The Preorder Dilemma

I have Lisa Unger, Laura Lippman, and Alafair Burke to thank for the information and inspiration behind this post. People who work in, around, or near the book business know that preorders are important. Assuming that most of you fit into that category, I’m not going...

SAINTS OF THE SHADOW BIBLE by Ian Rankin

Ian Rankin is an incredibly reliable author. Whether a Rebus or Malcolm Fox tale, readers can count on him to deliver a super smart, interesting story. SAINTS OF THE SHADOW BIBLE is an exceptional book, even by this standard. I read two Ian Rankin books last year, but...

IN THE BLOOD by Lisa Unger

What makes Lana Granger, the protagonist and narrator of Lisa Unger’s IN THE BLOOD, so compelling that readers will be hard pressed to look away from the page for even a second? We all have secrets, and we all lie. Lana’s secrets and lies are deeper and...

2013 Reads

I’ll have a list of the best books I read in 2013 as soon as 2013 comes to a close, but in the interim, here’s the list of (most of) the books I’ve read this year…

For Lisa

This is my last post before Christmas, and I had every intention of continuing the “put characters from my favorite books read this year into a Christmas carol” tradition. I had a song all picked out, and even had Rebus and Bernie Rehodenbarr sharing a drink while...

Email Me This

This morning I got the best of the season’s marketing emails so far. And by “best” I mean so laughably bad that it…well…it inspired this post. Let’s start with the subject line: Give the Gift of E This Fall! Really? E? Can I exchange it for heroin if E’s not my thing?...

Do Good

I had every intention of writing this week about scams, stunts, and hoaxes, because between that reality TV producer on Twitter and Amazonian drones, the examples were almost irresistible. Almost. Then I recalled what my dad told me repeatedly when I was growing up:...

How To Twitter

The big marketing news this week was JP Morgan Chase’s spectacularly stupid foray into transparency and interaction on Twitter. They called it a “bad idea,” thereby employing perhaps the most dramatic understatement in the history of Twitter.

Stop Reading

I like to advocate reading. I believe more reading makes the world a better place. That reading is the best and strongest hope for humanity. That reading matters. There are, however, times when you need to stop reading. Specifically, any time you’re more than 5...

Advancing Books

Today on Dead Guy, I’m talking about early copies of books (galleys, ARCs…call them what you will).Click here to read the post