A HUGE Congratulations

Two of my favorite books from last year have been nominated for BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR. The first is the moody and lyrical A FIELD OF DARKNESS by Cornelia Read. I read it right after it came out. It's a great book and Cornelia is going to be (hell, already is) a huge talent.











The second is HOLMES ON THE RANGE by Steven Hochensmith. Those who read this blog probably already know I'm a huge fan of Steve. HOLMES ON THE RANGE had be laughing out loud like I've never done before when reading a book. And it's follow up ON THE WRONG TRACK (which I was lucky enough to get in an ARC) is just as fantastic.

I haven't read the others on the list, so I can't comment other than to say they'll have to be pretty damn amazing to be better than these two.











ALSO, Naomi Hirahara's SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN has been nonimated for BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL. Naomi's Mas Arai series is fantastic. I could not be happier for her.










~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONTEST REMINDER: Win an ARC of THE CLEANER! Read more here.

Win THE CLEANER

Time for a little fun, folks. I have just received my ultra cool Advance Reader Copies of THE CLEANER. But they’re not doing any good sitting here in a box with me. I want to get them into your hands!

Over the next couple of months, I’m planning on giving away a few copies to lucky winners. (Okay, lucky is subjective. You’ll let me know what you think after you read it.)

Well, today is the first day of contest #1. The question is…how to choose a winner?

This is what I’ve come up with. Everyone (with exception of those listed below) who enters is eligible. To enter you just need to post a comment here with the title of your favorite spy novel and a one sentence synopsis. For example, here’s what mine would be:

THE QUIET AMERICAN by Graham Greene.

A story of love, lust, jealousy and misguided patriotism set in the turbulent world of 1950s Vietnam.

That’s it. This way we can all learn about books we might not have known about and you all get the chance to win a copy of my book. All entries that have given the appropriate information will be put in a hat. The winner will then be pulled randomly.

Contest ends in 2 weeks on January 31st. You can enter as many times as you want, but only one entry per person will be valid!!

And if you are a member of Killer Year, my writing group, or my family, you can also enter, BUT you aren’t eligible to win. Sorry, gang. You can hit me up for a copy later.

A Contest You Don't Want to Miss!

The deal of a century. You could win 150 SIGNED thrillers! All you have to do is sign up for the International Thriller Writer's newsletter, which is worth it even without the prize. Find out more here.

Marcus Sakey's THE BLADE ITSELF

Check this out! My Killer Year buddy, Marcus Sakey, just had his debut thriller THE BLADE ITSELF (available everywhere January 9th) reviewed by The New York Times!!!

Check out the review HERE.

Way to go, Marcus!!

Killer Year is Here

Welcome to 2007. I know I'm glad it's here (understatement of the decade!) I'm also pretty sure I can speak for my fellow Killer Year folks. In the coming months we will all be experiencing that thing that can only happen to an author once, the publication of our debut novels. So to celebrate the arrival of 2007, here's a list of the Killer Year books. We hope you enjoy them as much as we've all enjoyed writing them!





SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
Sandra Ruttan
January 7, 2007
The video appears to show a woman falling to her death, but the cameraman says the police sent him away without investigating. Reporter Lara Kelly is intrigued, but suspicious. She’s finds enough evidence to print a story about an apparent suicide.

Detective Tymen Farraday, the newest detective in a precinct plagued by rumors of scandal and corruption, is sent to check Lara’s sources. Before Farraday and Lara are even sure they can trust each other they discover a body. When Lara is attacked Farraday is forced to protect her and as they untangle a deadly web of corruption, murder and abduction, they find themselves in the path of a killer.





THE BLADE ITSELF
Marcus Sakey
January 9, 2007
For Danny Carter, retired thief turned respectable businessman, sharing a normal life with his loving girlfriend seems like the ultimate score -- until his former partner comes looking for him. A hardened killer fresh out of Stateville, his partner wants to kidnap the son of Danny's millionaire boss, and needs help to pull it off. Doing the job could cost Danny his career, his relationship, and his freedom; refusing could cost him his life.





BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD
Sean Chercover
January 9, 2007
A disillusioned newspaper reporter turned Chicago P.I., Ray Dudgeon isn't trying to save the world. He just wants to do an honest job, and do it well. But when doing an honest job threatens society’s most powerful and corrupt, Ray’s odds for survival make for a sucker’s bet. The worlds of Hollywood moviemaking, Chicago organized crime, and Washington power politics collide in Big City, Bad Blood.





LIAR'S DIARY
Patry Francis
February 1, 2007
When a teenage boy is arrested for a particularly brutal murder, his mother seeks to learn the truth, and finds herself increasingly ensnared in a web of lies.





KISS HER GOODBYE
Robert Gregory Browne
February 6, 2007
ATF agent Jack Donovan is just getting reacquainted with his estranged daughter, Jessie, when a ruthless gunrunner kidnaps her and buries her alive. With the clock ticking, Jack soon realizes that the only way he can save her is to follow a killer into the darkness of death itself.





A WICKED SNOW
Gregg Olsen
February 27, 2007
Southern California criminal investigator Hannah Griffin teams up with FBI agent Jeff Bauer to catch her mother, a notorious serial killer who pulled off the greatest vanishing act in history.





VINNIE'S HEAD
Marc Lecard
March 6, 2007
In Vinnie’s Head, Long Island petty criminal Johnnie LoDuco snags his best friend’s head while fishing for flounder, and attracts the attention of some very unpleasant people. Is it the head they want, or Johnnie?





LOST DOG
Bill Cameron
April 1, 2007
Peter McKrall, disaffected smart-ass and kleptomaniac, finds a dead hooker in the park while looking for his niece's lost toy dog. At the crime scene, he has a chance encounter with the killer, Jake, who panics and sets out to implicate Peter in the crime. The next thing Peter knows, the victim's frantic ex-con daughter is calling in the middle of the night and the police, misdirected by Jake and by Peter's own sordid past, have cast suspicious eyes his way.





BOBBIE FAYE'S VERY (very, very, very) BAD DAY
Toni McGee Causey
May 1, 2007
Bobbie Faye Sumrall is a dead-broke Cajun living in a broken-down trailer in Lake Charles, Louisiana. When criminals demand Bobbie Faye's Contraband Queen tiara-- the only thing of her mama's she inherited-- in exchange for her good-for-nothing brother, Bobbie Faye has to outwit the police, organized crime, former boyfriends, and a hostage she never intended to take (but who turns out to be damn sexy), in order to rescue her brother, keep custody of her niece, and get back in time to take her place as Queen in the Lake Charles Contraband Festival (think Mardi Gras, with more drinking and pirates). Luckily, she knows how to handle guns, outwit angry mama bears, drive a speedboat, and get herself out of (and into) almost every kind of trouble. If only that pesky state police detective (who also happens to be a pissed off ex-boyfriend) would stay out of her way . . .





THE CLEANER
Brett Battles
June 27, 2007
The Cleaner is an international spy thriller featuring Jonathan
Quinn, a freelance professional "cleaner." When he takes on his latest job, it seemed simple enough – investigate a suspicious case of arson in Colorado. But the case takes a turn for the worse and soon Jonathan is leapfrogging continents, trying to find out why someone wants him dead–and if it's linked to a larger attempt to wipe out his employer. His only hope may be a woman from his past who's reluctant to help–but who may hold the key to solving the case.





THE MARK
Jason Pinter
July 2007
Henry Parker, a young newspaper reporter moves to New York looking to usher in a new era of fearless and ethical journalism. After being given his first assignment by legendary newsman Jack O'Donnell, Henry stumbles into a bloodbath and ends up accused of murder. On the run from both the authorities and a vicious assassin who wants him dead for reasons more personal than he could have ever imagined, Henry must rely on Amanda Davies, a headstrong young law student, to uncover a vast conspiracy that could shatter a city...or control it.





WHEN ONE MAN DIES
Dave White
September 2007
When Gerry Figuroa is killed in a hit and run, his pal, Jersey P.I. Jackson Donne, is hired to investigate. Donne soon discovers that Figuroa may not have been quite the innocent he seemed. A second case leads Donne to a dead body on the steps of Drew University. As he digs deeper, Donne uncovers a drugs connection, and it quickly becomes clear that certain people would rather he dropped his investigation. Soon his ex-cop partner shows up bent on shattering everything, and Donne finds his past hurtling towards him with a vengeance.





PYRES
Derek Nikitas
Fall 2007
When a folklore professor is shot dead in his car, the crime smashes together the lives of three disparate women: his anguished teenage daughter, a detective facing her own family’s collapse, and the pregnant former-junkie girlfriend of the killer. These three women must choose where to aim their last shots at redemption, even as they face a gang of barbaric thugs who torch homes and lives for a thrill.





ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS
J.T. Ellison
November 2007
A vicious, highly mobile killer is terrorizing the Southeast. Showing no mercy to his victims, he leaves a trail of mutilated bodies faster than investigators can process the crime scenes. Nashville Homicide Detective Taylor Jackson, working with FBI profiler John Baldwin, must follow the killer along his devious path. How many will die if they don't succeed?

Read the Inteview!

Bethany Warner at Word Nerd has an interview up with me. Actually went up on the 20th, but I didn't realize it. (And, yes, I've emailed her to let her know she's got my name misspelled in the title. Hahaha...keeps me humble. )

Read the interview Here.

Crimespot Rules

1st RULE: You always talk about CRIMESPOT.

2nd RULE: You ALWAYS talk about CRIMESPOT.

3rd RULE: If someone says "what's CRIMESPOT" or goes limp, push them out of the chair, their computer time is over.

4th RULE: At least 3 blogs to a category (so the list looks full).

5th RULE: One blog update at a time.

6th RULE: No shirts, no shoes.

7th RULE: CRIMESPOT will go on as long as it has to.

8th RULE: If this is your first time at CRIMESPOT, you HAVE to click through to every blog.

PRE-ORDER NOW!!!

Okay, so it's still a bit over six months before THE CLEANER actually hits the books story, but it's up on Amazon now, so you can pre-order your heart out!

THE CLEANER on Amazon.com

Me? I've already order 423 copies...or at least I've thought about doing that!

All right...I mean...alright...I mean...

Okay, I know language changes. Spoken faster than written, but written also changes. What was once unacceptable becomes common place, the norm. (Kind of like using a phrase like "the norm.") I get that. Hell, I'm guilty of pushing that envelope myself. Often.

But there's one thing I haven't been able to do. I think the blame goes to my high school English teacher, Mr. Byrd. (Mr. Larry Byrd, by the way...ironically the coach of the varsity basketball team.) Maybe it wasn't him, but that's what my foggy memory is telling me this morning. It's the phrase all right vs. the word alright.

I get it. Alright even looks good to me. But I just can't right it. (I've made an exception for this post. It's painful, but I'm doing it for the good of all.) Any time I come to the point where I need to write the phrase/word, I opt for the phrase. This goes true for both description and dialogue. In THE CLEANER you will never see an "alright." It will always be "all right." Unless I made a mistake somewhere that is.

I don't know why I continue to have this hang up. I just do. I've tried to shake it, but it won't go away.

So my questions to you are: 1) where do you come down on the Alright vs. All Right issue? 2) What grammatical pet peeves do you have that have become accepted by most everyone else?

BREAKING COVER NEWS!!!

Just got the go from my editor to post the cover for THE CLEANER. So here it is!!! Let me know what you think!



The cover was designed by Ray Lundgren. And I'm told the gun will be in silver foil with the details of the gun embossed. (click on the cover to see a larger version)

More Good News...

This time for my good friend Phil Hawley. From Publisher's Marketplace:

German rights to Philip Hawley, Jr.'s STIGMA, to Andrea Diedrichs at S. Fischer, by Joachim Jessen at the Thomas Schlueck Agency, on behalf of Maja Nikolic and Simon Lipskar at Writers House, in a good deal, for two books.

Rights previously sold to Plaza y Janes in Spain and AST in Russia.

YEAH, PHIL!!!!!

Big Killer Year News

We're going to have a short story anthology out in Winter 2008! St. Martin's just picked it up. Read more here, and here.

I also should be having some of my own news to announce soon! Very exciting stuff!!!

The Ache

Book 2 is flowing really well these days. Before most people have even gotten into their cars to head to work, I've already written several pages. I've come to the point where I'm not just seeing 4 or 5 pages ahead, I'm seeing 20 to 30. (Yeah, I'm one of the non-outliner crowd.) This is an exciting point for me in any story, when I'm really starting to feel it. This morning I hit page 170, and by some point next week I'll pass 200 - my unofficial halfway point.

But this is also when I start experiencing a good but at time annoying side effect. I call it the Ache. It grabs me deep down, at my very root.

I'll be sitting at my computer at work or on my couch watching TV or lying in bed getting ready to sleep and it hits me. My characters begin talking to me. Before I even realize it a whole scene is played out in my mind, but almost seems as if it's playing out in front of me. I start speaking in dialogue, rapidly, nearly unable to keep up. Then I repeat it over and over, three, four times. Sometimes making subtle changes, sometimes repeating word for word. I then reach for a pad of paper or open a new document on my computer and I write it down.

That's not the annoying part. The annoyance comes in when I'm not somewhere I can write it down. Perhaps driving down the freeway, maybe sitting in a movie theater, or, like yesterday, while I was walking down the street to pick up lunch. I had nothing to write it down, but that didn't stop me from going over the dialogue over and over. And, yes, every once in a while I found myself talking out loud.

Today was only a minor annoyance. The scene kept playing through my mind as I picked up my food, grabbing on and not letting go. It stayed with me all the way back to the office, so the first thing I did was write it down.

I love the Ache. I just hate it when I don't have an opportunity to write it down. I've lost tons of stuff that way. NEWS FLASH: My memory ain't the best. But when I do keep it, when the Ache translates to words on the page, there is nothing better.

We all get the Ache...but I'm curious where the strangest place was that you got it...

A father's love for his son

There's little I can add to this story, except that it actually made me cry. Not just a little bit, but so much I had to shut the door to my office for a moment.

It's not a sad story. It's story of love.

You can read it here.

And you can see it here:

One for Now and One for Your To Be Purchased List

Today marks the paper back release of Tasha Alexander's AND ONLY TO DECEIVE. A turn of the century (well...late 1800s) mystery that sounds just like the type of book I like to sink my teeth into.

From Tasha's site:

"Emily's desire to learn more about her late husband takes her to the quiet corridors of the British Museum, where, amid priceless ancient statues, she uncovers a dark, dangerous secret involving stolen artifacts from the Greco-Roman galleries. To complicate matters, she's juggling two very prominent and wealthy suitors, one of whose intentions may go beyond the marrying kind. Her search to solve the crime leads to surprising discoveries about the man she married and causes her to question the role in Victorian society to which she, as a woman, is relegated."

If it's not in your bookstore, ask them why. If they don't give you a good answser, start yelling and screaming like a madperson...they love that.


I was lucky enough to score an advanced copy of Robert Gregory Browne's KISS HER GOODBYE at Bouchercon. I finished it over the weekend and I have to say this book rocks! It comes out early February, but you can pre-order it now (follow the link on Rob's site.) It is a non-stop, action packed thrill ride that kept me awake longer than I wanted to be up a couple nights!

From Amazon:

"ATF Agent Jack Donovan wants only two things in life: to take down violent cult leader Alexander Gunderson and to reconnect with his estranged daughter Jessie. But none of Donovan’s experience as a top cop or an absent father has prepared him for the unthinkable way in which these two parts of his life are about to collide.
In a desperate act of revenge, Gunderson kidnaps Jessie and buries her alive. And just as Donovan’s team is closing in, fate intervenes in the form of a bullet, and the secret to Jessie’s location is lost forever. Or is it?

With only a few precious hours of oxygen to sustain her, and not a single clue pointing in her direction, Jessie is sure to die — unless Donovan can somehow find her. And he's willing to trade anything to save his little girl. Anything.

Even his own life."

How could you not want to buy a copy?

Bouchercon Pictures!!

Madison is a beautiful city. Though I wasn't able to see much, what I did see was worth a trip back someday. The conference hotel was right across the street from the capitol building. On Saturday morning, there was a great farmers market that circled the entire building...vegetables, cheese, bakery goods, you name it. People walked around it counter-clockwise...which, of course, was why I walked in a clockwise direction. Easier to people watch that way.



Proof that I was actually there.



Robert Gregory Browne, Phil Hawley, and Marc Lecard all ready for action



Crimespree Party



Joe Konrath and David Morrell



James Born



Me with fellow Bantam Dell author Sean Doolittle...who is too tall for his own good



Phil Hawley getting in a little "Phil" time



Marcus Sakey explaining the ins and outs of novel writing to Rob F. and Bill Cameron



Rob and I working protection for the lovely and talented Tasha Alexander



Here I am with the nicest person in the wolrd, Shane Gericke



And finally, this one's for Tasha's and my agent Anne. Wish you could have been here!

After looking at these pictures...apparently I have only one expression. Oh, well...at least it's not a frown.

I'll have a few more photos up at the Killer Year Blog on Thursday, if all goes well!

Killer Year

You’ve heard several of us talking about it. Maybe you were even around at the beginning when Sarah Weinman mentioned the high profile of a group of novelist debuting in 2007. That spurred Jason Pinter, JT Ellison, Sandra Ruttan and myself to form the group Killer Year.

For most of the summer, we’ve been brainstorming ideas, planning what approaches to take and growing our ranks. We’re now 14 strong, and what’s more, we’ve even convinced ITW (International Thriller Writers) to take us under their wing. But that’s only the beginning. There is so much more in store. To start, we’ve launched our new, information packed website Killeryear.com. Today also marks the return in force of our Killer Year Blog, with an initial guest post by author M.J. Rose.

We’ve even got a Killer Year Myspace page! For that matter, so do I - click here.

So much new, and this is only the beginning! Expect more, exciting announcements over the coming months. And get ready because 2007 is only 3 months away…there are 14 books you need to put on your reading list!

A Memory, Five Years Removed...

I was sitting in the second floor office of an old waterworks building. The building was serving as the temporary headquarters for a group of us working on a specialized graphics presentation that would operate inside a visitor center near a VW planet in Germany. Did I mention the waterworks building was in Berlin?

It was in the afternoon. Most of the crew had gone out for a late lunch, but I’d stayed behind to do a little work. Suddenly one of the guys ran back into the office, his face white. “A plane just hit the World Trade Center,” he said.

His sister worked in a building right next to the towers, so he was more than just normally upset. He and the other two had been having lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant. The owner, who didn’t speak English but was very friendly and was used to seeing us around, had turned on a TV and shown the others what was happening.

I was confused. I couldn’t quiet get my head around what was happening. There was no TV at the plant, and I had not been with them at the restaurant.

Needless to say we decided to quit for the day. We rushed back to our hotel, and gathered in one of the rooms to watch. Sometime during our trip the second plane hit. But we were there in time to see the towers come down.

The immediate impact was that even if we wanted to fly home to the states, we couldn’t. I seem to remember there was at least a week with no international flights into the U.S. That was an eerie feeling. We were totally disconnected from our home, and no one knew when that connection would be fixed. It’s one of those things you don’t think about until it’s gone.

Over the next several days, anyone who found out we were American treated us with extreme sympathy. I remember one taxi driver, also someone who could not speak English, making it known to us how badly he felt. I could have sworn I saw tears forming in his eyes.

At the U.S. Embassy, rather at the fence that was place several blocks from the embassy, makeshift memorials sprung up. Flowers overflowed the sidewalks and edged into the streets.

There was so much compassion. So much “we are with you.” So much good will.

I wish it was still there now.

I think in Story

I think in Story. All the time. Day, night. Waking, sleeping.

I think in Story.

Doesn't matter where I am or what's going on, it's the way my brain works. I can't turn it off.

Truthfully, I don't want to.

Scenes, characters, plotlines, motivation, story. They run through my mind unhindered. They bring order to the chaos of my thoughts. They inform the decisions and choices I make.

Whether I'm in a grocery story, walking down the street or sitting at my desk at work, I think in Story.

When I see a waitress at a restaurant, tired, but smiling, I wonder what she is thinking. I could ask her, I guess. But I won't. I don't need to. My mind fills in the gaps.

When I'm at a concert, the music intensifies the process, becoming a soundtrack to my thoughts. The scenes are sometimes so intense it's as if I am really there. If there is snow in the scene, I can feel the cold. If tension fills the air, I can feel the electricity prickling at my skin. But often it is stories of sadness or contentment or melancholy that the music evokes, and these emotions wash over me, submerging me and carrying me away if only for a few moments.

When I'm at work and a problem arises, I see the back story, I see the motivations of all the players, and I see the through line to the climax. From this I often know which path we should take. In this I am the office problem solvers. But if they only knew. It's not problem solving. It's story.

It's the way I've always been. It's the way I will always be.

I think in Story.

Deus Ex Machine Gun

One thing I can't stand is when author take the easy way out. Don't get me wrong. I've done this, too, and I hate myself for it.

You know what I mean. When motivation is glossed over, or a character is faced with an impossible situation, but wait, suddenly he's the master of a little known Asian fighting art that is the only thing that will save.

For me, even an unbelievable story needs to seem believable. And that means not taking the easy road. Not copping out. It's something I learned from my late teacher/mentor/friend Bill Relling. He would never let any of his students get away with easy outs. He would question us and question us until we gave in.

"Why does he find the knife under the car?"

"Because it was there."

"Not a good answer. Why?"

A pause. "Because...he needs it?"

He nods. "Yeah. But?"

Another pause. "But just because...he needs it doesn't mean it should be there."

A smile now. "So...?"

"So I'll change it."

Admittedly, that's a pretty lame example, but essentially it illustrates what I mean. (I would have been a horrible critic back in the old Greek days...Deus Ex Machina? Pah-lease!)

If a character needs a ray-gun to solve the plot, make obtaining one believable within the world of the story. If a detective needs info about a suspect, don't have an ex-lover conveniently sitting at a bar ready to spill the beans. Make the detective work. Make the ex-lover lie. Make the lies tell the true.

DON'T MAKE IT EASY!! But as a corollary, DON'T MAKE IT COMPLICATED FOR COMPLICATED SAKE.

Make it believable. Make it real for the world you are writing about. Make it gripping. Put up obstacles that are really obstacles. Make your characters work. Make 'em think. Make 'em make mistakes. And even the good guys get hurt now and then.

Just don't cop out.