down the writer's path

Murder by the Book, a darkly engaging new series for crime writers and mystery lovers

Court TV opens normally closed windows and allows viewers to peer into the inner landscape of five top crime writers. James Ellroy, Faye Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman, Michael Connelly and Lisa Scottoline are top in their field, and these crime writers take their story-telling skills to a new level with their deeply-felt reactions to specific crimes and how they crashed up against the author's autobiographical storylines. Last night James Elroy told a griping first-person narrative of his mother's violent death, its dark subterannean impact on his psyche, his work, and his realtionships with women. She had haunted him all his life, and she had left footprints on every thing he had done since the day she died.

After two-plus decades, Elroy found himself steeped in another story, this time one frighteningly personal, after he vows to solve his mother's murder. He speaks eloquently in a sparse, lean cadence that is gripping in its simplicity. At one point he goes through his mother's personal belongings still in police custody.

I touched my mother's dress and smelled her on it. . .
I want to be in that death zone, I want to commune with her there.

If you enjoy crime fiction, love writing crime novels, wonder about the writers who spin these mysterious tales, then Murder by the Book is definitely a series for you. If you want to know more about Elroy's journey, read MY DARK PLACES.

Be sure and go to the Murder by the Book series interactive website for in-depth extras. Next week, Michael Connelly.
(Monday nights, 10:00 PM/Eastern, Court TV)

DWP Guest Op-Ed: Tales From the Bookstore or Why Real Life Should Have Arcane Intellect

(While the following piece is funny, it does say something about today's reading public. And if you've ever contemplated working in a bookstore, you may want to reconsider. Publishers spend a lot of time chosing titles, crafting choose me covers, editing cover flap remarks and gathering endorsements. Sometimes, if you work in a bookstore, you just have to wonder why. And if you're an author, well, moments like the ones below can be a bit scary. The commentary below, Tales From the Bookstore and Why Real Life Should Have Arcane Intellect, is written and copyrighted by Bookseller Amy, aka, Frost Mage Kelda, 2006.)

Hi, my name is Kelda. I’m a level 60 Gnomish Frost Mage on Uldum. I’ve got 5/8 of the Arcanist set and 3/8 of my Netherwind. My guild completely pwns in Molten Core and we’re making good progress in Black Wing Lair.

Oh, alright. My name is Amy and I’m a Warcraft addict. You know—Warcraft--that MMORPG (that’s geek speak for an online fantasy game) that’s hooked over 5 million fellow gamers worldwide. It’s dungeons and dragons, good and evil, swords and sorcery brought to glorious real-time, computer-generated life. As you can see, sometimes the game and real life have begun to blur and I find myself wanting Kelda’s abilities--like Arcane Intellect.

Arcane Intellect grants a temporary +30 to Intellect bonus to ourselves and other players. There really should be a way to do this in real life. Hmm, you’re too stupid to comprehend me. Poof, I cast Arcane Intellect upon you. Now we can at least get through the rest of our conversation without me wanting to stab your eyeballs out.

For example… A customer motions me over to the mystery section. “Ya’ll only have two titles by John Grisham. He’s really famous and I can’t believe you don’t have more of his stuff. You see?” The man points to the bottom shelf, “Now tell me why you’ve only got two of his books.”

“Um sir,” I say looking at the next set of shelves, “We’ve got three whole rows of Grisham right here.”

“Oh…so the books start up again on the top, eh? I was thinking they should keep going along the bottom row. I was wondering why none of the authors were in order.”

Poof, I cast Arcane Intellect upon you. “Nope, each of the shelves run left to right, top to bottom. When you get to the bottom of one shelf you start back up at the top of the next.”

“Well I’ll be… They didn’t used to do that.”

Damn, damn, damn…

A few minutes later I find the same customer standing in front of the music section looking puzzled. “What else can I help you with?”

“Where do you keep the whatcha call ‘ems? Foreign Books.”

You can’t possibly be talking about untranslated literature…you barely speak English. “Sir, do you mean books in another language or books to learn another language?”

“No, no. You know...Foreign Books.”

“History?”

“No.”

“Travel?”

“Yeah, that it! Where are they?”

“Well, you’re in our music department. Let me show you where the travel books are.”

“But it says 'International' on the sign.”

“International. Music. These are all CD’s.”

“You don’t keep all the foreign stuff together?”

Poof, I cast Arcane Intellect upon you
“Travel books are right this way, sir. What country are you looking for?”

“Europe.”

Well, not a country, but at least you didn’t say New York… Maybe it worked.

The customer starts to follow me down an aisle but stops halfway along. “Oh, here we go.”

“Sir, that’s the Caribbean.”

“That’s not near Europe?”

Damn, damn, damn…

“Europe books are right over here. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with.” I will be on the other side of the store avoiding your aura of stupidity just in case it’s contagious

---Bookseller Amy/Frost Mage Kelda
Feel free to comment here or to ask Bookseller Amy questions, post them here and, magelike, Amy/Kelda's answers will appear. --vikk

Millions mourn children's author Stan Berenstain

Today children young and old mourn the death of Stan Berenstain, co-creator of the famed children’s classic stories about the Berenstain’s Bears. The 82-year old cartoonist died Saturday in Pennsylvania and is survived by his co-author and wife, Jan Berenstain.

Philadelphia-born Stan met Jan while they attended the Phildelphia Museum of Industrial Art in 1941 and soon began drawing together. Their cartoon feature It’s All in the Family, found in The Saturday Evening Post and Good Housekeeping magazines, quickly captured the hearts of America; but the true beauty of their voice and wisdom came in the 1960s when the husband-wife team developed the loveable Berenstain Bears series. And was it not fitting that their Random House editor be the wonderful genius, Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss? Who better to help them develop books that both teach and entertain?

Teach and entertain they did. With the publishing of The Big Honey Hunt, the artistic duo created more than 250 books about their lovable bears, and for more than forty years children have delighted in the stories and learned life’s lessons along the way. The age-old problems of messy rooms, telling white lies, and throwing full-fledged continue to haunt parents today, and so the books remain relevant in a world that often seems so different from the time when the bears first padded onto the American family scene. With more than 260 million copies of the books sold, the Berenstain Bears is the bestselling children’s book series and the TV show ranks in the top ten of PBS’s shows for 2-5 year olds.

Only weeks ago, in an announcement that assured the Berenstain’s legacy continued growth, Pizza Hut’s Leslie Tubbs, BOOK IT! Beginners program director, said, “We’re very excited about featuring the Berenstain’s Bears in this year’s BOOK IT! Beginners program. . . The Berenstain Bears have warmed the hearts of millions of children and are sure to make reading even more enjoyable for the children enrolled in this year’s program.”

For a more detailed look at Stan Berenstain’s creative life, take a look at Down A Sunny Dirt Road, the autobiography he and his wife authored. You’ll delight in their stories of a life shared with Dr. Seuss and those wacky, but still wonderful Berenstain Bears. To quote Kate Jackson, vice president and editor-in-chief of HarperCollins Children’s Books, “There is nothing the Bear family likes better than a good book.”

If you'd like to hear Jan and Stan Berenstain talk about their wonderland career in Bear Country, check out the Library of Congress 2003 National Book Festival. Be sure and watch both webcasts (parts 1 and 2). You can also read their Book Page Interview.

The main content of this article was cross-posted on Blogcritics.org

Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling's creations continue to generate new "firsts"

J.K. Rowling may have the books flying off the shelves, but even Harry hasn't been able to get the Catholic Church to institute a website for Potter fans. The Book Standard reports that the Catholic Church, in a bit of a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" spirit, has launched a new website dedicated to Mary Magdalene and for the Da Vinci fans. The website has the following disclaimer:

The Catholic Enquiry Office is an official agency of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Whilst we endeavour to ensure that all the Catholic sites and materials listed on this page are truthful, accurate and reflective of Catholic belief and teaching, we distance ourselves from any that are not.

Launched on the feast day of Mary Magdalene, July 22, the press release issued by the Catholic Church explains the idea behind the website created to answer questions raised by the popular novel.

". . . in light of the continuing interest in  Dan Brown's novel, the Office has taken the unprecendented step of creating a web resource for 'Da Vinci' enthusiasts. Mgr Keith Barltrop is Director of the Office and said: "What we wanted to dow as to use this wonderful feast day to give fans of the novel the chance to discover who St. Mary Magdalene really was and her role in the Catholic Church. Annually she is honored as an exemplary follower of Jesus Christ and as the first witness to the resurrection; Jesus' rising from the dead. We invite you to use this opportunity to find out more."

While Da Vinci fans may have suddenly found their topsy turvy world righted, the world of Potterdom has experienced a bit of a reversal. The Book Standard also reports the discovery of a few of the new Half Blood Prince novels containing upside-down print, blank pages and skewed lines. One can only imagine the magic that will be wrought on E-Bay with these new discoveries. Meanwhile Nielson's early scoring of 4.1 million sales of Half Blood Prince in the first 24 hours vied with Scholastic's tally of 6.9 million, but today Nielson provides a final accounting of 4 million copies through traditional outlets.

I wonder what a rush it would be to know that in some places your book, something you created, was being scanned at the registers at the phenomenal rate of 105 copies per second?

Okay, enough day dreaming, time to get on with the day, and if you're wondering how the notebook mess is doing. . . well, at one point yesterday while I had the dark safe mode screen staring at me I was suddenly offered the opportunity to take the settings back to the day before the terrible download happened--which I did--and the sun came out from behind the clouds and smiled on me and my laptop. We are managing just fine now.

Meanwhile, Georgia over at the Writer's-Edge asked me about my take on the success of the Potter books. I do have some ideas but I'm still working them out. I'll share them when my thoughts have a bit more shape. And Mark at Clear Lake Reflections let me know he's been experiencing pop-ups when visiting the website. I don't know why they're appearing, so I don't know how to get rid of them. Hints or tips are helpful and welcome.

New novel out? Put down your books and pull up a raft, light a grill, and take to America's highways

This summer authors are taking to the water, the air, and the grill as they promote their new books. John Wray has built a raft and will navigate down the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tenn. to New Orleans, and stop at five inland bookstores along the way. Why? Apparently Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi inspired some part of the novel. Is he successful? Well, one book store owner admitted "the whole raft idea" was a big part of why he booked Wray.

Barbecue!'s Steven Raichlen is hauling six grills on a mini-school bus to demo his talents. Radio talk show host Mike Gallagher has rented a bus to tour America promoting Surrounded by Idiots: Fighting Liberal Lunacy in America. You might have seen him on the highways in the bus sporting his book jacket.

Now I'm wondering whether my TeensTakeAction.com site and contest promoting my teen novels is enough. Granted, I did get a front page article for my efforts, but perhaps I should include a transportation angle to the promotion equation? What about Exploring Texas History: Weekend Adventures? Are signings enough? Any ideas?

Caution: Is Book Millionaire the latest scheme to bilk writers out of their last few cents?

As if being a writer doesn't have enough pitfalls, enter Lori Prokop and her "Book Millionaire" scheme. I caught wind of Prokop's endeavor via TV writer and novelist Lee Goldberg's blog A Writer's Life scam of the month post. This paid infomercial disguised as a reality show is sad, really sad. Goldberg does a great job picking apart Prokop's latest endeavor and asks the all important question: Just who is this Lori Prokop? Apparently he's not the only one wondering. The respected Preditors and Editors (P&E) does not recommend Best Seller Publishing, Inc., Prokop's POD (print-on-demand) publishing company, and catch their last notation.

"Best Seller Publishing, Inc.: Not recommended. A print-on-demand publisher located in Bruce, WI. and operated by Lori Prokop. (P&E believes that Prokop may be a pseudonym)."

So, while the idea of a reality-based TV show focused on the world of publishing may sound like fun, I would approach this endeavor with extreme caution. By the way, be sure and bookmark the Preditor and Editor site and use it to check on any publishers and/or agents before you make that first contact.

After considerable thought, we realized that Preditors & Editors would perform a disservice to writers, artists, and composers if it does not warn them about known scams or problems within the industry. Consequently, the policy of not criticizing any publishers, publications, writing services, or resources was changed as of 28 September 1997. A new Warnings page can now be referenced by anyone interested in protecting himself. However, most warnings are posted beside the appropriate entries in the listings so that those can be found easier. Additionally, we are very interested in learning about anyone who treats writers shabbily, even if they don't have anything to do with writing.

Not all is bleak at P&E, so take the time to wander through the other pages and soak up all P&E has to offer; but do bookmark the Warnings page before you leave so you can easily check for the latest scams-in-the-making. Spend time over at Goldberg's A Writer's Life. His background includes many successful projects. You'll probably find a favorite or two in the partial listing of his credits:

Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award nominee whose many TV writing/producing credits include Martial Law, Diagnosis Murder, Spenser: For Hire, Nero Wolfe, 1-800-Missing and Monk. He’s also the author of My Gun Has Bullets, Beyond the Beyond, Successful Television Writing, The Walk and the Diagnosis Murder series of paperback originals.

Don't forget to come back Monday for the first installment of a week-long interview with teen blogger and writer William Hoffacker.

M.J. Rose's The Blogging Thing and Joseph Finder's new promo twist

If you're wondering why writers, who are already using up their time to write on their novels, stories or projects, even consider creating a blog, stop by M. J. Rose's blog Buzz, Balls and Hype and read the The Blogging Thing series. Granted, I'm featured in Part 5 on April 5th, but that's not the only reason I'm calling attention to the series. Rose also recently commented on the success of Joseph Finder's contest to promote his new book, The Company Man. The full story of how he came to write the book and the genesis for the new twist on an old promotional technique can be found at Rose's other blog, Backstory. Both of Rose's blogs are worthy of bookmarking.

Stay tuned for more information on DWP's April Guest Author Interview scheduled to begin Monday, April 18.

A writer, Amazon.com, a new book out, and a marketing experiment

Having a new book come out causes all kinds of activities. A week or so ago I received my author copy of the new travel book, Exploring Texas History: Weekend Adventures, scheduled for a May release date. Book in hand, I went to the computer and signed on to Amazon.com, typed in the book's title and found the book. All's well. A week or so later I was working on some pre-publicity stuff and happened to type my name into Amazon and discovered the new book didn't show up. Typed in the title, found it. Then I realized, to my horror, that my name had been left off Amazon's author listing.

Now listen, that is a major shock to a writer's fragile system. One reason I was worried is because that probably meant the information keyed into Books In Print was incorrect and I was not listed there. And that would mean that anyone trying to buy my book using my name would not be able to find it on Amazon or at any of the bookstores. Horrors! Another reason it caused some anxiety is because that meant I would have to find out how to correct the problem via Amazon and my publisher. Anyone having anything to do with publishing knows that speed is not necessarily one of the game's major characteristics. With thoughts of soon-to-be released promotional material bouncing in my head, I finally found a place on Amazon.com to make a content request and did so. Their note said they would try to make the changes within five days--note the word "try."

I emailed my editor and prayed.

Today, much to my delight, I discovered Amazon.com lists my name as co-author.

Peace reigns once again in Vikk's realm of publishing.

Now, you're probably wondering what the experiment is all about. Well, if you've happened to click through the title or the amazon link on the left (Yes, I know my name doesn't show up on the link--drat), you might have noticed that this is still a virgin book for Amazon. It is so new we don't even have any sales ranking numbers. (These are important figures to the authors, though they don't necessarily prove anything stupendous for the writer with regard to trying to figure out actual sales due to the strange way the ranking is done, but they sure make us feel good when we see a sudden surge in the ranking from sales.) So you have an opportunity to help establish a sales surge and a high ranking for our book if you were to order a copy, and you'd provide a rollicking good couple of days for me and my fellow author as we watch the ranking move up and up and up.

I also noticed it's offered at a 32% discount and it hasn't even hit the store's shelves yet. I think that's cheaper than I can get wholesale. :) Ah, the book businesss and the joys of being an author.

Yes, I know, this is flagrant BSP but I'm a struggling writer; did I tell you I've lost my job and will be out of work at the end of the week? And haven't I told you promotion is a huge part of being a published writer in today's world? You might also note that you can order the book through my links in this post, or through the link on the right side or even through the Amazon shopping portal that takes you straight to your personal shopping cart and allows you to easily shop for more books. :)

Feel free to let pass this on to friends and family alike, and always remember to support your friendly authors and fellow bloggers . . . and join me in this experiment to play with my new book's Amazon ranking. :) Did I mention that having a huge number of sales that occur within 24 hours makes a HUGE impression on the sales ranking figure?

Writer Beware: Publish America and the big "bad book" sting

There's a new twist in publishing lore that involves a group of science fiction authors and nonauthors and the infamous publishing house, Publish America (PA), and chronicled by Critters Workshop, the on-line workshop/critique group for serious Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror writers. Now, Publish America promotes itself as a legitimate publisher in the manner of the traditional publishers and insists it is not a vanity press despite the widespread hue and cry that disputed the claim. Still the controversy about PA's legitimacy continues. (See my January 22 post last month.)

Enter author James D. Macdonald and the "bad book" sting. With a clear intention to reveal the true nature of Publish America, this merry band of "bad writers" took aim and served PA with a mish mash of bad writing and faulty narrative that would have brought about a swift rejection by any other respectable publishing house. Not so at Publish America. The book, Atlanta Nights, garnered a contract.  Click through and read all about it.   

For more information on PA, check out the Baltimore Sun's article "Publisher causing hubbub". As with most online newspapers, you'll have to register (free) but will then be taken to the article. 

MJ Rose gives the backstory on Backstory

Have you ever wondered where authors get their ideas? Well, that is pretty much the most-asked question a writer receives and MJ Rose has now come to the rescue with her new blog called Backstory. In the first edition, Katherine Neville shares the inspiration for her novel "The Eight," and I have to tell you she draws from a well-used well. Many a writer has used his or her skills to vent the urge to kill. Be sure and bookmark this one.

And when you've finished, click over to Buzz, Balls & Hype, MJ's highly informative blog on marketing in the world of publishing. With 175,000 books published every year, writers find themselves doing a lot more than sitting behind a computer screen and tapping the keyboard ad nauseum.

Enjoy!