Mark Pryor's Blog, page 3

A book recommendation: DANTE'S WOOD, by Lynne Raimondo

Time to dust this place off and give you some useful information. Like, for when you're headed to the pool and plan to drink 'ritas and read something awesome.

Try this: DANTE'S WOOD, by Lynne Raimondo.

Booklist summarizes the plot thusly:

"Still reeling from a late-onset genetic disorder that’s left him blind, Windy City psychiatrist Mark Angelotti is assigned to assess Charlie Dickerson, a developmentally disabled youth allegedly molested by a teacher.

"Just days after dismissing the allegation...

The Best Advice Ever (and how it helped me learn to swim)

Naturally, the best advice I ever received came from a sprightly, white-haired old lady. She was my grandmother and I lived with her in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for quite a while when I first came to America. It's her birthday this week, she'd be 105 (hey, she made it to 96, which ain't bad).

This was in the mid 1990s. I'd been a newspaper reporter in the UK, and was freelancing for local papers in the Chapel Hill area. But I wasn't happy - the stories I was being assigned were fluff and t...

Hooligangsters and Me

I got word last week that my work here at the DA's office may slowly come to a halt in about a year. A new position has opened up with the city of Austin and they've asked me to consider it. I've already agreed to sit down with some of the city's council members to hammer out the details, but the job relates to the new soccer stadium that will be built here.

The Austin Chronicle covered the story a few days ago: All Aboard the Soccer Train! Major League Soccer and urban rail take Austin by storm.  ...

Good-bye Charlie, hello David.

After roughly two years riding in Charlie Sector, it's time for a move. I went with the sector I live in, known as David. In the map below, Charlie is the pink patch on the east side of Austin. David is in yellow, the south west part of the city.
I rode with Mario on Thursday, an officer new to APD but who'd been a cop in the mid-west for a few years. Super nice chap, we had a good time though it was a pretty quiet night. At one point I took a pic of an incoming call, which I thought might be...

Honesty in court

In court recently, a teenage boy sat quietly while his probation officer, people from CPS and other social services spoke to the judge about him. The lad was having a hard time in school, subjects not holding his interest, no clue what he wants to do with his life, a few behavioral problems.

Eventually, the judge got around to asking the young man about his hopes and plans, his goals and dreams.

"What in school are you most interested in, Brian?"

Pause, wry smile. "Honestly. Girls."

Love the hone...

Cats out of bags, and inclom... inclom...

In sad news, this will be my last in the "disarming reviews" series for a while.

First, I don't actually have many bad reviews to choose from (I know, tempting fate, right?!), and second, I'd hate to give the impression that I do have a bunch of bad reviews. As if.

But this one is high on the adorable stakes, very high.



In case you're wondering, this little lady has expressed a desire to be a vet, an airline pilot, and an actress. Working on the third, right now, obviously.

Me and J.K. in a literary storm

I had a hard time coming up with a title for this post, and you can see what I picked. Not because it's an awesome title but because it made me smile. I picture tweed-jacketed authors tutting extra loudly, indignantly overfilling their pipes. And no one outside the book world caring much...

But this little storm involves me (a little bit) and JK Rowling who has, oh, twenty three billionty fans. Including my kids.

Here's what happened. An English author wrote an editorial for the Huffington Post...

Oh, BookPeople... you make me laugh

This is why I love BookPeople. It's a cancellation notice for an author event. Click and enjoy.

Disarming reviews: "Sorry!"

Next in the series of kids reading bad reviews, comes one from The Crypt Thief. This one is particularly interesting because... well, you'll see:




That's right. The reviewer gave one star because he hadn't bought or read the book!

(As ever, my thanks for the idea goes to: http://noblemania.blogspot.com/2014/0...)

Disarming reviews: "Preposterous!"

The second in the series where I remove the sting of a bad review by melting it on the tongue of an angel.

This week features Natalie discussing my "preposterous" and most recent novel, The Blood Promise.


As before, a nod to the blog that started this for me: http://noblemania.blogspot.com/2014/0...