26.February.2007.Mon
The anothology Never Safe is now available from Seven Sisters Press. It contains my story, “Running into Darkness.”
You can get the book through Amazon or any bookseller.
You can get the book through Amazon or any bookseller.
Map of Murder is now available. You may order it directly from Red Coyote Press, from Amazon or any other retail outlet.
My story, “In the Shadow of El Paso” is featured in this anthology.
My story, “In the Shadow of El Paso” is featured in this anthology.
11.February.2007.Sun
The review website “Curled Up With a Good Book” has posted a positive review of Under A Raging Moon. You can read it HERE.
The reviewer says that “the excitement is fast-paced and loaded with sharp dialogue,” among other things. Take a look!
The reviewer says that “the excitement is fast-paced and loaded with sharp dialogue,” among other things. Take a look!
05.February.2007.Mon
UNDER A RAGING MOON is the book cover of the week on Erin Aislinn’s site. You can check it out (and vote for it) right HERE.
04.February.2007.Sun
Well, I attended my first writer’s conference this weekend – the Left Coast Crime Conference in Seattle. I’m still a little breathless from the long weekend, but I have to say it was better than any trip to Disneyland or a rock concert. I was amazed at how enjoyable it was to be around people with a similar love for crime fiction–both other writers and readers.
Although I was listed as a panelist in the program (page 39 for those of you following along at home), I didn’t end up on any panels this time around. Although I know I would have enjoyed that experience, I think that it may have actually been better for this first experience that I was not. It gave me the opportunity to take in the event.
What was the greatest part of LCC? You’d think it would be the panels, which were very interesting. But the greatest part was meeting all of the people that I met this weekend. Some were friends I already knew, some were friends I’d only ever met in cyberspace and some were entirely new to me. The fellowship and exchange of ideas was a thrilling experience.
So who am I talking about? Too many to list in its entirety...but I’ll give it a good try. Anyone I forget or slight, I apologize to in advance – chalk it up to a long weekend and airline haze (four hours in two airports in exchange for 34 minutes in the air – what a bargain, eh?).
Where to start? Well, how about some folks I already knew but was able to see again? Keith Raffel from Palo Alto was there with his daughter – I finished the final three pages of his book dot.dead while I was there. It’s a great read and the technical aspects combined with the thriller elements reminded me of Disclosure in tone. Keith’s a cool guy and I hope to bump into him again.
My Oregon friend, Ron Lovell made it. Among other moments, he and I shared a very rainy walk from the hotel down to the Seattle Mystery Bookstore (Speaking of SMB, they had a great calvacade of authors event and I was honored to be asked to participate. They treat you great at SMB and they have every mystery you could ever want – go there!). Ron’s a class act.
Crime and Suspense alumni Sunny Frazier and Kathleen Strasser were finally available to meet in the flesh. I was able to dine with them on Thursday evening and again at the Saturday night banquet, along with Patricia Harrington. Having exchanged a number of emails with both women, it was a pleasure to put a corporeal form to the ethereal messages! Sunny’s book is out now from Wolfmont and Kathleen’s will be out on July 7, 2007 from Koboca.
Also from C&S, as well as SMFS, I was very pleased to meet short story maestra, Fleur Bradley. I found in her quite a kindred spirit in regard to attitudes about writing, the business and people in general. (And even though she’s sick of hearing it, here’s a shout out to her husband who is serving in the USAF...thanks for your service, sir.) I’d exchanged a few emails with Fleur and have seen her on the discussion groups, but was not prepared for what a genuine and engaging person she is.
Publisher Jim Kavanagh and Editor/Publisher Karen Kavanagh made an appearance on Friday. They are putting out NEVER SAFE, a crime anthology from Seven Sisters Press, this month. My story, “Running into Darkness” appears in it. I got to see the final product and it is a very nice book. Jim and Karen were great people and made me even more glad to be a part of that project. Karen kept thanking me for being so nice, but all I could think of each time was, “But you’re the one who put me in your book!” Good folks, both.
Marilyn Meredith and her husband Hap were two of the most down to earth people I have met. Great to see them. Marilyn writes a series about a small town sheriff – check her out!
I ran into Bill Cameron again, after meeting him in Portland last summer. Bill’s novel, LOST DOG, will be out in April. Someone at the con asked me what it was about and I had to defer to Bill...but I can say that it involves a set of seemingly random events that become a confluence of very exciting moments.
Michael Donnelly was a well-spoken guy with a easy manner. He did an excellent job on his panel and was quite pleasant when I ran into him around the con.
I finally got to meet Deni Dietz, whom I’d shared an email or three. She was a busy girl, though, and we only managed to chat briefly on the elevator.
I kept running into Kit Ehrman, the writer of the Steve Cline series. She was kind enough many months ago to answer some questions for me via email. I was quite impressed with how nice she was about it and so I was happy to finally see her in person to say thank you.
Rob Lopresti is a name I’ve come across on SMFS and who I wanted to meet. I did, but a quick hello and a handshake was all we had time for, as I had to head to the next panel. He moderated a panel with great aplomb.
Con Lehane sat on the “Noir” panel and was not only funny, but insightful. His books on officially on the TBR.
Tim Maleeny was another great moderator and generally cool guy. His book STEALING THE DRAGON sounded like a good read...yep, TBR.
Speaking of cool guys, accents help, don’t they? It certainly seemed so in Peter May’s case. The friendly Scot kept popping up everywhere, but it probably just seemed so because he stood out in his kilt.
I was flattered to meet Margery Flax of Mystery Writers of America. Why flattered? Well, she knew me, for starters. Or of me, I should say. She was very gracious in explaining what MWA was all about and why I should join (I will be Margery. Soon!).
Most of the folks I met were writers or readers, but Jasmine Nakagawa was from Komenar Publishing. They focus on fiction and sound like a very classy outfit. They have an online fiction book club at www.habitualreader.com.
Anthony Bidulka is a Canadian writer from Saskatoon who writes about a character in the small praire town setting. He was one of many writers there who did a fantastic job while moderating one of the panels.
Elle Lothlorien has a book out called VIRGIN, which has a dash of Da Vinci Code to it. I only had a few moments to speak with her and we weren’t able to get together again, much to my disappointment. Of course, it should be no surprise that she was in high demand – her book has an exciting premise and if you go to her web site, you’ll see that she’s also quite attractive.
Incidentally, I had a conversation with another woman this weekend about that subject. She is also very attractive and we talked about how that beauty can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it markets well. On the other hand, people frequently marginalize a pretty woman’s intelligence or writing skill, almost as if you can’t be smart AND pretty.
People are strange. (Or maybe just poorly trained in reality).
As long as we’re talking about beautiful women who write (and I have to tell you, folks – most of them were quite lovely), I had a chance to briefly meet Alexandra Sokoloff. I’d wanted to share a few moments with her because of her screenwriting background, but once again, it didn’t work out that way. On one occasion, there was a little swarming going on and I didn’t want to add to the problem. On another, I was thoroughly enjoying the company I was in and didn’t want to break away. Nonetheless, Ms. Sokoloff seemed like she had a lot of good info on Hollywood...maybe I’ll have the opportunity to find out at some future date. Her book, THE HARROWING, is now on my TBR list.
Pamela Samuels-Young appeared on a panel about books series' and I bumped into her a couple of times. She recruited me as a law enforcement consultant and I returned the favor for a lawyer consultant. Pamela writes legal thrillers with a female lead (her bookmark reads “John Grisham with a sister’s twist”).
Speaking of lawyers, I had the good fortune to share a breakfast with Leslie Budewitz from Montana. In addition to being a lawyer, Leslie is a consultant for writers, providing legal research and manuscript consultation at her website. Leslie was a great conversationalist. Her most recent story was in AHMM, which is a prestigous market to crack (as of yet, I haven’t!).
I met, briefly, Bette and J.J. Lamb. I wanted to chat with them about the collaboration process, but one thing I have discovered now about conventions – there’s never enough time to talk to everyone.
One person I did get a chance to talk to was Linda Joy Singleton, who writes psychic YA titles for Llewellyn. She gave me some wonderful advice about children’s titles and “woo-woo” titles. Nice lady, too!
Rick Blechta probably won’t remember me, but I saw him on a panel and he was frickin' hilarious. The guy has great wit. I plan on picking up his book soon.
Jana Oliver likely won’t remember me, either...we talked for thirty seconds. But she was on a panel about supernatural mysteries and had some interesting things to say. This subject is something that interests me as a new and different type of project is currently brewing on my back burner...
Speaking of “woo-woo” in mystery, I finally met Kat Richardson, whose GREYWALKER is a smash hit. I’m halfway through it now and can say this – I can see why! Success is something I like to see for Kat, as she is a sincerely nice person.
Spitfire Maggie Sefton had me in stitches on Friday night, and it wasn’t just the wine, either. She writes the crime knitting series and if her humor in those books is anything like real life, don’t drink beverages while reading, because you will end up spraying stuff out your nose.
Priscilla Royal, who writes medieval history mysteries, and I had a brief but nice conversation about the subject. Despite her outward appearance, which runs directly to “history professor,” Priscilla has a fantastic sense of humor.
I did get a chance to meet Cornelia Read, whose book FIELDS OF DARKNESS was nominated for an Edgar. Cornelia was a very down to earth chick, though that didn’t stop me from getting her to sign my copy of the book. I wish her great luck on the award and I’m looking forward to the read.
Leann Sweeney plied me with wine and asked some law enforcement questions on Friday evening, which I was only too happy to answer. Her sister Candace was also in attendance (in fact, I think it was actually she who supplied the drink ticket). Both were very sweet women (and I do hope to hear from their associate, the nurse, at some point). Leann writes the Yellow Rose Mystery Series, which are classified as soft-boiled and set in Houston – another reason I liked her, by the way....I love Texas.
Fellow Spokane native Brian Thornton and I managed to exchange about 34 seconds of a conversation before we had to head in opposite directions. Still, it was cool to at least say hi to the guy.
Same with Tim Wohlforth, who is an anthology-mate in NEVER SAFE.
There were other cool folks there that I saw on panels but wasn’t able to meet – Harley Jane Kozak, Lewis Perdue, Rick Mofina, Mike Lawson, Charles Benoit and a host of others.
Oh, and a quick message to the young woman named Lisa whom Fleur and I spoke with at Friday evening’s gala....Lisa, congratulations on becoming a writer.
Lastly, I have to say thank you to Andi Shechter, who headed up LCC...great job, Andi!
That’s it, folks. My wordy post-mortem. I’m sure I missed more than I included and I apologize for that. All I know is that I had a great time and will definitely be attending others as I can afford it.
Although I was listed as a panelist in the program (page 39 for those of you following along at home), I didn’t end up on any panels this time around. Although I know I would have enjoyed that experience, I think that it may have actually been better for this first experience that I was not. It gave me the opportunity to take in the event.
What was the greatest part of LCC? You’d think it would be the panels, which were very interesting. But the greatest part was meeting all of the people that I met this weekend. Some were friends I already knew, some were friends I’d only ever met in cyberspace and some were entirely new to me. The fellowship and exchange of ideas was a thrilling experience.
So who am I talking about? Too many to list in its entirety...but I’ll give it a good try. Anyone I forget or slight, I apologize to in advance – chalk it up to a long weekend and airline haze (four hours in two airports in exchange for 34 minutes in the air – what a bargain, eh?).
Where to start? Well, how about some folks I already knew but was able to see again? Keith Raffel from Palo Alto was there with his daughter – I finished the final three pages of his book dot.dead while I was there. It’s a great read and the technical aspects combined with the thriller elements reminded me of Disclosure in tone. Keith’s a cool guy and I hope to bump into him again.
My Oregon friend, Ron Lovell made it. Among other moments, he and I shared a very rainy walk from the hotel down to the Seattle Mystery Bookstore (Speaking of SMB, they had a great calvacade of authors event and I was honored to be asked to participate. They treat you great at SMB and they have every mystery you could ever want – go there!). Ron’s a class act.
Crime and Suspense alumni Sunny Frazier and Kathleen Strasser were finally available to meet in the flesh. I was able to dine with them on Thursday evening and again at the Saturday night banquet, along with Patricia Harrington. Having exchanged a number of emails with both women, it was a pleasure to put a corporeal form to the ethereal messages! Sunny’s book is out now from Wolfmont and Kathleen’s will be out on July 7, 2007 from Koboca.
Also from C&S, as well as SMFS, I was very pleased to meet short story maestra, Fleur Bradley. I found in her quite a kindred spirit in regard to attitudes about writing, the business and people in general. (And even though she’s sick of hearing it, here’s a shout out to her husband who is serving in the USAF...thanks for your service, sir.) I’d exchanged a few emails with Fleur and have seen her on the discussion groups, but was not prepared for what a genuine and engaging person she is.
Publisher Jim Kavanagh and Editor/Publisher Karen Kavanagh made an appearance on Friday. They are putting out NEVER SAFE, a crime anthology from Seven Sisters Press, this month. My story, “Running into Darkness” appears in it. I got to see the final product and it is a very nice book. Jim and Karen were great people and made me even more glad to be a part of that project. Karen kept thanking me for being so nice, but all I could think of each time was, “But you’re the one who put me in your book!” Good folks, both.
Marilyn Meredith and her husband Hap were two of the most down to earth people I have met. Great to see them. Marilyn writes a series about a small town sheriff – check her out!
I ran into Bill Cameron again, after meeting him in Portland last summer. Bill’s novel, LOST DOG, will be out in April. Someone at the con asked me what it was about and I had to defer to Bill...but I can say that it involves a set of seemingly random events that become a confluence of very exciting moments.
Michael Donnelly was a well-spoken guy with a easy manner. He did an excellent job on his panel and was quite pleasant when I ran into him around the con.
I finally got to meet Deni Dietz, whom I’d shared an email or three. She was a busy girl, though, and we only managed to chat briefly on the elevator.
I kept running into Kit Ehrman, the writer of the Steve Cline series. She was kind enough many months ago to answer some questions for me via email. I was quite impressed with how nice she was about it and so I was happy to finally see her in person to say thank you.
Rob Lopresti is a name I’ve come across on SMFS and who I wanted to meet. I did, but a quick hello and a handshake was all we had time for, as I had to head to the next panel. He moderated a panel with great aplomb.
Con Lehane sat on the “Noir” panel and was not only funny, but insightful. His books on officially on the TBR.
Tim Maleeny was another great moderator and generally cool guy. His book STEALING THE DRAGON sounded like a good read...yep, TBR.
Speaking of cool guys, accents help, don’t they? It certainly seemed so in Peter May’s case. The friendly Scot kept popping up everywhere, but it probably just seemed so because he stood out in his kilt.
I was flattered to meet Margery Flax of Mystery Writers of America. Why flattered? Well, she knew me, for starters. Or of me, I should say. She was very gracious in explaining what MWA was all about and why I should join (I will be Margery. Soon!).
Most of the folks I met were writers or readers, but Jasmine Nakagawa was from Komenar Publishing. They focus on fiction and sound like a very classy outfit. They have an online fiction book club at www.habitualreader.com.
Anthony Bidulka is a Canadian writer from Saskatoon who writes about a character in the small praire town setting. He was one of many writers there who did a fantastic job while moderating one of the panels.
Elle Lothlorien has a book out called VIRGIN, which has a dash of Da Vinci Code to it. I only had a few moments to speak with her and we weren’t able to get together again, much to my disappointment. Of course, it should be no surprise that she was in high demand – her book has an exciting premise and if you go to her web site, you’ll see that she’s also quite attractive.
Incidentally, I had a conversation with another woman this weekend about that subject. She is also very attractive and we talked about how that beauty can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it markets well. On the other hand, people frequently marginalize a pretty woman’s intelligence or writing skill, almost as if you can’t be smart AND pretty.
People are strange. (Or maybe just poorly trained in reality).
As long as we’re talking about beautiful women who write (and I have to tell you, folks – most of them were quite lovely), I had a chance to briefly meet Alexandra Sokoloff. I’d wanted to share a few moments with her because of her screenwriting background, but once again, it didn’t work out that way. On one occasion, there was a little swarming going on and I didn’t want to add to the problem. On another, I was thoroughly enjoying the company I was in and didn’t want to break away. Nonetheless, Ms. Sokoloff seemed like she had a lot of good info on Hollywood...maybe I’ll have the opportunity to find out at some future date. Her book, THE HARROWING, is now on my TBR list.
Pamela Samuels-Young appeared on a panel about books series' and I bumped into her a couple of times. She recruited me as a law enforcement consultant and I returned the favor for a lawyer consultant. Pamela writes legal thrillers with a female lead (her bookmark reads “John Grisham with a sister’s twist”).
Speaking of lawyers, I had the good fortune to share a breakfast with Leslie Budewitz from Montana. In addition to being a lawyer, Leslie is a consultant for writers, providing legal research and manuscript consultation at her website. Leslie was a great conversationalist. Her most recent story was in AHMM, which is a prestigous market to crack (as of yet, I haven’t!).
I met, briefly, Bette and J.J. Lamb. I wanted to chat with them about the collaboration process, but one thing I have discovered now about conventions – there’s never enough time to talk to everyone.
One person I did get a chance to talk to was Linda Joy Singleton, who writes psychic YA titles for Llewellyn. She gave me some wonderful advice about children’s titles and “woo-woo” titles. Nice lady, too!
Rick Blechta probably won’t remember me, but I saw him on a panel and he was frickin' hilarious. The guy has great wit. I plan on picking up his book soon.
Jana Oliver likely won’t remember me, either...we talked for thirty seconds. But she was on a panel about supernatural mysteries and had some interesting things to say. This subject is something that interests me as a new and different type of project is currently brewing on my back burner...
Speaking of “woo-woo” in mystery, I finally met Kat Richardson, whose GREYWALKER is a smash hit. I’m halfway through it now and can say this – I can see why! Success is something I like to see for Kat, as she is a sincerely nice person.
Spitfire Maggie Sefton had me in stitches on Friday night, and it wasn’t just the wine, either. She writes the crime knitting series and if her humor in those books is anything like real life, don’t drink beverages while reading, because you will end up spraying stuff out your nose.
Priscilla Royal, who writes medieval history mysteries, and I had a brief but nice conversation about the subject. Despite her outward appearance, which runs directly to “history professor,” Priscilla has a fantastic sense of humor.
I did get a chance to meet Cornelia Read, whose book FIELDS OF DARKNESS was nominated for an Edgar. Cornelia was a very down to earth chick, though that didn’t stop me from getting her to sign my copy of the book. I wish her great luck on the award and I’m looking forward to the read.
Leann Sweeney plied me with wine and asked some law enforcement questions on Friday evening, which I was only too happy to answer. Her sister Candace was also in attendance (in fact, I think it was actually she who supplied the drink ticket). Both were very sweet women (and I do hope to hear from their associate, the nurse, at some point). Leann writes the Yellow Rose Mystery Series, which are classified as soft-boiled and set in Houston – another reason I liked her, by the way....I love Texas.
Fellow Spokane native Brian Thornton and I managed to exchange about 34 seconds of a conversation before we had to head in opposite directions. Still, it was cool to at least say hi to the guy.
Same with Tim Wohlforth, who is an anthology-mate in NEVER SAFE.
There were other cool folks there that I saw on panels but wasn’t able to meet – Harley Jane Kozak, Lewis Perdue, Rick Mofina, Mike Lawson, Charles Benoit and a host of others.
Oh, and a quick message to the young woman named Lisa whom Fleur and I spoke with at Friday evening’s gala....Lisa, congratulations on becoming a writer.
Lastly, I have to say thank you to Andi Shechter, who headed up LCC...great job, Andi!
That’s it, folks. My wordy post-mortem. I’m sure I missed more than I included and I apologize for that. All I know is that I had a great time and will definitely be attending others as I can afford it.
