Crimespace
Crimespace
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/node/4943
No geographical restrictions :)
Check out the authors who will be signing! Come if you can. Call to order a signed book if you can't!
Holiday Party Schedule:
5:30-6:15
Steve Anable
Linda Barnes
Sibylle Barrasso
Gary Braver
Jan Brogan
Susan Conant
Joe Finder
Kate Flora
Gary Goshgarian
Robert Parker
6-6:45
Judy Copek
David Daniels
Lynne Heitman
Chuck Hogan
Susan Kelly
William Landay
Dennis Lehane
Chris Mooney
Clea Simon (Me!)
Leslie Wheeler
6:30-7:15
Johnny Barnes
James Benn
Alex Carr
Jane Langton
James Lynch
Rick Marinick
William Martin
Katharine Hall Page
Jenny Siler
Jere Smith
Mary Anne Tirone-Smith
Sarah Smith
Dave Zeltserman
7-7:45
Susan Atwell
Dana Cameron
James Bartlett
Sheila Connolly
Hallie Ephron
Debra Feldman
Beth Kanell
Steve Kelner
Toni Kelner
M.E. Kemp
Hank Phillip Ryan
D.G. Stern
--
Kate's Mystery Books
2211 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA. 02140
617/491-2660
The one session of Citizens’ Police Academy that I missed last time around was the Narcotics Squad. This week, I made up that session. When Sgt. Doug Epler started unpacking his props, I sensed this was going to be interesting. I was especially intrigued by a car battery sitting on the floor among the cases and boxes of drug paraphernalia. Was there a mad scientist in the house?
The Narcotics Squad in Pittsburgh consists of two impact squads, who work at street level; two investigative squads who do more in depth investigations and surveillances; a vice squad who deals with all varieties of prostitution; and a weed-and-seed unit that works off site doing in depth, long-term investigations. Each squad consists of only five or six officers. Each. City-wide.
They are kept very busy.
The number one drug problem in Pittsburgh is heroin. Note: this is not true elsewhere. But here, heroin can be found in any neighborhood, any age, rich or poor, black or white. Inside the city, a stamp bag of heroin runs around $10. In surrounding counties, it might go for $15 to $20 a bag, so folks from outside come into the city to make their purchases.
Sgt. Epler passed around a wide selection of drug-related items. But only fake drugs. Like Cremora instead of the real thing. More on that later.
A stamp bag of heroin is just that. They use the waxed glassine packets used by stamp collectors to package the drug. An addict might use 10 or 20 bags per day. At $10 each, you can see the problem. Small bundles are held together with little hair bands. Fifty stamp bags are bundled into a brick, wrapped in porno paper, the Auto Trader, or newspaper. Why porno paper? As a marketing ploy. Think the prize in a box of Cracker Jack. Buy a brick of heroin, get something extra to entertain yourself with as well.
If you find bits and pieces of torn glassine stamp envelopes and/or discarded hair bands lying around, you might want to contact the police as these are signs of heroin use in your neighborhood.
Users tend to start out snorting the stuff. They believe they aren’t junkies because they aren’t using needles. But after a while, the drug burns out the receptors in their noses and it doesn’t work any longer. That’s when the heroin user turns to the needle.
Heroin use is a team sport. Addicts share with their buddies. Girlfriends and boyfriends share. Sgt. Epler offered a demonstration of the process. Relax. No one was actually injected. The drug is cooked in a spoon. A cigarette is torn apart so that a small portion of the filter can be used to filter sediment from the cooked heroin as it’s drawn into the needle. The needle is stuck into the vein, but the user needs to be certain that he has hit the vein, rather than simply being in the muscle, so he draws back on the plunger until he sees blood enter the syringe. Then he injects part of the heroin. Next, (team sport, remember) his buddy or girlfriend is stuck, the plunger pulled back to draw blood, indicating a good stick, and the rest of the heroin is injected into the second user. That same needle is then capped and saved for the next usage. Perhaps with a different friend.
While the AIDS virus dies quickly, hepatitis will live for four days outside the body. Think about it.
A heroin addict must have his drug as soon as he gets up in the morning. Something like how I need my morning coffee. Except, if I don’t get my coffee, I get cranky. If a heroin addict doesn’t get his fix, he gets horribly sick with cramps and nausea. So every morning, you will see the neighborhood addicts out first thing to score.
So, more signs of heroin use in your neighborhood would be needles and syringes in the street. Diabetics aren’t that careless. If you see needles, it’s heroin.
One of the most interesting aspects of the presentation was the marketing side of the business. There is branding and brand loyalty and brand recognition… The dealer will make up an ink stamp to mark the stamp bags. One such ink stamp is “Why?Not.” Another might be “HellBoy.” A user might like one and not the other, so will seek out his preference. If word gets out that a particular brand is especially deadly, users will rush to buy the stuff up! They think they’re going to do it just right so it doesn’t kill them. Apparently, it’s really good up until the whole dying part.
Sometimes, heroin is transported in the tips of party balloons which are carried in the dealers’ mouths. When a user buys from him, the dealer spits out one of the tiny balloons and the user sticks it in his mouth. This way, if caught, they simply swallow the evidence. Later, when it all comes out in the end, they wash off the balloon and have their party.
If you see small rubber knots from broken balloons lying around, you have drug users in the neighborhood.
Finally, about the Cremora. The cops gained access to a dealer’s phone and called some of his users to say they had stamp bags for sale. Only the stamp bags were filled with Cremora. They used a kid’s sea horse stamp to mark the bags. One buyer didn’t know anything about the sea horse brand, but was desperate and made the purchase. As they attempted to arrest him, he ran away, snorting the Cremora out of the bag. Once caught, he complained that he wasn’t getting high. When told he’d snorted Cremora, he panicked and wanted to go to the hospital to be checked out.
Apparently, he was more concerned about snorting coffee creamer than about snorting heroin.
Next week: Crack cocaine, weed, Meth, and that car battery
There are also videos of me being interviewed by Raychel Harvey-Jones about In For The Kill and Deadly Waters, and there is a preview of me talking about my DVD, 'Successful Selling.' In addition, there is a blog and press releases plus links to interviews and updates on my events. Of course some of the information is here on my blog, but there is also a form on the web site for those of you who would like to go on my mailing list for my regular e news bulletins and updates. You never know there might even be some exclusive special offers in due course!
There is also a 'What's New?' page on the website with news of book deals, launches etc.
There are more refinements to come over the next few months including adding an RSS feed to help keep you up to date with changes, so I will let you know when they have been added. Meanwhile, if any of you check it out and have any suggestions on how it can be improved, or what you would like to see on it, plus if you experience any problems I would love to hear from you.
On Jan. 19, 2008, Santa Barbara City College student Brianna Denison disappeared from a friend’s home in Reno, Nevada, while on winter break. Her body was found Feb. 15 in a field in south Reno. James Michael Biela has been arrested for her murder.
On March 5, Eve Marie Carson, student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was found shot to death. Demario James Atwater and Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr. have been arrested for her murder. Authorities said the two kidnapped Carson at gunpoint, forced her to withdraw money from ATM machines and then shot her five times and left her in the middle of a street near the university campus.
On March 10, the New York Times reported that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who gained national prominence relentlessly pursuing Wall Street wrongdoing, was caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel. Spitzer subsequently resigned as governor.
On June 15, 2008, Cindy Anthony called 9-1-1 in Orlando, Florida to report that her daughter, Casey Anthony, had stolen a car and some money. She called back later to report that her granddaughter, Casey's daughter, 2-year-old Caylee Anthony was missing and had been missing for more than a month. On October 14, a grand jury indicted Casey Anthony on seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of providing false information. Caylee has not been found.
On April 11, fugitive Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean was arrested in Mexico for the murder of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. The 20-year-old Lauterbach was eight months pregnant and had accused Laurean of raping her. Lauterbach’s remains and those of her unborn child were found buried in a burn pit in Lauren’s backyard.
On August 1, Bruce Ivins, a top U.S. biodefense researcher, committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatized the nation in the weeks following the 9-1-1 terrorist attacks.
Oct. 3, exactly thirteen years after he was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in Los Angeles, O.J. Simpson was found guilty of armed robbery and kidnapping of two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas casino hotel room. Simpson will be sentenced on December 5.
On October 20, TV anchorwoman Anne Pressly was found badly beaten in the bedroom of her home in the Pulaski Heights section of Little Rock. She died five days later of her injuries without regaining consciousness. Curtis Lavelle Vance has been arrested for the murder of Pressly.
On October 24, Darnell Hudson Donerson, mother of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson and Jason Hudson, her brother, were found shot to death at the family home on the South Side of Chicago. Three days later, the body of 7-year-old Julian King, Hudson's nephew, was found in a SUV parked on the West Side. He also had been shot. William Balfour, the estranged brother-in-law of Jennifer Hudson, has been arrested for the murders.
Finally, this year’s list would not be complete without noting that federal prosecutors are hunting through the remains of the stock-market collapse and housing bust of 2008 for evidence of white-collar crime. Prosecutors are focused on whether there was any manipulation that occurred in the multi-trillion-dollar trade of credit default swaps. The FBI, meanwhile, is investigating two-dozen large financial firms on a wide range of charges. Those reportedly on the agency's list include mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, insurer American International Group and failed investment bank Lehman Brothers.
Hopefully, charges and convictions will be forthcoming.
What I see in a lot of today's humor is stupidity. Characters that are considered hilarious by the standards of television, movies, and stand-up audiences are to me pitiful at best, disgusting at worst. Otherwise intelligent people in their twenties and thirties rave about how funny a movie is, but I can tell from the previews that I would run screaming from the theater. I don't get the humor of someone who's so stupid he shouldn't have made it to adulthood, someone who's so dysfunctional he shouldn't have been allowed to.
I have no idea what's funny about THE SIMPSONS or FAMILY GUY. I suppose I'll never know if Adam Sandler or Will Farrell are really funny because I've never made it through one of their movies. And about the time some comedian starts sharing his bathroom habits, I'm clicking the remote. Am I prudish? I suppose so, if that means TMI is entertainment. You've got a college degree and you pay money to watch a movie about someone who hardly thinks at all? I'd say the laugh is on you.
Some have told me that the humor comes from how well the character is portrayed, and I agree that could be a factor. I'd just be embarrassed to take on a role where underwear is so prominent.
Is it funny because it flies in the face of convention to have a protagonist be a jerk? Does an idiotic "star" allow a person to say, "Well, at least I'm not that dumb"? Is it a visceral reaction that I've somehow suppressed? I may sound non-hip, but I think humor that's too easy bothers me. Anyone can make stupidity funny, as long as you don't attach any reality to it. Escapism, hyperbole, and overacting are fine for some. I like humor that develops from reality, grows from familiarity, and requires applying a little bit of intelligence before laughter arises.
Dec. 1 - Fiction Scribe (interview) www.fictionscribe.com
Dec. 1 -- Joylene Nowell Butler (interview) http://cluculzwriter.blogspot.com/
Dec. 2 - The Dark Phantom (guest post) www.thedarkphantom.wordpress.com
Rose and Thorn Reviews (book review) http://roseandthornreviews.blogspot.com/2008/11/book-review-devil-can-wait-by-marta_24.html
You'll find the entire tour schedule listed on my website: http://www.martastephens-author.com/Events.htm as well as all the reviews the book has received thus far.
*** Also if I could beg a favor, my book cover was featured as the cover of the week from 11/10-11/14 on Erin Aislinn's website. Now it's competing against the other three books featured in November for a vote to win November cover of the month. If you've already voted, thank you!! If you'd like to, it's easy to do. Just go to http://www.erinaislinn.com/BookCoveroftheMonth.htm find the book cover for "The Devil Can Wait" and click on the link next to it. It will generate an e-mail for you to send in your vote. Everyone who votes will be eligible to receive a free copy of the winning entry.
I hope you'll have a chance to stop by and visit with me for a minute or two on this month-long tour. I'll certainly look forward to your comments!!
According to my tour director: "Leave a comment at the blog stops and you could win a FREE virtual book tour if you're a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate if you are not published."
Thanks for letting me share my writing journey with you!
questions she pummeled me with :)
That said, Quantum of Solace doesn't make much of a mark on its own. Bond is so driven it's difficult not to see the new characters Camille and Agent Fields as plot devices. Mathieu Amalric as villain Dominic Greene unfortunately reminded me of a cross between Ioan Gruffudd and Paul Reubens. Director Marc Forster makes some odd stylistic choices (Intercutting Bond chasing down a traitor with a horse race? Intrusive location titles a la Fringe?), but these stick out because the rest of tone is maintained between the two movies.
Quantum of Solace won't disappoint those who enjoyed Casino Royale, neither will it convert those who didn't.
I met Kayla at one of my many Mall store book signings. She is a military veteran and author of “Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army.” The book is her very honest account of her Iraq service. Her personal memoir recounts the fear, bad weather, intermittent supplies, inedible meals and crushing boredom of life in the field. She also gives a uniquely female take on the bantering and brutality of barracks life.
I didn’t know all that when she picked up a copy of Collateral Damage. I checked her out after she wrote to me with a very considered review of the book, the kind only another writer might deliver, specifically commenting on characters, plot and setting. I was flattered and humbled by her words, and just had to use them as my new featured review on my web site.
Thank you, Kayla, both for your service to our nation and for your kind words and canny critique.
Read Kayla Williams’ review.
First, it's pretty. The trees are hung with white, the ground is smoothed and uniform.
Second, it's probably necessary in some geo-scientific way. Snow is water, water is good, right?
Third, it slows everybody down, at least the intelligent ones. You'd best not be in a hurry when there's only a track to follow down a state road.
Last, it encourages me to stay home and write. Nobody's going to call and say "Let's do lunch" today, and I'm not going to invent a reason to visit Wally-world. I should get lots done in the writing department.
Unless I'm distracted by dreams of Florida.
AWOL each weekend. As a result, I paid more attention to my Favorite Person
that I did books. Still a good total for me, and some darned good reading.
Click on the book title to read my blog review.
Title: Killing Cousins
Author: Gene Stratton
ISBN: 0916489388/Ancestry Publishing
Protagonist: Mort Sinclair, acclaimed genealogist who's been known to assist
the police from time to time
Setting: Fogge Island off the coast of New England
Series: #1
Rating: DNF
First Line: Mortimer Sinclair forced himself to sit patiently on an ancient
and very uncomfortable wooden armchair in the busy outer office of
Lieutenant Nathaniel Bumpus.
Title: A Finer End
Author: Deborah Crombie
ISBN: 0553579274/Bantam Books
Protagonist(s): Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and
Detective Inspector Gemma James
Setting: present-day Glastonbury, England
Series: #7
Rating: A
First Line: The shadows crept into Jack Montfort's small office, filling the
corners with a comfortable dimness.
Title: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
ISBN: 9780307269751/Alfred A. Knopf
Protagonist(s): Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist, and Lisbeth Salander, a
research assistant
Setting: present-day Sweden, north of Stockholm
Series: #1 of the Millennium trilogy
Rating: A+
First Line: The trial was irretrievably over; everything that could be said
had been said, but he had never doubted that he would lose.
Title: What the Dead Know
Author: Laura Lippman
ISBN: 9780061128851/William Morrow
Protagonist: a woman claiming to be someone who disappeared thirty years ago
Setting: Baltimore, Maryland in 1975 and 2005
Rating: A
First Line: Her stomach clutched at the sight of the water tower hovering
above the still, bare trees, a spaceship come to earth.
Title: Echoes From the Dead
Author: Johan Theorin
Translator: Marlaine Delargy
ISBN: 9780385342216/Bantam Dell
Protagonist(s): Julia Davidsson and her father, Gerlof Davidsson
Setting: sometime in the 1990s, on Oland, an island off the coast of Sweden
Mystery
Rating: A+
First Line: The wall was built of big, rounded stones covered in grayish
white lichen, and it was the same height as the boy.
==Non-Mystery==
Title: Dirty Spanish: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!"
Author: Juan Caballero with Nick Denton-Brown
ISBN: 9781569756591/Ulysses Press
Language/Reference
Rating: A
First Line: This book was written with the assumption that you already know
enough Spanish to get by.
Title: Breaking Dawn
Author: Stephenie Meyer
ISBN: 9780316067928/Little, Brown and Company
Protagonist: teenager Bella Swan
Setting: present-day Forks, Washington
Series: #4
Rating: C
First Line: I'd had more than my fair share of near-death experiences; it
wasn't something you ever really got used to.
Title: The Fugitive Wife
Author: Peter C. Brown
ISBN: 9780393329759/ W.W. Norton
Protagonist: Esther Crummey
Setting: Nome, Alaska, 1900
Historical Fiction
Rating: C
First Line: Esther Crummey foresaw the accident as it unfolded.
Title: That Book Woman
Author: Heather Henson
ISBN: 9781416908128/Atheneum Books
KidLit, Ages 4 to 8
Rating: A
First Line: My folks and me--we live way up as up can get.
Title: Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky
Author(s): Kathi Appelt and Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer
ISBN: 9780060291358/Harper Collins
KidLit/History, Ages 8-12
Rating: A
First Line: They were the darkest of times, the years following the crash of
the stock market in 1929.
Title: American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon
Author: Steven Rinella
ISBN: 9780385521680/Spiegel & Grau
Memoirs, ARC
Rating: B
First Line: In the past week I've become something of a buffalo chip
connoisseur.
http://cluculzwriter.blogspot.com
Drumroll, please....
The winners of advance, uncorrected reading copies of my April mystery, "Probable Claws," are Gina Teh, Krista Schnee, and Debbie Bogenschutz! My good friend and fellow author Vicki Croke ("The Lady and the Panda," among other books) drew three names at random for me. These three advance readers will be getting their copies soon. Everyone else will have to wait till April ... but thank you for playing!
(Note to the winners: This pretty cover is NOT on the advance edition yet. Sorry!)
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
And why do they lock gas stations bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will sneak in there and clean them?
Anyway, my thought today is nice people. There just aren't enough of them in the world, and I often wish I were better at being one. On Saturday a man I'd never seen before gave me the nicest compliment I've had in months. He did it just to be nice, and it made me think what a great place the world would be if there were more people like that. People who always find something good and comment on it. People who listen. People who give you the benefit of the doubt. People who send lovely cards with sincere, personal messages. Those people.
Someone who read my short story in DYING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND expressed surprise that I have a "criminal" mind. I guess that's a compliment; she thought I was nicer than that. All I can say is that writers of crime fiction are generally nice people despite the evil thoughts that lurk in the creative segment of their minds. I haven't yet met a writer I was afraid of, although I suppose we're all capable of murder if the conditions are right (or wrong) enough.
It's the Christmas season now, so concentrate on being one of the nice people and try to ignore the gossips, the bombers, the fault-finders, and the just plain nasty. They're out there, but like Thurber's purple cow, I'd rather see than be one.
But on to more important matters – namely the promise I made to have finished the first draft of The Beholder by the time I write this blog. Good news folks – I’m a man of my word! It finally came in at a meaty 105,000 words, which is the longest first draft of the three books I’ve written thus far. Having spent a couple of days away from it to clear my head, my focus for the next few weeks will be on editing the manuscript – looking at factors such as pacing, dialogue, additional research, etc, and working in a number of minor plot adjustments that occurred to me as I worked on the book.
This process requires that I read and re-read the novel a number of times, analysing each and every line to make sure that all is as it should be. If that sounds a little daunting, remember that when it comes to editing, this is just the start – once I’m happy with it, it will then go to my agent and my publisher for further constructive criticism!
Cheers,
Steve
What’s Steve been listening to this week?
Bandwagonesque – by Teenage Fanclub
Vs – by Pearl Jam
Dedication - by Thin Lizzy
Gerard Schaefer shattered the lives of the families of these young girls and destroyed the faith of the public in law enforcement. He killed without pity. He tortured without conscience and he hid the crimes without thought.
Schaefer not only destroyed the lives of as many as 34 young women, he kept trophies of his kills, and he lived the crimes over and over again. He believed he was doing the world and his victims a justice by ridding the world of the “whores” who hitchhiked. Gerard Schaefer was a narcissistic psychopath who wanted his fifteen minutes of fame. He believed he had earned it.
Florida Author, Yvonne Mason, in her newest release Silent Scream, has captured not only the essence of evil in Gerard Schaefer, she has also captured his brilliance. But more than that Ms. Mason has finally given a voice to the Silent Screams of Gerard Schaefer’s victims, the known and the unknown.
Ms. Mason who has a degree in Criminal Justice and was a Bounty Hunter in Georgia before moving to Florida has given a voice to such victims as Georgia Jessup and Susan Place, the two who were discovered on South Hutchinson Island, April 1, 1973 seven months after they disappeared on Sept 23, 1972 in a shallow grave in pieces. She has also given a voice to Collette Goodenough and Barbara Ann Willcox who were killed in Jan 1973 and whose bones found four years later at C-24 Canal.
Ms. Mason has captured the not only the pain, the agony and the suffering Gerard Schaefer’s victims went through, she has captured the pain, the anger and the hurt which law enforcement suffered at the hands of this killer.
Even after thirty four years the ones who were in law enforcement at that time still haven’t forgotten. They still carry the emotional scars of the heinous tortures and murders of Gerard Schaefer on the innocent.
Retired FBI Roy Hazelwood writes after reading Ms. Mason’s book: "Yvonne Mason has captured the true essence of Gerard Schaefer, a deputy sheriff who enjoyed torturing and killing young women. It is a gripping story and you should prepare to be disturbed. I guarantee that you will find it difficult to put this book down."
Retired Oakland Park PD Detective Chuck Hemp who worked the disappearance of Jessup and Place wrote this after reading Silent Scream: “When Gerald Schaefer used his badge and gun to terrorize and kill rather than protect and serve he crossed a line that not only snuffed out the lives of his victims but also affected the lives of their loved ones and the police officers charged with investigating these crimes. In her book “Silent Screams” Yvonne Mason has captured more than just the story, but has also given voices to all of Schaefer’s unknown victims. I’m sure there are many.”
Ms. Mason stated this “The victims no longer scream silently, they now have a voice and with that voice comes peace.”
Silent Scream is a voice for the victims. It is their way of never being forgotten and of also reminding each of us that at any time or any place we also can become a victim.
Ms. Mason is the author of Stan’s Story, A Touch of Love as story of hope, Brilliant Insanity and Tangled Minds.
She can be reached at ysam51@yahoo.com and her website is www.myspace.com/yvonnemason
Her book can be purchased on Lulu.com Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com and her online bookstore at http://thebookattic.ecrater.com when the books are purchased on her online store they will be shipped signed by Ms. Mason.
at the grave of writer/director Billy Wilder , author of Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, Ball of Fire and Some Like It Hot.
And the Books-A-Million in Alexandria VA WAS able to get copies of Blood and Bone for my signing Saturday. I was scheduled to sign them until 6 pm but had to leave nearly an hour early when I ran out of books to sign. New fan Ralph Nordenhold took a few nice photos of me at the signing. You can see some of them on my web site, if you push the news/events button.
I also got word that the web site for the Echelon Press holiday contest was overwhelmed with orders. The publisher has now built separate pages for each author, which means a new URL. However, the button on my web site will take you to the right place so when you order Blood and Bone by December 19 you will still be entered into a drawing for a $25.00 VISA Gift Card.
Order to enter, and then check the new photos.
Acme Authors Link is happy to welcome Mystery Author,
Pamela Samuels Young, to our blogspot on Wednesday, December 3, at http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com. Stop by and see what Pamela has to say.
Thanks,
Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
Now the editing begins.
We're planning on having some friends over which is always nice.
We did finally get the BIG ASS TV we have been planing for. A 48" LCD and it rocks. I plan to spend a lot of time in the next month in front of it staring till I go blind. I now plan to re watch a lot of things, Lord of the Rings, Miami Vice, The Wire and Godfather (third time this year)
I also love all the food during December, special candy is available, great baked goods, I even like fruit cake.
On the Crimespree front, we are finishing off issue 28. We have re arranged our scheduling a bit and are moving Brian Azzarello to the July/August cover. Jenny Siler will be our cover model for January/February.
All in all life is good. 2009 looks to be a great year.
And I would like to add that enough mystery folks have passed away in the last twelve months. So everyone, take care of your selves. Get checkups and eat healthy!
Dad decided to fly back to NC after Thanksgiving to spend the Christmas holiday with my sister. I'm kind of glad he did that because sometimes Lois feels left out. Plus, I know he was getting lonely here being alone on the days that I had to work. My hubby happens to be gone as well, which didn't help matters. Dad needs to be around people.
Alivia, my two-year-old granddaughter came home with me for a couple days because the kids had to go back to work and her day care was closed. She was the perfect angel. We had countless tea parties, read and re-read several books, and cuddled on the sofa to watch The Polar Express. She napped like a good girl and didn't give me any trouble. Then her parents came to pick her up and my little angel turned into a little devil. Why is it that children always act up when in their parent's presence?
I just watched her and smiled.
This is my last day before returning to work tomorrow. I've had five days off which is a lot for me. But today is my day. I slept in, I'm still in my jammies. I've enjoyed my first cup of coffee for the day and I'm watching sci-fi. Shoot, the last two days my TV hasn't been of the Nick channel! LOL Soon I will make myself lunch.
I've found that as I get older I enjoy my alone time. In fact I need it. I think we all do. But would I pass it up for a chance to spend it with the people I love? Absolutely!
Hi Everyone: Thought I would share some news.
Publisher's Weekly gave my forthcoming standalone thriller SIX SECONDS a starred review. It is my first starred review in PW.
You can check it out - at this link and scroll down about 3/4 of the page.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6616437.html
Six Seconds is set for US-Cda release right after Christmas.
AUSTRALIAN release date is March 09
UNITED KINGDOM release date is mid-April 09.
The link to the trailer for the UK edition is here - the trailer's release date will be adjusted from "out now.".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRkgnIfms5k
All the best,
Rick Mofina
AskAngelaWilson.com is a place where authors can ask questions - and get answers. There are columns on creating marketing plans, virtual tours and more.
Check out the site. Visit www.askangelawilson.com. Support the site via the PayPal Tip Jar, or by shopping the Ask Angela virtual store.
Enjoy! Feedback encouraged.
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Australian publisher, author and reviewer Lutz Barz has kindly sent me an advance review of 'Pestilence' which he has recently undertaken and which will soon be published by Literature-Review.com and in other journals he writes for. 'Pestilence' will be published in the near future by 4RV Publishing and this review is, to say the least, absolutely awesome and gives me great optimism for the book's future success. For more information on the book please see the website at www.freewebs.com/brianlporters-pestilence
Review of ‘Pestilence’
A Classic
Brian Porter’s Pestilence is a classic. A story one glides into seamlessly. Many authors need to find their métier. Brian Porter has no such difficulties. The ease with which he engrosses the reader is immediate and compelling. A quick narration of the setting: the bucolic countryside of eastern England.
The scene is set, destiny weighs her hand upon a village fated to be drawn into a tragedy which, as the story progresses harbors a threat that could easily spiral out of control.
For `Every so often however, an event may take place that upsets and dislocates the unchanging equilibrium of even such idyllic locations.’ The first hint that calamitous events, broiling beneath the surface stalks the village with silent death. Destiny determines a set of unrelated events, which when combined with a chilling determination unleashes grief as well as despair. For a while all will seems hopeless. With terrifying prescience Brian Porter informs us that `What follows is the story of one such village, and of one such upheaval, and so we must take a short journey back in time to the year nineteen fifty eight, back to when it all began, to when death wore a new cloak, walked a new course, and the terror of a bygone age reached out to chill the hearts of those who crossed its path.’
Yet unlike other authors of the outré, we are reminded the fated village of Olney St Mary grows hops, a very worthy agricultural pursuit. Her people certainly know their priorities. Then a quick jaunt through the history of the place, for England is a land steeped in a miscellany of varied past times. Yet it is recent history, the desperate Battle of Britain that will reach out its weighted hand once more, a decade later, resurrecting one of the darkest secrets of that bloody era.
Memory serves the inhabitants well who remember, a Messerschmitt being shot down, crash landing, the pilot killed and buried with due honors. Ah, British fair play, magnanimity in victory, however small. Unfortunately this victory was to have dire consequences. `The dead couldn’t hurt them could they?’ Porter hints.
Watch out. Something malignant is awakening beneath the ancient soil as a horror gestates beneath the archaic charm of rustic life in the bright light of day. The war and rationing are over. Better times promise a better and brighter future for all. The people of Olney St Mary are content.
Until a child is sick. Then another, who dies.
The horror has begun, the invisible claws of a silent malignancy determined to cause havoc amongst the living, stirring, as yet undefined by a perplexed and newly arrived Dr. Hillary Newton. A woman! Mr Porter reminds us just how avant guarde a single woman doctor is in those staid villages, how it appeared to its naturally conservative inhabitants.
Mr Porter keeps the story moving along nicely. Nor is this mystery thriller solved by some two dimensional card board cut out or some stereotyped persona struggling in a one dimensional plot.
The enigma deepens. A second patient is moved to the general hospital in the next town. Our newly arrived village doctor will need the advice of her co-professionals. The symptoms appear as if it were the flu, which of course it is not. The reader will have guessed by now that some awful virus or bacteria is on the loose. Another standard plot line? Luckily not. This is not some cheap, indifferent cut and paste drama engineered for daytime television.
The pace becomes crisp. Yet there are snippets inserted which flesh out the characters. A line here, a sentence there, not whole paragraphs, illustrate the varied personalities of the protagonists, of which there are plenty who slowly are inserted into the story as the disease threatens to become a pandemic. A few people still remember the deadly influenza that had carried off so many after the Great War.
Bakelite telephones, those that have them, quaint English cars, memories of departed loved ones stir as the tragedy continues to unfold. Mr Porter broadens the plot into the labyrinth that is Whitehall, all the way up to the head boffin who throws a cordon sanitaire using military resources around the village.
They are now isolated without getting closer as to the cause of this rampant disease which is claiming more and more lives. Observant villagers note an absence of rodents. When some dead rats are found an autopsy reveals their lungs literally eaten away.
The plot thickens. Degree by incremental degree the story assumes more insidious aspects hinting at, as yet undefined possibilities.
`To the outside world, it was as if Olney St. Mary had been spirited away into a nether world, a place where sounds were muffled by the smog, and where the streets lay empty and deserted, a ghost village, inhabited by the dead and the dying’.
The epidemic now has the village in its fevered grip.
`The sound of the rain drumming on the roof of the hospital marquee became a symphony of sorrow for those incarcerated under the canvas. They might be dry under the tarpaulin covering, but they were all captives who couldn’t escape the nightmare thudding of the watery aerial cascade above their heads.’
Worse, the village pub, like all other public places is placed in a curfew. Yet common sense prevails if only for public morale and the pub opens for a few hours each day. Whilst the living get by, so does the disease.
Of course as the story develops the disease is identified. At this point too many similar stories would run their course. Yet the author burrows into convoluted politics, dealing with the horrific calamity which not just threatens this tucked away village but possibly the whole country. Feathers are ruffled as departmental domains are defended whilst those on the ground despair at the lack of progress. For what Mr Porter has in mind involves a dastardly plot hatched during the colossal struggle of World War 2.
Yet something is not quite right. The vector of the disease, how the authorities react creates in the readers mind further suspicions which point to something even more sinister.
And we are not disappointed.
`Pestilence’ is a multi layered plot at which the British truly excel. The characters, from the rustic villager, quaint old ladies, harried doctors, conniving officials, suspicious military types people the pages of this fast moving thriller. Porter’s economical use of language, the simplicity of words readily evoke both tumultuous and more benign moods. There is one hilarious scene as two entwined lovers fall for each other. The valve radio just happens to play songs which are so appropriate to the scene which through perspicacious attention Mr Porter portrays with aplomb.
The research is excellent, the imagery, the scenes are easily conjured for our minds to create a satisfying mystery. The reprehensible plot hatched by heinous minds is just a part of the mosaic where lives are promiscuously gambled with. Worse, lives become expendable as sinister and deviousness individuals would try and use the deaths of too many of the innocent for their own shady ends a decade after the Messerschmitt’s crash to realize their dark intent. Sinister forces are indeed festering malignantly in the background.
Lutz Barz
Lutz Barz is a reviewer, author and the proprietor of RS Publishing, New South Wales, (Australia).
Also, we sent out my October/November email newsletter. If you think you are on my subscriber list and don't see an email newsletter in your inbox, please sign up again on the Newsletter page of my website. My old newsletter service, Zinester, seems to have been blocked by some email providers, and those bounced addresses were deleted from my subscriber list. I'm now using Vertical Response, which seems to have much better luck getting through.
Can't get to Alexandria? Then visit my web site - www.ascamacho.com - to order your copy direct from the publisher and enter my contest.
I didn't realize just how stressed I'd been. In fact, up to that point, I was pretty impressed with my calm attitude. Ben Meisner is a popular radio personality in BC, and I conversed with him as if he were my neighbour. Then I sat down with Reg Feyer and recorded my first chapter without a hiccup. It airs Monday night at 6 pm as part of The Storytellers on 93.1 FM.
The night before I'd slept badly. I dreamed several different versions of my book signings for December 6th and 7th in Prince George. Either both bookstores were so packed that I ran out of books and everyone stormed out; or nobody showed up and there I sat surrounded by stacks of Dead Witness.
Yesterday morning, instead of breakfast, we left for town early so Ralph could have some blood tests done at the clinic. Nothing urgent, just his annual checkup. We left the house at 8:20 and reached the clinic at 9:19. I had an appointment with the radio station after 10 am. I left one poster at Books and Company, and one at Save-On Bookstore, announcing the signings. The taping at 93.1 FM took 10 minutes. I have an okay-voice, not too deep, nor too scratchy. My mother was an entertainer during WW2, and she'd instructed us as kids on how to speak into a mike. After 40 some years, all that came back to me.
After the taping was over, I stopped in to see Teresa at the Prince George Free Press. We chatted about writing and all the marketing that entails. As I stood there, an invisible weight literally lifted off my shoulders. I became lighter, (hallelujah) and it occurred to me that the small-town girl from Maple Ridge had come a long way. It's one thing to be interviewed on television; but to sit down and read a chapter from a work that I'd sweated over for 4 years, was in deed a huge accomplishment.
Book signings are difficult. You don't know if you're going to be received well or completely ignored. I know Dead Witness is a good book, but times are tough. Our economy is suffering. Can readers afford to buy books?
That I don't know. But I do know I like people. I'm not afraid of smiling, chit-chatting or even talking about everything else but my work. I know my readers will be transported and able to escape life for a short period of time. If asked why anyone should buy my book, I'd be quick to answer, "Because Valerie McCormick is a fascinating, noble woman who reminds us how important family is."
I owe the Bulkley-Nechako District my deepest gratitude. They've been very supportive. They've gone out of their way to make me feel welcomed. Since publishing Dead Witness July 2, 2008, I've received numerous emails from readers who remarked on how much they enjoyed my book. Some have even stopped me on the street to thanked me for the entertainment. One lady said, "Thank you for writing a good book and not wasting my time." That was music to my ears.
If you're near Books and Company, Saturday December 6th between 11 o'clock and 2:30, please stop by. I'll be at Save-On Bookstore at Spruceland the next day: Sunday; same hours.
I look forward to seeing you.
--best regards
joylene
http://joylene.webs.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/books/26rich.html?_r=1&ref=arts
Sounds a bit self-serving to me. Guess who primarily reps known commodities?
I'm happy to report her opinion can't be shared by all uber-agents as I've recently found two others who've asked to read the full manuscript I've just completed along with my co-author, two authors unpublished in fiction. Ms. Newberg ignored our query, so at least she's being consistent from what I can tell.
Ogien i Woda is published by Red Horse, Poland. Red Horse has already published In For the Kill (Uwiklany) and will be publishing Tide of Death in January.
Click here to read the English version of my interview with Anna. Here's a brief preview below.
"Pauline, you are a professional writer but at the beginning of your career you have been writing business and motivational books. Today you are highly acclaimed crime novels’ writer. I must say that is amazing and uncommon way of literary career evolution. How have you started writing crime novels?
P.R. From a very young age I always wanted to be a fiction writer, and I wrote my first adventure novel when I was eleven years old. Then work and a career in marketing got in the way of further writing until I returned to it twenty years ago. In between fiction writing I was running my own marketing and training company and began writing business and motivational books, because I spotted a gap in the market for very simple and practical ‘how to’ books. But my first love was and always has been fiction. I persevered for many years learning my craft and developing my style, receiving many rejections along the way, until I won a prize in a writing competition for the first draft of my Detective DI Horton novel and I knew that I was at last on the right track. I sold my business in 2003 to concentrate on writing fiction, and in 2006 my first crime novels were published. Since then my crime and thrillers have gone from strength to strength and I have written six crime novels, five are published and the sixth will be published in late 2009.
You have created a new type of detective story – the marine mystery crime novel. Where did you get that idea from? Was the criminal genre too narrow for your ideas?
P.R.The idea for calling them marine mystery crime novels came because my novels are all set against the backdrop of the sea. They are very atmospheric and I wanted them to stand out from other crime novels in a crowded market. It describes the setting and gives readers a flavour of the type of book they are about to read. "
You can read the full interview in English here. Hope you enjoy it.
Sheldon had one drink and one cigarette as his celebration. I wait until I've made every improvement I can; only them do I type THE END at the bottom.
What can I say? I'm a hedonist
And if the warehouse hasn't run out of copies of Blood and Bone I'll visit Books-A-Million in Alexandria tomorrow. Check in that day to see if it's not too late to get your copy. It's the one at 503 King St, Alexandria, VA.
These days I enjoy games where I don't really care who wins. Where once it was the joy of rooting for "my" team, now it's just the calming effect of the sights and sounds of the game: whistles, shouts, droning play-by-play folk, and the odd ballet of offense versus defense. Within moments of the end of most games I've forgotten who won, but I recall moments of brilliance when someone caught an impossible catch, made a 90-plus yard punt return, or broke through a seemingly impenetrable wall of defensemen.
Another thing I notice is that who plays for whom doesn't matter so much to me any more. With salary caps and trades, I see no sense in getting excited when a favorite player moves to another team. Example: Brett Favre. I loved him in Green Bay, but he retired, and I thought, "Good for you, guy. Leaving at the top of your game is a cool thing." Then he came back, was rejected at GB, and went to the Jets. He's doing well there, but somehow he doesn't matter to me now. I'm glad if that's what he wants from life, but that's all.
Last, I notice that the coaches all seem to me too young to be coaching. Why is Jim Zorn not on the field, doing what he did so well? How about Mike Singletary? I guess it's my age, but they can't be past their prime. Well, okay, maybe it has been a decade. I forget.
What does this have to do with writing? Well, after reading mysteries for, um, a long time, some of the same things apply. It's not so much the result as it is the ballet in reading, too. I notice HOW the author does what he does more than anything else. I don't follow the superstar authors as much as I used to, but instead enjoy anyone who is successful at the craft. As for age, writing is better than football, because we aren't worn out at forty. I for one intend to be in the game for decades. I'll get to work right after the games on Sunday.
A man born in a home for unwed mothers, abused by malevolent step father, whisked away by an uncle to Canada at the age of 3 only to be blown back to Minnesota on the brink of adulthood by the dust storms of the late 30s. A man who fought the Military Industrial Complex at every turn and helped six students gain conscientious objector status during the Vietnam war, but who was a World War II veteran himself, and who loved and embraced his two sons and one of his four daughters when they chose to serve their country.
He was a college professor who was often mistaken for an itinerant share-cropper as he crossed the campus and traveled the world in overalls, suit coats with ripped-out lining, and ball caps without logos. A man who when informed that his cap was just stolen from the pew while he knelt at Christmas Midnight Mass in Mexico City, only shrugged and said, "They must have needed it more than I."
A white man who taught African American Studies and Black History for 30 years and who lived long enough to see a Black man elected President of the United States of America. He was a poet and a writer who instilled a love for reading and writing in his children and grandchildren. He was a man who walked in others shoes until he couldn't walk any more, who stood up for the oppressed and mentally ill until he couldn't stand up any more, who treated each person with dignity and respect, even when he felt age and disease had robbed him of his.
James LeRoy Lafky, rest in peace.
It's more likely that your fertile (shall I say, febrile?) brain will choose this purported "down time" to hit you with the best subplot ever, a great character quirk, or even a whole new book idea. And you know from experience that if you don't write it down...
That's the problem with creativity; it has a mind of it own. It's your mind, but it doesn't follow your rules. It will be hard to finish that special salad or remember the details of the place settings you planned while it whispers, "We could iron out that plot-knot in just half an hour." Of course half an hour would stretch to three, and then where would Thanksgiving dinner come from?
Nine-to-fivers, second shifters, even time-and-a-halfers know when they're done. Writers? It's never going to happen, so just accept it. There is no holiday from thinking, and that's our trade. So Happy Thanksgiving, and just be thankful if you can leave that WIP alone for MOST of the day.
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
Now, if I can waddle out of the house tomorrow I’ll head to the Borders Express in Dulles Town Center Mall to celebrate Black Friday with a couple other crime writers. We’ll do a team book signing from noon to 4 pm, so you can get all your holiday gifts at once. The store is at 21100 Dulles Town Circle, Dulles VA.
http://kingdombks.blogspot.com/2008/11/mystery-review-leighton-gage-buried.html
Hope anyone in the area will come.
Boy, did my agent work fast? After the shattering disappointment of the recent problems and eventual contract release from Steel Waves Publishing, I'm delighted to announce that my literary agent has, within two days, negotiated a brilliant contract offer from 4RV Publishing who have offered to publish all five of the novels currently in need of a good home. Consequently, 'Glastonbury', 'Pestilence', 'The Nemesis Cell', 'Purple Death' and 'Avenue of the Dead' have been almost instantly resurrected. To say I'm relieved would be an understatement. To have recieved an offer for all of my novels from another publisher so soon is simply the most wonderful news
This is actually its third appearance. It was in the Dec. 2006 edition of B J Bourg's Mouth Full of Bullets and was originally in The 3rDegree in March 2003.
Check out A Twist of Noir. Christopher Grant is offering a varied selection of stories, some old, some new.
One thing that helps is professional magazines. Over the last week, I got no less than four, and I set them aside, a little daunted at the task of pouring through that much reading material. This morning, however, I shouldered the task and got what I knew I would get: inspiration. Despite the fact that it's a little "whelming" (not over, just regular) to see so many writers out there and read praise for their work, it's also helpful to know what writers know: there isn't a formula for Right, just Write. Articles on craft, which are almost always things you've read somewhere else, nevertheless benefit in two ways. They remind you of what you want to accomplish or improve on, and they reveal that others struggle with the same things you do.
So even if they're repetitive, even if they list dozens of authors all vying for that little slice of success you'd like for yourself, even though you know that most of the advisers don't know any more about what will succeed than you do, reading stuff on writing inspires us, makes us want to get back to the computer or the pad of paper and see if we can't do a little better. That 10% inspiration gears us up for the 90% that is hard, hard work.
I'm particularly fond of this quote from H.U. Westermayer who said that if the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.
Probable Claws is coming out this spring! I've got a great cover and the book is now available for pre-ordering on Amazon, BN.com, and through the Poisoned Pen Press website. I've also got some advance copies and would love to offer them to readers. So here's the deal: If you can answer the following question (answer can be found on my home site) and you will commit to sharing your opinion of "Probable Claws" in a chat group, blog, or on Amazon by April 1, you could win an advance copy! (Note: These advance copies only have a plain cover, and they still have lots of typos.) I'll choose three winners at random from everyone who emails me beween now and Nov. 27.
QUESTION: What was the name of my "eminence grisé"?
Email me your answer – and your pledge to read and review the book by April 1 – and best of luck!
According to the AP and other news reports, Random House has announced that they are digitalizing thousands of additional books. Excerpts will be available online. Read rest of post here
I thank everyone at Steel Waves for their efforts and for the faith they had in my work and I wish all at the company well as we part company.
I hope it won't be too long before I can announce the new homes of 'Glastonbury', 'Pestilence', 'Purple Death', 'Avenue of the Dead' and 'The Nemesis Cell'
I met Chuck during my last visit to Borders Express at the Dulles Expo Center. He picked up a copy of Blood and Bone that day, and later wrote to me about it. Despite pointing out a factual inaccuracy in the book he flattered me by saying that the story held his attention so well that he missed his bus stop reading it.
Chuck, I appreciated your comments so much that I made your comments my most recent featured review on my web site. Thanks for being a fan.
It's all really, really nice. I just wonder what took us so long to get here.
According to the AP and other news reports, Random House has announced that they are digitalizing thousands of additional books. Excerpts will be available online. Read rest of post here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlHvNqLg5jA
In 1980, when Joseph Edward Duncan was a teenager, he was convicted for raping a younger boy at gunpoint and diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. So people knew he was a psychopaths back in the 80s, why let him back out on the streets? Psychopaths can't be reformed, just ask one.
Twenty years later Duncan kidnapped and tortured two siblings, Shasta, 8, and her brother Dylan, 9. During the kidnapping, he murdered their mother, her fiancé and the children's older brother. Later, he killed little Dylan but 'kept' Shasta.
Between 1997-2005, he killed 7 people. But remember everyone knew he was a psycho in the 80s. These people could have lived their lives, if not for the release of Duncan.
Oh and Duncan is an avid blogger. He has a contact outside of jail that he writes letters to, who in turns posts the letters online. I won't link to his blog, but here's some of the stuff I saw on there:
-blames tougher sex crimes laws for raising number of sex crimes in U.S.
-talks about laws of love, truth & life (collectively called the Law of William).
When answering the question "does he feel remorse?"
"Do I feel Remorse? Yes, I feel remorse for every time I gassed up my car instead of protesting the war in Iraq. I feel remorse for every time I set money to the cable company but not to help feed the millions of starving children and the world."
Sometimes, it a sad sad world we live in.
-Crimo
I have been a member of Mystery Writers of America (www.mysterywriters.org) since the ‘80s. For the past 12 years, I have belonged to the Florida chapter of MWA and have met many interesting and talented people. I live in Key West and that’s pretty far from most of the chapter’s luncheons and other activities, but the statewide membership keeps in touch via a yahoo.com chat group, as well as its monthly newsletter. Then there’s the annual SleuthFest (www.mwaflorida.org/sleuthfest) gathering that is both a social and educational experience. Non-writers are welcomed to join MWA. Check it out.
Through this networking, I was able to obtain some blurbs for my book, ‘Chasin’ the Wind.” Through MWA, I met Edgar Award winning author Megan Abbott (www.meganabbott.com), Bob Morris (www.bobmorris.net), and Nancy Cohen (www.authorsden.com/nancyjcohen). I knew Jerry Healy (www.jeremiahhealy.com) and Tom Corcoran (www.tomcorcoran.net) from my first days in Key West. All of these people wrote blurbs for my book and all are popular writers.
One of Nancy Cohen’s posting on the yahoo.com group was about an opportunity to participate in the Parkland, Florida, Library’s annual author’s showcase. Nancy gave us the email address for Wendy Peppercorn, program coordinator for the library. Wendy got right back to me and I was on the program, with seven other authors.
One of the other participants was Joe Moore, a mystery writer I met a few years back at SleuthFest. Joe and Lynn Sholes have a great series going and I was able to buy a signed copy of the new Cotton Stone thriller, “The 731 Legacy.” (www.cottonstone.com). While waiting for the program to began, Joe and I had a brief talk about writing and it seems we share a few traits. While we all hear about writers (Steven King and Dennis Lynds come to mind) who get up and write all day, Joe and I are happy to write for three-hours straight. I often feel guilty because I get up in the morning and have my two or three café con leches, read the papers, while watching MSNBC, before sitting in front of the comp