Guest Post

HAVE A BOOK TO PROMOTE? Lyrical Pens welcomes guest posts. Answer a questionnaire or create your own post. FYI, up front: This site is a definite PG-13. For details, contact cjpetterson@gmail.com cj

Sunday, March 26, 2023

How many of these award winners have you read?

cj Sez: Congratulations to the winners and the nominees for Sisters in Crime Lefty Award winners! These novels should definitely be on your To-Be-Read list/stack.

From the SinC press release:
  Sisters in Crime salutes the four Lefty Award Winners, who received their honors last week at Left Coast Crime in Tucson. Here's a complete list of nominees with winners listed first by category.

1. Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery Novel
Ellen Byron, Bayou Book Thief (Berkley Prime Crime)
Jennifer J. Chow, Death by Bubble Tea (Berkley Prime Crime)
A.J. Devlin, Five Moves of Doom (NeWest Press)
T.G. Herren, A Streetcar Named Murder (Crooked Lane Books)
Catriona McPherson, Scot in a Trap (Severn House)

2. Lefty for Best Historical Mystery Novel (The Bill Gottfried Memorial for books covering events before 1970)
Wanda M. Morris, Anywhere You Run (William Morrow)
Dianne Freeman, A Bride’s Guide to Marriage and Murder (Kensington Books)
Catriona McPherson, In Place of Fear (Mobius)
Karen Odden, Under a Veiled Moon (Crooked Lane Books)
Ann Parker, The Secret in the Wall (Poisoned Pen Press)
Iona Whishaw, Framed in Fire (Touchwood Editions)

3. Lefty for Best Debut Mystery Novel
Ramona Emerson, Shutter (Soho Crme)
Erin E. Adams, Jackal (Bantam Books)
Eli Cranor, Don’t Know Tough (Soho Crime)
Meredith Hambrock, Other People’s Secrets (Crooked Lane Books)
Harini Nagendra, The Bangalore Detectives Club (Pegasus Crime)
Rob Osler, Devil’s Chew Toy (Crooked Lane Books)
Jane Pek, The Verifiers (Vintage Books)

4. Lefty for Best Mystery Novel
Kellye Garrett, Like a Sister (Mulholland Books)
Laurie R. King, Back to the Garden (Bantam Books)
James L’Etoile, Dead Drop (Level Best Books)
Gigi Pandian, Under Lock & Skeleton Key (Minotaur Books)
Louise Penny, A World of Curiosities (Minotaur Books)
Alex Segura, Secret Identity (Flatiron Books)
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CLASSIC PIECES RETOLD is available for pre-order!

  In this sixth installment of the Mobile Writers Guild Pieces anthology series, members pay homage to some favorite classic works now in the public domainnovels, short stories, and poems. (I have retold two Agatha Christie short mysteries.)

   Mark your calendars for the book signing by multiple authors at The Haunted Book Shop during Mobile’s April 14 LoDa Art Walk. 

   Not able to be there but would like signed copies? Pre-order copies from The Haunted Book Shop and request they have them signed for you on April 14.  https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us 

   For Amazon purchases, click here: Buy CLASSIC PIECES Now

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  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for your health and safety. 

cj

   No inflation here: THE DAWGSTAR and DEATH ON THE YAMPA, fast-paced, exciting suspense/thriller ebooks, are low-, low-priced at $2.99.
P.S.  The Haunted Book Shop has signed copies of my books in stock. TO ORDER, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us 

➜ Follow me on . . .  
➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page
➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

 

Sunday, March 19, 2023

In the Did'ja Know Department

 cj Sez: CLASSIC PIECES RETOLD is available for pre-order!
Buy CLASSIC PIECES Now

   In this sixth installment of the Mobile Writers Guild Pieces anthology series, members pay homage to some of their favorite classic works in the public domain. Inside the pages of this book are tributes to the authors’ favorite novels, short stories, and poems. (I have retold two Agatha Christie short mysteries.)
 
   And wait, there’s more! Mark your calendars for the book signing by multiple authors at The Haunted Bookshop during Mobile’s April 14 LoDa Art Walk.
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FYI readers and writers, your lesson for the day

   Do you know the difference between a thriller and a suspense novel? Here's what I found . . . 
 
   “Thrillers are about the push and pull between the protagonist and the antagonist.
 
   David Morrell says, “Thrillers strive for heightened 
emotions and emphasize the sensations of what might be called an obstacle race and a scavenger hunt.” Will Jack be able to save the bus passengers before the villain detonates the bomb (Speed)? Will Nick prove Amy framed him for her disappearance (Gone Girl)? 
 
   “In a thriller, a reader usually asks the question ‘How?’ and is propelled through the story by action.” Joel Goldman contends. “Both the reader and the hero of a thriller novel already know who’s responsible for the crime, and both are waiting to see how that criminal will be brought to justice.”
 
   Suspense is about tension and what may happen, and can be present in any genre.
 
   Writer’s Digest’s Writer’s Encyclopedia says, “Suspense is the element of both fiction and some nonfiction that makes the reader uncertain about the outcome. While most obvious in mystery stories such as those published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine or Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, suspense is present in all good fiction.”
   
Best Selling Crime Writer, Libby Fischer Hellman, writes, “Suspense is not so much what is happening, as what may happen. It’s about anticipation, often anticipating the worst.

 
   Award winning author Steven James believes thriller writing, mystery writing, and literary fiction are all the same. “Simply put, if you don’t hook your readers, they won’t get into the story. If you don’t drive the story forward by making readers worry about your main character, they won’t have a reason to keep reading.”
 
  cj’s question is:  When so many novels have some of both of these genres (and more) in them, do the labels really matter?
 
   New York Times Bestselling Author Allison Brennan says “The difference between thrillers and suspense in fiction is primarily marketing. They can be used interchangeably for many books.” (Source: Excepts from https://diymfa.com/reading/mystery-thriller-suspense-label-matter ) 
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cj Sez:  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for your health and safety.
 
cj

  No inflation here: THE DAWGSTAR and DEATH ON THE YAMPA, fast-paced, exciting suspense/thriller ebooks, are low-, low-priced at $2.99.
P.S.  The Haunted Book Shop has signed copies of my books in stock. TO ORDER, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us 
 
Follow me on . . .  
Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6