Features: February 2008 Archives
In a miracle of 21st century logistics, Californian Keith Raffel recently caught up with Cape Town, South Africa resident Charlie Newton, whose Calumet City has just appeared to acclaim. In a starred review Booklist called it "dark and dizzying, bloody and bewildering, and highly original."Q. Calumet City is the first novel of your novels to appear in print, but I understand you've written lots more. What was it like traveling down the road from book one? What did you learn along the way?
Calumet City was number six. I'm halfway through number nine as we speak. My road? The typical disaster--ridiculous expectations, sixteen thousand hours of typing, psychiatric sessions with friends, industry rejection on the odd day you got anyone's attention, credit card companies that don't understand the Mamas and Papas did it this way. Learn? Worst--that I'd been a villain with great powers of rationalization. Quite a shock. Best--that God does in fact occasionally protect the bridge jumpers.
Continue reading Charlie Newton faces the devil in Calumet City.
When you think of Key West, what first comes to mind are likely beautiful sunsets, clear blue water, and cold beer enjoyed to a soundtrack of island music, not a man beaten half to death outside the clubhouse of a sailing club. But that's the way Michael Haskins introduces us to Key West in Chasin' the Wind. Local journalist "Mad Mick" Murphy finds the victim, a friend and one of a cast of idiosyncratic locals who populate Haskins' debut political thriller. As the plot unfolds, Mick and associates uncover a tawdry scheme involving local officials and the Cuban government, and the deeper they dig, the more treachery they unearth.
Continue reading Haskins Debuts with Key West Thriller.
Ridley Pearson keeps the thrills for a younger audience in his latest, Steel Trapp: The Challenge. The first book in a new series featuring Steven (Steel) Trapp, the novel opens with our young protagonist riding a train with his mother to the National Science Challenge in Washington, D.C. He sees a woman leave a briefcase on board, and his attempt to return it propels him into a complex plot involving kidnapping and blackmail.
Continue reading Pearson shifts to Young Adult Thrillers with Steel Trapp.
Contributing editor Mark Combes sat down with CJ Lyons to discuss our upcoming new thriller, Lifelines.
It's what all debut authors dream of - to have a publisher ask YOU to write a new series. That's right, no query letters; no anxious hours watching the mailbox. Just a phone call and a contract. And that's exactly how it happened for CJ Lyons. "They (Berkley) had been wanting to create a new type of thriller, something that hadn't been tried: medical suspense told from solely a woman's point of view, with the pacing of a thriller. Of course I jumped at the chance! To be able to create my own rules and forge a new path was an exciting and fun experience! It was also terrifying-an unknown author such as myself being asked to take on such a project. I'll forever be appreciative of Berkley's faith in me."
It's what all debut authors dream of - to have a publisher ask YOU to write a new series. That's right, no query letters; no anxious hours watching the mailbox. Just a phone call and a contract. And that's exactly how it happened for CJ Lyons. "They (Berkley) had been wanting to create a new type of thriller, something that hadn't been tried: medical suspense told from solely a woman's point of view, with the pacing of a thriller. Of course I jumped at the chance! To be able to create my own rules and forge a new path was an exciting and fun experience! It was also terrifying-an unknown author such as myself being asked to take on such a project. I'll forever be appreciative of Berkley's faith in me."
Continue reading Medicine and Prose make for a winning mix.
Award-winning author Ann Voss Peterson has written seventeen romantic thrillers. Her latest, Wyoming Manhunt, has been chosen to be the launch title for Harlequin Intrique's new Thriller line.According to Ann, Intrigue is already known for romantic suspense with action and intensity, and these books take it a step further. "The editors describe them as 'jam packed with edge-of-your-seat action and fraught with sexual tension.' And how can you resist that?"
Wyoming Manhunt is the story of a single mother accountant who goes on her company's executive big game hunting trip hoping for a promotion...until the boss starts hunting her.
CJ Lyons: You're known for doing a lot of research for your novels. What was the most memorable research experience?
Ann Voss Peterson: Probably the most frightening and challenging research I've done was taking part in my local fire department's citizen's academy. We trained for ten weeks, doing everything from prying open cars with the jaws of life to ice rescue to practicing search and rescue in a live burn training structure. Charging into a near thousand-degree room so filled with smoke that I couldn't see an inch in front of my nose was a bit harrowing. And after crawling on hands and knees over the steel floor, my hands were scorched through my gloves and my knee pads were melted.
Continue reading Ann Voss Peterson and her love of bad guys.
Stephanie Barron, author of the successful mystery series featuring British novelist Jane Austen, is taking a break from Ms. Austen and the 1815s and moved to the Victorian era with an historical suspense novel featuring Queen Victoria herself in A Flaw In The Blood. Barron notes that the new novel begins on December 15, 1861 with the death of Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, and centers on two outsiders in Victorian society."One is an Irish-Catholic barrister," says Barron, "and the other is a woman doctor who deals with the poor in Victorian London. Both of them have pieces of a secret surrounding the crown of England that they don't realize they possess until they find themselves hunted in the aftermath of Prince Albert's death."
Continue reading Stephanie Barron Gets Victorian.
Contributing Editor, Rebecca Cantrell, discusses agenting with the woman described by Writer's Digest as "Superstar Agent" Kimberley Cameron.What's the market right now for thrillers? I keep hearing "the thriller is dead, long live the thriller."
Everybody says the market is dead for a lot of reasons, in every genre, but writers make the market. If you work on your writing and make it excellent it's going to rise to the top no matter what genre it's in. Manuscripts must be multi-layered, not just action-driven page turners.What makes a good thriller?
A very astute editor, Rick Horgan, uses a credo given to him by Henry Morrison: Any novel that makes the reader sweat will achieve significant sales. One that makes him sweat and stirs his heart will do even better, and one that makes him sweat, stirs his heart, and causes him to reflect will be a blockbuster.
Continue reading Kimberley Cameron on Being a Literary Agent.
Contributing editor Cathy Clamp chats with Reed Coleman on his new thriller, Empty Ever After.
What do you do when the past comes back to haunt you? For hard-boiled private eye Moe Prager, it seems to happen a lot. But like the aftershock of an earthquake, his latest adventure is going to change everything, because being "haunted" will take on new meaning. "The Moe Prager Mystery series is one in which the past is ever present," the author shared. "It is one of the abiding conventions of hard-boiled and noir novels that the protagonist be haunted by his or her past. Ghosts are everywhere, but they are the ghosts of our own mistakes, of our guilt, of our regrets. Well, in Empty Ever After, there's plenty of haunting, and more than one ghost. One of the characters in the book surely believes she is involved in something paranormal. And there are other characters who want her to believe it."
What do you do when the past comes back to haunt you? For hard-boiled private eye Moe Prager, it seems to happen a lot. But like the aftershock of an earthquake, his latest adventure is going to change everything, because being "haunted" will take on new meaning. "The Moe Prager Mystery series is one in which the past is ever present," the author shared. "It is one of the abiding conventions of hard-boiled and noir novels that the protagonist be haunted by his or her past. Ghosts are everywhere, but they are the ghosts of our own mistakes, of our guilt, of our regrets. Well, in Empty Ever After, there's plenty of haunting, and more than one ghost. One of the characters in the book surely believes she is involved in something paranormal. And there are other characters who want her to believe it."
Continue reading Coleman reveals the mystery of Empty Ever After.
ThrillerFest
ITW's annual celebration of the thriller world is the largest event of its kind, a meeting place for authors, readers, budding writers, and publishing industry professionals.
This year we're in the heart of New York in July, with two special add-on events, CraftFest and AgentFest, where authors of all levels can meet the professionals.
ThrillerFest 2008 will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. There are limited rooms available at our conference rate. As soon as you register, please make your hotel reservation--don't wait! Once our block of rooms is filled, there will be no space available at the conference rate. You must be registered for the conference before making a hotel reservation. Update 6/5/08: Conference Rooms are SOLD OUT for all nights. Please call the Hyatt at 1-800-233-1234 to check for availability of rooms at a non-conference rate.
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