Advent Calendar Day 12

Another print book giveaway to go with Johanna Ollila's poignant and lovely coloring book page inspired by the 1940s story Snowball in Hell.


I'm giving away four signed copies of What's Left of Kisses, a collection of historical novellas to four randomly selected commenters. It's going to be tricky to get these to anybody (even in the States) before Christmas, so don't count on that!


To be eligible for this drawing, share a memory of your grandparents (or a great-aunt or a great-uncle) -- and if it's a holiday memory, so much the better!

Cover Contest Finals: FOOLS RUSH IN

The project is the sequel to Snowball in Hell. This was a really tough one because not only did the new cover have to work with the cover of Snowball, this is historical fiction. 1943, in fact, and if you've ever tried to hunt for decent historical photos, you know what a challenge that is.

I think the artists who tried for this one get an extra round of applause!



#1

#2

#3

#4

Cover Challenge #4 FOOLS RUSH IN (Doyle & Spain 2)

This is the sequel to Snowball in Hell. It's set in 1944 Los Angeles -- historical -- which is always SUCH a PIA. And to make it all the more complicated, I'd like this one to look similar to the Carina Press cover for Snowball.

 That's not mandatory, but it's preferable that series books look like they're related.

Here's the blurb:

An anonymous midnight phone call involves reporter Nathan Doyle in a case of kidnapping and murder, placing his fragile relationship with LAPD Police Lieutenant Matthew Spain at risk--as well as Doyle's life.

If you're not familiar with Snowball in Hell (and why should you be?) you can read an excerpt right heeyah.

Among things that happen in this book...there's a body that disappears out of a hotel room and an explosion. I know. Not as helpful as I imagine.

You Can't Go Home Again BUT You Can Still Answer This Poll

Last night the SO and I watched the first two episodes of Season Ten of The X-Files.

Now...I was an early fan of The X-Files--and I was also an early defector. The Great Conspiracy thing bored me to tears--it was so obviously made up on the fly and it was SO preposterous, but I loved, loved, loved the Monster of the Week shows and I loved the characters and their chemistry. So eventually I did come back and stream all the episodes. And the streaming reconfirmed for me how absolutely idiotic the conspiracy thread was, but how really engaging was the core of the show.

Oh, and I saw all The X-Files movies.

This is just background to let you know I am a fan and I do understand fandom. I understand how you can love and hate something at the same time. I understand how you can feel so invested in someone else's imagination that you feel you get a vote. That your opinion should count for something. I understand that stories really DO matter and that it physically hurts when a writer gets it so wrong and dashes all your hopes and expectations.

So anyway, we watched those first two episodes and my foremost thought was...gulp...Mulder and Scully are old. Now I already knew that -- and I have also grown older -- but although I've seen Duchovny and Anderson in other dramatic vehicles, I haven't seen Mulder and Scully in different dramatic vehicles and yes, it was a little startling. And it put into my mind the thought that if you're going to bring something back, you don't want to wait too long.

 Now that I sound ruthlessly ageist, let me clarify that I actually enjoyed seeing Mulder and Scully together again and I didn't mind at all mind that they were older. I did mind things like...they weren't together as a couple anymore because I hate it when storytellers renege on a promise and when characters can't learn from the past. And the fact that the first episode was nearly incoherent with political agenda and HEY, A NEW EQUALLY FARFETCHED CONSPIRACY EVEN LESS BELIEVABLE THAN THE LAST ONE...but you know, that is so Chris Carter, I almost felt a kind of exasperated affection.

The second episode was marginally better, but if the third one doesn't bring home the goods, I will be erasing Season 10 from my memory banks.

But as I said, what watching Season 10 did was remind me that if you're going to bring something back from the grave...like a long promised sequel...you need to make that a priority. And since for once in my writing life I have no plans and no contracts beyond this year, it seems like 2017 would be a good year to tie up a few loose ends.

Accordingly I'm running a poll at Goodreads.

I'm asking two questions: which series book would you most like to see next AND (two--yes, you get TWO votes) which non-series book with a promised sequel would you like to see next?

The poll is here. (I think)

But not everyone belongs to Goodreads and so if you'd like to answer here, that's okay too.

 So onto the choices.


Of my CURRENTLY ONGOING series (which means NOT Adrien and Jake) which book would you most like to see next:

Holmes and Moriarity
Haunted Heart: Spring
Dangerous Ground


AND of the NON-series books where I have, however, promised a sequel:

The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks
Snowball in Hell
This Rough Magic


Now all these series will ultimately be completed (barring misfortune and death) and all these books will ultimately have their sequels (same rules) but in a perfect world where you are in control, what would you most like to see NEXT?

Answer below or at Goodreads.

Advent Calendar - Day 15 - EXCERPT

Today we have an excerpt from one of my personal favorites, Snowball in Hell. I'm not sure if it really qualifies as a "holiday" story, but the holidays are certainly an important part of the novella. Anyway, here's a bit of bittersweet vintage mystery from the 1940s.

BLURB:

It's Christmas 1943 and the world is at war. Journalist Nathan Doyle has just returned home from North Africa--still recovering from wounds received in the Western Desert Campaign--when he's asked to cover the murder of a society blackmailer.

Lt. Matthew Spain of the LAPD homicide squad hates the holidays since the death of his beloved wife a few months earlier, and this year isn’t looking much cheerier what with the threat of attack by the Japanese and a high-profile homicide investigation. Matt likes Nathan; maybe too much.

If only he didn’t suspect that Nathan had every reason to commit murder.

EXCERPT:

Spain proffered a pack of Camels. Nathan took one, and Spain leaned forward to light it for him. Spain’s hands were large and well-shaped. His lashes made dark crescents against his cheekbones. As though he felt Nathan’s stare, he raised his eyes -- and Nathan couldn’t look away.

He stared into Mathew Spain’s long-lashed hazel eyes, and he realized with sudden terrible clarity that Spain knew all about him. Knew exactly what he was. Knew it as surely as though Nathan’s ugly history were an open file on his Spain’s tidy desk. In fact…Nathan glanced at Spain’s desktop as though somehow the explanation could be found there, because how did Spain know? How? Had it become that obvious? Like a scarlet letter branded into his skin -- or the mark of Cain?

Hot blood flushed Nathan’s face, and just as quickly drained away, leaving him feeling light-headed. He drew back, drawing sharply on his cigarette. He sat very straight.

Spain flicked his lighter closed, put it away. He seemed to be in no hurry.

“Why am I here?” Nathan asked, blowing out a stream of blue smoke. His voice was just about steady.

Spain watched him, eyes very direct between his straight, black eyebrows.

“Why didn’t you mention you were with the Arlen kid on Saturday night?”

“I wasn’t with him,” Nathan said. “I ran into him at the Las Palmas Club. We had a drink together.” He shrugged.

Spain leaned back in his swivel chair and rubbed his chin. “Listen, Sir Galahad, it might interest you to know that the lady in question didn’t mind throwing you to the wolves. She said it looked to her like you were pretty angry with Philip yourself. Like you were mad enough to kill.”

“She doesn’t know me very well.” Nathan studied the ashes on his cigarette.

“Did she threaten to kill her husband and Pearl Jarvis?”

“She might have.” Nathan smiled wryly. “I wasn’t listening that carefully to tell you the truth.”

“Why’s that?”

 Nathan said slowly, “I went there for a few drinks and some laughs, but after I got there…I realized that really wasn’t what I needed.”

“What did you need?” Spain asked -- and Nathan, for the life of him, couldn’t think of how to answer.

Neither of them spoke. Neither of them looked away.


* * **

Christmas coda here.

Coming in 2014

Wait…that’s NOW!

 

So 2014 is upon us like the wolf upon the fold, and I have been hemming and hawing about what’s coming up from yours truly. And partly that’s because I hate to commit lest I fail to deliver, and partly it’s because having the illusion of creative freedom keeps me more…creative.

 

But two projects are contracted and already have release dates. Those would be Stranger on the Shore due out from Carina Press May 5^th (yes, you can preorder, it’s already in edits) and Fair Play, the sequel to Fair Game. (I think FP is due out in November -- also through Carina Press.)

 

So really those are the only two projects absolutely set in stone. That said, there are a couple of things planned for this year that will happen -- I’m just leery about attaching dates to them.

 

The Boy with the Painful Tattoo (Book 3 in the Holmes & Moriarity series). Much anticipated, I know. I’ve got some 15 queries in my inbox at the moment. The hope (and prayer) is to have this out before the summer. It should have been out before now, but to be honest it’s a tricky place in the series -- a turning point -- and I keep mulling over it and trying to decide what I really want to do here.

 

Yes, it will be in digital, print, and audio.

 

Also pretty much for sure this year is Winter Kill (digital, print, audio). That’s the one about the FBI agent and the sheriff’s deputy in the Pacific Northwest (serial killer, environmentalists, Native Americans, etc.)

 

Then we have all the Very Likely to Happen (maybe even before the Will Happens, and those include Ill Met by Moonlight (sequel to This Rough Magic) and Bite Club (sequel to Mummy Dearest). These are both novellas which means pretty quick and easy to write provided I don’t get distracted and lured away by other projects.

 

Ill Met By Moonlight will be paired with TRM in a print anthology -- and there will be an audio book. There should also be a general historical print collection with a new short story. I’m sort of tossing that idea around to figure out what would work best -- should I include IMbM and TRM in that? Or should I leave them in their own print collection? Or both? I’m undecided.

 

I believe I mentioned elsewhere that the last three Adrien English novels have been picked up for Japanese translation by Shinshokan? And we’re continuing to look into more possibilities for translation in other corners of the globe.

 

Finally we have the stuff that should happen, but I don’t want to think about right now: Haunted Heart: Spring, Dangerous Ground 6, Christmas stories, etc. I am very eager to write the sequel to Snowball in Hell, but the original story I’d planned is now pushed back for a book or two within the series. In the words of Stewie the GPS voice…recalculating. And that long talked about project inspired by The Monument Men seems like maybe its time has come...

 

The reality is I can only do 4 -5 projects a year without straining -- strain does not produce the best work, so it’s a matter of figuring out the right projects for the right time. And how I do that is to calculate what I am most eager to write with what you are most eager to read. Sometimes I come up with the perfect solution. Sometimes…not so much.

 

Anyway, that’s where we stand as of this moment. Things could change. They often do. And very often what you have to say plays a part in that. So feel free to speak up now!

 

Christmas Coda 28

Nathan and Matthew from SNOWBALL IN HELL

 

New Year’s Eve in the City of Angels.

Not so many angels out and about that night, and Matthew and his squad were kept busy with a knifing, two shootings, and an attempted kidnapping. By the time Matt finally got away it was about twenty minutes till the Witching Hour. He made for the Biltmore Hotel, knowing Nathan would be there.

It was standing room only at the Biltmore, dames and gents alike in silly hats and tinsel tiaras, blowing plastic horns and paper fizoos in each other’s faces. Everybody was talking and nobody was listening. The floor was littered with soggy confetti. Champagne glasses were overflowing, and seeing that this was the Biltmore, maybe it really was champagne spilling down the fronts of party frocks and dress uniforms.

Matthew worked his way through the crush of people in the elegant lobby with its parquet floors and rich jewel-toned carpets and carved ceilings. He made it to the bar but couldn’t find Nathan anywhere. He knew what that meant, and his heart sank.

Well, what had he expected? He had thought things were different now, but Nathan had been honest about what he needed, and Matt would somehow have to learn to accept it.

And if he couldn’t accept it… Then he would be equally honest.

But he wasn’t there yet. Not by a long shot. Yes, he was disappointed and, yeah, it hurt like hell that Nathan couldn’t do without for a single night, but Matthew had entered into this knowing he was going to have to take Nathan as he was. So he resisted the urge to search any further. Finding Nathan rolling around in the undergrowth at Pershing Square wasn’t going to do either of them any good.

So Matt left the party as midnight was chiming and drove home through the eerily silent streets. He tried not to think about Nathan or his own disappointment. He thought he was mostly successful, but when he reached his own street and saw Nathan’s Chrysler Highlander parked in front of his house, happiness and relief hit him in a warm rush. And with it a little stab of shame that he had wronged Nathan. It was frightening to care so much about someone you knew so little.

He parked beneath the trellised carport and walked back to the street. Nathan was sleeping in his car, head tipped back, his hat over his face. When Matt tapped on his window, he jumped and then grinned sheepishly, tiredly.

Matthew opened the door and Nathan unfolded wearily.

“Come inside,” Matthew told him.

Nathan threw an instinctive look at the dark windows of Mathew’s neighbors. “No. It’s all right. I just wanted -- needed -- to wish you…Auld Lang Syne. It wouldn’t have seemed right to start the new year off without seeing you.” He offered his hand.

Matthew took his hand, but didn’t release it. “Come inside,” he said again.

He could see Nathan wavering, recognized the longing because he felt just the same. Nathan said reluctantly, “Your neighbors are going to notice if I spend another night here.”

He was right, but Matthew just couldn’t bring himself to care enough to give up the pleasure of being together even for a few hours. He placed his other hand on Nathan’s shoulder, guiding him toward the house. “Then we’ll have to think of some reason for you to visit. Don’t we share a Great Aunt Gertrude? How’s she doing these days anyway? How’s her lumbago?”

Nathan shook his head, but Matthew caught the whisper of his laugh. Then he was unlocking the side door and letting them into the silent and dark house. The door closed behind them. Matthew felt for the chain, slid it into place, and took Nathan into his arms. Nathan hugged him back  fiercely.

“Happy New Year, Nathan,” Matthew said softly, and kissed him.

Snowball in Hell re-release

Yesterday saw the re-release Snowball in Hell. Snowball is a noirish novella set around Christmas time in 1943. It's one of my personal favorites as far as my work goes, and I'm delighted to see it get a second lease on life with Carina Press not least, because this enables me to write the series I was longing to write for these two.

Look for more Doyle and Spain stories starting in 2012.

To celebrate, I'm blogging in a couple of places, and giving some cool stuff away in contests. The first place to stop and help me celebrate is over at Not The Usual Suspects. We're playing match the author to the first line of a classic piece of crime fiction.

And the second stop is over at the Carina Press blog. The game there is simply name two romantic pairings from my stories EXCLUDING Jake and Adrien, Chris and JX, and Elliot and Tucker. (Well, and it can't include Matt and Nathan either, for obvious reasons!

And if you've already bought the book, thanks so much!

Snowball in Hell now available

A quick note to let you know that Snowball in Hell, my WW2 norish mystery romance is now available through Carina Press. Also through Amazon's Kindle, B&N Nook, and over at All Romance Ebooks.

It's 1943 and the world is at war. Journalist Nathan Doyle has just returned home from North Africa--still recovering from wounds received in the Western Desert Campaign--when he's asked to cover the murder of a society blackmailer.

Lt. Matthew Spain of the LAPD homicide squad hates the holidays since the death of his beloved wife a few months earlier, and this year isn’t looking much cheerier what with the threat of attack by the Japanese and a high-profile homicide investigation. Matt likes Nathan; maybe too much.

If only he didn’t suspect that Nathan had every reason to commit murder.

Book Trailer for Snowball in Hell

I think authors are as bewildered as anyone else as far as what works for promotion and what doesn't. I don't know that book trailers sell books, but they're relaxing to work on. What's not to enjoy about matching pictures to music and mulling over the important elements of your story?

Anyway, I worked on three trailers yesterday, and this one is the only one that seemed acceptable to me. (The SO looked at it and said, the music should have been the music of the era, but I really like the juxtaposition here -- and the soundclip, a bit of a song, by Muse, is absolutely perfect for Nathan's state of mind.)

Anyway. Voila.

Not sure if this will show up on LJ or not, so you might have to pop over to Blogger to view...