Monday, December 19, 2011

Opinion — Free Books, Invitation to Writers and Other Blog Surprises

DOWN THERE ON A VISIT: During just the first two weeks of December, among the visitors to this strange little blog from the U.S., Canada and other English speaking countries, were people living in or visiting these countries or cities: Tasmania, Fez, Sicily, Andalucía, Verona, Buenos Aires, Pakistan, the Czech Republic, the Russian Federation, Sao Paulo, Delhi, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Warsaw, Germany, Greece, Paris, Mumbai, Qatar, Taiwan, Belgrade, Madrid, Latvia, Lebanon, Berlin, Munich, Argentina. Austria, Abu Dhabi, Algiers, Ukraine, Belgium, Bulgaria, Manila and Rotterdam. I am amazed.

LOOKING FOR CRIME FICTION WRITERS WHO WANT TO PROMOTE THEIR EARLY WORK: The blog feature — OLD GOLD — is open to writers of mysteries, suspense and thrillers who are bringing their early, traditionally published works back in trade paperback or ebook formats. Looking for roughly 300 words about your first book or first series. If you are interested in promoting your reissued classics here, please drop me a line. I’d love to help bring attention to your early work. And if you want to read previous Old Gold posts from other writers, click here or on the Old Gold icon to the right.

FREE BOOKS: Speaking of promotion and first books, a four-book, newlyminted, matched trade paperback set of my “Early Shanahans” will be sent to the lucky winner of a drawing (one entry per person). To enter, please email me through my web site or at : lifedeathandfog@gmail.com with your name and snail mail address before January 31. “Drawing” should be in the subject line. If you would like them autographed, please advise. AND THAT’S NOT ALL, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. TELL YOU WHAT I’M GOING TO DO. I will add Mascara, Death in the Tenderloin, the prequel to my new San Francisco series. (I thought about throwing in an oven mitt and a tea cozy, but decided against the idea.)

OTHER BLOGS: I’ve decided not to put together a list of all the blogs and web sites you might want to visit. One of the best, the rap sheet, has an incredibly comprehensive and well-organized list of crime-genre web sites and blogs — a tremendous resource. To do so here would be redundant. I also pay the rap sheet a daily visit to keep up with what’s going on in the crime-fiction world as well. If you want a deep resource specifically for fictional private eye info — writers, books, radio, TV, movies — The Thrilling Detective is top of the heap. I check into many other blogs from time to time. At the moment, in addition to the rap sheet, I regularly sip my morning coffee while reading blogs by Bill Crider and Ed Gorman as well as Murderati and Tipping My Fedora. If your tastes are international in nature check out The Crime of It All and You Would Say That Wouldn’t You.

SAN FRANCISCO BOOKSTORES: I was also surprised with the number of Google searches for San Francisco bookstores that ended up here at my fog blog. With the closing of all Borders and Barnes & Noble stores in the city and the disappearance of many of the larger independents, there is a scramble to find out what’s left. To support independent bookstores in San Francisco, I put together a comprehensive list and description of the bookstores and their neighborhoods. It’s in random order, however. Unfortunately, while there are a surprising number of specialty bookstores here in the city, none specialize in crime fiction. Hint, hint. I’ve also added a button for a list of independent mystery bookstores throughout the country.

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