Mystery Book Award Season

It's the beginning of awards season in the mystery book world, and we're excited to see so many of our friends and neighbors on the lists.

The first set of awards given out this spring are the Leftys, awarded at Left Coast Crime right here in Los Angeles March 11 14. The Mystery Bookstore is proud to be the official bookseller for Left Coast Crime: Booked in LA [http://www.leftcoastcrime.org/2010/], which will take place at the Omni Hotel downtown. This year's guests of honor are Jan Burke and Lee Child; the fan guest of honor is Janet Rudolph, director of Mystery Readers International and editor of the Mystery Readers Journal; and the toastmaster is our pal Bill Fitzhugh. It's not too late to register – hope to see you there!

What follows are lists of the award nominations announced in the last month. Most, if not all, of these titles are available from The Mystery Bookstore, often in signed first editions; email or call us to see if we have copies of the nominees you haven't read yet.

LEFT COAST CRIME AWARDS

The Lefty – recognizing a humorous mystery

Donna Andrews, SWAN FOR THE MONEY
Mike Befeler, LIVING WITH YOUR KIDS IS MURDER
Denise Dietz, STRANGLE A LOAF OF ITALIAN BREAD
Rita Lakin, GETTING OLD IS A DISASTER
Kris Neri, HIGH CRIMES ON THE MAGICAL PLANE

The Bruce Alexander – recognizing an historical mystery set before 1950, given at every Left Coast Crime Convention:

Tasha Alexander, TEARS OF PEARL
Rhys Bowen, IN A GILDED CAGE
Rebecca Cantrell, A TRACE OF SMOKE
Gary Phillips, FREEDOM'S FIGHT
Jeri Westerson, SERPENT IN THE THORNS

The Panik – recognizing LA noir in honor of LCC's deceased Chairman, Paul Anik, given this year only at Left Coast Crime 2010:

Gar Anthony Haywood, CEMETERY ROAD
Gregg Hurwitz, TRUST NO ONE
Linda Richards, DEATH WAS IN THE PICTURE
Stephen J. Schwartz, BOULEVARD

DILYS AWARDS

Presented annually by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association to the mystery title of the year that member booksellers most enjoyed selling. The Dilys Award is named in honor of Dilys Winn, founder of Murder Ink, the nation s first specialty mystery bookstore. This year s prize will be awarded at Left Coast Crime, in March. It shouldn t surprise anyone that most of these books were staff selections and/or year-end favorites here at The Mystery Bookstore.

Alan Bradley, THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE
R.J. Ellroy, A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS
Craig Johnson, THE DARK HORSE
Stieg Larsson, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE
Stuart Neville, THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST
Louise Penny, THE BRUTAL TELLING
S.J. Rozan, THE SHANGHAI MOON

EDGAR AWARDS

Presented by The Mystery Writers of America at an annual banquet in April, the Edgar awards recognize excellence in the field of crime writing, and are chosen by judging panels composed of MWA members. The 64th Edgar Awards Banquet is scheduled for April 29, 2010, in New York City.

Best Novel Tim Gautreaux, THE MISSING
Kathleen George, THE ODDS
John Hart, THE LAST CHILD
Charlie Huston, MYSTIC ARTS OF ERASING ALL SIGNS OF DEATH
Jo Nesbø, NEMESIS
Malla Nunn, A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO DIE

Best First Novel by an American Author
David Cristofano, THE GIRL SHE USED TO BE
Bryan Gruley, STARVATION LAKE
Heather Gudenkauf, THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE
Sophie Littlefield, A BAD DAY FOR SORRY
Attica Locke, BLACK WATER RISING
Stefanie Pintoff, IN THE SHADOW OF GOTHAM

Best Paperback Original
Megan Abbott, BURY ME DEEP
Robert Arellano, HAVANA LUNAR
Russell Hill, THE LORD GOD BIRD
Marc Strange, BODY BLOWS
L. C. Tyler, THE HERRING-SELLER S APPRENTICE

Best Critical/Biographical
P.D. James, TALKING ABOUT DETECTIVE FICTION
Otto Penzler, ed.; THE LINEUP: THE WORLD S GREATEST CRIME WRITERS TELL THE INSIDE STORY OF THEIR GREATEST DETECTIVES
Lisa Rogak, HAUNTED HEART: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF STEPHEN KING
Joan Schenkar, THE TALENTED MISS HIGHSMITH: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith
Bev Vincent, THE STEPHEN KING ILLUSTRATED COMPANION

Best Short Story
"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" by Ace Atkins, from CROSSROAD BLUES
"Femme Sole" by Dana Cameron, from BOSTON NOIR
"Digby, Attorney at Law" by Jim Fusilli, from Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
"Animal Rescue" by Dennis Lehane, from BOSTON NOIR
"Amapola" by Luis Alberto Urrea, from PHOENIX NOIR

Best Juvenile
THE CASE OF THE CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY by Mac Barnett
THE RED BLAZER GIRLS: THE RING OF ROCAMADOUR by Michael D. Beil
CLOSED FOR THE SEASON by Mary Downing Hahn
CREEPY CRAWLY CRIME by Aaron Reynolds
THE CASE OF THE CRYPTIC CRINOLINE by Nancy Springer

Best Young Adult
REALITY CHECK by Peter Abrahams
IF THE WITNESS LIED by Caroline B. Cooney
THE MORGUE AND ME by John C. Ford
PETRONELLA SAVES NEARLY EVERYONE by Dene Low
SHADOWED SUMMER by Saundra Mitchell

Best Television Episode Teleplay
"Place of Execution," Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (PBS/WGBH Boston)
"Strike Three" – The Closer, Teleplay by Steven Kane (Warner Bros TV for TNT)
"Look What He Dug Up This Time" – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman (FX Networks)
"Grilled" – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by George Mastras (AMC/Sony)
"Living the Dream" – Dexter, Teleplay by Clyde Phillips (Showtime)

Robert L. Fish Memorial Award
"A Dreadful Day" by Dan Warthman, from Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

Grand Master
Dorothy Gilman

Raven Awards
Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pennsylvania
Zev Buffman, International Mystery Writers' Festival

Ellery Queen Award
Poisoned Pen Press (Barbara Peters & Robert Rosenwald)

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award
S. J. Bolton, AWAKENING
Blaize Clement, CAT SITTER ON A HOT TIN ROOF
Hallie Ephron, NEVER TELL A LIE
Nadia Gordon, LETHAL VINTAGE
Susan Kandel, DIAL H FOR HITCHCOCK

Thanks to the Mystery Bookstore

1036-C Broxton Avenue

Los Angeles, California 90024

for the update.

www. mystery-bookstore.com

Phone: 310/209-0415 | 800/821-9017
Fax: 310/209-0436

2010 Edgar Nominees

And the Nominees are... Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce on the 201st anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, its Nominees for the 2010 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2009. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 64th Gala Banquet, April 29, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City. BEST NOVEL The Missing by Tim Gautreaux (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf) The Odds by Kathleen George (Minotaur Books) The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur Books) Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Random House - Ballantine Books) Nemesis by Jo Nesbø, translated by Don Bartlett (HarperCollins) A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (Simon & Schuster – Atria Books) BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (Grand Central Publishing) Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Simon & Schuster - Touchstone) The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (MIRA Books) A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur Books – Thomas Dunne Books) Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (HarperCollins) In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur Books) BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster) Havana Lunar by Robert Arellano (Akashic Books) The Lord God Bird by Russell Hill (Pleasure Boat Studio – Caravel Books) Body Blows by Marc Strange (Dundurn Press – Castle Street Mysteries) The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice by L.C. Tyler (Felony & Mayhem Press) BEST FACT CRIME Columbine by Dave Cullen (Hachette Book Group - Twelve) Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn (Simon & Schuster) The Fence: A Police Cover-Up Along Boston’s Racial Divide by Dick Lehr (HarperCollins) Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo (The Penguin Press) Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa by R.A. Scotti (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf) BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Random House - Alfred A. Knopf) The Lineup: The World’s Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives edited by Otto Penzler (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company) Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak (Thomas Dunne Books) The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin’s Press) The Stephen King Illustrated Companion by Bev Vincent (Fall River Press) BEST SHORT STORY "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" – Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins (Busted Flush Press) "Femme Sole" – Boston Noir by Dana Cameron (Akashic Books) "Digby, Attorney at Law" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Jim Fusilli (Dell Magazines) "Animal Rescue" – Boston Noir by Dennis Lehane (Akashic Books "Amapola" – Phoenix Noir by Luis Alberto Urrea (Akashic Books) BEST JUVENILE The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael D. Beil (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf) Closed for the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books) Creepy Crawly Crime by Aaron Reynolds (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers) The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers Group – Philomel Books) BEST YOUNG ADULT Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (HarperCollins Children’s Books – HarperTeen) If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press) The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford (Penguin Young Readers Group – Viking Children’s Books) Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books) Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte Press) BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY "Place of Execution," Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson (PBS/WGBH Boston) "Strike Three" – The Closer, Teleplay by Steven Kane (Warner Bros TV for TNT) "Look What He Dug Up This Time" – Damages, Teleplay by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman (FX Networks) "Grilled" – Breaking Bad, Teleplay by George Mastras (AMC/Sony) "Living the Dream" – Dexter, Teleplay by Clyde Phillips (Showtime) ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD "A Dreadful Day" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by Dan Warthman (Dell Magazines) GRAND MASTER Dorothy Gilman RAVEN AWARDS Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Oakmont, Pennsylvania Zev Buffman, International Mystery Writers’ Festival ELLERY QUEEN AWARD Poisoned Pen Press (Barbara Peters & Robert Rosenwald) THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD (Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 28, 2010) Awakening by S.J. Bolton (Minotaur Books) Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof by Blaize Clement (Minotaur Books) Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron (HarperCollins – William Morrow) Lethal Vintage by Nadia Gordon (Chronicle Books) Dial H for Hitchcock by Susan Kandel (HarperCollins) click here

Award winners!

Congratulations to the many fine books and authors honored at Bouchercon (the World Mystery Convention) this weekend. Half a dozen different prizes are awarded at this gathering, recognizing quality in every different aspect of crime fiction.

I want to add my personal congratulations to my fellow mystery writers Sean Chercover for his winning the Anthony Award for his short story, “A Sleep Not Unlike Death” and his Crimespree Award for “Trigger City;” and Robert Crais for his Crimespree Award for "Chasing Darkness.' Robert got the award for ongoing series and, I've gotta tell you, he sure has a fantastic series about Elvis Cole and Joke Pike. If you haven't read any of Bob's book, get going. Also another congratulations to fellow MWA - Florida board member James O. Born for winning the Barry Award for his short story "The Draught." All three of these writers are friends and if you haven't read them, you should.

We salute all this year's winners:

Anthony Award, given by the attendees of Bouchercon:

Best Novel: Michael Connelly, THE BRASS VERDICT
Best First Novel: Stieg Larsson, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Best Paperback Original: Julie Hyzy, STATE OF THE ONION
Best Short Story: "A Sleep Not Unlike Death," by Sean Chercover from Hardcore Hardboiled
Best Critical Nonfiction Work: Jeffrey Marks, ANTHONY BOUCHER: A Bibliography
Best Children's/Young Adult Novel: Chris Grabenstein, CROSSROADS
Best Cover Art: Peter Meselund for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson
Special Service Award: Jon and Ruth Jordan

Barry Award, given by Deadly Pleasures magazine:

Best Novel: Arnaldur Indridason, THE DRAINING LAKE
Best First Novel: Tom Rob Smith, CHILD 44
Best British: Stieg Larsson, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Best Paperback Original: Julie Hyzy, STATE OF THE ONION
Best Thriller: Brett Battles, THE DECEIVED
Best Short Story: "The Draught" by James O. Born, from The Blue Religion

Crimespree Award, given by Crimespree Magazine:

Favorite Book: Sean Chercover, TRIGGER CITY
Best in an Ongoing Series: Robert Crais, CHASING DARKNESS
Favorite Comics Writer: Brian Azzarello
Favorite Original Paperback: Christa Faust, MONEY SHOT
Favorite Mystery Bookstore: Once Upon a Crime, Minneapolis

Derringer Award for Short Mystery Fiction, given by the Short Mystery Fiction Society:

Best Short Story: "The Cost of Doing Business," by Michael Penncavage (published in ThugLit)
Best Flash: tie – "No Flowers for Stacey," by Ruth McCarty (Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Writers;); and "No Place Like Home," by Dee Stuart (Mysterical-E)
Best Novella: "Too Wise," by O'Neil De Noux (published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Best Long Story: "The Quick Brown Fox," by Robert S. Levinson (published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

Macavity Award, given by Mystery Readers International:

Best Mystery Novel: Deborah Crombie, WHERE MEMORIES LIE
Best First Mystery: Stieg Larsson, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Best Nonfiction/Critical: Frankie Y. Bailey, AFRICAN-AMERICAN MYSTERY WRITERS: A HISTORICAL & THEMATIC STUDY
Best Mystery Short Story: "The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron from WOLFSBANE & MISTLETOE
Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery: Rhys Bowen,A ROYAL PAIN

Shamus Award, given by the Private Eye Writers of America:

Best Hardcover: Reed Farrel Coleman, EMPTY EVER AFTER
Best First P.I. Novel: IN THE HEAT, Ian Vasquez
Best Paperback Original: Lori Armstrong, SNOW BLIND
Best Short Story: "Family Values," by Mitch Alderman
Hammer Award (for character longevity): Matthew Scudder, created by Lawrence Block
Lifetime Achievement: Robert J. Randisi

NY Times: Price War Over Books Worries Industry

As a writer this article has caused me to be concerned about the future of the printed book. Let me know what you think.

Price War Over Books Worries Industry

By MOTOKO RICH

Published: October 16, 2009

A tit-for-tat price war between Wal-Mart and Amazon accelerated late on Friday afternoon when Wal-Mart shaved another cent off its already rock-bottom prices for hardcover editions of some of the coming holiday season’s biggest potential best sellers, offering them online for $8.99 apiece.

Publishers, booksellers, agents and authors, meanwhile, fretted that the battle was taking prices for certain hardcover titles so low that it could fundamentally damage the industry and the ability of future authors to write or publish new works.

The price cutting began on Thursday when Wal-Mart announced that it would take pre-orders for 10 yet-to-be-published hardcovers for $10 apiece on its Web site, Walmart.com. Later that day Amazon quietly began cutting the prices of those same titles to the very same $10, prompting Wal-Mart to lower its price to $9, a markdown of 59 to 74 percent off the list price of the books. Amazon had matched the $9 price by Friday morning, and Wal-Mart had lowered its price again, to $8.99, by late afternoon.

The titles affected include Sarah Palin’s memoir, “Going Rogue”; John Grisham’s short-story collection, “Ford County”; Stephen King’s “Under the Dome”; Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel, “The Lacuna”; and the latest installment in the Alex Cross thriller series by James Patterson, “I, Alex Cross.”

Although Wal-Mart, Amazon and other retailers like Costco, Target and even pure bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble typically discount best sellers, they usually don’t take more than 50 percent off the list price. Wal-Mart’s move, and Amazon’s reaction, signaled a new threshold in price cutting for books and left publishing insiders wondering how low it would go when the beleaguered industry is already worried about the effect of $9.99 e-books and a slowdown in book sales over all.

On Friday a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart said in an e-mail message that the company would “continue to adjust our pricing so that Walmart.com offers the lowest prices on these top pre-sellers in books.” Amazon declined to comment.

Wal-Mart has said for the moment that its $8.99 offer is limited to 10 titles that will officially be released in November. Once they are published, the company said, the price could go up. Still, publishing industry veterans were worried about the potential long-term effect on the consumer mindset.

“If readers come to believe that the value of a new book is $10, publishing as we know it is over,” said David Gernert, Mr. Grisham’s literary agent. “If you can buy Stephen King’s new novel or John Grisham’s ‘Ford County’ for $10, why would you buy a brilliant first novel for $25? I think we underestimate the effect to which extremely discounted best sellers take the consumer’s attention away from emerging writers.”

The immediate impact of the low prices was likely to be felt by other bookstores, including chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders. As of Friday, neither of the Web sites for those companies indicated that it was matching the $9 price. At BN.com and Borders.com, the titles were generally discounted by 40 percent.

A spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble declined to comment. In a statement Borders said the majority of its revenues did not come from best sellers. “Our model does not rely on being the lowest priced,” the company said in the statement. “It relies on offering our customers a true bookstore experience — the opportunity to explore a vast array of titles within a comfortable environment where shoppers can go where their interests take them.”

Independent booksellers have long struggled to compete with discounts offered by Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Wal-Mart. William Petrocelli, an owner of Book Passage, an independent company that has stores in San Francisco and suburban Corte Madera, Calif., said that for now he was relying on the loyalty of customers who valued staff recommendations and author events as much as prices. But, he said, if the low prices siphoned off too many customers and put independent stores out of business, it would ultimately affect what would get published.

“What this does is accentuate the trend towards best sellers dominating the market,” Mr. Petrocelli said. Without independents, decisions about what books to put on store shelves would reside in the hands of a few corporate executives rather than hundreds of idiosyncratic booksellers, he said.

“You have a choke point where millions of writers are trying to reach millions of readers,” Mr. Petrocelli said, “but if it all has to go through a narrow funnel where there are only four or five buyers deciding what’s going to get published, the business is in trouble.”

For now, Wal-Mart and Amazon will make a loss on the sales of the discounted titles because publishers generally charge retailers 50 percent of the list price.

Publishers hoping to sell large volumes of titles like “Going Rogue” or “Under the Dome” might see the discounts spur more sales. One publishing executive also said Wal-Mart’s move was welcome because it signaled that another large competitor was taking on Amazon, which currently dominates online sales of books. As long as the $8.99 price was promotional, rather than a permanent trend, this executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid commenting publicly about a customer, said there were some positive aspects to Wal-Mart’s move.

“If this is a short-term statement to let hundreds of millions of people know that they will be able to buy books from Walmart.com,” the executive said, “it’s a good thing.”

Rafi Mohammed, a consultant and author of “The Art of Pricing,” said he was surprised by the radical discounting because he could think of no other industry in which retailers cut the prices of the newest or most popular goods. “You always pay the highest price for the latest and greatest,” he said. (In fact, new music CDs are often discounted.)

Indeed, Mr. Patterson, who said that while he was glad to be included in the top 10 most popular preordered books at Walmart.com, he could not think of any other industry accepting such dramatic discounts.

“Imagine if somebody was selling DVDs of this week’s new movies for $5,” Mr. Patterson said. “You wouldn’t be able to make movies.” He added, “I can guarantee you that the movie studios would not take this kind of thing sitting down.”

Brad Stone contributed reporting from San Francisco.

A version of this article appeared in print on October 17, 2009, on page C1 of the New York edition.

Literary Legend Elmore Leonard set to receive Lifetime Achievement Award

PEN USA ANNOUNCES 2009 LITERARY AWARD WINNERS

EN, has unveiled the winners of its prestigious 2009 Literary Awards competition. The prizes, announced by PEN USA Executive Director Adam Somers, honor outstanding work by writers in 10 separate genres. They will be presented at the 19th Annual Literary Awards, which will be held at the BeverlHills Hotel on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009.

In addition to the literary prizes, PEN USA’s LitFest gala will feature several other honors. As a ribute to his writing accomplishments, legendary author Elmore Leonard will be presented ith the Lifetime Achievement Award. In a career spanning 60 years, Leonard has published 3 novels and numerous short stories, creating a distinct literary style that has delighted readers nd influenced a new generation of writers. Books like Swag, LaBrava, Freaky Deaky, and Tishomingo Blues are not only classics of the crime genre, but some of the best writing of the last alf century. Many of Leonard’s novels and stories have been adapted to film: most notably Get Shorty, starring John Travolta, and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld; Out of Sight, starring George Clooney and directed by Steven Soderbergh; and Jackie Brown, from the novel Rum Punch, directed by Quentin Tarantino. In the spring, a TV series based on Leonard’s short story, Fire in the Hole, is scheduled to premiere on FX. Leonard’s most recent novel, Road Dogs, has received some of the best reviews of his career. He is currently finishing his next book, entitled Djibouti, to be published in 2010 by HarperCollins/William Morrow.

Recipients of the literary awards were chosen by a distinguished panel of writers, editors and journalists. Winners were selected from among more than 500 entries. Each winner will receive a $1000 cash prize presented at the Literary Awards Gala.

Past recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award include: Woody Allen, Ray Bradbury, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Betty Friedan, Larry Gelbart, Vaclav Havel, Christopher Isherwood, Walter Mosley, Neil Simon, Jane Smiley, Robert Towne, Gore Vidal, and Billy Wilder.

FULL LIST OF 2009 WINNERS:

Fiction KIM BARNES • A Country Called Home (Alfred A. Knopf)

Creative Nonfiction STEVE LOPEZ • The Soloist (G.P. Putnam's Sons)

Research Nonfiction LESLIE T. CHANG • Factory Girls (Spiegel & Grau)

Poetry SEIDO RAY RONCI • The Skeleton of the Crow (Ausable Press)

Children’s Literature KATHI APPELT • The Underneath (Atheneum Books for Young

Readers)

Translation MAXINE CHERNOFF & PAUL HOOVER • Selected Poems of

Friedrich Hölderlin (Omnidawn Publishing)

Journalism KAREN OLSSON • Before and After (Texas Monthly)

Drama MARISELA TREVINO ORTA • Braided Sorrow (El Centro Su

Teatro)

Teleplay GEORGE MASTRAS • Breaking Bad: Crazy Handful of Nothin’

(Sony/Gran Via/Highbridge)

Screenplay DUSTIN LANCE BLACK • Milk (Newmarket Press)

ABOUT PEN USA

PEN USA is a non-profit Los Angeles-based membership organization of professional writers, and the International PEN center in the United States for those writers living west of the Mississippi River. Its members are connected by the goals of building interest in the written word and defending writers worldwide by protecting freedom of expression. Among its many contributions to the literary world, PEN USA’s Emerging Voices program awards fellowships to

promising writers from underserved communities and provides them with an intensive eight month program of workshops, classes, seminars and individual mentorships. In the classrooms of many underprivileged schools across Southern California, its PEN in the Classroom program helps children and teachers alike in the process of creative reading and writing.

For further information, visit www.penusa.org

How many words a day makes you a writer?

My writing is going well. The story has taken itself from me and moved in areas that I hadn’t thought of. That often happens when I write. I know the beginning and I know what I want the end to be and I begin.

So far, I’ve been lucky with the beginning. Endings haven’t changed too much, from the concept I was working from, but the middle is something else.

My new Mad Mick Murphy Mystery, “Car Was Blues,” is going well, as I’ve said, but I am not sure it’s because of me or in spite of me. I have actually sat down in the morning and finished a thousand-plus-word chapter, more than once. In my past two novels, I have had to sit down more than once to finish one-thousand words.

I was telling all this to my friend Art who arranges the entertainment (and much more) at the Hog’s Breath Saloon.

“Steven King writes all day,” Art said, a cold bottle of water sitting in front of him.

“I’m not Steven King.” I sipped from my plastic cup of ice and Jameson.

“A thousand words doesn’t seem like a lot.” He looked at me as if I really didn’t write and took a long pull on the water bottle.

“I write from about 7 a.m. until 10 a.m.,” I said, almost embarrassed in admitting I only spent three-hours writing. “I am exhausted after that and usually go to the Caribbean Spa’s gym for my workout.”

He looked at me and smiled and I knew he was thinking, ‘You workout!’ But asked, instead, “How often do you get to the gym?”

“I try for five days a week, but I am happy with three.”

“What do you do with the rest of the day?”

I’ve noticed that people with real jobs think I do nothing all day. Here was my chance to change that.

“I usually go back and read and self-edit a few chapters, including the one I wrote in the morning,” I said proudly. “It’s important to do some self-editing as you go along.”

I explained to Art that after thirty-days I will reread the whole manuscript and begin putting it into one long document. The thirty-day rule gives my mind time to move forward, so when I reread the story I am often surprised at mistakes I find and sometimes the writing is so good I don’t remember writing it.

I told him that I’d just signed a contract with Books in Motion so he could expect to see (or is it hear?) an audio version of “Chasin’ the Wind” sometime soon. I also slipped in that the publisher had said a contract for the second in the series, “Free Range Institution,” was in the mail.

Art looked impressed, I finished my Jameson, and the bartender, Irish Bob, refilled the plastic cup with ice and Jameson.

“You going to take a vacation with all the advance money?” he asked and tossed his empty plastic water bottle in the recycle bin.

“What money?” I sighed and Art stopped looking impressed.

To read a little of "Free Range Institution" and "Car Wash Blues," go to www.michaelhaskins.net.

Hawk Channel Chase by Tom Corcoran - an Alex Rutledge Mystery

Tom Corcoran’s sixth Alex Rutledge Mystery, “Hawk Channel Chase,” (Ketch and Yawl Press) will not disappoint his fans. It has been a few years since Corcoran’s “Air Dance Iguana,” and it was good to find everyone on Dredgers Lane had survived.

In fact, reading “Hawk Channel Chase” is like running into old friends and finding they hadn’t really changed much and that is a good thing.

Alex Rutledge can stand still and find himself embroiled in turmoil and the new book takes the reader on a trip up and down the Keys with Rutledge as he tries to find out exactly what he’s gotten himself into.

Firsts there are rumors, as only Key West can have, that border on conspiracies as federal agents refuse to deal with Monroe County Sheriffs and Key West cops, leaving everyone in the dark about something that happened a few miles behind Baby’s Coffee on Bay Point. Some how it seems connected to a real estate investor who is trying to buy up Dredgers Lane, even as he asks Rutledge for helping finding his missing, college-aged daughter.

Capt. Sam Wheeler, Rutledge’s best friend, is mixed up with illegal sails to Cuba, leaving Rutledge pondering Sam’s fate as black-bag federal agents start coming around with questions and threats.

Wheeler is another old friend to Corcoran’s fans, and if he wasn’t getting Rutledge in trouble, it would be the other way around. Of course, the fly in the ointment is that Wheeler’s longtime partner, reporter Marnie Dunwoody, thinks Wheeler has a girlfriend and asks Rutledge about it, pointblank.

Bodies begin to pile up at a proximity to Dredgers Lane that cause the local cops to begin to consider Rutledge a person of interest.

What would Rutledge’s life be like if Corcoran couldn’t throw some love-life pandemonium in and he has done this as Rutledge’s current squeeze, Sheriff Detective Bobbi Lewis adds some zingers of her own into the mess, blaming her job and the feds, leaving Rutledge with some long, lonely nights.

“Hawk Channel Chase” reads like a ride-along with Rutledge on his old Triumph 650 Bonneville motorcycle, as he dangerously takes on US1, way past the speed limit, and maneuvers the road’s twists and turns like a race driver.

It is a ride that leaves the reader breathless on some turns, smiling at others, and always in a hurry to get to the end. And it takes getting to the last few chapters before seemingly unrelated instances fall into place and unites Rutledge, Sam, Marnie, and Chicken Neck, a strange foursome even for Key West, to reach the story’s unusual climax. Corcoran’s novels challenge his readers, and this one is one of his best mind twisters.

Corcoran has weaved the background of “Hawk Channel Chase” out of today’s headlines, locally and nationally, involving Key West land-grabbing deals at prices people can’t turn down, to the debacle in Iraq, politics in Cuba, and drug smugglers; all the while taking readers on a magical tour of Key West with a peek at the Old Key West he knew from his early days as a bartender at the Pier House’s Chart Room and his consorting with little known singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.

“Hawk Channel Chase,” is about a Key West we have all grown to love, especially the parts that have been lost to us, and Corcoran’s characters are old friends and like old friends, you deal with their quirkiness, the good and the bad, because they are always surprising you, but never disappointing to be around. Corcoran brings Key West to life, even for those of us that live here.

If you can put “Hawk Channel Chase” down, it’s for one of two reasons – you need to go to the bathroom or you’ve turned the last page.

www.tomcorcoran.net, for more information.

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