We're all beginners at one time.

Therefore, we should all be ever-willing to help each other.

However, there are good reasons why an author will say, "No," if you ask him or her to read your unpublished manuscript.

1.) There's no upside. Here's what I mean. One author I know said, "Every time I read someone's manuscript they get mad about my comments. They SAY they want me to be honest, but .... It's not worth it." Yep, honesty can hurt. And ruin even good friendships.…

posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

Today's sermon...er, blog... is about researchers of easy virtue. The ones who go directly to the New York Times website to find articles and other information. The ones who pay for articles rather than looking for them as freebies. The ones who have a house full of books they've read once but will never touch again unless they dust them once in a while or pack them to move. (Do you know what it costs to move books? We are already weeding out books…

The nice young preacher stepped onto the witness stand. The defense attorney, Merri Pason, approached, dark eyes downcast until the last moment, when they rose to lock on the nervous man's gaze. "You were there? On the bridge that day?"

"I, uh, saw what happened, yes. I was too late to stop him." The witness appealed to the watchful courtroom, the young couple from Tupelo, the listless mother, and the defendant, a young girl who seemed not to care what went on around her. "He jumped…

Hot-Handed God of Cops

I just saw John Woo's HARD BOILED (Chinese title: GOD OF GUNS or HOT HANDED GOD OF COPS) for the first time.



Total Body Count: 307.



Explosions.



Weapons with apparently endless supplies of ammo.



Friendship.



Betrayals.



Reversals of fortune.



Sacrifice.



Not one, but…

Zoё Sharp appearing in Glendale, AZ

Zoё Sharp, author of the Charlie Fox thrillers, will be appearing at the Velma Teague Branch Library in Glendale, AZ on Sunday, Sept. 16 at 1 pm. The British author will be doing a whirlwind tour of the United States to publicize her latest book, Second…

Day 8 finds me with two exciting stops. First, please visit Muze's Musings where I am interviewed by author Nikki Leigh. Today we talk about everything Whale Song, from setting to native legends to research.

Day 7: Cheryl's 'Touring the World' virtual book tour - here's Chapter 2 of Whale Song, a haunting and compelling novel by Cheryl Kaye Tardif.

If you want to read the Prologue and Chapter 1 first, please go HERE.

Whale…

A small but perfect list of reads for July.

WHO IS CONRAD HIRST? - KEVIN WIGNALL

Protagonist: Conrad Hirst, Hitman

Series?: Standalone

Setting: Various European countries

The short answer is that Conrad Hirst is a hitman who wants out of the business, the long answer is so much more involved, so much more poignant, so much more human. In the first couple of pages of the book the reader learns that Conrad has decided to kill his way out of the business, by doing what he…

posted by Doranna

I have rainitude.

Once upon a time, I lived way too many years in the lake effect country of western New York (a place where one of our esteemed bloggers still lives, and where we all have ties of one sort or another). The weather there can be described, in a one-word nutshell: Gloom. An average of 200 cloudy days a year, thank you very much, thanks to the various Great Lakes looming around (Ontario, Erie). In Rochester, if I was to think…

As a writer, I read newspapers and news magazines. It’s as mandatory as writing, as far as I’m concerned. I read to stimulate ideas. I don’t always read the headline stories, but look for the short pieces that carry unusual news. You never know when something strange might kick your imagination into gear. I can read a piece from Alaska and ask myself, “what if, in Key West . . .?”

I also watch TV news, both the Miami channels and CNN. I watched, as most of the world did, in horror…

I've been saving up news for my debut blog post. First, my crime/horror/metaphysical thrller, Bad Thoughts, is now out. Second, I just sold two more books to Serpent's Tail. Here's the Publishers Marketplace announcement my intrepid agent, Sara Crowe, put out for it:

SMALL CRIMES author Dave Zeltserman's PARIAH, about a member of South Boston's Irish mob who commits a kidnapping gone very wrong and is later paid to write a fictionalized account of the crime, along with a second…

I am busily promoting the latest book in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, Judgment Fire. My book launch is scheduled for this Saturday at our local Visitors Center. The publisher just okayed the proofs for the printer last Friday. The books were printed on Monday, the left the printer and using UPS tracking, I learned they had reached California this morning. Now, if nothing goes wrong, they should arrive on my doorstep tomorrow or the next day. Talk about…