Five on Friday - Paul Doiron

Happy Friday friends! I've been busy, busy, busy preparing for our trip to Wyoming and Longmire Days. I'm looking forward to sharing our experience with you. I'll post to Facebook and Twitter as my cell reception permits and possibly post a picture or two here, but the big recap will come once we return.

I'm a bit behind on things for the blog, including the contest from May, but rest assured that's coming and the winner will be well compensated for his/her wait. I also have some other bookish events to share with you: our Young Authors Conference and my trip to Printers Row, that's still coming too.

In the mean time, I hope you're enjoying some good summer reading. Pop Culture Nerd shared our picks for the July Nerdy Special List. While my pick for July wasn't a crime novel, it may very well take the top spot in my favorites list this year. It's at the top right now anyway. We'll see what the rest of the year brings.

For contests this week check out:

Friday Reads. They have The Good Suicides by Antonio Hill and All the Devils by Harry Shannon to give away.

Criminal Element. They have a digital copy of Linda Castillo's newest novel The Dead Will Tell. The also have the That's All She Wrote sweepstakes going on. That's your chance to win books by 6 female writers.

Pop Culture Nerd. She has a snazzy giveaway going on for Deborah Harkness' The Book of Life. 

And as always, be sure to swing by my friend Lesa's blog where she'll be holding her weekly giveaway as well.

Before we get to our fantastic Five on Friday guest, I have a favor to ask of everyone. This Sunday is Brad Parks' birthday. In Monterey he had everyone at Left Coast Crime sing to me. While I can't put together that kind of deal (and believe me--no one wants ME singing to them; I think the government classifies that as torture), I would love it if you found him on Facebook, Twitter or stopped by his website and emailed him to wish him a happy birthday. You can be sincere, you can give him a hard time--he's 40--or you can just say you're doing me a favor. But I'd love for you to wish him a happy birthday in some way, shape or form.

O.k. on to our esteemed guest for Five on Friday! Paul Doiron has been making quite a splash with his Mike Bowditch series of crime novels, which have managed to snag just about every crime award nomination available. The first in the series, The Poacher's Son, won him the Barry and the Strand Critics Award for best first novel (not to mention an Edgar nom). The fifth book in the series, The Bone Orchard, comes out on Tuesday.

Paul served as editor in chief of Down East: The Magazine of Maine for eight years before leaving to write full time. He's a Registered Maine Guide, so if you're ever up that way and want to do some fly-fishing, Paul's your man.

Most importantly, if you've been wondering how Paul pronounces his surname, he gives an excellent lesson here.

I always get excited when authors especially get the essence of Five on Friday. Paul is in with that crowd. I'm super excited about his answers and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Here's a little peek into the award winning crime writer, Paul Doiron:

If I could tell my 16-year-old self one piece of advice, knowing what I know now, it would be “Learn to dance, Paul. I mean, really dance. You will never have trouble getting a date again.”

The best gift I ever received was a slightly shopworn first edition of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. The opening chapter is my favorite start to any book.

One thing I have no tolerance for is enemies of science in general, and deniers of global warming in particular.

If I won the lottery tomorrow, the first thing I would do would be buy up as much of the Maine North Woods as possible to protect it from development.

The most daring thing I ever tried (to date) was quit my job as the Editor in Chief of Down East: The Magazine of Maine, which I’d held for eight years, in order to write full-time.

The #1 item on my bucket list right now is fly fish the hell out of New Zealand.

I'm sharing Paul's no tolerance sentiment. He's obviously a passionate man of the land, which also comes out in his writing.  I'm thrilled that he could be a part of Five on Friday today and I hope we'll see him back on the blog in the future. I'm certain you'll hear more about his books here at least.

Many thanks to Paul and many thanks to all of you for stopping by to enjoy Paul's submission today. Be sure to check out his website; you can find him on Twitter and also on Facebook. If you're new to his work and want to test drive it, there's a free short story, "The Bear Trap," available over at the Criminal Element site.

Have a wonderful weekend, enjoy good books and happy reading!