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?

[Shane Gericke]

I'll knock my friend Sean Chercover out of his seat in order that you might sit, JT. Sean will not mind. He knocked me out of mine when he saw you enter the room. Lovely flip-flops. Very Florida-in-February!

[Karen from AustCrime]

OFFENDED?

Have you any idea how many years it is since anyone called me a "girl". Lordy woman - keep it up!

[Newt Love]

G'Day Daniel,
My name is Newton, but everyone calls me "newt" which should make you laugh, From what I remember, newt is Aussie slang for a retarded person. It's okay... I am comfortable in my mental state.
I too am a techie turned to writing. I have three novels sold, and the first one to hit the streets debuts next week. My editor told me she has confirmation of books shipped to the distributor, and the title being added to Ingram's catalog and Books in Print. So by next week, it should be ready for me to try and debut to the world. I hope my "How the Strong Survive" will be the next "To Kill a Mockingbird," bringing some of the injustices against women and American Indians into the public debate. Intrigued? newtlove.com/BP.html
I'll have a glass of Aussie shiraz. (I tried to upload a couple pics but didn't make it through the gauntlet).
newt

[Newt Love]

Oh, yeah... My favorite color is a rainbow. I love all of them, even black and white. My favorite day of the week is today. My favorite number is infinity. my favorite season is the one I am living. my favorite emotion is the interfoldingwrappedtogetherthing that my current wife grew inside of me in the hollow shell discarded by my ex-wife on her way to becoming somebody else's trophy wife.

I walk the Red Road of the Lakhota Way.
Walk in beauty; walk in peace.
Walk in love; walk in strength.

(Fortunately, I take after mom's side of the family, so alcohol isn't a problem. I'll have that shiraz now.)
newt

[Vince Keenan]

First things first. I'll have a drink. Start with rye whiskey and work from there.

I'm Irish through and through. My favorite colors are the blue and orange of the New York Mets. I was born in New York, put in some time in South Florida, went to college in Boston, and now live in Seattle. I've sold a couple of screenplays that are lurching toward the silver screen, and I'm working on a novel. I have a website where I shoot my mouth off about everything. I'm a die-hard movie buff and have a bad game show appearance to prove it.

[David J. Montgomery]

Guyot told me to come sign up, and since I'm his love slave, I did.

I'm a crime critic and half-assed writer. I write for a bunch of newspapers for little money, but lots of free books.

More importantly, I'm a full-time dad to my daughter, who's sitting here next to me.

So watch your damn language.

[Paul Guyot]

Don't sell yourself short. You're a half-assed critic, too!

[Sean Chercover]

And a half-assed love slave, I would guess.

[Jude Hardin]

Hi. Some people know me as Don Juan DeHardin, the greatest lover the world has ever known. Some people know me as delusional.

I'm happily divorced. One child. My favorite color is puce (pronounced poo-say in Spanish).

I recently snagged a top agent, and my hardboiled PI novel will be making the rounds at major houses in a month or so.

I'll have a shot of Quervo 1800 and an Amstel Light. Cultural diversity.

[Jude Hardin]

One more thing...

I used to be a heavy smoker, but I'm on Nicoderm CQ now.

The patches are okay, I guess, but they're really hard to light.

In case anybody was wondering why I walked in with this blow-torch.

[Sunnie Gill]

GREETINGS EARTHLINGS.... errr ...oops (pause whilst Sunnie dons her haute couture tin foil hat)

G'day all.
Sunnie here. I live in Tasmania (don't bother with the in-bred jokes - heard em all). I'm a member of "The Coven" Andrea mentioned earlier. I don't write books. Just book reviews, emails and posts to forums like this.

Favourite colour: Blue I spose.
I have 2 grown up sons (flown the nest), 1 mad Jack Russell terrier, 1 exceedingly cranky 15 year old silky terrier and one very, very long suffering husband.

While we're on the subject of alcohol, I'd like to nominate Karen and her S.O. as official alcohol suppliers. They make their own you know.

Karen, got any of that walnut liqueur left?

Poor Karen. Every year she graciously allows me to freeload at her place and consume copious amounts of fabulous food and drink so I can attend the Melbourne Writers' Festival

Now all you authors. This is a 10 day extravaganza of all things bookish. Not restricted to crime fiction but that's definitely our emphasis when choosing which of the over 100 events we're going to attend each year. So if you fancy a trip downunder perhaps you'd like to start prodding your publisher's PR people to finance a visit. Well worth it and who knows, we might just put you on our list of authors to stalk.

I'll have a G & T please. Bit late for Walnut Liqueur.

[Karen from AustCrime]

It's never too late for Walnut Liqueur and MWF is saved for this year - we thought we'd run out, but moving bottles of merlot sideways to fit in bottles of riesling and some of that other stuff that we make but we don't mention, we found a dozen of the Liqueur.

There's a Chocolate Liqueur crisis but when himself returns from San Francisco he's going to be locked in the brewing room until he get's his act together!

How many bottles of Gin do you think we're going to need this year? It's going to be a big festival.