July 2010 Blog Posts (145)

Goodbye, Orphan Annie

Little Orphan Annie, a staple of newspaper comic pages for 86 year, is gone.

The last strip ran last month, ending with Annie kidnapped –again, she was kidnapped so, so many times – and lost in Guatemala.

You didn’t miss her departure, did you?

I didn’t.

I only learned about it while listening to a business story on NPR’s Morning Edition. Annie appeared in fewer than 20… Continue

Added by Jerry Peterson on July 6, 2010 at 7:42am — No Comments

Branching out into short stories

Having cut my teeth, so to speak, on long mystery fiction, I decided to try my hand at shorter pieces. I found a site, FictionWritersPlatform.net where short stories of all genres can be posted. My first offering, a short humor/mystery, "Dead Letter," won an Editors Choice Award, and got lots of email from people who were upset that I apparently killed the main character at the end. Bowing to popular opinion, I revived him in "Return to Sender," which also won an Editors Choice Award, and got… Continue

Added by Charles A. Ray on July 6, 2010 at 5:22am — No Comments

First Canadian reviews for Switch appear

Advance Reading Copies of SWITCH are starting to make the rounds to book bloggers and media reviewers. The first review to go viral is just terrific and I couldn't be more pleased. I'm truly hoping that Canada embraces it and I can't wait to be able to walk into an actual book store and see my wee debut sitting on…

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Added by Grant McKenzie on July 6, 2010 at 5:12am — No Comments

Caretaker: one month away

My horror novel, The Caretaker of Lorne Field, is one month away from being published by Overlook Press, and has gotten a clean sweep in prepub reviews:

"Superb mix of humor and horror" Publishers Weekly, starred review

"superbly crafted horror story" Booklist

"Harrowing. Zeltserman colors it black with the best of them." Kirkus Reviews

"a nail-biter" --… Continue

Added by Dave Zeltserman on July 6, 2010 at 3:42am — No Comments

Review - The Troika Dolls, Miranda Darling

Book Title: THE TROIKA DOLLS

Author: Miranda Darling

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-74175-915-0

No of Pages: 401

Book Synopsis:

Called to Moscow by an old friend to assess the security risk to the head of the Russian Central Bank, Stevie Duveen arrives to find the bank regulator's teenage daughter has been kidnapped. Valery Kozkov has been a fearless crusader against widespread corruption in Russia and organised crime's… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 5, 2010 at 6:46pm — 2 Comments

Review - Conspiracy 365 - February - Gabrielle Lord

Book Title: CONSPIRACY 365 - FEBRUARY

Author: Gabrielle Lord

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 978-1-74169-034-7

No of Pages: 183

Book Synopsis:

Cal's old life ended as soon as the deadly 365-day countdown began. So far he's been attacked by sharks, blamed for a vicious assault on his family, kidnapped by two criminal gang, and left to drown in a fast-filling oil tank.

Book Review:

From Him:

**Note - it is… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 5, 2010 at 1:54pm — No Comments

Times, they are a changing. "The Well Meaning Killer" has a New Title and soon a new home on Kindle Books @ Amazon.com

Times they are a changing in the publishing world, and I guess you could say I've jumped ship so to speak. Hopefully by the end of July 2010, Absolution, (aka "The Well Meaning Killer") will find a new home on Kindle Books @ amazon.com

The next novel in the FBI Mystery Series will continue to have Megan McKenna and Max raise eyebrows as she… Continue

Added by Miranda Phillips Walker on July 4, 2010 at 11:27am — No Comments

Sacramento Sisters In Crime visit Fresno/new chapter of my book

Had a great time today at the Fresno Sisters In Crime chapter meeting

getting to listen to and meet Sacramento Sisters Pat Canterbury,

Michele Weiss, L.F. Crawford, Cindy Sample and Nan Mahon! Watch for

interviews with some of them at Kings River Life over the next few

months as well as reviews of their books.

This weeks issue has another chapter of my book DEADLY DISCRIMINATION… Continue

Added by Lorie Ham on July 4, 2010 at 10:19am — No Comments

THE BREAKDOWN

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Added by Mosi Tyrone Wells on July 4, 2010 at 2:00am — No Comments

Kiss Tomorrow Good-bye by Horace McCoy = Save Your Money

I don't often mention a book with the caveat "save your money" at the end of the title, but this time I am. McCoy's "Kiss" is a famous novel that later became a James Cagney movie, and I liked the movie so much that I bought the book when the opportunity arose. It was awesome and totally spectacular... until the end. I don't want to go into too much detail about the misadventures of… Continue

Added by Brian Drake on July 3, 2010 at 1:10pm — No Comments

Spontaneous Clues?

I'm attempting to write my first "whodunnit" style novel about a comic book artist who stumbles on a murder during a comic book convention. I introduced a sort of comic-relief sidekick at the beginning of the novel, and one of his running gags was a tendency to make up double entendre based phony names.

Yesterday I was laying out alibis for my suspects, and one of them, an actress of the "she ain't pretty she just looks that way" variety has an… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on July 3, 2010 at 5:49am — 2 Comments

Writing first drafts of novels-exciting, tense and frustrating

Authors differ on their approach to writing first drafts, some love it, some hate it and many are somewhere in between. Me? Well, I find writing first drafts exciting, tense and very often frustrating. Exciting because it is fresh unchartered waters and although I have a basic plot outline and character sketches I'm still not sure where the tide will take me and which shore my novel will wash up on. Tense because I am in a hurry to write it as fast as I can while my head is…

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Added by Pauline Rowson on July 3, 2010 at 12:47am — No Comments

Peter Sellers

My mention yesterday of the movie Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb got me to wondering about Peter Sellers. Sellers played Strangelove and two other characters in that 1964 Stanley Kubrick film.

Was Sellers a writer? Did he write any books?

Sadly, no.

He did write his own material in his early days as a stand-up comedian and for his records. And he… Continue

Added by Jerry Peterson on July 3, 2010 at 12:09am — No Comments

Erotic noir, anyone?

A few new offerings from some noir-minded smut peddler named Donnie Magazino (okay, it's me).
One for the opera lovers called Triple Aria.

And this for the fans of jaw-dropping-didn't-see-it-coming plot twists: Marcy.

Enjoy!

Added by Copper Smith on July 2, 2010 at 11:30pm — No Comments

CONFESSIONS OF A CONTEST JUNKIE

I love writing contests. When I hear of one or come across a contest on the Internet, my heart starts racing and ideas flood my mind. My competitive spirit kicks into high gear. I may never run a marathon or win a ballroom dance competition, but give me a theme and a deadline and I'm up for the challenge.

Short stories are a terrific way to start a career in writing. Just ask Stephen King. It hones writing skills and forces writers out of their comfort zone. I wrote a story about a… Continue

Added by Sunny Frazier on July 2, 2010 at 5:30am — No Comments

Got a minute?

Then you can read War and Peace, The Great Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451, or just about any other book . . . as long as it’s on Book-A-Minute’s website.

Can’t believe it?

Here’s Book’s one-minute summary of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest:

Nurse Ratched: I destroy my patients… Continue

Added by Jerry Peterson on July 2, 2010 at 2:59am — 1 Comment

New Story and Review

My story "An Undesirable Customer" is in the current issue of Mysterical-E (along with some other good stories and articles): http://www.mystericale.com/index.php?issue=current_issue&body=file&file=customer.htm

There's also a good review of "Corruption's Child," third in my Sticks Hetrick mystery…

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Added by J.R. Lindermuth on July 2, 2010 at 12:29am — No Comments

I'd Rather Be Right

One of the scary things about being published is that one might (probably will) get something wrong. There it is, for all the world to see, and it can't be fixed.

Something equally vexing to me is that people THINK you've got something wrong. One can't hunt them all down and argue the point, but--well, this one would like to.

It has been pointed out to me, twice now, that I used the word "dollar" in HER HIGHNESS' FIRST MURDER. Yeah, I did, in the idiom "squeeze the last dollar"…

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Added by Peg Herring on July 1, 2010 at 10:29pm — 4 Comments

Meet Me this Weekend

Saturday I will be signing my novels at Borders Express in Fair Oaks Mall. In addition to my autographed mysteries and thrillers you'll find the newest hardcovers, paperbacks and audio books, as well as an exceptional selection of magazines, stationery and great gift ideas. It's the perfect stop for that empty day before Independence Day. The Mall is at 11713 Lee Jackson Hwy,…

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Added by Austin S. Camacho on July 1, 2010 at 9:31pm — No Comments

Review - The Secret Speech, Tom Rob Smith

Book Title: THE SECRET SPEECH

Author: Tom Rob Smith

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Copyright: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-84737-129-4

No of Pages: 449

Book Synopsis:

The Soviet Union 1956: after Stalin's death, a violent regime is beginning to fracture. It leaves behind a society where the police are the criminals, and the criminals are innocent. Stalin's successor Khrushchev pledges reform. But there are forces at work that are unable to forgive or forget the… Continue

Added by Karen from AustCrime on July 1, 2010 at 8:02pm — No Comments