Craig McDonald: Cover me #3 – Forever’s Just Pretend & The Great Pretender

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"This edition is all "pretend" in terms of exploring more about how Betimes Books and I went about our strategic relaunch of the Hector Lassiter series, for the first time presenting the entire series in a mix of old and new titles, uniformly branded and sequenced in chronological order.  Having established the look of the … Continue reading Craig McDonald: Cover me #3 – Forever’s Just Pretend & The Great Pretender

Craig McDonald: Cover me #2 – Toros & Torsos

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"Covers can make or break a book. The fact is, we do judge books by their covers. This is the second in a series of posts examining the strategies, concepts and creative process behind the repackaging of the Hector Lassiter series into bestselling, uniform editions for Betimes Books." - Craig McDonald Read more: http://craigmcdonaldbooks.blogspot.ie/2014/11/cover-me-2-toros-torsos.html

Craig McDonald: Cover me #1 – One True Sentence

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"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!

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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!

Hadley Colt and Craig McDonald in a conversation about the challenges of writing about writers

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We asked Craig McDonald, author of the Hector Lassiter series and also of two books of interviews with American and European crime novelists, to interview the mysterious Hadley Colt, author of PERMANENT FATAL ERROR. They each have new novels centered by authors and informed by the craft of fiction writing. Hadley and Craig engaged in … Continue reading Hadley Colt and Craig McDonald in a conversation about the challenges of writing about writers

THE (IM)PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY by Craig McDonald

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Retcon. That’s a relatively newish term that’s a contraction for “retroactive continuity.” Typically you’re going to run into this when a long-running print or film series reckons it’s time to inject fresh blood or your lead actor has to be recast. Take the current Bond flicks as voguish example: Daniel Craig enters as a tyro, … Continue reading THE (IM)PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY by Craig McDonald

Excerpt: Roll the Credits

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FRANCE: 1940   In the old days, if a horse stumbled three times you shot it in the head. As far as I was concerned, our driver had just made his second stumble. Well, arguably it was his third if you counted a certain slip of the tongue earlier in the late-morning. I’d wondered at Billy’s … Continue reading Excerpt: Roll the Credits

Excerpt: The Great Pretender

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1 THE STRANGER   “Perception is reality, that’s how the saying goes, isn’t it, Hec?” Hector Lassiter, novelist, screenwriter, and for the moment, literary executor, looked down at all the chilly pedestrians scurrying through the autumn wind tearing along Fifth Avenue. The fierce wind made eyes water and noses run down there. Up here the wind cut to bone. He … Continue reading Excerpt: The Great Pretender

Book trailer for THE GREAT PRETENDER by Craig McDonald

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Available soon, THE GREAT PRETENDER by Craig McDonald: Orson Welles, voodoo curses, Nazi occultists, the War of the Worlds Panic Broadcast of 1938, the secret history behind the noir classic, THE THIRD MAN, and a search for the Spear of Destiny. Watch the book trailer here: