Gerrie Ferris Finger

WHISPERING - a Night Owl Top Reviewer Pick

2012-01-27T19:59:00.001-05:00

WHISPERING
Night Owl Reviews
http://amzn.to/scXRp0

Score: 4.50 / 5 - Reviewer Top Pick

I love reading historical romance and mysteries set in the past, but I have never had a story so utterly transport me to another time and place as Gerrie Ferris Finger's WHISPERING.

The author manages to perfectly capture a sense of the past, in this case the 1920s, by writing with careful attention to the language the characters use, the descriptions of their clothing and the historical events that impact them, such as the effect of World War I.

In the story, interesting and independent heroine Cleo Snow travels with her cousin to Sago Island, Georgia. The trip is meant to be a vacation of sorts from her work as a nurse and a chance to get past the grief she feels over losing her fiance in The Great War

Upon arriving at the palatial home of her cousin's friend, Graham Henry, Cleo is struck with an instant attraction to the smooth-talking former fly boy. When a woman disappears from the island, claiming she'd been having an affair with Graham, Cleo sets about to solve the mystery of the woman's disappearance. Island resident, vet and falconer Doc Holliday, is another source of attraction and a bit of mystery for Cleo.

Cleo is an utterly charming heroine, intelligent and curious about every new experience. She comes to the island with personal wounds, but a cunning and perceptive eye that helps her to discover the secrets of its residents. Most impressive, after great loss, she has the courage to risk her heart again. The ending of the story gives me hope that there are more Cleo Snow stories to come, and I can't wait. WHISPERING is the perfect blend of romance, suspense and a vivid historical setting.

Jan 26, 2012

http://www.nightowlreviews.com/nor/Reviews/Christy-Carlyle-reviews-Whispering-by-Gerrie-Ferris-Finger.aspx

Happy Reading,

Christy Carlyle

The Night Owl Reviews Team
WEtap Media, LLC
2459 SE TV HWY, #153
Hillsboro, Oregon 97123
http://www.nightowlreviews.com

http://amzn.to/scXRp0

THE GHOST SHIP - Blending history and fiction

2012-01-24T08:43:00.001-05:00

A Review of:

The Ghost Ship
Author: Gerrie Ferris Finger

Reviewer: Paul Kendall - K3Book - U.K.

The ghost ship is The Carroll A Deering it was lost in 1921. What happened to her crew? Nobody knows. Woo, spooky, The wild Atlantic coast of the United States, North Carolina is where the ship went down and the book really does take you there.

You can hear the sea birds, you can smell sea air, you feel like you are walking down a wild wind swept beach, as the words of the kindle text to speech, appear in your head. This book is well written.

Ann Gavrion is the main character, At first, Ann seems to be a stereotypical superstitious type with a liking for gin and tonic. I thought hello, she has had a few too many (poor girl) and is seeing ghosts. we have all done it, (if we are honest), I used to see visions of Dolly Parton singing 9 to 5 at the end of my bed after a heavy nights drinking.

Anyway, then you the reader are captured by the story. Ann, as it turns out is just the opposite of what you first thought, she is not this irrational superstitious mystic, because she is not just "seeing things".

The ghost are usually in the head of the beholder, but not in this story. I don't know why, but this aspect of the book came as a bit of a surprise, a real punch in the kisser.

There is more than a hint of science in the book, the answer to the ghostly goings on? Well I am not sure about that, but may be… it's interesting. That's all I want to say, read the book to see what I mean.

If anyone asks me about the secret of this book, I grab ahold of their arm and say (in a dramatic fashion), "we don't like to talk about it round hear, OK".

The book is full of brilliant characters all very memorable. Mr and Mrs Sweeny were my favourites. But the author has also built a light house in our imagination, we see and feel the spirit of the wild Atlantic coast, the ghost ship, the bar, the guest house, the media following, Ann around like those storm chasers, it all works.

The book is a good read, it's gripping and very enjoyable. The whales beaching. (my theory is they don't want to drown, so they commit suicide by beaching themselves on land). May be desperate men in storms do the same ? The book is full of thought provoking events and encounters and theories. The history of that coast line, the storms, the names and places are all well researched. Take the place name Cape Fear for instance, (mentioned in the book), whoever named it cape fear was more than hinting at the legions of dead sailors who had encountered a horrific death there over the years. That's partly what the book is all about, lost souls that come back to haunt the living? Come back from where is the secret that I dare not tell you,, woo, spooky. Err well.. Yes it is actually.

The book has a lot of bread crumbs left around for the reader to follow, as I have said, some interesting historic references, some clues for the detectives to enjoy, some sex, some romance but not too much. Throw in the Bermuda triangle, whales, birds, a cat with six toes, the media, the ghost ship, small boats, a lighthouse and a cast of great characters, then you have it. So slug back a gin and tonic and enjoy. (Remember if you want to splice the main brace you will need some Rum for that). It's not just salty old sea dogs who will like this book (the 2 million people with boats in Europe, Australia and North America) I think the market for this book is of course much wider.

The book is highly recommended.
Paul Kendall Leeds, UK

Print edition now available: http://amzn.to/v47bAo

Kindle ebook: http://amzn.to/r3imp5

Read and enjoy!

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

The Panty Museum - it had to be Brussels

2011-12-27T13:26:00.002-05:00

I love museums. I've written about several, shall we say, oddball museums. There's the British Lawn Mower Museum, the Beijing Tap Water Museum and the redoubtable Mustard Museum in Wisconsin.

A couple of years ago, Jan Bucquoy, the enfant terrible of the Belgian art scene created the "Musee du Slip" in Brussels. He displays underwear of famous celebrities and politicians like those of Belgian Minister Didier Reynders. So there can be no doubt, his faded blue boxer shorts came with a certificate of authenticity. To further titillate panty fetishers, the white striped boxers are displayed next to the G-string that allegedly covered certain parts of the former Belgian porn star Brigitte Lahaie.

There rules, after all. Owners must have worn their undies for at least one day.

"I want to create poetry with everyday things by putting them in a different context," Bucquoy told Reuters. "I say underpants are art. Put them in a frame and create a new way of looking at the world."

"Alongside celebrity skivvies are artworks that Bucquoy has created over the past 25 years featuring celebrities and underwear that is admittedly not their own. For example, you can find ones of former US President John F. Kennedy and Adolf Hitler wearing underwear on their heads.

An Andy Warhol-style print of Margaret Thatcher, wearing a skin-coloured flower-patterned pair of women's underpants, contrasts sharply with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose tri-coloured Y-fronted headwear unmistakably resembles a Napolean Bonaparte hat.

Bucquoy is reported saying that if he had portrayed Hitler in his underpants there would not have been a war. "My quest as an artist is to try to get rid of hierarchy," adding that he hoped he might be able to get underwear samples for his museum from French first lady Carla Bruni, Pope Benedict XVI and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Now there's a trifecta for your fetish.

--From Reuters news reports

Submitted by Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

WHISPERING - an Excerpt

2011-12-18T13:25:00.000-05:00

It's 1921, the Great War (WWI) is over, Prohibition is the law of the land. Women now have the vote, the flapper era has begun.

After cognac had been served and Neill and Teddy yawned themselves to their feet pleading exhaustion, she found herself next to Graham, walking down the hall to the bottom of the staircase. She swallowed the knot at the back of her throat.

“Would you like a moonlight walk on the beach?” he asked.

She stood with her hand on the banister, unable to meet his eyes. “I need sleep.”

“I bet. Traveling can give one the screaming meemies.”

She grinned at him. “More like swooning.”

He covered her hand with his. “No swooning, it’s out of fashion.”

“I see you’re a slave to fashion.”

“Absolutely. My own idea of fashion.”

“You dress very smart.” What a dumb thing to say.

“That’s because a smartly-dressed man can hide a multitude of idiocies.”

“What idiocies?”

“Ummm, I don’t confess everything to a woman I’ve just met, no matter how gorgeous. Wait until tomorrow.”

“I shall.” She placed a foot on the first step. “Time …”

“Teddy has taken to you, too, you know.”

“Teddy is fun.”

“If fun’s not included, Teddy doesn’t do it.”

“Like you?”

“I look for a little fun in my life.”

“I guess so, after that beastly war.”

“It was beastly, but there were happy times.”

“You can say that now you’re safe at home.”

“I say, Cleo, I am sorry about …”

She bobbed her head trying to see William in her mind, but his image didn’t come. How could it, she thought, with all the unfocused emotions swirling there?

He drew in a breath. “I want to see happiness in those marvelous green eyes.”

How could she forget the sharp pain of those unhappy days? “I am happy.”

“But sometimes a little melancholy?”

“What’s wrong with melancholy?”

“We at Southerness do not tolerate melancholy.” He lifted her chin with a finger. “Got that, little Bearcat?”

She was not sure if she could get the words out of her mouth to say that her mood was beyond categorizing. She drew away from his finger. “Good night, Graham.”

“Can I ask you something?”

She held her breath for a second. “Yes.”

“Promise a walk on the beach tomorrow night? The lighthouse shows best by moonlight.” He sensed her hesitation because he squeezed her arm. “I’m harmless.”

She gave him her best I-don’t-believe-that-for-a-minute smirk. “What if it rains?”

“It wouldn’t dare. What say?”

“Let’s see about tomorrow.”

“That’s not a no.”

“No, it’s not a no.”

“I’m a happy fella then.”

“Good night.”

“Golf after breakfast?”

“I shall give it my best,” she said.

He went off singing, Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning ...

Finally – she could take a deep breath.

*****

Thanks for reading. I'd appreciate your comments.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

WHISPERING - An Island Affair

2011-12-02T11:07:00.002-05:00

I'm thrilled to introduce my new release, WHISPERING.

I take much pride in the book because, firstly, my granddaughter, Tori Ferris, did the cover photography. The story is set on Georgia's Cumberland Island, called Sago Island in the novel. The back of the print edition (released Dec. 8) is just as gorgeous as the front cover. I predict an artful future for my lovely high-schooler.

Secondly, I set the love story on Georgia's gorgeous Cumberland Island, no better place for an historical romantic mystery. The late John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his fiance Caroline were married in the little African church you'll read about in Whispering. (More about Cumberland in a later essay, but much is published on the web.)

A synopsis:

It's 1921. Cleo Snow travels with her cousin, Neill Connolly, to Sago Island, Ga. to lessen the sadness of her fiance's death in The Great War (later called World War I). He'd been missing, presumed killed in France, and his body recently returned home.

America's victory celebration is in full swing. The Flapper Era has begun. Cleo is poised between her Victorian raising and post-war liberal ideas. Women got the vote in 1920. They work – Cleo’s a nurse. Hemlines are rising. Jargon is spicier. Songs are racier. The fox trot is the cat’s meow. Everyone smokes coffin nails. The great experiment, Prohibition, has ushered in an epoch of fascinating gangsters and illegal speakeasies. Drinking and dancing go together like bathtub gin and painted dolls.

On Sago Island Cleo meets fly-boy hero Graham Henry, the dazzling son of a steel magnate. They fall in love dancing to "Whispering", the rage song of the year. Complicating their love-at-first-sight is Shafer and Josie Drake. Shafer is Graham's cousin. He lost his liquor business and knows he's about to lose his money-loving wife, Josie.

The morning after the dance, Josie is missing. A note she purportedly wrote says she's leaving the island to get a divorce and marry Graham. Graham swears the note's a lie and that he and Josie were nothing more than "boozing" companions.

Where did Josie go and when? Did she return to New York where she once danced in the Ziegfeld Follies? No one saw her leave the island. But Cleo knows Graham had nothing to do with her disappearance because Cleo was with him in the lighthouse the night Josie vanished. Cleo vows she will never confess to making love with a man she's known only two days. But Will Graham compromise Cleo to clear himself?

Island resident, the enigmatic Doc Holliday, who is said to be related to the infamous gunslinger, is a veterinarian and a falconer. His falcon, Billy, captures Cleo’s severely crushed heart. Cleo captures Doc’s heart, but she’s reeling over her gullibility. Will he win her with his darkly sensuous charm?

Everyone on Sago, it seems, has something to hide, even villagers who distill homemade "hooch" - and it all pivots around Josie and Graham. With her spirit firmed by shame and outrage, Cleo vows to uncover the truth and thus keep her own secret.

Note:
After writing The Ghost Ship, partially set in the early 1920s, I'm calling this my historical writing period. The sequel to The End Game, titled The Last Temptation, will be relased in July 2012. These novels represent my contemporary writing period, which exists alongside my historical writing period. :-D

Happy Reading
Gerrie

On sale at: http://amzn.to/vnkv7u

Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.crimewritersblog.blogspot.com

A GHOST SHIP IN THE GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC

2011-10-06T10:20:00.001-04:00

I am a journalist and author.

While reporting on the moving of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and the building of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Cape Hatteras on The Outer Banks, I heard fabulous stories, some legends, some true and mythic. The Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoal is all of them in one mystery.

One morning after a storm, I went down to the shore and saw the bow of a shipwreck that had been uncovered when the sea surged outward. Standing there at the black bones, I felt a sizzling inside my own bones. That ship was a small coastal schooner, but I wanted to know more about The Ghost Ship. I interviewed an elderly gentleman whose ancestor was in the Coast Guard and was one of the men who boarded the Carroll A. Deering during the investigation. He said his cabin was constructed from some of her timbers after she was declared a danger to navigation and dynamited.

So began my novel.

I'm the author of six novels. THE END GAME is an award-winning traditional mystery, available in hard cover and Kindle.

THE GHOST SHIP available at: http://tiny.cc/9hrsy

Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

CELEBRITIES AS NOVEL CHARACTERS

2011-09-13T08:00:00.036-04:00

I speak to book clubs, libraries, civic clubs and book signings. Inevitably I'm asked if I base my characters on celebrities or people I know.

I use people I've known or strangers that impress me to craft characters, but while they're important to me, most readers want to know about celebs, so I'll reveal all.

In the Laura Kate O'Connell Plantation Series, I've used Robert Redford's and Sean Connery's facial and personality characteristics. Laura Kate is most like Vivian Leigh as Scarlet O'Hara.

Moriah Dru in THE END GAME looks like Diana Rigg (as Emma Peel). I tried to make Richard Lake look like Warren Beatty, but Lake wouldn't cooperate. As Dru observes, his irregular facial lines and planes come together to make him handsome.

Ann Gavrion's "silvery quality" in THE GHOST SHIP was modeled after the late Carolyn Bessette Kennedy.

Having a "model" helps in "seeing" these characters. But, like Lake, most of my characters have unique appearances and personalities that comply with their actions and attitude. When they act out I have to rethink my visual of them.

Gerrie

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com.
THE GHOST SHIP
THE END GAME
HONORED DAUGHTERS
WAGON DOGS
WHEN SERPENTS DIE

Review of A DEAD RED HEART and conversation with newsletter editor and author R. P. DAHLKE, creator of Lalla Bains, ex-model turned crop-duster

2011-09-06T12:16:00.000-04:00

Rebecca tells us in her own words:

I sort of fell into the job of running a crop-dusting business when my dad decided he’d rather go on a cruise than take another season of lazy pilots, missing flaggers, testy farmers and horrific hours. After two years at the helm, I handed him back the keys and fled to a city without any of the above. And no, I was never a crop-duster.

I write about a tall, blond and beautiful ex-model turned crop-duster who, to quote Lalla Bains, says: “I’ve been married so many times they oughta revolk my license.” I wanted to give readers a peek at the not so-perfect -life of a beautiful blond. Lalla Bains is no Danielle Steele character, she’s not afraid of chipping her manicure. Scratch that, the girl doesn’t have time for a manicure what with herding a bunch of recalcitrant pilots and juggling work orders just to keep her father’s flagging business alive.
I enjoy writing with humor, and if you enjoy my books, I'd love to hear from you! Here's my e-mail:

rp@rpdahlke.com

Rebecca is also the genius behind the:

About All Mystery E-Newsletter

I created this website to explain to readers how All Mystery works:

It’s not a website or a review site
It’s not like Amazon where you’re locked into buying only from them.
It’s not Good Reads where the e-newsletter only promotes NY Times Best Sellers

Instead, this is a monthly e-newsletter that features authors from NY Best Sellers to the rising stars of today.
Each issue has a fun theme to tickle your imagination: British authors, exotic locations, Murder at Work, Paranormal Police Procedurals & PI’s , Historical Mysteries, and Romantic Suspense.
Each feature includes the following:

Colorful book covers with click through to the author website
Book description
Reviews
Buy Now click-throughs to Amazon for zippy fast purchase
Want to read more about the featured authors, or revisit one you read about last month? A left hand column has all of this year’s author websites.

Join at http://allmysteryenewsletter.com

A Dead Red Heart

By R. P. Dahlke
Reviewed by Gerrie Ferris Finger

BUY: http://tiny.cc/uzywp

I’m a sucker for places I’ve never been and I’m overjoyed when I come across a setting/location that puts me there as R. P. Dahlke does with Modesto, Calif.

Also, I love a kick-butt heroine with a sense of humor and a good heart. Lalla Bains is all that and more. A former model turned crop-duster pilot (sounds weird, but good writing and plotting makes it plausible) Sheriff Caleb Stone is her long-time boyfriend. Their interactions are funny, aggravating or heart-rending. Lalla’s family owns the crop dusting business. Another memorable character is her dad who fights against odds to keep the company going when there are those who'd like to see it go under. If it kills her, Lalla, a woman addicted to danger, won't let them have their way.

The heart of the mystery is Billy Wayne Dobson. He’s obsessed with Lalla. Caleb warns him to stay away from her. But his obsession is too great. Lalla goes to confront him and finds him dying, having been stabbed with scissors. He gasps out some last words. Naturally, feisty Lalla is suspect number one. She determines to find out who killed Billy and why. Take a look at this exchange:

He (Caleb) gave me a piercing look. “Yeah, you. You got that race-horse out-of-the-gate look all over your face.”

“If you will remember, I’m the one who found Billy Wayne, and there are people who expect me to find his killer, namely Detective Rodney.”

“You got something in mind? Never mind. If I don't know, I can’t get in trouble." At my surprised look, he said, "You love this stuff, don’t you?”

Flustered, I sputtered, “Caleb Stone, that’s not fair! What am I supposed to do? He died at my feet and my reputation stays in purgatory until the guilty party is in jail.”

“Deny it all you want, but I know you, you got the bit in your mouth and the chase is on for you, isn’t it?”

I could feel a flush rising up my cheeks. He was right, of course. His words had touched something deep within me and it sounded very much like a starting gun and whinnying race horses. I never felt more alive than when I was this close to touching danger.

“Look,” he said, “you’ve gotten more in one day than we have all week. It’s not a blank check, so don't go overboard and do anything rash; no flashing your fake badge at people."

“But, Caleb…,” I could do without the badge, but it felt good to banter with him again.

“No buts on this.”

R.P. Dahlke (2011-06-05T21:26:50.694000+00:00). A Dead Red Heart (Kindle Locations 1900-1912). Dead Bear Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Posted by Gerrie Ferris Finger
THE GHOST SHIP
BUY: http://amzn.to/r3imp5
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

A CONVERSATION WITH MORGEN BAILEY

2011-08-25T11:54:00.001-04:00

My guest is Morgen Bailey. The way it works. I ask a few questions and she supplies the answers.

Welcome my friend - I have to use the old phrase - from across the pond. Tell us about yourself.

I'm the host of Bailey's Writing Tips podcast, two in-person writing groups (based in Northampton, England), author of 100+ short stories, 4.5 novels, articles, poetry, regular Radio Litopia contributor and blog host.*

You are a virtual idea machine. Where do your ideas originate?

It’s what many budding writers want to know (I did) and one of the most dreaded questions by authors at literature festivals (or so some of them have told me). When asked, many say they get their inspiration from life and that’s certainly true for me.

I can spot patterns in rain-splattered pavements as some people make shapes in cloud formations and ideas spring from those. Spam emails are great for character names – as I type this I’m looking at an Orville Potter, Darnell Kendall, Raymundo Dillard and Bernardo Bullock (and Dominoes Pizza and Pharmacy Express!). Newspapers are rich picking – I have a dozen 80-page display books packed with clippings, enough for my lifetime I reckon. Stories are written about true events all the time but look for the quirky, even uneventful ones, and you could be on to a winner. You could also try ‘weird news websites’; a Google (other good search engines are available) search with those three keywords produces 46 million choices – not just rich pickings but obscenely opulent, I’d say.

I understand you run a workship for your writing group. Tell us about it.

Every other Monday night I run a workshop for my writing group and the exercises I set aim to show them how easy it is to get new ideas. Below are some examples:
· Start a story with “As Jackie picked up the bag…”: Is Jackie male or female? Why is he or she picking up the bag? What’s in the bag? How heavy is it? Is it his / hers? Where is he / she? Baggage claims? Leaving home? From just six words (Ernest Hemingway wrote a whole story in just that – For sale: baby shoes, never worn) the possibilities are endless.

· Keywords: we usually work with four or five (http://creativecopychallenge.com offers 10 each time – I wrote a story for http://storyadaymay.org using one set) and an example four could be ‘sold’, ‘grass’, ‘foot’ and ‘stupid’ which could produce a story about a man who thought it was stupid to have a sold sign on the grass outside a football stadium (my group are allowed to increase the word, in this example from foot to football but not shorten, e.g. football to foot) or perhaps it could produce a story about a drug dealer selling ‘grass’ to an old man who felt stupid buying it but it alleviated the pain in his right foot. :)

· They say that a picture paints a thousand words (or thereabouts) but I reckon it speaks more than that. I often give my group magazine photos of ordinary-looking men and women together with a two-column table: left column a list of headings i.e. name, nickname, nationality, age / job, hair colour, height, favourite music, favourite food, regular saying, relationship, children, siblings, religion, aspirations and quirks – then they fill in the blank right-hand column. Regardless of the length of your story, this is a great way of getting to know your characters.

· Another (maybe simpler) prompt I set (and am given at a monthly writing group I belong to) is a single word. I remember using ‘chicken’ fairly early on in the workshop group’s existence and I wrote a story about some young lads daring one of their group to cross a busy road as part of an initiation ceremony, while one of my fellow writers (hello Niall) wrote a non-fiction piece about a memorable childhood chicken dinner.

Whatever we end up writing, you can almost guarantee that we’ll all come up with different stories. We only have 10-15 minutes for each exercise (then read them out and give some critique back) so they’re more often than not just beginnings (some are complete flash fiction) but there’s then a week to progress one or more of them for the following Monday’s critique session, should they wish (they often do).

The thing to remember is that ideas aren’t copyright. I don’t suppose you’d have any takers if you wrote a novel about a boy wizard called Harry (unless it was fan fiction) but there are supposed to only be seven basic plots (although Philip Pullman told us at the April 2011 Lit Fest that he knew there were eleven but sadly didn’t tell us what they were) so there’s likely little chance of your basic plot not having been covered before. You just need to find new characters, locations, dilemmas and ways of telling the story – your ‘voice’.

Using one's voice is always of primary interest to agents and editors. How do you find your voice?

Simple – just keep writing.

Some say plot is secondary to voice and characters. What do you think?

Probably the most written about plot is boy meets girl but there’s an obstacle in their way. West Side Story is a re-telling of Romeo & Juliet and it was also a major plotline in the 2011 film ‘Super 8’ (which I’ve literally just seen today – it was great). With the latter, the main character fell in love with his father’s arch enemy’s daughter and were banned from seeing each other, although you know that by the end of the film (story) they’ll end up together – it’s how you write their journey that will grip your readers.

Yep, it's all in the writing. If only we could find the magic formula.

There’s no magic formula. Just ensure that you always have a notebook and pen /pencil (or two in case one runs out / breaks) and look around you; snatches of conversations at the bus stop, what someone is wearing, how they walk, a normal event that you imagine being extraordinary (you may well have heard of the ‘what if’) and most of all, write. By writing we become practiced and that’s what established authors are. They’ve honed their craft like pianists and athletes do – they don’t hoover when they should be playing / running, they prioritise (often with trainer or manager encouragement – imagine your editor waiting for your submissions – mine was for too long but I’ve just sent her an anthology which she’ll no doubt get through in no time and want more which helps me keep the momentum going) and most important of all, they are doing what they love doing. So what if your house is a little untidy or the mantelpiece could do with having a damp cloth run over it? If you set aside a chunk of time for the mundane (mine’s Monday afternoon before my writing group turn up) but also dedicated writing time, if you’re anything like me (I’m the same with dieting) you’ll wonder why you’ve put it off for so long because you get such a thrill from it.

Now where did I put that bar of chocolate?

Morgen Bailey
http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com

A big thanks to you Morgen. Lots of good information in your post.
Morgen has a writing-related blog which, she says, "...just to be original, is called Morgen Bailey's Blog. It features a daily author interview, weekly author spotlights, details of fortnightly podcast red pen sessions and text from the older podcast episodes, useful information such as competitions to enter, other recommended websites and much more.

*If you write (any genre, published or otherwise) and would like to be involved in the blog interviews, author spotlights, red pen sessions or would like to provide a guest blog, do email me.
morgen@morgenbailey.com

Submitted by
Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

THE GHOST SHIP - Blending history and fiction

2011-08-02T08:15:00.000-04:00

A famous tall ship and an adventurous woman...what they could do for the world

What if you could go back to 1921 and climb aboard a great five-masted schooner on her maiden voyage?
You’d be a witness to history; you’d be on her decks when her keel smashed into an Outer Banks shoal. You’d get to know the villains who caused the tragedy. Was it pirates, Russians, rumrunners? Or something else?
Would you dare?
Ann Gavrion did and her life was never the same.

THE HISTORY:
One cold, foggy morning in January, 1921, a five-masted schooner in full sail plowed into Diamond Shoal in the infamous Graveyard of the Atlantic. Known to history as The Ghost Ship, her officers and crew were not on board and their bodies never washed ashore. The only living thing on board was a six-toed cat. Also, her anchors and lifeboats were missing. Six agencies investigated the mystery, but it was never solved.

THE NOVEL:
Ninety years later, Ann Gavrion travels to Cape Hatteras to get over the loss of her fiancé in an airplane crash. She meets the enigmatic, yet charming, Lawrence Curator on the beach.
Behind her she hears the cries of villagers. “Shipwreck!”
A surfman runs up and shouts that the missing schooner, her sails set, is aground on the shoal. Ann recognizes the enormous ship from a photograph she’d seen the night before.
So begins her journey back to 1921 with the man the Navy sent to investigate the grounding of the great ship.
When Lawrence and Ann solve the mystery, Ann must return to her world. On the very beach where she’d begun her voyage with Lawrence, she meets his great-grandson, Rod. Exhausted, wet, she spills an account of her fabulous sea adventure. He calls her a charlatan and accuses her of using his famous ancestor to write a first person account of the tragedy for her magazine.
How many times, how many ways, must she prove that her voyage was real to Rod and the unbelievers of the world?

Available at: http://tiny.cc/9hrsy

Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

THE GHOST SHIP hits the - uh - Kindle

2011-07-01T09:39:00.000-04:00

...and the Nook.

Used to be we could brag that our books hit the shelves. Not so much any longer. Oh I still have a hard cover publisher, but I've come over to the (used to be) "dark" side of the publishing world. I'm a self-publisher. I've called my new company, Crystal Skull Publishing, and our first edition is THE GHOST SHIP, a paranormal seafaring suspense based on a real ghost ship: The Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals.

I look forward to sharing more with you about this venture.

Best,
Gerrie

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com
http://tiny.cc/aj8jt

DEBUT MYSTERY BY MARILYN LEVINSON

2011-06-26T15:42:00.000-04:00

A MURDERER AMONG US

Wingsepress.com

Marilyn Levinson is a former Spanish teacher, and the author of several books for children, and young adults. RUFUS, and MAGIC RUN AMOK was selected by the International Reading Association, and the Children’s Book Council for “Children’s Choices for 2002.” NO BOYS ALLOWED has been in print since 1993.

A MURDERER AMONG US is her first published adult mystery. MURDER A LA CHRISTIE was a finalist in the 2010 Malice Domestic contest. She is a member of The Authors Guild, RWA, The Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the Guppies, and is president, and co-founder the Long Island chapter of Sisters in Crime. She lives on Long Island with her husband, Bernie and their cat, Sammy.

Welcome Marilyn. Tell us about the book and how you promote it.

My mystery, A MURDERER AMONG US, made its debut on June first, and I’ve never been busier! Years ago, when I wrote YAs and books for kids, I spoke in schools and libraries. Even did the occasional book store signing. But an author’s life these days is something else entirely.

Keeping an updated website is essential. So is blogging, commenting on fellow writers’ blogs, tweeting on Twitter, and “liking” on Facebook. I’ve learned to design a business card, I’ve struggled to create a bookmark, attend conferences and conventions, and do all I can to get my book in the public eye. This is especially important because A MURDERER AMONG US is an ebook and available in print as a POD.

A bit about my novel: Lydia Krause has moved to Twin Lakes, an upscale retirement community on Long Island, to start a new life. Her neighbor introduces her to Marshall Weill, the community’s financial advisor, whom Lydia recognizes as the convicted embezzler who drove her sister to suicide. She exchanges heated words with Weill’s wife. The woman’s found dead the following morning, mowed down by Lydia’s Lexus. Now Suspect Number One, Lydia investigates. Amid threats and more deaths, Lydia forges new friendships, helps resolve her grown daughters’ problems, and finds romance.

A MURDERER AMONG US is available at Wingsepress.com. Click on:

http://bit.ly/kOZgcz

It will soon be available on Amazon.com, Kindle, and Fictionwise.com

Thank you Marilyn for an informative look at your work. Sounds quite exciting.

Gerrie

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

THE GHOST SHIP, June 28, 2011

FINDING TIME TO WRITE

2011-06-19T10:54:00.036-04:00

With the demands on a published author - and for that matter an unpublished writer looking to get published - to brand and promote oneself, the serious question arises: when do I have time to write?

I can't begin to name all the social and professional networks I belong to that give me a web presence, including writing blogs like this one, but I will list a few. Twitter and Facebook, of course, KindleBoards, Goodreads, Shelfari, LinkedIn, Red Room, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America; then there are the listservs like DorothyL. I've been on and off DL for ten years. Like me, book people come and go.

I don't know how many readers I've acquired through the listservs and groups like Murder Must Advertise, but I get a lot of good information and I conduct free book drawings from time to time. It's a way to stay connected with the reading and writing community, not just for sales but to interact with friends I've met online and in person.

So, when do I write?

On weekday afternoons unless on a tight deadline. There are so many things to take care of in the morning - housewifey stuff, returning put-off calls from yesterday, reading and answering emails - that I've designated morning as taking-care-of-business time.

At one o'clock (if I'm not playing golf), I write until five with necessary breaks - for me and Bogey, the demanding standard poodle who adorns my book covers.

Unless for research, I don't crawl the net or answer the telephone. I research, edit, write. Period.

About golf. I play on Saturday and Sunday - again, unless on a tight deadline. One day during the week, I play and usually I'm finished and back at my desk by one-thirty. Two at the latest. Then I extend my work day until six o'clock.

Writing is a demanding master (aka self-flagellation), but publication is vindication for the blood and toil. Then I have to address an even more demanding master: promotion.

Gerrie Ferris Finger
THE END GAME
THE LAST TEMPTATION released 2012
THE GHOST SHIP released 2011
HONORED DAUGHTERS
WHEN SERPENTS DIE
WAGON DOGS
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/
http://www.crimewritersblog.blogspot.com/

COMING JUNE 2011

TOP TWENTY WELL-READ CITIES

2011-06-16T10:08:00.000-04:00

Amazon.com Names America’s Most Well-Read Cities

Is it any wonder that Cambridge, Massachusetts, which Harvard University calls home, topped Amazon.com’s recent listing of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America?

I lived in Cambridge eons ago. Residents walked along streets reading books, book stores - be they large retail outlets or mom and pop resellits - on nearly every block, citizens in the parks reading magazines or best sellers, riders of MBTA missing their stops while engrossed in Follett or Oates. Add the Kindle and residents are now ordering more books, magazines and newspapers in print and Kindle formats. The survey began Jan. 1, 2011 and was based on cities with more than 100,000 residents. Cambridge residents also ordered the highest number of nonfiction books.

The Amazon.com top 20 list:

1. Cambridge, Massachusetts
2. Alexandria, Virginia
3. Berkeley, California
4. Ann Arbor, Michigan
5. Boulder, Colorado
6. Miami, Florida
7. Salt Lake City, Utah
8. Gainesville, Florida
9. Seattle, Washington
10. Arlington, Virginia
11. Knoxville, Tennessee
12. Orlando, Florida
13. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
14. Washington, D.C.
15. Bellevue, Washington
16. Columbia, South Carolina
17. St. Louis, Missouri
18. Cincinnati, Ohio
19. Portland, Oregon
20. Atlanta, Georgia

Happy to see Atlanta, my adopted home of many decades ago, sneak onto the list. St. Louis, my birth place, came in 17.
Echoing results from Sisters in Crime’s recent Mystery Book Buyer Study, nearly half of the cities on the Amazon.com list are located below the Mason-Dixon line.

The Washington, D.C. area includes three of the top 20 cities – Alexandria, Va. (#2), Arlington, Va. (#10) and Washington itself (#14). Alexandria residents also topped the list of buyers of children’s books.

The sunshine state, Florida, has three cities in the top 20 – Miami (#6), Gainesville (#8) and Orlando (#12).

“We hope book lovers across the country enjoy this fun look at where the most voracious readers reside,” said Mari Malcolm, managing editor of Books at Amazon.com.

Submitted by
Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

SOON TO BE RELEASED: THE GHOST SHIP

PLATFORM SCHMATFORM

2011-06-07T09:57:00.003-04:00

What's all this talk about platform?

I'm confused. It used to be a platform was something a non-fiction writer needed to sell a book. Think of it as an expertise. Think Dr. Spock. A pediatrician writing about raising children.

But the last few years platform has come to mean a lot more. Not only must you be an expert on your subject, you must bring along an audience to buy the book on your expertise. You must, in other words, have guaranteed publicity. Which is why celebrities of every ilk write books. Have you become infamous, involved in a sex scandal, now everyone knows your name? Write a book, go on TV, sell a million copies.

A few years ago, novelists didn't worry about platform. Your editor bought your book, arranged book signings, provided a little upfront money so you could hit the streets and help sell your book.

Not true today. You must have a platform to get your fiction published and that platform must be in place before a lot of editors look at your book. You must have a website, blog, do workshops, book clubs, Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads, LinkedIn, every list you can think of, pester librarians and book store owners - every avenue that leads to sales. If you're young and cute, so much the better. Write a (fictional) memoir ala James Frey and his million little pieces and touch the public's heart strings. Voila! There's your platform.

Editors say they want great writing, and they do. The marketing department wants great sales. Where the twain meet is your platform. The bigger it is, the more buyers it will entice. Buyers equal audience. Audience equals publicity. Publicity equals sales.

I must go lie down. Standing on this platform is exhausting.

Cheers,

Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

Gerrie Ferris Finger | WritersCafe.org

2011-05-19T23:26:00.000-04:00

Gerrie Ferris Finger WritersCafe.org

MOTHERS DAY - NOW YOU KNOW

2011-05-08T15:39:00.000-04:00

Cynic that I am, I believed that Hallmark created Mother's Day.

No so according to sources that claim Mother’s Day origins lie in antiquity. According to MothersDayCentral.com, the ancient Egyptians held ceremonies and celebrations each year to honor the goddess Isis. To the Egyptians, Isis represented motherhood and fertility, and was believed to be the mother of Horus, who was considered to be the mythological ruler of Egypt. Thus, Isis became the “mother of all pharaohs” and the celebration of Isis became a celebration of mothers. For many, this is the starting point of Mother’s Day history.

It is believed that the Romans had their own Mother’s Day, by holding an annual celebration for the goddess Cybele, the “Great Mother.” Cybele originated as a Phrygian goddess, worshiped by the ancient Romans as the mother of a fertile earth.

The Greek, too, celebrated a Mother’s Day of sort. Cybele’s Greek counterpart was a goddess by the name of Rhea. The ancient Greeks would hold festivities over several days, usually in the spring, to honor this “mother of all goddesses.” Games, festivals, fresh flowers and parades were all part of the early celebrations that could be considered part of the history of Mother’s Day.

More thoroughly documented is the medieval part of the history of Mother’s Day. In the United Kingdom, Mother’s Day is celebrated in the middle of the Lent season. According to the London Times, the British Mother’s Day origin lies in Mothering Sunday, although the mothering is often though to symbolize churches rather than women.

Mothering Sunday was the day, “when local churches honoured their mother church and also an excuse for a little spree during the long period of abstinence running up to Easter,” wrote the London Times.

By the 17th century, the holiday became one for young people working in domestic service to return home to their mothers with small gifts from their place of work.

In the United States, even before there was an official Mother’s Day, there were efforts to set aside certain days to honor mothers. According to World Book Advanced, in 1872, Julia Ward Howe suggested June 2^nd be a day of peace, honoring mothers in the United States. She held an annual Mother’s Day meeting in Boston for several years to celebrate the day.

Submitted by Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

The official Mother’s Day, as recognized by an act of Congress, was the brainchild of Anna Jarvis, a school teacher who lived in Grafton, W.Va., with her mother also named Anna. Jarvis was devastated by her mother’s death in 1905 on May 10.
“As it became clear that the florists were molding her ‘holy day’ to their own ends, Jarvis became increasingly angered and alienated,” wrote Schmidt. Jarvis became a harsh critic of the way Mother’s Day was being celebrated. She called greeting cards “a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write.” She urged people to wear celluloid buttons and not to buy flowers for their mothers.
The Mother’s Day that we now celebrate is still a time to spend money. A survey by the National Retail Federation finds that consumers will spend an average of $138.63 for Mother’s Day in 2008. “Total consumer spending is expected to reach $15.8 billion,” said the federation in a press release. However, it would be a bit harsh to say that just because we spend $138.63 on flowers, cards and other gifts, we corrupt the spirit of Mother’s Day. Most of us probably buy cards because they are not because we are too lazy to write. Many children make their own cards to give to Mom. Yes, they do spend money on the materials to make the cards, but that small loving gesture shows that despite the commercialization in the history of Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May still remains the “finest, noblest, truest Movements and celebrations known.”

Lifescript.com 2007

HAPPY KENTUCKY DERBY DAY - and a tip of the hard hat to Dick Francis

2011-05-07T10:37:00.001-04:00

I grew up riding horses and have a fractured L4 because of my daring-do jumping skills. Throw in a little arthritis on creaky days and there goes my golf game.

All that to admit I loved reading Dick Francis after mucking out the stable. ;-D

In honor of KDD, I'm reading NERVE about a jockey who seems to have lost his nerve. OR, could it be someone is sabotaging him through his mounts?

From 1953 to 1957 Francis was jockey to Queen Elizabeth's Queen Mother. He retired after he rode Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National race. The horse fell near the finish line. Francis wrote over 40 international best sellers before he died on February 14, 2010.

His work lives on because of his collaboration with youngest son, Felix Francis, a physics teacher who retired to research for his father and now continues the horse racing series.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

THE END GAME

THE LAST TEMPTATION due out 2012

THE GHOST SHIP, June 2011

HONORED DAUGHTERS

WHEN SERPENTS DIE

WAGON DOGS

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

http://crimewritersblog.blogspot.com/

AGATHA AND ME, WE AGREE

2011-04-01T09:29:00.004-04:00

What would Agatha Christie say about Disney's plan to reinvent Miss Marple as a younger sleuth, played with an audacity that Miss Marple, that all-seeing, all-suspecting spinster of St. Mary Mead never had?

We can infer by her own words when Margaret Rutherford was cast as Miss Marple:

"Why don't they just invent a new character? Then they can have their cheap fun and leave me and my creation alone?"

Well said, Agatha.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

THE END GAME

THE LAST TEMPTATION release date 2012

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

MARTHA CHEVES - STIR, LAUGH, REPEAT

2011-03-13T12:29:00.009-04:00

A TITLE YOU GOT TO LOVE

Find out why her food testers celebrate these all-too-often occasions in Stir, Laugh, Repeat. Following her passion for cooking and in hot pursuit of just the right taste, Martha Cheves composed one hundred recipes for cooks of all ages that are sure to satiate appetites of any kind. Try her quick and easy bacon, egg, and cheese mini pies for breakfast; rabbit food sandwich for a healthy, take-to-the-office lunch; mustard pork chops for a zesty twist that still satisfies the meat and potato man; and whip up her renown banana puddin as a sweet end to a satisfying day. Sprinkled amongst timeless southern dishes are practical tips to help any beginner baker cook like a pro while learning from Marthas tales of kitchen woes. Feast on Stir, Laugh, Repeat today and let your experimental imagination sizzle with delight as you try your hand at Marthas suggested variations. - Amazon

Martha says:
I've always loved to cook and used to dream of opening my own restaurant. But, as time went on and I got older that dream just didn't seem to be in the cards. Instead I wrote a cookbook. This idea came to me when my youngest daughter told me she couldn't bring deviled eggs to Thanksgiving dinner because she couldn't peel them without tearing them up.

Through the promotion of Stir, Laugh, Repeat I've had the pleasure of meeting some really wonderful Authors. Since I love to read as much as I love to cook I decided to create a site that would bring the readers and cooks together. Before accepting a book to review I tell the Authors the cost... One of Their Favorite Recipes. Thus was the creation of my site A Book and A Dish. I've had the pleasure of reading some really great books plus find out what the authors enjoy eating/cooking.

http://marthaskitchenkorner.blogspot.com/

I am happy to be one of those authors on her entertaining blog.

THANK YOU, MARTHA

Gerrie Ferris Finger
HONORED DAUGHTERS
WHEN SERPENTS DIE
WAGON DOGS
THE END GAME
THE LAST TEMPTATION release 2012
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

EVERY DEAD THING

2011-02-17T15:32:00.011-05:00

Don't know how long it will be around, but warm weather has returned to the South, where, in my opinion, it's not supposed to leave. At all. Ever.

I played golf with friends yesterday and I felt like a daisy opening my face to the sun after being under a florist blanket for two months.

Does this mean a romp in the surf is imminent? Probably not. While the air temps are in the '70s, the water is still a frigid 50 degrees. The surfer boys don't seem to mind, but I'll stay close to shore. There's sharks and rays in them thar waters, too.

While I whiled away the winter editing my second in the Moriah Dru/Richard Lake series titled The Last Temptation, and doing online promotion and writing another in the series, I also read several novels.

I just finished John Connolly's Every Dead Thing, published in 2000.

I like to start a series with the first, and this was his debut. I'd read about him and his gory thrillers, but had not begun one because they're long and I don't have days to finish a book. Writers must writer. I learned the hard way with Tana French's In the Woods that these complicated plots take up your undivided attention, at least my undivided attention. Go a day, and you have to retreat into past pages to figure out the characters again. In Connolly's book, there are many. At one point it seemed everyone except Bird Parker, the hero, had been killed.

I liked the beginning. I've seen so many CSIs, Criminal Minds, etc. that really icky murder scenes like the one that begins this story, don't bother me.

Yep, he's a master of piling gore on gore: one serial killer tortures children and another steals victims' faces after mutilating their bodies. If you're squeamish, if sicko depictions give you nightmares or threatens your meal, skip it.

With exceptions, long thrillers get bogged down and become tedious. Also, I figured out the serial killers before Parker, not a good thing.

I finished the book, and, maybe will read another Connolly, but I'll wait for a long, cold and rainy spell, or when a ten-hour trip occurs.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

THE END GAME (not a long thriller, no dead children and no missing faces)

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

THE THRILL OF THE CHASE

2011-02-09T14:42:00.011-05:00

Sara-Jayne Townsend is a UK-based writer of crime and horror. She was born in Cheshire in 1969, but spent most of the 1980s living in Canada after her family emigrated there. She now lives in Surrey with two cats and her husband Chris. She co-founded the T Party Writers’ Group in 1994, and remains Chair Person.

She decided she was going to be a published novelist when she was 10 years old and finished her first novel a year later. It took 30 years of submitting, however, to fulfil that dream. Her first novel, SUFFER THE CHILDREN, was published as an e-book by Lyrical Press, Inc. in 2010 (link to book: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_71&products_id=288&zenid=g2s7ehfv228vutultsruf8kv17).

Her next book, DEATH SCENE, is the first in a series about amateur sleuth and Canadian actress Shara Summers, and will be released as an e-book by Lyrical Press, Inc. later this year.

You can learn more about Sara and her writing at her website at http://sarajaynetownsend.weebly.com/ and her blog at http://sayssara.wordpress.com/.

My interest in crime fiction started a long time ago – in childhood, in fact. My introduction to Mystery Stories began with Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series, which I devoured as a child. One of the things I loved about those books was that there was always a mystery to solve – usually suspicious goings-on involving smugglers or some generic unsavoury member of the working-class. I loved following the actions of the story’s young heroes as they followed the clues and worked out who the villain was. As an adolescent, I moved on to Agatha Christie. Whatever else is said about Mrs Christie, there’s no doubt she was mistress of the classic “whodunit.” It was all about setting up the cast of characters, and planting the clues. The observant reader could pick up the clues and work out who the villain was before the detective.

And for me, the fun in crime fiction is the thrill of the chase. The genre has evolved somewhat since Mrs Christie’s day. Nowadays, there are many sub-divisions – crime thriller; police procedural; historical crime; romantic crime; ‘cozy’ crime; ‘hard-boiled’ crime – to name just a few. Sometimes novels are not so much “whodunits” as “howcatchems” – where we know from the start who the murderer is, and the plot involves how they will be caught. To me, it’s still all about the chase, whether it be following the clues to discover the identity of the villain, or casting out the net until the bad guy is reeled in.

I am fondest of novels featuring strong female protagonists. Sara Paretsky, Kathy Reichs, Sue Grafton and Linda Fairstein are among my favourite crime writers. Historical fiction was always less appealing for me because there used to be a lack of strong female characters. This isn’t the case nowadays, however – there are some excellent female protagonists in historical crime. One of my favourite series is “The Mistress of the Art of Death” by Ariana Franklin – who is sadly no longer with us.

Ultimately, through all the sub-genres of crime, a common thread holds them together. There is a victim, and a killer. The exciting part is following the chase, through to the end of the novel when the killer must be a) revealed and b) caught.

I always say the common thread between crime and horror – the other genre I write in – is that someone has to die horribly. I will read other genres, but ultimately if there’s no gruesome death, a book is unlikely to hold my attention. I dip into other genres here and there – science fiction; urban fantasy; classics. But crime is the genre I always get drawn back to. Picking up the latest novel by one of my favourite crime novelists is like visiting an old friend I’ve not seen for a while. It’s always a pleasure to go back there, and I know I’ll be made welcome, no matter how long I’ve been away.

PAPER OR ELECTRONS?

2011-02-09T11:44:00.010-05:00

More grim news from the world of books.

Powell's Books canned thirty-one staffers at its stores in Burnside and Beaverton and two industrial warehouses, a move they cite because of an "unprecedented, rapidly changing nature of the book industry... (and) changing consumer behavior". Which means that consumers are buying ebooks. They are cheaper for the most part than trade, pocket or hardbacks.

What does this mean for hard cover writers? I had five events in a four-day period at Barnes & Noble after THE END GAME came out. It was my first hard cover. The cost at B&N is $24.99. At Amazon it fluctuates from $18.00 to $11.00 (when the supplies get low). In a weak economy, consumers are not plunking down the big prices, instead are going for the trades (large paperbacks) or ebooks. More and more book buyers are opting for the ereader and the cheap books that Amazon prices lower than other online ebook sellers.

A Powell spokesman said they are losing sales to electronic books and expect to continue to do so for the next couple of years.

When I was signing at Barnes & Noble, many people went away with signed bookmarks, saying they were going to buy the ebook online. B&N sells ebooks through its Nook ereader.

Even though I have four ebooks available, I don't own an ereader. (I know how the story ends.) Probably will one day, but I'm old-fashioned and hope Powell's gets a clue and can hire back its staff.

Nothing like a bent binding and tattered jacket cover.

Best,

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

http://www.crimewritersblog.blogspot.com/

Local Mystery Festivals

2011-02-07T16:35:00.004-05:00

I like mystery festivals and conventions that are close to my home on the east coast. I've become a regular at the Malice Domestic Fan Convention in Crystal City, near D. C. This year it's in Bethesda, Md.
I don't like to fly, particularly now that seats are getting smaller and overhangs nearly touch my head. I'm claustrophobic that way, and passengers and flight attendants do not need to deal with the possibility of me running down the aisle screaming in panic. Used to be, you could drink your way to your destination and feel no fear. Not so today.
That means I didn't to San Francisco, a city I love, for Bouchercon in September. It's the grandest mystery writer/reader convention, but I'm sticking to the eastern part of the U. S.
So, I signed up to attend, and be part of, the Cape Fear Crime Festival as a panelist.
the Cape Fear Crime Festival returned to Wilmington, North Carolina. Murder and mayhem came to Northeast Branch of the New Hanover County Library, 1241 Military Cutoff Road, Wilmington, NC 28405. I got to meet new writers, librarians and readers.
I plan to attend another local event, but not sure which one. Maybe Nashville. Also, will go to Bouchercon in St. Louis in September.

THE END GAME
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

KAYE BARLEY, THE WRITER'S BEST FRIEND

2011-02-06T17:15:00.010-05:00

I met Kaye Barley on DorothyL, a writer, reader, librarian listserv several years ago. When I learned that she worked in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, I knew where the intelligent, generous and happy threads of her DNA were strengthened.

She is a writer's best friend, and she hosts a fabulous blog where her guest list is one of the most extensive in the writing community. It is my privilege to appear today, but while you're at Meanderings and Muses, meander on through her blog and check out her retirement party and other interesting guest posters.

Kaye said:
"My latest guest at Meanderings and Muses is our own Gerrie Ferris Finger. Gerrie wrote THE END GAME, which was on my "Best Of" list this past year (and Ihope she's busy working on the next in the series!). Drop by, please, for a fun look at tattoos and what they mean."

http://meanderingsandmuses.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Kaye, for honoring me and my debut novel on your "Best Of" list.

G.

WHEN SERPENTS DIE, a Long and Short Review

2011-01-26T10:25:00.005-05:00

When Serpents Die: Laura Kate Plantation Series Book I
Author: Gerrie Ferris
Publisher: Desert Breeze Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense
Length: Full (171 pages)
Heat: SensualRating: 5
Reviewed by Stephantois

Laura Kate O'Connell left her life of excitement as an overseas news correspondent to return to her Georgia hometown to raise her two young cousins. When Royce Lee, Laura Kate's attorney, supposedly commits suicide, too many pieces of evidence tell a different story. Her instincts as an investigative reporting are tingling, and she just can't leave it alone.
She meets Jack Rhodes, Royce's business partner. Sparks fly, but can she really trust a man she knows nothing about? And why is it that every time something new develops in the case, he seems to be there? Warnings to back off escalate to an attempt on her life. Now, for Laura Kate, it's more than just a mystery.
Depending on Jack might be a mistake, but if Laura Kate can get past his southern charms and the nervous way Jack makes her feel, she may get the facts, solve the case, and even save her own life.
...
I really enjoyed this book. I love a good mystery and this one didn’t disappoint me in any way. Laura Kate is a great sleuth. Every character jumps off the page. The dialogue sounds so natural it’s almost as if you’re overhearing a conversation. And the southern setting of this book added to the enjoyment. The smells, the manners of the South all added wonderful colorful layers to the plot.
There are the essential quirky characters, the red herring, and there’s even a trial going on in town while Laura’s trying to figure out if Royce took his own life.
Laura Kate is a series character and Ferris does a first class job of laying in back story and not giving away too much too soon. All the characters were likely suspects, there were twist and turns I didn’t see coming and it was a pleasure to read.
Ferris also added some romantic suspense elements into the mix by introducing Jack as a possible love interest for Laura. I can’t wait to see what happens between these two in the next book of the series. And for that matter, read more of Ferris’ work.If you like a good mystery with a cast of colorful characters, put this one on your must read list.

Paraprosdokian sentences

2011-01-13T12:16:00.006-05:00

A figure of speech that uses an unexpected ending to a series or a phrase, for example:

I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

I thought I wanted a career -- turns out I just wanted paychecks.

A bank is a place that will lend you money...if you can prove that you don't need it.

I didn't say it was your fault...I said I was blaming you.

I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" on it...so I said "Implants?"

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars but check when you say the paint is wet?

Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut and still think they are sexy.

Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America ?

Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

The voices in my head may not be real but they have some good ideas!

Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.

A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

Hospitality: making your guests feel like they're at home even if you wish they were.

Money can't buy happiness but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.

Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

I always take life with a grain of salt,...plus a slice of lemon and a shot of tequila.

When tempted to fight fire with fire remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

To be sure of hitting the target shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people. Others have no imagination whatsoever.

If you are supposed to learn from your mistakes why do some people have more than one child?

Change is inevitable...except from a vending machine.

Royal snub for the Obamas: No wedding invite from Prince William and Kate Middleton | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

2011-01-11T23:02:00.000-05:00

Royal snub for the Obamas: No wedding invite from Prince William and Kate Middleton Top of the Ticket Los Angeles Times

GETTING THE CALL FROM MY EDITOR, RUTH CAVIN

2011-01-10T13:23:00.003-05:00

My editor at St. Martin's Minotaur passed away January 10, 2011 at the age of 92. She was 90 years of age when she chose my novel, THE END GAME, to win the St. Martin's/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery.

This essay is a reprint I wrote for Julie Lomoe's Blog.

I wrote my first novel before I began my newspaper career, right after I got out of college, while I was babysitting my two children. It was a war novel – hey, why not start with something you know everything about, right? It's a good thing I love to research.

I sent it off to an agent friend, a classmate in college. He told me it was hard to believe a woman wrote the book, and that if he sold it, I should use initials so buyers would think I was a man. Then he gave me friendly advice. He said I should write women's non-fiction like the stuff in "Cosmopolitan". Sex positions was going to propel me to the top of the Best Seller List.

I went to work for a newspaper instead. After twenty years as a writer, editor and columnist, I retired to write novels in earnest. Like most journalists, I had a few manuscript starts, but never finished them. My first effort was a mystery overlaid with romance. I didn't consider genre when writing the manuscript. I just wanted to tell a story, sell it to a publisher and have a large reading audience. I hired an agent and wrote four books in what she called the romantic suspense genre, before she told me romantic suspense wasn't selling well.

So okay, let's do something else. I created Moriah Dru, a former cop turned child finder. Already in love with a detective, Dru wouldn't be drifting into romance. My agent didn't like The End Game, because she didn't like the heroine. Dru had too much angst. After three years, my agent and I parted, and I sent The End Game to large independent publishers (of which there are few) and got requests for the "full" manuscript from all. I wrote the second book while waiting for offers that didn't come.

I entered The End Game into the Malice Domestic/St. Martin's Minotaur competition for Best First Traditional Mystery novel and started another mystery series. I'd forgotten about the Minotaur contest. Who wins contests anyway? Then my contest reader called to tell me she'd sent the novel on to St. Martin's. The process starts with readers who receive manuscripts from all over the country. They chooses the best in their estimation and send them to St. Martin's.

A couple months went by, and I "got the call" from Ruth Cavin. I was working on a straight romance and almost let the phone ring. Instead, I said "Hello".

I swear my heart stopped beating as I listened to her words that went something like: "This is Ruth Cavin with St. Martin's. I'm calling to tell you that your novel won the St. Martin's contest. Congratulations."

It couldn't be any of my joker friends. They didn't know I'd entered the contest. My husband didn't know.

My mouth was open and dried-out when I stuttered, "You're kidding?"

She laughed and said, "I had some wonderful manuscripts to choose from, but I thought yours was just the best." Just the best. Her wonderful voice still resounds in my head.

When I told my husband I was going to be published by a big New York house, he said, "At last!"

Thank you Julie for letting me relive that call on your wonderful blog.
Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.blogspot.com/
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

JANUS WAS A VERY BUSY GOD

2011-01-02T13:09:00.006-05:00

In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of gates and doors and openings; a god of beginnings and endings. It has roots in the word janitor which means a gatekeeper.

Janus is portray with two faces, one facing forward, one backward.

In January, the Sun returns and the days grow longer, marking the start of a new year. However, in Roman Times, the new year began in March, which is why September (seventh month), October (8), November and December seemed oddly placed in the calendar.

In myth, Janus was the patron of concrete and abstract beginnings of the world, i.e. religion, the gods, human life. He symbolized change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one universe to another.

In time of war 'The Janus' (gates/doors) were kept open after a contingent of soldiers had marched through it. The doors were closed at the conclusion of peace. Augustus and Nero declared peace and closed the doors of the Janus during their reigns.

Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, deaths and other beginnings.

Now you know.
Happy January.
Researched from internet encyclopedias

Gerrie Ferris Finger

THE ORIGIN OF THE PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE

2010-12-22T12:53:00.009-05:00

There is one Christmas Carol that has always puzzled me. What do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come outof the pear tree, have to do with Christmas?

According to Wikipedia, the meaning of The Twelve Days of Christmas has yet to be satisfactorily explained. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, "Suggestions have been made that the gifts have significance, as representing the food or sport for each month of the year. Importance [certainly has] long been attached to the Twelve Days, when, for instance, the weather on each day was carefully observed to see what it would be in the corresponding month of the coming year. Nevertheless, whatever the ultimate origin of the chant, it seems probable [that] the lines that survive today both in England and France are merely an irreligious travesty."

On the other hand, modern folklore claims that the song's lyrics were written as a catechism song to help young Catholics learn their faith, at a time when practicing Catholicism was discouraged in England (1558 until 1829). In this catechism version there are two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

Even if it's lore - and who's to say? - it's good lore.

Merry Christmas.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

ON COMET! ON CUPID! ON DONNER AND BLITZEN!

2010-12-21T15:00:00.010-05:00

Why did Santa choose reindeer to pull his sleigh across the globe on Christmas night? Are Rudolph and Blitzen the stuff of legend, or are they real? And are the eight flying reindeer the best animal to pilot the toy maker and his elves to the homes of believers? enature.com knows the answers.

"While Dasher and Prancer and the gang are the stuff of legend, reindeer are not. These large deer live in northerly climes, in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Arctic. In Eurasia (and the North Pole) they are called reindeer and in North America more commonly caribou, but they are all the same species.

"The wild herds of Alaska and Canada are known for their mass migrations, while large numbers of those in Eurasia are domesticated, raised for fur, meat, milk, and as work animals. Whether you call them reindeer or caribou, one thing is certain: they are physically well suited to pull a sleigh full of toys and a right jolly old elf.

Questions and Antlers

"Dasher and Dancer and Blitzen and the rest -- sport antlers. Does this mean that all of them (even Vixen?) are males? Not exactly -- in fact, it almost means the opposite. Reindeer and caribou are unique among deer in that the females grow antlers, too. And even more interesting is the fact that the females retain their antlers from one spring till the next, while mature males shed their antlers in the fall -- and are unadorned on Christmas Eve. So the creatures that pull Santa's sleigh must be females or youngsters. Of course, it's entirely possible that a male reindeer with the power to fly also has the power to keep his antlers through the holidays.

All-Terrain Feet

"The caribou or reindeer ... has an all-terrain foot. The animal's remarkable hoof actually adapts itself to the season -- becoming a sort of ice skate in the winter and sneaker in spring. The caribou of North America can run at speeds of almost 50 miles per hour and may travel 3,000 miles in a year. Luckily, the animal is helped along by its amazingly adaptable footpads. In the summer, when the tundra is soft and wet, the footpads become spongy like the soles of tennis shoes and provide extra traction. In the winter, when snow and ice coat the North, the pads shrink and firm up, while the rim of the hoof, like an ice skate's blade, bites into the ice and crusted snow to keep the animal from slipping.

"Sounds like the perfect footwear for an animal that needs to come to a flying stop on an ice-encrusted rooftop in the dark of the night!

Fur Float

"Given its geographic preferences, a reindeer has to have a pretty warm coat. In fact, the coat has two layers of fur, a dense woolly undercoat and longer-haired overcoat. The outer coat consists of hollow, air-filled hairs that give the animal such buoyancy when it enters water that only the lower two-thirds of its body submerges. A caribou or reindeer swims with ease and good speed, and migrating herds will not hesitate to swim across a large lake or broad river. If Santa ever decides to take to the seas rather than the air, he is in good hands."

From enature.com

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

ECLIPSE - THE SKY GODS' CHRISTMAS GIFT

2010-12-20T10:03:00.006-05:00

Wake up, sleepyhead and see the sky. On December 21 a lunar eclipse will last for three-and-a-half hours from its start as a partial eclipse at 1:33 a.m. ET to its finish at 5:01 a.m. ET, according to NASA. The previous lunar eclipse occurred June 26.

During a lunar eclipse you'll see an array of color changes as the moon, the Earth, and the sun align so that the sun's rays are shielded from the moon. An eclipse of the moon can only take place if the moon is full,.

The moon will pass through the Earth's umbra - shadow - which blocks sunlight from reaching the moon. The moon will take on a dramatic red color, so says NASA.

Before and after the total eclipse, the moon will pass through the penumbra, or outer region of the Earth's shadow, where Earth blocks some of the sun's rays, but not all.

If you live in North America, Greenland and Iceland and Western Europe you'll see the beginning stages of the eclipse. Western Asia sees the later stages after moonrise.

Compiled from News Sources and NASA

Gerrie Ferris Finger

SEND A CHRISTMAS CARD TO A SOLDIER, SAILOR OR MARINE

2010-12-04T13:22:00.009-05:00

Please take the time to address a Christmas card to a Recovering American military man or woman when you're addressing your Christmas cards this year.

SEND TO:

A Recovering American in Uniform (you can specify Soldier, Sailor or Marine)
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center,
6900 Georgia Avenue,
NW Washington, DC 20307-5001.

If everyone sends one card, think how many cards these women and men who sacrificed their safety and lives to keep us safe and free, will receive.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

FIVE GOLD RINGS - UP 30%

2010-11-29T09:08:00.003-05:00

The Partridge in the Pear Tree is going to cost you more this Christmas.

If your Christmas list includes every item in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" list, cash in those bonds and sell your gold. It's going to cost almost a hundred grand, or to be precise, $96,824.

Trying to buy the 364 items from 12 drummers drumming to a partridge in a pear tree would be a 10.8 increase percent over last year,according to the annual Christmas Price Index compiled by PNC Wealth Management.

Think you might just try one of everything? That would cost only $23,439, or 9.2 percent more than last year.

But consider that gold prices are high, which pushed the cost of five gold rings up 30 percent to $649.95. So, too, the cost of hiring entertainers skyrocketed.

Not to mention the birds.

"There's no doubt that our feathered friends in general make up a good portion of the increase," a PNC weath management spokesman said. "The price of feed and availability led to a 78.6 percent increase in the price of two turtle doves, to $100 and a whopping 233 percent increase in the cost of three french hens, to $150.

Only four of the 12 gifts in the song didn't go up in price from last year: the pear tree ($149, not including the partridge), four calling birds ($599.96), six geese ($150) and the eight maids-a-milking ($58).

There you have it.

Gerrie Ferris Finger
From wire reports

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

BLUE MOON MONTH

2010-11-21T14:56:00.006-05:00

A blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month, but other sources define it differently. The Farmer's Almanac defines blue moon as a fourth full moon in a season. If a season had four full moons, then the third full moon was named a blue moon. Odd, because that defines it in retrospect.

Curiously, often times the moon appears bluish, perhaps because of smoke (from volcanoes) or dust particles., or maybe people see blue because it's a blue moon.

Blue moon is also used colloquially to mean something that rarely happens, or, once in a blue moon.

Songwriters Rodgers and Hart gave it an additional meaning. In their song, Blue Moon, the protagonist of the song is relating a story of a stroke of luck so unlikely it must have taken place beneath a full moon, and since blue is also the color of sadness, this rare event is personified by a blue moon taking pity on a poor lonely, loveless singer.

Lyrics:
Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone, Without a dream in my heart, Without a love of my own, Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for, You heard me saying a prayer for, Someone I really could care for.

And then there suddenly appeared before me, Someone my arms could really hold, I heard you whisper "Darling please adore me," And when I looked to the moon it had turned to gold,
Blue moon, now I'm no longer alone, Without a dream in my heart, Without a love of my own.

Happy Blue Moon Month

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

KEEP WRITING FUN

2010-11-14T14:31:00.005-05:00

I got a call from a writer friend; a midlister who worries from contract to contract. She has three books with an intermediate indie publisher and worries if they'll buy her next book in the series.
Did I say worries twice? You already know my friend. Miss Anxiety.
I tell her to recover that feeling she had when she wrote her first book, or the first book the publisher bought.
"I used to think writing was fun," she said.
"It still can be," I said.
"I feel like an athlete. Over the hill and off the playing field - if I don't come up with a big plot and marvelous characters."
"You have a series; you've done that."
"What if they get stale?"
What if, what if? Miss Anxiety has become a stuck disc.
I'm a writer; and I suffer an occasional bout of the doubts, but I still think writing is fun. Not every manuscript I produce is going to be a winner with readers, editors, publishers… But I know when I wrote it, it was fun.
I wish I had more encouraging words for my friend, an elixir for writing-is-fun work. I've known her for years and I think her anxiety comes through in her work, which is a plus, because she writes edgy noir fiction.
Now, for me, it's back to the playing field.
Gerrie Ferris Finger
THE END GAME

ME, BETSY AND BOOK CLUBS

2010-11-12T20:48:00.007-05:00

I can't stress enough the power of book clubs. I appeared at the Rivermont Women's Book Club in Atlanta this week. The members were so excited to have a "real live author" talk about her book. Brunch and mimosas over, we settled down to a white glove grilling. These women, after all, are southerners.

Afterward, I signed copies of my book. At other clubs, members share books or get them from libraries, which is fine. As authors we're really looking to build our brand by word of mouth. But these women bought their own copies. If they had ebooks, I signed bookmarks for them. Such a great time.

Next day, the secretary of the club got in touch with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (a newspaper from which I retired) and they ran an item about me and the book club. The hits on my website went out the roof, just like when the AJC reviewed my book.

Libraries and book clubs - do them.

Gerrie Ferris Finger THE END GAME

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

ROMANTIC TIMES NOMINATIONS

2010-11-06T12:46:00.004-04:00

In 1981, Kathryn Falk established the Romantic Times magazine for romance readers to get the scoop on the newest romances and authors in the genre. The Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards are awarded to the best books of the year by the staff of the magazine, as they express their readers’ preferences.

Romantic Times (RT) Reviewers’ Choice Award nominations for 2010: Good luck to all contestants and winners

*Best Contemporary Mystery:

212, by Alafair Burke (Harper)

Pray for Silence, by Linda Castillo (Minotaur)

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, by Tom Franklin (Morrow)

On the Line, by S.J. Rozan (Minotaur)

Moonlight Mile, by Dennis Lehane (Morrow)

*Best Historical Mystery:

City of Dragons, by Kelli Stanley (Minotaur)

An Impartial Witness, by Charles Todd (Morrow)

Royal Blood, by Rhys Bowen (Prime Crime)

The Demon’s Parchment, by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)

Dark Road to Darjeeling, by Deanna Raybourn (Mira)

*Best First Mystery:

Blacklands, by Belinda Bauer (Simon & Schuster)

The Ark, by Boyd Morrison (Touchstone)

Still Missing, by Chevy Stevens (St. Martin’s Press)

Murder at Mansfield Park, by Lynn Shepherd (St. Martin’s Griffin)

Devoured by D.E. Meredith (Minotaur)

*Best Suspense/Thriller Novel:

Eight Days to Live, by Iris Johansen (St. Martin’s Press)

Broken, by Karin Slaughter (Delacorte)

Live to Tell, by Lisa Gardner (Bantam)

They’re Watching, by Gregg Hurwitz (St. Martin’s Press)

One Grave Less, by Beverly Connor (Obsidian)

*Best Amateur Sleuth Novel:

Ghouls Gone Wild, by Victoria Laurie (Obsidian)

Bone Appetit, by Carolyn Haines (Minotaur)

Cat in an Ultramarine Scheme, by Carole Nelson Douglas (Forge)

The Quick and the Thread, by Amanda Lee (Obsidian)

A Nose for Justice, by Rita Mae Brown (Ballantine)

Winners will be announced during the 2011 RT Book Lovers’ Convention, in Los Angeles, April 6-10.

A PENNY FOR THE GUY

2010-11-05T09:10:00.005-04:00

November 5 begins festivities for Guy Fawkes Day in England. Also known as Bonfire Night, it celebrates the anniversary of the failed Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605 led by none other than Guy Fawkes. He and a group of English Catholics sought to blow up the king and members of Parliament for repressing Roman Catholics in England.

Bonfire and fireworks will light up the British sky and an effigy of Fawkes will be burnt because a bunch of English Catholics left a charge of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords to get Protestant King James I overthrown and replaced with a Catholic head of state. The king survived, Fawkes was arrested and children through the English ages have begged for a "penny for the guy", to buy fireworks.

Enjoy your day, your night, and your bangers and mash, Great Britain.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

MURDER WATCHES YOU

2010-10-11T13:44:00.002-04:00

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A DEADLY DINNER - Share a bite with eight crime scene authors

2010-10-09T16:06:00.016-04:00

On October 23, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, A Deadly Dinner will be held at the Harris Arts Center in Calhoun, Georgia.

A lovely sit-down catered dinner will be provided, and you will have time to meet and chat with all eight crime fiction authors.

The roster includes:

- Mignon Ballard

- Kathleen Delaney

- Mary Anna Evans

- Gerrie Ferris Finger

- Marion Moore Hill

- Randy Rawls

- Fran Stewart

- Jaden E. Terrell

Cost of attendance is a measly $25, and there will be many, many autographed books given away as door prizes, as well as the opportunity to get books signed by the authors.

This is the first time the event will be held, and literary events of this nature are important, even in less cosmopolitan areas, and if you are (or will be) in the southeastern U.S., I encourage you to check out the event on the website, and possibly register to attend the dinner. We'd love to have you there!

http://www.cgarts.org/Programs/LiteraryGuild/tabid/800/Default.aspx

Sponsors include the Southeastern Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, Wolfmont Press, Kevin M. Weeks (author), Barnes & Noble Booksellers of Rome, GA, and others.

Written by Tony Burton

Posted by Gerrie Ferris Finger

THE KINGDOM WHERE NOBODY DIES - A CARL BROOKINS REVIEW

2010-10-06T09:38:00.007-04:00

THE KINGDOM WHERE NOBODY DIES

by Kathleen Hills

Poisoned Pen Press, January 2008

hard cover,316 pages

ISBN: 978-1-59058-476-7

The author of this novel has a strong background in rural America, particularly in the Upper Midwest. It shows in many of the nuances that affect the progress of this story. The novel is replete with icons of small towns, some of which are isolated from the mainstream.

The book is set in the tiny Upper Peninsula Michigan town of St. Adele where once again we ride along with one of the most reluctant and phlegmatic lawmen we are likely ever to encounter. His name is John McIntyre and he is the town constable. He didn't want the job in the first place and he can think of a hundred things he'd rather be doing and places he'd rather be than the sun-blasted hay field of former conscientious objector, Ruben Hofer.

Hofer has been murdered, that's plain to see. His head was blasted open by a rifle shot while he sat on his tractor raking hay. It is almost immediately clear that the man's family is one likely source of murderous intent. Hofer was not a nice man. He drove his two teen-aged sons in cruel and oppressive ways; and his eleven-year-old daughter, Claire, has already been pushed to warped and dangerous attitudes about life. His wife is morbidly over-weight and only the youngster, Joey, constantly playing with his make-believe farm in the yard outside the kitchen of the school-house-turned-family-home, seems almost normal.

Author Hills continues to invest her stories with an array of intriguing characters although I got a little tired of the sheriff's on-again-off-again almost incompetent investigation. Moreover, the two teen-agers do not become distinct characters in this book until very late, which I found to be a weakness.

Nevertheless, the story is informed by very real human emotions and conflicts and the author's handling of the religious, political and historical elements of the book tell us she has done careful research. The book is, as is true of all her books, well-written.

Carl Brookins

http://www.carlbrookins.com/, http://www.agora2.blogspot.com/

Case of the Greedy Lawyer, Devils Island,Bloody Halls, more at Kindle & Smashwords!

KEEPING THE FUN IN WRITING

2010-09-26T09:38:00.006-04:00

I got a call from a writer friend; a midlister who worries from contract to contract. She has three books with an intermediate indie publisher and worries if they'll buy her next book in the series.

Did I say worries twice? You already know my friend. Miss Anxiety.

I tell her to recover that feeling she had when she wrote her first book, or the first book the publisher bought.

"I used to think writing was fun," she said.

"It still can be," I said.

"I feel like an athlete. Over the hill and off the playing field - if I don't come up with a big plot and marvelous characters."

"You have a series; you've done that."

"What if they get stale?"

What if, what if? Miss Anxiety has become a stuck disc.

I'm a writer; and I suffer an occasional bout of the doubts, but I still think writing is fun. Not every manuscript I produce is going to be a winner with readers, editors, publishers… But I know when I wrote it, it was fun.

I wish I had more encouraging words for my friend, an elixir for writing-is-fun work. I've known her for years and I think her anxiety comes through in her work, which is a plus, because she writes edgy noir fiction.

Now, for me, it's back to the playing field.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

THE END GAME

Coming in October: WAGON DOGS (Writing that hunting dog mystery was a lot of fun.)

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

THE FUTURE OF READING - FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE

2010-09-23T11:15:00.005-04:00

People who buy e-readers tend to spend more time than ever with their nose in a book, preliminary research shows.

A study of 1,200 e-reader owners by Marketing and Research Resources Inc. found that 40% said they now read more than they did with print books. Of those surveyed, 58% said they read about the same as before while 2% said they read less than before. And 55% of the respondents in the May study, paid for by e-reader maker Sony Corp., thought they'd use the device to read even more books in the future. The study looked at owners of three devices: Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, Apple Inc.'s iPad and the Sony Reader.

While e-readers are still a niche product just beginning to spread beyond early adopters, these new reading experiences are a big departure from the direction U.S. reading habits have been heading. A 2007 study by the National Endowment for the Arts caused a furor when it reported Americans are spending less time reading books. About half of all Americans ages 18 to 24 read no books

The Future of the Book
*51% of e-reader owners increased their purchases of e-books in the past year. Source: Book Industry Study Group survey
*9% of consumers increased their purchases of hardcover books in the past year. Source: Book Industry Study Group survey.
*2.6 Average number of books read by e-reader owners in a month. Source: Marketing and Research Resources
*1.9 Average number of books read by print-book readers in a month. Source: Marketing and Research Resources
*176% Increase in U.S. electronic-book sales in 2009. Source: Association of American Publishers
*1.8% Decrease in U.S. book sales in 2009 from a year earlier. Source: Association of American Publishers
*86% of e-reader owners read on their device more than once a week. Source: Marketing and Research Resources
*51% of e-reader owners read on their device on a daily basis. Source: Marketing and Research Resources

CAPE FEAR CRIME FESTIVAL

2010-09-20T11:08:00.004-04:00

I don't like to fly, particularly now that seats are getting smaller and overhangs nearly touch my head. I'm claustrophobic that way, and passengers and flight attendants do not need to deal with the possibility of me running down the aisle screaming in panic. Used to be, you could drink your way to your destination and feel no fear. Not so today.

That means I won't be going to San Francisco, a city I love, this year for Bouchercon. It's the grandest mystery writer/reader convention, but I'm sticking to the eastern part of the U. S.

So, I signed up to attend, and be part of, the Cape Fear Crime Festival as a panelist.

This from their website:

On Saturday, Feburary 5, 2011, the Cape Fear Crime Festival returns to Wilmington, North Carolina.

Once again, murder and mayhem wil take over the Northeast Branch of the New Hanover County Library, 1241 Military Cutoff Road, Wilmington, NC 28405.

There will be author events free to Wilmington readers, and book sales provided by Two Sisters Bookery of Wilmington.

Check the website to see which authors are attending. http://capefearcrimefestival2.com/

Gerrie Ferris Finger

THE END GAME

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

AGATHA'S BIRTHDAY

2010-09-15T11:58:00.007-04:00

Agatha May Clarissa Miller was born on September 15, 1890 and from the 1920s until the 1970s she was the world's most popular mystery author, having sold more than two billion books worldwide, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Christie turned out cozy stories of murder and detection featuring her two most popular detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Poirot starred in 30 novels while Miss Marple solved mysteries in 12. Countless (to me at least) have been made into movies, most notably the star-studded 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express.

In 1971 Christie was made a Dame of the British Empire for her contributions to British literature and culture.

Gerrie Ferris Finger
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/
THE END GAME
HONORED DAUGHTERS
WHEN SERPENTS DIE
WAGON DOGS - COMING IN OCTOBER

RADIO GIG

2010-09-13T11:35:00.004-04:00

I'll be talking about my two series, DRU and LAKE, and THE LAURA KATE PLANTATION SERIES on Red River Writers Blog Talk Radio on September 16 at 8:00 p.m. The show is the premier of "15 Minutes with Robins & Goodnow"

Tune in and listen while I "run my mouth", as we say in the South, for fifteen minutes. You take your fame where you can get it, and I'm looking forward to April Robins' fine show.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

PRINT DICTIONARIES GOING THE WAY OF THE DODO?

2010-08-30T11:39:00.005-04:00

Papers Fight Over Whether Third Oxford English Dictionary Will Ever Be Printed

from Publishers Lunch

The original story in the Sunday Times this weekend was interesting, and reasonable enough. Oxford University Press ceo Nigel Portwood noted "the print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of per cent a year."

Asked if the company would issue a print version of the third edition of the OED--said to be 28 percent complete, and estimated to be at least 10 years away from being finished and likely longer--Portwood made the mistake of being candid and stating the obvious: "I don't think so."

Thus a wave of the-OED-is-dead stories was unleashed. (The last printed version was issued in 1989, comprising 20 volumes.) Even though the first story contained a statement from an Oxford spokesperson saying that a print version had not been ruled "if there is sufficient demand at the time" a second wave of supposedly-rebuttal stories offers spokesperson Anna Baldwin stating more of the obvious: "No decision has yet been made on the format of the third edition."

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

THE END GAME

WHEN SERPENTS DIE

HONORED DAUGHTERS

coming soon: WAGON DOGS (Oct)

THE EVOLVING NOVELIST

2010-08-27T09:44:00.005-04:00

If life's a journey, the writing life is a filled with detours.

When I retired from news writing and embarked on a career as a novelist, I took so many back roads, I can't count them. I was technique-challenged. I knew the basics and the differences between writing novels and newspaper copy. The longer form, whether genre or literary, involves conflict, plot structure, character building, setting, plot and theme. News editors reject all that to crowd as much information into as small a space as possible.

I spent nearly twenty years with The Atlanta-Journal Constitution writing inverted pyramid style hard news, and, sometimes crossing over into softer features and magazine pieces.

· The newspaper reporter lays out facts, the famous "when, where, who" with the climax in the lede. Then the why and the how get into the story, if they are facts. If an investigator gives an opinion on how the crime was accomplished, he is quoted. His words are facts because he said them. A news writer does not let his opinion seep into the story.

· A feature story lays out facts, too, but delves into the how and why, slowly drawing readers into the piece, often captivating them with clever or poignant phrases. Usually, if there is a punch line, it's at the bottom. In this sense, feature and magazine writing are good disciplines for a beginning novelist.

When I wrote my first "southern gothic", changing my writing style presented problems. Of the many precepts, experts insisted that we, "show, don't tell". My agent told me, "You need to describe the air and scenes around the characters while they talk. Give them looks on their faces, gestures, and don't tell me they looked shocked, tell me what shocked looks like." She was right. I had my protagonists speaking like dispassionate news subjects. My agent then slammed my optimism by saying news writers often don't make good novelists.

I went overboard. I had rambling sentences that surpassed purple prose. It was like, Oh boy, I got the green light to indulge in the fine art of beautiful language – something I couldn't do as a news writer. The results were sorry. I wrote flashbacks that confused, heavy-handed imagery, too many metaphors, too much repetition – how else was I going to get to eighty thousand words? - and that dreaded of all, detailed back story.

I had characters on top of characters – a sheriff, a city cop, a state bureau of investigation guy. My agent told me I was going to lose my readers if I didn't designate one investigator to represent them all. Heck, when I was writing copy for the paper, the more investigators I interviewed the better. But I was beginning to get it and wrote another book, this time a romantic suspense. Not that it was the genre's fault I overwrote.

As far back as I can remember, I read any type of book that came to hand, but by mid-teens I preferred crime fiction, I had a good idea of building conflict by writing individual scenes, and I knew the importance of ending a chapter with dramatic expectation of what lay ahead.

I had more to learn. After toning down and tightening the prose, I realized that Voice was key for me. Two books later, my voice was still newspaper flat. Agents and publishers are voice hounds; they hear it in the first couple of pages. So do readers. I worked on my voice and style by using the narrative to pace the story. I peopled my work with fewer characters which enhanced the conflicts. THE END GAME was the first novel where I deliberately changed my voice to that of my characters.

My heroine, Moriah Dru, a former policewoman, has a tough job as a child finder. I met tough women at the newspaper. The ones I liked had a soft side. Dru was going to have a iron-willed exterior but a soft middle. I heard her voice in my head before I wrote the first word of her story.

On the other hand, if I were to write a cozy mystery, I would have fun with it. I would hear the voice of my heroine and write her thoughts as fast as my fingers could get them out. One thing for sure, if I can't create an emotional connection with the reader, that reader is lost to me.

There is, however, a similarity between newspaper and book writing that includes journalism's "W's". Readers must be constantly curious. They can't be wondering, what's going on, where's the action? In newspapers, the action starts at the top, in novels the action must exist throughout. Fortunately for the novelist, the action doesn't have to be driven by factual events. We get to make them up. That's the best part.

Last, but not least, I do one or two revisions where I squeeze sentences like I did with my news copy. Active voice takes fewer words, and yanking most adverbs and adjectives make the story sing along quite smoothly.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

This essay first appeared on Cassy Pickard's blog

WAGON DOGS

2010-08-21T14:10:00.010-04:00

WAGON DOGS, my October release now has a face. Jenifer Ranieri of Desert Breeze Publishing designed the jacket, which expertly captures the atmosphere of the romantic suspense story. WAGON DOGS is Book 3 in the Laura Kate Plantation Series. WHEN SERPENTS DIE and HONORED DAUGHTERS are books 1 and 2.

See more about these ebooks at http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

CENTER FOR FICTION RENAMES PRIZE

2010-08-14T14:14:00.004-04:00

From Publishers Lunch:

"The Center for Fiction (previously the Mercantile Library) has changed the name of their first novel prize--originally the John Sargent Sr. prize when launched in 2006--to the Flaherty-Dunnan Prize, due to support from board member and writer Nancy Dunnan and honoring her late father Ray Flaherty, also a writer.

The seven nominated debut novels are:

Beneath the Lion's Gaze, by Maaza Mengiste

The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer

Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes

Mr. Peanut, by Adam Ross

The Quickening, by Michelle Hoover

The Report, by Jessica Francis Kane

This is Just Exactly Like You, by Drew Perry

In other awards news, the Thurber Prize for American Humor named their three finalists:

Jancee Dunn, WHY IS MY MOTHER GETTING A TATTOO?: And Other Questions I Wish I Never Had to Ask

Steve Hely, HOW I BECAME A FAMOUS NOVELIST

Rhoda Janzen, MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS "

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

THE END GAME

HONORED DAUGHTERS

WHEN SERPENTS DIE

KNOWING NOIR

2010-08-10T14:37:00.004-04:00

My novel, THE END GAME, has been called a traditional novel, a hard-boiled mystery and noir. Am I strawberry shortcake or what?

Otto Penzler writes in the Huffington Post:

"Noir fiction has attracted some of the best writers in the United States (mostly) and many of its aficionados are among the most sophisticated readers in the crime genre. Having said that, I am constantly baffled by the fact that a huge number of those readers don't seem to know what noir fiction is. When they begin to speak of their favorite titles in the category, they invariably include a preponderance of books and short stories that are about as noir as strawberry shortcake."

Read rest of story.

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

Booker Prize Longlist

2010-07-28T11:28:00.003-04:00

From Publishers Lunch
The Booker Prize longlist was announced yesterday. The list will be whittled to six on September 7, and the winner will be named on October 12. As helpfully sorted below, four of the titles are scheduled for US publication over the next three months, and three have no announced US publication date. In a Booker first, Damon Galgut's novel does not have a US print release date yet, but is available now from Amazon Kindle.

Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America
Andrea Levy, The Long Song
David Mitchell, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Lisa Moore, February
Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap
Emma Donoghue, Room (releases 9/13)
Tom McCarthy, C (releases 9/7)
Paul Murray, Skippy Dies (releases 8/31)
Rose Tremain, Trespass (releases 10/18)
Helen Dunmore, The Betrayal (UK only, Fig Tree)
Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question (UK only, Bloomsbury)
Alan Warner, The Stars in the Bright Sky (UK only, Jonathan Cape)
Damon Galgut, In a Strange Room (UK only in print, Atlantic Books; US via Kindle)

So far UK oddsmakers can't agree on a favorite (unlike last year, when Hilary Mantel led from start to finish). William Hill has made Levy their 4-1 favorite, followed by two-time winner Carey, while Ladbrooke's has Carey on top at 3-1, with Levy in eighth place.Agent Jonny Geller comments on the list via Twitter: "Papers today say no debut novelists on booker longlist? Because pubs stopped buying them last year! Maybe they might start now?"

CROWDFUNDED PUBLISHING - HUH?

2010-07-20T10:50:00.006-04:00

France pioneers 'crowdfunded' publishing
Éditions du Public seeks 'co-editors' who 'invest in what they want to read'

From the guardian.co.uk

July 2010

"From science fiction writers to poets and playwrights, would-be French authors are lining up to take part in France's first venture into crowdfunded literature.

Launched this spring by publisher Éditions du Public, the initiative – slogan: "I invest in what I want to read" – has already received 80 manuscripts. Sixteen have been merited good enough to make it onto the publisher's website, from Nathalie Tavignot's Croissant de lune (Crescent Moon), in which a series of murders occur in a village whose inhabitants have just woken from a long sleep and remember nothing, to Ghislain Hammer's poetry collection Les colosses nus (The Naked Colossi).

The publishers are now looking for co-editors to help fund publication of the books. Each co-editor must invest €11 in their chosen title, and will then be able to discuss the book with its author on Éditions du Public's forum, following each stage as it is written. Each title has six months to sign up 2,000 co-editors and some are already proving more popular than others: Tavignot's thriller has 45 subscribers, while Hammer has just two.

Once the 2,000 threshold has been reached, an editor at Éditions du Public will go over the text and layout with the author. The book will then be sold online and through bookshops, with each co-editor able to recoup "up to eight times the amount of their initial subscription" depending on sales, as well as receiving a free copy of the book they have edited.

"We want, thanks to crowdfunding, to give the chance to every author to be published," said Laurence Broussal at Éditions du Public. "Thanks to our website, authors have a real communication platform to make themselves known to internet users and to meet their public. But we want this to be without risk: the internet co-editor is refunded with 100% of their output, and the author gets back their manuscript, if the book is not published."

Broussal said that Éditions du Public was the first publisher to utilise crowdfunding in France, although the concept has already been experimented with in music and film. The publisher has already received around 1,000 subscriptions across all its titles after starting to recruit co-editors at the beginning of July, and hopes to publish its first book by the end of the year."

Happy Crowdfunded Reading.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

Author of THE END GAME, not crowdfunded published.

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

CHEERS FOR BOOK CLUBS

2010-06-28T16:08:00.008-04:00

In our small community on the coast of Georgia, there are four book clubs. There used to be three. The members rotate holding the monthly meetings, and the size of the three clubs grew to the point where there wasn't enough room for members to sit, to say nothing of the food and wine bills for the gathering.

I had my first book club appearance last week. I've never belonged to a book club, although I've always had a bookmark in at least one fiction or nonfiction book since I was old enough to read.

My mother, a great reader and club woman, never belonged to a book club. We lived in the country. There were quilting clubs (I can still feel the little needle pricks at the tips of my fingers), garden clubs, theater and symphony-going clubs, bridge clubs – you name a time and place where women gather, and there was a club for it.

It seems to me there is a proliferation of book clubs today.

Is this Oprah's doing? If so, good for her.

When my neighbor, Tina, learned that my debut mystery, THE END GAME, would be released on April 27, she invited me to appear at her book club, one of the four. I've also been invited to the other three clubs.

There were almost twenty members in attendance. Fifteen members are area snowbirds, now back in Massachusetts or Maine for the summer, away from flying creatures and the sizzling atmosphere.

I had such fun getting to know these readers. I have to admit book club appearances have it all over signings. First, members have either bought, borrowed or checked the book out at the library, so there's no selling like at a signing. Second, they've read it, so we can talk about the entire book.

As I said, this was my first experience at discussing the novel except with my editor, Ruth Cavin, who chose THE END GAME as the Best First Traditional Mystery Novel in the Malice Domestic/St. Martin's competition.

So after introductions, Tina, my friend, asked me, "Is your heroine, Moriah Dru, you?"

I wasn't expecting that opening salvo and laughed. How could I say she wasn't me, at least in part, since I am her creator. But the truth is, if I had to re-create me ( being my own God), I'd create myself in Dru's image. But no, I'm not nearly as high-minded, brave and dedicated to justice as she is. I was a reporter so getting the facts in a story right is important, but I learned a long time ago that justice is elusive.

My book club readers were interested in all the things writers are queried about: Are the characters modeled after people you know? Some. Where did you get your plot idea? From the news. Did you choose your book cover? No. Did you do research? A lot. Do you write with music playing? Not usually. I'm easily distracted. Have you ever hopped a train? Long time ago, when I was young and stupid, and I didn't stay on it very long.

We discussed the ending of THE END GAME, which I can't do here because mystery readers like surprises. All but one member declared they hadn't guessed the villain before the person (s) was exposed. I never asked if they liked the book, but most volunteered liking it very much to having been unable to put it down.

I have several more book club bookings, and I'm looking forward to each and every one. Yes, you get the usual questions, but one member asked, "Do you drink when you write?"

Put off momentarily (while holding a glass of wine), I asked, "Like Hemingway or Fitzgerald?"

"I read where Hemingway said, 'Good writers are drinking writers.'"

I'm saying you're a good writer."

I'll take that as a compliment any day, and, no, I don't drink when I write, or play golf. Both require a focused brain, and, as I said before, I'm easily distracted.

Cheers!

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

ICE CREAM - YOU SCREAM

2010-06-07T09:54:00.006-04:00

There aren't many ice creams that I don't like. Not fond of mint, licorice or peanut butter. PB doesn't taste right unless it sticks to the roof of my mouth.

But here are some great cone fillers for the long, hot summer.

http://tinyurl.com/2dv2boh

Gerrie

MELANIE ATKINS TO THE RESCUE

2010-05-28T09:01:00.020-04:00

I'm fond of saying I never missed a deadline. Up until now. For the twenty years I spent at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I never missed a deadline. Since I'm retired, that will always be true.

Desert Breeze publishes my ebook romantic suspense novels, and for two of them, WHEN SERPENTS DIE and HONORED DAUGHTERS, I got my copy in on time.

Then comes WAGON DOGS, my upcoming 2010 Fall release.

My editor, Gail Delaney, sent an email reminding authors with September releases that copy was due June 1.

Why, I wondered, was Gail sending this to me? My third book wasn't due out until October, which meant I didn't have to get it to her until July 1.

So, I looked for my contract and couldn't find it. But I shot off an email anyway, saying I'm not due out until October.

Gail replied. You are on the schedule for September.

When I found my contract, it was dated October 2009. And Gail went on to remind me that HONORED DAUGHTERS had been released in October 2009. That must have been the problem. October on the brain.

Whatever. I missed a deadline. No way could I get the novel ready in five days.

Gail, being the complete editor that she is, said she'd check with other authors to see if someone could help me out.

And to the rescue comes Melanie Atkins. She had her romantic suspense (same genre as mine) manuscript ready for its October release ahead of time and was delighted to switch months with me. (Bet she never loses her keys, either.)

Thank you Gail and thank you Melanie.

Look at these wonderful covers. You know there's a fabulous story inside. I highly recommend CHERISHED WITNESS, CHOSEN TARGET and PRIME SUSPECT. They are available (along with mine, aforementioned) on the Desert Breeze website store.

http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-Suspense/Categories.bok

By the way, Desert Breeze Publishing will be open for submissions on July 1. Check the website at

http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-template/policy/Page.bok

HAPPY 50TH 'MOCKINGBIRD'

2010-05-25T13:29:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, my favorite Southern novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, turned 50.

Monroeville, Alabama is having a mega-celebration birthday party for the book, authored by hometown girl, Harper Lee. I used the word "girl" calculatingly, because in the South boys are, well, "boys" and girls are "good ol' girls", no matter the age. The festivities are to run all summer and four editions of the book are planned by publisher, HarperCollins, each with a different cover.

Harper Lee, as is her self-imposed legend, most likely will avoid the limelight. She is 84, lives in Alabama and has never published another book. TKAM was originally published in 1960 by J. B. Lippincott and Company and won a Pulitzer Prize.

The classic of high school lit classes, the plot takes place in the Great Depression. Scout Finch, an avowed tomboy, lives with her brother, Jem, and their widowed father, Atticus, in Maycomb, Ala. Atticus is a prominent lawyer and the Finch family is well off. One summer, Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who has come to live in their neighborhood. Dill becomes fascinated with the spooky house on their street called the Radley Place, owned by Nathan Radley, whose brother, Boo, has lived there for years, never going outdoors.

Scout, and Jem make fun of Boo Radley, doing everything in their power to lure him outside. Atticus stops it, admonishing the kids to understand and sympathize with the odd Boo. But the three sneak onto the Radley property, where Nathan shoots at them. Jem loses his pants and returns for them later. He finds them sewn and hanging on the fence. Scout find more presents in the tree, presumably left by the mysterious Boo.

A fire breaks out in a neighbor’s house, and during the fire someone slips a blanket on Scout’s shoulders as she watches the blaze. Convinced that Boo did it, Jem tells Atticus about the mended pants and the presents.

In a seeming subplot, Atticus agrees to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white woman. In this break with the societal norm, Jem and Scout are made fun of. Scout doesn't take kindly to this treatment and wants to fight back. They find refuge with the black community.

At the trial, Scout and Jem sit in the colored balcony. Atticus proves the accusers, Mayella Ewell and her father, Bob, are lying. That Mayella propositioned Tom Robinson, was caught by her father, and then accused Tom of rape to cover her shame and guilt. But Robinson is convicted. Scout can't understand why, and Atticus explains he had to do his duty, but that the verdict was a foregoing conclusion, given the culture they lived in. Shortly after, Scout learns that Tom Robinson had been killed in an escape attempt.

Bob Ewell is raving mad at Atticus and the judge and vows revenge. He tries to break into the judge’s house, then attacks Jem and Scout as they walk home. Jem is wounded. Boo Radley intervenes, stabbing and killing Ewell. The sheriff protects Boo by saying Ewell tripped over a tree root and fell on his own knife. Boo once again confines himself to the Radley house.

Moral of the story: Scout's experience with prejudice and hatred gives her an understanding of what others must go through in a stratified society. She begins to under sympathy and practices kindness.

The New York Times reports that in Rhinebeck, N.Y., Oblong Books will host a party with Mocktails and a performance by the indie band the Boo Radleys.

COFFEE WITH A CANINE

2010-05-21T11:42:00.008-04:00

And Not Just Any Canine

http://www.coffeecanine.blogspot.com/2010/05/gerrie-ferris-finger-bogey.html

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

REVIEW from THE BOOK BITCH

2010-05-17T20:55:00.007-04:00

THE END GAME

Gerrie Ferris Finger

Minotaur Books

Child Trace, Inc. is a private firm devoted to missing children.

Created by Moriah Dru after she leaves the Atlanta PD, the company has been gaining recognition and momentum since it’s beginning. All of Moriah’s efforts are paying off and she’s become the go-to investigator in cases involving kids.

This latest case that she’s been called in on may turn out to be her most difficult yet. Two sisters are missing after their foster parents have been killed in a devastating house fire. Arson is the cause and Moriah has to wonder if the kids were the target all along.

Working alongside her former partner and current lover, Detective Rick Lake, Moriah knows that time is not on her side in this investigation. The suspect list is long and continues to grow as every minute passes, and when Moriah discovers the real reason behind the kidnapping, things get even worse.

Gerrie Ferris Finger’s first in this new series is a fast-pace and totally gripping story. It’s also a darker mystery that will appeal to readers across the mystery genre.

05/10 Becky Lejeune

A note about the books reviewed... A new law was recently enacted that has been causing some confusion among online reviewers. For clarity's sake, all reviews on this site are the opinions of the reviewer, based on a careful reading of the work. Books are furnished to reviewers in a variety of ways, including review copies from the publisher, the author, and/or publicists. Other books are borrowed from libraries, received as gifts from friends and family members, and purchased in bookstores, both online and bricks & mortar. Reviewers stand by their reviews as their own opinion, regardless of the source of the book being reviewed.

From BookBitchBlog

BISG Conference Message: Change or Die

2010-05-10T09:21:00.003-04:00

BISG Conference Message: Change or Die

On my recent book tour, readers and potential book buyers ask: "Is your book available on Kindle or Nook?"

The answer is YES.

Read the link below to understand the changing nature of book sales.

Gerrie
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

Posted using ShareThis

BREAKFAST AT MALICE

2010-05-01T09:46:00.003-04:00

Not exactly Breakfast at Tiffany's, but the coffee was hot at 7:30 in the morning and the fans were enthusiastic. A ballroom was set up with tables for ten, each with a new mystery author at the table.

The fruit was fresh and so were the authors when it came time to reveal the plots of their books, me included.

I don't know how I sounded. I'm a writer not a speaker, but the applause was nice.

Malice Domestic is a wonderful fan convention. Mystery readers are avid to know everything about your book, but, Oh, no spoilers, please!

I'm off to a panel to discuss "Ripped from the Headlines" about how newspapers, TV, and on-line programs influence your work. My novel centers around two missing little girls, abducted for the overseas slave trade. A very timely topic.

Must go now.

Gerrie

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

REVIEWERS' CHOICE WINNERS

2010-04-29T09:34:00.008-04:00

Congratulations to these winners of the Reviewers' Choice Awards given by Romantic Times Book Reviews.

The winners in the Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller category are (for books published in 2009):

Amateur Sleuth: Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke (Kensington)

Contemporary Mystery: Kill For Me by Karen Rose (Grand Central)

First Mystery: A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Historical Mystery: What Remains of Heaven by C. S. Harris (NAL)

PI/Police Procedural Novel: A Darker Domain by Val McDermid (Harper)

Suspense/Thriller: The Messenger by Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster)

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

Author of THE END GAME

hard cover now available online and in stores

2010-04-25T09:27:00.011-04:00

The Crime Writers of Canada has announced its annal nominations for The Arthur Ellis Award. The award goes to writers of excellent Canadian crime fiction. The winners will be announced May 27 in Toronto.

Best Crime Novel

Aloha, Candy Hearts by Anthony Bidulka
Arctic Blue Death by R.J. Harlick
Finger's Twist by Lee Lamothe
Death Spiral by James W. Nichol
High Chicago by Howard Shrier

Best First Novel

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Cold Light of Mourning by Elizabeth J. Duncan
The Weight of Stones by C.B. Forrest
A Magpie's Smile by Eugene Meese
Darkness at the Stroke of Noon by Dennis Richard Murphy

Best Non-Fiction

The Fat Mexican: The Bloody rise of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club by Alex Caine
Runaway Devil by Robert Remington and Sherri Zickefoose
The Slasher Killings by Patrick Brode
Post Mortem by Jon Wells
Murder without Borders by Terry Gould

Best Juvenile

Not Suitable for Family Viewing by Vicki Grant
Haunted by Barbara Haworth-Attard
Homicide Related by Norah McClintock
The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade
The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones Best

Unpublished First Crime Novel (the Unhanged Arthur)

This Cage of Bones by Pam Barnsley
Confined Space by Deryn Collier
The Corpse Flower by Gloria Ferris
A Bait of Pleasure by Blair Hemstock
Putting Them Down by Peter Kirby

Best Short Story

"Backup" by Rick Mofina
"Prisoner in Paradise" by Dennis Richard Murphy
"Nothing is Easy" by James Petrin
"Time Will Tell" by Twist Phelan
"Clowntown Pajamas" by James Powell

Best Crime Writing in French

Je compte les morts by Genevieve Lefebvre
Le mort du chemin des Arsène by Jean Lemieux
La faim de la terre by Jean-Jacques Pelletier
Peaux de chagrin by Diane Vincent

Congratulations, you are all winners!

HOW SAYINGS BEGAN

2010-04-24T12:57:00.004-04:00

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs, thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt Poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

Keep watching, I'm not finished.

Gerrie Ferris Finger

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/

http://www.crimewritersblog.blogspot.com/

POEM TO EARTH DAY

2010-04-22T12:04:00.004-04:00

The Oak
by James Russell Lowell
What gnarled stretch, what depth of shade, is his?

There needs no crown to mark the forest's king;

How in his leaves outshines full summer's bliss!

Sun, storm, rain, dew, to him their tribute bring,

Which he, with such benignant royalty

Accepts, as overpayeth what is lent;

All nature seems his vassal proud to be,

And cunning only for his ornament.
How towers he, too, amid the billowed snows,

An unquelled exile from the summer's throne,

Whose plain, uncintured front more kingly shows,

Now that the obscuring courtier leaves are flown.

His boughs make music of the winter air,

Jewelled with sleet, like some cathedral front

Where clinging snow-flakes with quaint art repair

The dents and furrows of Time's envious brunt.
How doth his patient strength the rude March wind

Persuade to seem glad breaths of summer breeze,

And win the soil that fain would be unkind,

To swell his revenues with proud increase!

He is the gem; and all the landscape wide

(So doth his grandeur isolate the sense)

Seems but the setting, worthless all beside,

An empty socket, were he fallen thence.
So, from oft converse with life's wintry gales,

Should man learn how to clasp with tougher roots

The inspiring earth; - how otherwise avails

The leaf-creating sap that sunward shoots?

So every year that falls with noiseless flake

Should fill old scars up on the stormward side,

And make hoar age revered for age's sake,

Not for traditions of youth's leafy pride.
So, from the pinched soil of a churlish fate,

True hearts compel the sap of sturdier growth,

So between earth and heaven stand simply great,

That these shall seem but their attendants both;

For nature's forces, with obedient zeal

Wait on the rooted faith and oaken will,

As quickly the pretender's cheat they feel,

And turn mad Pucks to flout and mock him still.
Lord! all Thy works are lessons - each contains

Some emblem of man's all-containing soul;

Shall he make fruitless all Thy glorious pains,

Delving within Thy grace an eyeless mole?

Make me the least of Thy Dodona-grove,

Cause me some message of Thy truth to bring,

Speak but a word through me, nor let

Thy loveAmong my boughs disdain to perch and sing.

ODE TO GOLF - For National Poetry Month

2010-04-19T09:29:00.010-04:00

In My Hand I Hold A Ball,

White And Dimpled, And Rather Small.

Oh How Bland It Does Appear,

This Harmless Looking Little Sphere.
By Its Size I Could Not Guess,

The Awesome Strength It Does Possess.

But Since I Fell Beneath Its Spell,

I've Wandered Through The Fires Of Hell.
My Life Has Not Been Quite The Same,

Since I Chose To Play This Stupid Game.

It Rules My Mind For Hours On End,

A Fortune It Has Made Me Spend.
It Has Made Me Curse And Made Me Cry,

And Hate Myself And Want To Die.

It Promises Me A Thing Called Par,

If I Hit It Straight And Far.
To Master Such A Tiny Ball,

Should Not Be Very Hard At All.

But My Desires The Ball Refuses,

And Does Exactly As It Chooses.
It Hooks And Slices,

Dribbles And Dies,

And Disappears Before My Eyes.

Often It Will Have A Whim,

To Hit A Tree Or Take A Swim.
With Miles Of Grass On Which To Land,

It Finds A Tiny Patch Of Sand.

Then Has Me Offering Up My Soul,

If Only It Would Find The Hole.
It's Made Me Whimper Like A Pup,

And Swear That I Will Give It Up.

And Take To Drink To Ease My Sorrow,

But The Ball Knows ... I'll Be Back Tomorrow.

Author Unknown.

ODE TO NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

2010-04-19T08:40:00.005-04:00

NEAR the end of April,
On the verge of May --
And O my heart, the woods were dusk
At the close of day.
Half a word was spoken
Out of half a dream,
And God looked in my soul and saw
A dawn rise and gleam.
Near the end of April
Twenty Mays have met,
And half a word and half a dream
Remember and forget.

William Stanley Braithwaite

HOW SAYINGS BEGAN

2010-04-18T12:48:00.003-04:00

There is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London which used to have gallows adjacent. Prisoners were taken to the gallows (after a fair trial of course) to be hung. The horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner was accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like ''ONE LAST DRINK''.
If he said YES it was referred to as ONE FOR THE ROAD If he declined, that prisoner was ON THE WAGON

So there you go.

THE EDGAR NOMINATIONS

2010-04-15T14:28:00.005-04:00

The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at the 64th Gala Banquet, April 29, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

Here are the nominees:

BEST NOVEL

The Missing by Tim Gautreaux (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)
The Odds by Kathleen George (Minotaur Books)
The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books)
Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Random House - Ballantine Books)
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett (HarperCollins)
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (Grand Central Publishing)
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Simon & Schuster - Touchstone)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (MIRA Books)
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (HarperCollins)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Havana Lunar by Robert Arellano (Akashic Books)
The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio – Caravel Books)
Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn Press – Castle Street Mysteries)
The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press)

BEST FACT CRIME

Columbine by Dave Cullen (Hachette Book Group - Twelve)
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn (Simon & Schuster)
The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide by Dick Lehr (HarperCollins)
Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo (The Penguin Press)
Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf)
The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)
Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak (Thomas Dunne Books)
The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press)
The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" – Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins (Busted Flush Press)
"Femme Sole" – Boston Noir by Dana Cameron (Akashic Books)
"Digby, Attorney at Law" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Jim Fusilli (Dell Magazines)
"Animal Rescue" – Boston Noir by Dennis Lehane (Akashic Books
"Amapola" – Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)

BEST JUVENILE

The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)
Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)
Creepy Crawly Crime by Aaron Reynolds (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers Group – Philomel Books)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen)
If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)
The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford (Penguin Young Readers Group – Viking Children’s Books)Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books)Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

“Place of Execution,” Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (PBS/WGBH Boston)
“Strike Three” – The Closer, Teleplay by Steven Kane (Warner Bros TV for TNT)
“Look What He Dug Up This Time” – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman (FX Networks)
“Grilled” – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by George Mastras (AMC/Sony)
“Living the Dream” – Dexter, Teleplay by Clyde Phillips (Showtime)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"A Dreadful Day" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Dan Warthman (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER

Dorothy Gilman

RAVEN AWARDS

Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Zev Buffman, International Mystery Writers’ Festival

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

Poisoned Pen Press (Barbara Peters & Robert Rosenwald)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 28, 2010)

Awakening by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books)
Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof by Blaize Clement (Minotaur Books)
Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Lethal Vintage by Nadia Gordon (Chronicle Books)
Dial H for Hitchcock by Susan Kandel (HarperCollins)

BLOG TOUR

2010-04-13T12:00:00.004-04:00

I recently guest blogged on

The Stiletto Gang

Thoughts In Progress

My Father's Oldsmobile

I love this blogging thing.

See my website for my blogging and book tour appearances.

Gerrie

HOW WE MAKE CHOICES

2010-04-11T13:03:00.008-04:00

I came across an article in The Week and wanted to share the wisdom. Agatha Christie influenced my reading and writing as I grew up, but to be an influence on humans making choices? Who'd have thought it? And, Alice in Wonderland?

Here's the article:

Sheena Iyengar’s new book, "The Art of Choosing", explores the biology and psychology of choice. But what does she choose to read? Author Sheena Iyengar.

The Week asked Columbia University business professor, Sheena Iyengar, the author of the "The Art of Choosing", a new book examining the science of how human beings make choices, to name six titles that have influenced her work. It was ‘a complex choosing task,' she says.

Essays: First Series by Ralph Waldo Emerson (General Books, $7). Inspiring, invigorating, brimming with commitment. “Self-Reliance,” in particular, is notable for its powerful argument against conformity, against “a foolish consistency.” It’s hard to imagine what “American values” would look like without Emerson.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Scholastic, $4). The Hatter emphasizes the difference between “I like what I get” and “I get what I like.” The Cheshire Cat suggests that if you don’t know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you choose. This book is sometimes considered wonderful nonsense, but the characters say a lot of wise things about our desires, goals, and achievements.

The Mysteries of Agatha Christie (HarperCollins, $6 each). Considered as a whole, the stories and novels of Agatha Christie form a highly entertaining study of the relationship between motive (What drives our choices?) and action (What do we end up choosing?).

The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L. Heilbroner (Simon & Schuster, $18). A classic that manages to make economics accessible and interesting to the layperson. Heilbroner delves into the “lives, times, and ideas of the great economic thinkers”—as the book’s subtitle promises—to show how men like Adam Smith and Karl Marx were shaped by their choices, and how their theories continue to shape us today.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (Random House, $16). Rushdie’s novel is a beautiful, astonishing meditation on freedom, destiny, and the role of the individual in creating history. What do we expect from freedom, and what do we get? Can one person’s choices affect the course of an entire nation? Rushdie makes these questions impossible to ignore.

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert (Knopf, 16). With eloquence and humor, Gilbert explains in this 2006 book how our imagination fails us, leading us to act against our own happiness. Along with fascinating research and memorable anecdotes, he offers the practical advice that we all want and need.

—Sheena Iyengar, a Columbia University business professor, explores the biology and psychology of choice in The Art of Choosing

FUN TIMES AT MYSTERIES AND MARGARITAS

2010-04-07T17:29:00.004-04:00

You have to love a blog called Mysteries and Margaritas. I had the pleasure of guest-blogging today.
Tune in.
http://www.mysteriesandmargaritasblogspot.com/

INTERVIEW WITH BETH GROUNDWATER

2010-04-06T10:11:00.012-04:00

Good morning, it was my pleasure to be interviewed by the author of the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series. Her first novel, "A Real Basket Case" was nominated for an Agatha Award.

Read Beth's interview.

http://bethgroundwater.blogspot.com/

JULIE MILLER WINS BOGEY'S ARC CONTEST

2010-04-01T11:40:00.019-04:00

On March 23, I announced an ARC contest for THE END GAME on DorothyL. The rules were simple. On April 1 (Fool's Day) Bogey, the black standard poodle, and Ace tennis ball player, would draw a tennis ball from his toy box. Contestants are represented by a number to match names on the order of email entries.

Bogey's approach.

Digging around to find a winner.

And the winner is 8.

Julie Miller, Duluth, Minnesota.

YAY, JULIE!!

THRILLER AWARDS

2010-03-30T13:30:00.004-04:00

The 2010 awards will be announced at ThrillerFest in New York City on July 10 at the Grand Hyatt. Congratulations to these finalists:

Best Hard Cover Novel:
VANISHED by Joseph Finder
LONG LOST by Harlan Coben
FEAR THE WORST by Linwood Barclay
THE NEIGHBOR by Lisa Gardner
THE RENEGADES by T. Jefferson Parker

Best Paperback Original:
SHADOW SEASON by Tom Piccirilli
URGE TO KILL by John Lutz
VENGEANCE ROAD by Rick Mofina
THE COLDEST MILE by Tom Piccirilli
NO MERCY by John Gilstrap

Best First Novel:
FRAGMENT by Warren Fahy
DEAD MEN'S DUST by Matt Hilton
COLLISION OF EVIL by John J. Le Beau
DRACULA: THE UN-DEAD by Dacre Stoker
RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL by Jamie Freveletti

Best Short Story:
THE DESERT HERE AND THE DESERT FAR AWAY by Marcus Sakey
A STAB IN THE HEART by Twist Phelan
AFTERSHOCK & OTHERS by F. Paul Wilson
ICED by Harry Hunsicker
BOLDT'S BROKEN ANGEL by Ridley Pearson

GENRE-ING THE END GAME

2010-03-24T10:47:00.007-04:00

I guest blogged with Peg Brantley at her excellent blog, Suspense Novelist.

Read it.

Book Signing

2010-03-22T17:02:00.008-04:00

I came across this series of questions from The Rocky Mountain Writers Summit about book signings when my publishers and I launched my book tour.

I'm sharing this because book signings can be tricky whether you arrange your own tour or your publicist does it for you.

Question #1: Does the bookstore have a special events coordinator? Usually the answer is yes. If not, ask for the manager or owner – especially if the bookstore is locally owned.

Question #2: Will the bookstore be ordering the books directly from the distributor or would they consider buying them directly from the author?

Bookstores usually want to order their own inventory of books from their own distributors, however they are going to be frugal on the number of books they order. Authors need to bring at least 30 books with them in the event that the bookstore had a problem with fulfillment or if they don’t order enough books. The bookstore will usually be very willing buy books directly from the author (especially if they’re very likely to be or are already sold).

Question #3: If the bookstore is willing to buy books from the author, the bookstore will want to know the discount the author is offering.

Before answering, the author should inquire how much they typically require. Anywhere between 30%-60% is reasonable. Typical breakdowns are 30% if the bookstore is only willing to buy books that sell during the signing, or 40% if the bookstore is willing to buy books before the signing and have them on display to help promote the event. If the bookstore wants or demands more than 40% when buying directly from the author, then that author must decide if the venue is worth that big of a percentage of sales.

Question #4: How many books do you sell on average at a book signing?

The answer to this question will give the author a clue as to how many books the bookstore is likely to buy from the distributor and how many the author should bring to supplement the signing if the bookstore orders short. It will also give the author an indication if this is a good location or not to really do a book signing. Asking for the ‘average’ number as opposed to listening to tales of their ‘greatest one ever' will also ground the author into a realistic expectation of the venue.

Question #5: When do they have the best foot traffic? (In my opinion, this is crucial for a successful signing. Also, get the best seat in the house, usually at the store front. Don't let them stick you off somewhere upstairs, back in the business book section.)

Authors should do quite a bit of pre-publicity for their book signings. However, the reality is that most don’t. So to optimize the potential for the book signing, the author needs to be at the store when it is at its busiest.

Question #6: The bookstore will ask the author…. “Is your book ‘Print on Demand’?

Some bookstores will ask the local talent if their book is ‘Print on Demand’. What the bookstore is assuming is that ‘Print on Demand’ books are not returnable. If the author short circuits that question with a description of their return policy, the objection will usually be overcome. A bookstore doesn’t really care whether your book was made on a digital press or an offset press, that is irrelevant to them. What is important is whether or not they’re going to be stuck with a bunch of books that don’t sell after a book signing has finished. The author must stand behind everything they sell! Especially today, bookstores need risk-free propositions. If they buy the books from their distributor, the return policy is already in place. If they buy books from the author, they will insist on a return policy. Authors should, at a minimum, always honor a 120-day full refund guarantee.

For more information on creating a very successful book signing - read this Squidoo article – 10 Tips for a successful book signing.

The Tattered Cover in Denver has a full page of more information about working with local authors on special events at: http://tatteredcover.com/local-authors Visit the Rocky Mountain Writer’s Summit’s website and look for the writer’s tips on every single page of the site. Read all 50 tips and glean this free insight from the publishing services providers of the Rocky Mountain Writer’s Summit.

More About: publishing advice · first time author · publishing services · book marketing · book sales · public awareness · author misconceptions · author's true objective · writers · book signings

"I REALLY DON'T KNOW CLOUDS AT ALL"

2010-03-22T14:00:00.002-04:00

Dan Clancy, director of Google Books, says data now stored on a PC should be stored on a "cloud" instead.

When I read this I thought, there are those who've said I have my head in the clouds most of the time, I'm interested.

Clancy goes on to say, "...the concept (is) that you can get services through the Internet that are accessible no matter what hardware you use and where you are."

So how does this relate to the book world?

He admits digital reading is taking off, although still small and, he says, the concept of Amazon's Kindle is "cloud-based". If you buy it, it's stored online. If you lose your Kindle, you just access your book from the online cloud with another device. He adds, "One of the challenges, however, is 'to trust that it will be there when you want it.'

There's always a caveat.

BLOG TOUR

2010-03-19T09:07:00.007-04:00

Happy Friday!

It's here, at last. My blog tour.

I thought about hiring a blog tour company to help me promote my debut mystery, The End Game. They'd do all the work. Contact the hosts, set the dates, let me know if I'm going to write an essay or do a conversation with the host. They'd charge me for this, but not a lot in the scheme of promotions.

I decided, however, to contact my favorite blog sites and ask the hosts if I might "drop by" as a guest. I'm happy to say these busy hosts have rolled out the red carpet for me. I'll reciprocate with each and host their blog tour.

Guest blogging is an interesting and delightful way to learn about people you don't know, and connect with those you've come to know through reading their thoughts and experiences.

My blog tour kicked off with Peg Herring's Sweet Mystery.

Drop in and read what I have to say. Start a conversation with me by commenting.

http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blogspot.com

LEFT COAST CRIME AWARDS

2010-03-17T09:02:00.003-04:00

The Left Coast Crime Convention has ended. The winners of the awards are as follows:

LEFTY AWARD in the Humorous Mystery category:

Getting Old is a Disaster by Rita Lakin

BRUCE ALEXANDER AWARD, Historical Mystery category:

A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell

THE PANIK AWARD for LA Noir (this year only):

Death Was in the Picture by Linda Richards

BOOK TRAILERS

2010-03-16T12:44:00.006-04:00

I wrote earlier this month about making a book video trailer for The End Game.

The mystery novel is loaded with action, so why not, I thought.

I contacted several companies and found that, at this point in my mystery fiction career, I'm better off spending the money (it's expensive, folks) on other promotions.

Book trailers, I learned, are for already famous writers. Think of it like this: You see the preview of a motion picture. You know the stars; you like them. They've never disappointed, or if they have, not overly so. So, when the movie comes to your theatre, you plunk down your cash to see the entire film.

But say you don't know who the stars are, are you as apt to separate yourself from your cash? Which, these days, no one seems to have an abundance of.

So, no book trailer for me, this time.

But I will one day. The sequel to The End Game, The Last Temptation has just as much action, maybe more, and, because you read The End Game , you won't think twice about parting with your bucks to buy the book.

SPRING Forward

2010-03-13T12:27:00.008-05:00

The pear tree is leafing. The daffodils are poking through the pine straw. The ospreys are adding to their messy nests from last year.

Yep, it's Spring - or almost - the time of the year we here in most of the United States set our clocks up an hour to have more daylight in the evening. Of course, it's darker in the morning. When we walk Bogey, our standard poodle - talk about springing forward! - it's eerie to see school children standing at the bus stops in darkness. I never thought that was a good idea. That's probably one of the reasons most mothers are lurking nearby in a car or under an umbrella. It is Spring, showers and flowers and all that.

When I was in school I never liked the idea of going to bed when it was still daylight. We had April and May to get through before summer bedtime hours kicked in.

Now that I write and promote my works all day and play golf when I'm not writing or promoting, I get tired and sometimes lay my head down early. Today it will be dark; tomorrow it might be light. I can't go to sleep in daylight. My brain says nap, which I don't do. But, should I need to rest my eyes during the day, I wake in an hour's time. But once in my pajamas, book marked, teeth brushed, computer turned off, blinds drawn, I don't want to wake up in an hour, I want to get at least six hours of sound, soul-replenishing sleep.

I'm not going to grumble about kids outside tossing balls, roller-blading and screaming their lungs raw while I try to sleep, because that's as natural as sunrise and sunset.

Daylight savings, they say, saves electricity. I don't know. I have never slept with the light on.

MY FIRST REVIEW

2010-03-09T11:19:00.005-05:00

Tripping over to favorite blogs, I checked out 'Hey, There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room' and found an entry titled, ARCs, by Robin Agnew. Since my publisher sent out my ARCs, I'm interested in the subject.

Reading down, I see Robin - I've not met Robin personally or virtually, but I love her name - delighted in receiving ARCs from St. Martin's Press, my publisher.

Further on, she says the latest Malice winner's novel was included in the batch from St. M's. The Malice winner - that's me. Well, not the very latest Malice winner. He or she will get the call from Ruth Cavin some time this month.

THE END GAME is scheduled for release on April 27, 2010, in time for Malice Domestic, one of the sponsors of the competition for Best First Tradtional Novel. The other sponsor is St. Martin's.

Robin goes on to say she's half way through the novel and pronounced it excellent.

Excellent. That word has a ring to it.

Family and friends aside, Robin's was my first published review, that I know about. Thanks, Robin, you've made a mystery debut writer's life happy. And, I hope you think the end of the book is excellent.

THE OSCARS

2010-03-08T18:08:00.004-05:00

I have never been a fan of the Oscars. Maybe it's because I'm an early-to-bedder, or because I don't go to many movies. I saw Sherlock Holmes and loved it, but I have no interest in Avatar. I'll take my grandchildren to movies. I've seen Elmoes and Shrecks so many times, I can speak the lines before the animated characters' mouths open.

Nor do I know the names of many stars. I do know who George Clooney is. Someone that easy on the eyes gets known even by blase people like me. I made it a point several years ago to take my husband to see "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou." The music became cult in our famiily. We YouTube it, and sing along.

A friend said about Oscar night: "Even if you don't know who's up for Oscars, you got to check out the clothes, the hair, the jewels, the shoes walking up the red carpet. It sets the style for the year."

She should know better. I have my own style - between bag lady and preppy. So, if I don't care for the movie, or the star, why would I care what he or she is wearing?

George Clooney did look good in that tux. Honest, I didn't seek out his photograph. When I fired up my computer this morning, Yahoo! News popped up and there was Mr. Clooney in all his elegance. Miley Cyrus's photograph fanned past, too. The dress was pretty, but she needs my mother's knuckles in the middle of her back. If I didn't stand up straight, my mother would appear and gently press her knuckles until I firmed my spine.

Maybe this year I'll take in a few more films, but I still won't watch the Oscars. If I'm up at midnight, I'm not watching television.

MACMILLAN ON E-BOOKS

2010-03-02T15:50:00.003-05:00

As a Macmillan author (St. Martin's Minotaur) I was gratified to read this in Publisher's Lunch.

"Sargent Blogs on Pricing

"Macmillan ceo John Sargent has taken up the call to speak to readers directly about ebook pricing with a new posting on the company's blog. He notes that the agency model will eliminate any delayed releases of new books in ebook editions: "Readers were clearly frustrated at the lack of availability of new titles, and the change to the agency model will solve this problem." And he underscores, as we have mentioned before, that hardcover NYT bestsellers will cost $12.99 or less under the new model. He points out to readers that the company is providing "a tremendous discount" on new release ebooks versus their print list prices.

Sargent also makes another important point: for people who cannot afford, or simply do not wish to pay, over ten dollars for an ebook, the bulk of the company's list will be available for purchase:

"There has been a lot of concern from e-book readers that $9.99 books will no longer be available. Most Macmillan e-books will still be priced below ten dollars. Our e-book sales over the last year clearly indicate that only about a third of our e-book business is in the digital versions of new release hardcovers. Unit sales of older books far exceed our new release hardcover sales, so the $9.99 and lower prices will continue to represent the largest portion of our business.In short, we will continue to do what we have always done: provide the reader with a vast selection of great books over a wide range of prices."

Needless to say, we're glad to see Sargent open a channel for direct communication with readers ("there are millions of you and one of me. So, please feel free to post questions or comments below") and hope that more publishers find ways to join in the dialogue."

BOOK TRAILERS

2010-03-01T08:29:00.006-05:00

Today, I'm investigating book trailers.

You know those book videos or teasers that are supposed to make readers rush out and buy my book? They're increasingly popular with writers and publicists, but do they sell books?

So far, I know this much: Trailers can be home-produced for as little as what it costs to own or rent a video camera and buy some stock shots and music on the web. Or they can cost the price of a commercial on television.

Let's forget the price of a commerical on TV.

That takes me back to the question: are they worth any price in terms of sales?

That is my quest today. I'll be back here with expert opinions.

2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalists

2010-02-28T15:36:00.007-05:00

I don't know that I could limit my mystery/thriller list to five finalists, but these five books made the list:

Mystery/Thriller Finalists

Megan Abbott, Bury Me Deep (Simon & Schuster)
David Ellis, The Hidden Man (Putnam)
Attica Locke, Black Water Rising (HarperCollins)
Val McDermid, A Darker Domain (HarperCollins)
Stuart Neville, The Ghosts of Belfast (SOHO Press)

I've read four, all but "The Ghosts of Belfast", which is on my to be read pile. As a devoted McDermid reader, I'm going with her, but all were exceptional in plotting, characterization and dialogue.

Aspiring crime fiction writers could learn a lot from these artists.

PRINTand the E-BOOK

2010-02-27T10:42:00.000-05:00

"Don't own one." "Never will."

"Give me my printed books."

"I want to hold the binding in my hands, slip the pages one over another."

Such is the emotional attachment to books. Books. Not e-books, but real books.

Is our emotional response rational? Maybe. Maybe not.

Let's consider technology. Is technology emotional? I don't know, ask Bill Gates. His new tech replaced a lot of old tech. Take the typewriter, our once valued tool to get words out of our heads faster than with pen and ink. Sure, I know writers who still write with pen and good for them. It works, but I was happy to embrace computer technology those many years ago in a newsroom, where I learned to cut and paste with scissors and a glue pot.

Other examples of old tech giving way to new tech: horses to automobiles, bows to guns, records to CDs and iPods. (Remember those old 78s? Before my time.) But old tech never went away. We still write with pens, cops ride horses and buggy rides are de rigueur in tourist places, bows are still used to hunt deer. I haven't seen an old record in some time, but I bet they're still being played. I know of a few Victorlas that work and of juke boxes spinning 45s.

So will e-books take the place of print books? Will leather bindings crumble on library shelves?

A reader may well say: writing the book is one thing, but reading it is another.

And how about the not-so-old audio technology? I've not gotten used to "hearing" a book.

Cutting to the chase, what do the three transmission methods of words and sentences and punctuation marks have in common? The story. The plot. The characters. The enjoyment of ideas drawn from the brain and delivered to make an enjoyable love story or thriller.

These are a few things e-books must overcome in the next ten years: the sensual pleasure of seeing three dimensional print, smelling ink, touching paper; the trips to the library; the leather or paper bindings on book shelves and in quiet libraries; the memories of a worn Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes falling apart from so much page-turning.

Media technology will continue to evolve. One day, perhaps, readers will be saying, give me plastic and a screen. None of this words-floating-on-thin-air nonsense.

Possible? Ask Bill Gates.

DICK FRANCIS - RIP

2010-02-18T12:28:00.005-05:00

In the last six months we lost several authors, one is Dick Francis, famous for his horse-racing novels. He was 89.

I started reading Francis's novels when I was a teenager. I grew up on a farm with horses and sundry other animals. Horse became my passion. Horses and writing. So, of course, Dick Francis was my guy. I never raced a horse, except against my brother, and I had the faster horses. He had cutting and roping quarter horses, while I went for the walkers and Thoroughbreds, English saddle style.

Many years later, my jumping days ended when I went off the back of a 17-hand hunter-jumper. Broke L-4 and my back will never let me forget it.

That's me. I've written a few mysteries - romantic suspense and traditional, nothing compared to my favorite novelist those many years ago. Along the way, I became and journalist and had to stick to facts.

A champion jockey in the 1940s and 1950s, he retired to write over 40 best-sellers, starting with Dead Cert. I'll never forget that book. How could I? I must have read it ten times in as many years.

His awards are numerous and he became a CBE.

Rest your soul, Dick Francis. You've contributed mightily to the mystery-reading community.

BOOK OF THE WEEK FROM LASR

2010-02-12T09:43:00.004-05:00

Received this email this morning: Won't add to the bank account, but am delighted to get a perfect review and the possible honor of Book of the Week.

From Long and Short Review:

We offer a weekend poll at The Long and the Short of It romance reviews-- we want to know which book or story sounds like the best read based on our reviews. The winning author gets a nifty button and the privilege of having their book or story featured at the top of that page the entire next week!

Your story "When Serpents Die" was reviewed by us this week and is up for Book of the Week honor this weekend (voting runs from Saturday, 2/13, through Sunday, 2/14). We thought you might like to know. You can find the information here on Saturday:

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/LASR/recentrev.htm

Thanks and good luck!

Judyhttp://www.longandshortreviews.com/"Reviewing Romance One Happy Ever After at a Time"

HAMMETT PRIZE NOMINATIONS

2010-02-11T08:57:00.004-05:00

One day I hope my book will be listed here. I have room on my shelf for the coveted Thin Man Trophy.

The Hammett Prize is given for excellence in crime writing for U. S. and Canadian authors.

The International Association of Crime Writers (IACW) has announced the 2010 Hammett Prize Nominations:

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott(Simon & Schuster)
Devil's Garden by Ace Atkins (Putnam)
The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Penguin)
The Long Fall by Walter Mosley (Riverhead)
The Way Home by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown)

THE END GAME

2010-02-09T14:31:00.000-05:00

Moriah Dru’s weekend off with her lover, Lieutenant Richard Lake, is interrupted when Atlanta juvenile court judge Portia Devon hires Dru to find two sisters who’ve gone missing after their foster parents’ house burns down. An ex-cop, Dru established Child Trace, Inc., after leaving the force. Judge Devon sees to it that Lake is assigned to head the police investigation, because Dru and Lake together have a habit of solving cases.

After questioning the neighbors, the couple decide that the abduction of the girls looks like more than an ordinary kidnapping. Dru learns that in the past eight years two other foster children from the area have gone missing. The investigation turns up a snitch who tells Dru he’s heard that a secret sex organization, with members named after chess pieces, is bound for Costa Rica with two girls. The chase is on to stop the kidnappers before they escape the country.

Amazon blurb: The latest winner of the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition, The End Game features a strong new heroine in a vivid Southern setting. Gerrie Ferris Finger puts a new spin on the classic mystery novel.

AMAZON BACKS DOWN

2010-02-05T12:25:00.007-05:00

As an author, and I know I speak for other authors, we live to write. Period. We create stories in our heads, and, using our fingers - first pen and ink, then typewriter, now computer - we extract scenes that won't emerge like we want them to because they have a dastardly life of their own. It ain't easy, but we are compelled. It's in our DNA.

Then we have to make agents and publishers want to represent and buy our manuscripts. That really ain't easy.

Then we have to promote our novels or non-fiction works by traveling to book stores and sitting at tables looking pleased and prosperous even if people aren't flocking to us like we're Dan Brown. We promote on social networks hoping our friends don't feel like they're being shilled.

Then along comes a disagreement between our publisher and the A Number One Bookseller in the country over the price of their Kindle books. And that bookseller gets its electronic pages in a snit and pulls the BUY button on our books, thus unfriending our publisher.

What's a writer to do?

We can do nothing but sit back and wait, and, voila, Amazon declares our publisher, Macmillan, has the right to set its own prices, and eventually the BUY buttons are returned and all is friendly again.

Or is it? For now it is, but is there a next chapter?

These are difficult times for writers, publishers and book sellers, particularly brick and motar stores. Let's hope Amazon uses its internet deep pockets wisely so it's a win-win for everyone in the book business.

That's all for now.
Gerrie

PERFECTION

2010-02-05T09:51:00.001-05:00

A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by. He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says, "Perfect timing. You're just like Frank."

Passenger: "Who?"

Cabbie: "Frank Feldman. He's a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happen like that to Frank Feldman every single time."

Passenger: "There are always a few clouds over everybody."

Cabbie: "Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete.
He could have won the Grand Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano. He was an amazing guy."

Passenger: "Sounds like he was something really special."

Cabbie: "There's more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman, he could do everything right."

Passenger: "Wow. Some guy then."

Cabbie: "He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too.
He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Feldman."

Passenger: "An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?"

Cabbie: "Well, I never actually met Frank. He died.
I'm married to his friggin widow."

Glad you're not perfect?
Gerrie
www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

ABOUT ME

2010-02-01T11:24:00.008-05:00

In 2009, I won The Malice Domestic/St. Martin's Minotaur Best First Traditional Novel Competition for THE END GAME, to be released by St. Martin's Minotaur on April 27, 2010.

I grew up in Missouri, then came South to join the staff of the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I researched and edited the columns of humorist Lewis Grizzard and co-wrote a news column with another reporter for three years.

Lewis became my mentor, and when he passed away, I joined the newspapers' Southern Task Force. As a reporter, I traveled the Tobacco Roads of Georgia, Virginia and Alabama, and the narrow, historic streets of New Orleans. I wrote about Natchez, Mississippi's unique history, Florida's diverse population, and the Outer Banks struggle to keep the Cape Hatteras light house from toppling into the sea. Also, I served on the National News Desk and on the City Desk's City Life section.

When I retired, I knew I would write crime fiction. I covered crime for the newspaper. Real crime is sordid, with no romance or redeeming features. Justice often doesn't prevail. Real people go back to miserable lives. In writing fictional crime, I can make the good guys winners and give the bad guys what they deserve.

In 2009 I signed a contract with Desert Breeze Publishing for two romance e-books: The Laura Kate Plantation Series, Book I, WHEN SERPENTS DIE (04/01) and Book II, HONORED DAUGHTERS (10/01). WAGON DOGS, Book III, will be released in October, 2010

www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

Gerrie

2010 LEFTY NOMINEES

2010-01-31T11:32:00.013-05:00

Dateline: Los Angeles, CA

Left Coast Crime announced the nominees for awards given on March 11-14 at the Left Coast Crime Convention at the Omni Hotel.

Lefty Award for Most Humorous Mystery

Swan for the Money by Donna Andrews
Living with Your Kids Is Murder by Mike Befeler
Strangle a Loaf of Italian Bread by Denise Dietz
Getting Old Is a Disaster by Rita Lakin
High Crimes on the Magical Plane by Kris Neri

Bruce Alexander Memorial Mystery Award

(historical mystery, covering events before 1950)

Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander
In a Gilded Cage by Rhys Bowen
A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell
Freedom’s Flight by Gary Phillips
Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson

The Panik

Given in honor of the late Paul Anik, Chairman of Left Coast Crime 2010,
for the best Los Angeles Noir book published in 2009.

Cemetery Road by Gar Anthony Haywood
Trust No One by Gregg Hurwitz
Death Was in the Picture by Linda Richards
Boulevard by Stephen Jay Schwartz

Good luck to all excellent entries.

WHAT KEEPS A READER READING

2010-01-31T09:20:00.006-05:00

Compelling opening, sure. A zingy one liner: From Lee Child's Without Fail: They found out about him in July and stayed angry all through August.

Who's he? Who's they?

The experts at writing novels, who don't seem to be writing novels themselves, say avoid weather openings like, well, the plague (also avoid cliches), but Robert Crais didn't listen and so his readers are treated with this hypnotic sentence from Sunset Express: The sky above the San Fernando Valley that Saturday morning was a deep blue, washed clean of the dirt and chemical particulates that typically color L.A. air by a breeze that burbled out of the San Gabriel Mountains and over the flat valley floor and across the high ridge of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Makes you want to settle in for a fabulous adventure.

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com