The Bar

[Daniel Hatadi]

Most forums have a post that serves as an entry point for new members, a place for them to introduce themselves. At Crimespace, that post is The Bar.

As a way of starting it off, I'll introduce myself.

My name is Daniel and my favourite colour is black. Half Romanian, half Croatian, I was born and bred in Australia, the country I've spent most of my life in. Got a degree in Computer Science and by day I'm a programmer in the shady field of gaming. Yes, I program poker machines. This does not mean I carry around a Bat-utility belt and rush over to clubs when people don't get paid. It's an office job, plain and simple. I stare at computer screens all day.

By night, and during my lunch hour, I write. Mostly crime, but I'm not afraid to venture outside the genre if the story I want to tell goes that way. Even then I'd say my fiction straddles the border between crime and other genres. I've only been writing solidly for about the last three years, the first two of which were spent on a comedic P.I. novel set in Sydney. Like many writers, that novel was my journeyman piece, in that it taught me how to write a novel (which is not to say I've stopped learning). Also like many writers, I don't think I want it to ever see the light of day.

I've since moved on to a novel that if I had to describe in one sentence, would sound something like this: "An unwilling hitman becomes part of a crime syndicate that reaches back to turn-of-the-century Sydney." Part crime thriller, part historical dream sequence, with elements of the supernatural. I'm about two thirds of the way through the first draft and I'm getting a big kick out of writing something more serious.

A few short stories of mine are floating around the net and I have a list of those on my profile page. In the interest of brevity, I'll leave it at that.

Now. Who wants a drink?

[LC Fraser]

Figures. I should have known you would have a finger in this pie my dear Merlot! Isn't this place fun? Watch for my friend Jeff - he has just joined too. Maybe he will want to see the etchings too.

[Jeffrey Marks]

My name is Jeff. I'm Scotch-English. Favorite color is red. Degrees in IT, Business, and Education. Currently a school teacher in math. I teach 8th grade which is more dangerous than Iraq these days.

I write. I have 10 books out, with #11 set for later this year. All mystery related, from short story collections, to novels, to promoting/marketing genre fiction to several books in the history of mystery vein.

When I'm not a mystery writer, I also pen a woman's advice column (I kid you not!) When I get a chance, I'll add a link to their site.

[Joy Calderwood]

Hi, Jeff. You do get around. :-) Jeff has a knack for the imaginative phrase. Some from his first Ulysses S Grant mystery still tickle me when I remember them.

[Brian Thornton]

My name is Brian, and my favorite color is blue. I'm Swedish/Irish/English/Cherokee/Choctaw and all American. I teach ancient history to 8th graders, and like it alot. I am a native Washingtonian and have taught in both Nevada and here in the Seattle area. I have an MA in both Tudor/Stuart/Georgian History and 19th century American History.

Like many here, I wrote an unwieldy first tome (114,000 words once it was finished) to learn how to write novels. Also like many here, I long ago gave up any desire to sell it. In the intervening four years since the smoke cleared on my last draft of that novel I've sold some short stories (see my homepage for the list of publications) and have written four non-fiction books (in addition to editing a non-fiction anthology) for pay/publication.

I now find myself juggling two different non-fiction projects with the launch of my second novel, an historical mystery set in Washington, DC, in 1844 and centering on the death of the Secretary of State onboard a US Naval vessel. I've been researching for it for a couple of years. So far, it's going very well.

My favorite authors include Hammett, Chandler, the MacDonalds (Ross, John D., and Phillip), Carl Hiassen, Rex Stout, and a host of others too numerous to mention.

I have seen a lot of old friends from Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime, Rara Avis and the Short Mystery Fiction Society here, and it's good to see these familiar faces. Here's hoping to making more friends, networking more, and giving back as much as I've already taken out of this place.

What a terrific idea, Daniel!

Brian

[p. b. smith]

My name is Pat and my favorite color is...the rainbow (here less than a day and vacillating already...) Okay, today my favorite color is red because I just saw a Robin Red Breast and he looked so cheerful.

I am German, Scotch, Irish and Polish, about as sturdy a combination of genes as you can get, I think. My family history is rich with storytellers and writers, not to mention tall tales, some (or many) of which may be apocryphal, but we'll never know.

I am blessed with two wonderful children, two wonderful sisters and one wonderful brother. My daughter, Meghan, 25, lives in Finland, where she teaches English to little Finnish kids. She is so happy there she just applied for her EU citizenship. I miss her but I am all for grabbing happiness wherever you find it, plus the Internet helps us stay in touch. My son, Carter, is 22 and about to graduate from college. The Scottish blood came through really strongly in him; he is a champion bagpiper who has played on the walls of Stirling Castle. When he graduates, he is going to move to L. A. to pursue a career as a film director. I am moving out there as well, to be near my sisters and my son.

I grew up in New Orleans, but contrary to what you hear in the press, that great, drowned city is dying, and the people in charge are doing little to stop it. They spend all their time and energy promoting the French Quarter and have failed to address the fact that 80 percent of their housing was utterly destroyed. No housing, no services = no population = no viable city. I am not exaggerating. The city is dying by inches and degrees and unless something is done, it will become a modern ghost town...with no one but thugs, crooked politicians and a few policeman for citizens. Almost everyone I knew there has left; my sister and her husband must hang on for two more years so she can vest in her retirement.

Okay, enough ranting. May I please have a Brandy Alexander...light on the brandy and heavy on the Alexander? Thank you.

[J. D. Webb]

At my age Green Tea, please. Ugh.
I'm a full time author after more than 40 years in the corporate wars. Surviving that gave me fodder and character sketches to last a lifetime. At least mine.
Thanks, Daniel, for a fantastic forum and place to reside on the net.
Oh, yes my favorite color is blue. Not dark blue, more cerulean.
I've lived my life in Central Illinois, except for stints in the Philippines and Viet Nam where I missed the 60s.
My mysteries are two series. One with Mike Shepherd a Chicago PI and the other a Chicago shoe repairman who is an amateur sleuth named Fulton Moon. His nickname is Full Moon and his repair shop is Moonshines. Visit my page and my website www.jdwebb.com to learn more.
I'm so happy to finally be able to scribble on the keyboard at what I love/live to do - write.
A blessed day to all.

[Donna Moore]

Oh, I forgot to sidle up to the bar and order my drink (not like me, but there you go).). I'll have a margarita please. My name is Donna and I am English (with no exciting sub-sections) and I live in Glasgow. My favourite colour is...well, it depends...if it's shoes then purple spiked heels work well, if it's clothes then usually black (slimming don't you know) and if it's to look at then yellow, bright sunshine yellow.

I like punk rock and old films. I was learning the drums until I got sacked by my drum teacher (well, actually he moved away, but I thought that didn't sound rock and roll enough) and I am amassing a DVD collection that rivals my shoe collection...almost.

I have never been hit by a car but I once fractured my knee dancing and I have been mugged three and a half times (the first time *I* got hurt, the second time nobody got hurt, the third time the mugger got hurt. The half a time is too long a story to go into here.

I love to travel and usually try to make it over to the US for at least one crime fiction convention. Partly because I love crime fiction, partly because I have made some wonderful friends in the crime fiction community and I need to hug them at least once a year.

I've always written, but mostly stupid e-mails and stories. I never thought I would write a book, and I still can't believe that I did and, more to the point, that anyone was foolish enough to publish it. Or read it. It's a spoof, completely devoid of plot. Or decent characters. Or good writing. My mum hates it and wants me to write something 'nice' next time - something with less 'swearing and weirdness'. I've also had a couple of short stories published - one in the wonderful DAMN NEAR DEAD anthology. I'm still gobsmacked that my story is nestling in those pages amongst some of my favourite writers. My mum hasn't read it. She would disown me.

Since I can't think of anything interesting to say about myself, I shall now shut up. Cheers.

[Thomas O'Callaghan]

Hi Donna. Please allow me to buy you a drink in appreciation for all the first drafts you left behind in our shared desk at school. Cheers!

[Jannie Balliett]

Saying, "Hi, I'm Jannie" is almost like standing up in a AA meeting. Oh, this is a bar,
so I'm in the right place. "Hey bartend, I'll have a Bloody Mary." My favorite color? Well, I would've said green, but it's kinda used up and cliche now, so I'll say brown. I have some stories out there and soon, in an anthology, but no where near the pros like most here. I'm just beginning this serious journey and am here to meet the various personalities that have reached the level of success that I aspire to. What I have learned in a day? That most writers are as crazy as I am, and that might be the key to writing a good novel-- I mean, who else is better qualified to about the insane killers and OCD detectives?

[Kevin Burton Smith]

A bar? Great!

What's everyone drinking? I... Jesus Christ, my wallet's up in my room. I'll be right back.

[Val McDermid]

Greetings. My name is Val and mine's a Sea Breeze. Nice and tall, lots of ice.
My favourite colour is what my son calls 'the colour of the space between the
stars.' I live in the North of England, dividing my time between the sea and the city.
This year is the 20th anniversary of the publication of my first novel; I've witten
another 19, plus a collection of short stories and a non-fiction book since
then, which never ceases to astonish me. I had no idea when I started this that I
had 20 books in me. And still the ideas come...
I am currently doing the rewrites on BENEATH THE BLEEDING, which is due out
in the UK in August. That's why I need a really big drink now.
When I'm not writing, I like to make music, cook and walk on the beach.
So...
Excuse me? Where is that drink???

[Mark Troy]

Howdy! Nice place. I'm particularly partial to bars with patios where I can catch some fresh air, watch the girls down at the beach, and do some stargazing at night with a beer or a scotch in my hand.

During the day, I do educational research and administration at Texas A&M, so my color is maroon. I'm still jazzed about the success of the Aggie men and women in basketball this year, even though they didn't make the elite eight.

I get a lot of ideas for my stories from sports. So far I've covered open ocean canoe racing, beach volleyball, women's college basketball, women's professional basketball, skydiving, golf and bull riding. I'm working on a surfing story and a pro football story.

My first novel was a private eye story--Pilikia Is My Business. "Pilikia" means trouble in the Hawaiian language, so the title translates into Trouble Is My Business. I like to think my stories are in the Chandler tradition, if updated a bit. The mean streets of my stories are not in Los Angeles but Honolulu, and it's not a man who walks them, but a woman.

A second novel, also set in Honolulu, is being shopped to publishers while I work on a third one.

That's enough about me for now. I'm going to take my drink out to the patio. I look forward to more conversations with you.