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?

[Thomas O'Callaghan]

Duct tape? You've got my duct tape? The last time I saw it was when Colm Pierce was "applying" it to a, um, a character on page 43. Well, it's nice to know that Teacher-turned-Lieutenant, Driscoll didn't find it. Please DO NOT let go of it.

[Gina Robertson]

I'm Gina and I'm partial to a glass of red. I love reading crime books and get a big kick when I discover a new series. I have done a couple of writing courses that I have really enjoyed and recently got a story published on an E zine. Who cares that I didn't get paid I had a huge grin on my face for weeks. I'm working on a first draft (I can barely type the words) of a novel.But I wouldn't hold your breath.
By the way my favourite colour is blue. I'm English. I pay the bills by working in a bank. I like to think that people are astounded when I tell them I'm 39.

[Simon Spurrier]

Evenin' all. I'd love to play this the Hollywood way and saunter into the bar with a nonchalant "Jack 'n black...", but last time I did that I wound up with a blackcurrant-JD combo, and looking very very not-cool. For the record, it tasted like cough medicine. So I'll have a whiskey and coke, ta.

Name's Si Spurrier. I've been a writer of comics and graphic novels for a few years, and have recently signed a two-novel deal with Headline Review - a division of Hodder Headline. My first novel Contract is out early June; it's a supernatural-dark-comedy-crime-thriller (clearly defined genres? Ha!) about a hired killer whose Clients keep coming back to life. He fills his hollowpoints with heroin because it's cheaper than poison, has loads of pervy sex with loads of random people, and has a piece of Boring Google Trivia for every occasion. He's great fun to write. ;)

I live in London, write full time, exist in a state of abject poverty, and was genuinely surprised that the world didn't collapse into some freakish meta-timestream when Kurt Vonnegut Left The Metaphorical Building last week. So it goes. It's a pleasure to meet you all, and if I could afford it I'd buy you all a drink. A digital one. With extra pixels.

[Newt Love]

Your debut novel sounds fantastic! Your agent is either visionary or was on drugs to accept it. Most publishers cry out for something new to start a new trend, but when it is under the editor's nose, they mutter "I have no idea how to market this." Good for you that you found a home! I can hardly wait to buy copies for me and my wild friends.

The film maker John Waters (Hairspray, Pecker, ...) says "Art is what happens when you get comfortable with your own level of kink."
You are so comfortable with your own level that you defy description.

[Mystery Scene Magazine]

Hi everyone,
My name is Kate and I'm the editor of Mystery Scene. I joined a few weeks ago but couldn't socialize because I had to finish up our Spring Issue which finally, god help me, went to press yesterday.

So, I'll have a G&T and a round for the house. Make that two.

I've been kicking around the publishing business for quite a while now -- editor at Mysterious Press, Otto Penzler Books; editor of The Armchair Detective and various newsletters; consultant for the Christie estate and MysteryNet (ah, those crazy dotcom days); nonfiction editor at Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Mag; various other consulting gigs.

I met Brian Skupin, Mystery Scene's co-publisher, at the Magna Cum Murder Convention in 1996. When we got married, I acquired not only an excellent husband but a really quite interesting Golden Age book collection, heavy on locked room/impossible crime. (My own book collection is mainly 1988 forward but I have a lot of fun ephemera from this and earlier periods.)

In 2002, Ed Gorman called to ask if I wanted Mystery Scene and before the night was out, Brian and I were magazine publishers. Four years later, we're working on our 25th issue--Mystery Scene Summer 2007 #100-- and still having fun. Brian, working part-time, handles the website and writes one of our most popular columns. I'm at the magazine full-time and get lots of help from our merry band of contributors and staff.

I've really been enjoying listening in on the discussions at CrimeSpace. We work-at-home types love the socializing!

Kate Stine

[Karyn J. Powers]

Hi just joined. If we're drinking, I'll toast your blood line and mine (ukraine/Irish/Norse) with two fingers of chilled voldka (Grey Goose or Moonshine)

[Lesa Holstine]

Hi. I've been here about a week and a half, but I'm not much of a barfly. My favorite color is black. I live in gorgeous, hot Arizona with my husband and four cats. I'm a librarian who reads and reviews a little of everything. I review at www.bookbitch.com and on my own blog at www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com. I review women's fiction for Library Journal.

My claim to fame? For five years, I chaired the Authors Programming for the Lee County Reading Festival in Ft. Myers, FL, before moving to AZ. I met and worked with wonderful mystery writers in those five years, and I thank all of you - Jan Burke, Elaine Viets, Barbara Parker, Sue Grafton, Dennis Lehane, James Hall, Les Standiford, PJ Parrish, Michael Connelly, Nancy Pickard, Jeremiah Healy, Mary Anna Evans, etc. I can't even name all of the mysery writers who helped me out. Now, I just get the chance to see you all at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale.

My conclusion? Mystery writers were the nicest authors I worked with in those five years. Thank you. And, a toast to all of you.

[Paul Sammons]

Barkeep, can you give me an Orgasm please (the drink... get your mind out of the gutter!)

I'm Paul (or Sammo), but I'll answer to pretty much anything. I'm 30 (31 in three weeks time... eek!) and live in Staffordshire in the UK.

By day I'm a mild mannered IT Trainer for the NHS by night I save the world through fighting crime. Actually, I don't but my characters do. I've been doing this writing lark for about two and a bit years and have so far completed two novels, almost finished another two and started countless ones. I've completed the NaNoWriMo competition two years on the trot and am looking forward to this years competition. So far unpublished (not through lack of trying I might add), but I'm hoping that someone will see some kind of merit in my inane scribblings.

[norby]

Paul's a genius and someday the world will know it. Glad you made it over here Sammo!!

[Paul Sammons]

Um, I wouldn't go as far as to say that... Then again, yes I would! I'm KIDDING! Nice to be here, Norby

[Dee Savoy]

My name is Deirdre (Dee) Savoy aka The Lady in Red
My favorite color is (duh) red
My age: if I told you it would defeat the point of posting that lovely (younger me) photo everywhere
My first rejection came from MAD magazine when I was eleven. They sent me a form rejection letter telling me I wasn't funny. (I was so lacking in a sense of humor that I never bought another copy of that mag.)
My drink of choice: banana daiquiri paid for by someone other than me

I started out writing romance in 1999. Graduated to romantic suspense in 2002. Now I'm hoping to do a mystery series once I work out a couple kinks. Also working on a women's fiction title and some fantasy thingie. My thirteenth book will be out in February of next year.

[I. J. Parker]

Ugh, finally found the bar. Thanks to Scott. It shouldn't be hidden so well.

To my friends I'm Ingrid. Readers know me as I.J.Parker. I write a series (the Akitada series) set in 11th century Japan. I also write other things, but the Akitada books and stories are relevant here because they are mysteries.
I started the series in 85 but I'm lousy at marketing. I mostly just didn't. When I sold my first short story (95 to AHMM), I already had three complete novels. I sold my first two novels (not the first two written!) in 2001 to St. Martin's Press, but I'm now with Penguin. (Akitada lives dangerously.) He did manage to win a short story Shamus in 2000 or my marketing inadequacy would have kept the novels in the closet.
Perhaps I should add that I do not write cozies, that I have done an enormous amount of research (I'm an academic), and that I had to teach myself to write fiction (after decades of teaching English to university students.)
And so here I am, happy to know some of you already. Hurrah! And looking forward to meeting the rest.