(Also posted on
One Bite at a Time.)
Everyone has favorite writers. There’s something about each of them that resonates in you, even if the writer isn’t particularly popular. It may be because you’re ahead of the curve, or possibly his plots or sense of humor appeal to you more than others. Whatever the reason, we all have authors we like more than others, quality of writing aside.
The flip side of this are the authors we just…
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Added by Dana King on May 16, 2009 at 12:24am —
8 Comments
(Also posted on
One Bite at a Time.)
I had been posting recommendations of good reads once a month until I got sick over the holidays and let it lapse. I let it alone because no discussions had been generated, and I didn’t see much point to adding to the multitude of unsolicited reading lists. A discussion in Crimespace a few weeks ago led me to reconsider.
Is it ever a bad idea to promote a book you enjoy? The publishers do damn…
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Added by Dana King on May 15, 2009 at 11:29pm —
4 Comments
I'm booked at a semi-local festival this weekend, one dedicated to, of all things, the Morel Mushroom. The weather is supposed to be non-cooperative, as usual. If it's outside and I'm signed up, Mother Nature is almost guaranteed to rain, sleet, or do a great imitation of Hemingway's three day blow. I practiced putting up my handy-dandy canopy by myself, since my "chauffeur" is fishing in Canada. Should be great.
It's often a little like Seger's descriptions of being on the road:…
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Added by Peg Herring on May 15, 2009 at 9:03pm —
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Thought I'd share the latest review of the paperback version of my short story trilogy, 'Murder, Mayhem and Mexico' which appeared today at Amazon, courtesy of Fran Lewis I'm delighted that the book has picked up it's 2nd five star reader review. It's available at…
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Added by Brian L Porter on May 15, 2009 at 7:23pm —
1 Comment
Miranda Walker presents readers with a gutsy new character in the world of police procedurals. Plagued by a past almost as horrendous as the case she's investigating, FBI Agent Megan McKenna exhibits the determination of a bulldog in both her professional and private lives. This opening salvo in Walker's new series is a sure bet for readers who love strong feminine characters."
Mary Welk
Added by Miranda Phillips Walker on May 15, 2009 at 2:55pm —
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"
Even great books can be overlooked. And authors with great potential often struggle to connect with the larger audience they deserve to reach. We’re fortunate at Amazon.com to have customers who know a good book when they read one, so we've introduced AmazonEncore to help connect authors and their books with more readers.
AmazonEncore is a new program whereby Amazon will use information such as customer reviews on Amazon.com to identify exceptional, overlooked books and authors… Continue
Added by John Dishon on May 15, 2009 at 7:30am —
2 Comments
Det. Coffin to the rescue once again in Provincetown mystery sequel
By Melora B. North
Sun May 10, 2009, 11:30 AM EDT
PROVINCETOWN - Poet-author Jon Loomis is up to his murder magic again. With a new book on the stands, “Mating Season,” set in Provincetown, he takes the reader on a tour of the seaside village, marked with a murder here, a scandal there — in fact, lots of juicy scandals to whet the appetite of those who enjoy a tantalizing read.
Attractive, young Kenji…
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Added by Jon Loomis on May 15, 2009 at 3:13am —
7 Comments
Winged with Death, my latest novel goes home tomorrow (Friday) 14th May; well almost. To
Donigan Merritt's blog in Buenos Aires.
Donigan is a novelist and is living in Buenos Aires. He was in Montevideo a week or so ago and knows the terrain.
He has a review of the book and wants to talk about it.
Added by John Baker on May 15, 2009 at 2:23am —
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Jedidiah Ayres
interviews me at Hardboiled Wonderland regarding the Hector Lassiter series, including PRINT THE LEGEND, coming early in 2010 from Minotaur Books. We also discuss ROGUE MALES: CONVERSATIONS & CONFRONTATIONS ABOUT THE WRITING LIFE which was officially released this week by Bleak House Books.
Added by Craig McDonald on May 15, 2009 at 12:58am —
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Well, hopefully not
my finale but rather my novel
Finale, which is available for pre-order now from the
publisher. From the same site, you can listen to a free audio version of the first chapter. The book will be released in July.
Reviewers, please
email me to arrange for a hard copy or PDF file. Include the entity for which you review and an address is you prefer a hard copy.…
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Added by Paul A. Toth on May 15, 2009 at 12:10am —
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I spoke with a woman on the phone yesterday and got a now-familiar response. We were talking about real estate, but when I mentioned that I write, she said, "I've always wanted to write a book."
Yup. Another one. She went on to say that she's just too busy to get started on it, etc. etc.
I know she isn't lying. I know she'd really like to. But I can't help but think that if you really, really want to write, you'll write.
The last year I taught school, I also…
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Added by Peg Herring on May 14, 2009 at 10:35pm —
4 Comments
A week ago I reviewed
A Carrion Death, written by
Michael Stanley (the pen name of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip). Not only was it a strong first attempt at a crime novel set in an exotic setting, it was also a sheer act of determination and personal marketing that eventually saw the book break through to the
LA Times bestseller.
With
A… Continue
Added by Richard Kunzmann on May 14, 2009 at 5:46pm —
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Yahoo has two stories out about several US state Attorney Generals looking into the Google Settlement. It also has a story on the American Library Association wanting the Feds to closely monitor the Google Settlement. They're thinking that, basically, Google is setting up a monopoly on the acquistion of all these books and to access them, libraries are going to have to cough up some hefty change to pay for them
Did I not say this battle was far from over?
Added by B.R.Stateham on May 14, 2009 at 3:23pm —
2 Comments
Added by John Dishon on May 14, 2009 at 9:55am —
2 Comments
If you haven't yet seen the "Authonomy" site, try it! It's run on behalf of a major publisher looking for good material, and it's easy to upload your work - and to read other people's and to comment on it if you wish. I've just uploaded the so-far-completed 40,000 words of my WIP, a political satire with the working title "Overlooked", on which I'm hoping for comments. I'm an old, computer-illiterate technophobe... but uploading the whole thing took me about ten minutes.
The site is…
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Added by Mark P. Henderson on May 14, 2009 at 7:43am —
15 Comments
I’ve just returned from giving two talks in Cornwall where the sun was shining, the sea was blue and the crowds were flocking to St Ives, which was my first port of call on Tuesday morning at 11am. I met some delightful people as always and my heartfelt thanks to them for listening to me talking about how I write and for buying my books. After a quick sandwich lunch sitting in the cemetery overlooking the bay it was about an hour’s drive to St Austell…
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Added by Pauline Rowson on May 14, 2009 at 3:09am —
2 Comments
Got an enthusiastic response to a query yesterday, which is cool, but-- (There's always a "but," isn't there?) The publisher has a word limit, and my story is (get this) 12,000 words over it. So the question from them is "Can you pare it down to 70,000 words?
Yeah, sure, if you'll publish, I'll pare.
So the work begins. Do I cut out "things," e.g. whole scenes or chapters, or do I do words, eliminating prepositional phrases, descriptions, and adverbs? I decided to go for…
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Added by Peg Herring on May 13, 2009 at 10:55pm —
5 Comments
My debut book, Dead men's Dust, featuring tough-guy, Joe Hunter, is launched this evening in Carlisle, UK and will be on general sale from tomorrow morning.
The USA version launches Tuesday 19th May.
Added by Matt Hilton on May 13, 2009 at 7:04pm —
5 Comments
As the U.S. increases pressure on Israel to dismantle settlements, Hebron residents wonder who they can turn to. By Matt Beynon Rees -
GlobalPost
HEBRON, West Bank — He’s stayed in the largest town in the West Bank for 36 years, even though most of its 167,000 residents want him to leave. He’s just won a $50,000 prize for his “Zionist activities” there. His country’s new…
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Added by Matt Rees on May 13, 2009 at 4:43pm —
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Well, maybe... My lovely agent has hooked up with a TV agent at CAA who is now shopping my books around to a number of TV writer/producers. Stranger things have happened, right?
Added by Jon Loomis on May 13, 2009 at 6:33am —
7 Comments