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The Curse-Maker

North by Northwest

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The Curse-Maker is here!

THE CURSE-MAKER has been out for a little over a week, (yay!) and now I start the out-of-state leg of my tour … back to my home state, Washington.

I admit it: I get a little choked up when I see Mt. Ranier standing over the Seattle-Tacoma-Puget Sound area, majestic and awesome and beautiful. I was born in its shadow, and I always feel like it protects me.

Seattle, of course, is home to one of the best mystery stores on the planet, Seattle Mystery Books. Fabulous people, fabulous store, and I love getting to hang out with friends like Fran and J.B.! It’s also the home to some of the best coffee anywhere. My own preference is the home-grown Tully’s, rather than their most famous (and ubiquitous) competitor.

On my first trip to SMP for NOX, I discovered a wonderful hat store in Seattle, too. Byrnie Utz–and it looks just like it must have seventy years ago! (It was founded in 1939, a year dear to my heart). Wooden shelving and cabinets, and even one of the vintage machines that can stamp gold lettering on the inside of your fedora rim. I’m not sure if I’ll get back to Byrnie’s on this trip, but I’ve got one more book launch coming up this year (CITY OF SECRETS), so if not now, then. 😉

One place I MUST go–on this and every trip–is the Tacoma factory outlet for Brown and Haley’s Almond Roca. I grew up with Almond Roca, and I love buying it for friends and colleagues. The outlet is actually a wonderful little round (and pink) building from the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962–the one that gave us the Space Needle, the monorail, and a fair-themed Elvis flick. 😉

So I’m looking forward to Seattle–and Portland, where I’ll get to spend time at two great bookstores, Murder by the Book and the fabled Powell’s–and see my dear friend and fellow writer Bill Cameron.

You know, there are many, many reasons to go on book tour, beyond the obvious ones of (hopefully) meeting new readers and selling copies.

Tully’s, Almond Roca and friends are just three more. 😉

Thanks for reading–and big thanks to those of you who’ve already picked up THE CURSE-MAKER!

An Epiphany of Noir

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Today marks Epiphany, the day after Twelfth Night, and in the words of the immortal Bard, “If Twitter be the food of writing, tweet on!”

January dawns in 2011, and it truly is a brave new world of social networking. Just four years ago all this checking in and updating and status reporting was strange and new, as much a figment as Hamlet’s ghost (bear with me—I’m trying to keep up the Shakespeare references here). And now … well, the first app that I added to my new HTC Hero smart phone (and yes, I love it) was Tweetdeck. I sometimes wonder at the familiarity—nay, indispensability!—of the technology that was the stuff that dreams are made on such a short time ago (see—I told you I’d bring up Shakespeare again).

So—luckily for me, since I’m more comfortable in the past when teens actually sulked and talked to each other, rather than sulked and texted—every January brings a little bit of old to mix with the new … and the best kind of old, at that.

The only way to spend January ...

Noir! Noir City. At the Castro Theater, in glorious black and white (with an occasional technicolor thrown in). The line up this year is particularly grand, and deals with a theme near and dear to most writers … insanity. After all, if we don’t write about it, we often live it … hearing voices in our heads, getting up at odd hours to scribble notes about ice pick wounds (that’s coming up in CITY OF SECRETS) … trying to juggle all the tweets and updates while working on multiple storylines, mumbling to ourselves when we walk down the street … er, maybe I should stop now.

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to seeing The Two Mrs. Carrolls (fabulous Bogart/Stanwyck film) and Beware, My Lovely on the big screen—along with the sublime performance by the late Jean Simmons in Angel Face. I’m buying a passport—I’ve got my citizenship papers—and will cram as many late night noir fests into my schedule as possible.

It’ll be tough because THE CURSE-MAKER launches February 1st, and then it’s book tour time … but at least I’ll get my annual Noir inoculation first. Forget the flu shot—get a noir shot!

Meanwhile, I’m ringing in the New Year in San Diego tomorrow, signing ARCS of THE CURSE-MAKER and copies of CITY OF DRAGONS for the wonderful librarians at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference! I’ll also be part of a mystery writer contingent with some good friends at Mysterious Galaxy tomorrow night—come by if you’re in the area! Saturday morning I sign in the great cavern of the San Diego convention center, then 2 PM will be moderating a panel of very cool “Tough Guys”: T. Jefferson Parker, Ken Kuhlken, Timothy Hallinan, and Gary Philips. So much to look forward to!

The next Miranda Corbie ... coming September, 2011.

In the meantime, I just want to thank you all for reading—my blog, my books, and the books of so many outstanding writers throughout the year of 2010. I’ve been very lucky with the response to CITY OF DRAGONS, and I’m blessed to be able to publish two novels this year. [That’s a sneak peek at CITY OF SECRETS, releasing in September]

May 2011 shower you with good fortune, a gentle spirit, kind thoughts—and crime fiction! 🙂

New Year, New Book, New Virtual Home

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2010 is nearly over … and it’s been quite a year! The Year of the Tiger is transitioning to the Year of the Rabbit (a good luck year) and my calendar for the next twelve months is already booking up!

I’ll have two releases in 2011, a fact which I still haven’t fully taken in. February 1st marks the release of THE CURSE-MAKER, the follow-up to my very first book, NOX DORMIENDA. I’m very grateful to my publisher, Thomas Dunne, both for giving me a chance to write two series and for giving Arcturus, Gwyna, Bilicho and the rest (Gee–I hope that doesn’t sound too much like the Gilligan’s Island theme song) a second life.

NOX was originally published with Five Star, a wonderful small press that caters to libraries … and I’ll always be tremendously grateful to them for publishing my first book and  giving me the confidence to pursue my dreams. Come February, I’m going to be really verklempt at seeing my first characters in bookstores everywhere! 🙂

I’m kicking off the book tour early, signing at one of my favorite places—a library conference! Thanks to Thomas Dunne/Minotaur, we’re giving away limited advanced readers copies of THE CURSE-MAKER (and hard covers of CITY OF DRAGONS) at the American Library Association conference in San Diego. I can’t wait! I’ve even designed a couple of special stamps for CURSE-MAKER signings at independent bookstores and libraries, similar to the program we developed for CITY OF DRAGONS.

Speaking of Miranda …

CITY OF SECRETS will be published next September, along with the paperback of CITY OF DRAGONS. This second Miranda Corbie novel is a heavy-hitting look at  native fascist and anti-Semitic organizations that proliferated throughout the country in the 1930s and up to our entrance into World War II. Opening with the murder (by ice pick) of a peep show girl on the Gayway, it takes Miranda on a dark journey through Treasure Island, San Francisco, and the Napa Valley of 1940. I’m proud of the book, and hope you enjoy it!

I’m also hoping to extend my book tour to Chicago and the Midwest, so that I can meet more great readers and visit more book stores (and of course, stock up on Chicago hot dogs!)

2011 is a heavy travel year. I’ll be in Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego to sign  THE CURSE-MAKER, Santa Fe for Left Coast Crime, back to Los Angeles for the RT Book Lover’s Convention and hopefully the LA Times Festival, and if all goes as planned, New York for Thrillerfest. Then it’s Ashland, Oregon for their wonderful Books and Old Lace series and St. Louis for Bouchercon and another book tour for CITY OF SECRETS.

In between popping Airborn vitamins and waiting for luggage, I’ll be working on the third Miranda, which will be a prequel to CITY OF DRAGONS—and all about the Incubator Babies case she mentions. I am also honored to be serving as MWA (Mystery Writers of America) President of my region this year.

CITY OF DRAGONS has been nominated for the best historical mystery readers choice award by RT Book Reviews, and I’m very, very grateful! I’m also thrilled to announce that CoD made Oline Cogdill’s “Best Mysteries of the Year” list in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, and the San Francisco Chronicle’s list of “Best Fiction by Bay Area Authors”. Both lists were announced yesterday, so it’s been quite a weekend! 🙂 I’m also delighted that January Magazine and The Rap Sheet chose David Rotstein’s beautiful cover of CoD as one of the year’s best!

The other new thing in my life is home-related … virtual home, that is! My new website is built on WordPress, and offers a ton of cool features—like a full-function playlist for CITY OF DRAGONS, actual post cards, photos, maps and other ephemera that helped inspired the book, videos, discussion forum, essays, photo galleries, instant message shout-box, audio snippets, and all kinds of interactive, fun multimedia designed to enhance enjoyment of my writing. Right now, we’re giving away advanced readers copies of THE CURSE-MAKER!

One of my goals next year is to blog more often, so that I don’t overload my posts with news … and another, personal goal is to take each day at a time, savoring the laughter of family and friends, the fog drifting by my window, the “old paper” smell that permeates my bookshelf.  Years—months—days—go by all too quickly, and I’m going to do what I can to slow them down a little. 🙂

Thank you all for reading, for that amazing act of trust and leap of faith you make when you pick up a book (or click on an RSS feed)! And thank you, too, for the many emails, tweets, and Facebook hellos I receive throughout the year.

I am one lucky writer!!

Have a wonderful, warm and peaceful holiday season, and see you next year!!

The Big Thank You!

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Huge thanks to RT Book Review and their reviewers, for nominating CITY OF DRAGONS for a 2010 Reviewers Choice Award in Historical Mystery!

I’m honored to be in the company of Jeri Westerson, Rhys Bowen, Charles Todd, and Deanne Raybourn, and am looking forward to attending the RT Book Convention in April (my first!)

It’s hard to believe that November is here–especially with summer temperatures in Giants-loving, World Series winner San Francisco. Boy, typing those words felt good! 😉

October flew by on a supersonic broomstick. First there was Litcrawl, which was a load of fun–Michelle Gagnon, Simon Wood, Julianne Balmain and Seth Harwood and I all read from our books for “Mystery and Mayhem” at the Mission District Police Station. Wonderful crowd for the festival!

Bouchercon by the Bay was an incredible experience. I am awed every year by the sheer amount of dedication, time, energy and passion that Bcon volunteers bring to this event, and continually amazed at the miracle they make happen. San Francisco was an exceptional Bouchercon–and the City’s weather cooperated and played nice.

I was busy from Thursday morning (a guest at the Bouchercon newbie’s breakfast) through very late Thursday night (with a very cool Subterranean Noir Manifesto event in North Beach, through Peter Maravelis and the celebrated City Lights Bookstore).

Friday through Sunday zoomed by. I greatly enjoyed moderating a panel on books to movies (with the incomparable Val McDermid and terrific panelists Paul Levine, Derek Haas and Alexandra Sokoloff); was honored to be a panelist on the “San Francisco Noir Panel” moderated by Peter, with fabulous writers Domenic Stansberry, Lisa Lutz, David Corbett, and the Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller, all of whom were also part of the Noir Manifesto evening; met a ton of wonderful readers, spent some time with friends and colleagues and rooted for award-nominated pals; and did all the stuff authors usually do at Bouchercon–except for the bar. I came home before midnight, like a good girl.

Once it was over, I caught the post-Bouchercon virus–and have spent the last few weeks fighting the typical nasty cough, sore throat, etc. etc. I’m almost back to normal. Watched a lot of movies in the meantime–and can’t recommend DEAD OF NIGHT, a 1945 classic by the British Ealing Studios, highly enough. Not a noir, just a great horror movie.

In the meantime, the GIANTS won, my galleys of THE CURSE-MAKER arrived, and I’ve been in the midst of plans for a brand-new (and very content-rich) website, launching soon–complete with prizes and a party!

On November 20th, I’ll be stepping away from pressing deadlines to read at the recently-restored Sunset Branch library in San Francisco, with authors Mark Coggins, Deborah Grabien, Michelle Richmond, Mary Germaine Hountalas, and Lois Ungaretti. The theme is “West Side Stories: Mystery and History.”

Thanks for reading Writing in the Dark, and stay tuned for updates on the new website … it’s shaping up to be quite a springy fall! 🙂

Springing Forward in the Fall

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It’s funny how time works.

The whole relativity thing may be provable mathematically, but I’m more interested in the emotional effects of how time feels … you know, how it speeds up and slows down all at once, depending on what you’re doing–and sometimes who you’re doing it with.

The last couple of months have gone by quickly from the vantage point of today … I spent most of the summer writing the sequel to CITY OF DRAGONS–tentative title is CITY OF SPIDERS–which will be out next year in the late summer or early fall. And while I was writing it–while I was following Miranda through some suspenseful and harrowing events–time was excruciatingly slow.

But not really.

Then came a week of copy editing for THE CURSE-MAKER, which is releasing February 1st, 2011. Now, I’m not a huge fan of the copy editing process, so it seemed much longer than a week. And while the non-writer part of my brain thinks February is a comfortable few months away (all those holidays, after all!), the writer part of my brain (which takes up more space) is about to panic. 😉

So time isn’t just relative between people … it’s relative within ourselves. But hey, this is Writing in the Dark, not metaphysics, so I’m gonna try not to think about it too hard.

What is coming up is Bouchercon, and this year I get to stay home. Yup, it’s coming to San Francisco, which means no jet lag for me, though I still won’t get to stay up as late as I’d like because I’ve got to get myself back home and don’t have the luxury of just rolling into a hotel room. This year will be special, as all parties in San Francisco are!

Before B’con is the big lollapalooza lit festival our City likes to throw: Litquake! This year I’m part of LitCrawl, which means I get to hang out with wonderful crime writing friends and read from CITY OF DRAGONS inside an old police station. This qualifies as a cool and wholly unexpected perq of being a writer.

We’re also in the midst of designing a bigger and better website, of which Writing in the Dark will be an integral part. It’s based on the stuff I like to do when I’m on the web–i.e. have fun–so it’s going to be more interactive and offer more historical extras to look at, listen to and watch. It also means I’m making it a resolution to update my blog more frequently, even if I have to act out the title!

So cool stuff is coming up. Seeing THE CURSE-MAKER in print will be a dream come true, as Arcturus and Co. move to Thomas Dunne/Minotaur. Lots of research went into this one (research spent in Bath, England). And this series is more light-hearted than Miranda, so it complements what will be coming out in CITY OF SPIDERS.

I’m working on the next books–and sketching out plans for a contemporary, stand-alone thriller. If I can squeeze in the time, I may write a short story or two. The experience of having “Children’s Day”–my CITY OF DRAGONS prequel–published in FIRST THRILLS this summer was one of the major thrills of my life.

I’ll be back soon, writing about noir or about adventures in research, and in the meantime, want to thank YOU for reading, and send thanks to all those readers who brought a blog award to Writing in the Dark. Thanks so much for your support!