My readers in the UK may be pleased to hear that, beginning with THE ART OF DETECTION on August 22 and picking up a fair number of the backlist along the way, I will be published by Poisoned Pen Press U.K. I’e2’80’99m really looking forward to working with them, not only because they’e2’80’99re great people…

Inertia has two effects: in one, a kid on wheels going downhill will continue moving fast even when no longer going downhill–indeed, even when there’s a tree in his way. In the second, a kid lying motionless on the ground takes some doing to get moving again. A while back I wrote about the first…

This past week my first stand-alone novel, A DARKER PLACE (or in the UK, THE BIRTH OF A NEW MOON) was the topic of discussion for a group of MFA writing students from the Whidby Island Writing Association. The students would post comments on various topics, I would read them each day and post remarks…

The other night driving back from movie-and-sushi with a friend (‘e2’80’9cMrs. Henderson Presents’e2’80’9d’e2’80’94great movie, although much of the humor was too British for Santa Cruz) I got stuck behind a truck of beehives. Yes, spring is coming. The early flowers are out here, boosted by a week of weirdly summery weather (80 degrees, in February?)…

For reasons unrelated to much of anything, I needed to send what I have of TOUCHSTONE to my editor this week. I don’t normally give her–or anyone–a look until a ms is finished, but this one is feeling so strong to me I figured it couldn’t hurt the process any. So I did and she…

Andrew Sullivan’e2’80’99s essays at the back of TIME magazine are often the best part of the whole 75 pages. A week or so ago (Jan 23) he wrote ‘e2’80’9cWe Don’e2’80’99t Need a New King George’e2’80’9d, which you can access, sort of, on the TIME web site. But since it appears to need a subscription, here’e2’80’99s…

Tomorrow marks a year since this blog started, an experiment to see if I could bear the additional demands of a regular, newsletter-style communication with the people who like my books. I always hated getting roped into the kids’ newsletters at school, since it seemed that no sooner did we finally get one issue off…

Q: Jaimee asks, I was wondering if you have ever thought of writing a travelogue or a memoir? Your descriptions of locale throughout all of your books are fascinating, and through your blog I have really enjoyed your personal stories about your experiences (such as the cockroach story). Reading your books tends to make me…

Q: Kay asks, Laurie-I’m wondering when you write a series (if, in fact, you meant to) do you visualise several books into the future, or do they come to you one adventure at a time?PS Loved Cat’s Paw–there were elements of Russell in there! A: Elements of Russell in the story of a middle-school basketball…

Okay, that’s enough questions for this month. If you haven’t asked yours yet, could you save it for the first of March? Thanks. Q. Mousie writes, I had thought of a question last week, but being incredibly forgetful, I forgot it. So the question I ask to substitute for my previous question is: Does Russell’s…