As a child my bookshelves were filled with Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Trixie Belden mysteries. I would grow into my grandparents’ shelves, which were lined with Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Louis L’Amour, Patricia Highsmith, True Detective magazines, and lots of pulp. With… Continue

Added by Jane Hammons on November 29, 2010 at 6:47am — No Comments

Going historical

Writing of the disdain expressed for genre novels by critics, Raymond Chandler said that there were just as many bad “literary novels” of the type favored by critics as there were bad genre stories – except that the bad literary novels didn’t get published. In other words, there’s nothing inherent in so-called genre fiction that makes it lesser than “literary” fiction.

Chandler knew what he was talking about. His great noir novels, such as “The Big Sleep”…

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Added by Matt Rees on September 1, 2010 at 6:06pm — 1 Comment

I'll be at the London Book Fair

April is here and that means one of the major events in the book trade calendar, The London Book Fair, where I will be on 19th and 20th April. It's a great opportunity for me to meet with my overseas Literary Agents from Brazil, Spain and Italy as well as with my publishers of my business books and my crime novels.

According to an article on the Bookseller web…

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Added by Pauline Rowson on April 1, 2010 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Literary reviews: If you can’t say something nice…

Kingsley Amis said that “a bad review may spoil your breakfast, but you shouldn’t allow it to spoil your lunch.” That’s because Kingsley, bless his vindictive old heart, was probably too busy spoiling someone else’s. Believe me, a bad review leaves a bad taste all day long.

That’s not because of any insecurity about my writing. If a review is negative or even mildly snarky, I know the reviewer got it wrong. It’s the mere existence of negative thoughts about me…

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Added by Matt Rees on March 8, 2010 at 1:15am — 2 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

Question: What has a crime writer, giraffe, red-eyed frog and bat-eared fox got in common?

Answer: We'll all be at Marwell Wildlife on 23 July 2009 between 3pm and 5pm.

This summer, for the first time ever, Marwell is holding a series of literary teas and I am delighted to be the first author to kick start this exciting programme of entertainment. I will be reading from my novels, answering questions (on writing - not exotic animals) and signing books. There will be afternoon tea, cakes and scones. Yummie!

I'll be talking on 23 July 2009 in the spectacular… Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on June 9, 2009 at 4:36am — No Comments

The Queen of Quirky: The Writing Life interview with Tama Janowitz

Tama Janowitz has always been great at first lines (Remember her Slaves of New York opened with this: “After I became a prostitute, I had to deal with penises of every imaginable shape and size.”) Her new novel, they is us, will be out… Continue

Added by Matt Rees on May 21, 2009 at 7:42pm — No Comments

The London Book Fair 2009

The London Book Fair kicks off next Monday and is a great place to learn more about the publishing industry with free seminars and lots of publishers present. For published writers and those wishing to be published it's a good way to research the market and find out who is who. You can pick up new ideas at the fair, make new contacts, check out what kind of titles publishers are publishing and network with other authors, and those in the book business.

My… Continue

Added by Pauline Rowson on April 14, 2009 at 2:58am — No Comments