Dana's Notebook

Read the Agatha nominees for Best Short Story

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:28:00 +0000

Just in case you haven't seen them elsewhere, links to the Agatha nominees for "Best Short Story" are here--for a short time only!

Dana Cameron, "Femme Sole," in Boston Noir (Akashic Books)

Kaye George, "Handbaskets, Drawers, and a Killer Cold," (Crooked, a crime fiction e-zine)

Barb Goffman, "The Worst Noel," in The Gift of Murder (Wolfmont Press)

Hank Phillippi Ryan, "On the House," in Quarry (Level Best Books)

Elizabeth Zelvin, "Death Will Trim Your Tree," in The Gift of Murder (Wolfmont Press)

Happy reading--and don't forget to vote at Malice Domestic!

What happens after the list is completed

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:24:00 +0000

Everyone loves a list. Crossing things off is satisfying, but so is encapsulating all your tasks. It organizes the mind and refreshes the soul. It's logical and sooooothing. But what happens after, when it's all crossed off?

I've had a huge great list of things to do for Edgars Week and Malice Domestic, and, well, now the list is letting me down. The dress has been hemmed, strategic undergarments acquired, the shoes chosen (finally!), tickets purchased, plans made, lists of lists compiled, etc. What isn't done, either isn't germane or can be completed today. Even packing this weekend, I'll have plenty of spare time, which is exactly what I don't want.

Let's face it: excited and nervous doesn't begin to cover it. I'm humming like a coked-up chinchilla (and no, you may not ask how I know). I know I should be calm—what will be, will be, right?--but I think you'd have to be made of stone not to be excited about an Edgar and an Agatha nomination, and I'm no stone. Scratch that: even stone gets excited sometimes. Just ask Eyjafjallajokull.

Then an email comes: it's from Toni, we're traveling down to NYC together. That will be fun! Then other emails follow, plans are hatched, stratagems contrived, and suddenly, I remember I'll be surrounded with friends, people I look forward to hanging with at every conference. Is there room among the shoes and dresses for Miss Lillian? For bourbon and puppies, shotguns and sock puppets? You bet!

Will I be disappointed if I don't win an award? Sure (remember: not stone), but I'll also remember the company of nominees and how honored I am to be among them. This is a truly wonderful time for me. But until I know one way or another, trust me. My heart will be beating like a tweaked-out chipmunk listening to “Radio Free Europe” on 78 rpm.

(for a list of where I'll be, check here.)

Going to Malice Domestic? Want to meet an agent?

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:34:00 +0000

Then check out this item, going up for bid at the Malice Domestic Live Auction:

"Got Noir? Breakfast"

You may like your coffee dark and bitter, your eggs beaten, and your bacon fat in the fire, but are you brave enough to breakfast with Anna Hoyt?

If you do, bid on this: Breakfast for two (the winning bidder and a friend) with Agatha-nominated short story writer Dana Cameron, creator of Anna Hoyt ("Femme Sole"), and Dana's slightly terrified agent Janet Reid (FinePrint Literary Management.)

In addition to breakfast 8 a.m. Sunday, May 2 at the Malice hotel restaurant, Janet will read up to ten pages from each of the two breakfast guests before the early panels Sunday, if they so choose. Dana and Janet will answer questions, or talk about whatever topic the
winners care to discuss: writing, reading, getting published, and Dana's award-winning short--or long!--fiction.

Thanks for supporting Malice Domestic's Live Auction!

The value of breakfast: $40.
The odds of surviving an encounter with Anna Hoyt: negotiable

The BR pile: Edgar nominees for Best Short Story

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:30:00 +0000

What I've been learning from reading the nominees for Best Short Story (including “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” by Ace Atkins, “Digby, Attorney at Law by” Jim Fusilli, “Animal Rescue” by Dennis Lehane, and “Amapola” by Luis Alberto Urrea), in no particular order:

Gentleness and humor. Digby's the farthest thing from most mystery story heroes: when he's confronted with an angry husband with a mistaken idea and a reputation for using his hammer to sort misunderstandings, Digby takes refuge in the cinema. There's a lot of humor in the story and some familiar situations, but because because each moment is layered with emotions, nothing is facile. Anna, the daughter, is a good example: her precociousness is the lynch-pin for humor, but she's unexpectedly and truly treacherous. People are never only one thing; great characters aren't either.

The little things. One of the many descriptions I really love in “Animal Rescue” is of an old barfly who doesn't know she's in the middle of something deep. You could say she's old and cheap, or you could evoke Sputnik and a quarter tip, a hoarse voice that's “ten percent vocal chords and ninety percent Virginia Slims Ultra Lite 100s.” It's not just details about characters though, it's the little truths that are huge. How two months can see your life turned around, an act of kindness can change a person, or how you really can't control anything. Little things that we forget are true, until we're surprised by them.

Taking the reader, willingly, where she doesn't want to go. When I started reading “Amapola,” I knew something baaad was going to happen at the end. I kept hoping it would be a happy ending (I was supposed to, and besides, who doesn't?), but odds were well stacked against that happening. It wasn't morbidity or curiosity that kept me reading. I just couldn't put the book down. And the payoff was worth it. Yes, the ending wasn't what I wanted, but it wasn't what I expected either, and it left me breathless. If I could bottle that stuff...

Revelation. Okay, all of the above stories have a great twist at the end—most good crime stories do. The writer can steer the reader into expecting something commonplace and then swerves away. I'm not talking about mere manipulation—no one wants to see the puppet strings—because the thing that does happen makes perfect sense. There are two words that aren't in “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” that sank the hook, but good (it's the scene where we find out why Fats sold his saxophone). And that's just the first time in the story.

What I learned from writing “Femme Sole:”

Immersion. In getting so wrapped up in figuring out who Anna was and what few options she might have to save her bar (and her livelihood), I never saw some of the surprises coming. In my effort to remember how Anna was different from me, how her time was different from today, she slipped the leash and developed some on her own, free from my preconceptions. I'm not sure it works with every character (some are friends we know too well), but some of them demand so much concentration, they sneak around on you when your back is turned.

Shiny

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:23:00 +0000

Maybe it's the remnant of a memory from decades ago, when Easter required the purchase of shiny black patent shoes, a white wicker pocket book (plastic flowers optional but preferred), and a white straw hat. Maybe even gloves, if we were getting fancy about it. But I still like shiny shoes, and the chance to wear them.

Happy Spring, everyone!

Red-letter day!

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:59:00 +0000

Okay, there are some black letters, too. Can one be proud and feel humbled at the same time?

I think so.
It's just so damned pretty!

Sprints and marathons

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:50:00 +0000

I've been thinking a lot about short stories, lately, mostly because I've been working on a number consecutively and because I'll be on the MWA Symposium panel "Short Stories vs. Novels: The Long and Short of It." After playing around with all sorts of metaphors--subtractive vs. additive art, dough analogies, and the like--the thing that seemed to make the most sense, the most recently was a running metaphor. It's entirely possible someone's already come up with this, but it seemed to work for me.

For example: I sent an early draft of my last story to several readers, feeling like I had it pretty well in shape. Then one reader wanted more world-building, another wanted more characterization, and a third wanted some depth of detail on something else--I don't remember what.

Thing was, I had three words left of my total word limit and these were valid suggestions. How do you wedge that kind of atmosphere into a story that already is plenty dense? Lots have folks have knowledgeably spoken about making "every word do double-duty," and I think it may be closer to triple- or quadruple-duty. Can you turn a short sentence about looking at a watch into a sentence expressing timing/tension, social class, emotion, physicality, personality, and physical description? You're gonna have to, if you write short stories. I ended up doing a lot of paring back of some descriptions and reloading others, so I could cram all the nuance I wanted into the story. It's all about weight distribution and conservation: reuse, recycle, reduce.

There's something about an expense of energy, too. Short stories are sprints. All the power gets expended in one short burst, and it has to happen within a specific length. You can't hold anything back, not even for a second. Novels are something a reader can settle into for the long haul, so you need to keep the pace steady, but adjust it periodically to suit the requirements of the terrain. Yes, you want the prose to be tight and clean, but not so spare the reader has no place to grab onto, no desire to follow the story through the whole book.

Nothing new here, but writing it down makes it likely I'll keep the lesson in mind for the next story. And I surely am looking forward to hearing what my E(vil) T(win), S.J. Rozan, Toni Kelner, and Ace Atkins have to say about the subject at the Symposium in late April.

"Femme Sole," for your Agatha consideration

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:41:00 +0000

For a limited time, read "Femme Sole" here: BostonNoir_FemmeSole.pdf

Thanks!

An Agatha nomination for "Femme Sole!"

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:14:00 +0000

This has been a month of wonderful news: yesterday, the Agatha Award nominations for works published in 2009 were announced (you can see the entire list here). I'm thrilled to let you know that "Femme Sole" was short-listed for Best Short Story! The nominees for Best Short Story are:

“Femme Sole” by Dana Cameron, Boston Noir (Akashic Books)
“Handbaskets, Drawers and a Killer Cold” by Kaye George, Crooked ezine
“The Worst Noel” by Barb Goffman, The Gift of Murder (Wolfmont Press)
“On the House” by Hank Phillippi Ryan, Quarry (Level Best Books)
“Death Will Trim Your Tree” by Elizabeth Zelvin, The Gift of Murder (Wolfmont Press)

I'm delighted to be among the nominees, and especially happy for fellow Femme Fatale Hank Phillippi Ryan, who is not only nominated for her terrific short story, but also for Best Novel for Air Time. As if that wasn't terrific enough, our fellow Femme Donna Andrews garnered a nod for Best Novel for Swan for the Money!

The winners will be announced at the 2009 Agatha Awards banquet to be held on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at Malice Domestic.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and support! And congratulations to all the nominees!

A good book for cocktails...

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:29:00 +0000

Tonight's signing will be the third event promoting Boston Noir that featured drinks. Last October, the Boston Book Festival ended our reading with a "noir" cocktail party, featuring the specially composed "Literatini." At last month's reading, we were treated to beverage interpretations of our stories at Noir Bar. Tonight, it will be "Boston Noir and Pinot Noir."

Like wine? Like short stories? Need a Valentine's Day present for someone? Stop by Henry's Wine Cellar tonight and get your Noir on.

The BR pile: Julia Child

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:18:00 +0000

As I am fond of saying (probably because I say it so frequently): I'm so far behind, I can see my own ass. Yes, there's been a lot of excitement lately and more events than I anticipated this time of year; I'm also working on two short stories, both of which are due the same month. Good thing the cats are here, and cause a ruckus early afternoon for their vittles. Otherwise, I would forget to eat lunch. That's busy.

I was disappointed to realize I haven't been keeping up with reading and have accumulated a sizable TBR since Christmas. I've made an effort on that front, and am whittling away at it. Right now, I'm reading the Edgar nominees for "Best Short Story" and am blown away. More about them later; for now, Julia Child's My Life in France.

One of the reasons I loved this book (co-authored with Alex Prud'Homme) was that it absolutely sounded like the Julia Child I grew up with (televisually speaking). There is such incredible and appealing can-do energy in Child, who was a problem-solver and infinitely curious about so many things. It reveals itself whether she's discussing attempting to negotiate a household move across continents, schedule her final exams at Le Cordon Bleu or how to finalize a recipe for French-style bread.

You don't have to be a foodie (I am) to enjoy this book; there's enough of French culture and 20th-century history to satisfy anyone. But if you are a foodie, she is the genesis of cooking on television, and the early history of "The French Chef" is simply wonderful.

Boston Noir at Noir Bar

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:01:00 +0000

Here, at long last, some pics from the event at Noir Bar in the Charles Hotel. The setting was ideal: outside was a gawdawful rain storm, inside was dimly lit, muffled conversation, the clink of glassware.

Suddenly, a woman screamed...

Okay, not a woman, it was feedback from the mic as we got set up. It really was fun; I've mentioned the signature cocktails based on each of our stories, and can attest that the "Femme Sole" was elegant, tasty, and packed an unexpected wallop.

Here, I'm trying to "smolder." I'm not sure it's working, but I do enjoy a challenge.

Another element, one that made me feel almost like a performance artist, was the projection of old black and white noir films on the screens behind us.

L-R: me, Brendan DuBois (who did a cracker-jack job of introducing the book and the event), Lynne Heitman, and Russ Aborn.

We sold a bunch of books and the audience was super. Not a bad crowd, for a rainy Monday night. Thanks to the folks at Noir Bar for making a fun event!

An Edgar nomination for "Femme Sole!"

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:18:00 +0000

I'm stunned and delighted to let you know my short story, "Femme Sole," has been nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Short Story. "The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars), named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. They honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television, film, and theatre published or produced in the previous year."

Here are the nominees for Best Short Story:

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" – Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins (Busted Flush Press)
"Femme Sole" – Boston Noir by Dana Cameron (Akashic Books)
"Digby, Attorney at Law" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Jim Fusilli (Dell Magazines)
"Animal Rescue" – Boston Noir by Dennis Lehane (Akashic Books
"Amapola" – Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books)

(You can find the nominees in all the categories here.)

Holy mackerel! The past year has been so very good to me, I never, ever imagined I'd have this honor. I'm thrilled to death. Thank you, MWA judges--in all the categories. I know what work goes into this process.

And thanks to Toni Kelner who called this morning to congratulate me, not knowing I didn't have a clue!

Noir Bar, Boston Noir, Pinot Noir

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:33:00 +0000

If there's one convention that can be found in noir writing of any period, it's booze. So it's only natural that the next two Boston Noir events I do will be in a bar and a wine store.

I'll be doing a reading and signing with Lynne Heitman, Brendan DuBois, and Russ Aborn at Noir Bar at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA, Monday night, January 25 from 7 to 9 pm. Come join us and sip signature cocktails!

And a solo event at my favorite local (Beverly, MA) wine store: Henry's Wine Cellar. I'll be signing copies of Boston Noir during a wine tasting featuring Pinot Noirs (also one of my favorite wines) on February 11, from 4 to 7 pm.

I told you about werewolves on the North Shore...

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:53:00 +0000

...in "The Night Things Changed." But this is a real wolf who was AWOL from Wolf Hollow, a sanctuary in Ipswich, MA, not too far away from here. Nina is home safely--and happily--now. She was never a threat to humans.

Wolf Hollow is a nonprofit organization started in 1988 by the late Paul Soffron for the preservation of wolves through education and exposure. Check out the picture of Nina; she's gorgeous!

Guest blogging with the Stiletto Gang!

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:56:00 +0000

My guest blog, "The Bad Old Days," is posted with the Stiletto Gang today. Please swing by and say "howdy!"

Happy, happy...

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:50:00 +0000

...2010 to everyone!

This is to introduce my new feline editorial staffers, Kaylee and Zoe, who joined us a week ago from the local shelter. They're about ten weeks old, and threaten to rule the world, once they get done whipping us into shape. We'd promised ourselves kittens for Christmas, and we lucked out!

In other lovely news...a couple of nice reviews and shouts-out. There was this (on Allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com) and this for "The Night Things Changed." Then my friend Charlaine Harris had a great time reading Boston Noir.

I hope everyone is recovering from the holidays, and looking forward to a happy, happy New Year. I'm looking forward to getting back to WRITING!

Merry, merry!

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:33:00 +0000

The BR pile: Chuck Hogan

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:56:00 +0000

Actually having a chance to say "hey" to Chuck at holiday event for Kate's Mystery Books, I was reminded how remiss I've been in reporting on the B(een) R(ead) pile. Bad blogger! No bourbon! Without further ado...

What was most fun about reading Prince of Thieves and The Blood Artists one after the other was experiencing the different voices in the books. And it's not just that they're completely different crime novels (the first is about Boston bank robbers, the second is a medical thriller about a killer virus and the researchers who try to stop it). There's almost a homey familiarity to the characters in Prince, despite their brutality; as someone familiar with the setting, I didn't hear one false note. There's a remoteness to the researchers in The Blood Artists, as chilling as the viral villain they pursue. What floors me is in the comparison of the dialogue: there was never any point in either book where one started to sound like the other. Charlestown thugs and CDC scientists, each convincingly authentic, situated perfectly in their separate worlds.

Dang. That takes some serious skill. Add to that the terrific pace of both books and Hogan's willingness to take his characters to places you might prefer they didn't go.

I'll be adding the rest of Chuck's books to my holiday wish list.

As for the new addition to my TBR pile, well, I don't know who this Julia Child person is, but she sure talks about food a lot. And France. I'm still working on The Aeneid, and as much as I'm liking it (I'll agree it's the Roman equivalent of The Odyssey), some how epic adventure seems a bit much against the holidays.

"Femme Sole" in the BOSTON GLOBE

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:04:00 +0000

This was a nice surprise. I knew they were doing a small piece to promote the event at Brookline Booksmith on Thursday, but had no idea it would be featured so prominently, or with a picture!

And while I reported that Boston Noir has been doing well on the Globe bestseller list, I don't think I've had time to link to the great review it received. "Femme Sole" was singled out:

"Dana Cameron’s “Femme Sole’’ turns the clock back to turn-of-the-century Dock Square. There, another enterprising businesswoman (“a pretty young lass with no family and a thriving business on the waterfront’’) has married a man to insulate herself from predators, only to find she’s let the predator into her bed."

Great news all around! I hope to see you in Brookline on Thursday!

Sisters in Crime at B&N

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:21:00 +0000

Hallie Ephron (center), Hank Phillippi Ryan (right), and I had a super time at the Peabody Barnes & Noble Wednesday night. Not only did CRM Paula Morin do a great job of advertising the event, we were surrounded by family and friends. Especially nice was the number of New England Sisters in Crime in the audience, and the readers who'd come from as far away as Connecticut, through all kinds of weather!

Thanks, everyone!

Tomorrow: B&N with Hank and Hallie

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:44:00 +0000

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (or, if you don't celebrate, a super Thursday). I can't believe we're staring down the barrel of the holiday season already...

I'm gearing up for three events in the next week or so. The first is a New England Sisters in Crime event with Hank Phillippi Ryan and Hallie Ephron at the Peabody Barnes & Noble tomorrow night (Wednesday, December 2). If you missed Crime Bake, why not catch up with us there?

The next is the annual holiday party with Kate's Mystery Books. This year, the party will be at Redbones in Somerville, MA on December 6. Like barbecue? Like books? Got some shopping to do? There'll be a host of local mystery writers signing books from 3-6; I'll be there at least from 4:45-5:30.

December 10, I'll be at Brookline Booksmith with Brendan DuBois and Russ Aborn, reading from our stories in Boston Noir.

Oprah Magazine, NYT, Booklist reviews for BOSTON NOIR!

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:35:00 +0000

Last weekend was action packed with Crime Bake, but the action started off early for me. On Thursday, Lynne Heitman, Russ Aborn, and Brendan DuBois and I did readings from Boston Noir at the wonderful Newtonville Books. There was a super crowd (meaning they were plentiful and had great, thoughtful questions!) and lots of books to sign. Thanks, Mary, for a terrific event!

O, The Oprah Magazine features the Akashic Noir series in the “Reading Room.” It’s on page 192 in the December issue, the one with Ellen DeGeneres on the cover. I’ll wait while you go get it. You can see Boston Noir in the stack, right there in the middle, the light blue cover. So my story would be just about in the middle of that. I apologize to everyone I greeted at the hotel by thrusting the magazine under her nose instead of a hug and “hello.” But OMG! In O, with Akashic, right below Vladimir Nabokov.

Besides its starred review in Publishers Weekly, Boston Noir debuted at number four on the Boston Globe paperback bestseller list. Woohoo! There also was a super review in Booklist: “The stories…are uniformly solid, with characters, plots, and atmosphere that evoke the classic noirs of Cain, Woolrich, and Thompson.”

BN was reviewed by Marilyn Stasio in the New York Times Sunday Books section: “Dennis Lehane advises us not to judge the genre by its Hollywood images of sharp men in fedoras lighting cigarettes for femmes fatales standing in the dark alleys...[Lehane] writes persuasively of the gentrification that has...left people feeling crushed.”

And my story, “Femme Sole,” got a very nice notice in the review in PopMatters.com:

“Dana Cameron’s “Femme Sole” is another success, reaching back into the city’s colonial past to find a rich noir. Her protagonist, Anna Hoyt, is a North End tavern owner in the year 1795, struggling to maintain her independence while under siege from an abusive husband and local racketeers who do not recognize her rights on account of her gender. Cameron’s prose is well tailored and wastes no time bringing Anna to life. The strength and fullness of Anna’s character makes it easy to sympathize and identify with her, to feel invested in her fate.”

Finally, if you'd like to hear editor and contributor, Dennis Lehane and fellow contributors Russ Aborn, Brendan DuBois, Jim Fusilli, Lynne Heitman, and me reading from our short stories at the Boston Book Festival, you can get the podcast at the The Phoenix's blog.

I never thought I'd hear my work being described as "fucked-up dark-hearted shit" and be thrilled about it!

C is for Crime Bake!

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:04:00 +0000

This weekend was the 8th annual New England Crime Bake. Sue Grafton was the GoH, and I can tell you (as so many other people will), she’s just lovely. We sat next to each other at breakfast, we talked cooking and Thanksgiving, and her talk at lunch was all about her hints about writing. It gave everyone, readers and writers, plenty to ponder--and a lot of laughs. You can see her, albeit a bit blurrily, below, to the left of Hallie Ephron.

There were great panels on bestsellers and forensic evidence. Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, David Zeltserman, Toni Kelner, and I discussed our strategies for hanging in there on the “P is for Persistence” panel. I hope everyone enjoyed it; I figured it went well because I left there charged up and ready to face the cold, hard world of writing again. My agent Janet Reid recaps a little of it here.

Then there were the people at our dinner table, Hillerman House (aka The House on Hillerman...in 3-D). Oh, dearie me. MWA’s Margery Flax, Toni Kelner, Steve Kelner, Jedediah Berry, Paul Tremblay, Maggie Barbieri, Peg Patten, Eileen Forster Keck, and Rachel Beyer Brady. When we didn’t win the prize with our house song we felt we could still hold our heads up. The Kelners crafted our anthem “We Want Bloodshed” to be sung to the words of “We Are the Champions.” Yes, heaven help me, I sang in public, as far from the mike as possible, but with great gusto. We rocked it down to a little nub.

Is it any wonder I’m hoarse now? All that laughing and singing and writerly enthusiasm in one weekend? Better sign up for next year, when Charlaine Harris will be the GoH, and see what I’m talking about.

AND! Friday started off right, when Toni Kelner gave me copies of Wolfsbane and Mistletoe in German. Yay, Toni! You can see a copy of the cover at her website. The cool thing is, even though I have about six words of restaurant German, I could follow my story a bit (but mostly because I’d written it). Did you know Fangborn translates as “Fangzahngeschöpf?” I bet you did.

Newtonville Books and N. E. Crime Bake this week!

noreply@blogger.com (Dana) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:01:00 +0000

In the midst of beach walking, book buying, basement cleaning, and other weekendery, DID I REALLY SEE WINTER HOLIDAY DECORATIONS UP, JUST MOMENTS AFTER HALLOWEEN? The start of holiday madness the day after Thanksgiving is bad enough, this is just...sputter.

Enough of that: I have a busy week ahead. On Thursday, November 12, I'll be at Newtonville Books, in Newton MA to promote Boston Noir with Lynne Heitman, Russ Aborn, and Brendan DuBois. Friday (yes, this week!) will be the start of the New England Crime Bake, featuring Sue Grafton. For details, check out the "Appearances" section of my website. Hope to see you there!

Say...perhaps it's not too early to be considering the holidays after all! Books make excellent gifts.

I'm just saying.