F.T. Bradley's Blog – September 2009 Archive (7)

Friday Links: Ode to the Craft

After reading this article in The Village Voice (warning—lots of f-bombs), I got to thinking. Well, first I was laughing, then I got to thinking. Mostly about how dumb some people are, and then about how incredibly valid this point is: have respect for the years it takes to hone a craft, whether it’s painting, writing, or editing, whatever.



For this Friday link post, I thought I would… Continue

Added by F.T. Bradley on September 26, 2009 at 11:28am — 2 Comments

Check It: The YA Mystery Checklist

Now that I got my Edgar rant off my chest, and my soapbox has been reinstated as a coffee table, I thought I should think about criteria for my list of YA mysteries. Since everyone else seems to be so liberal with their interpretation of the genre.



So here are my four must-haves:



1. Must have a mystery as the central plot. This means the solving of the mystery has to be at the front of the story, and at the top of lead character’s list. Navel-gazing and peer… Continue

Added by F.T. Bradley on September 17, 2009 at 8:00am — No Comments

The 2009 YA Edgar Nominees

I’ve now read all the 2009 YA Edgar nominees, in case you’ve been hanging around the blog long enough to remember when I started this exercise. The point, for me anyway, was to see what’s happening in YA mystery today—what does it take to make the YA Edgar shortlist in 2009? I wanted to know.



And I was kind of… well, disappointed, if you want to know the truth. Don’t get me wrong: all of these books are worth… Continue

Added by F.T. Bradley on September 17, 2009 at 1:30am — No Comments

Buzzin'

Some books get all the publicity, marketing money—you know how this works. And I certainly have nothing against Dan Brown. The man worked hard to get where he is.

But to even out the odds a little, buy something else, M.J. Rose said in her cool blog. So for me #buy+brown: Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd.

Pass it on. Share a book you’re excited about.

Added by F.T. Bradley on September 15, 2009 at 1:29am — No Comments

YA Edgar Nominee: Torn to Pieces

I had originally put Torn to Pieces by Margot McDonnell aside, since I figured out the plot by page two. But the point of reading the YA Edgar nominees of this year was to get a full picture of what’s happening in YA mystery. So I felt I had to read this book, too.



And I’m glad I did. After a bit of a choppy start, I got absorbed by the story of 17 year-old Anne, whose mother goes missing. At first, Anne’s thinking it’s just another business trip (her mother is a ghostwriter… Continue

Added by F.T. Bradley on September 14, 2009 at 3:17am — No Comments

Friday Links from the YA Sleuth Blog

Friday links (a.k.a. time-wastery) come early, since I’m actually hoping to get some writing done tomorrow. So here you go:



It’s a book! It’s a movie! It’s a website! No, it’s a digi-novel. When the TV writers strike was going on (last year, was it?), apparently CSI creator Anthony Zuiker (along with Duane Zwierczynski) came up with this hybrid… Continue

Added by F.T. Bradley on September 11, 2009 at 11:21am — No Comments

Edgar Nominee: Bog Child

Last week on my blog, I talked about Siobhan Dowd, who died far too soon, and left two manuscripts behind. I read one of them: Bog Child, Edgar nominee this year. I was careful not to let the fact that Ms. Dowd was no more cloud my opinion of this book. The point of my reading all the YA Edgar nominees was, after all, to take an honest look at YA mysteries. Heartbreaking stories aside.



So I cleared my head and began… Continue

Added by F.T. Bradley on September 9, 2009 at 1:45am — No Comments

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