Hilary Davidson's Blog, page 23

First We Take Amazon

On the weekend, I read Dennis Tafoya's incredible debut novel, DOPE THIEF. (I had no choice — THE WOLVES OF FAIRMOUNT PARK, his second novel, comes out on June 22nd and I wanted to check out his debut first.) It's a stunning book that managed to mix adrenalin-pumping action with a meditative, poignant heart. Quite a rare feat. Afterwards, I looked at the book's Amazon listing, to see what other people said. The reviews were universally outstanding, but what got me was that there were only 12 ...

The Thugs Come Out at Night

Last Wednesday night was the launch party for the new Thuglit anthology, BLOOD, GUTS, & WHISKEY. I wasn't sure what to expect from the Thuglit crowd gathered at the Village Lantern. Brass knuckles and shivs? Vodka shots and moonshine? Hair-trigger tempers and fights in the alley? Nope. Instead, I got to meet Todd and Allison Robinson, Thuglit's creators, and their son (who goes by his street handle Baby Thug; he may already have a tattoo) and a bunch of writers who are just as excited to be i...

Blood, Guts, & Whiskey

What are you doing on Wednesday, June 9th? If you're in New York City, I hope you're planning to come to the launch party for the new Thuglit anthology, BLOOD, GUTS, & WHISKEY. It's set for the Village Lantern — 167 Bleecker Street near Sullivan — starting at 6pm and running until the bar kicks us out or the police show up, whichever comes first.

"Launch party" might be too tame a term to describe the festivities. More apt: "Booze-Up Bonanza," as Todd Robinson, AKA Big Daddy Thug, put it in...

Toronto's St. James Cemetery

If you're reading this blog, you already know that I have a soft spot for cemeteries. I take the Victorian view of them, meaning that I find them as serenely bucolic as public parks (though usually far less noisy, and with much better art). So it will come as no surprise that, when it came time to get my author photo taken, I returned to one of my old favorites.

The St. James Cemetery is Toronto's oldest, and arguably its grandest, burial ground. It doesn't boast the wide-ranging expanse of...

When Worlds Collide

I have two blogs: that gluten-free one, which has been around for more than two years, and this shiny new one. My aim is to keep their subjects separate, which shouldn't be hard, since one is about gluten-free food and the other is about crime. How much could they possibly have in common?

More than you'd think, it turns out. Crime writer BV Lawson is also on a gluten-free diet, and she gave me a great interview that went up on the Gluten-Free Guidebook yesterday. That got me thinking about...

Spinetingler Win for "Insatiable"

Yesterday, I found out that "Insatiable" won the 2010 Spinetingler Award for Best Short Story. While I'm still more than a little shocked, I am incredibly grateful for all of the support my story has received. The Spinetingler Awards are voted on by the public via electronic ballot, and it's an honor to have so many mystery, crime, and noir fans pick "Insatiable" as their favorite… especially given the incredible list of other writers nominated in that category. Thank you!

I also want to say a...

A Night at the Edgars

For the past five years, I've taken part in the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Week, which makes the mystery community flock to New York every April. The first year I went, I only attended the Symposium, which features panels with top-notch writers. Since then, I've been to other events and book parties, but last night marked my first Edgar Awards Banquet.

Part of the reason I decided to go this year was that I wanted to cheer on writer friends I love and admire, such as Sophie...

My Debt to the Thugs

"Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot."

There are lines from certain books tattooed on my brain. The quote above is from BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S — not the frothy Audrey Hepburn film, but the book by Truman Capote, a beautiful novella with a dark heart. It's what comes to mind when I think of Todd Robinson and Allison Glasgow Robinson of Thuglit.

If you're reading this site, Thuglit has likely already sucker-punched you with its addictive reading. (But if Google pointed you my ...

Scar Stories

A few weeks ago, I had a skin-cancer scare. I've already written about it (over on that other blog), but the rough outline is that I had a mole removed from my left upper arm, and that mole was filled with mutant cells deemed aggressive by a lab. The result was that I had to have some minor surgery to remove the tissue around the mole. Ten stitches and five days later, I got an all-clear on the biopsy.

This episode ended up inspiring fiercely creative short stories from some of my...

Sharp Fiction From Needle

A few weeks ago, a crime-writing friend named Steve Weddle told me he was starting a new publication. Not a Web zine, mind you, but a print magazine. As he described it in an e-mail, "I want ink on paper. I want to turn pages. I want to loan the mag to a friend and have him read some awesome story I just fell in love with." I was intrigued by the idea, but assumed that it would take months to pull a first issue together. My background is in print media, and I know how slowly the wheels there ...