First, a disclaimer: I’m going to talk about two famous writer people: Stephen King and Don Winslow. I don’t know either of them personally but have had the opportunity to interact with them directly, and find them both to be lovely, genuine people. And I like their...
I’ve updated this post to add Mr. Collins’ response from Facebook. Last weekend, the Shamus Awards were presented. There were comments made at that event that have since been the subject of some discussion. They’re described below. For context, I don’t...
Tomorrow I’ll take a train north from London to the idyllic town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire for the annual festival affectionally known as Harrogate. (The full name, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, includes the name of the long-time sponsor,...
Back in the proverbial day, before there was social media and a correcting Selectric was the bomb, I used to hear this Business Rule a lot. I haven’t heard it lately, but it’s as true as ever, so I’m gonna try to reintroduce it to the vernacular, starting right here....
A couple of weeks ago, Jeff Cohen posted about his Chemo Promo Conundrum. The core situation he described—an author confronting the problem of having to promote their books—is a common problem, I think, made immeasurably harder for Jeff because he’s going through...
Last weekend, I read this essay in The Guardian when it was shared by novelist Steve Mosby. Despite it being published on April 1, it does not appear to be an April Fool’s joke. The Guardian’s April Fool’s story is here. The thing that jumped out at...
