Gigi Pandian's Blog, page 7

Eating in London and Lisbon for Vegans & Vegetarians (& Anyone Who Wants Great Tasting Healthy Food)

Cancer sucks, but taking good care of yourself doesn't have to. If I had to give up delicious food to eat right, I wouldn't do it. Because I need to avoid hormones in my food, at home it's easy to buy organic food and cook from scratch to make the tasty meals I want to eat. Traveling is trickier. The easiest way to eat right while traveling is to seek out vegan food. Here are the great places I found on my recent trip to London and Lisbon.

Vegan London
Le Pain Quotidien: A worldwide chain of or...

Last Minute Trip to London and Lisbon

I had the opportunity to tag along on a trip to England and Portugal, so I jumped at the chance. I'm home now, jet-lagged but with lots of ideas for new mysteries to write...

Here are my top 10 highlights from the trip. I'll also be posting more photos of gargoyles and castles over at Gargoyle Girl.

1. The British Library's Murder in the Library exhibit in London. 

The A to Z of crime fiction kicked things off with Agatha Christie, and included Sherlock Holmes, Ellery Queen, locke...

Malice Domestic 25: Interview of a Lifetime, Friends Winning Agatha Awards, and More Fun!

I didn't think the Malice Domestic mystery convention could get any better, but it keeps on surprising me. Here are some photos and highlights from this year:

Me and Aaron Elkins after his Lifetime Achievement Award interview.One of the things I was most looking forward to at this year's Malice was getting to meet one of my two favorite mystery authors, Aaron Elkins. Even more exciting was the fact that Barbara Mertz (aka Elizabeth Peters), my other favorite mystery author, was scheduled to co...

PIRATE VISHNU: The Second Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery — Cover Art!

My second Jaya Jones novel comes out September 3, 2013. It's now four months before the book comes out, so Advance Reader Copies have arrived! Here's the cover art and details about the new book:

PIRATE VISHNU: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery

A century-old treasure map of San Francisco's Barbary Coast.
Sacred riches from India.
Two murders, one hundred years apart.
And a love triangle…
Historian Jaya Jones has her work cut out for her.
1906. Shortly before the Great San Francisco Earthquake, Pirate...

A New Short Story is Out: "The Hindi Houdini"

I've got a new short story out this week!

"The Hindi Houdini" appears in Fish Nets: The Second Guppy Anthology, 22 More Tales of Murder and Mayhem from the Rising Stars of Mystery, published by Wildside Press.

The anthology features stories from mystery writers in the Guppies chapter of Sisters in Crime.

In "The Hindi Houdini," magician Sanjay Rai, aka The Hindi Houdini, solves a locked room mystery at the Napa Valley winery theater where he performs.

If you're reading the Jaya Jones series, you...

Fifteen Months After Cancer: Fearless & Feeling Like Myself Again

It's been fifteen months since I finished chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

I definitely fall into the camp that believes what doesn't destroy me makes me stronger. I continue to feel healthier than I've ever been -- thank you Kris Carr and Post Punk Kitchen! -- and am enjoying life more than ever.

However, as I've recovered, I've felt strangely unlike myself in two key ways. First, I no longer had my old (BIG) hair. Second, I no longer had my ability to eat or drink anything I w...

Photos from Left Coast Crime 2013 in Colorado Springs

After nearly getting snowed in, I'm back from Colorado Springs, where I attended the Left Coast Crime mystery convention. I've been attending mystery conventions for a few years now, and it's always inspiring to hang out with fellow mystery writers and readers. It's especially cool this year to have a book out, because I got to meet readers who've enjoyed Artifact. So much fun!

Here are some highlights:

The New Author Breakfast. Author Mike Befeler generously runs the author breakfasts, where...

Done With Revisions: PIRATE VISHNU Comes Out September 3, 2013

Gigi's post-chemo hair, March 2013. Revisions inevitably take longer than anticipated. For me, it tends to take me about twice as long as I estimate. Since I've learned a thing or two over the last few years, I doubled the time I thought I needed to finish revising Pirate Vishnu: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery. 

It worked! I made my deadline!

I sent off the manuscript to my copy editor over the weekend. Advance Reader Copies will be out in May, and the novel will be published Sept...

New Glasses to Celebrate a First Royalty Check!

With my first royalty check from Henery Press, I bought myself cool new glasses!

Since I'm going to have short hair for a little while as it grows out, I wanted to get more dramatic glasses. My prescription hasn't changed in years, so I didn't really need new glasses. But I liked the idea of doing something fun with a royalty check. I hadn't stopped to do that after Artifact came out, so it was fun to slow down and think of getting something to celebrate Other People's Bagg...

Two Progress Reports: Book Revisions and Post-Chemo Hair

My Pirate Vishnu book revisions and my post-chemo hair growth have something in common: they're both going strong, but also taking longer than I'd hoped!

My subconscious solved one of the biggest remaining problems in the book, so I can tell I'm almost there, but I've gotta put in the time to get there. To that end, I'm keeping this short so I can head back to the cafe to keep writing.


I've never had hair this short, so I'm glad I decided take regular photos of my hair as it grows out. The...