From the monthly archives:

November 2007

PLOTS WITH GUNS redux

November 27, 2007

Anthony Neil Smith announced last week the return of the incredible PLOTS WITH GUNS. I’m thrilled Smith’s figured out a way to make it work. It really was one of the finest sources of online crime fiction back in the day.1
And this misanthrope from the UK is starting D20, an online/print mag for degenerate crime/mystery/thriller [...]

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DBA Lehane’s annual writing competition

November 26, 2007

Hey kids… it’s time once again for DBA Lehane’s short story contest. If you recall, last year’s challenge was to write a story with just six words (like Hemingway’s famous six-word story).
This time around you’ve got a little more to work with—the entire alphabet.
Well, you were allowed to use the entire alphabet last year, [...]

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Download another free e-book from JA Konrath

November 21, 2007

A couple months back, JA Konrath—author of the Jack Daniels mystery series—made a few of his previously unpublished novels available for download. Way back then he also promised a short story compilation called 55 PROOF.
I just noticed today that he’s finally made it available. You can download it here or directly from JA… whichever you [...]

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Could something like TechStars work for novelists?

November 21, 2007

I remember reading a while back about a Boulder-based technology startup incubator called TechStars.
It sounded like a decent idea: invite young technology entrepreneurs to apply for up to $15,000 in seed money, mentoring from other young technology entrepreneurs, and great networking connections to help insure their success… all in exchange for five percent of the [...]

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Jeff Bezos’s folly?

November 20, 2007

Not sure what I think of this.
Mostly I think it’s absurd to believe that people will trade a centuries-old $10 device for a shiny new $400 device that doesn’t do anything until you buy software for it. They might use the digital to compliment the analog, but I don’t think we’ll see it replace analog [...]

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The mechanics of putting my foot in my mouth

November 19, 2007

I think I may have offended my writing instructor. It was an accident. But it may have happened nonetheless.
Last week in my novel workshop we were discussing the assigned class reading… Chapter 4 from Robert Olen Butler’s FROM WHERE YOU DREAM, a segment called “Cinema of the Mind.”
In a nutshell, the book is a compendium [...]

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