Stuff To Check Out

O.k., I haven't blogged since Tuesday. Sorry, sorry. I've been hard at work putting together some fun stuff for the future. Not too far into the future, but after today anyway.

I wanted to point you to some cool stuff I've been checking out around the web and think you'll like. First and foremost, you MUST go take a look at Alafair's blog. Not only did she announce her new book title today (yea!!), but she also posted the incredible speech she read for her dad at the Edgars ceremony where he was named Grand Master. Truly something you want to read; I promise.

And here's a nice article about Michael Koryta from the St. Petersburg Times you may want to check out. He'll be back in the Cleveland (and Columbus) area in August.

USA Today online has their calendar of summer book releases out today. There are a few in there I'm eyeing up. I already have my copy of Pelecanos' new one THE WAY HOME. That's coming up soon in the reading rotation. I'll let you all read about Patterson's new book, Evanovich's new release, Lee Child's next Reacher novel, or the follow-up to THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. But I want to point out a couple that I'm THRILLED about. First, why do I feel like the last to know? James Lee Burke (aforementioned father of Alafair) has a new character for his book due out this summer. Sheriff Hackberry Holland is going to be the focus of RAIN GODS. Yeah boy! And of course I have to do a little happy dance to have Pat Conroy back on the scene again. His SOUTH OF BROAD comes out in August...the 11th to be exact.

But, here are the releases I know about that AREN'T in the calendar and, gosh darn, they should be! The wonderful Craig Johnson has book number 5 in the Walt Longmire series out at the end of this month. That's THE DARK HORSE. Chris Grabenstein's THE MIND SCRAMBLER comes out in June, as does Gregg Hurwitz's TRUST NO ONE and Michael Stanley's THE SECOND DEATH OF GOODLUCK TINUBU. And Michael Koryta's THE SILENT HOUR hits the shelves in August. Holy Moly what a summer!

A reminder if you're in the NE Ohio area, Rosemary Harris is going to be appearing at the Barnes and Nobel in Crocker Park (Westlake) on May 18th at 7:00p.m. I'll be there for sure!

I officially registered for my very first Bouchercon today. I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into, but I'm excited about it. I'm recruiting some veterans to hold my hand! ;)

And finally, I wanted to let you know that tomorrow I will be hosting an interview with Beth Groundwater, the author of the Gift Basket Designer mystery series. She's on her blog tour and has some contests running in correlation with her visits. You can read more about her contests at her website, and make sure you come back and say "hi" tomorrow.

In the meantime, Corey has given me the world's best meme (he completed it over at his blog already), and a little challenge to add my own questions to it, so I need to get to work on it. You're going to love this meme - he's so creative! Happy Reading!