"The New Year will see the completion of the Hector Lassiter series' publication, for the first time in its entirety, in chronological order and uniform packaging, by Betimes Books. As the calendar year changes, here's a little look back, and ahead, for the Hector Lassiter novels. The Lassiter series returned courtesy of Betimes Books in … Continue reading HECTOR LASSITER: A LOOK BACK & AHEAD by Craig McDonald
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Today: Sam Hawken’s choice
The book I read the most often might not necessarily be my favorite book, but it is the book which speaks to me the most: No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy. When I first read the book in 2005, I knew I’d found the key to unlocking my own voice in writing. Up … Continue reading Today: Sam Hawken’s choice
Today: Jackie Mallon’s choice
There is a passage from classic literature so vividly macabre yet fantastically romantic that it seared itself into my girlhood brain. Nothing Hollywood’s big budget pyrotechnics or CGI wizardry has ever produced has come close to replicating it: the image of Miss Havisham catching fire in Great Expectations. Unlike some little girls I didn’t grow … Continue reading Today: Jackie Mallon’s choice
“CENTRAL PARK WEST TRILOGY is not your average novel.”
"...wrought with dark humour and a multitude of literary, philosophical and psychological references. The trilogy is an essential read for anyone who enjoys a challenge: predictable neither in content nor in form, CENTRAL PARK WEST TRILOGY is not your average novel." Full review here: http://www.palatinate.org.uk/?p=52129 Richard Kalich's book is on promotion in the UK and … Continue reading “CENTRAL PARK WEST TRILOGY is not your average novel.”
Happy New Year! “The Party” by Richard Kalich
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
Betimes Books 
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