I just want to say thanks to Maddie Margarita and everyone at Kean Coffee in Tustin for such a wonderful evening. I had a blast reading from FINN and hearing everyone’s thoughts and kind words. What a fabulous event! All you Lit Up!-ers rock!
Month: July 2016
DEAD END FOLLIES REVIEW
Check out the latest review of FINN. This is from Benoit Lelievre (the voice behind the reputable site, Dead End Follies). Dead End Follies posts reviews about books, movies, and pop culture, that skew on the darker side of things.
Here’s an excerpt:
“Whether you’re into Greek tragedies, Alfred Hitchcock or old school Michael Douglas movies, you’ll get a kick out of Sarah M. Chen’s existentially indebted protagonist and the exquisite tortures she puts him through.”
PULP HACK CONFESSIONS REVIEWS FINN
I’m thrilled with this latest review of CLEANING UP FINN. This one is by William E. Wallace, a talented and prolific author, who blogs over at Pulp Hack Confessions.
The title of the review alone is perfect: “Cleaning Up Finn Would Take a Truckload of Disinfectant.”
I especially love the line: “With his misadventures piling up to the point where they seem utterly beyond repair, he decides to turn over a new leaf…Unfortunately, the leaf he turns over is poison oak…”
BEST NEW ENGLAND CRIME STORIES 2016
I’m so excited my short story “Grateful Touring” has been selected for inclusion in Level Best Books’ WINDWARD anthology. It should be available just in time for the Crime Bake Conference in Dedham, MA this November. I’m hoping to attend the conference (on the waitlist) as it’d be great fun to be there as an anthology contributor. It’s a fantastic conference anyway!
This is the first time the editors have opened up the anthology to writers who aren’t residents of New England (stories must be set in New England) so it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I’m honored and thrilled to be part of such a fantastic group of writers.
“Grateful Touring” features leaf-peeping, cigarette smuggling, and Deadheads on a foliage tour of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
INTERVIEW WITH LISETTE BRODEY
I’m up today at the Writers’ Chateau with fellow writer, Lisette Brodey. She sprinkles in some unusual personal questions with the writer craft / process stuff which made for a fun interview. Thanks, Lisette!
Also, if you’re so inclined, there’s a fun post up today on S.W. Lauden’s blog where he re-posts a few of his favorite author quotes of 2016, including one from me!
HARDBOILED: DAMES AND SIN BY DEAD GUNS PRESS
I have a new short story out in “Dames and Sin,” the last installment of Dead Guns Press’s HARDBOILED series. It’s entitled “Pig Boy” and I’m pretty proud of it. It’s a little different than what I usually write in that it’s not set in L.A. or Boston. It’s not even set in America. It features a young woman stranded in Taichung, Taiwan who must resort to her limited skills to survive. It’s pretty dark and messed up – more than what I usually write – which may be why I love it so much. There are some other amazingly talented writers in this issue as well.
Paperback available on Amazon.
THE NOLA MUSIC SCENE
I generally have two major loves in my life: books and writing. Wait – Hana strongly disagrees with me. She’s right, of course, she’s my number one love.
But aside from that, music is a close fourth, especially live music. And where else would you go for the best live music but New Orleans? It’s where I’ve seen some of the best live shows, and every time I go there, I find a new favorite music hot spot. Which is why fabulous mystery author Ellen Byron interviews me for her blog on my favorite music venues in NOLA.
Makes you excited for Bouchercon, doesn’t it?
“CLEANING UP FINN is a sun-blurred, booze-soaked excursion”…what more could you want for summer reading?
Read praise for CLEANING UP FINN here:
From the Col’s Criminal Library:
“You feel like your sympathies shouldn’t really rest with our main man, but somehow in the hands of Sarah Chen, they do. Can Finn clean up his act, get out from under and find some measure of redemption? Or is he doomed to repeat the mistakes of his past?”
From Tom Leins’ DIRTY BOOKS:
“This debut novella from Sarah M. Chen is a sun-blurred, booze-soaked excursion into the grubby underbelly of a Californian beach town.”
From Derrick Horodyski of OUT OF THE GUTTER:
“I absolutely loved Cleaning Up Finn by Sarah M. Chen. I defy anyone who reads this tightly wound novella to find anything wrong with it. It has a classic noir main character, death, despair, and—best of all—a full-throttle plot that picks up more and more speed as the plot unfolds.”