Finishing Your Novel, tips from Timothy Hallinan

Some tips for aspiring novelists:

Finishing Your Novel:  six sections of online suggestions by Timothy Hallinan,
author of Breathing Water and other fiction.

Ten Rules for Writing Fiction: writing suggestions by well known authors, in The Guardian.

Blogs that discuss writing:
All write with coffee...
Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
Confessiions of the Un-Published
Cozy Murder Mysteries
Killer Hobbies
Murder by 4
Murder is Everywhere
Mystery Writing is Murder
Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe
Sasha Jackson Mysteries

and a book,
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass

Just a few of the online resources available on starting and finishing a book!

Member of Amazon Associates

50 Best Blogs for Crime and Mystery Book Lovers

Court Reporter.net has named Book Dilettante one of the 50 Best Blogs for Crime and Mystery Book Lovers. Book Dilettante is listed under Mystery Books with the following description:

22. Book Dilettante (aka Book Bird Dog): This blog is a great place to visit if you love reading mystery novels and are curious about novelists working outside of the U.S. 

Others in the Mystery Books list:
13.Mystery Reader Discussion: This blog provides a format to talk about the latest mystery books, even if you can’t meet the group in person.

14.Mystery Books News: Check back with this blog regularly to get updates on new releases in the mystery and suspense genre.

15.Mystery*File: Here you’ll find a blog dedicated to fans of mystery and detective novels, with reviews, updates and information about titles both new and old.

16.Mysteries in Paradise: This blog is a great source of mystery novel news and book reviews.

17.I Love a Good Mystery: With book reviews, news, events, links and information about movies, this site is a great one-stop place to find information about everything mystery related.

18.Murder By the Book Mystery Book Blog: The bookstore by the same name maintains this blog and updates it regularly with what the bloggers have been reading.

19.The Little Blog of Murder: Get a perspective on the murder-mystery genre from an Ohio native on this regularly-updated blog.

20.Confessions of a Mystery Novelist: Go straight to the source for information and insights into mystery books with this blog from a mystery novelist and professor.

21.Lesa’s Book Critiques: This librarian and blogger focuses her reviews of books on mystery novels.

22.Book Dilettante (aka Book Bird Dog): This blog is a great place to visit if you love reading mystery novels and are curious about novelists working outside of the U.S.

23.Shadow of the Raven: Keep up with mystery book news from the bookstore Mystery on Main through this blog.

24.The Scene of the Crime: Here you can get a look at the relationship between mystery stories and where they take place from author J. Sydney Jones.
 
I was surprised but honored to be listed! Here are just a few of my reviews:

Paying Back Jack by Christopher G. Moore, set in Bangkok
The Risk of Infidelity Index by Christopher G. Moore, set in Bangkok
Snow Angels by James Thompson, set in Finland
The Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong, set in Shanghai
Blood and Groom by Jill Edmonson, set in Toronto
The Black Monastery by Stav Sherez, set in Greece
Breathing Water: A Bangkok Thriller by Timothy Hallinan, set in Thailand.

What's next on my crime fiction reading list? The Brick Layer by Noah Boyd; The Godfather of Kathmandu by John Burdett, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson.

Head on over to Court Reporter.net to see the blogs they recommend for lots of info on what Crime and Mystery books and authors are available. The blogs were organized into Crime Books, Mystery Books, By the Author, Group Blogs, True Crime Blogs, and Crime and More categories.

Teaser Tuesday: Far From the Land: An Irish Memoir by Thomas J. Rice

"After years of favorite stories, told over and over by Mother and others,
I had it down. I knew her journey in detail,
from her early childhood to her becoming the famous Maggie O'Toole, to her romance with Artie Rice
and giving birth to eight children..." (ch. 2)

My comments: This is the story of Thomas Rice, the only son of Maggie and  Arty Rice, a boy who grew up in a farmhouse in Ballinvalley in rural Ireland, a boy afraid of the dark and the banshees of Celtic folklore, keening "women of the fairies" which his older sisters used to tease him about. Thomas leaves school at age 13 to help with the farm, in the absence of his charismatic but troubled father who left the family and who only showed up every now and then, with disastrous results.

Thomas becomes successful at farming in Ballinvalley, working with a neighbor Davy, who teaches him about horses and the land, but as a young teen he still longs for something different. At age 16 he and Maggie leave Ballinvalley for Sheffield, but he finds the taunting on the job and hardship in England too much to bear. They finally sail on the Queen Mary for America  and arrive in New York on July 4, 1959.

Here's what he says about his yearning for a life beyond home:

Each success in Ballinvalley had the paradoxical effect of reminding me of how hollow these
achievements had become.
Without knowing it, I'd become obsessed with the question
of what lay beyond that majestic sycamore grove
on the skyline over Borris - the one I'd taken
for granted each day for sixteen years -
and that I now say only as a barrier
between me and whatever lay beyond the thundering waves
of the blue-green Irish Sea. (ch. 23)

Recommendations: I found out a lot about the history of Ireland in this excellent and well-written memoir of coming-of-age in 1940s and 1950s Ireland. The memoir incorporates the history of life under the British, the fight for Irish independence in the 1920s and the hardship of life when Thomas Rice was growing up in the 1940s-50s. It also tells about daily life on a farm in rural Ireland and the community and closeness of the people.

Author: Thomas J. Rice received a scholarship to Cornell University, earned his doctoral degree, and is a college professor, leadership consultant, and social activist. He lives in Andover, Mass. Far from the Land: An Irish Memoir was published in 2009. Source: Free review book provided by Jane Wesman Public Relations, Inc.

For more Teaser Tuesdays quotes, visit Teaser Tuesdays
Challenge: 100 + Reading Challenge

Art and Culture Award, Blogger Award

What fun to have this Commemorative Trophy from Raquel Crusoe, who is celebrating her blog's first anniversary and reaching 1,000 friends. Raquel is a classical pianist and music professor from Minas Gerais, Brazil.

 Amigo de Arte e Cultura, Friend of Art and Culture:

Queridos amigos !

Eu não poderia deixar passar em branco esse momento em que alcançamos a marca dos 1 000 amigos e leitores. Agradeço a Deus, nosso maior e melhor Amigo, por termos encontrado um ao outro.

Obrigada pela presença de vocês em nossa vida e nesta jornada em prol da Arte e Cultura. Por esta razão, para estarmos cada vez mais juntos, ofereço este Troféu Comemorativo para registrarmos este momento ímpar.

Vocês valem Ouro !
Com muito carinho,
Raquel

"Cultural intelligence is the ability to interact effectively with people from other cultural histories." - Raquel Crusoe

I used Google Translator to translate from Portuguese to English. Raquel thanks her followers for celebrating art and culture and for being friends on her blog. Please check out her bio, music videos, and lots of artist performances and info on Raquel Crusoe - Arte e Cultura.



Equally nice is the Beautiful Blogger Award from Yvonne at  Socrates' Book Reviews. Thanks, Yvonne! To accept the award, I list seven things about myself, here, and pass on the award to some excellent blogs that are new to me. Here are a few:

Dust and Spores
The Printed Page
Color Online
Farm Lane Books Blog
S. Krishna's Books

Please check out these great blogs!

The Sunday Salon: Interview, Giveaway, Awards

   Welcome to the Sunday Salon! A Monday-Sunday wrap-up?  Let's see ...

1) Two reviews - Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (excellent audio book), and The Risk of Infidelity Index, a detective crime novel by Christopher G. Moore, set in Bangkok.

2) An interview with Kristin Bair O'Keeffe, author of Thirsty: A Novel

3) Posted a blue-grey winter photo of my snowy backyard for Wordless Wednesday

4) Wrote on the prompt, fortune, for the 100-Word Writing Challenge

5) Posted a book giveaway  for the wine memoir, Corked.

6) Accepted two awards and passed them on: The Honest Scrap Award and the One Lovely Blog Award.

I wrested off part of my winter cocoon this weekend and ventured out after the sun came out and started to melt the foot of snow outside. I even did some chores, including opening a bunch of packages with books! that came in the mail, and updating the list of books to read and review. I love making that list, but Sigh! Do I really do this for free?  Yes, just because I love the 2 Rs - reading and writing. (I dropped the 3rd R - Rithmatic - some years ago.)

Am also getting more creative with food - Greek zuchini fritters with feta cheese; omlettes with cheese, parsley, onions, and watercress; fresh coconuts for the juice and soft meat.  Anything to get in the required servings of three veggies and three servings of fruit each day - healthy eating tips I got from Denise's Daily Dozen. It's becoming quite an adventure.

Forgot to mention I received the audio book I won, The Swan Thieves, and am setting aside some quiet time to listen to the 17 discs. Maybe I'll keep it for mid-March.

One more thing, we are enjoying the skiing, skating, bobsledding, and curling, yes curling! competitions in Vancouver. I think I'd like to try my hand at curling, though I'm sure it's not as easy as it looks. 

What did you do last week?

Awards

PattiKen and the Muses has passed on this interesting award! PattiKen is a new blogging and writing friend. Please check out her blog!

To accept the award, I have to give seven bits of information about myself and tag others. I haven't been passing on awards for a while though I always acknowledge them in the sidebar. The arm with the hammer means to me that we writers and bloggers work hard to pound out our words and posts, scrap or otherwise :)and deserve a gentle pat on the back every now and then. Thanks, PattiKen!

Bits of personal info? Here goes:

1. I live in a flat agricultural state in the Midwest USA though I grew up not far from mountains and the ocean. I miss both, expecially in the dead of winter!

2. I love dogs and would love to have a Rottweiler pup that I wouldn't be scared of when it grew up to be a huge force of nature :)

3. "Sunshine always makes me smile" (song).

4. I often add molasses, chocolate, and cinnamon to my coffee.

5. I often take home more library books than I can read before the due dates.

6. I'll only read ebooks if I want to really rush through a book. I can scan an ebook faster than a regular book - don't know why.

7. I've run out of things to say about myself :)

I'd like to pass on this award to some who haven't received it as yet. There are so many people to choose from, but the award will be passed on, so ....

From my Google Reader:
a) Rose City Reader
b)Sheila Deeth Blog
c)The Reading Life
d)Fair Dinkum Book Reviews
e)Confessions of the Un-Published
f)Book Ends

Just a few of the many great blog sites...Please visit them!

I'd also like to thank Elena from All Booked Up for the One Lovely Blog Award! Please visit her wonderful book blog!

The bloggers tagged above are tagged for this award as well!

Have a great weekend, and keep on blogging!

Book Review: The Risk of Infidelity Index by Christopher G. Moore

The Risk of Infidelity Index: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel by Christopher G. Moore

P.I. Calvino makes a surveillance video of an outfit manufacturing fake drugs in Bangkok, but the lawyer who hired him for the job dies from an apparent heart attack before paying Calvino for the video.

To find out more about his dead client, Calvino takes a job from three mem farangs, foreign women, whose husbands may know more about his client. The women hire Calvino to spy on their husbands for any signs of cheating. Bangkok has a high infidelity risk factor, according to a book the women have been reading, The Risk of Infidelity Index. Calvino wheedles information from the women about their husbands who knew his dead client, finds out who's behind the fake drug making scam, and finally gets paid for his work, all while risking his life many times over and barely escaping intact.

My favorite secondary characters in the novel are Colonel Pratt, a local police officer who helps keep Calvino alive, and Calvino's office assistant, Rachana. Both are staples in the suspenseful detective series.

Publisher's description: " Vincent Calvino, disbarred American lawyer turned Bangkok PI, comes to North America at long last with a gripping novel set in a superbly textured, masterfully rendered Bangkok." The ninth novel in the PI series, it's the first printed in the U.S.,Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007.

Recommendation: For those who like detective crime fiction in international settings. I rated this four out of five stars. I also gave 4 stars to the 11th Calvino book, Paying Back Jack.

Challenge: 100 + Reading Challenge, Support your Local Library Challenge, Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge

Member of Amazon Associates