31.July.2006.Mon
On August 19th, I will be appearing at Field of Beans, a coffee shop in Spokane (5520 N. Maple). The exact time on that Saturday hasn't been set yet, but I'll post it soon.
They have some great smoothies (the Bloomie Smoothie, in particular), so if you're out and about in Spokane on the 19th, stop in and see me (and buy a book, eh?).
They have some great smoothies (the Bloomie Smoothie, in particular), so if you're out and about in Spokane on the 19th, stop in and see me (and buy a book, eh?).
Five for Fighting and a Murder Misconduct
[Short Stories] -
Frank Zafiro - Frankzafiro@msn.com @ 16:52
My story "Five for Fighting and a Murder Misconduct" will be in the July/August issue of FMAM (Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine). I received my early run contributor's copy (a .pdf) and I have to say that, as always, it is a slick mystery magazine. They did a beautiful job with my story.
I'm very pleased to appear in this magazine.
I'm very pleased to appear in this magazine.
I finished another short story yesterday. The title, right now, is "The Bastard Mummy." It was my original idea for the My Little Book of the Dead entry. Originally, I figured about 3500 words, but it quickly ballooned. The final first draft weighs in at just under 14,000 words.
Ouch!
Luckily, I had another mummy idea ("No Worse Curse") to get off to the editor for the mummy anthology. Now the trick will be finding a home for this one!
Ouch!
Luckily, I had another mummy idea ("No Worse Curse") to get off to the editor for the mummy anthology. Now the trick will be finding a home for this one!
There have been more reviews for Under A Raging Moon popping up.
On the website for Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine (my short story "Five for Fighting and a Murder Misconduct" will be appearing in the July/August issue), the lovely Dr. Cynthia Lea Clark wrote:
River City is like any other city. It has crime, political problems, and police officers with lives, disappointments, fears, tragedy and hope. But UNDER A RAGING MOON which has created River City is unique. It begins with one of River City's police officers having to deal with a psychological evaluation to see if he or she is fit for duty...and then story begins.
River City is plagued by a gunman robbing convenience stores. The more he robs, the more violent the robber becomes. This incites the police department to catch him all the more. But it's not that easy. The powers that be, tie their hands.
As the police officers, Thomas Chisolm, Katie Macleod, and Stefan Kopriva do their job, we also follow them in their life. We see their ups and downs, their losses, and gains, their compromises and compromising positions. We see these police officers and other members of the force as real people not just stereotypical characters. Frank Zafiro's characters come to life. When reading UNDER A RAGING MOON, you feel as if you are transported into the action, you are viewing it, living it, not just reading it. Zafiro has an uncanny way of making these character's seem as if they are your neighbors, your cops, your friends.
UNDER A RAGING MOON is a fast paced, easy to read police procedural novel written by a policeman who has put his soul into it. It is strong in emotion with lows and highs that flows with a steadiness. UNDER A RAGING MOON is a wonderful escape into the world of River City and I highly recommend it.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give a 5!
From Amazon.com:
If you like the police life, or even the stories of cops on the street this book is the one for you. While reading this book not only could I not put it down, I found myself sitting in the pasenger seat as the characters preformed their jobs in River City. I have not read writing that pulled me in quite like this. This is the first book I have read from this author but I assure you that I am eagerly waiting for the next in the series.
--Eric Erdman
Under A Raging Moon takes place in River City. A fictional city loosely based around Spokane, WA. I truly liked this book alot...couldn't put it down once I had picked it up. This book was a pleasant surprise for the reader with its plot twists and blow by blow accounts of police procedure about a serial robber that is getting more and more violent with every robbery. I am looking forward to the author's next novel with eager anticipation.
--"So Many Books" (this user is actually a reader in Spokane named Stephanie. She contacted me after finishing the book)
On the website for Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine (my short story "Five for Fighting and a Murder Misconduct" will be appearing in the July/August issue), the lovely Dr. Cynthia Lea Clark wrote:
River City is like any other city. It has crime, political problems, and police officers with lives, disappointments, fears, tragedy and hope. But UNDER A RAGING MOON which has created River City is unique. It begins with one of River City's police officers having to deal with a psychological evaluation to see if he or she is fit for duty...and then story begins.
River City is plagued by a gunman robbing convenience stores. The more he robs, the more violent the robber becomes. This incites the police department to catch him all the more. But it's not that easy. The powers that be, tie their hands.
As the police officers, Thomas Chisolm, Katie Macleod, and Stefan Kopriva do their job, we also follow them in their life. We see their ups and downs, their losses, and gains, their compromises and compromising positions. We see these police officers and other members of the force as real people not just stereotypical characters. Frank Zafiro's characters come to life. When reading UNDER A RAGING MOON, you feel as if you are transported into the action, you are viewing it, living it, not just reading it. Zafiro has an uncanny way of making these character's seem as if they are your neighbors, your cops, your friends.
UNDER A RAGING MOON is a fast paced, easy to read police procedural novel written by a policeman who has put his soul into it. It is strong in emotion with lows and highs that flows with a steadiness. UNDER A RAGING MOON is a wonderful escape into the world of River City and I highly recommend it.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give a 5!
From Amazon.com:
If you like the police life, or even the stories of cops on the street this book is the one for you. While reading this book not only could I not put it down, I found myself sitting in the pasenger seat as the characters preformed their jobs in River City. I have not read writing that pulled me in quite like this. This is the first book I have read from this author but I assure you that I am eagerly waiting for the next in the series.
--Eric Erdman
Under A Raging Moon takes place in River City. A fictional city loosely based around Spokane, WA. I truly liked this book alot...couldn't put it down once I had picked it up. This book was a pleasant surprise for the reader with its plot twists and blow by blow accounts of police procedure about a serial robber that is getting more and more violent with every robbery. I am looking forward to the author's next novel with eager anticipation.
--"So Many Books" (this user is actually a reader in Spokane named Stephanie. She contacted me after finishing the book)
My short story "Walking Through" will be published in the debut issue of Lavender Raven.
Lavender Raven is a crime/mystery fiction eZine with a gay/lesbian theme that will premiere sometime in the Fall of 2006. It is edited by Joe DeMarco, who also edits Mysterical-E.
"Walking Through" is about a gay River City cop who is still in the closet. He runs into a situation that focuses on his sexuality. In addition to the surface story, I intended the story to be a metaphor for how civilians treat a person different after discovering that s/he is a cop...and also a larger metaphor for just treating people different based on a label rather than as an individual.
I'll post again when "Walking Through" is published.
Lavender Raven is a crime/mystery fiction eZine with a gay/lesbian theme that will premiere sometime in the Fall of 2006. It is edited by Joe DeMarco, who also edits Mysterical-E.
"Walking Through" is about a gay River City cop who is still in the closet. He runs into a situation that focuses on his sexuality. In addition to the surface story, I intended the story to be a metaphor for how civilians treat a person different after discovering that s/he is a cop...and also a larger metaphor for just treating people different based on a label rather than as an individual.
I'll post again when "Walking Through" is published.
18.July.2006.Tue
There have been some written reviews of Under A Raging Moon...all of them by independent readers so far (though the review copies have gone out to publications and reviews will hopefully begin to appear in those mediums within the next month or so).
Here are three:
For those of us who can’t pass by the latest works of Ed McBain and John Sanford without making the purchase...add Frank Zafiro to your list. Finished at 2:00 a.m. this morning, UNDER A RAGING MOON left me bruised, depressed and exhilarated, all at the same time. Tough and inescapable, it races down the tough streets and back alleys with the men and women who lay their lives on the line for the good folk of River City.
Meet Thomas Chisholm, a field training officer (FTO), who will teach you how to stay alive. Tie one on with Kopriva, Giovanni, Ridgeway, and Karl Winter. Yes, “Choir Practice has never been this lively and twisted since the days of Joseph Waumbaugh. Laugh and cry with MacLeod and all the others, when you join me as a groupie at Duke’s.
Meet Scarface, the antagonist from hell, to know him is not to love him, who leads the force on a wild ride through River City, his actions become bolder, leading to high tension, edge of the seat reading...with grim results. An inventing, twisting plot, with characters vivid and entertaining, UNDER A RAGING MOON’S street-savvy dialogue and fast-paced action took me on one long, deep-into-the-night reading.
Frank Zafiro’s River City series debut has left me wanting for more. From the sympathetic to the destitute to the desperate people they deal with, the Department should have many more thrills in store. When I reach back to read my favorite authors’ first works, UNDER A RAGING MOON likens propitiously.
Dennis Leppanen, Free-Lance Journalist
And from Amazon.com:
River City convenience stores are being robbed by a gunman with a deep scar on his face. Nicknamed, Scarface, by the cops... with each additional robbery he becomes more and more violent.
Without a doubt, the best police procedural I've ever read! Having read several of the authors short stories, a number of them based in River City, I was compelled to read his first novel. The way the book, and realistic dialog proceeded... kept me up late into the night. Zafiro manages to get us deeply involved into both the personal and professional lives of his River City cops. Don't keep us waiting long for a sequel!
Reviewer: M. Campio "Book Maniac" (West Hills, CA USA)
From the Wolfmont Publishing website:
As he sits talking to a psychiatrist about the critical incident that has brought him into the doctor's office on this day, an unnamed police officer embroils us directly in the saga of how he got to this place. A riveting, hard-hitting tale of cops in action against the bad guys, Under a Raging Moon delivers a very real vision of how the police operate in an environment of constant threat.
Combining action and intense emotion, the novel is a winner on the hardboiled side of the mystery equation. Expect something fresh and different though, a step forward in the renaissance of crime fiction that appeals to the masculine side of any gender reader.
G. Miki Hayden, award winning author of The Naked Writer, a complete style and composition book for all levels of writers
All in all, a very nice start.
Here are three:
For those of us who can’t pass by the latest works of Ed McBain and John Sanford without making the purchase...add Frank Zafiro to your list. Finished at 2:00 a.m. this morning, UNDER A RAGING MOON left me bruised, depressed and exhilarated, all at the same time. Tough and inescapable, it races down the tough streets and back alleys with the men and women who lay their lives on the line for the good folk of River City.
Meet Thomas Chisholm, a field training officer (FTO), who will teach you how to stay alive. Tie one on with Kopriva, Giovanni, Ridgeway, and Karl Winter. Yes, “Choir Practice has never been this lively and twisted since the days of Joseph Waumbaugh. Laugh and cry with MacLeod and all the others, when you join me as a groupie at Duke’s.
Meet Scarface, the antagonist from hell, to know him is not to love him, who leads the force on a wild ride through River City, his actions become bolder, leading to high tension, edge of the seat reading...with grim results. An inventing, twisting plot, with characters vivid and entertaining, UNDER A RAGING MOON’S street-savvy dialogue and fast-paced action took me on one long, deep-into-the-night reading.
Frank Zafiro’s River City series debut has left me wanting for more. From the sympathetic to the destitute to the desperate people they deal with, the Department should have many more thrills in store. When I reach back to read my favorite authors’ first works, UNDER A RAGING MOON likens propitiously.
Dennis Leppanen, Free-Lance Journalist
And from Amazon.com:
River City convenience stores are being robbed by a gunman with a deep scar on his face. Nicknamed, Scarface, by the cops... with each additional robbery he becomes more and more violent.
Without a doubt, the best police procedural I've ever read! Having read several of the authors short stories, a number of them based in River City, I was compelled to read his first novel. The way the book, and realistic dialog proceeded... kept me up late into the night. Zafiro manages to get us deeply involved into both the personal and professional lives of his River City cops. Don't keep us waiting long for a sequel!
Reviewer: M. Campio "Book Maniac" (West Hills, CA USA)
From the Wolfmont Publishing website:
As he sits talking to a psychiatrist about the critical incident that has brought him into the doctor's office on this day, an unnamed police officer embroils us directly in the saga of how he got to this place. A riveting, hard-hitting tale of cops in action against the bad guys, Under a Raging Moon delivers a very real vision of how the police operate in an environment of constant threat.
Combining action and intense emotion, the novel is a winner on the hardboiled side of the mystery equation. Expect something fresh and different though, a step forward in the renaissance of crime fiction that appeals to the masculine side of any gender reader.
G. Miki Hayden, award winning author of The Naked Writer, a complete style and composition book for all levels of writers
All in all, a very nice start.
I've begun work on Beneath a Weeping Sky. I've also started work on the next Kopriva novel, yet untitled.
Odds are, I'll tinker on both at the same time until one takes over and then it'll get full attention until the first draft is finished. Both are so far ahead in the River City timeline that there is no rush, but I like to write on a story before it becomes stale.
Odds are, I'll tinker on both at the same time until one takes over and then it'll get full attention until the first draft is finished. Both are so far ahead in the River City timeline that there is no rush, but I like to write on a story before it becomes stale.
My short story, "No Worse Curse," will appear in an independent anthology with a mummy theme called "My Little Book of the Dead." This one is not a River City story. Release date of the anthology TBD.
Meanwhile, I'm working on another mummy-related story starring Detectives Finch and Elias...we'll see how that goes. I'm still looking for a home for their first starring role.
Meanwhile, I'm working on another mummy-related story starring Detectives Finch and Elias...we'll see how that goes. I'm still looking for a home for their first starring role.
