Jeezie Louisie, I look up from digging myself out from under a pile of papers and computer tasks and find that in nine days we’ll be sitting down to the traditional pumpkin pie breakfast with a heap of wrappings burying the carpet. How the hell did that happen? What happened to the memo cancelling November?…
Read MoreI’m in Oxford–the paper, at any rate. And speaking about Holmes, and the upcoming movie, and all things Sherlock on Chronic Rift.
Read MoreWhen I heard the news from Fort Hood last Thursday, my heart sank. Not only because of the terror and grief visited on this community of soldiers, but because of the undeniably Muslim name of the man accused. When a man with an “American” name (ie, Germanic or Irish or Polish or Italian or Spanish…
Read MoreThere are as many styles of writing as there are writers—and I don’t mean the words on the page; I mean how they get there. I have writer friends who work set hours, every day without fail, year around, as if they were clocking in at a warehouse or office. I know others who take…
Read MoreIt isn’t often I laugh aloud in a silent house, but I challenge you to read this review without snorking your tea out across the keyboard.
Read MoreAlmost as long as there have been Sherlock Holmes stories, there have been ardent readers commenting on the stories, speculating on the Conan Doyle chronology, indulging in genteel (for the most part) arguments over the minutiae of time, place, and technique. For example, several times, Holmes mentions his partner’s recent change in marital status: So,…
Read MoreYesterday all over the world, people went to a conference. I took place on two panels, one with Lee Child and our editor Kate Miciak (who were in New Jersey and Long Island, respectively,) the other with Nevada Barr (in New Orleans.) Since then I’ve listened to various other panels, including a conversation between the…
Read MoreFriday in Indy, lots of business gets done. People who come to BoucherCon primarily as readers (the “fans”) may not be aware that the Con is also a trade show, with writers as the manufacturers of product. My morning began with a long breakfast meeting with my editor, Kate Miciak, during which we covered everything…
Read MoreThe problem with filling BoucherCons with meetings is that there is no time to listen to panels, which I enjoy doing. And yesterday I was in two panels, plus half an hour sitting the Mystery News desk, and a meeting with a nice gent from the Lilly library who are collecting papers for their archives…
Read MoreSo: Indy. Drive; wait; fly; wait; fly; drive; wait; check in. Exhaustion, although my West Coast clock insisted it was only four in the afternoon. The hell with West Coast clocks, I don’t do lagging time zones: it’s seven p.m. and I’ve been on the road for twelve hours, I’m not going to go hang…
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