What a nice surprise to find out that my flash fiction story “A Big Appetite” was featured today over at The Gutter’s Flash Fiction Offensive. A big thank you to Jesse Rawlins, Jim Shaffer, and Mick Rose! And then Canadian writer Beau Johnson talks up Finn in a video! Such love. 🙂
“A Big Appetite” is a weird vengeance tale that wasn’t my usual style (but really fun to write). It was first published over at Close to the Bone.
It’s that time of year! The LA Times Festival of Books! I look forward to this every year and I’ll be there signing copies of The Night of the Flood and Cleaning Up Finn.
It’s this weekend Sat 4/21 – Sun 4/22 at the USC campus (boo! Go Bruins!) and there will be books everywhere plus food trucks, panels, kids stuff, poetry readings, and giveaways. It’s heaven for book lovers!
Come find me on Saturday 4/21:
Sisters in Crime – booth #367 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Mystery Writers of America – booth #376 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Mysterious Galaxy – booth #368 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Hope to see you there!
I’m up today chatting with Jesse Rawlins over at Story & Grit. Jesse is launching a new feature called Ink-Quisitions where she interviews various crime fiction authors. And I’m her first victim! It was a lot of fun as we discussed FINN, my contribution to the Johnny Cash collection, “Missouri Waltz,” and my favorite South Bay eats.
Check it out!
I’m up today on Steph Post’s blog where she features mini interviews with authors. It’s called Book Bites: Short and Sweet Interview for Readers on the Go. I answer 5 questions and if you’re curious what research didn’t make it into FINN, come check it out!
And if you’re looking for a great Southern crime fiction noir, check out Steph’s latest release, WALK IN THE FIRE. Just got my copy and I can’t wait to dig into it.
BOOK BITES – Thank you, Steph!
There’s also a nice mention of THE NIGHT OF THE FLOOD!
I’m up live today on fellow crime fiction author Charles Daly’s blog where I talk about FINN and setting crime fiction stories in the South Bay. We met on Twitter and I’m still amazed at the power of social media. The post looks cool and I love the way he laid it out with the quotes he pulled. Thanks, Charles Daly! And thank you Twitter!
DALY PROSE: Sarah M. Chen’s Redondo Beach Noir
The countdown is beginning. In exactly one week, I’ll be in Toronto at BOUCHERCON – the biggest mystery conference in the world. I’m extremely excited and nervous. It will be a little different too since FINN is up for an Anthony Award for Best Novella. I’m already giddy and stressed at these conferences because of the panels I have to prepare for and/or moderate but now that’s like being multiplied by 100. Or 1,000.
Don’t get me wrong. I love going to these conferences. These are my people, my tribe. I get to see people I only know online or just see a couple times a year. I get to meet authors/bloggers/readers/publishers I’ve always wanted to meet. I just have to remember to take time out for myself to just chill and re-group so I don’t go into socialization overload shock.
I’ll be participating in the Author Speed Dating on Thursday from 8:00 – 10:00AM. That’s something I’ve done before and it’s always a fun time. I’ll pitch myself and FINN for 2 minutes to 160 people. It’s exhausting, especially having to be there at 7:30AM, but it’s always worth it to meet new readers and authors.
On Friday, I moderate the “Meet the Editors of your Best Anthology Nominees” at 10:00AM.
On Saturday, I’ll be on the “Meet your Novella Nominees” panel at 8:30AM.
Why is everything so damn early in the morning??
Anyway, I’m excited and it’ll be fantastic to explore a new city. I always come back re-energized, inspired, and seriously motivated to kick ass on my WIP. And yes, hoarse and a little disheveled, but we won’t think about that. 🙂
Anthony Nominee!
My publisher All Due Respect Books, the lowlifes of literature I’m proud to call them, is now an imprint of Down & Out Books. I’m a big fan of Down & Out and Eric Campbell so I’m very excited.
They have re-issued FINN. It’s now bigger and badder than ever! It’s also now available at Barnes & Noble and iTunes…plus any of your favorite indie bookstores can now order FINN.
I’m very grateful that FINN gets a makeover and look forward to a successful and productive partnership with Down & Out!
I’m really excited to attend Bouchercon this year in Toronto for many reasons, but now I have an even bigger reason to be excited! I especially love that this is the first year there is a Best Novella category so it’s truly an honor to be shortlisted.
Best Novella (8,000-40,000 words)
It’s tough competition and it’s even tougher because three of the nominees are my friends: Angel Luis Colón, S.W. Lauden, and John Shepphird. There’s going to be some epic throwdowns in Toronto, I have a feeling.
And I owe all this to my publishers over at ALL DUE RESPECT BOOKS, Chris Rhatigan and Mike Monson. Love these guys and hope I make them proud! Go ADR!
Here’s the link to the entire list of Anthony nominees:
http://bouchercon2017.com/anthony-awards/
Hope to see many of you in Toronto!
Here’s my blog post over at Writing Wranglers & Warriors in anticipation of my signing copies of FINN at the LA Times Festival of Books. It’s my favorite time of year and I couldn’t think of a better place to work all weekend!
James Ellroy 2010 – I’m working The Mystery Bookstore booth
Hope to see you there!
Sisters in Crime, #367 – Saturday, April 22 from 12pm – 1pm
Mysterious Galaxy, #368 – Sunday, April 23 from 12pm – 12:45pm
I’m very excited that FINN has won a Silver IPPY Award for Best Regional Fiction in the West – Pacific category.
The IPPYs are the Independent Publisher Book Awards which honors those books published with small presses. It’s a fantastic organization that supports indie publishing and it’s an honor to be recognized. Woo hoo!
