What They're Talking About

123 Meme

Karen — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:37:18 +1000

Meme's frighten me to death.

Tag six other people. Most days I can't remember who I am, let alone who anyone else is.

But at least I can sort of play this one:

Sort of thanks to Katherine Howell the 123 Meme is pretty simple:

How it works is this:

Pick up the nearest book.
Open to page 123.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the next three sentences.
Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you in the first place.

So the nearest book is Michael Robotham's Shatter which is sitting beside me waiting for me to write up a review.

"Julianne is a better person than I am. She is stronger emotionally and has more invested in holding this family together. Here's another cliché - there's a third person in our marriage"

How's that for a cliffhanger.

Now to tag onwards - Sunnie, Andrea and Helen can all post here - so ladies it's over to you. Sally - you're it as well.

15th Annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards: 2008 Women’s Crime & Mystery Short Story Competition

Karen — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:15:04 +1000

15th Annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards: 2008 Women’s Crime & Mystery Short Story Competition

$3100 worth of prizes

Harper Collins First Prize: $750 & the coveted Scarlet Stiletto Trophy Donated by Sally Brown

Kill City 2nd prize: $400

Readings Books Films Music Third Prize: $250 (voucher)

Allen & Unwin Young Writer’s Award: $250

The Kerry Greenwood Malice Domestic Award: $500

The Cate Kennedy Award for Best New Talent: $350

The Dorothy Porter Award for Innovation: $250

Pulp Fiction Bookshop: Funniest Crime Award: $150 (voucher)

Chronicles Bookshop: Best Investigative story $200

Thanks also to Spinifex Books

Story length: 5000 words max.

Entry: $10

Closing date: August 31, 2008

Judges: National Convenors, Sisters in Crime

Entry form attached

Further information: Sisters in Crime, GPO Box 5319, Melbourne 3001 or ring Carmel Shute: (03) 9537 2781 (a/h); 0412 569 356

2008 Arthur Ellis Awards Shortlist Announced by Crime Writers of Canada

Karen — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:46:41 +1000

Crime Writers of Canada have announced the shortlist for the 2008 Arthur Ellis Awards for the best in Canadian crime writing and I guess you're wondering why we're announcing it on AustCrime - well Susan Parisi made the list.

The nominees include:

Best Novel:
Linwood Barclay, No Time for Goodbye (Bantam)
Terry Carroll, Snow Candy (Mercury Press)
Maureen Jennings, A Journeyman to Grief (McClelland & Stewart)
Louise Penny, The Cruellest Month (McArthur & Company)
Jon Redfern, Trumpets Sound No More (RendezVous Crime/Napoleon & Company)

Best Short Story:
Vicki Cameron, "Eight Lords A'Leaping" in Locked Up (Deadlock Press)
Maureen Jennings, "Wreckwood" in Blood on the Holly (Baskerville Books)
D.J. McIntosh, "The Hounds of Winter" in Blood on the Holly (Baskerville Books)
Rick Mofina, "As Long as We Both Shall Live" in Blood on the Holly (Baskerville Books)
Leslie Watts, "Turners" in Kingston Whig-Standard (July 7, 2007)

Best Juvenile:
Anita Daher, Racing for Diamonds (Orca)
Anita Daher, Spider's Song (Puffin Canada)
Vicki Grant, I.D. (Orca)
Shane Peacock, Eye of the Crow (Tundra)
Drew Hayden Taylor, The Night Wanderer (Annick Press)

Best First Novel:
Claire Cameron, The Line Painter (HarperCollins)
Sean Chercover, Big City, Bad Blood (William Morrow/HarperCollins)
Liam Durcan, García¹s Heart (McClelland & Stewart)
Susan Parisi, Blood of Dreams (Penguin Australia)
Sharon Rowse, The Silk Train Murder (Carroll & Graf)
Marc Strange, Sucker Punch (Castle Street Mysteries/Dundurn)

Nominess in the remaining categories -- Best non-fiction crime writing, Best crime book in the French language, best unpublished manuscript -- can be seen online at:

http://crimewriterscanada.com/cwc/pages/coolcanadiancrime_AEnominees08.htm

Winners will be announced June 5th in Toronto. The awards are open to any writer living in Canada, regardless of nationality, and to Canadian writers living outside Canada.

4MA's Maddy has her say

Karen — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:35:14 +1100

If you're not following In For Questioning - now might be a good time to start. Angie has done a great interview with one of the excellent List-Moderators, and Founding Members of 4_Mystery_Addicts - the best mystery email list around. Wander on over to In For Questioning to listen to the podcast of them chatting about 4MA and all things mystery (and for Maddy giving an enormous rap to The Broken Shore - amongst many other fine books and authors - into the bargain!)

Adrian Hyland reviewed in The Philadelphia Inquirer

Karen — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:13:25 +1000

Thanks to Peter from Detectives Beyond Borders for mentioning - his excellent review of Adrian Hyland's Diamond Dove (US Title is Moonlight Downs) appears this weekend in that paper. You can read the online version for a while at:

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/literature/17082526.html

Around the World in 80 Sleuths

Karen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:31:31 +1000

Interesting idea from Jonathan Gibbs in The Independent (UK)

" Holmes and Watson would be proud. Crime fiction is booming as never before - and with dozens of new titles translated into English for the first time, there’s a detective for every holiday destination. Jonathan Gibbs tracks down 80 of the best sleuths to escape with this summer...." for more wander over to the listing.

We get a mention albeit I'm not sure what the Northern Territories is - I guess he means the Northern Territory. (Quibble - me ........ )

Asian Crime Fiction

Karen — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:13:56 +1000

Before anyone groans and ducks for cover - we all know that Top 10 lists depends on what second of the day that you pick your Top 10, but Catherine Sampson's list in The Guardian highlights some books that deserve mention - Top 10 or not!

Wander over for a look at the range of selections and see how many you can tick off - either in your MtTBR or that you have read. I chastened to admit I don't have any of Catherine's own books, but in her top 10 I'm slightly more relieved to note that some I've got and some I've even read!

Got but not read:

Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong
Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
Out by Natsuo Kirino
All She Was Worth by Miyake Miyabe

Read:

Inspector Imanishi Investigates by Seicho Matsumoto
(I must admit I was surprised to not see Points & Lines mentioned which I thought was fabulous)
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Jack the Ladykiller by HRF Keating (I'd forgotten all about this book - I wonder if this is one of the earlier versions of crime in Verse?)

But the absolute worst part about these lists is that I realise how many many many books there are that I haven't read yet and I can't for the life of me work out how I'm going to find the time to do this......

Australian Independent Booksellers Launch 'The Indie Award'

Karen — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:37:01 +1000

PRESS RELEASE

AUSTRALIA’S INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS

LAUNCH NEW ANNUAL BOOK PRIZE

THE ‘INDIE’ AWARD

Australia’s independent booksellers will show their support for Australian authors with the launch of their major new prize, The Indie Award.

The $18,000 prize will honour an Australian author for the best book of the past twelve months, with the winner to be announced on Monday 6^th October 2008. The award is being managed by Leading Edge Books, a group of independent bookstores with member stores across Australia, both metropolitan and regional, including many of Australia’s iconic independent bookshops. The award will demonstrate independent booksellers’ commitment to Australian books and writers, with over 120 bookshops working together to sponsor this annual award.

Leading Edge Books General Manager Chris Burgess says the launch of The Indie Award is an exciting initiative for independent booksellers.

“Independent bookshops make up over 20% of all books sold in Australia and maintain a strong and vibrant position in the market. This compares very favourably with about 10% in the UK and only 5% in the US. Independent bookstores hold a special place in the hearts of their customers as havens of enjoyment, stimulation and relaxation in an ever-busier world. We feel the launch of The Indie Award sees them take their rightful place in the spotlight as key supporters of Australian authors. Their incredible passion and knowledge of books makes them uniquely placed to judge and recommend the best Australian books of the past year to their customers and the general reading public.”

Over 100 titles have been submitted to The Indie Award panel in the categories of Fiction, Debut Fiction, Non Fiction and Children’s Books. Independent booksellers around the country are now madly reading, with the winner from each of the four categories to be announced on 25^th August. The winner of The Indie Award for the book of the year will be chosen by the booksellers from the four shortlist category winners and announced on Monday 6^th October.

The initiative has received wide support from across the entire industry as these messages indicate:

“Everywhere else in the English-speaking world, bookselling has become the province of chains, of massive centralisation, of venality and a steady loss of competence on the shop floor. Thank God we still have booksellers passionately committed to our shared reading culture. This is something we must not give up. For nearly thirty years I've made a living from writing fiction in this country with the steady support of independent bookshops. This year I've been lucky enough to have a novel reach the top of the bestseller lists. A literary novel at number one. Hand-sold all the way there by people who take books personally.”

Tim Winton, Author

“The independent bookselling sector is stronger, more vibrant and more important in Australia than anywhere in the English-speaking world. This is good for authors, good for publishers and above all good for readers. As independent publishers we applaud our bookseller colleagues for their initiative in creating and sponsoring this award.”

Patrick Gallagher, Executive Chairman and Publishing Director, Allen & Unwin

For media enquiries and further information contact: Chris Burgess

On telephone: 02 9497 4022 Fax: 02 8208 3274 E: burgessc@leadingedgegroup.com.au

Become a Crime Writer - Penguin Australia wants you to give it a go

Karen — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:17:18 +1000

Now this is the sort of news that makes the despairing Australian Crime Fiction fan do happy dances in the kitchen first thing in the morning!

Penguin Australia (bless their little cotton socks) have started a competition to find a new Australian voice in the commercial crime and thriller market.

"I've been a London editor for 13 years now, specialising in the crime-thrillers genre, and it really is saturated with US and UK authors," says Beverley Cousins, editorial director of the Penguin Group (UK), who will judge entries with British crime writer Nicci French (or writers Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, who write under the French pseudonym), Robert Sessions, Penguin's Australian publishing director and Melbourne bookseller Paul Landymore.

The winner will be published by Penguin Australia and three runners-up will receive a detailed critique of their work.

If you head over to penguinmostwanted.com.au, you will find tips on writing the right sort of book: (plot / pace / well drawn characters); a good ending; tips on content and so on.

Entries are due by the 23rd June.

And if you give it a go - let us know!

Blood Sunset by Jarad Henry gets a mention at The Big Thrill

Karen — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:16:29 +1000

It's really nice to see Blood Sunset by Jarad Henry get a mention on The Big Thrill's website and in their news letter this month.

Great site - wander over for a visit, and make sure you sign up for their webzine.