Talking oneself into heroics

A study at Columbia and Harvard, reported in TIME, suggests that acting powerful makes a person powerful in fact.  When tested before and after spending fifteen minutes in aggressive, macho, top-dog postures (the two on the left)— —the (male) reporter’s testosterone level doubled.  Doubled! I can believe this.  I am by nature an introverted, even…

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Sorrow

Sad news out of Houston, where Murder by the Book, Busted Flush press, and the world’s crime fiction family have all lost a close friend and eternally creative advocate.  David Thompson died yesterday at age 38.  We mourn with his wife McKenna, and with his family and friends.

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Tall ships, taller tales

For sheer happiness, there’s nothing like being out on the water. One of my brightest memories is of a catamaran trip taken years ago in Maui where, when we turned for home, the crew put on a song popular at the time: Alanis Morrisette singing “What if God Was One of Us?” It’s a song…

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End of the (US) Buzz

We’ve finished up with the 2010 online madness, Twenty Weeks of Buzz, with our grand finale at Poisoned Pen books in Scottsdale on Wednesday night.  I have one final event, next Tuesday at Bookshop Santa Cruz, and then it’s clear sailing until July and the UK.  I can write an entire book in seven weeks,…

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Monday Mutterings, week 7 of 20

Week seven of the Twenty Weeks of Buzz finds a new puzzle, deciphering a burst of free verse!  And, if you send in your answers by the 14th you’ll be entered for next week’s drawing of a “Venomous Death” mini-broadside OR a genuine LRK t-shirt.  Either will look fabulous on your wall. * Something I’m…

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Week five of twenty

These “Twenty Weeks of Buzz” make for an interesting exploration of the Brave New World of Internet outreach.  In some ways it feels as if I’m running my own corporation here: producing the product (ie, a book) then packaging and promoting it. In part, this sensation of do-it-yourself is because publishing houses run in seasons…

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Laurie R. King, BSI

To my utter astonishment and honor, I was invested into the Baker Street Irregulars tonight. Since the honor was accompanied by volumes of wine, champagne, and sundry unidentifiable liquids, and it is now one thirty in the morning, I may perhaps be forgiven in not offering a complete explanation of the above, other than to…

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Under construction

In a transparent bid to build anticipation and heighten interest, various elements of the web site are currently under construction, and won’t work when you expect them to.  This means that if you’re trying to post a comment here on Mutterings, you’ll have to try again later.  Maybe even tomorrow. It is all a part…

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Plates for books

What, oh what to give for the holidays?  Something that demonstrates economic responsibility but doesn’t feel repressive; something fun yet with substance; something personal but not icky. A book?  Maybe even a signed one? If that’s your choice, here’s for you: bookplates, of three flavors: with the cover of The Language of Bees or The…

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