Crime Critters Caught Reading Crime: Butch

Happy Friday! Where have you been caught reading so far this month?

I can't say I've personally met many of our critters for this month, but I've met Butch, and let me tell you it was love at first sight. The Boston terrier "noir dog," like his Momma Christa, may have a tough exterior, but inside he's all wonderfulness.

Momma Christa is the stunning hardboiled writer, Christa Faust whose Hard Case Crime novel, Money Shot, was nominated for every award known to the crime fiction man (or woman). She also happens to be the first female ever published by Hard Case Crime. She's a ground-breaking gal that way.

So what did we catch Butch reading today?

Butch is reading TROUBLED DAUGHTERS, TWISTED WIVES, an anthology of vintage domestic suspense by female authors, edited by Sarah Weinman. Because he's secure in his masculinity.

Atta boy Butch!

And today's pet tip: Since summer is just around the corner it's a good time to remember that while paw pads are "tough" they are also sensitive, and can be burned while walking on hot pavement and tar. If possible, walk on grass or dirt, and check your pet's paw pads to make sure there isn't any redness or pain.

Crime Fiction's Sexiest Authors of 2011 - Part 2

As I mentioned on Wednesday with Part 1 of this project, I started mulling over this idea when I read the post You Know You're an English Major If... and saw the identifier, "You consider authors to be sex symbols." And with People Magazine having their Sexiest Male issue and Salon.com weighing in on their Sexiest choices, I decided now would be a good time to bring my own choices to the blog.

However, I'm going to veer a bit from People and Salon because I'm also choosing the Sexiest Women of Crime Fiction. To make my choices here, I thought about those women I'd love to be. Who have characteristics I admire and yes, even envy...but not in a bad way, I promise.

So, mirroring the categories for the men, here are my choices for Crime Fiction's Sexiest Women. Note, I asked the ladies to send me a very unsexy picture to use with this project, and while I think they all still look quite sexy, many of them had fun with this. So here we go...enjoy!

SEXIEST WRITER-ATHLETE

Curlers are the new sexy, right?

I just can't imagine not choosing Christa Faust for this category. Some might argue the athlete part of the category since she's not running marathons or boxing or whatnot, but gosh darn it she keeps herself in shape and I'd much rather run into a marathon runner in a dark alley than a pissed off Christa Faust! Just kidding. Beyond those model good looks, she's a genuinely wonderful person. I admit to having been completely intimidated until I met her. And now I'm just thrilled to know her. She's wicked smart and self-confident and funny. And she's an amazing mama to Noir Dog, Butch.

Christa has a new book due out in February featuring a lesbian PI called BUTCH FATALE; DYKE DICK IN DOUBLE-D DOUBLE CROSS.  The much anticipated follow-up to her multiple-award nominee MONEY SHOT is CHOKE HOLD and now out from Hard Case Crime.

SEXIEST TRIPLE-SERIES WRITER

Sophie takes beauty tips from Junior

I don't know how Sophie Littlefield has time to do all that she does! She's raising kids and a dog, taking care of a home, mentoring other writers, and actively publishing THREE series - a crime series, a dystopian series and a YA series. Her writing reflects her wit and spirit, and you need only spend two minutes around her to experience the charm.

Sophie's drive and determination resulted in success in an extremely competitive field. Her talent with words and character netted her an Anthony Award. But it's Sophie's kindness and generosity that have won her the respect of her peers. It's also won her a spot on this list!

Sophie's new book in her dystopian series, HORIZON, is due out in January. And next June will bring the fourth book in her Stella Hardesty series, A BAD DAY FOR MERCY.

SEXIEST AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR

Hey! Really? Me? No way!

 I had to do an eenie, meanie, miney, moe for this category because all of these sexy writers are award winners. But Megan Abbott wins out for this one. The Edgar-award-winning author will never fade from my memory because the first time we met in person she said, "You read Bob Crais, right? Can we talk about his books today?" And I've adored her ever since! No, really, Megan is incredibly talented, original and funny. Her books have dark themes but I've never seen Megan when she wasn't bright and energized. I've also never seen Megan speak down to anyone or act as though she doesn't have time for them. Watching her with her fans, she exudes an authentic appreciation of their support and their conversation.

Megan's newest novel, THE END OF EVERYTHING, is garnering a tremendous amount of attention and well deserved accolades. I doubt this one will be overlooked for awards in the coming months.

SEXIEST WRITER UNDER 40

I'd like to thank the Academy for this sexy award....

None of the women on this list even come close to looking their ages and doesn't that just make you grumble? But how can you grumble at someone as charming and endearing and gracious as Hilary Davidson? Some people in the world you say a silent prayer of thanks to God (or whomever) for bequeathing them talent like Hilary's. You say thanks because they so richly deserve that talent and appreciate it and do wonderful things with it. Hilary is one of those people. And human characteristics don't get any sexier than that.

Hilary's debut novel, THE DAMAGE DONE, won the Anthony Award and Crimespree Award for best first novel. Her second novel, THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, is due out on Valentine's Day.

SEXIEST WRITER ON TV

Watch out! Hank will uncover your secrets!

Hank Phillippi Ryan just wins awards where ever she goes. She's won more Emmy's than she can count on fingers AND toes for her hard-hitting investigative reporting for NBC. And those awards all have to share space with the Anthony, the Macavity and the Agatha Awards for her equally amazing writing.

What really made me positive Hank belonged on my list was her astounding compassion and kindness. And if you ever hear her talk about her husband, now there's the fairy tale romance - true love.

I had communicated with Hank before the first time I met her in person...in Indianapolis...at Bouchercon. I showed her the scrapbook page with her memoir she submitted and she teared up. I had no intention of making her cry, but boy what a gift she gave me to appreciate it that much. Hank has a heart of gold, and I just think that's sexy beyond compare.

Hank is branching out from her wildly successful Charlotte McNally series next year to publish the first in a new suspense series, THE OTHER WOMAN.

O.k., the final spot on my list goes to....

JEN'S SEXIEST FEMALE WRITER ALIVE

The reigning queen!

Alafair Burke! It would be far easier for me to say what isn't sexy about Alafair because I couldn't give you anything. I admire her tremendously and consider her one of my heroes. She's smart, clever  and full of life. She's generous, kind and true. Her ability to laugh at herself is endearing and rare. There aren't many people who can do that with ease. And that allows others to be at ease around Alafair. She's human. And DAMN that's just sexy!

I, of course, adore Alafair's love of her French bulldog, Duffer. She takes him to day care, dresses him for Halloween, and collects the home videos of his life.

She doesn't dress her husband for Halloween, but she does treasure him and their life together. 

Years ago now I went to meet Alafair because I was enamored with her writing. I was rewarded with a woman I now admire as so much more than an author. And I don't want to make this sound like I admire her because she's perfect; I don't think that would be real. I do think she's stunning and beautiful inside and out, but I admire Alafair because she's challenged herself throughout her life. She's accomplished so much in a short time and still aspires to accomplish more; I can't wait to see where she is 40 years from now. I aspire to be that happy in my own skin, and I find it quite sexy.

Alafair released her first stand alone novel this year with LONG GONE. She also publishes a series with Assistant Prosecutor Samantha Kincaid and a series with NYC Police Detective Ellie Hatcher.

There you have it! My choices for the Sexiest Women of Crime Fiction in 2011. Now you can weigh in. Who do you think I left off the list? There are many, of course, so I can't wait to hear your choices.


As with Wednesday's group, this post is meant to be fun. I whole-heartedly mean what I've written about the authors, and I received their permission to include them in the post. I hope you've enjoyed it.

The Pokey Little Bouchercon Post

Yes, I'm still blogging about Bouchercon. Yes, it is a little sad on my part. In my defense I had three other planned posts for last week, and the last two posts I have are totally worth waiting for. Why you ask? Well let's take a look at Friday in St. Louis!

The morning started bright and early with a very nice breakfast co-sponsored by the Midwest chapter of Mystery Writers of America and CriminalElement.com. The breakfast was held for librarians, bloggers, booksellers and other related conference attendees. Guests of Honor Charlaine Harris and Colin Cotterill spoke, while additional Minotaur authors hosted individual tables.

Brad Parks and Sabrina Ogden

Charlaine Harris

Colin Cotterill deep in thought about Charlaine's speech?

Ali is tweeting? Or Facebooking maybe?

Once we had full tummies, we could move on to the programming of the day. For me that started with a panel called "Shake and Finger Pop." It's a bit of a misleading title as the panel dealt with fight sports in crime fiction. The panelists included Jamie Freveletti, Tom Schreck, Christa Faust, and Frank Bill all moderated by Eric Beetner. It's fascinating to hear the way each of the panelists views fighting in relation to plotting and their characters. Tom Schreck and Frank Bill have more of a boxing background and Jamie Freveletti is a martial artist with a black belt in aikido. Christa Faust's character is a former porn star, and Christa pointed out parallels between the porn industry and professional fighting.

Jamie Freveletti and Christa Faust

Jamie Freveletti

Christa Faust and Tom Schreck

Tom Shreck and Frank Bill

The next session I attended was Ridley Pearson's interview by Jeff Abbott. I know from my own experiences interviewing Ridley, that he's a wonderful interviewee. Add to that Jeff Abbott is a fabulous interviewer and this session was outstanding! Jeff rocked the house with his self-deprecating sense of humor, his knowledge of his subject and his appreciation for Bouchercon as a fan conference. Sometimes participants forget that. This isn't a writer's conference. The fans come to know the writers more than the writing. The unfortunate part of this interview was its time slot. The charity bowling tournament was going on at the same time. I'm sad more people couldn't have enjoyed this wonderful interview. And sadly, I arrived a few minutes late, so I didn't get to record it. That was my biggest regret of the conference. But here are some pictures from the fun:

Jeff made Ridley really think on this question.

This picture says so much about the entire interview.

 

Ooooh, I think Ridley is telling a secret!

I just love this shot! Doesn't Ridley look like an excited little kid? So much fun!

Following Ridley's interview I opted to see Dark Angel: Morally Challenged Heroes. This was an extra special panel for me because two people I've gotten to know and really like through social media were teamed up here. Chris Holm was the moderator and Bill Cameron was one of the panelists. And I can attest that they are super great people and it was wonderful to get to meet them in person. Also on this panel were Blake Crouch, Theresa Schwegel, Michael Wiley and Leighton Gage. After a little unforeseen informercial, the panel was off and running and quite entertaining. The interesting outcome was that none of the authors really viewed their heroes as morally challenged.

Chris Holm and Bill Cameron

Theresa Schwegel and Michael Wiley

The programming element of the day ended with one of my highlights for the conference: Gregg Hurwitz interviewed Robert Crais. I'm not going to say a lot about this interview because I have it recorded for you to see yourself. If you didn't get to attend, here's your chance to see it. If you did attend and just want to relive it...here you go. What I will say is that Gregg Hurwitz did an exceptional job. He understood the idea of the fan convention and created an environment where the fans could know the man behind the writing. It was fun, humorous and enlightening. Gregg has given me much to aspire to in the realm of interviewing. And that's enough from me. Here's the video:










Finally, I'll wrap with our gift to Robert Crais. The Craisies did a little brainstorming and with the initiative of Naomi Johnson (The Drowning Machine) we got jersey's that said "The Craisies" across the front. Then we each picked an RC character and had the name put on the back. He was gifted the #1 shirt:

You've the Right to Six Words: Week Four

Annnnnnnnnnnd...we're back for Week Four of Season Two in You've the Right to Six Words. I love that this week's memorists are going to showcase the diversity of the crime fiction genre. Most people are familiar with the mainstream mystery and the thriller novel. Those are the ones we see most often in the Wal-Mart or our local grocery stores because they're often on the New York Times Bestseller lists. But what about noir, graphic novels, horror? They all have a place in the over-reaching crime fiction genre. These three authors today make sure we maintain quality in those sub-sets of the genre.

Starting off this week we have a writer who's first dream was to be a baseball player. Jason Starr's dream to be a baseball player led him to read more sports magazines and baseball cards than books as a child. But his freshmen year in college ignited his desire to be a writer. His writing started off as play writing. But an early interest in film noir eventually brought Jason to the crime fiction world. Last year he released his ninth novel, PANIC ATTACK. In addition to his solo novels, Jason has written three Hard Case Crime novels with Ken Bruen and in January of this year, he published his first graphic novel, THE CHILL. This year Jason also wrote a five-part comic series of JUSTICE INC, called WORST NIGHTMARE. All of these experiences contributed to Jason's memoir of

I lived a very noir life.

Christa Faust grew up in New York City and earned a college degree, but she credits her work writing novelizations and tie-ins as her most beneficial education for writing. She prefers privacy for her writing as opposed to a public location like a coffee shop. Her work writing novelizations forced her into a more structured writing style, and while she doesn't get as detailed in her own personal writing, she's writing much less by the seat of her pants these days. That structure in her private setting produced the novel that was acknowledged with nominations from almost every award possible in the genre: MONEY SHOT. The follow-up to this Edgar-nominated sensation is CHOKE HOLD which will make its debut in March of 2011. In her own words, Christa is "older than you think and younger than I feel." She enjoys vintage shoes and vintage books and this is her "birthday month." She's going to celebrate in style all month long. So how would the birthday girl sum it all up?

Read pulp.
Wrote pulp.
Need more.

Thanks goodness because the crime fiction community needs more from Christa Faust, too.

And wrapping up this week's memoirists we have a writer who's been making a lot of noise in the industry lately. Joe Konrath, a.k.a. JA Konrath, is the author of the Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thriller series and the editor of the THESE GUNS FOR HIRE anthology. When Joe isn't writing his novels or short stories that have earned him Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, Dagger and Barry nominations, he occasionally teaches writing and marketing at the College of Dupage. He also maintains an award-winning blog about publishing called "A Newbie's Guide to Publishing." Joe shook the publishing industry a bit last month when he announced that his seventh Jack Daniels novel, SHAKEN, would be published by Amazon's publishing imprint, AmazonEncore, since his long-time publisher Hyperion closed their mystery line. SHAKEN will first be available in the Kindle Store in October of this year followed by a print release in February of 2011. In the meantime Joe's sixth Jack Daniels novel CHERRY BOMB is available this month in paperback. Taking the publishing industry by storm,

He's everything he thinks he is.

And that is never, ever boring!

Thanks so much to all the authors participating this week. Another round up of great authors sharing with us this week. What I like best about this week is the representation of the diversity in this genre. These three authors are a bit of a microcosm of the genre. Genre's may be defined by rules and expectations, but the authors writing in crime fiction like to push, pull, and color outside those lines. And we readers get to benefit.

Happy Reading everyone!





Technorati Tags: You've the Right to Six Words, Joe Konrath, Christa Faust, Jason Starr

CAUGHT! - Christa Faust

I'm not sure where YOU are today, but here in Northeast Ohio, it's sunny and warm. So, this picture of Christa Faust reading Gary Phillips' THE JOOK is especially appropriate! Her waters in Fiji look a wee bit bluer than the waters of Lake Erie here, but what can you do?

Christa's own MONEY SHOT was nominated for nearly every award possible. Most recently, Christa collaborated with Gabriel Hunt in this year's release of HUNT BEYOND THE FROZEN FIRE.

Technorati Tags: Christa Faust, Crime Writers Caught Reading Crime