"One True Sentence" originally appeared from St. Martin's Minotaur in February 2011. In original publication sequence, it was the fourth Lassiter novel to see the light of day. Its cover and packaging was radically different from the three titles that preceded it, and that embodied a growing concern I had as my Lassiter books went … Continue reading Craig McDonald: Cover me #1 – One True Sentence
The Hector Lassiter series #1 Kindle bestseller in Australia!
During a Kindle Daily Deal promotion, all five published Hector Lassiter novels on the Movers & Shakers page: And after the promotion ended, at full price -- before "Gone Girl" and the new Michael Connelly novel!
Kindle promotion! SILK FOR THE FEED DOGS
Jackie Mallon's novel SILK FOR THE FEED DOGS is on promotion on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk until the 20th of November. “Silk for the Feed Dogs is a stellar accomplishment – get it, read it, you won’t regret the indulgence of silk against your skin." —DisappearingInPlainSight.com getBook.at/SILK_Mallon
Reaching Readers in Missouri
CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN WITH ‘THE GREAT PRETENDER’ by Craig McDonald!
Celebrate Halloween with Orson Welles, Hector Lassiter, Black Magic and Nazis in THE GREAT PRETENDER http://craigmcdonaldbooks.blogspot.ie/2014/10/celebrate-halloween-with-great-pretender.html
German translation rights to Sam Hawken’s novel LA FRONTERA
German translation rights to Sam Hawken's novel LA FRONTERA have been acquired by Polar Verlag for publication in September 2015. Congratulations to Sam!
“Why do I write” by Jackie Mallon
This is the question posed by my blogmate, Kate at Maison Bentley Style. It’s part of a blog hop. I could never say no to Kate. She is the big hearted, ever-so-stylish epicenter of my blogging society; our intrepid heroine and our gracious hostess. She is the pre-scandal Lily Bart; the always charismatic Daisy Buchanan; the nobly independent Jo Marsh of my circle.
Why do I write, you ask, Kate? Well, that’s like asking why one would want to disappear through this little gate…
What am I working on now?
Despite weeks lost to my well-documented home search and the attendant broker, mortgage, co-op application misery, I am about two thirds of the way through my second novel. First draft, mind you. And, full disclosure, it doesn’t have a beginning yet, nor have I any idea of the route to take to arrive at the ending. But it’s still an easier…
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“The Practices of Compassion and Cruelty” by David Hogan
“I don’t understand these people trying to help animals when there’s so much human suffering in the world. Shouldn’t they be helping humans instead?”
I was asked this question at dinner the other day. One of the characters in my novel, The Last Island, is an animal rights activist. The questioner thought that her passion, like that of many other animal activists, was misplaced. I answered the question as best I could at the time, but after some thought I realized that my response was inadequate. I’ve since come to a new conclusion.
Simply put, the advocacy of animal rights is a matter of compassion. Compassion is a practice, not a resource. It’s not limited and can’t be depleted. Like any other practice — meditation, prayer, kindness, love – it’s something within which one can grow and improve. Given that, compassion for animals does not displace or re-direct compassion…
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“Cities, Bars, and Crime” by Kevin Stevens
These days, big cities go out of their way to proclaim their cleanliness and safety. New York, LA, London, Paris…the city fathers of each note regularly how, compared with a few decades ago, their metropolises are much better to visit and live in. Crime rates have fallen. The cops are friendly. The streets are litter-free. What vice there is is socially acceptable or decidely unseedy. And who’d have it any other way?
Well, readers of crime fiction, perhaps. Crime novels and cities go together like guns and ammo. And traditionally, dirty, unsafe streets with heavy fog and crumbling neighborhoods not only create atmosphere but plot opportunities as well.
But fiction moves with the times. And these days noir is as much a state of mind as a physical phenomenon. The twenty-first century urban landscape is slick and anonymous, at least in the developed world, and writers now look to these characteristics – while not…
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A poem by Colin O’Sullivan – From A Bunch
I wrote two poems about budgies yesterday but somehow managed to accidentally delete them both. The poems were about how I’m not, repeat not, having a nervous breakdown. Although after losing both files I may rethink the whole not having a nervous breakdown thing…
There was a time when I wrote happy romantic little ditties. Like the one below, called From a Bunch.
In the meantime I’ll try and retrieve the poems (about the angry and obsessed budgies) from the bowels of the computer (both birds were called Franz) and also locate a poem I wrote on a napkin last week called Dead Flies. Psychiatrist’s couch here I come!
(Too much time listening to Swans, methinks)
Every little flower
and every myth
amaranthus
lotus
magnolia
daisy daisy
soon I will
tread among the weeds
and pick someone like you.
For a riveting novel about music and people’s secrets and relationships and drama…
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“My Literary Neighborhood” by Kevin Stevens
There ought to be a room in every house to swear in. Mark Twain
I live near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass, in a “Harlow buidling.” These beautiful brick structures were designed by Hamilton Harlow in the early decades of the twentieth century and were designed to blend in with the features of Harvard University buildings – red brick, elegant ironwork, and leaded glass windows.
It’s a cool neighborhood. A really cool neighborhood for a writer, partly because so many famous authors lived nearby. Two doors up from my building is where William Dean Howells lived in the 1870s, when he was editor of the Atlantic Monthly.
There is a great story in Justin Kaplan’s biography of Mark Twain which details Twain’s visit to this house in April, 1876, and the ill-fated attempt of Howells and Twain to get to Concord by train for centennial celebrations presided over…
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“Ekphrasis” by Jackie Mallon
I’ve been up on the roof. no, not to throw myself off. There’s no WiFi up there. The lengths––or heights––I will go to in order to dodge the clutches of procrastination. I have a new writing project deadline which I’ll tell you about later.
You would have loved it up there this week. You hear the city below, the symphony of sirens, a school bell faintly, voices from other rooftops that sound like seagulls’ cries, a door slamming in the belly of the building, a car horn, but the noises are all so gentle and far far away. Even though I had work to do I felt like I was on holiday. On a beach even. I felt like one of those writers with the means to retreat to an exclusive island hideaway every time they have a deadline (I’m sure these blessed individuals still exist–I don’t know any but…
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Publisher’s Weekly praises Craig McDonald’s new novel FOREVER’S JUST PRETEND!
Publishers Weekly on FOREVER'S JUST PRETEND: "Entertaining...a must read for series fans and a solid introduction for new readers." http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-9926552-9-7
Craig McDonald about his participation in the Iowa City Book Festival
Craig McDonald at Iowa City Book Festival!
Craig McDonald's books next to James Ellroy's at their joint signing at Iowa City Book Festival last night.
Literature and Art: Jackie Mallon about “Painted Women”
My current reading: Augustus John by Michael Holroyd published 1974
Immersed in research for my second novel, I stumbled upon the painter, Augustus John. He was an interesting type and no mistake but it is his women who truly fascinate. Upon reading descriptions of them, how they spoke and looked and thought, I sought out their portraits. Style mavens with names like Dorelia, Ida (surname Nettleship, no less), Alick, Euphemia, Estella, Arabella, Guilhermina, Ottoline, Clarissa, Caitlin, Amaryllis, Iris, formed a pageant of poetically monikered muses that fuelled his art. They would fuel my sketches too if I had a collection to design. Instead they will fuel my fiction.
Marchesa Casati by Augustus John
Known for “a compelling stare when he looked at a woman,” Augustus John’s quest for the next enigmatic face was a compulsion he made no apologies for. It was a congenital weakness. A coquettish voice emanating from…
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HOW I CAME TO WRITE “ROLL THE CREDITS”
Craig McDonald about writing "ROLL THE CREDITS" (AKA HECTOR LASSITER & WWII). A fascinating insight: http://craigmcdonaldbooks.blogspot.ie/2014/09/how-i-came-to-write-roll-credits-aka.html
Richard Kalich and Bernard Piga: a Writer and a Painter
When we were designing the cover for “Central Park West Trilogy” with JT Lindroos, we were looking for a work of art that wouldn’t simply ‘illustrate’ the title but mirror Richard Kalich’s writing and vision. And we have found more than just one work of art: we have found the Painter. Bernard Piga’s expressionist paintings … Continue reading Richard Kalich and Bernard Piga: a Writer and a Painter
“The Great Pretender” and “Roll the Credits” now available as e-books!
THE GREAT PRETENDER by Craig McDonald available here: getBook.at/TheGreatPretender_eb ROLL THE CREDITS by Craig McDonald available here: getBook.at/RollTheCredits_eb
“Dollmaker” by Jackie Mallon
Jackie Mallon, the author of SILK FOR THE FEED DOGS: “We do not want to be Barbie dolls…”
I can’t hold my tongue any more. It’s abuse of position. Jeremy Scott is using the glittering Moschino name to peddle his own nasty wares. Can we call security? Get this guy outta here! This is one Scot(t) that should have been granted independence this week!
Okay, so he has a sense of humor and thinks fashion should be fun. He doesn’t know the code and is trespassing on our property
Franco Moschino had a clever, questioning, political point of view, using his fashion as a platform to tackle issues of consumerism, drugs, AIDS….and then, as well as all that, he knew how to have a laugh, yes.
Through fashion Franco bantered with women; he engaged in witty repartee. Even when he embroidered For Fashion Victims Only on our back, or Waist of Money around our middle, it was clear he loved women. There was respect behind what he did…
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