Earlier this morning, I appeared on the G-Zone live podcast show with Giovanni Gelati. It was fun to talk with the guy, and I hope he enjoyed my company.

You can listen to a recording of the podcast below. The first parts go into the stories behind my stories, like why I would choose to have a character named "Benjamin" in my novel. Enjoy!

Trestle Press green-lit this cover this morning. It's for the first standalone in the Maynard Soloman short story series (the crusty ol' bastard's first appearance being in "Who Whacked the Blogger?")

This one is called, "Maynard Soloman Solves The War on Drugs." It's a lofty claim, but the cantankerous codger wouldn't say it if it weren't sort of true.

 …

Oh man, Crimespace, it's been moving so quick on my end. Ever since I signed up with Trestle Press, I've been keeping busy with writing, promoting, networking and everything else (not bad things at all). It's time to stop and assess the situation.

Careful, you might turn into a pillar of salt.

I find I've carved out four distinct styles of writing. My various writing projects fall into one of these categories, published and…

While I am looking forward to the May 27 live podcast at 8 a.m., I drunkenly crashed the G-Zone showyesterday evening. (OK, that's a lie, I was invited to an authors roundup by the host, but "crashed" sounds more exciting, doesn't it?)

I felt like an ant next to a herd of elephants amongst the other authors. Vincent Zandri. Big Daddy…

Grease up those tongues for lashing, I'll be making an appearance on Giovanni Gelati's live podcast, "The G-Zone," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop. My live segment airs at 8 a.m. EST on Friday, May 27, 2011, at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop.

"Live" means live-live, not recorded-live. There will even be a number you can dial in to harass me…

Hey, you!

Buy this book, or buy this book, but definitely buy this book or just pay attention to this sentence and buy something later.

Does BSP work? Or do readers find authors organically through non-BSP means?

Rather than rent out a community center or library for a "real-world" launch party, I'm hosting one virtually via my e-mail newsletter (shout out to CrimeSpace's Clay Morgan for the inspiration, as he's a big proponent of e-mail newsletters).

But unlike a regular old "buy this buy this buy this" event, this launch party is full of exclusive fun only for newsletter subscribers. I'm including plenty of prizes, an online video game based on the novel, writing I've never shared…

Fellow CrimeSpacer B.R. Stateham has the guest post today on my blog. He's talking about short stories, and he's got 4 bits of advice. Of most interest to me was his insistence that you "leave a few holes in the plot."

I don't think he means to work in inconsistencies. Rather, leave some of the story to the reader's imagination. Do you agree?

You can read all of B.R.'s post on my blog here: http://tinyurl.com/4xrd6tb

My first crime novel is here.

After returning to Minnesota from North Dakota Killpocolypse Blizzard of Blood 2011 (in May, of all times), I was delighted to see I still had a face (there are no mirrors in North Dakota). After cracking my nose back into position, I checked my e-mail.

 …