Posts by Laurie King
Thrills in the library stacks
The fourth winner in last month’s library contest is Beth Anne, whose piece offers insight into the richness and humanity of archival research. Archival research usually consists of long stretches of boredom punctuated by tedium, until bits of evidence start to tumble out of the documents. There is nothing like this sense of discovery, which…
Read MorePirate Kings and library-lovers
The third winner of last month’s National Library Week giveaway, Ashley W. tells us about her “Thrill in the Stacks”: My most personal library thrill actually happened at an archives. The Archives, to be exact. A friend works at the National Archives and is a specialist in US Department of State records. He was taking…
Read MoreDay Two of Library Thrills
Our second winner of the National Library Week contest (and there is no rank among the winners, by the way, no first prize or runners-up) is by “EMB”. And how could it not be, coupling precision with the words “Bodleian” and “mitigation” in its very first sentence–then going on to a mystery involving the Tremulous…
Read MoreNational Library Week contest, at last
Last month, while I was away in Japan, we ran a contest with the theme “Thrills in the Stacks”—asking for some exciting event that happened in the library. I read the submissions when I got back 2 weeks ago, but although I don’t do jet lag, I do get really stupid for a while after…
Read MoreNew UK covers!
Pretty new covers from my UK publishers, for the paperbacks available the end of June. (And thanks to all my friends at Facebook who tried to help me with converting to jpeg: it takes a village to raise a blog post!)
Read MoreMalic-ious Laurie!
Malice Domestic is an annual conference held in Bethesda, MD, dedicated to the traditional mystery, gentle on its surface but roiling with deadly currents beneath. And guess who’s just been named next year’s guest of honor? Guest of Honor: Laurie R. King Toastmaster: Laura Lippman Lifetime Achievement: Aaron Elkins Malice Remembers: Dick Francis International Guest…
Read MoreGarment of Shadows
As I crawl out of the post-travel state of fuzzy-brain, I begin to make my way through three weeks of unanswered emails and un-posted blog entries. Among which is showing you the cover for Garment of Shadows. This was one cover the publisher and I wrestled over, since their initial version had the figure standing…
Read MoreRural Japan
One of our goals for the trip was to see something of rural Japan, since the previous (and only) time my traveling companions came here, they sought picturesque villages and found cities of 400,000. Well, we got rural. We’re on the island of Shikoku, home of the 88 temples of pilgrimage (I’ve managed to check…
Read MoreNational Library Week
This is the last day to submit your description of your library thrills in honor of National Library Week to thrills@laurierking.com. For details, see https://laurierking.com/events/library-week-2012
Read MoreThe Kindness of Strangers
A traveller depends on the kindness of strangers, in the 21st century as in the first. And when said traveller lacks the forethought to have learned the local tongue, and finds him or herself in a situation not covered by the handy Book of Phrases, the kindness of strangers is the only salvation between the…
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