Around the Web

The days seem to be flying by and I'm certainly not keeping up with their pace. How about you? If you're celebrating Christmas, are you ready? I'm not even close yet.

I also find myself saying, "doh!" far too often as I'm forgetting things on a regular basis. Too much to remember! So, since I'm forgetting things I thought I'd point out a few things around the Interwebs today in case you forgot about any of them, or didn't even know in the first place.

First off, I wanted to remind you about the Macmillan crime communities and encourage you to come join on Twitter or Facebook...or both. Hilary Davidson just joined the team to cover noir, so that's an added bonus as well. On Twitter you can find the procedurals and P.I.s at:

http://twitter.com/mysteryprecinct
http://twitter.com/agencymysteries

And the noir is:

http://twitter.com/noirmysteries

At Facebook we have:

The Precinct and The Agency and The Alley (if these links don't work, you can do a simple search by the name and we come up right away.)

Join up with us on Facebook and feel free to post to the wall about books you're reading, questions you have, or any crime fiction-related topics. You can also post pictures if you want to share your crime fiction escapades! You can also feel free to start discussion threads on the Discussions tabs. We have a few discussions going now, including a thread about which books you think should be read by every crime fiction fan before they die. I'd love for you to come contribute to that one because I'd like to do something else with it both on the Facebook pages and on blogs. So, come share your thoughts!

If you don't know already, Megan Abbott and Sara Gran have started a blog together. You can find that here.

Kelli Stanley has a snazzy new blog with a forum here. Lots of fun stuff to check out there.

Tantor Audio is holding a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway at the Audiobook Community for a chance to win a copy of THE LINEUP on audio. I have a print copy and have read a couple of the pieces, but not everything yet. I love the ones I've read so far.

I signed up here at FictFact to try to track the series that I read. I've been extremely remiss about keeping up my Goodreads account, but maybe I'll do a bit better with this one. If you're also a member, feel free to link up with me. I love to see what you're reading.

And if you missed it last weekend, I announced my first hosting of a reading challenge. It's called CRIMINAL PLOTS and you can find all the details here. I so hope you'll sign up and join us. I can't wait see what people read for the challenge. Also, if you know other crime fiction fans - or folks who you think should check out the genre, encourage them to check it out as well. You don't have to be a blogger to participate and participants only have to read 6 books to successfully complete it.

I also joined the What's in a Name 4 reading challenge. This is huge for me. Two challenges this year. I usually horrible at completing them, but it's going to be one of my reading/blogging goals for 2011. I will complete them this year! I'll also do periodic blog updates so you can help keep me on track.

Robert Crais announced his tour schedule for THE SENTRY. It's up on his website here. If he isn't coming to a bookstore near you, remember that he's going to be a Guest of Honor at Bouchercon in St. Louis this year. And the discount registrations for BCon are available until Jan. 1st. So, get your registration in before the end of the year and save yourself some bucks. It is THE must attend event of the year!

If you didn't see it, my very good friend and blogging buddy, Pop Culture Nerd did this fabulous video of Robert Crais while he was working on the video for The Sentry. It's a must to see, plus you can enter to win a chance at an ARC of THE SENTRY while you're there.

Wow! I think I need to do these posts more often and then they won't be quite so long, huh? I'd like to end with a hearty congratulations to the very talented Brad Parks who this month received the Nero Award for FACES OF THE GONE. Brad is the first author to ever win the Shamus and the Nero on the same book. And what a most deserving book for that honor.

I have so much more to share with you this month. I'm working on my goals for 2011, my favorites list from 2010, the remainder of the recommendation project. And I know it's a very busy time for everyone, but if you have time to stop by this month, I'll be keeping posts fresh. Thanks for every visit you make! Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!