Happy November! Let's Start Eatin'!
Time for Eatin'!
It's that time of year again! If you're like me, you have just enough Halloween candy to last you until you gorge yourself on Thanksgiving. WHY EVEN WEAR PANTS?
I've actually never been that fond of Thanksgiving, mainly because I find turkey unexciting but, as I mentioned in my last newsletter, I absolutely unequivocally love this time of year! These long dark days of winter are a joy to me. My friend Tara Laskowski wrote something on social media to the affect of "the best smell in the world is the smell of the house heat turning on for the first time that year," and this is a sentiment I wholeheartedly support. (Also, you should check out Tara's debut novel that just came out - One Night Gone, which is a fascinating, deeply compelling mystery.)
I've noticed that my novels are almost always set in the fall, and that decision has never been conscious. I suppose it must be, at least partially, because I want to write about a season that I'm going to spend a lot of time with. Like a character in a novel, a season becomes a relationship to the writer and that warm love is, hopefully, conveyed to the reader. But the fall holds a natural appeal to crime fiction for me - the startling mix of a heated house and briskly cool world just outdoors. Within that, there's a sense of childhood daring that comes with darting between that unwelcome outdoors atmosphere and the familial embrace of a warm home. The best books often give you both; some form of intimacy, and the distressing separation from it.
So bundle up with some good books and pull up a chair close to a window. And enjoy the slow, then sudden, changing of the seasons.
Sicko
I ended up missing two of the biggest crime fiction conferences of the year - ThrillerFest because of my torn Achilles, and Bouchercon (last weekend) due to a virus. But even though I'm certainly not attending as many conferences in 2020 as I did in 2019, I hope to make up for those two. I'm planning my 2020 schedule now and prearing for my spine to mysteriously disintegrate or something. But, anyway, I hope to make up for my spotty 2019 attendance in 2020.
University Club Annual Book Fair
I'm excited that, shortly after having the chance to discuss The Unrepentant with the folks at the University Club of Washington, D.C., they're having me back for their annual book fair! I've heard wonderful things about this event, and the list of authors is superb. Make your way downtown and load up on Christmas gifts (you have to know someone who likes getting books as Christmas gifts).
Mystery Author Extravaganza
Every year the local chapter of Sisters in Crime has an event at Reston Public Library where chapter members, who published a book or story that year, have the chance to briefly discuss their work with their fellow members and the public. It's another wonderful opportunity to load up on gift for you and your nerd friends!
They also have cookies and the cookies are always amazing.
Erica Wright is both an accomplished poet and novelist, which is wonderful and everything but STICK TO A LANE AND LEAVE SOME FOOD FOR THE REST OF US. Just kidding. I'm reading her new novel, Famous in Cedarville, now, and it warrants all the accolades its received. Plus, she's a lovely, supportive person; the kind of person you meet and hope to become friends with. And she has a neat dog! Obviously, I wanted to share her work with you, and ask her to take part in my "Two Writers You Should Read" series.
As the weather cools, I find myself longing for pot roast, tea, and oversized sweaters. I want to curl up and read something a little comforting, and I find that in Alexia Gordon's Gethsemane Brown series. These books blend genres in a delightful way, pulling from cozy, paranormal, and the traditional whodunnit. Not for nothing, Gordon has been a finalist for the Silver Falchion, nominated for an Agatha, and won a Lefty. Her latest outing Fatality in F follows Gethsemane when danger sprouts up at what should have been a breezy gig for our music director turned amateur sleuth—a garden show.
I bought Alexia's latest book based off this recommendation, and I agree with Erica! Click on the pics and names above to learn more about both writers and their most recent work.
It's contest time! And I've decided to change my approach to the costume going forward. The monthly contest winner is going to win copies of the two books listed in my "Two Writers You Should Read" segment. SO, the winner of this month's contest, and copies of Famous in Cedarville and Fatality in F (and my own The Unrepentant) is...
Tysonlynne@______.
Congrats, Tyson! Or Lynne! I'm not sure. Check your e-mail for a separate note from me, and happy reading!
One of the best books I've read this year is Paque Tu Los Sepas, a Latinx anthology edited by Angel Luis Colon in which all the proceeds benefit the hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico. Angel is a talented writer and ferocious presence - in person and online - and I was excited to interview him about the book at the Washington Independent Review of Books. I urge everyone to check out the anthology, because it really features some of the most wonderful contemporary writers out there.
I also wrote the second part of my "fall crime fiction books by DC/MD/VA writers" column for the Independent, and you can see it HERE. Over at The Thrill Begins, we're running a fall series about the best ways to promote your book, and I tackled the elements of throwing a good launch event. And, lastly, the lovely people at WildMind Creative interviewed me about writing, motivation, and patience. Also I look just incredibly old in the photo NO CLOSEUPS!
Thank you for reading, and see you in December!
EA