Character Auction - Your Name in My Next Book

by Kristi Belcamino

If you've read my books or followed my journalism career at all, you know why the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is near and dear to my heart. I've looked into the eyes of too many parents who have had a child kidnapped to not feel strongly about this nonprofit organization. All of my books have a theme of missing children and so I thought it would be appropriate to try to give back a little.

My fourth book, BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN, comes out in September, and I'm holding an auction on eBay to raise money for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The highest bidder will have their name in that fourth book. Here is more:

Charity Auction - Bid On A Character Name In the Upcoming Gabriella Giovanni Novel - BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN

Have you always wanted to see your name in a novel? Be the highest bidder and you'll be a character in my next book, Plus you'll receive a personally signed paperback copy of the book when it is printed in paperback in October. 100 percent of the PROCEEDS benefit the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The eBay auction ends May 10. Click here to bid

And if you aren't interested, but think you might know someone who is, please spread the words.

Thank you.

Writing Year 2014 to 2015 - A Recap

by
Scott D. Parker

Last year, I wrote a couple of posts about a thing I called the Writer's New Year. In one, I mulled over the quotation "A year from now, you may have wished you had started today." The other post was specifically about the Writing New Year's Day. That's the day, if you have one, when you decided you wanted to be a writer and you started.

1 May 2013 was that date for me. I took stock of the 2013-2014 year last May. Today is the update on all the events that have happened from 1 May 2014 to yesterday. It can be summed up in one phrase: I got published!

In order to do that, of course, I formed my own company, Quadrant Fiction Studio. Those events, in an of themselves, are causes for celebration.

What makes the Writer's New Year's Day special is that the story I started on 1 May 2013 turned out to be WADING INTO WAR, the debut book from QFS.

Other things I've done since last year was write the third Benjamin Wade story, a novel featuring a modern-day character, Derek Foley, and a longer novella, that will be out later this month. I've got a title for that one: THE PHANTOM AUTOMOBILES. Look for a cover reveal in the next week or two. I've also completed a story that will appear in a forthcoming anthology. Not sure of the word count of all of this, about 130,000. As much as word count was a strong motivating factor in 2013, in 2014, it was all about completed projects.

But forming a company and publishing a book independently is a big deal. I never expected it to take as much time as it has so far. Oh, and I had to learn enough web stuff to make two websites.

So this year has been good for me. What's in store for next year, the 2015-2016 edition? Well, write more books and publish them. I’ll admit that my productivity in this first third of 2015 has not been what I envisioned, but I’m working on that. Improve the quality of my writing and improve the quality of my business. And, hopefully, attend my first Bouchercon. Lastly, I want to experiment with some things, try something out of my comfort zone. The story I wrote for the anthology was like that and it forced me to think outside my usual mystery-story box.

I have big ideas for Quadrant Fiction Studio for this year and future years, and the year 2015 will be the foundation. I look forward to this post next year.


BTW, today is Free Comic Book Day. If you are of a mind, find your nearest store and go support them. I like two here in Houston: Third Planet (for over 30 years!) and the good folks over at The Pop Culture Company.


Oh, and May the Fourth Be With You.

EDGAR Awards announced

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce the winners of the 2015 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2014. The Edgar Awards were presented to the winners at our 69^th Gala Banquet, April 29, 2015 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (Simon & Schuster – Scribner)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Dry Bones in the Valley by Tom Bouman (W.W. Norton)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL 

The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Abani (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)

BEST FACT CRIME
Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood

by William J. Mann (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

 Poe-Land: The Hallowed Haunts of Edgar Allan Poe

by J.W. Ocker (W.W. Norton – Countryman Press)

BEST SHORT STORY
"What Do You Do?” – Rogues by Gillian Flynn

(Penguin Random House Publishing – Bantam Books)

BEST JUVENILE

Greenglass House by Kate Milford

 (Clarion Books – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)

BEST YOUNG ADULT The Art of Secrets by James Klise (Algonquin Young Readers)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“Episode 1” – Happy Valley, Teleplay by Sally Wainwright (Netflix)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
"Getaway Girl" – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine By Zoë Z. Dean (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER
 Lois Duncan

James Ellroy

RAVEN AWARDS
 Ruth & Jon Jordan, Crimespree Magazine

Kathryn Kennison, Magna Cum Murder

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

 Charles Ardai, Editor & Founder, Hard Case Crime

* * * * * *

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Tuesday, April 28, 2015)

The Stranger You Know by Jane Casey (Minotaur Books)

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The Edgar (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Mystery Writers of America, Inc.