April 2007 Blog Posts (377)

Between Books...

Well, I finished up the Lansdale over the weekend and, while I liked it, I felt a bit disappointed. A couple of loose threads were left hanging at the end, very uncharacteristic of what I've read of Lansdale before. I immediately started on the Robert Crais book, The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel and finished that on Saturday, diving into Adrian McKinty's The Bloomsday Dead, which I finished Sunday. Both great books--fast-moving, gritty, violent. I really don't read that fast,… Continue

Added by Craig Larson on April 3, 2007 at 12:35am — No Comments

Noir Music

Now that Daniel has helped this technical numpty with how to upload videos, I have decided that every couple of days I will update a couple of videos from some of my favourite Scottish artists (and some other lesser known favourites. So far...punk band The Skids' INTO THE VALLEY from 1979, new Dundee Band The View with Superstar Tradesman, Jesus and Mary Chain's APRIL SKIES from 1987 and all girl Glaswegian rock band The Hedrons with HEATSEEKER.

And, as a special for today, a band who…

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Added by Donna Moore on April 2, 2007 at 11:48pm — 9 Comments

Slings and Arrows

Writing can be a tough business.

No, don't worry, I'm not looking for (or expecting) any sympathy, especially not from you lot! But it does seem to be one of those professions where, perhaps a bit like acting or even running your own business, you have to endure…

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Added by James Twining on April 2, 2007 at 8:00pm — No Comments

AS A NEWBIE

I'd like to send a warm welcome to everyone. Some old friends here, I guess...some old enemies, too (hi, Ludger!)...and, yes, there is a German crime scene...believe it or not...

bye

dpr

Added by Dieter Paul Rudolph on April 2, 2007 at 7:53pm — 1 Comment

Meme Crap

This was something of a hit when I posted it on myspace, so I reprint it here in lieu of anything

worthwhile or meaningful. Enjoy.

THE UNCOMFORTABLE SURVEY. (lets see if you can get through it. if not, you’re too scared about your past)

Yeah yeah. . .

-Longest relationship:

13 hours

-Shortest relationship:

7 and a half seconds

-How many…

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Added by Nathan Singer on April 2, 2007 at 3:00pm — No Comments

New Issue of Muzzle Flash Posted!

Head on over for all the sick fun at Muzzle Flash!

Issue #3 is now posted with fiction from Sandra Seamans, Keith Gilman, Stephen Rogers, Paul Beckman, and William Boyle.

DZ Out

Added by DZ Allen on April 2, 2007 at 2:45pm — No Comments

I'm New to This Business of Writing a Blog...

...mostly because I don't think I have all that much intelligent to say on any regular basis.

I do, however, like to read mystery novels. I just finished Craig Johnson's new novel, "Kindness Goes Unpunished," after seeing Craig (again) at a book signing. Interesting guy, who is very quiet about the fact that he more than just a cowboy who used to be a cop. He has a Ph.D. in playwriting. He commented that the difference in speaking styles of his various characters (a very profane… Continue

Added by Thomas H. Griffith on April 2, 2007 at 12:32pm — No Comments

Antioch

Feeling wistful and nostagic these past couple of weeks. Stumbled upon the speech I gave at our

graduation ceremony when I got my Master’s from Antioch in Spring of

2002 (of course 9/11/01 was still pretty fresh and heavy on everybody’s

minds then. Thank god THAT bullshit’s over and done with, right? Oh. .

.right. . .) I wrote this speech at about 4am the morning of in pretty

much one shot. Looking at it now, it’s not perfect, but if I…

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Added by Nathan Singer on April 2, 2007 at 12:23pm — No Comments

Mightier Than the Sword

Subversive Writing in Contemporary America

Wrote the late, great Peter McWilliams in his book Ain’t Nobody’s

Business If You Do, “In war, the first fatality is truth. The second is

the civil rights of all ‘dissidents’. . .The price of freedom is

eternal–and internal–vigilance. And an occasional laugh,” (19). A

favored past-time in The United States is addressing social ills by

“declaring war”on them. Currently, we are…

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Added by Nathan Singer on April 2, 2007 at 12:17pm — No Comments

More Meme Crap

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?

Many, many times.

2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?

NO. That would make me puke.

3. When’s the last time you’ve been sledding?

It’s been too long.

4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?

Actual SLEEP? Alone.

5. Do you believe in ghosts?

No. I don’t disbelieve in them either.

6. Do you consider yourself creative?

It’s all I got.

7. Do you…

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Added by Nathan Singer on April 2, 2007 at 12:15pm — No Comments

What's Goin' On

From City Beat the Cincinnati alternative paper from their most recent Best of the Year issue:

BEST ENCORE

Local author, playwright, performance artist, composer and general

creative fireball Nathan Singer followed up his grit-encrusted, often

romantic and imaginative debut novel Chasing The Wolf with A Prayer for Dawn,

a “thrash novel” that lacerates on…

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Added by Nathan Singer on April 2, 2007 at 12:11pm — No Comments

How Did I Get Myself Into This?

I'm not generally a joiner, and you can barely get me to attend conventions of crime writers and readers. Yet my friend Ali Karim prevailed upon me sign up with Crimespace. And since I wrote a Rap Sheet post about this new service some while back, I reasoned that I really ought to give it a shot.

I think I'll use this first post to promote a little something we're doing over at The Rap Sheet: conducting our second poll, this one asking readers to name their favorite TV police… Continue

Added by J. Kingston Pierce on April 2, 2007 at 9:35am — 1 Comment

Thanksgiving in April

As if I needed any more reason to want to see Grindhouse as soon as humanly possible... here's comes this twisted little bit o' sickness from Eli Roth, the creator of such life-affirming movies as Cabin Fever and Hostel. It's a faux trailer for a slasher flick called… Continue

Added by Duane Swierczynski on April 2, 2007 at 9:11am — 1 Comment

Rozen, S.J. – IN THIS RAIN

IN

THIS RAIN (Licensed Investigator-New York City-Cont) – VG

Rozen, S.J. – Standalone

Delacorte Press, 2006- US Hardcover – ISBN:

9780385338042

First Sentence: “It surprised him, how

light she was.”

Joe Cole, is newly paroled and just wants to lead a quiet life after having been wrongfully imprisoned for a… Continue

Added by LJ Roberts on April 2, 2007 at 9:00am — No Comments

By Request: B-List Author Blues

All this talk about BSP reminded of a little story I wrote for no particular reason. I have decided to share it for no particular reason. I put one disclaimer on it. I have no issue with cozies, quite popular I understand. So read it if you want and feel free to make any comments. I'll just ignore the ones I don't like.

B-LIST AUTHOR BLUES

“That book’s not very good.”

I set down my copy of my favorite author's latest work, autographed just five… Continue

Added by Evil Kev on April 2, 2007 at 6:56am — 3 Comments

why write and read crime fiction

I've just been thinking about this, as it happens. And though nobody is reading my blog here I thought I'd post my thoughts so that I don't lose them. I believe since cave man days we humans have been telling stories as a way of explaining our world to ourselves and each other. At the present time, worldwide, we seem to be trying to evolve out of living in a society where one tribe must continually be at war with another -- though some of us have gotten farther with that than others -- and…

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Added by Dianne Day on April 2, 2007 at 6:38am — 1 Comment

Debugging

I haven't read John Banville aka Benjamin Black's Christine Falls yet, so this is totally premature. But when I read a NY Times review something began to bug me.

It sounds as if the author really loves dark crime fiction and is rolling around in its conventions like a dog that just found something wonderfully dead. The review says it's not… Continue

Added by Barbara Fister on April 2, 2007 at 6:13am — 6 Comments

Crimespace members are everywhere!

While glancing through the Crimespace member photos with their country descriptions, I couldn't help but be amazed at how far reaching Crimespace has become. The members are everywhere - Mainly from the United States, but also the United Kingdom, North Africa, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia.

Where else can a person conveniently network with so many mystery/crime authors and fans from such diverse backgrounds? Crimespace rocks!

Morgan Mandel

Added by Morgan Mandel on April 2, 2007 at 4:58am — No Comments

Golf and some small successes

Some good news this morning - the Bird and Moon 55 word website (http://www.birdandmoon.com/55words/) has nominated my 55-word fiction, "When the phone rang", for their Readers' Choice category awards, and you can find the story here:

http://www.birdandmoon.com/55words/readerschoice.html

under the…

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Added by Anne Brooke on April 2, 2007 at 4:56am — No Comments

International

Hi, dear friends and members
that´s good - a real international community with some really old friends - Hi, Maxim, I hope I´ll come over to London in June - appreciated authors - and seasoned networkers - talking about crime fiction ... Best, as ever yours T.

Added by Thomas Woertche on April 2, 2007 at 4:18am — No Comments