In Other news...

Patti Abbott, wonderful writer and prolific blogger, did a little write up about my film Taking Your Life on her blog. She was very nice in her praise of the movie and hopefully some people will click through and buy a copy. Not that I made it for profit but a few bucks could help fund the next one.
Even though it has been a few years it is nice to still be proud to show the film and have people react to it positively.
In book news we got the first draft of our cover art and it ROCKS! I'll post the revised art here soon. It's getting closer to being real....

Three swell dames

A great thing about living in Los Angeles is the proximity to great cinema. I had the pleasure of making my daughter's first movie in a theater a 35mm print of The Wizard of Oz. That was amazing. In a city like this we also get a visit by any and all major authors coming by on their book tours. Today I got to see and meet Megan Abbott, Theresa Schwegel and Laura Caldwell and hear them discuss their work. It's so great to be able to just pop over while Molly is napping and see this kind of thing, pick up a few books, get them signed and be able to thank Megan in person for her generous blurb of One Too Many Blows To The Head (more on that as we get closer to release)
With the closing of Kate's Mystery Books in Boston (where I used to live) I have a renewed appreciation for The Mystery Bookstore in Westwood and Mysteries to Die For out in the valley. Small indie booksellers are struggling, we all know it. Places like this offer the one-on-one that Amazon will never be able to. As much as it pains me to pay full price for a hardcover it is worth it to meet the author.
Wow, this sounds almost like a real blog post and not just my usual self promotion. Probably a sign of a lack of stories lately. I've been busy on a final edit of the book, plotting out the sequel with Jennifer, working on a new solo novel (or two) and having a real life in between. Plus I am trying to hold back and make a big push when we have a date for the book to make the little bit of heat coming off the published stories mean more.
Although now that I have mentioned it maybe a full-on post about my hatred of the hardcover is warranted. At least it might generate some hate mail...

Meeting Seth

Had the great pleasure of meeting Seth Harwood, author of Jack Wakes Up and the man behind the fantastic Crimewav.com. Seth is a tireless promotor of his work and is setting a new template for how to get a book out there DIY style. Inspired by him I am looking into maybe doing a regular podcast of my unsold novel. A good idea? Too soon to tell. Mostly it's just going to be the logistics of it. I am not a web savvy guy so it may prove harder than I know. I've been stumped by two wireless routers in a row here at home so my batting average is not good. Seth offered help and support though which is all I have gotten from so many in the crime fiction community. Tops among them is the Mystery Dawg himself Aldo Calcagno who was also there at Seth's event at the Mystery Bookstore. Meeting Aldo was great to put a face to the guy I've been e-mailing with for so long. If I can actually sell a few books in my life it will be thanks to guys like this.

A little blurry but you get the idea. Me with Seth and Aldo. Thanks to Linda from the Mystery Bookstore for snapping a quick shot on her iPhone.

New Story, New Site

Thrillers, Killers n' Chillers is a great fiction site out of the U.K. and I am honored to have my story Bleeding Out up there. On the same day Christopher Grant posted the sequel to his new creation Greta. It's great to see Chris' own writing after he has supported so many of us on A Twist of Noir.