Dana King's Blog (144)

Sean O'Brien and The Given Day

(Cross posted on One Bite at a Time.)

Sean O’Brien has written a rambling, somewhat disjointed piece for The Times Online titled “Laws of the Thriller: Sean O’Brien on the ups and downs of thriller writers.” (Thanks to Sarah Weinman’s terrific blog, Confessions of an… Continue

Added by Dana King on February 13, 2009 at 5:44am — 7 Comments

Reviewing the Reviews

(Cross posted at One Bite at a Time.)

Book reviews have received a lot of attention lately, largely been because newspapers are dropping them faster than a banker can endorse a bonus check. Various web sites are picking up the slack. Most online booksellers post reader reviews, which may be of dubious merit. Some are written by the writer’s friends; others may be written by competitors with an ax to grind before placing it directly… Continue

Added by Dana King on February 12, 2009 at 1:23am — 3 Comments

Something Worth Remembering

(Cross posted on One Bite at a Time.)

Writers have been known to remark on what hard work it is to finish a book. Successful writers sometimes comment on the difficulties of cranking out a book a year. In the press kit for her now book, A Darker Domain, no less an authority than Val McDermid lays it out:

People sometimes remark that I must work hard to produce a book a year. They look offended when I laugh. Then I… Continue

Added by Dana King on January 21, 2009 at 11:43am — 4 Comments

Do You Hear What I Hear?

(Cross posted to One Bite at a Time.)

The sole discouraging aspect of my initial Bouchercon trip last October was learning how many writers toss a book if they’re not into it within two or three pages. As someone who likes books that break the story to me gently, I am inclined to write that way, and it was disconcerting to think even other authors wouldn’t give a book any more of a shot than an editor only looking for the next… Continue

Added by Dana King on January 13, 2009 at 6:50am — No Comments

Best Reads of 2008

(Cross posted on One Bite at a Time. Feel free to leave comments and browse there, if you like.)

Not all of these books came out in 2008; I read them as I get to them. These were the ten (plus one)best books I read for first time this year, listed alphabetically by author. Books I reviewed contain links to the review, as do the names of authors I was able to interview.…

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Added by Dana King on December 30, 2008 at 5:30am — No Comments

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

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

The End

(Cross posted on One Bite at a Time.) Just like the Paul Sheldon character in Stephen King's Misery, I have my own little ritual when I finish a manuscript. I'm sure many writers do. Much tedious work remains--finding a publisher, for starters--but with all the writing done I can take a few days off with a clear conscience.

Sheldon had one drink and one cigarette as his celebration. I wait until I've made every improvement I can; only them… Continue

Added by Dana King on November 29, 2008 at 1:57am — 3 Comments

Too Deep to be Popular? Or Vice Versa?

(Cross posted on One Bite at a Time.) Crimespace currently has a couple of enthusiastic debates (here and here) about the endless dispute between literary fiction and genre fiction. Sides tend to form pretty quickly in such engagements. The “literary” side goes on about the “limitations” of genre… Continue

Added by Dana King on November 21, 2008 at 3:21am — No Comments

Rejection

(Cross posted at One Bite at a Time.

I don’t save all my rejections to use as wallpaper or memorabilia. I read them, remember what’s worth remembering, and pitch them. Saves a lot of space for the TBR pile.

Three stick with me, which is probably why I don’t get too worked up over any of them. The first two are related. Several years ago I wrote a short story about a man who constantly feuds with his wife. They have their argument… Continue

Added by Dana King on November 14, 2008 at 6:59am — 2 Comments

October Reading

A lot of writers’ blogs have started recapping what that writer has read over the past month. (Okay, maybe not a lot; Tim Hallinan and Declan Burke, for sure. They’re both excellent writers whose opinions I respect, so I’m not averse to using their examples for a few cheap credibility points.) Continue reading here.

Added by Dana King on November 4, 2008 at 6:13am — No Comments

Don't Quote Me on This

(Cross posted on One Bite at a Time.)

As Lionel Shriver notes in the Wall Street Journal, "Literature is not very popular these days. Anyone who writes literary fiction is happy to tell you it's a bitch to get literary fiction published. The reason it's a bitch is because much of it doesn't sell, and, in fairness to publishers, there's only so altruistic even the… Continue

Added by Dana King on October 29, 2008 at 12:08pm — 5 Comments

Bouchercon 2008

(Cross posted at One Bite at a Time)

I'm back from Bouchercon and finally getting caught up on the rest of my life. I got some books to review, two interviews set up with authors, and a TBR pile exponentially larger than before the conference. A rousing success for someone who doesn't meet people easily and had only spoken to one person there before last week.

Much of the credit for that has to go to the crime fiction writing and… Continue

Added by Dana King on October 17, 2008 at 10:41am — No Comments

Food Noir

Restaurants aren’t just snow white tablecloths and smiling hostesses. While you’re out trying to have a good time, eat a nice meal, the owner is treading a thin line between giving you what you paid for and making a profit. Sometimes they cross that line. That’s where I come in. My name’s Sundae. I’m a health inspector.

It was hot the way only the Strip District can be hot. The seams in the pavement were as tacky as freshly chewed gum on the soles of my shoes. The smells of… Continue

Added by Dana King on September 29, 2008 at 12:25pm — 1 Comment

Everyone's a Critic. Or Should Be.

In addition to much appreciated writing credits, producing reviews has definitely made me a better fiction writer. Read entire post.

Added by Dana King on September 18, 2008 at 6:23am — No Comments

The Underpants Gnomes

South Park once did a wonderful story about Underpants Gnomes. Tweak, the boys' new friend, was constantly wired on caffeine from the coffee his coffee shop-owning parents kept pumping into him. (Yes, they would do that. This is South Park we're talking about. Besides, if you read past the Underpants Gnomes premise, what's the problem with a ten-year-old caffeine addict?) Since Tweak never slept, he was awake to see the Underpants Gnomes march into his bedroom every morning at 3:30 and steal… Continue

Added by Dana King on August 31, 2008 at 12:54pm — No Comments

A Priceless Resource

Crime fiction writers have resources available to us now our literary ancestors could not have imagined. The Internet. Citizen police academies, where writers can get a taste of police work from the inside. A couple of hundred cable channels competing to see who can show the down and dirtiest true crime stories. Another couple of hundred channels for movies, including some devoted entirely to crime flicks. TiVo and DVRs so you can watch whenever you want. NetFlix. All of these are great; we've… Continue

Added by Dana King on August 22, 2008 at 11:55am — 2 Comments

One Bite at a Time

Today begins my new blog, One Bite at a Time. Credit for the title goes to my beloved Spousal Equivalent, who gave me the best writing advice I ever received, and I've received a lot of good writing advice. (The doldrums in which my "career" currently resides are due entirely to my own failings; I have been singularly fortunate in getting the attention and good advice of many.)

One day a few years ago, The Spousal Equivalent caught me whining about how discouraging it was to know I… Continue

Added by Dana King on August 18, 2008 at 5:00am — 2 Comments

James Lee Burke

Every time I read something by James Lee Burke I tell myself, “You really need to read more James Lee Burke.” This year I’m finally getting around to it, and it’s made my reading time richer and more rewarding. I just finished PEGASUS DESCENDING after reading CADILLAC JUKEBOX in March and JOLIE BLON’S BOUNCE in December. I don’t like him more each time anymore; he’s who I come back to when I want to be reminded why I love to read.

His characters walk in off the cane break as… Continue

Added by Dana King on May 6, 2008 at 11:29am — 2 Comments

The Long Goodbye

I’m late to the party, as usual, but I can’t resist getting in on the City of Chicago’s program that encouraged all Chicagoans to read Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye as part of a city-wide discussion. The Outfit has covered this in detail, and better than I’m likely to do here, but that never stopped me before.

It had been several years since I read The Long Goodbye, though I have always thought it was the most beautifully written of Chandler’s works, and I read Chandler for the… Continue

Added by Dana King on April 30, 2008 at 11:44am — No Comments