Tired of being a stay-at-home and a couch potato, Charlie P gives a gala New Year’s Eve party which not only he but nobody else attends. Even Charlie P was surprised at the turnout. To be sure, this is the best party he’s never been to. The one he would least have wanted to miss. … Continue reading Happy New Year! “The Party” by Richard Kalich
Today: Donald F. Mayo’s choice
Anyone doubting the enduring power of the social realist novel need look no further than Tom Wolfe's 1987 masterpiece, still as relevant today as it was almost 30 years ago. Set on Wall Street in the midst of the 1980s boom, it charts the downfall of Sherman McCoy, star bond salesman who struggled to make … Continue reading Today: Donald F. Mayo’s choice
Today: Craig McDonald’s choice
The book that changed my life was a humble, second-hand paperback reprint of an old pulp magazine story written at the height of the Great Depression. On a cold autumn day, my maternal grandfather handed me the second Doc Savage novel, The Land of Terror. I was always a reader, always had one or more … Continue reading Today: Craig McDonald’s choice
Today: Colin O’Sullivan’s choice
“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for?” Franz Kafka In an alternative translation of the above Kafka quote, “wound” and “stab” are written as “bite” and … Continue reading Today: Colin O’Sullivan’s choice
Today: David Hogan’s choice
Not one of my three sisters is a loud, dirty, boozy girl. That’s probably a good thing for them -- as well as me. But if one or two or all of them were, I would give them this book if only because Dylan Thomas, that loud, dirty, boozy poet, said I should. Even without … Continue reading Today: David Hogan’s choice
Today: Richard Kalich’s choice
Reading The Fall was a life-changing experience. But let the novel speak for itself: “Don't lies eventually lead to the truth? And don't all my stories, true or false, tend toward the same conclusion? Don't they all have the same meaning? So what does it matter whether they are true or false if, in both … Continue reading Today: Richard Kalich’s choice
A Very Hector Lassiter Christmas
Craig McDonald about three very different Christmas Eves... Read here: http://craigmcdonaldbooks.blogspot.ie/2014/12/a-very-hector-lassiter-christmas.html
Richard Kalich: “I see the world metaphorically.”
Richard Kalich in conversation with Lucy Sweeney Byrne It is clear, when talking to Richard Kalich today, that he is a novelist whom, once you hear of him, you wonder to yourself how you haven’t heard his name before. He is not a writer one would describe as prolific. He has endured writer’s block and the terror … Continue reading Richard Kalich: “I see the world metaphorically.”
Praise for the opening line of HEAD GAMES by Craig McDonald
"From a much newer novel, Head Games by Craig McDonald, the first line is: “We were sitting in a backroom of a cantina on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, three drinks in, when Bill Wade reached into the dusty duffle bag he had tucked under the table and plunked down the Mexican general’s head.” The … Continue reading Praise for the opening line of HEAD GAMES by Craig McDonald
A review of “The Great Pretender”, book 4 in the “wildly ambitious series about Hector Lassiter”
http://blog.vincekeenan.com/2014/12/books-recent-reading-roundup.html The Great Pretender, by Craig McDonald. I’ve been a fan of McDonald’s sprawling, wildly ambitious series about Hector Lassiter, the two-fisted novelist who trucks with twentieth century luminaries, from the outset. Pretender finds Hector in pursuit of the Spear of Destiny, last seen in Hellboy and Constantine, and tangling with Nazis, witches and, most contentious of all, Orson Welles. McDonald … Continue reading A review of “The Great Pretender”, book 4 in the “wildly ambitious series about Hector Lassiter”
Kindle edition of GIFTS free this week!
Christmas is not always magic but good books always are. Whether you love or hate Christmas, you might enjoy a good story. Our collection GIFTS: NINE BITTERSWEET CHRISTMAS STORIES is free on Amazon this week: getBook.at/FREE_GIFTS
Return of the Short Story by Donald F. Mayo
KILLARNEY BLUES #1 in Australia
Congratulations to Colin O'Sullivan whose novel KILLARNEY BLUES is performing extremely well on Amazon Australia: Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary … Continue reading KILLARNEY BLUES #1 in Australia
Promotion in Australia on Dec. 15: KILLARNEY BLUES (read excerpt)
Excerpt from KILLARNEY BLUES by Colin O'Sullivan "Cathy is ignoring Janet’s requests to open the door. She stays in the same position. On the floor. On that nice soft carpet. Her legs are stretched out in front of her. Her head hangs low. She is a collapsed marionette. But who will pick up the strings … Continue reading Promotion in Australia on Dec. 15: KILLARNEY BLUES (read excerpt)
GIFTS on www.BookDepository.com
A limited print edition of GIFTS is now also available here: http://www.bookdepository.com/Gifts-Betimes-Books/9780992967444 Free delivery worldwide!
Kat, Edward, Gatsby, Capote…and Kevin
The Plaza Hotel in NYC by Jackie Mallon
“The Running Kind” by Craig McDonald is released!
Hector Lassiter #6 is released! “What critics might call eclectic, and Eastern folks quirky, we Southerners call cussedness — and it’s the cornerstone of the American genius. As in: “There’s a right way, a wrong way, and my way.” You want to see how that looks on the page, pick up any of Craig McDonald … Continue reading “The Running Kind” by Craig McDonald is released!
Excerpt: The Running Kind by Craig McDonald
“It is a long road that has no turning.”— Irish proverb 1 No happy ending ever started in a bar. The old friends had chosen to murder the afternoon drinking in the shadowy hotel pub mostly to evade December’s bitter chill. “All I’m sayin’ is that any son of a bitch who sets off … Continue reading Excerpt: The Running Kind by Craig McDonald
Kat and Edward at Christmas
Jackie Mallon about her story in our Christmas collection GIFTS
When Silk for the Feed Dog was published in September 2013, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. There was the obvious reason: I was setting it free to be read and hopefully enjoyed––or to be ignored or, God forbid, hated––but at least it was getting an opportunity to go off and make something of itself. The other reason for the relief was that I was free too.
Mercy me, I didn’t have to spend any more time with that Kat and Edward pair!
We’d been living in each other’s pockets for four years. We knew each other’s quirks and foibles, bad habits, and could finish each other’s sentences. We badly needed a break from each other.
Se ya, wouldn’t want to be ya! I didn’t even wave.
I rallied the old brain cells and giddily embarked on a new writing project.
Initially the lightness about me was intoxicating. Everything…
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Excerpt from Gifts: Bittersweet Christmas Stories by Kevin Stevens
From “The Return of Eddie Sloan” by Kevin Stevens: “She checked on Wardell. He was fast asleep, dreaming of sugar plums. All the doors were locked. The backyard was deserted and the thin cover of fresh snow showed no footprints. In the parlor, the Christmas tree stood lightless and lonely, the angel on top askew. … Continue reading Excerpt from Gifts: Bittersweet Christmas Stories by Kevin Stevens
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