July 2010 Blog Posts (145)

In Praise Of The 'Screeching Diva'

In an age where self-awareness has become a kind of reverse cardinal virtue, Florence Foster Jenkins has become a hero of mine-- a forerunning Titan among the many who today populate our empty-celebrity world.

She believed she had a talent for singing... and, by God, she was gonna sing, dammit!

And did. Boy-oh-boy, did she. She even rented Carnagie Hall (at her own expense) for her public performances, which were all the rage during her "career" as the… Continue

Added by Earl Merkel on July 12, 2010 at 1:41am — No Comments

SLICK TIME by O'Neil De Noux

TODAY is the official release date of SLICK TIME by O’Neil De Noux. A sexy caper novel set in New Orleans and the Caribbean Sea. Available as a trade paperback, Kindle book and eBook from Amazon.com

http://www.oneildenoux.net/dx/SLICK_TIME.html…

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Added by O'Neil De Noux on July 12, 2010 at 12:48am — 1 Comment

Need an Interview?

As many of you know, I interview authors and industry experts on my blog. After a year of overwhelming interviews, I've noticed that interview dates are thinning out beginning in August. If you have a new release or a book that needs a swift kick in the spine, Iet me know. The blog is www.susanwhitfield.blogspot.com and my email address is ssn.whitfield@gmail.com You can learn more about me at… Continue

Added by Susan Whitfield on July 12, 2010 at 12:33am — No Comments

War . . . in a book

Sebastian Junger, best known for his book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, has a new book out – War. In it he follows a platoon of the Army’s 173rd Airborne brigade in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, a killing zone for the Taliban and Afghan war lords who control the valley and the units of American soldiers sent in hold them off.

Junger… Continue

Added by Jerry Peterson on July 11, 2010 at 4:53am — No Comments

another chapter of my novel online

The next chapter in my mystery novel DEADLY DISCRIMINATION just went up online in our magazine http://tinyurl.com/2g7jeyy
All chapters up to this point are still available on the site and a new one goes up each week.
Lorie Ham

Added by Lorie Ham on July 11, 2010 at 4:50am — No Comments

A master of description

A couple weeks ago, I told you about Gerry Spence, a master of our craft of writing, and I gave you an example of how he describes characters, drawing the example from Spence’s autobiography, The Making of a Country Lawyer.

Today it’s back to Spence and his autobiography for an example of how he describes place, a setting. Spence’s father was a hunter. Every year, he would go into the Wyoming mountains… Continue

Added by Jerry Peterson on July 10, 2010 at 4:48am — No Comments

All talk, no two states

At his White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, United States President Barack Obama enthused that the talks about talks will probably lead to talks, and his assessment was that the Israeli government is ready to take part in those talks.

As the camera shutters clicked and the Israeli prime minister cocked his eyebrow in the way he favors when trying to look smarter than everyone else in the room, the most powerful…

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Added by Matt Rees on July 10, 2010 at 12:39am — 1 Comment

The Case of the Autistic Savant and The Remains!

Lots of interviewers ask me where I get my characters from. real life?

Or do I just make them up? The answer is of course, yes and no. But in

the case of my new thriller, The Remains (Stone House Ink), and autistic

savant hero, Francis Scaramuzzi, the truth is stranger than

fiction....check out the blog… Continue

Added by Vincent Zandri on July 10, 2010 at 12:02am — No Comments

The Crazed Killer

If fiction were fact, America would be flooded with maniacal, smart-but-evil murderers who lead the police on macabre chases that follow some twisted idea of order evident only to them, at least until some smart cop/P.I./amateur figures it out.

Reality is, of course, that most murderers are stupid, illogical, impulsive, and easily caught. A cop at a con I attended attested to this, citing the example of two drugged-out men in a shelter who got into a fight over a cheap pendant. One of…

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Added by Peg Herring on July 9, 2010 at 10:08pm — 4 Comments

New video - Pauline Rowson reads an extract from the fifth Inspector Horton Blood on the Sand

I've posted a new video here, on my You Tube channel and my official web site. It's an extract from my radio interview with Rob Richardson of Write-Invite, on Express FM, in which I read from my latest Inspector Andy Horton marine mystery crime novel, Blood on the Sand…

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Added by Pauline Rowson on July 9, 2010 at 4:04am — No Comments

Qiu Xiaolong Talks about His Shanghai Crime Series on SCENE OF THE CRIME

Crime Tales of Shanghai: Qiu Xiaolong’s Inspector Chen Novels

July 8, 2010 by Scene of the Crime | Edit…

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Added by J. Sydney Jones on July 9, 2010 at 3:47am — 1 Comment

An Allen Ginsberg story

Two weeks ago, I posted a piece on Allen Ginsberg and the stories he wrote on the pictures he took. For Texas crime writer David Hansard, that brought back a memory:

I once spent three days escorting him around the University of Wyoming and surrounds. On our way to the Denver airport he signed my copy of Howl. It echos his photo stories in that he drew a picture and created a succinct narrative out of it– time, place and what was… Continue

Added by Jerry Peterson on July 9, 2010 at 12:25am — No Comments

The Case of the Death Dealer - a free download

The Case of the Death Dealer

Alexander Steele Investigations

(Free!)

Part 1: Pusherman

Private detective Alexander Steele has been around for quite sometime. You may

not have heard of him but that’s about to change. The concept for…

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Added by Lawrence Johnson on July 8, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

Boy Reads Book; Now In 'Extensive Therapy'

True story from what we'll call "The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword" -Chronicles: After reading a book at his local library, a young lad is now institutionalized and in "extensive therapy."

This article was published earlier this week in the Northwest… Continue

Added by Earl Merkel on July 8, 2010 at 7:14am — 2 Comments

Dury 4

I can't believe it's time to post another jacket up here ... but it is!

Here's the LONG TIME DEAD spiel...

Gus Dury is back on the drink. While in hospital after a hit-and-run accident, his…

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Added by Tony Black on July 7, 2010 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Novelist Shawn Grady Interview

Shawn Grady draws from his real-life firefighting/EMT duties to create his second novel, Tomorrow We Die, due out

later this month. Join us on Hook'em and Book'em as Shawn gives us the backstory behind this novel and his journey into the publishing world.

Added by Mark Young on July 7, 2010 at 5:27pm — No Comments

Three hundred pages in 60 days

What the hell. I want to do something a writer like Earle Stanley Gardner did on a regular basis. Seems like he could write an entire Perry Mason novel in a little over a month's time. And he put out a TON of them while he lived. Now the quality of writing might be something to be desired (although I happen to like his clean, terse style) nevertheless, the quantity of his work is impressive.

So I'm thinking, why not give it a try? Why not hammer out a Turner…

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Added by B.R.Stateham on July 7, 2010 at 7:00am — 4 Comments

Catholic Writers Conference LIVE Aug 4-6

M E D I A R E L E A S E…

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Added by John Desjarlais on July 7, 2010 at 4:53am — No Comments

In the throes of Rewriting

If you're in the throes of rewriting that great novel or short story, you may want to read what Peter Abresch has to say at www.susanwhitfield.blogspot.com Good stuff.

Added by Susan Whitfield on July 7, 2010 at 12:31am — No Comments

Have You Read This One?

A frustrating part of being a reader is that you're never, ever, done. People are always mentioning books that sound interesting, recommending authors whose work I might enjoy, or even handing me books with a "You've got to read this."

But there isn't time!

Although I never made it to a lot of the old classics, there are new classics, prize-winners, best-sellers, and unread works of authors I like lined up on my mental TBR list, waiting for my attention. I used to read…

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Added by Peg Herring on July 6, 2010 at 9:54pm — 2 Comments