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?

[Karen from AustCrime]

I'm Karen and I read crime fiction... makes it sound like a sort of AA confession which really doesn't feel right in a bar... sigh.

I'd say I'll have a cider, but it's cider making season so we're all a bit over that at the moment - so make mine a Rum Punch.

Thanks for the invite to wander over Daniel - I'm nothing if not keen on the idea of a bar.

So Australian from waaaayyy back. Born in Country Victoria, now live on the semi-rural fringes of Melbourne up in the Hills on a couple of acres, husband, 3 dogs, a sometime resident semi-feral cat who is resisting efforts to make him a house cat, lots of chooks - too many fruit trees and vegetable gardens everywhere.

He's a web developer working for a major Scandinavian company these days, although we have run our own IT company for lots of years. Nowadays I do a lot of admin work on an open source project, technical writing and web site wrangling.

Hence http://www.austcrimefiction.org which really just started off as a way to keep track of my notes - then some other friends from online groups waded in to help and we suddenly had a pretty comprehensive database which is always behind.

That's about it really.... pretty boring :)

[Karen from AustCrime]

Typical - drive by posting - you are going to have to find a mouse for that laptop and roll up the sleeves and contribute girl :)

[Patti McCoy Jacob]

Hi everyone - My name is Patti, and I don't have a favorite color. I pretty much like them all... except for puce. Not a big fan of that one. It's not the actual hue, mind you. It's the spelling. A bit too close to that other word, the one with a "k." Kinda turns my stomach.

Okay, let's see. Thanks to my mother's Dublin-born father (who taught me how to cheat at poker), her Limmerick-born mum (who made me go to confession every time she caught me trying to cheat HER at poker), and my father's 1st generation Irish-American daddy, my blood is 75% Irish, which might explain why these huge goosebumps suddenly appeared on my arms when I heard this crimespace had a bar. In case you're taking orders, Daniel, when I'm not watching my calories with a Coor's Light, my drink of choice is a black-and-tan. Or a margarita on the rocks. With salt, please. Nummy. Oh, and if this matters to you at all, I'm 12.5% British, explaining my love for tea, and 12.5% Austrian, explaining my love for anal retentiveness. Not proud of that last part.

I was born and raised in Fullerton, CA, performed with and taught dance for the International group Up With People from 1980-1985, married a guy from Chicago in '87, earned my BA in Business from Cal State Fullerton in '94 when I was pregnant with my third child, decided three kids weren't going to cut it so went on to have four more, which makes, um - add the six, carry the one - yeah, which makes enough to do a remake of The Walton's. Or form our own baseball team. Whichever is more plausible. Or lucrative. Or both...

Regarding writing, I have this column at the Yorba Linda Star - OC Register community newspaper - with a weekly compensation that will totally pay the way for all seven of my children's college tuitions.

But only if they decide to go to a JC. Part time. During years divisible by nine.

Oh, and only when the moon is in the seventh house...

It's a fun little humor column, my column, incorporating people in the community, and yes, I throw in serious book reviews whenever a particular book catches my fancy. In fact, I will be reviewing STIGMA on April 5. And my 68,000+ OC town of Yorba Linda is filled with some very serious readers, so I'm excited to introduce this book to them.

So that's me, you guys. Typical me, blathering on at a bar. Hiccup...

[Newt Love]

You wrote: "... my blood is 75% Irish..."
Does that make you 150 proof?
Strong women are sooooo sexy, especially smart ones. Oooh! Chills! Strong women with great big lobes. My wife is strong and smart, uh-huh. Was that too cereberal for this hour in a cyber bar?

The bottle in front of me
Performs a frontal lobotomy
While my baby sits up close to me
Reading more crime stories!

[Mary L. Wheeling]

Hello, all. First off, thanks, Daniel for cooking up this brilliant scheme.

I'm Mary, and when I'm not refilling sippy cups or sweeping playdough crumbs off the floor, I write fiction. Some of what I write is clearly crime fic, other bits defy category. I'm still trying to finish a full length novel manuscript; I have two in the works. I've published (under a former name) lots of academic claptrap they urge you to churn out when you're a newly minted Ph.D. and desperate for a tenure-track job. It worked, but at the moment I'm taking a long leave from academia to raise up the two youngens, 2 and 3.5 years old.

I've done a lot of living, maybe too much for one girl, but I don't regret a day. Mostly because it gives me so much to write about. Yeah, that's it.

All my family hail from the South, which means about every drop of blood in my veins represents a different ethnic origin. For the past five years I have been treading water in Delaware, of all places, waiting for my husband to swing a more southerly job. He doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry, though. He works more hours a week than a dog has fleas, so my writing time is scarce just now. The kids won't be at home with me forever, though. Right? RIGHT?

Just a Rolling Rock for right now, Daniel. Save the champagne for when I finish writing something.

[photokat1968]

well I seem to be one of the few non-writers but readers here at the bar ... I used to be a writer in my younger days and even had a politcal column in college ... but now my free time consist of reading or lugging around my 35mm for a day of shooting. I prefer natural light, only because I think it brings out the true vision of what you see through your lens with very little distortion upon printing. At least the way I shoot anyway. I believe writing and photography are similar in the respect that you are either with talent or not.
Oh gosh I started rambling before I even said who I am ... sorry I do tend to get ahead of myself at times ... my name is lisa and as for colors I like well it depends on the day, but most days I do really like Orange. haha.
One book that comes to mind that really changed the way I look at things was "False Memory" by Dean koontz ... I know he is not a crime writer and certainly more a horror writer in all accounts but regardless it is a note worthy read. Thanks Daniel for putting this all together ... really wonderful way to connect.

[photokat1968]

oh yeah, BTW I am Irish, Scottish & Australian as well ... lol

[Angie]

Okey, dokey, intro time. My name is Angie, I like most colors except for orange and yellow (hate yellow...even hate most yellow foods). I'm an Amer'can mutt - Swedish, Norwegian, English, French, a little Penn. Dutch in there, too. I live in the mountains of northern AZ with my hubster, 2 dogs & a turtle.

I spent several years working in behavioral health, the last few with kids (a lot of adjudicated youth, mostly girls). Loved the kids, tolerated the families, hated the so-called systems. Burnt hard, left the field & then turned my hand to (literary) crime.

I write crime fic. I've written & pub'd a short story (yeah, yeah, I'm just gettin' started, dammit) and am working on a YA novel about a girl, a ghost, and a Glock. I do a little editing and a lot of reading. Also do voice acting for Coyote Radio Theater, paint occasionally, slack off as often as possible.

Hadn't planned on the crime fic. thing, though I shouldn't be surprised. My hubster and I met while working on The Encyclopedia of World Crime about a million years ago. He was an asst. editor, I supervised a research team (not all that damn glamorous - mostly we read a shitload of newspapers and books and marked ref. materials for the writers and editors). The job gave me nightmares, but I liked it. I like my hubster better.

I'll take a vodka collins, please! Wait, it's pretty damn early in the morning. Make it an Irish coffee instead.

[Thomas O'Callaghan]

Hi Angie! Though my vision is a tad blurry, I made out the vibrant blue hair. I used a Glock in my first book. My homicide commander carried and used a Glock revolver with a safety. FIVE "fans" left comments on my website that Glock doesn't make a revolver, only pistols, and none have a safety. One of the well wishers left hyperlinks to Glock and an assortment of other weaponry. You wouldn't believe what a fellow told me about the feasibility of my police officer leaping from a helicopter, given what he was to land on! Life, and writing, is a learning experience. Best of luck with your latest triple G adventure!

[Todd Robinson]

Gimme a double Makers

[Sean Chercover]

Make it two.

[BrianLindenmuth]

Here’s the short of it. I write reviews over at www.mysterybookspot.com. A few years ago three guys (not me) started the site www.fantasybookspot.com, they also went ahead and bought the domains for horrorbookspot, sciencefictionbookspot & comicbookspot. These guys love genre fiction and they wanted to have as much room as possible to grow in the future. The fantasy portion of the site has exploded in popularity. Partly due to the three original owners mainly liking the fantasy genre. The site is split into two sections: The main page and the forum. The main page houses all of the interviews, reviews, and contests. The forum is the forum.

Fast forward a bit.

I love to read and do it whenever possible and I love all kinds of books. I started posting some on the forums and eventually was brought on as a reviewer. They loved the fact that I was a mystery/crime reader.

So, unofficially, I was charged with building up content for the mystery site.

Carte Blanche – do what you want.

So I started writing reviews, conducting interviews and holding book give away contests. I am not a professional. I have no training. Heck, I’m probably not even any good at it but I do it with enthusiasm.

I'll be posting links to my reviews soon for any feedback that anyone has to offer.