Jen's Book Thoughts: Lee Goldberg

Sorry I haven't been around much. I've been working diligently to finish up the six-word memoirs scrapbook pages of the authors who will be at Bouchercon. Not sure if I'll get everyone done. But then again, not sure if I'll be able to see everyone to get the pages signed, but I'd like to at least have them ready. The book is really turning out nicer than I had hoped. Actually, it's turned into two books now and may make a third by the time pictures have been added and all memoirs have been completed. But between that, prepping and packing, and oh yeah, that pesky full-time job that pays the bills (ha), I've been pretty busy. I have not, however, stopped reading, so I have some reviews to catch up on after B'Con. But as promised, we will not miss the six-word memoirs this week. So, let's get to them so I can get back to work on the scrapbook.

I am so giddy about this week's memoirists, I can't even tell you! This is a great group of authors to represent for us during Bouchercon week.

To start us off, we have Hilary Davidson. Hilary just snagged her first crime novel book deal, but she's no stranger to writing. After interning for Harper's Magazine in New York City, Hilary returned to her home town of Toronto for a magazine job. From there she decided to strike out on her own and try her hand at freelance work. In the past ten years she's written 18 guidebooks (yes that number IS 18), and gads of newspaper and magazine articles. But the world of crime was calling Hilary and she started dabbling in fiction. After her short story "Anniversary" was selected for the anthology A PRISONER OF MEMORY AND 24 OF THE YEAR'S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES, agent Nat Sobel took notice. And at this time next year, Hilary will be releasing her first crime fiction novel, titled THE DAMAGE DONE. But you don't have to wait to enjoy her fine writing. She's published short works in Thuglit, Crimespree, Well Told Tales, Beat to a Pulp, Spinetingler, and The Rose & Thorn. And you can see her prize-winning short story "Beast" here. In addition to the publication of her novel, Hilary will celebrate the publication of another short story in 2010. This time "Son of So Many Tears" will be published in the 2010 Thuglit anthology. I am confident that in a few years, someone is going to say to you, "have you heard of Hilary Davidson? She wrote this awesome novel." And you'll be able to say, "Where have you been? I read Hilary's six-word memoir before she even published her first novel. I've known how great she is for-ever!"

When she isn't conjuring up crime and criminals, Hilary studies krav maga and karate, where she's earned a brown belt. And she never tires of traveling. With all of these accomplishments, her memoir fits perfectly:

Thought small sins pointless. Dreamed big.

Our next memoirist this week likes to bring comedy to the crime fiction genre. Don't believe me? Let's put his bio to the first sentence test:

"Lee Goldberg is an ex-Navy SEAL, freelance Sexual Surrogate and a professional Pierce Brosnan impersonator."

I think the man knows how to write a hook! And write them he does. For print and for television. Instead of following his mother's wishes and attending law school or following his grandfather's wishes and going into the family furniture business, Lee attended UCLA, working as a freelance journalist to pay the bills. Lee published his first book .357 VIGILANTE under the pen name Ian Ludlow, but since the publisher promptly went bankrupt, Ian Ludlow was no more. But that didn't deter Lee Goldberg. He climbed back on the bike to try again. And since climbing back on, Lee has published non-fiction, fiction, and television scripts. He's well-known these days for writing the book series MONK, which is based on the television show. His newest MONK novel and the ninth in the series, MR MONK IN TROUBLE is due out this December. MONK is not the first book series Lee's written based on a television series, however. He also wrote the DIAGNOSIS MURDER novels. Lee broke into television with a freelance script for SPENSER: FOR HIRE. DIAGNOSIS MURDER, MONK, HUNTER and NERO WOLFE (for which he won an Edgar nomination) are just a

few of his other television credits.

Not giving up after that first let down led Lee Goldberg to a job he loves. And he sums it up with six words:

Paid to pretend, best job ever.

Our next guest today comes to us from across the pond. And I can't tell you how surprised or thrilled I was to have her respond to my e-mail asking if she would participate. Her writing is a magical trip back in time with a gutsy, intelligent, independent woman. These days Ariana Franklin writes the Mistress of the Art of Death series about a twelfth century female pathologist. But Ariana, like Lee and Hilary, started her writing career in journalism. She dropped out of school at the age of 15 to pursue journalism, and by 20 she was the youngest journalist on Fleet Street in London. Ariana loved the journalist's life, but when she married fellow journalist Barry Norman, she left it behind and gave birth to two daughters. Just because she left journalism didn't mean she left writing, however. She continued to write anything and everything: magazine articles, biographies, ghost stories and especially women's history. It was Helen Heller who encouraged Ariana to try her hand at a historical thriller, and try it she did. She took Raymond Chandler's famous line, "When in doubt, have a man come in with a gun" and she molded it to fit her needs. She has a woman come in, and she comes in with a poison or a dagger or a crossbow. Or in Adelia's case she comes in to investigate the results of the poisons or daggers or crossbows. This year Ariana published the third book in the Mistress of the Art of Death series, GRAVE GOODS, and April of next year will bring the fourth title, A MURDEROUS PROCESSION, in this highly accurate, incredibly fun

historical thriller series. While Ariana claims

Success has taken me by surprise

Being a great fan of this series, it doesn't surprise me at all!

And anchoring our list of authors today is a man who at 19 wanted to be Ernest Hemingway. William Kent Krueger began writing at the "first light" of day in his efforts to emulate Hemingway. Kent discovered this time of day also worked well for him. So, writing longhand in wire-bound notebooks while sitting in a local cafe at 6:00 each morning, a writer was born. Years later he is writing in that same cafe at 6:00 each morning, but now he's writing full time. Kent's series of Cork O'Connor books have garnered him a Barry Award, three Anthony Awards and four Minnesota Book Awards, among numerous other awards and recognitions. That's not too shabby for a man who was kicked out of Stanford for "radical activities."

Kent has been married to his wife, Diane, for over 35 years.

They have two children and call St. Paul, Minnesota home. Kent's ninth Cork O'Connor novel, HEAVEN'S KEEP was released last month. So what six words did Kent find to capture his amazing experiences?

Ambitions failed. Blessings, never. Hope
abides.

How can you help but succeed with an outlook like that?! I'm excited to, hopefully, have the chance to meet Kent this weekend at Bouchercon. Our other three memoirists will, unfortunately, not be making it to the convention this year. That's part of the reason I chose them for this week. I wanted to add them to the celebration! Hilary, Lee, Ariana, and Kent, thank you so much for celebrating mystery and crime fiction with us today through your six-word memoirs. We look forward to all the intrigue and thrill you continue to bring to us, your fans, through your writing.

O.k. everyone, I will once again go quiet until next week when I will return with stories and pictures and reviews and (hopefully) some new interviews lined up! We will also have Week 22 of the Six-Word Memoirs. If you're going to be at Bouchercon, I'll see you this weekend! Happy, happy reading everyone!!

Well, I planned and I plotted and I made it to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I attended the festival on Saturday and it was simply amazing.

I have to start off thanking my friend Michael Alatorre because he secured my panel tickets. He sent me an e-mail earlier saying "good news and bad news." The first two panels I wanted to attend he easily got the tickets for, but the panel with Robert Crais sold out immediately. However, he said, I'm not giving up. There are still some chances that we could get in. Well, Michael got us in! He went to the festival first thing Saturday morning and snagged some of the tickets that they hold back from Ticket Master. So as my sister was driving us from Oceanside to L.A., he called to give me the good news. I literally squealed into the phone. Very unbecoming, I know, but I was excited!! Robert Crais is who ignited this who trip for me in the first place. I wanted to see him!! But here is the man who made it all happen, my friend Michael:

So, we arrived on the UCLA campus and parked. Then we headed to Dodd Hall where all three of my panels would take place throughout the day. The very first panel was at 10:30 and it was titled "A Dark and Stormy Night." The moderator was Lee Goldberg (who writes the Monk books based on the TV series) and the panelists were Jan Burke, Stephen J. Cannell, Robert Dugoni and yes, it is so, Craig Johnson! Here are a few pics, but the light wasn't conducive to pictures, so they aren't a great quality:

The panel started by talking about developing a series. All the panelists have series and none of them set out with the idea to create a series. Stephen Cannell had experience with series having written for several television series before starting to write crime novels. Craig Johnson offered up the advice that Tony Hillerman offered him, "don't forget, it's about the characters. That's the A-number-one rule." Robert Dugoni's advice was "every book needs to surprise the reader."

Lee pointed out that Craig Johnson's considered not just a crime fiction writer but also a literary writer. Craig responded by saying he feels that the readers are at a high level and expect a great deal from the books they are reading. One of the elements he values (surprise, surprise) is humor! He shared another tidbit of advice, a tidbit he received from his training officer when he was a police patrolman, "You can lose your badge; you can even lose your gun; as long as you don't lose your sense of humor, you'll be alright." I think he's doing pretty dandy in that arena. Craig said that when he starts a book, he looks for a social issue he wants to address through the novel.

When asked if they felt a need to "break out" or chance losing their jobs in writing, Robert Dugoni pointed out that people in the publishing industry need to remember they aren't competing with each other but rather they're on the same team. As he pointed out, "there are enough great books to go around." And ultimately, you have "write honestly." Stephen reinforced this point by saying it's about the quality of the books. If the quality is there, the rest will take care of itself.

When Lee asked the panel to address the issue of "the audience has seen it all," Craig started to describe the readers as "cheap dates" and then decided, "I think that's all I'm going to say about that." The entire audience was laughing. It was truly a fun panel.

Lee Goldberg did an excellent job as moderator, and the audience enjoyed many laughs throughout the hour.

After this panel, we had a little time to roam and check out the various booths. Of course there were many booths and we didn't see all of them, but I made sure to see the important ones: Mysterious Galaxy Books, Los Angeles Sisters in Crime, and the Mystery Bookstore's booth. The Mystery Bookstore piggy-backed with SoCal's MWA organization, where I bought a GREAT t-shirt. I'm going to have to check and see if more MWA chapters have great t-shirts like this. I say this as though I actually need more t-shirts!

I also especially liked this booth. A better message couldn't be expressed!

I'll finish up the second half of the day with tomorrow's post. Hope you'll check back to hear about my panel with Michael Koryta and of course the final panel with Robert Crais!

Happy Reading!