Essays

Tragic news in the mystery community

http://www.murderbooks.com/ If you can make the memorial service, do so. If you can't, buy a book from David Thompson's store -- we just lost the most passionate bookseller in the business, and one of the finest people I've ever known. It's impossible to overstate...

Essays

On genre

Thought I'd tackle this one after receiving an e-mail interview from the excellent writer Tom Piccirilli who said he'd begin by asking the obvious question, the one I'm probably tired of answering: why switch genre? I realized that beyond being a good question --...

Essays

Castles

Michael Connelly is appearing in the ABC show "Castle" tonight. You can find the episode here: http://abc.go.com/shows/castle and feel free to contact Michael to urge him not to take the big-dollar acting offers and give up on writing. I know I will. On other...

Essays

Writing Fuel

After writing up the short post below about Larry McMurtry's great memoir, I got to thinking about my favorite quotes on writing -- there are plenty -- and it occurred to me that a fairly common question in interviews is whether I have any quotes above my desk. The...

Essays Reading Recommendations

There’s prolific, and then there’s…

Larry McMurtry. Who, according to his latest memoir, "Literary Life," wrote the excellent novel "The Last Picture Show" in three weeks, "All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers" in five weeks, and "A Desert Rose" in 22 days. Now, Mr. McMurtry has written over 40...

Book News Essays

International hospitality

Considering I still find it surreal to see a copy of one of my stories actually bound and jacketed and available to purchase – just like a real book! – it should come as no surprise that one of the strangest and most humbling experiences I have is the opportunity...