I’ve always disliked that tired old phrase, “Nice guys finish last.” It simply isn’t always true. Over the last year, I’ve made the acquaintance of many successful people in writing and publishing, and I could qualify nearly all of them as nice–at least to some extent. But my friend, the writer Luanne Rice, is Queen …Read More
I knew I would adore Kelli Stanley just as soon as I heard that she’d coined the term “Roman Noir” for her first novel, NOX DORMIENDA: A Long Night for Sleeping. My daughter is a scholar of all things pertaining to ancient Rome, and she even tried to teach her eccentrically-educated mother a little Latin …Read More
If I weren’t a writer, I think I’d want to be an architect. I like industrial landscapes. I like the stark angles of buildings and the simple, artful details of construction materials like steel, brick, stucco, wood and concrete. So while I feel wistful about being away from home when I travel, and nervous about …Read More
Once, years ago, I went fishing with my father and sisters. There were worms and the hook and line got tangled in the tree behind me. That was the first and last time I went fishing. Today the Amish kids from up the road came by to fish our pond. Here are the three largest …Read More
A little more on the Big City tomorrow. The FedEx folks delivered my copyedited manuscript for CALLING MR. LONELY HEARTS yesterday morning. I had been wondering when it would arrive and had bugged my editor’s assistant about it when I saw him in the bar at Thrillerfest. But it turns out he’d been promoted to …Read More
A review of my almost-week in the Big City wouldn’t be complete without a mention of a the Quick Thrills From Out-of-Towners reading I did at Borders Manhattan Park Avenue with several of my friends. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the week (running a hard third behind coffee with WDWF and sitting next …Read More
I don’t know why I felt such surprise when my suitcase proved to be over-weight at the LGA check-in counter this morning. “Ten pounds over, that’s fifty dollars,” the counter person said. “Do you want to take some things out?” I mumbled something about too many books. “Books,” she said. “It’s often books.” There was …Read More