It’s a real rush to pass on a tip from Lawrence Block because he just might be the most major monster in crime fiction. Consider: he’s author of over forty novels (and that’s just under his own name — not counting another 50 or so under various noms du travail). But it goes way beyond that. He’s one of those writers that everybody in his field has read, and most other writers in that field have been influenced by. His Matt Scudder series is an uber-classic, a modern version of Chandler or Hammett. But with a more human character arc, readers watched Scudder come to grips with his alcoholism. Scudder alone would enshrine Mr. Block in the Crime Hall of Fame… Continue reading “Tips from the Masters: Lawrence Block”
Month: August 2014
Another Badly Behaving Author
Yes, that’s right – another badly behaving author. Before I go further, if you want the gory details, hop off and read this post at the Cabin Goddess. Just don’t follow links forever and forget to come back. For the tl;dr crowd, the twitter version is: reviewer writes one star review, author goes ballistic and threatens a lawsuit.
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. It won’t be the last. I could regurgitate the normal talking points (author never comes out looking good, a review is only one person’s opinion, raising a stink only draws more attention, this isn’t just indies), but you’ve heard it all before and most (hopefully all) of you know better than to react this way to a bad review. However, in reading through the account linked above a couple things jumped out at me that were unique, at least in my experience. I thought they might be worth discussing for the potential lessons to be learned. Continue reading “Another Badly Behaving Author”
Featured Book: Spring Moon
Spring Moon
by Mary Ellen Courtney
Literary Fiction
Available from Amazon.
When Hannah Spring envisioned her marriage, it didn’t include her husband’s ex-wife Celeste, or her perplexing former lover, Stroud. When both reappear, she discovers it’s not easy to juggle marriage and children with the past hanging on in the background. Even worse, the past could endanger her life and limb.
Excerpt:
I looked in the rearview mirror. Meggie was sound asleep with her head dropped off to the side at a perilous angle. Chance was in a state of bliss, eyes closed, relentlessly suckling sustenance mixed with small sighs. My life felt about the size of the inside of a car with something on the roof. Jon was flying around the islands, walking around his work, hands free, all grown up. He was getting ready to share his work life with Celeste who might be stupid, but she wasn’t broke in the boondocks with two young children. I pulled out my phone, paged through my Google searches, and hit ‘send.’
“Stroud,” said a familiar voice to the sound of road and radio in the background.
“Hello Stroud, it’s Spring,” I said.
It got quiet on the other end when he turned off the radio.
“Hey,” he said.
What others are saying:
“The narrative is succinct and eloquent, and flows together seamlessly.” – Indie Reader
KDP Preorders
You may recall from my post last month on my disastrous attempt to use the Smashwords preorder feature that I wished Amazon would allow indies to take preorders. Well, the Zon must have been listening to me (she said with no undue modesty whatsoever), because now it does. Continue reading “KDP Preorders”