LETTERS WITH CHARACTER

Harper Perennial presents
LETTERS WITH CHARACTER
An Interactive Literary Environment

On the occasion of the publication of Ben Greenman’s What He’s Poised to Do (Harper Perennial, On Sale: June 15, 2010) we invite you to celebrate the art of correspondence and WRITE A LETTER TO A FAMOUS FICTIONAL CHARACTER

Before there was any fiction at all, there were letters. For centuries, letters were the only way for people in different locations to communicate with each other. But letters have also become a rich and complex element of the best literary fiction. The acclaimed author Ben Greenman explores how letters function in life, as well as how they function in fiction in his new collection of inter-linked stories What He's Poised to Do.

"Ben Greenman's masterwork of stories inspired by letters offers
fresh insight into the mysteries of intimacy."--Simon Van Booy.

On the occasion of the book's publication, and in celebration of the art of the letter as a form of fiction, Harper Perennial invites you to participate in its Letters With Character campaign, and to write a letter to a fictional character. The letters can be funny, sad, demanding, fanciful, declarative, or trivial. They can be about a novel, a short story, or a children's book, works both literary or popular. There is only one requirement: They must be written by a real person and must also address an unreal one.

The best, most interesting, strangest, and most moving letters will be collected on LettersWithCharacter.blogspot.com. Visit the site to see a selection of those that have already been written: a romantic appeal to Captain Ahab, a moving consideration of middle age addressed to a Garcia Marquez heroine, a hilarious challenge to Agatha Christie's famed detective Hercule Poirot.

And feel free to submit your own letters to LettersWithCharacter@gmail.com

Edgar Awards

Last night was the Mystery Writers of America's 64th annual Edgar Awards dinner. I was thrilled to see two of my favorite books of 2009 were winners - congratulations to John Hart on winning another very well deserved Edgar for THE LAST CHILD, and to Otto Penzler for THE LINEUP, a fascinating glimpse into the minds of so many truly creative and gifted crime fiction writers.

Here are the winners!

Best Novel
The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur)


Best First Novel by an American Author
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stephanie Pintoff (Minotaur)

Best Paperback Original
Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn)

Best Short Story
"Amapola" by Luis Alberto Urrea in Phoenix Noir, edited by Patrick Millikin (Akashic)

Best Fact Crime
Columbine by Dave Cullen (Twelve)

Best Critical/Biographical
The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Little, Brown)

Mary Higgins Clark Award
Awakening by S.J. Bolton

Ellery Queen Award
Barbara Peters and Robert Rosenwald of Poisoned Pen Press

MWA Grand Master
Dorothy Gilman, best known for her Mrs. Pollifax series

Marilyn Johnson

The undisputed queen of the Florida Library Association annual conference and libraries everywhere is Marilyn Johnson. Johnson is the author of This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save us All, and a librarian advocate. That's librarian, not library.

If you watch the news, you know there are plenty of people out there fighting to keep their libraries open in this age of budget shortfalls. State legislators are inundated with letters and have to pass picket lines to argue the budget. But in all those discussions, the librarians themselves may be on the picket line, but they are rarely discussed.

I met up with Marilyn at FLA, where she gave a hilarious presentation, complete with a PowerPoint presentation, to a packed house. I got to spend some one on one time with her as well, and had a great time getting to know this champion of librarians.

I was curious about her; why this fascination with librarians? When she was in high school, Marilyn told me she worked as a page at the library for $.95/hour. After her first year, she asked for a nickel raise and was turned down, so she quit. That was the end of her library career, but really just the beginning of her great love affair with libraries.

Marilyn is a journalist, and one of her jobs was writing obituaries, which led to a book, Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries. But something curious happened in the writing of that book; Marilyn noticed that the obituaries she found most fascinating were not those of famous celebrities, but those of librarians. That fascination led her to her new book, an homage to librarians of the past, present and future.

This Book is Overdue covers librarians from "Frederick Kilgour, the first to link libraries' computer catalogs to one another back in the late sixties" to George Christian & Janet Nocek, the Connecticut librarians who sued the federal government as John Doe over the Patriot Act, to the virtual librarians of Second Life and all the blogging librarians, too. Johnson celebrates these librarians as heroes of the information age in an always interesting and often humorous way.

According to Johnson, librarians are "sensitive to patrons and reward innovation." They don't sell people out and they keep secrets. In her research, Johnson found street librarians who literally worked the streets during the demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in New York City, armed with smartphones, lists of phone numbers for legal aid and such, and the locations of public restrooms. She found missionary librarians, who not only provided students from developing countries with laptops but taught them how to use them well enough for the students to take online college classes.

Johnson readily admits to having not much of a grasp of MARC catalog records, was forced to use the word "cybrarian" for lack of anything better for her computer powered librarians, and that she really had to address stereotypical librarian fashion sense as gracefully as possible. When one librarian complained about the cover of the book, specifically the librarian superhero's "sensible shoes", Johnson grabbed her marker and turned them into stilettos!

Johnson was also very excited and proud to tell me about the American Library Association's ALTAFF, the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations. While enjoying their programs at the annual conference, Marilyn wanted to join the library advocacy group. But when she looked at the application, she wasn't sure which box to check. Was she an advocate? A friend? What? So she called ALA and they decided to add another box for authors. Marilyn feels that writers are an endangered species, and libraries keep them alive, and now writers can support the ALA.

I really enjoyed chatting with Marilyn, and I loved reading her book. It's warm, witty, and wise, just like many of the librarians portrayed within. As a library school student on my way to becoming a librarian, I found it inspiring.

Thanks, Marilyn, for being a cheerleader for a profession that is grossly underpaid, often misunderstood, and rarely appreciated. Librarians everywhere should applaud you; you did us proud!

TOP 10 THINGS I LEARNED AT FLA

Last week I had the privilege and pleasure of attending the Florida Library Association's annual conference. I got to meet fellow library students, professors, authors and of course librarians from all over the state. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot of interesting things. Here's my top 10 list:

1. I learned about "augmented reality;" not really sure what it is? Try YouTube for some interesting videos about it - here's one for a magic card trick

2. I learned that Delray Beach librarian Brian Smith has a terrific blog about his adventures as a Florida librarian that he calls Bribrarian

3. I learned that the Orange County Library system charges for the use of their meeting rooms: $25 for two hours. They also offer more computer classes than any library I've ever seen with dedicated librarian/teachers at every branch.


4. I learned that the Jacksonville Public Library allows their patrons to reserve meeting rooms online, and to pay their fines online as well. They also have a really cool Zine collection and blog about it here.

5. I learned that there are organizations that are trying to censor libraries as to what materials they should or shouldn't have in their collections, and they do so using innocuous, innocent sounding names like "Safe Libraries". That's the difference between librarians and those who seek to stifle us; I have no qualms about sharing their website.

6. I learned that the Pasco County Library is using QR codes on their books. This allows patrons use their smart phones in the stacks. They can use the camera & an app to scan the QR code on the spine of the book, and instantly read reviews on Amazon.com! "Point your phone at a printed page. Take a picture. Get taken to a website. That's the power of QR codes, codes embedded in print that can link cell phones to specific websites." Read the rest here.

7. I learned that anyone can upload video along with a PowerPoint presentation or notes to iTunes.

8. I learned that anyone can register for a free account at imdb.com and create and manage your own movie lists, catalog your DVD collection, get local movie info and more.

9. I learned about free video editing software called Camtasia Studio, which CNET calls a "powerhouse for creating and producing screencasts for the Web, mobile phones, and DVDs."

10. I learned that Marilyn Johnson, author of THIS BOOK IS OVERDUE, is out there telling the world that librarians are smart, feisty, independent thinkers that will fight for your right to receive quality information in whatever format is currently available. Truth told, I already knew that, but it's always great to hear it again!

ITW 2010 Thriller Awards Finalists

Here are the finalists for the 2010 Thriller Awards. The International Thriller Writers group will announce the winners at their 5th annual conference at the Grand Hyatt in New York City on July 10.

Best Hard Cover Novel:
VANISHED by Joseph Finder
LONG LOST by Harlan Coben
FEAR THE WORST by Linwood Barclay
THE NEIGHBOR by Lisa Gardner
THE RENEGADES by T. Jefferson Parker

Best Paperback Original:
SHADOW SEASON by Tom Piccirilli
URGE TO KILL by John Lutz
VENGEANCE ROAD by Rick Mofina
THE COLDEST MILE by Tom Piccirilli
NO MERCY by John Gilstrap

Best First Novel:
FRAGMENT by Warren Fahy
DEAD MEN'S DUST by Matt Hilton
COLLISION OF EVIL by John J. Le Beau
DRACULA: THE UN-DEAD by Dacre Stoker
RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL by Jamie Freveletti

Best Short Story:
THE DESERT HERE AND THE DESERT FAR AWAY by Marcus Sakey
A STAB IN THE HEART by Twist Phelan
AFTERSHOCK & OTHERS by F. Paul Wilson
ICED by Harry Hunsicker
BOLDT'S BROKEN ANGEL by Ridley Pearson

Much Ado about Much Ado

I am delighted to welcome guest blogger Ron Block of the Jacksonville Public Library for what is becoming his annual guest blog post on one of the premier book festivals in Florida, MUCH ADO ABOUT BOOKS!

Jacksonville recently turned out for the annual Much Ado About Books Festival and Ex-Libris Gala.

The kickoff for the “everything books” was an amazing visit to Lights over London. The already stunning Main Library was transformed into scenes of London town and featured Royalty from both sides of the ocean-

Two Queens- one of England and one of Junkin’


Popular New York Times author Mary Kay Andrews bowed before Queen Elizabeth I- portrayed with her usual elegance by Betsy Lovett Chair of the JPL Foundation Board. The Queen graciously greeted and posed with each “Londoner”, and was spotted being adored by her royal subjects.


The Main Library transformation was incredible. Chris Bohjalian, author of the current bestseller, Secrets of Eden, remarked that the inside of the library reminded him of Hogwarts Academy. Throughout the evening, attendees were able to sample British Treats supplied by Whole Foods and local musicians tore through the crisp February air and none other than Mary Kay Andrews was spotted cutting a rug with her escort. Authors in attendance were Michael Palmer, Andrew Gross, Katherine Hall Page and loyal JPL friend Steve Berry, who along with his wife, Elizabeth, led a day long writer’s workshop that was a huge hit.

The next morning began with an exclusive breakfast with Chris Bohjalian for a limited number of participants. Chris was late for his first panel at the Main Event Venue, stating that the breakfast had been so stimulating he lost track of time. His first panel discussion was entitled “Building suspense and mystery” along with Katherine Hall Page and Michael Craven. Their comments and answers to questions were wonderful, including a story told about Joyce Carol Oates purchasing a Selectric Typewriter to avoid online distraction while she writes. (What number is my book ranked on Amazon today?). Following the first round of panels, the authors gathered in the Main Library Conference Center for book signings.



The rest of the morning we were treated to talks by Michael Palmer, Andrew Gross and Teen author Sara Zarr. All the panels were riveting, and each author was very gracious and kind. Michael Palmer even visited a nearby restaurant and thrilled the waitress with a signed copy of The Last Surgeon.


The main event of the day was the keynote luncheon. The conference level ballroom was unrecognizable as each table was covered in bright pink material (later found out to be former choir robes!) along with Benjamin Moore Paint Cans filled with Magnolia Tree Branches. The podium was surrounded by ladders of different sizes and colors all of which were draped with multi colored robe material and magnolia stems. A perfect setting for our guest of honor-Mary Kay Andrews, ready to dish it southern style! MK entered the room and made a point of visiting each table, posing for pictures and thanking everyone for their support of the library. Following her introduction by local celebrity, Charlene Shirk, all bets were off. We were treated to the southern style wit, charm and borderline naughty antics of a true southern woman. She had the room laughing with her instructions for making proper chicken salad, along with stories of the basis for many of her memorable characters. Listening to her is like visiting an old friend. Mary Kay followed up her talk by answering every last question anyone had for her and signed books for as many people who were willing to wait in line. She is a true character, and Jacksonville fell in love with her.

I can’t wait to see what happens next year! An aside to Mary Kay- as you wrote in my book- thank YOU for a great time! xo

You Are Cordially Invited . . .To Be Married Happily Ever After

Another contest from Elaine Viets, in honor of her next book, “Half-Price Homicide,” the ninth Dead-End Job mystery!

You Are Cordially Invited . . .
To Be Married Happily Ever After

Need a minister for your wedding?

Can’t find the right person to marry you on the happiest day of your life? Then you’re invited to enter the Elaine Viets Happily Ever After contest.

I’d be honored to marry the winning couple.

Besides being a bestselling mystery author, I am also an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church. I will marry a couple anywhere within the continental United States to celebrate a very special literary occasion: The publication of “Half-Price Homicide,” my ninth Dead-End Job mystery.

After nine books and many adventures, Helen and Phil begin their new life together in this novel. They have a romantic beach wedding. Helen and Phil are married by a minister in Universal Life Church. This wedding starts a new chapter for both of them.

Let me help you start your new life together. Whether you and your beloved want a romantic wedding by the sea, a mountain meadow, a luxurious garden, a grand hotel or a private home, I’ll be honored to marry you. Because true love defies labels, I will marry either a traditional bride and groom or a same-sex couple.

Helen and Phil plan to live happily ever after. I invite you to do the same.

RSVP your entry to Elaine Viets’ Happily Ever After contest:

mailto:eviets@aol.com

(1) Your names

(2) The proposed date and time of your wedding

Date:

Time: _______ AM _________PM

(3) The location

Name or type of place (private home, park, hotel)
Street address, State and ZIP

Entries must be emailed by midnight, June 1, to eviets@aol.com.

The winning couple will be chosen by the Elaine Viets advertising team.

PLEASE NOTE: We will have to work out a mutually agreeable date if I have a previously scheduled event.

I will travel to your wedding at my expense within the continental USA. I have been a minister in good standing with the Universal Life Church since 1976 and have my certificate.

The engaged couple or their representatives agree to provide lodgings for me, as well as meals, transportation to and from the airport and the ceremony, if needed.
My hotel room must be booked in advance of the wedding, if the wedding takes place outside the Fort Lauderdale area.

The couple must be of legal age to marry and either single or divorced. If one or both parties are divorced, you will be asked to produce your divorce decree(s) and all necessary identification.

Both parties must mutually consent to Elaine Viets as their minister.

Same sex weddings are legal only in the states that permit them, but I will still perform the ceremony.

I am authorized to marry in all 50 states and US territories, but the laws vary by state. Some states ask for my minister’s certificate or a letter from the Universal Life Church. Other states require me to register with their Secretary of State. I may need time to fulfill these requirements.

Both parties must be legal or naturalized citizens of the United States.
The winning couple may write their own vows.

This contest ends June 1, 2010.
**********************************
Half-Price Homicide, Elaine Viets’ ninth Dead-End Job Mystery

Secondhand clothes. First-degree murder.

Angelina Jolie. Glenn Close. Kate Winslet.

Helen Hawthorne sells the most wanted bargains at Snapdragon’s Second Thoughts. The Fort Lauderdale consignment shop has designer duds to die for – literally. The customers who bring in their barely worn fashions hide behind Hollywood monikers so no one discovers their fashion secrets. They want the money for reselling their clothes, but not the notoriety.

Helen has wants of her own. Tired of living life on the lam, she wants to go home to St. Louis to clear her name. She wants to help her mother in a Florida nursing home.

The men in her life have their own wants. Helen’s greedy ex-husband wants more money. The man she loves wants to get married.

You’ll want “Half-Price Homicide,” Helen Hawthorne’s ninth Dead-End Job mystery.

Sneak preview of “Half-Price Homicide” & a contest!

You are cordially invited . . .
To a sneak preview of “Half-Price Homicide.”

Enter our contest to win an autogrpahed Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of “Half-Price Homicide: A Dead-End Job Mystery” by Elaine Viets.

The winners will read Elaine Viets’ ninth Helen Hawthorne mystery weeks before this new Obsidian hardcover novel hits the bookshops.

“Half-Price Homicide” is the novel Helen Hawthorne’s fans have been waiting for. Helen finally marries the man she loves. But it’s not that simple. It never is. Helen is still running from her greedy ex-husband, Rob. And she’s working at Snapdragon’s Second Thoughts, the South Florida designer consignment shop. She also has to care for her mother in a nursing home.

When those pricy second-hand clothes are mixed with first-degree murder, Helen has to solve the mystery, for better or worse.

Only then can she return to St. Louis, clear her name and end her life on the lam.
Will Helen ever be free of Rob? Will she continue working those Dead-End Jobs after her marriage? Will Helen and Phil live happily ever after?

You’ll be the first to know, if you win an autographed ARC of “Half-Price Homicide.”

Take the first step:
(1) Tell us about yourself:
I am a
(a) book reviewer for _________________
(b) book seller for ____________________
(c) reader
(d) a film producer
(e) a librarian
(f) a member of the publishing industry, ie, editor, agent, etc. ______________________
(g) other

(2) Send an e-mail with your name and email address to eviets@aol.com by April 10.

Winners will be chosen by the Elaine Viets advertising team and announced on her Facebook page April 10.

NOTE: ARCs are usually given to reviewers and other in the book trade for promotional purposes. The “Half-Price Homicide” ARC has a plain paper cover and includes the typos found in the first-pass proofs. These will not be in the hardcover edition (we hope).

“Half-Price Homicide: A Dead-End Job Mystery” by Elaine Viets
Publication date: May 4, 2010
Price: $22.95 An Obsidian Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-451-22989-2

THIS CONTEST ENDS APRIL 10, 2010.
**********************************

HALF-PRICE HOMICIDE
A Dead-End Job Mystery
by Elaine Viets

Marilyn Stasio of The New York Times called Elaine Viets’ mysteries “clever.” Charlaine “True Blood” Harris said her Dead-End Job series has “a stubborn and intelligent heroine, a wonderful South Florida setting, and a cast of more or less lethal bimbos . . . .”

In “Half-Price Homicide,” the ninth mystery in Elaine Viets’ national bestselling Dead-End Job series, her heroine, Helen Hawthorne, is still on the run from her ex-husband. Helen works at a consignment shop where the designer duds are to die for – literally. Helen wants to return to St. Louis and clear her name so she can marry the man she loves. But first, she has to deal with secondhand clothes and first-degree murder.

Elaine and Helen Hawthorne both work the same Dead-End Jobs for this critically acclaimed series. For “Half-Price Homicide,” Elaine did her research at a designer consignment shop in Fort Lauderdale.

Elaine has worked in a dress shop (“Shop Till You Drop”), a bookstore (“Murder between the Covers”), as a telemarketer selling septic-tank cleaner (“Dying to Call You”), in a bridal shop (“Just Murdered”), a dog boutique (“Murder Unleashed”), and at a country club (“Clubbed to Death”). She made 38 rooms, 17 toilets and the honeymoon Jacuzzi each day for “Murder with Reservations” and did her research at an exclusive South Florida hair salon for “Killer Cuts.”

Author Bio
Elaine Viets has won the Anthony and Agatha Awards, as well as the 2008 Lefty Award for the funniest novel, “Murder with Reservations.” She has written short stories for two Charlaine “True Blood” Harris anthologies, include the New York Times bestseller, “Many Bloody Returns.” Elaine is a former syndicated columnist for United Media in New York. She lives with her husband, Don Crinklaw, in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

IN MY BOOK

Robin K. Blum is my guest blogger today. She is going to be at PLA (the Public Library Association conference in Portland, OR) and has a free gift for anyone who stops by...and a contest for BookBitchBlog readers, so read on!

Hello, my name is Robin K. Blum, and I am the proud owner of a small literary-oriented business called In My Book, which manufactures a line of bookmark/greeting cards. Some of you may also know me as birdie from www.lisnews.org .

Whats an In My Book card you ask? Its a fundraiser for your library, its a thank you note for donors and volunteers, its an invitation to a special event, its a greeting card that goes great with the gift of a book, its a card for the members of the reading group, its a save the date card, and of course, its the greeting card and bookmark in one. If you really want to know just what an In My Book card is all about you have to see one, or better yet, hold it in your hands. Until you get that opportunity, here's the website, where all fifteen styles are shown: www.inmybook.com.

Cards may be purchased by individuals on-line and libraries and bookstores may register there to sell the cards wholesale. In My Book cards are available at over 400 outlets including the Library of Congress Shop, big & little library systems and shops and independent bookstores across the US.

The first In My Book cards were sold in May of 2000. The precursors were a few homemade, handmade bookmarks given to friends and relatives on their birthdays, usually along with books. As the idea developed, and the bookmark expanded into a greeting card, the concept and format of In My Book was born (the name was hit upon in the shower). It was clear that the idea could work if the greetings were clever and thoughtful and the graphics were appealing. It hasn't always been easy (or profitable), but I'm proud to say that this coming May will be the tenth anniversary of the company. The cards are sold primarily in independent bookstores and library stores, and by library friends groups. Here's a complete listing by state of where the cards are sold: In My Book Stores You can also buy them individually on-line.

I illustrated the first few cards myself and laminated them; one of the first was a gift for my Aunt Norma (with a book) on her 70th birthday...she's just celebrated her 80th birthday (but doesn't want anyone to know!) I obtained a registered trademark on the name In My Book and after deciding I needed a more talented and versatile illustrator (than myself), I checked out a few portfolios before I found just the right person in Meredith Hamilton, who it turns out lives less than a mile from me in Brooklyn, NY. We hit it off and had a lot of fun designing the cards together. The illustrations were copyrighted and then it was a question of finding the right paper, the die-cut & perforation, and a printer who could handle all of the above within my budget. The first printer ran off into the night a lot of the original art (a nightmare!), but subsequently I found a talented and dependable printer in Pennsylvania.

It's clear that bookmarks, the original bookmarks, (i.e., something to keep your place) belong in books. A greeting card that DOUBLES as a bookmark can be viewed and enjoyed through a whole stack of books, and will always remind the reader of the person who sent them the card, particularly if they inscribe it with a personal greeting. And these days, anything that RECYCLES has added popularity. The cards are very GREEN (but not really, they're black and white, with a red envelope).

Mine is a small business that I started by myself and continue to run on my own (with a great deal of help from librarians, booksellers, sales reps, bloggers etc.). I am happy providing a unique product that fits a need for independent bookstores and library shops. I've chosen NOT to sell to chain bookstores or Amazon as I am determined to do my part to promote small and independent businesses (like my own!). Please patronize and support your community businesses.

If you're a public librarian, and will be attending the PLA Conference in Portland, Oregon in March, stop by my booth (#536) and say "The Bookbitch sent me" and who knows what will happen - but it'll be worth your while! *

*The BookBitch knows! Stop by and mention the BookBitch to Robin and she'll give you a little gift!

I'm on a mission to spread the news to library shops, foundations and friends groups, as well as indie bookstores and used and rare bookshops. Want to win three In My Book cards of your choice absolutely free? Just stop by In My Book and comment on this blog telling us which three cards you like best, and Stacy will pick the lucky winner.

Or, you can send an email to contest@gmail.com with "IN MY BOOK" as the subject. You must include your snail mail address in your email AND the three cards you like best and want to win. All entries must be received by March 31, 2010. One name will be drawn from all qualified entries and notified via email. The winner will receive three In My Book cards of their choice. This contest is open to all adults over 18 years of age in the United States. One entry per email address, please. Your email address will not be shared or sold to anyone. All entries, including names, e-mail addresses, and mailing addresses, will be purged after winners are notified.

Thank you Stacy for the opportunity to tell your readers about the greeting card and bookmark in one.

Guest Blogger: MICHAEL ATKINSON

The Past Isn’t Past

When I sat down, after over a decade of publishing journalism, criticism and poetry, to write novels – which is to say, finishing them; I’d been starting and abandoning novels since I’ve been 12 – there was no question that they would be historical. As in, set in the past. There are reasons I chose to write mysteries, and other reasons why I chose Ernest Hemingway as my reluctant literary sleuth, and that decision essentially decided the novels’ settings and eras. But the project had to be historical, not because I’m mad for historical fiction in particular, but because I’m mad for the past. I’m a nostalgist, I suppose, meaning, the world of the past grows for me in loveliness and vitality as the world of the present shrinks in pettiness and stupidity. Predictably, this ratio of feeling is widening as I age.

Nostalgia has gotten a bum rap in the last 40 years or more, mostly as a victim of academic English departments and the rise of postmodern theory. Actually, "nostalgia" as it was more or less redefined for all of us in the ‘70s, as we began to idealize and resurrect the ‘50s and then the ‘60s, initiating a cycle that grows notoriously shorter as it progresses and as our cultural technology speeds along, was always kind of thin stuff. Nobody can make a passionate case for Happy Days, Grease or Sha Na Na being deathless cultural gifts, or for their popularity being anything more than mass whimsy. Nostalgia embodied in the pop-culture arena can be as trite as anything that’s up-to-the-minute current.

And what’s more, it could be politically and socially poisonous, seen a certain way. The theorists, especially the feminists and postcolonialists, had reasonable stances against nostalgia, as an enabling ideology (stretching that term a bit) for ages of systemic misogyny and colonialist oppression. For hundreds of years women and Third Worlders paid the price of a romanticized British Empire (among others) and a sense of masculine prerogative that hearkened back to an easier, safer, more controllable past. Today, this is best embodied by America’s neo-conservatives, for whom the Eisenhower years were a golden age, and more extremely the "tea party" movement, which seeks to bring American public policy back to the 1800s, before Teddy Roosevelt passed the income tax.

I have no argument with this jaundiced view of nostalgia, and the hazards it recognizes. They could hardly be more real. But nostalgia isn’t a virus, and we don’t have to eliminate it like small pox. For one thing, the past is beautiful. History is beautiful. Proust, of course, makes the greatest and saddest case for this. Michael Chabon, admitting in an essay to suffering "intensely from bouts, at times almost disabling, of a limitless, all-encompassing nostalgia, extending well back into the years before I was born," makes a concise claim toward the impulse’s reevaluation:

"The mass synthesis, marketing, and distribution of versions and simulacra of an artificial past over the last thirty years or so, has ruined the reputation and driven a fatal stake through the heart of nostalgia. Those of us who cannot make it from one end of a street to another without being momentarily upended by some fragment of outmoded typography, curve of chrome fender or whiff of lavender hair oil from the pate of a semiretired neighbor are compelled by the disrepute into which nostalgia has fallen to mourn secretly the passing of a million marvelous quotidian things." ("Landsman of the Lost," Maps and Legends, 2008)

I’d be as happy as the next guy to blame the situation on rampaging commodification, as Chabon does, though I suspect a good many cultural pressures are responsible collectively. Whatever – if you belong to this tribe, Chabon provides you with an anthem in the next paragraph:

"We are not, as our critics would claim, necessarily convinced that things were once better than they are now, nor that we ourselves our parents, or our grandparents were happier ‘back then.’ We are simply like those savants in the Borges story who stumble upon certain objects and totems that turn out to be the random emanations and proofs of existence of Tlon. The past is another planet; anyone ought to wonder, as we do, at any traces of it that turn up on this one."

Here, here. This speaks to my sense of it – the past, in particular the past I never experienced, prior to the ‘60s, is beautiful and fascinating for being both forever unchangeable and forever unknowable, not "better" (as if we could choose) but different, fondly alien. And it seeps through our world, like a watermark. The past is a seductive arena because its tribulations and conflicts are already resolved, for better or worse; retrospection allows us to see the humanity and fiery pleasures of, say, the British homefront during WWII, Paris in the 1920s, or New York in the 1880s, in ways that the immediate stresses and distractions and crises of the time kept everyone from noticing. This is why Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast is such a deathless document – not because it’s 100% accurate in its famous recounting of the ‘20s – it couldn’t be – but because it focuses on things and feelings that required time to debarnacle, cleanse, polish and reappreciate. If not for nostalgia, an entire way of seeing human society as it has passed through time would be lost.

As it is, so much is lost, and there’s little we can do to stave the flow, despite the obsessive efforts by untold armies of fiction and memoir writers, history teachers, record and book and antique collectors, archivists, old film lovers, obsolete model railroad fanatics, archaeologists, sports trivia nuts, drag queens, library lovers and museum workers. I’ll give you a taste of what I mean, what I find beautiful about the past: travel posters from the 1920s, early-century book engravings, the cavernous backseats of 1950s Oldsmobiles, the fey yet crystalline dramatic intention of silent movies, pith helmets, terra cotta architectural curlicues, old spice cabinets or specimen drawers, wallpaper (even today, wallpaper that strives to be modern is ludicrously ugly, and so most designs are conscientiously retro), console radios, living rooms not centered on TVs but on fireplaces, Studebakers, old leatherhead football helmets, gaslight, 19th-century newspaper logos, and so on. I prefer these things to their contemporary counterparts, but not because I actually want to live in the past in which these things were contemporary. That would ruin it – the iconography of life is ordinary to you whenever you live. No, I prefer them *because* they’re ghosts of an evaporated world. I posses a fiery ardor for them the way you do for the women you’ve loved and no longer know, the house that you grew up in but has since been bulldozed, and the grandparents about whom almost all you can remember is their smell and their sense of patience.

So, it’s small wonder that my novels would be set in the past – writing fiction, after all, is more fun and immersive than reading it. Who wouldn’t want to vacation in a previous era? With all the ways we’ve designed to escape our present moment, it seems almost an inherent tragedy that the past is inaccessible and lost. Who can blame us for swooning over its artifacts and residue?

Michael Atkinson is a longtime New York film critic and poet, and author of seven books, including the upcoming HEMINGWAY CUTTHROAT, due in the summer of 2010. His website is www.mike-atkinson.com

SLEUTHFEST!

I spent the past two days mingling with well known authors, agents, editors, and those that want to be published, and I had a blast!
I posted some pictures on Facebook here: http://bit.ly/dA1d01

I started the conference with the panel with the most tantalizing name: Sex: It Ain't What it Used to Be featuring mostly romance/romantic suspense authors Rhonda Pollero, Leanne Banks, Traci Hall, Terry Odell and Amy Fetzer. The lone male panelist, thriller writer extraordinaire Barry Eisler, was snowed in and missed the panel. The women all agreed that men can't write sex, and when they do, it's "all about the penis." They went on to explain how they don't write sex, they write "sexual tension" of the "make them want, make them wait" variety. Pollero explained that most people have already had sex, and to write about it would be boring, then went in to say, "Like in life, books should have as little sex as possible." All I can say is ladies, go read Eisler - the man writes hot sex! If you'd like to hear more from these ladies, they blog together at BabesInBookland.com

The next panel I attended was on publishing, and featured legendary Putnam editor Neil Nyren, Penguin sales rep Dave Kliegman and bookseller Joanne Sinchuk, manager of Murder on the Beach, a mystery bookstore in Delray Beach, Florida. They discussed the publishing process from when an editor buys a book on down until it hits the bookshelves. The process isn't all that complicated, but it does take some time. When the editor is done with a book, he prepares a short synopsis with appeal characteristics which is then presented at a quarterly sales meeting. The sales reps learn about the new books, and they in turn take that knowledge to their customers like Joanne. Kliegman says after 25 years in the business, he knows which of his customers will like what books, and that's how your favorite books end up on your favorite bookseller's shelves!

David Morrell was the keynote speaker on Saturday. He was brilliant and inspiring, as always. He spoke eloquently about some of the hardships in his life; losing his father on D-Day when he was a baby, abandonment by his single mother until she remarried, a volatile, unstable stepfather. Morrell lost his teenage son to a rare form of bone cancer, then recently lost his granddaughter to the same disease. He says he's been hit as hard as a man can be hit, and I would have to agree with him. He's been writing for thirty-eight years now, and says the secret to his success is that he keeps on reinventing himself. He has a PhD in American literature and is occasionally accused of "slumming" in his reviews. But he says he owes his longevity to something he learned in college: be a first rate version of yourself and not the second rate version of a writer you admire. It seems to be working.

Saturday was a full day of panels, starting with The Plot Thickens. This panel featured Sandra Balzo, Sharon Potts, Rhonda Pollero, Terry Odell, and Lesley Diehl in a lively discussion about plotting mysteries and romance. I didn't know there was such a thing as plotting software, but Pollero swears it keeps her organized. She recommends Power Structure and WriteWayPro software.

Next up was Authors in Wonderland: Recently published authors discuss what they did right and wrong and featured Sharon Potts, Steven Forman, Vincent O'Neil, Deborah Sharp, Caro Soles and Mark Adduci. These authors had lots of advice from entering contests (O'Neill won a St. Martins Press writing contest) to marry someone who works for NBC (Sharp is married to Kerry Sanders, which helped her get a spot on the Today Show) to probably some of the best advice, attend writers conferences and workshops. Potts did for years before her first novel, In Their Blood was published to a starred review from Publishers Weekly and a nomination for Best New Thriller from the International Thriller Writers group. Forman met Doug Preston at an author breakfast and he was instrumental in getting Boca Knights published. All the authors stressed the importance of having a website and doing some social networking.

The last panel of the morning was Hooks, Lines and Sinkers: How to write good outlines, queries, and concepts, and when to use them. Any one who wants to be published would benefit from the sage advice given here by Shannon Jamieson Vazquez, Paige Wheeler, Annette Rogers and PJ Parrish. They went over the basics like a query letter should be three paragraphs long; the first paragraph should have the "log line" or hook, a 1-2 sentence synopsis of the book. Second paragraph should be a more detailed synopsis and the last paragraph should include a relevant author bio that is germane to the book or writing process, like having an MFA for example. All the agents and publishers agreed that email is better than snail mail and to check their websites to see how they handle submissions and queries. They stressed being very direct, professional and honest.

Lumch was followed by keynote speaker Stephen J. Cannell. He is a man who overcame severe dyslexia to become one of the most successful TV producers ever, then followed up that career by writing bestselling novels. For me, one of the highlights of his talk was the way he spoke about his wife, Marsha, who he has known since the 8th grade! He shared with us that he was constantly on the verge of flunking out of school, but he was "relentlessly positive." And he told us that "you don't have to be the smartest kid in school to get where you want to go." He sure proved that.

The panel on Stand Alone Novels was a lot of fun and featured mystery reviewer Oline Cogdill and writers Jonathon King, Peter Robinson, Barry Eisler and moderator PJ Parrish. They talked about the "Harlan Coben effect" by following a midlist series like his Myron Bolitar series with a stand alone thriller that catapulted him to the bestseller lists. It also worked for Laura Lippman. Robinson says he's written a couple of stand alones, but they haven't been published in the US. King spoke about writing the book you want to write, and even though he ended up having to self publish The Styx, he's glad he wrote it. Eisler followed up his terrific Rain series with a stand alone thriller, Fault Line, that I loved. He joked that you call the stand alone following the series "getting some strange" and then said he was so sorry he missed the sex panel. And I was delighted to hear that a sequel to Fault Line, Inside Out, will be coming out this June, turning his stand alone into a new series.

The last panel of the day was one of the most fascinating, Violence: Too Much or Too Little: Where and when to draw the line. David Morrell, CJ Lyons, James Swain, Don Bruns and Barry Eisler had a frank and lively discussion about the desensitization of America, particularly the youth. Eisler referenced a piece he wrote for Huffington Post called Torture Tales. It was brilliant and very disturbing. Swain talked about a cop friend of his who told him about a 12 year old who killed several classmates with one gunshot to the head each. This child had never handled a gun before, so how did he do it? Video games.

Showtime's Dexter, the lovable serial killer based on the Jeff Lindsay books, is "Pinocchio", according to Lyons - "he wants to grow up to be human" and people embrace his character. Lyons also told us that men and women have very different fears: men are afraid of being laughed at, and women are afraid of being killed. They also discussed how many of the most popular TV shows on now, like 24 and Criminal Minds, also help desensitize people to violence and torture. Morrell and Swain think it's because the writers are young and haven't experience the loss of someone close. Swain says when you still have at least one parent alive, people think they are invincible because they know their parent will go first. But once both parents are gone, "God has you in his range." In other words, you're next.

Those sobering words ended my day at Sleuthfest and left me a lot to think about it. It was a great conference and all the struggling writers I spoke with really felt like they learned a lot. I'd have to agree.

Guest Blogger: KELLI STANLEY

I left my heart
By Kelli Stanley

I first fell in love with San Francisco when I was too young to remember it.

It made a … what would you call it? Impression? Too soft. Impact? Too plain. Maybe I should just rely on song lyrics and say it lodged itself in my three year old-heart.

I spent a good part of my adolescence growing up two hundred and fifty miles north of The City, as she is fondly known by her residents (and yes, the old adage still holds true—don’t call her “‘Frisco.”) But whenever I could, I took every opportunity to visit … to smell the diesel and coffee on early Powell Street mornings, to say hi to the uniformed door men at the grand old hotels. To peak through a cloudy view finder and picture Al Capone shivering on Alcatraz, or sit in a warm and solemn pew in Mission Dolores.

And, as soon as I could, I moved here.

I love San Francisco, with all her foibles and faults – there are more than just the San Andreas – and I knew I had to write about her. To try to capture the dichotomy of this beautiful city, the tragedies and the comedies that formed her rich history, the fog and the sunshine and two bridges across a Bay.

So I took the plunge. And that’s partly how CITY OF DRAGONS came about.

Of course, it’s set in the San Francisco of 1940 … Hammett’s city almost twenty years after Hammett wrote about it. It will always be Hammett’s city, a birthplace of noir … and I wanted to honor that history and write in that style, because hardboiled prose and film noir dialogue have been loves of mine for as long as San Francisco has been. I was born with the gene! ;)

Writing CITY OF DRAGONS was a dream, in many ways. And when my wonderful agent submitted it just last January, I hoped it would lead to other dreams … to a move from a small to a major publisher, to be able to see it in stores that couldn’t carry NOX DORMIENDA, my first book.

And …it happened! Honestly, I wake up in the middle of the night at times and *still* can’t take it in. 2009 was a heady year, first selling CITY OF DRAGONS and sequel to Thomas Dunne/Minotaur in January, then NOX winning the Bruce Alexander Award and a Macavity nomination, and then selling the sequel, CURSED, to my editor at Thomas Dunne.

CITY OF DRAGONS and Miranda Corbie, the private eye who stalks the streets of 1940 San Francisco, live in my mind, a San Francisco parallel to my home city. When I pass Fisherman’s Wharf, I think of Miranda, gazing out at Treasure Island and the World’s Fair where she works during the season … when I shop downtown and walk by the venerable Pickwick Hotel, I replay Lester Winters’ murder, and picture Miranda picking up a package from the lockers at the Stage line. And when I eat dim sum in Chinatown, the place where it all begins, I think of Eddie Takahashi, the Japanese-American teenager she finds slain on Sacramento Street.

I hope you too will leave your heart in 1940 San Francisco. Mine’s been there for a long, long time.

Thanks for reading, and big, big thanks to Stacy for letting me launch my blog tour on the BookBitch Blog! And remember, Bouchercon 2010 will be held in the City by the Bay this October …

To win your own copy of CITY OF DRAGONS please send an email to contest@gmail.com with "CITY OF DRAGONS" as the subject. You must include your snail mail address in your email. All entries must be received by February 10, 2010. One name will be drawn from all qualified entries and notified via email. The winner will receive a free copy of CITY OF DRAGONS by Kelli Stanley. This contest is open to all adults over 18 years of age in the United States. One entry per email address, please. Your email address will not be shared or sold to anyone. All entries, including names, e-mail addresses, and mailing addresses, will be purged after winners are notified.



Kelli Stanley is an award-winning author of crime fiction (novels and short stories). Her second novel, the San Francisco-set CITY OF DRAGONS, will be released by Minotaur on February 2, 2010, and has garnered praise from Lee Child, Linda Fairstein, George Pelecanos and a host of other top writers. It’s also received three starred reviews (Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal), is a Top Pick from RT Book Reviews and an IndieNext Pick from the ABA. "Children's Day", a short story prequel to CITY OF DRAGONS and set during the 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco, will be published in the highly-anticipated International Thriller Writer's anthology, FIRST THRILLS: High Octane Stories from the Hottest Thriller Writers, in June, 2010.

Kelli's debut novel, NOX DORMIENDA, was a Writer’s Digest Notable Debut, won the Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award and was a Macavity Award finalist.
Kelli earned a Master’s Degree in Classics, loves jazz, old movies, battered fedoras, Art Deco and speakeasies. She is walked daily by a Springer Spaniel named Bertie.

You can find more information—including multimedia audio and video—on Kelli’s website, at http://www.kellistanley.com/.

CALLING ALL ROMANCE FANS!

IT HAPPENED ONE SEASON

Four stories, four authors, one theme: that was the idea behind the bestselling anthology It Happened One Night. Now, Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie D’Alessandro and Candice Hern return to write four stories ultimately chosen by readers, in IT HAPPENED ONE SEASON.

Romance fans should visit www.ItHappenedOneSeason.com to suggest their story. It must take place during the Regency social season. And they must include three specific plot points (such as these used for the anthology It Happened One Night: (1) a couple meets at an inn 2) they had met before but not within the past ten years 3) the whole story takes place within a 24 hour period.)

About the Contest

Submit three specific plot elements and your ideas could create the theme of the four tales in the new anthology collection, IT HAPPENED ONE SEASON.

The authors choose the four finalists.

The readers vote on the ultimate favorite and one lucky winner will see their dream come true.

The grand prize winner will be acknowledged on the dedication page of IT HAPPENED ONE SEASON and receive a $1,000 American Express gift card and a copy signed by all 4 authors. Semi-finalists will receive $100 American Express gift cards and a set of personalized autographed books.

Deadline for ideas: February 14, 2010

Round two/general voting begins: February 25, 2010

Winner announced: March 14, 2010

Note: Contest is open to US residents only, age 18 or older.

Visit www.ithappenedoneseason.com for more details.

BOOKMANIA 2010, Afternoon

No rest for the hungry...skipping lunch allowed me to enjoy Steve Berry (The Paris Vendetta) and James Rollins (Altar of Eden). Berry's books are fabulous. If you are not familiar, he does DaVinci Code type thrillers, only they are well written and even faster paced. He credits his success to Dan Brown, who blurbed his first book, The Amber Room. DaVinci hadn't been published yet, but came out a few months before Berry's book so when they published Berry, the Brown blurb was front and center.

Berry gave us an interesting factoid he stumbled across in his research - there are more books written about Napoleon than any other figure in history except for Jesus. Berry's next book, The Emperor's Tomb, will be out in November, and he has a book planned for 2011 about an unusual clause in the United States Constitution. He also let aspiring writers know that it wasn't easy for him to get published. It took five novels, 85 rejections and 12 years of writing to get The Amber Room published!

Berry & Rollins are great friends and co-Presidents ok the International Thriller Writers group. It is very unusual for authors from different publishing houses to tour together, but they enjoy it. In fact, Berry's book is dedicated to Rollins, who he says saved him from drowning in Fiji. They were both in Fiji teaching a writing course, and Berry was working on the Paris Vendetta and ran into some problems, a bad case of writer's block. Talking it out with Rollins, the two of them were able to get past that hurdle, hence the dedication. Rollins is a recently retired veterinarian and this new book is a stand alone, featuring a vet who stumbles across a genetically mutated exotic pet breeding nightmare. While Rollins recently retired, he still volunteers every Sunday with a feral cat group, spaying and neutering all the cats they find. He told us he can neuter a cat in 30 seconds, and spay a cat in under 5 minutes! His next book in the Sigma series will be out in June.

The next panel was presented by Barnes & Noble. The director of their Discover Great New Writers and Barnes & Noble Recommends program, Jill Lamar, brought a diverse group of authors for one of my favorite events. This year's authors included Allison Hoover Bartlett, Katherine Howe, Julie Metz and Mark Seal.

Bartlett wrote The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession, about a notorious rare book thief and the world of antiquarian book collecting. She said she thought the title was too long, but every bookseller who heard it said the same thing - that book's about me! She interviewed the thief while he was in prison, where he confessed to her additional crimes he'd not been charged with, and his future plans to steal more books once he got out of prison.

Julie Metz has a heartbreaking memoir, Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal. When her husband was 46 years old, he died suddenly of an embolism, leaving her with a 6 yr. old daughter to raise alone. If that isn't bad enough, she later found out that he was unfaithful numerous times, even with a woman she considered a friend. A very difficult book to write, but probably helpful too.

Katherine Howe is the author of the very well received The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, a novel set in both 17th century Salem and the witch trials, moving back and forth to modern day. Howe was trying to put together her doctoral proposal, but kept getting turned down so turned to fiction as a break. Deliverance Dane was a real person, a woman accused of witchcraft. Howe pointed out that the vast majority of accused "witches" were women who weren't conforming with the religious and cultural customs of the day.

Mark Seal wrote an article for Vanity Fair about Joan Root, one of the most respected and well known wildlife photographers in the world, after she was murdered in Africa. The article was compelling enough to get him a book deal, resulting in the compelling book Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and An Untimely Death in Africa. To capture Root's own voice, Seal had to travel to Nairobi and track down her ex-husband, who reluctantly ended up giving him boxes of her letters and thirty years worth of diaries...and then he had to sift through it all to complete her story.

Someone asked a question of Jill Lamar, the Barnes & Noble spokesperson, about how many books one has to sell to land on the NY Times bestseller list. Jill explained that it really depended on when the book was published, and what other books were currently on the list. She said a lot of publishers will postpone a new author to avoid having to compete with a James Patterson, Danielle Steel or other bestselling author. That said, she did say that the number of books sold are dramatically less than ever before, due to the economic downturn.

The last panel I stayed for introduced two journalists, Doug Stanton, who wrote Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan, and Steven V. Roberts, From Every End of This Earth: 13 Families and the New Lives They Made in America.

Horse Soldiers is about the special forces invasion of Afghanistan right after the September 11 attack. The intelligence said there were training camps there and these soldiers were sent in to find them and destroy them, and they were not expected to make it back alive. They had to ride horses and only two of them had ever been on a horse before - they called it "the Flintstones meet the Jetsons". This is their story.

Roberts' book is a look at immigration today. He tells the story of thirteen recent emigres, and pointed out that there has been prejudice against immigrants since the 1700s! He told us the story of the Stern family, a young man and his wife who were Jews in the Ukraine. They were terribly oppressed, and dreamed of escaping their homeland. Nick had the idea to write the necessary information on tiny slips of paper which his wife then sewed into the waistband of boxer shorts. Every Jewish family that emigrated were given a pair of boxers to hand over to the Hebrew Union, so they could file a visa for them. It took 20 tries before they got their visa. Nick was an engineer, and did really well here in America, so well that they now live in a beautiful penthouse apartment on the upper West side of New York City, and have a vacation home too. Nick told Roberts that his wife's closet in their vacation home is bigger than their old apartment was in the Ukraine.

There was one more panel but I couldn't sit anymore, so it was time to go.

Next up is the Writers Live! series of author events hosted by my library, the Palm Beach County Library System. We will be having Tim Dorsey, Linda Fairstein, Joy Fielding, Andrew Gross, David Morrell, Lisa Scottoline, Randy Wayne White and Adriana Trigiani. For times and locations, check out BookBitch.com

BOOKMANIA 2010, Morning

I haven't been back to BookMania for a couple of years, but this year the schedule of authors was too compelling to miss. That's me with one of my favorite authors, Claire Cook! Unfortunately, they still are running it as if a hundred people are showing up instead of the 400+ they've been getting the past several years. The regulars know what to do: they come first thing in the morning and dig in. They bring pillows to sit on (the chairs are just the stacking kind and not especially comfortable for an 8:30-6 shift;) they bring coolers and pack lunches and snacks and the smart ones bring a friend to guard it all for bathroom and booksigning breaks. More than once I overheard someone say they wished they could go buy a book and get it signed, but they didn't want to lose their seat, so I'm thinking it has to affect book sales. They had a food vendor outside with one person selling food, leaving a ridiculously long line to buy just a bottle of water, and only two tables to eat at. Nevertheless, despite all the logistical problems, it was a really fun day.

First panel of the day featured Masha Hamilton, Paulette Jiles, Sheramy Bundrick and James O’Neal (James O. Born). I wouldn't miss Jim for the world, he is hilarious! He was there to talk about THE HUMAN DISGUISE, his first futuristic crime thriller. He also talked about his day job as a cop, and how he found a good way to shake up suspects is to "accidentally" let them overhear things they will find upsetting. He gave the example of letting the guy with the Corvette overhear him call it a Chevy, and lets the musclebound guy hear him call him "tubby."

Paulette Jiles talked about her new book, THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING. She also talked about how sometimes a character she doesn't like gets stuck in the story and she has a hard time getting rid of them. She actually tossed out a 200 page manuscript because she hated the character. Sheramy Bundrick is a professor at USF, and her novel is a historical fiction book about Vincent Van Gogh. She did tons of research, but still it is fiction. She said that as an art historian, she was always finding fault with inaccuracies in books and films, but now that she's written this book, she's much more understanding of poetic license.

Next up was a fascinating discussion about Miami & Cuba, with Ann Louise Bardach (Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami,Havana and Washington)and Gerald Posner (Miami Babylon: Crime, Wealth, and Power—A Dispatch From the Beach), moderated by Scott Eyman. Bardach hinted at the death threats she's received, including men showing up her door with machetes, and how Castro won't allow her back into Cuba because he didn't like what she wrote about him. Posner mentioned that his next book was on Vatican finances, and said that he's been practicing holding his hands above oven so he can get used to those eternal flames of damnation...

Around this time I finally got a seat, just in time for a discussion with Raykesh Satyal (Blue Boy) and Robert Goolrick, the author of one of my favorite books of 2009, A Reliable Wife. Satyal was a delight; warm and funny, and he even broke out in song! His book is an irreverent coming of age story of a young, gay Indian boy growing up in "white bread" Ohio. He said his character was very lonely, and felt like an outcast, despite having friends - "not your best friends, but the best friends you can get."

Goolrick was 54 when he wrote this first novel, and said he was greatly influenced by a nonfiction book, Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy, which was published around 1972. The cold, bleak Wisconsin winter, almost another character in Reliable Wife, was born from the Lesy book, and grown during several trips Goolrick took to a client in Wisconsin. Goolrick made an interesting comment, that he feels "the only thing that matters in life is goodness."

The next panel was dubbed FEMMES FATALES, and featured a couple of my favorite authors, the irrepressible Elaine Viets, the vivacious Claire Cook, and forensic scientist-turned-author Lisa Black. Black used to work for the Cleveland coroner's office for several years, and that's where her books are set. She changed the name to the Cleveland Medical Examiner's office, so she wouldn't be sued, but Cleveland just recently decided to change the name to the one she used! Her latest, Evidence of Murder, was loosely based on a real incident. For the past several years, Lisa has been working for the Cape Coral police department as a fingerprint analyst. She says her job consists of staring at fingerprints on her computer screen all day long, and "is as glamours as it sounds."

Viets was there promoting her most recent book, Killer Cuts, a Dead-End Job mystery. I love these books, and this one was particularly good. Her next book in the series is Half Price Homicide, and Elaine worked in a high end designer consignment shop to do her research. She said it was "the most dangerous job" she's ever had...Prada purses were calling to her, and even at half price they were still too expensive. The next book in her Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper series is about lingerie shopping, but she shot down the suggested title of "Tempest in a C-Cup"!

Claire Cook talked about her warm, witty characters that tend to reflect her own large, Irish family. Her protagonists are usually middle aged women and she likes writing 3 generations, so includes kids and grandparents. She also loves having the older generation have "adventures", usually sexual! Her latest book is the Wildwater Walking Club, and her next book, the Seven Year Switch, comes out in June. Claire always has contests offering free books and gifts on her website, so check it out!

Stay tuned for BookMania 2010, the afternoon!