Category: Ed Irvin

Victoria Kann at Vero Beach Book Center

3/6/2015

Victoria Kann & fan at Vero Beach Book Center

   I've been looking for an excuse to make the near two-hour drive to Vero to visit the Vero Beach Book Center, an independent store that hosts bestselling authors with regularity. March 4, a well-known children's author gave me just that opportunity. Victoria Kann, author of the Pinkalicious series of children's books visited the store to promote the newest in the series, Aqualicious.
     Pinkalicious is one of my daughter's favorite books, along with Fancy Nancy. She owns almost all of the books in the Pinkalicious series--Pinkalicious, Silverlicious, Purplelicious, Emeraldlicious, Goldilicious—and was thrilled to hear that there was a new one coming out. So my wife and I plotted to take her out of school early and make the drive to see Mrs. Kann read from her newest book. Unfortunately, we arrived too late for the reading, but were able to get my daughter's book signed. In the audience were girls in there most pinkeriffic outfits, including some with wings and tiaras. The author was more than willing to pose for photos with her young fans, and even took suggestions for the next color in the series. I heard someone suggest Camolicious.
     As for the bookstore itself, it's a wonderful two-story building with the second floor dedicated entirely to children. They offer a wide selection of new and used books, as well as authographed copies from some of the world's finest authors. I was short on time and was unable to spend as much time as I would have liked in the store, but will definitely be making a return trip, perhaps when Harlan Coben stops there next month.

        —Ed Irvin

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Sleuthfest Live-blog, Saturday, Part 3: James O. Born

2/28/2015

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Saturday, February 28, 2015 4:47 PM

    Author James O. Born, fresh out of his "Facts About Firearms" panel, sat and spoke with me about some of the laughable things books, movies, and television do with guns. Born, who has been an officer with the FDLE for 25 years, said the example he likes to use is Tommy Lee Jones' character in The Fugitive, who stops to rack the slide of his pistol to put a round in the chamber. "He's basically a professional law enforcement officer carrying a boat anchor disguised as a gun," Born said. "In the real world he should've been fired on the spot."
     Born's next novel, Scent of Murder, due on April 7th from Tor, features a K-9 protagonist. I asked the author, whose previous novels--Walking Money, Shock Wave and Escape Clause—feature rugged cop Bill Tasker, what inspired the shift. Born said that the idea is based on a drug case he had at the Palm Beach International Airport 20 years ago. He was in a foot chase with a suspect when a Palm Beach sheriff's deputy, who was not involved in the case, screamed for everyone to stop because he was releasing his dog. Knowing the dog couldn't discern him from the bad guy, Born stopped his pursuit. When the dog caught up with the suspect, Born said he could feel the impact from a distance. He thought the suspect might have been killed by the impact.
     While working with K-9 units for research Born had the brilliant idea to have the dog bite his padded groin. One bite on his hand—through heavy padding—made him rethink that decision.
     I asked Born how he balances his work with the FDLE and writing, and if his work ever crossed over into his novels. "It does afford me an opportunity no other writer has," he said. "I can go to any police unit and ask how things work and receive full cooperation."
     Scent of Murder is rather tame compared to his Bill Tasker series, Born said. While it is a police procedural like the Tasker novels, it's light on the brutality of novels such as Walking Money, which Born says his children, as old as 25, are still not allowed to read.
     On April 23 Born will be appearing at the West Boynton library as part of the Palm Beach County Library system's Writers Live series. He will also appear at Murder on the Beach in Delray on a date yet to be determined.
          —Ed Irvin

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Sleuthfest Live-blog, Saturday, Part 2: James W. Hall

2/28/2015

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Saturday, February 28, 2015, 2:30 PM

    After entertaining the lunch crowd in the grand ballroom, author James W. Hall was kind enough to sit with me and discuss the reasoning behind shelving his popular protagonist, Thorn, and starting a new series.
     I asked Mr. Hall why an established author such as himself would start a new series rather than write standalone novels. I’ve spoken with numerous authors who started as series writers because that's what the industry demands of unestablished authors. Michael Koryta come to mind. Surely Mr. Hall has a large enough following to allow him to write standalones.
     “The publishing industry tracks numbers ruthlessly through Neilson Bookscan, which didn't exist in the 1980s,” he said. "The result is a downward pressure on all sales. There is no great incentive to produce more books than the previous book sold."
     "In the old days," Hall continued, "when you moved to a new publisher they had no idea of sales. They only knew what was in the public sphere and would often overpay."
     "The only way to change the trajectory of sales is to do something new, to convince the publisher that a new set of characters would rejuvenate sales,” Hall said.
     On shelving Thorn, about whom Hall has written 14 novels over the course of 30 years, the author said "I wanted to see if changing characters would change my numbers."
     Sales aren't the only motivation Hall has for shifting gears, though. There are creative considerations, too. "Thorn is easy," he said. "I know his voice. I wanted a new challenge."
     Hall, who never intended Thorn to be a recurring character, has the knowledge going into this new series that it will be a recurring character, which will allow him to develop the character in ways he never did with Thorn.
     Another thing new—or unfamiliar because of how long he has been under contract for Thorn novels—to Hall, now that he is trying to sell a non-Thorn novel, is pitching to a publisher. He is about to submit the first third of his newest novel to his agent.
    I'm sure he'll do just fine.
        —Ed Irvin

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Live-blog from Sleuthfest, Saturday, Part 1

2/28/2015

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Saturday, February 28, 2015, 2:00 PM
”I'm supposed to have drinks with Jim Patterson later on. I'll let him know how that went.” James W. Hall, who leaves the stage to a raucous standing ovation.
—Ed Irvin

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 1:55 PM
A few years ago I took my wife to a Madonna concert for our anniversary. The Material Girl took the stage at 11:30 for a show that was scheduled to begin at 8:00. Patterson has reached one hour.
—Ed Irvin

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 1:49 PM
”I actually like James Patterson. I think he's terrific. And all of his permutations.” James W. Hall
—Ed Irvin

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 1:24 PM
Still no Patterson, but James W. Hall has taken to the stage to amuse the crowd with stories of absentee orangutans in a novel about orangutans.
—Ed Irvin

Press getting fed like royalty. —Ed Irvin

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 12:59 PM

The character naming sold for $975. I hope they didn't just drop a grand on a character who gets killed on page one.
—Ed Irvin

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 12:55 PM

A 50 page manuscript reading by bestselling author Jeffrey Deaver just sold for $650 during the luncheon auction. Next up on the block is a character naming in an upcoming James Patterson novel.
—Ed Irvin

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 12:30 PM

Author and Sleuthfest featured speaker James W. Hall with Pam Stack, host of Authors on the Air.
—Ed Irvin

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 12:17 PM

The guest of honor is fashionably late. He is scheduled for the press room from 12-1:00 before giving his keynote speech from 1-2:00.
—Ed Irvin

Saturday, February 28, 2015, 11:28 AM

SRO crowd waiting for James Patterson.

—Ed Irvin

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FBR's Ed Irvin Live-blogs from Sleuthfest, Feb. 27, 2015

2/27/2015

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Friday, February 27, 2015 10:43 AM

Setting up in the press room has its advantages. After interviewing Lucy Burdette, author of the Key West Food Critic series, who was the only scheduled interview I had, a number of authors approached my table, sat down and spoke with me. The problem? I had only prepared questions for Burdette and am not the fastest at thinking on my feet, especially when unfamiliar with the author's work.
--Ed Irvin

Friday, February 27, 2015 10:30 AM

    Lucy Burdette, author of the Key West Food Critic mysteries was kind enough to grant me half an hour following her morning panel "Ready, Set...," which provided attendees with an opportunity to "learn planning strategies, character motivations, and how to shape your story." The panel offered me the perfect segue into our conversation, which I started by asking how it was she makes Haley Snow, her protagonist, such an endearing character in whom readers can become invested.
    "I think some of it has to be coming from my psychology background," Burdette said.
    She mentioned that one of the authors she shared the stage with in her panel was a meticulous plotter who brought a storyboard complete with notes and Post-its for her presentation.
    "I just don't work that way," Burdette said. "I think about who this character is, what matters to her? I think about even the crime in terms of what her stake would be, what would really draw her in?"
Burdette admitted that, like many cozy protagonists, Haley has "no business sleuthing. It's a stupid idea."           "You really have to have some reason why it would matter enough to overcome that. It's the stakes."
    The author discussed the evolution of her character from the first book, An Appetite for Murder, and the interpersonal relationships among her characters, particularly Haley and her mother. "In the first book she is kind of ditsy, but she's grown a lot, I think, and that's what makes it fun for me. In the second book I really had no idea that her mother would become such an interesting character. But I know mother and daughter relationships and my mother died early so I never got to the stage that Haley is, where she's almost grown up but her mother is still her mother and how do they negotiate that? It's the relationships that are the most interesting to me."
    Burdette, who has written previous books under her given name, Roberta Isleib, said that she was asked by an editor if she could "write light" for a cozy series. Burdette told the editor "I think I can write light but I can't write the murder as though it doesn't matter, as though it isn't a really serious horrible thing with terrible consequences. I don't know if that makes me different from other cozy writers, but it's always in my head," she said. "Who was this person, and who was the person who was driven so far as to take someone else's life?"
I moved on to the romance that is so often teased yet remains unrequited in many cozy series and asked Burdette if she enjoyed teasing her readers. Laughing, Burdette said, "It's so funny because I say that I am a psychologist, so I should know how to make relationships work. But none of my main characters have ever been in a happy relationship, including Haley."
The author said that she received feedback from one reader regarding Haley's budding relationship with Wally, her boss. The reader was very disappointed by the abrupt introduction of romantic tension between two characters who'd never showed any interest in each other beyond professional. "I love hearing from people," Burdette said, "because it makes me think a little bit harder about what's going on. The truth is it really isn't going anywhere. There's not a lot of spark there so—" The author caught herself, then added "Well,you'll see in the one that comes out in July that things are headed for a change."
    "You have to figure out as a writer, if you put the characters together happily, does that leech out a lot of tension or does it just annoy people that you have them undecided or trying to choose between two people over a long period of time?"
   Speaking of the future of the series, the sixth Key West Food Critic mystery, Fatal Reservations, comes out in July. Burdette has just started on the seventh--and last that she is under contract for--which will come out in Spring of 2016. A common theme at Sleuthfest has been the keen eye with which publishers monitor sales. If a series isn't earning its share of the pie, a pie that is sliced very thinly in a heavily saturated cozy market, they won't hesitate to stop buying them.
      Burdette hopes to continue with Haley, though, saying "There will definitely be seven and after that we'll see," before adding "I'd love to write more."
I'm sure there are plenty of people who would love to read more, too.
       —Ed Irvin

Friday, February 27, 2015, 9:13 AM

As I am setting up in the press room I meet author Susan Klaus, whose Secretariat Reborn was reviewed by FBR in 2013. Klaus does an internet radio show and is preparing to interview attendees. She is unfamiliar with our review, but immediately gives me a copy of the sequel, Shark Fin Soup, which she says was received even better than Secretariat Reborn.
—Ed Irvin

Sleuthfest 2015, presented by the Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, is taking place Feb. 26-March 1 in Deerfield Beach. Our Contributing Editor Ed Irvin is blogging from the conference, which this year has the title "Along Came A Murder."

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James W. Hall at Murder on the Beach 1/15/15

1/16/2015

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    James W. Hall is working on a new recurring character and he asked a small crowd of fans at Murder on the Beach what characteristics they are drawn to in a character. Character-wise I've got no idea but, if he's looking for a name, perhaps it should be Storm, because one has followed Hall to Delray Beach for the last two years.
   A monsoon kept the crowds at bay for Hall's appearance to promote last year's Going Dark. There were four people, including me, that night, for what turned into more of a fireside chat than a reading. While it was stormy last night, the wind and rain weren't at monsoon levels, so the audience was a little bigger. Keep in mind, the previous times I've seen Hall at Murder on the Beach the store was SRO. Still, the author's discussion of his newest, and possibly last, Thorn novel, The Big Finish, was just as intimate as last year's.
    Hall started by talking about the pitfalls of book touring itself, saying that by the end of a book tour he wants to talk about any book other than his own. The disjointed path his tour has taken him on surely isn't helping maters. He flew into Jacksonville for an event earlier this week, then came south to Vero Beach. Makes sense. Then his itinerary took him to northwest to St. Petersburg, then back east to Murder on the Beach. From Delray he will head back to Tampa, before driving cross-state to Jacksonville to fly out. Maybe publicists should be required to minor in geography. (That's my own opinion, not the author's.)
     As far as The Big Finish goes, Hall said he started with the title, something he never does. Thorn was never intended to be a recurring character, Hall said, adding that "publishers over the years have bullied me into continuing with Thorn."

     "If I would have known that he was going to be around for thirty years I would've done him differently," the author said.
   The Big Finish takes Thorn out of his comfort zone in Key Largo and into the mountains of North Carolina in search of his son, Flynn Moss, who Hall says is "Thorn to the tenth power." Thorn is what might be called an old-school environmentalist. He loves being on the water and realizes the symbiotic relationship man has with nature, but he isn't in any hurry to join a protest. Flynn, a member of an eco-activist group called the Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, "has that DNA, but he takes it to another level."
Of The Big Finish and its theme of the damage concentrated industrial farming can do to the environment Hall said "This book isn't my soapbox," before jokingly saying that "I just thought it was high time that someone wrote a thriller set on a pig farm."
Is this really the end of Thorn, though? "At the very least," Hall said, "I need a break from Thorn; Although I'm not sure if this is The Big Finish."
            —Ed Irvin

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Victoria Kann at Vero Beach Book Center

Sleuthfest Live-blog, Saturday, Part 3: James O. Born

Sleuthfest Live-blog, Saturday, Part 2: James W. Hall

Live-blog from Sleuthfest, Saturday, Part 1

FBR's Ed Irvin Live-blogs from Sleuthfest, Feb. 27, 2015

James W. Hall at Murder on the Beach 1/15/15

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