July 2007 Blog Posts (261)

I signed, I got published, I chilled out!

Last week was quite the roller coaster ride for me. My Independence Day began with a successful book signing at the Waldenbooks in Landmark Mall. Mall traffic was lighter than usual, but the store manager told me when I left that I had been responsible for 24 percent of the day's sales. I rode that joyous news back home to a wonderful cookout with a small collection of good friends.

The weekend brought less exciting news. My schedule seems to have overloaded the book distributor's… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on July 9, 2007 at 10:55am — No Comments

Don't Forget to Enter My Contest

I hope a lot of you are busily thinking up ideas for a victim or murderer in my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. The details are in the blog before this one.

Yesterday, I attended the San Joaquin chapter of Sister in Crime which meets in Fresno. Patricia Smiley was the guests author--and I was glad to meet her and bought two of her books. She was an entertaining speaker and very friendly.

Next month, I'll be doing a panel with two other authors about working with small…

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Added by Marilyn Meredith on July 9, 2007 at 9:17am — No Comments

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my

I'm going to Bouchercon in Alaska in September and, as part of the trip, I am doing the Authors To Schools programme. They send you out into the Bush (or, as I know it The Middle Of Nowhere) for a few days to a local school.

I'm going to a small town in south west Alaska with about 600 residents and which you can only reach by small plane or boat. Except in winter, when you can drive on the river.

I'm really really looking forward to it. My mum, however, thinks I… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on July 9, 2007 at 7:16am — 4 Comments

An Update on my Amazon numbers...

My Barnes and Noble numbers are very different from my Amazon numbers. At B&N, my numbers, at the moment, are 467,137. My Amazon numbers, however, have dropped into the 1.4 million zone. I hope to start turning these numbers around in about ten days (that is, the 18th or so) which will still be about ten days before the book is officially out in the world. Here's what I'll be…

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Added by Steven Torres on July 9, 2007 at 6:46am — No Comments

First Drop

Zoё Sharp grabs hold of the reader's throat in the first sentence of the Charlie Fox debut thriller, and never lets go. I was caught with the opening sentence, "For the third time that morning I shut my eyes tight in the absolute and certain knowledge that I was just about to die." Sharp, and Charlie, surprise the reader from page one, and continue the suspense and… Continue

Added by Lesa Holstine on July 9, 2007 at 6:04am — No Comments

Helix Considered As A Time of Semi-Precious Stones

by guest blogger Lawrence Watt-Evans

As managing editor of Helix, I have three jobs. I handle the money; I provide a second opinion on stories when Will Sanders, the senior editor, wants one (which isn't all that often); and I write an editorial for each issue.

Well, almost every issue; I don't have one in our fifth issue, as it got bumped to make room for a guest. (I'll be back in…

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Added by Writers Plot on July 9, 2007 at 5:32am — No Comments

Americanization and why I (heart) Ray Banks

I’ve been reading lots of British authors lately and it’s got me wondering about the whole Americanization debate. The claim that the average American reader can’t handle unfamiliar British spellings and books by Brits ought to be “Americanized” in order to sell to the McDonalds and Starbucks set.

Well, if the average American reader can’t cope with words like “tyre” or “kerb,” they’d probably be utterly mystified by Ray Banks’ Cal Innes novels. Which is a shame, because they’re… Continue

Added by Christa Faust on July 9, 2007 at 5:30am — 4 Comments

Body in Question

One of my best resource books I found Is "Body in Question--Exploring the Cutting Edge in Forensic Science" by Brian Innes. It has gruesome, detailed pictures that supplement the discussion of how Forensic Scientists do their work. The focus of the book is on police procedure--finding the victim and learning about who they are, establishing time of death, establishing cause of death, linking evidence to the guilty party, and understanding the mind of the criminal, oh, and a big discussion about… Continue

Added by Sheri Fresonke Harper on July 9, 2007 at 5:17am — No Comments

Wisley and the leisured classes

Spent a wonderful few hours at Wisley today with Lord H. We wandered round the gardens, smelt the utterly glorious roses and watched the bird-feeding area for ages. Astonishingly, we saw a family of young greenfinches, a pair of goldfinches and also a pair of chaffinches. As well as a young robin. Bliss. Plus the obligatory wood pigeon. Hmm, not quite so bliss there then. Anyway, it was really nice, and hugely relaxing.… Continue

Added by Anne Brooke on July 9, 2007 at 3:45am — No Comments

The Sound of Murder

I just posted an audio flash story (look over there to your left... no, up a little... yeah, that's it!) It's a little over three minutes long, and I'd like your opinion on it.

It's called "Sweet Over-Indulgence" and I both wrote and produced the audio version.

Tony Burton

Added by Tony Burton on July 9, 2007 at 2:36am — 3 Comments

Noir City Northwest, Report #2

There are no introductions at weekend Noir City matinees, so it’s up to me to guess the day’s theme. I’m going to say shaky California marriages. Either that or heavies named Smiley.

Pitfall was the movie I was most looking forward to in the festival’s line-up, because it’s based on a novel by… Continue

Added by Vince Keenan on July 8, 2007 at 6:11pm — 2 Comments

‘THE NIGHT FERRY’ SAILS STATESIDE JULY 10

I was going to tell you all to strap on the your Mae Wests (life vests) but that would suggest THE NIGHT FERRY was about to go the way of the Titanic on its maiden voyage. That ain’t going to happen. We’re avoiding all icebergs and sailing into a long hot summer.

And to kick it off, the LA Times has given THE NIGHT FERRY an absolutely rave 1000-word review. Staff writer Tim Ruttan called it ‘a vibrant and utterly contemporary new mystery’ and went on to write, ‘THE NIGHT FERRY is an…

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Added by Michael Robotham on July 8, 2007 at 4:48pm — No Comments

Crimespree #19

We are officailly in year four of Crimespree Magazine as we ready to ship issue 19 on Monday.

Cover story with Lee CHild and Gregg Hurwitz...

To Subscribe just go to:

http://www.crimespreemag.com/subscribe.html

Here are the full contents:…

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Added by Jon Jordan on July 8, 2007 at 2:27pm — 1 Comment

Great book

Am reading Open Me, the debut novel from Sunshine O'Donnell. Oh man, is it great. O'Donnell tackles the cult of wailers - professional weeping women hired to "mourn" at the funerals of the rich and famous. She successfully pairs fact with fiction in a really great read.

Not everyone can do that.

This book is great for book groups. It's got incredible emotional abuse of children, legislative documents and quotes from wailing training manuals that will curl your…

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Added by Angela Wilson on July 8, 2007 at 2:15pm — No Comments

Want to review?

Searching for book critics. If you are interested, shoot me a PM, along with a sample of a previous review (could be something from Amazon.com).

Added by Angela Wilson on July 8, 2007 at 2:10pm — No Comments

Just showing I have a sense of humor and a feel for crime

It's hard to know what to just shoot the breeze about on a blog. But I write poetry, and I visited Limerick last year, and what great scientist hasn't committed the crime of the world's favorite poems. Here's one of mine:

Mechanic Slip and his brother named Shod…

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Added by Sheri Fresonke Harper on July 8, 2007 at 8:29am — No Comments

THE DEAD PLACE makes the final six!

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the 6th Cooper & Fry novel THE DEAD PLACE in the UK Crime Novel of the Year nominations. The book is now through to the final six. Congratulations to all the other authors on the shortlist, too - it's a great list, and I'm really honoured to be on it.

The award is sponsored by…

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Added by Stephen Booth on July 8, 2007 at 7:44am — No Comments

Crimespace Rules

My friend, and fantastic author, Angela Zeman, suggested I sign up for Crimespace. This is the coolest thing . . .ever! There's a terrific amount of amazing authors on here. I can tell this will be another addiction for me. I'm honored to be included on Crimespace.

Added by Dennis Webster on July 8, 2007 at 7:43am — No Comments

The Simple Life (cross-posted from http://typem4murder.blogspot.com)

Like a throwback to days of yore, I'm settled comfortably into my new housesit, and I have to do without cell phone coverage (gasp) and use a... are you ready?... dial-up Internet connection. Hard to believe, isn't it? I actually have to phone my cell phone number to pick up any voice mail messages and wait for a second or two for my online warfish game screen to refresh.

Not…

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Added by Vicki Delany on July 8, 2007 at 5:03am — 1 Comment

Amazon Rankings (x-posted)

I checked my Amazon ranking for The Concrete Maze today. Oh boy... The book isn't due out for another three weeks or so, but 1,372,424 isn't very encouraging. Of course, it's way better than 1,372,425... Also, there are two things for me to keep in mind (beside the fact that it isn't out yet): first, it… Continue

Added by Steven Torres on July 8, 2007 at 4:41am — 1 Comment