The Thrill Begins

Kelli Stanley’s debut novel NOX DORMIENDA – a historical mystery set in Roman Britain, but written in the classic noir style of Raymond Chandler – is highlighted in the cover story for the April 15th issue of Library Journal.

Wilda Williams, fiction editor for LJ, concludes “Genre Spotlight 2008 “Mystery”: The Sound of Crime Fiction” with a paragraph focusing on Kelli’s new Roman Noir genre as uniting two hot trends within mystery and crime fiction: the historical novel and the reemergence of classic hardboiled/noir/PI stories. Williams leads the article by discussing the growth of large-print editions and audio books, mentioning the Audiobook Publishers Association’s nomination of ITW’s The Chopin Manuscript.

In a section entitled “Roman Noir, Anyone?” Williams queries Barbara Peters of Poisoned Pen Press about what she sees as upcoming trends. Peters predicts that paranormal mysteries will subside in popularity, and sees “historical mysteries, along with the “hot, hot, hot” historical novels, grabbing market share. At the same time, Peters predicts a resurgence of the traditional PI and classic crime fiction.”

Williams concludes as follows:

“Reflecting these dual trends is a July debut Roman historical from Gale’s Five Star imprint, Nox Dormienda (A Long Night for Sleeping). Its author, Kelli Stanley, is a published classics scholar who has taught Latin and Greek. “Nox combines Kelli’s love of ancient history [and]… classic noir writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett in a new hybrid genre she’s calling Roman Noir,” says Five Star acquisitions editor Tiffany Schofield. With advance blurbs from Gayle Lynds, James Rollins, and Ken Bruen, perhaps this unusual debut will make a splash in other formats as well. Are the audio and large print publishers listening?”

The article can be read in its entirety at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6547090.html. And large print publishers are, indeed, listening. NOX DORMIENDA has already been slotted for an October large-print release date through Thorndike Press.

Leighton Gage came to Brazil in 1973, left a few years later for Australia and the Middle East, but could not stay away.

When he came back two years later, he “ran smack dab into all of the bad things that I’d pushed into the back of my mind: the crime; the obscene wealth; the staggering poverty. I couldn’t take it. I went to live in Miami for a time. And found myself missing Brazil all over again. Now, a quarter of a century on, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t have to live here all the time, but I do have to live here some of the time. I get homesick when I’m away for too long.”

Gage’s first novel, Blood of the Wicked, published by Soho Crime, was one result of his exposure to the uglier side of the country. In Part I of a two-part interview, he talks to Detectives Beyond Borders about that book, its follow-up, and the vast, beautiful and violent land that inspired them. Part One. Part Two.

In addition to the accolades LIFELINES has received from Publisher’s Weekly, The Baltimore Sun, and a Top Pick from Romantic Times, LIFELINES has scored a Perfect 10 from Romance Reviews Today!

The writing, storyline, descriptions, and characterizations are simply superb…a gritty, breathtaking, nail-chewing wild ride in and about Pittsburgh.

I found it difficult to put this book down. It is better than any medical story I have ever read and rivals the best in the movies and television. At the climax, readers will be hanging on by their fingertips. Emotions run high, and debut author C. J. Lyons blends everything and everyone seamlessly in this riveting drama. I award this must-read novel a Perfect 10.

~Vi Janaway, Romance Reviews Today

For the entire review, click here.

LIFELINES is available in stores everywhere now.

During the month of March, The Writers Chatroom (TWC) is proud to host its first virtual book tour. The cyber-tour will feature debut author Jordan Dane and her back to back releases with Avon HarperCollins: NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM (April 08), NO ONE LEFT TO TELL (May 08), and NO ONE LIVES FOREVER (June 08).

TWC’s Linda Hutchison had arranged the event after ‘virtually meeting’ Dane in MySpace. “I knew Jordan was doing everything we had ever thought of telling writers to do to market their wares. She had sold three novels to a major publishing house and three more in 2007. She also had a professional website and several very visible marketing strategies in place. She was definitely on my ‘to be watched’ list.”

Publishers Weekly calls Dane’s NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM a “dynamite debut” and compares Dane’s intense pacing to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag—romantic suspense that “crosses over into plain thriller country”. Avon/HarperCollins bought Jordan Dane’s debut suspense series in auction and is launching this eagerly awaited trilogy in a back to back publishing event April through June 2008. “We are pursuing an aggressive release schedule,” says Avon publisher Liate Stehlik, “because we believe strongly in this author. Jordan Dane is poised to be the ‘next big thing’ in the romantic suspense genre.”

Many of TWC’s authors have reviewed advance copies of NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM and will post their reviews and their own Q&A interviews with Jordan during March. And the event will culminate in a live moderated chat on March 30^th. See dates and hosting authors links below. For more information on The Writers Chatroom, please visit their website at www.writerschatroom.com, voted as Writer’s Digest “101 Best Websites for Writers”.

Virtual Tour Dates and LinksMarch 5 - Billie Williams http://printedwords.blogspot.comMarch 8 - Linda J. Hutchinson http://reviewhutch.blogspot.com

March 12 - Kim Richards http://kim-richards.livejournal.com/

March 15 - Lisa Haselton http://lisahaselton.tripod.com/reviewsandinterviews/

March 19 - Cricket Sawyer http://www.Cricketshearth.blogspot.com

March 22 - Diana Castilleja http://dianacastilleja.blogspot.com

March 26 - Renee’ Barnes http://msqtpi.livejournal.com/

March 29 - Glenn Walker http://www.monsura.blogspot.com

March 30 - TWC Launch PARTY – Moderated Chat (7pm EST) March Chat Guests: C. Hope Clark, Kathryn Lilley, James McMullen, Darlene Hartman/ Simon Lang, and Jordan Dane.

AuthorLink has posted a video interview CJ Lyons did with them, discussing the trials and tribulations of getting published.

Click HERE if you want to see CJ up close and personal….

Plus more great reviews for CJ’s debut, LIFELINES! This one from Sunday’s Baltimore Sun, from Sarah Weinman:

Readers who prefer their medical thrillers to have characters with beating hearts and three dimensions are well advised to pick up this series debut by Lyons, a veteran of trauma centers and pediatric emergency medicine…Lyons captures the frenetic setting of the ER with a smooth style that demands the reader move forward to keep up with the piece, but she also creates winning portraits of the supporting players set to anchor the series.

And, if you are at Left Coast Crime, be sure to give a shout out to all of us ITW members (especially the Debuts!) who will be there!!

As my debut novel prepares to launch with a bang on Nov. 3, 2008, I thought I would look back to where this overnight success began.

I wrote my first novel at 14 when a junior high classmate ran away from home. After school, my best friend and I hopped on our bikes and scoured the suburban neighborhood, calling the girl’s name and looking in her usual haunts.  Although we came up empty in our search, the girl eventually showed up safe and sound. But it was that event that ignited in me an idea for a “What if?” story that eventually grew to be my first novel-length work.

I wrote that first draft in longhand — despite having some of the worst handwriting to ever spring from the Scottish education system — and became so enamored of the possibilities that I begged my parents for a portable manual typewriter for Christmas. With the typewriter in my eager little hands, I began the second draft of the novel that I titled, He Climbed A Crooked Ladder. The story was set in Baltimore — a city I had never been to, so all the descriptions were of my local non-Baltimore neighborhood; the protagonist drove a car, even though I didn’t have a driver’s license; and it featured a rather interesting sex scene even though I was a virgin.

I finished the novel to my satisfaction sometime in high school (a third draft was written on a fancy new electric typewriter) and it has rested in a dusty box ever since. No one has ever read the finished script, but it taught me one of the most important lessons of bring a writer: I could turn an idea into a whole, novel-length story. Sure, the writing may not have been any good and the plot was probably a meandering mess, but I proved to myself that I could stick at a story and work through it until it was complete.

After that, I turned my attention to poetry (as being around pretty girls at school all day has a tendency to do) and published dozens of horrible ones in the school newspaper. This was also a very valuable lesson. Being published, even in such a small arena, meant people could read my work and offer their opinion. As you can imagine, some people (the closeted poets and lovers of secret diaries) thought I was incredibly brave, while others mocked and laughed at me to no end. Being able to accept this criticism for what it was is something every writer needs. It builds our armor for the future and strengthens our resolve to succeed.

Resolve, determination and pure pigheaded stubbornness was something I would soon discover I needed by the semitruckful.

— Grant McKenzie 

Denver is hosting Left Coast Crime this year, and Thrill Begins members and advisors are getting ready for “Murder on the Rocks!”

CJ Lyons, already a star in the Centennial state from her keynote speaker gig at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Conference, will be launching LIFELINES at LCC. CJ’s signing schedule includes two events on March 5^th–a 5 PM signing at Denver’s Murder by the Book, and a 7 PM launch at High Crimes in Boulder–and a March 6^th signing at the famous Tattered Cover bookstore in the historic LoDo section of Denver.

At the conference itself, CJ will be participating in a “Writers on Writing” segment with a class on how to write thrillers Thursday afternoon (12:30-1:15); moderating a hardboiled panel on Friday morning (8:30-9:15), and talking about the art of the thriller on Friday afternoon (3:45-4:30) with fellow ITW members Jeff Buick, Laura Caldwell, Linda Richards and Theresa Schwegel.

Bill Cameron, ITW Debut Author advisor and Killer Year member, has been nominated for a Rocky for his debut novel, LOST DOG. Bill will be moderating the juicy panel “Sex and Violence: Is too much ever enough?” on Friday morning (11 - 11:45) with fellow Killer Year author Marcus Sakey and writers Tasha Alexander, David Corbett, and Eric Stone. He’ll also be pondering the thin line between truth and fiction on a panel Sunday morning (8:45-9:30).

J.T. Ellison, another Killer year member and author of the scintillating ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS, will be delving into Forensics on a Friday afternoon panel with Julie Hyzy, Neil Plakcy and Chris Grabenstein (3:45-4:30), as well as answering “Where Do These People Come From?” on Saturday morning (9:45-10:30).

Laura Benedict, whose paranormal thriller ISABELLA MOON debuted in September to great acclaim, will be participating in “Mind Games and Manhunts: Psychological Thrillers” on Thursday afternoon (3:45-4:30).

Kelli Stanley, whose debut Roman noir NOX DORMIENDA will be out in July, will be discussing history at the MWA Past Perfect panel Friday morning (11-11:45) and answering questions about noir (and giving away chap books at both events) at “Shades of Black: Noir at 50 Paces” Saturday afternoon (3:45-4:30) with Jason Starr, Con Lehane, Cornelia Read and Ken Kuhlken.

In addition to all this, you can come schmooze with ITW debut writers CJ, Bill, Laura and JT, at the New Author Continental Breakfast on Friday morning from 7:30-8:30, and come hear them natter on in Endless Conversation with other authors and the audience at various times on Friday and Saturday (Kelli: Friday 1:45-2:15; Bill: Saturday 1:15-1:45; JT: Saturday 2:15-2:45).

We hope you’ll come out to support these Thrill Begins authors if you’re heading for “Murder on the Rocks”!

September 18 - 21, 2008
Meijer Book Tour 2008 - Five Cities in Michigan

Jordan Dane will be one of the featured authors for a book tour of Meijer Supercenters in Michigan hosted by Levy Entertainment. The tour will spotlight “lead title” authors for all the major publishing houses. The highly promoted event with its huge book signings will cover 9 stores and 5 cities–including Detroit, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Lansing. The tour begins Thursday, September 18 and will end at the last store in Detroit on Sunday, September 21 at 6:00 pm. Stay tuned for more details, and be sure to check out Jordan’s website for an updated schedule!

Okay, true confession time. I’ve been telling stories all my life (a constant dismay to my parents who swore I’d never learn the difference between fact and fiction!) and writing them down for as long as I can remember….along with that came the dream of someday seeing them published.

So, even as a kid, whenever I had some cash in my pocket, I’d buy a Writer’s Digest and read it from cover to cover, trying to glean any insight into how to make my dream come true. Never bought a Cosmo or Elle or Redbook, nope, the only magazine I bought was Writer’s Digest.

And now, there I am, a full page all about me and my book on p. 22 of the April WD issue (on newsstands now!) in Jordan Rosenfeld’s First Impressions feature.

Jordan was so wonderful to talk with during our interview, I almost forget it actually was an interview! I’m so thrilled that she gives debut authors a chance to stand out from crowd and am so appreciative of her support.

So, go get yourself a copy! And don’t forget, LIFELINES goes on sale March 4th–buy early, buy often and you could win a special prize!!! Check out the contest page on my website for more details.

Thanks for reading!
CJ

Bertelsmann Direct North America has bought ITW author Jordan Dane’s 3-book debut series–NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM, NO ONE LEFT TO TELL, and NO ONE LIVES FOREVER–as featured alternates in the Doubleday, Mystery Guild and the Rhapsody Book Clubs. Every year, Bertelsmann Direct North America evaluates over twenty thousand manuscripts from publishers and selects two thousand or so for use in their various clubs.

Dane’s books will be printed in hardcover for exclusive distribution to club members. And her debut series will be promoted in a club magazine containing book reviews, exclusive features, and special promotions. These clubs offer a vast selection of the latest in best selling novels that include mysteries, thrillers, suspense, romance and other genres.

For more information on Jordan and these thrilling new novels, visit her website.