Libraries Matter

Today's Dead Guy post is about libraries, and why they matter to us all. This is a subject near and dear, and I'd be grateful for any comments!

What’s The Twitter?

Today's Dead Guy post is about what Twitter is...and what it is not.

To Event or Not to Event

This week's post at Hey, There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room is about why book events, especially for fiction authors, still matter.

DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND by Lisa Unger

In DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND, Lisa Unger brings us back to The Hollows, the suburban New York town where FRAGILE was set. Many of the characters—including Jones and Maggie Cooper and their son Rick(y)—are also part of this new story, as are some we met only briefly in FRAGILE.

I don’t often specifically recommend reading series books in order, because I find that with authors I enjoy, they write so that each of their stories can stand alone as well. This is absolutely true of both FRAGILE and DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND, but in this case, if you haven’t read either, I would recommend starting with FRAGILE. It’s not absolutely necessary, but you’ll appreciate the getting to know the characters from the start of their story.

DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND opens with Jones Cooper, now retired from The Hollows PD, at something of a loose end. Like many men of his generation, his identity and even his personality has always been tied to his profession. This story is about Jones, yes, and his wife Maggie, but it’s also about characters new to The Hollows (or rather, new to us reading about The Hollows) including an author who has just moved there with her 15 year-old daughter and a man who grew up in The Hollows and has returned only to be met with…well, in the spirit of spoiling nothing about this tale, suffice to say that he goes digging (literally) and what he finds is not what he, or those around him, expect.

I really hope that this becomes a series. I like Jones and Maggie Cooper. I like that they’re imperfect. I like that each character Lisa Unger creates is fully-formed, and dramatic events not maudlin and are bereft of melo(drama).

The darkness referenced in the title pervades the lives of each of the characters in the story, to a greater or lesser extent, just as it does each reader's life. But oddly, I wouldn't describe it as a "dark" story. I often equate "dark" with "heavy," and DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND is exactly the right weight.

DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND also includes elements that might be described as supernatural, but they’re artfully handled so that even a skeptical reader such as me didn’t find them interfering with the story, but rather contributing to it. DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND also moves between timeframes—something that I sometimes find too head-spinning in stories—with a grace that underscores Lisa Unger’s immense talent.

DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND weaves people, places and times into a story that is, in a word, captivating.

Blurb: A story wrapped in the best kind of darkness

Author's Website: www.lisaunger.com

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FRAGILE by Lisa Unger

FRAGILE came out last year (before I had this blog to talk about it), and is just now out in paperback. Because Lisa’s new book, DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND is set in the same place and picks up many of the characters from FRAGILE, I thought it made sense to write about it now.

In the afterword of FRAGILE, Lisa Unger explains that she was trying to write this book for 20 years, which makes perfect sense. In FRAGILE, Lisa creates characters from the outside in, giving them a depth and resonance that stay with readers far beyond the last page.

FRAGILE is, at its heart, about secrets and what makes us keep secrets, holding them dear like heirlooms. It’s also about appearance. Set in an idyllic suburb of New York called The Hollows, FRAGILE creates a sense of place that acknowledges the preconceptions we each have about suburban America, and then proceeds to challenge them all.

Depending on the perspective you bring to FRAGILE, you’ll also find a story about families, about the complicated dynamic that pervades the relationships we all have. Ultimately, one of the things I love most about Lisa Unger’s stories is that every reader can identify—closely—with something in the book.

FRAGILE is classic crime fiction in the sense that it falls into a lot of different categories. It is both a mystery and a thriller. A teenage girl disappears, and the plot is built on this seminal event, although it is far more complex than just this, traveling back in time to another disappearance of another young girl, and the lasting impact that event had on everyone it touched.

FRAGILE moves quickly, but I wouldn’t describe the pacing as breakneck. It takes exactly the time needed to tell its story, which I mean as nothing but a compliment. Parts of the story are uncomfortable, but not nightmare-inducing.

FRAGILE has a large cast of characters, but they’re never hard to keep track of. I didn’t have to flip back to anyone’s last appearance to remember his or her role. This is certainly an adult book, but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to younger readers, too—teenagers—because by embracing multiple perspectives, it will appeal to most people. It’s not every author who can pull this off—telling a story without one primary voice or narrator—but Lisa Unger does it beautifully.

Blurb: A complex tale of what lies beneath

Author's Website: www.lisaunger.com


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Meet Me in St. Louis

When I was a kid, I was tormented for being a bookworm. A nerd. That, of course, was long before the interwebs changed everything.

I’m as much of a bookworm and nerd today as ever I was. The difference now is that I can find people like me. People who get as excited about a great book as I do. And there are thousands of us! One in particular, Jen Forbus, welcomed me to the online crime fiction community and showed me around, and I am forever in her debt for doing so.

It turns out that every year people who love to read crime fiction get together with each other and a whole bunch of amazing authors for a long weekend known as Bouchercon. Held in a different city each year and organized by volunteers who are Superhero Readers, Bouchercon is an institution…but one I wasn’t aware of until I found the community of crime fiction readers and authors online.

Now, I can’t wait to scuttle on down to St. Louis in September.

I’m both excited (generally) and honored (specifically) to be moderating a couple of panels. I feel like I’ve won the panel lottery.

The first, titled BORRASCA, includes Linwood Barclay, Alafair Burke, Gregg Hurwitz, and Lisa Unger, four of my favorite authors. I couldn’t have thought of better storytellers to talk about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and I already have a bunch of questions brewing.

If you read this blog often or know me at all, you know that in addition to my Irish name, passport and family, I have a real affinity for Irish fiction. With the panel titled AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION, Eoin Colfer, John Connolly, Erin Hart, and Stuart Neville comprise an ideal group to talk about Irish crime fiction because each brings a different—and yet highly relevant—perspective. Also, if you’re interested in a fantastic introduction to modern Irish crime fiction, get a copy of DOWN THESE GREEN STREETS.

I’ll be talking more about each of these authors’ books in the coming weeks. If you haven’t made plans to come to St. Louis, please consider doing so!

Why We Buy Books

This week's post at Hey, There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room looks at what makes readers pick up books by new authors. What have I missed?

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I've made a few changes to the blog, and wanted to get your reaction to them because, well, the whole point here is that this stuff is enjoyable to read…and I think format has a lot to do with that.

First, because the ever-wise Lawrence Block pointed out that black text on a white background is much easier to read (than white on black or gray), I changed the background and text color.

I also changed the background image because I figured out how and felt like it. But the biggest changes are in the sidebar to your right…

I’ve debated long and hard about having ads on here at all, and I’ve added some selective ones to the sidebar because, ultimately, I want people to buy books. And while I’m not a big fan of Amazon, they’re a big bookstore and easy to buy from no matter where you are.

I split the book widget into “available now” and “preorders.” Preorders are hugely important to authors—Alafair Burke helped me understand why—and I’m going to try to keep this up-to-date.

I also added a Google eBookstore link because I like it for eBooks.

But I want to be clear: I support and encourage bookstores, especially independent ones, which are the lifeblood of communities around the world. Should I ever make a single dime from people buying books through links on this site, I will spend it in an indie bookstore. I promise.

I’ve added the widget from Shelf Awareness, which publishes a free e-newsletter for readers (in addition to one targeted to booksellers and publishers). If you sign up for the newsletter, you’re entered to win a signed copy of Laura Lippman’s new book, THE MOST DANGEROUS THING. Shelf won’t spam you—they’re good people—and the newsletter has short reviews of all kinds of books, including crime fiction.

And if you scroll right on down, you’ll see the meter that tracks the number of people who are sharing their FridayReads on Twitter. On Fridays, this is bunches of fun to watch, and when it reaches 10,000 people, that whoop of excitement you’ll hear ‘round the world will be me. Click on it to open the site where it lives and is much bigger.

So…what do you think? Before you tell me to switch everything to Wordpress, understand that I know just enough about technology to be dangerous…and Blogger is comfy for me right now. But I know I should switch over, and probably will when I can get my head around it.

Any suggestions welcome. And more real posts coming very soon.