June 2023: My Next Novel, a Q&A
I gets grilled.
Hey, so you have a new novel coming out?
I do! It’s called When She Left.
Can we talk about it?
First I want to talk about voice.
Good lord, you’re horrible at marketing.
I know! Bear with me!
I’ve written in this space a lot about the struggle to find a voice. There’s the voice we have when we’re learning to write, which is really better termed style. We discover, often through reading and emulation and experimentation, how we want to write - the rhythm of our sentences, the use of analogy, dense or scarce prose.
You know what’s important in any voice? Getting to the *$!#*ing point.
You’re right, sorry. Anyway, a while back, I thought about the stories I want to tell, and how I tell them best. And that’s when I wrote this note to myself:
A delightfully unhinged character (a description my agent once used)
Humor
Family-level betrayal
Those are the elements in my fiction to which I constantly return, and what readers most often tell me they enjoy, and what I enjoy writing.
I’ve TOLD you that.
I know! But I’m a husband and a dad! We’re not good listeners!
Sigh.
But that’s ME. Not the bad listener part, although that too, but those three elements are the keys to me, as a writer. They open inside doors, rev my engine, and…other key-related metaphors.
Does your next book have such wondrous analogies?
Although When She Left lacks key-related analogies (I think), it has those other elements I prize. I just had so much fun writing this novel, and I’ll talk more about it in the months to come, but here’s a summary from the publisher:
A young couple fleeing a criminal family confronts a reluctant assassin in this heart-pounding thriller from E.A. Aymar.
When Melissa Cruz falls hard for a dreamy-eyed photographer named Jake Smith, she can’t resist the urge to run away with him. The problem is that she already has a boyfriend, a rising star in his family’s crime organization. Betrayed and humiliated, Chris Winters isn’t going to just let her go.
To find Melissa, Chris turns to Lucky Wilson, one of his family’s professional assassins. But Lucky has his own problems. After years of lying about his day job as a realtor, his family is in shambles and he suffers from relentless panic attacks. But he’ll do this job if Chris will let him out of the killing life.
Lucky knows this is his best chance at salvaging the home life he always craved. But Melissa and Jake aren’t going to abandon their chance at something real―something they’ve both been lacking in their lives. But they aren’t the only ones desperate to survive, and a powerful criminal family isn’t the only danger…
Family betrayal, check. The realtor slash hitman? Seems delightfully unhinged, and also sounds like dark humor. Check and check. Got a cover?
I do! The fantastic team at Thomas and Mercer did another bang-up job on the cover for this book, which captures so much of When She Left so well. The popular and supportive bookstagrammer Bonechilling Books revealed the cover yesterday, but if you missed it…
They’re really good at this whole “cover thing.”
They really are!
When She Left is NOW available for pre-order at the following links.
I hope you’ll consider pre-ordering When She Left. I really like this writing thrillers thing, and hope to keep doing it for a while.
No Home for Killers is on sale this month! The Kindle version is only $2.49, as opposed to $3.99. It’s part of a special promotion featuring a wide range of thrillers and mysteries, and you can learn more HERE!
To learn more about any of these books, click on the covers.
Ed’s Note: Bill Rapp is a former diplomat and analyst and it’s always wonderful to read books that are informed by an author’s actual experiences and knowledge. He’s also a trained historian, so his crime fiction comes from a number of different, intellectual sources, and I’m always down for thrillers set in the spy days of the Cold War.
Ed’s Note: I love this series - the Grifter’s series by Frank Zafiro, in which different authors write novellas about two swindlers. And James DF Hannah is a terrific writer, a Derringer-Award winning author whose short fiction has been included in the Best American Mystery Stories series, and who writes the compelling Henry Malone books. I can’t wait to see what James has done with his turn.
Ed’s Note: Some of the most compelling fiction I’ve read lately is rooted in Africa - Leye Adenle, Yasmin Angoe, Kwei Quartey. This debut came to my attention through a reading list in CrimeReads, and the mix of society tensions with a woman’s disappearance sounds promising. Also, I love the roles of “aunties” in fiction. I’ll read anything with intrusive aunties.
Ed’s Note: I’m so excited to read this book! Ivy Pochoda is one of crime fiction’s most revered voices, and Sing Her Down has been called her masterpiece. I’ve heard Ivy read before and she’s fantastic. I have a feeling this book is going to be on a lot “best of the year” lists for 2023 and award lists in 2024.
Ed’s Note: You’re going to see this guy and his book below in “Two Writers You Should Read,” and with good reason - Eryk is a singular voice. I’ve read close to everything Eryk’s written and it’s always entertaining and instructive, and Something Bad Wrong is a great introduction to his work.
Ed’s Note: No one tells a story the way Hannah Mary McKinnon does. I always finish her work with a deliciously unsettled feeling, which means that her work remains with me long after the last page is turned. There’s a fearlessness to her that I admire, along with a sharp insight into character. When I talk about how psychological crime fiction is, perhaps, the best subgenre crime fiction has to offer, McKinnon is an example of why.
Ed’s Note: Akashic’s regional “noir” series is beloved by crime fiction writers and readers, and it’s one of the only anthology series that actually sells well - short stories are a notoriously tough market. It was a smart decision to have this one co-edited by Scott Montgomery. Hopeton Hay, and Molly Odintz. Montgomery worked for years in Book People, Hay is the founder and host of the popular Diverse Books Review, and Odintz has become one of the sharpest, most prominent voices in crime fiction. And the list of contributors to this volume absolutely sizzles.
Ed’s Note: Another book I discovered through a reading list from…I don’t remember where. But I’ve been meaning to read Fuminori Nakamura for years and this book - about a bondage teacher who uses ropes and is found dead - seems like a perfect place to start. You had me at this line in an editorial review: “Unflinching in its flayed-raw treatment of identity, violence, sexuality, power, the occult, and the divine.” LET’S GO!
I first met Eryk Pruitt when he read at a DC Noir at the Bar and he blew the roof off the place - nobody had read a story quite like his, and it provoked such a delighted reaction among the audience that I immediately promised myself to read everything he writes. And I pretty much have, at this point, and he never disappoints. Pruitt hails from North Carolina and is one of the leaders in the grit-lit movement, that crime fiction subgenre hellbent on forging an exciting new identity in southern literature. He can make you laugh on one page, and then break your heart in the next, and this is powerfully demonstrated in his latest novel, Something Bad Wrong.
And a writer Eryk Pruitt recommends?
Ed, thank you for asking. I am a HUUUUGE Tana French fan and her Dublin Murder Squad series is one of my favorite detective series. I love it because it doesn't just follow one stereotype detective, but over the seven books in the series, it follows several different members of the Murder Squad. Her ear for dialogue is keen and her take on Irish socio-economics is very compelling. The first two books require the reader to suspend a bit of disbelief, but we really get cracking with the third, which features the most compelling character in crime fiction, Frank Mackey.
Learn more about Eryk Pruitt HERE.
And learn more about Tana French HERE.
Anthony Award Nomination!
Totally buried the lede on this one, but I was nominated for an Anthony Award in the category of Best Short Story! This is the second year in a row I’ve been nominated for Best Short Story, which is really an honor, especially given how highly I value that form. Thanks to everyone, writers and readers, who nominated “Still Crazy After All These Years,” and thanks to Josh Pachter for his stellar editing of the entire anthology (Paranoia Blues), and Down and Out Books for their superb publishing support.
The (in-person) return of DC Noir at the Bar! June 29
DC Noir at the Bar is back and in-person! This event will be held at the Looking Glass Lounge and the lineup is AMAZING! I loved doing this series in-person, pre-pandemic, and I’m so happy that it’s returning. I’ll also be doing a virtual Noir at the Bar later this year, probably around the holidays - so many, outside of this region, have told me how much those virtual events mean to them, even after the pandemic run. But, if you’re in the DC/MD/VA area, it’d be great to see you on June 29th for some stories, some music, and bad language. Especially that last thing.
Two Cool Covers from Two Cool Writers
I normally post events in this space, but since I’m widening it to all the cool stuff I come across in crime fiction, I have to include the upcoming covers from Hank Phillippi Ryan and Tori Eldridge. Both Hank and Tori have distinct places in crime fiction, and both are the most engaging, loveliest people. More on these books, for sure, come September. For now, GAZE UPON THE COVERS. (And pre-order!)
Author Interview with Andrew J. Brandt
Andrew J. Brandt was kind enough to interview for his podcast series about writing and publishing. In addition to his own writing, Andrew does a lot for the writing community, including book recommendations on his local news show, an informative newsletter, and it was terrific to speak with him.
The Washington Post
I don’t do reviews often, mainly because the idea of giving a bad review makes me feel itchy inside, but I reviewed T.J. Newman’s Drowning for The Washington Post. Fortunately, I was able to give it an almost entirely positive review, so that was a big whew for me. Very little scratching.
![The Hurricane Blonde by [Halley Sutton]](https://assets.buttondown.email/ecb4bc2f-b66d-4669-93f2-ba8ca4d366b0_324x500.jpeg?utm_source=eaymar&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=june-2023-my-next-novel-a-qa "The Hurricane Blonde by [Halley Sutton]")
This looks like I’m promoting another cool cover, AND I AM BECAUSE LOOK AT IT, but I’m also promoting Halley Sutton’s newsletter, Too Many Tabs:
Halley runs one of the more inventive ideas for a newsletter in crime fiction, and it’s one of the newsletters I recommend to writers searching for a fun, unique approach. You can check it out and subscribe here.
And, if you’re looking for some good writing Substacks to add to your reading list, make sure to subscribe to and (and read their award-winning books!).
And the Thriller Awards were announced this weekend! You can read the full lineup of winners here, but I want to give big props to my writing homie and my ride-or-die, Jennifer Hillier, who took home her SECOND Thriller Award!
The winner of my monthly newsletter contest is mcleod_____@gmail.com! Which means you win copies of both books in my “Two Writers You Should Read” section. I’ll slide into your DMs (send you an email, so not exactly slide into your DMs) soon.
Until next time, much love and Happy Reading!