Bruce DeSilva's Blog, page 57

Downloadable Audio Version of "Rogue Island" Now Available

At long last, a high-quality audio version of my Edgar Award-winning crime novel, Rogue Island, is available for download.  And I love it.

Audible, the company that produced the recording, was a dream to work with. I worked directly with the gracious Stephen Feldberg, senior director of business development. He had several professional readers audition by reading a portion of my book and then let me choose my favorite.

I chose a veteran, Jeff Woodman, who also was great to work with.  Jeff called me several times to discuss how some of the characters should sound and to check and recheck how people in Rhode Island, where the novel is set, pronounce various words and place names. (For example, the city of Pawtucket is pronounced PuhTUCKit.)

I also got to record the introduction myself.  You can purchase the download by clicking here.

But there's more to this story.

The first attempt to produce an audio book of Rogue Island was a disaster.

My agent was negotiating a deal with Tantor, which records and markets books on CD, when that company, without benefit of a signed contract, recorded the novel and put it on the market.

The recording was dreadful. The veteran reader Tantor chose, a guy who had done a good job with other kinds of books, was a totally inappropriate choice for a hard-boiled crime novel. His interpretation sounded like a supercilious, over-educated interior decorator reading to an audience of children. Worse, neither he nor anyone else at Tantor got in touch about pronunciations. As a result, he read in an accent that sounded nothing like the way Rhode Islanders speak, and he mispronounced some of the names of places and characters.

Tantor was slow in responding to my agent's request that they remove this version from the market, although they finally complied. And our request for an accounting of Tantor's sales of its version have been met with stony silence.

To any one who had the misfortune to buy Tantor's unauthorized version of the book, I am sorry.

Meanwhile, a trade paperback edition of Rogue Island will be published on June 21, and is available for pre-order. A Kindle version is also available. You can order them here. The hard cover edition is in rather short supply now.

Hey! Where's MY Picture?

John Egan, a basketball legend at Providence College, went on to play 11 years in the NBA for the Pistons, Knicks, Cavaliers, Bullets, Rockets and, most memorably, for the Lakers.

One of the characters in my first novel, Rogue Island, has signed photos of PC basketball stars hung in his office, but Egan, who wore number 34 at PC, is not among them.

Egan just shot me a note praising the book–and jokingly wondering why HIS photo wasn't included. Well, John, it WAS there in the first draft, but my editor said the list of names went on too long. So he cut a few, including John's. Perhaps I can remedy the omission in a later novel.

"Rogue Island" Does Rio!

My brilliant agent, Susanna Einstein, has made a deal to sell my Edgar Award-winning crime novel, Rogue Island, to a Brazillian publisher.  (Actually, the deal is for both my first novel and the forthcoming sequel, Cliff Walk.)

The novel, originally published in the U.S. by Forge (a division of Macmillian), has now been bought by seven foreign publishers including leading houses in France, Italy, Japan, Russia, Mexico and Korea.

Bill Loehfelm's New Crime Novel A Must Read

I loved Bill Loehfelm's first two hardboiled crime novels, both of them set on the mean streets of his native Staten Island. I just read the third, The Devil She Knows, which hits the bookstores this week; and I and am pleased to report it is every bit as good.

To read my Associated Press review of the book, please click here.

Signing "Rogue Island" at BEA

Join me at BEA (BookExpo America) at the Javits Center in Manhattan Wednesday, May 25. I'll be signing copies of my Edgar Award-winning crime novel, Rogue Island.

The schedule:

12:30 to 1, Mystery Writer of America, Booth 4482

2:30 to 3:30, Tor/Forge, Booth 3352

Thank You, Lawrence Block, For Bringing Matthew Scudder Back

Several years ago, Lawrence Block declared that he'd written his last hardboiled novel featuring a private eye named Matthew Scudder. His many fans will be delighted that Block changed his mind.

I reviewed the book for The Associated Press. You can find my review here.

My Stammering Edgar Awards Acceptance Speech

The good folks at Mystery Writers of America have posted a video of my acceptance speech at the recent Edgar Awards Banquet, where my book, Rogue Island, won the award for best first novel.

I am accustomed to speaking before large crowds, but on this night, I was nervous, as you can tell by my stammering.  Probably had something to do with having the award presented to me by S.J. Rozan and Michael Connelly.  In my previous life as a journalist, I met a lot of famous people, but on this night I was, for the first time ever, truly starstruck.

You can find the video here:

How Do You Say "Rogue Island" In Korean?

The brilliant agency that represents me, LJK Literary Management, just sold my crime novel, "Rogue Island," to a publisher in Korea.  That makes six foreign countries where the Edgar Award-winning novel will be published.  The others are France, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Russia.

The novel is currently available in hardcover, but a trade paperback edition and a down-loadable audio edition will be published next month.

Look Who's Reading "Rogue Island" NOW!

It's crime novelist Hank Phillippi Ryan (who is also an investigative reporter for WHDH-TV in Boston) and her friend, mystery writer Sharon Potts.

For a slide show of more famous novelists, journalists and politicians reading my Edgar Award-winning crime novel, please click here.

Rogue Island, currently available in hardcover and Kindle editions, will be released in trade paperback and digital audio editions in June.

Who's Reading "Rogue Island" Now? The Great Jack Hart!

Jack Hart

Look who's reading my Edgar Award-winning crime novel, Rogue Island, now! It's legendary writing coach Jack Hart, whose new book, "Story Craft," will be published July 15.

Rogue Island, now available in hardcover and Kindle editions, will be published in trade paperback, with a newly-designed cover, on June 21.