Art Taylor's Blog, page 83

Celebrating Margaret Maron and More

This Sunday, September 11, the Wake County Public Libraries begin their two-month program “Close to Home: Celebrating Margaret Maron’s North Carolina.” I’m pleased to be part of the kick-off event, interviewing Margaret Maron about her life and career at the North Regional Library, 7009 Harps Mill Road, in Raleigh, NC; the program is Sunday, September 11, at 2 p.m. More than 90 additional programs are scheduled at six branches of the library system as part of the celebration.

Margaret was one of my first friends in the mystery community and has been a steadfast supporter of my own writing for many years. I’ve written about her career for several publications, including The Armchair Detective, Mystery Scene Magazine, and North Carolina Literary Review, and it’s an honor to be part of this celebration of her work after the recent publication of Long Upon the Land, the final book in her landmark, award-winning Deborah Knott mystery series.

Come out for a conversation that touches on Margaret’s North Carolina youth and time abroad, on her Sigrid Harald and Deborah Knott books, and on what’s next in her continuing career.

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In other news, I’ve made several blogs appearances recently, both in my regular columns and as a guest. Here’s a quick round-up of appearances online:

At SleuthSayers, I chatted about a chance encounter at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and several lessons learned in the process
At Criminal Minds, I shared highlights from my own summer reading
And at Mystery Playground, I took part in their weekly Drinks with Reads feature to chat about the gimlet and my story “The Odds Are Against Us”

And speaking of appearances, check out my Events page for information about Bouchercon next week—already excited for New Orleans!

 

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Newsletter Debut & Giveaway

After hinting toward it for a while now (how long, even I haven’t kept track of), I’m finally planning to debut my author newsletter. I plan to get this out before Bouchercon (yikes!), and as part of incentive for readers to subscribe, I’m hosting a giveaway. Fun!

Sign up for my newsletter here by end of the day on Sunday, September 4, and all new subscribers will be entered in a drawing for three anthologies from the Chesapeake Crimes series:

Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder , featuring my story “When Duty Calls,” a finalist for the 2012 Agatha Award for Best Short Story
Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays , featuring my story “Premonition,” a finalist for last year’s Agatha Award for Best Short Story
And the brand-new anthology Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning , featuring my story “Parallel Play,” which Kristopher Zgorski at BOLO Books described as “both touching and terrifying”

In addition to my own stories, these volumes also feature terrific tales by Donna Andrews, Timothy Bentler-Jungr, Carla Coupe, Maddi Davidson, E.B. Davis, Barb Goffman, Adam Meyer, Meg Opperman, Alan Orloff, Shari Randall, KM Rockwood, Harriette Sackler, Cathy Wiley, and many, many more writers, all members of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Great reading throughout.

Again, the deadline to be entered for the giveaway is Sunday, September 4, and you can sign up here!

Reston Readings: Sunday, August 28

This Sunday, August 28, I’ll be joining my wife, Tara Laskowski, and our good friend David Olimpio for this month’s edition of the Reston Readings Series. The program begins at 5:30 p.m. at Reston’s Used Book Shop, 1623 Washington Plaza North, in Reston, Virginia.

Tara and I have been to a couple of events in this series, and they’re always tremendous fun. Series curators Nathan Leslie and Meredith Reynolds are impeccable hosts, and the readings always enjoy good crowds, a great setting (books, books, and more books!), and the best podium we’ve ever seen. You need to come and see it yourself—and really to enjoy the setting generally (I stole the picture here from the book store’s own FB page because it captures the warm community feel).

Check out the full event description for this week’s readings on the Facebook event page—and join the Reston Readings group page here to stay in the loop on future events.

SleuthSayers: Anthony & Macavity Finalists Talk First Novels

Over at SleuthSayers, I hosted this year’s Anthony and Macavity Award finalists for Best First Novel for a chat about first novels that have impacted or influenced them.

Check out here what Patricia Abbott, Glen Erik Hamilton, Rob Hart, Chris Holm, David Joy, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Brian Panowich, and I had to say about favorite first novels—good recommendations from them and, of course, I’d recommend reading these authors’ own books too!

Sending good luck to all these finalists and looking forward to seeing them and celebrating with them at Bouchercon next month.

Blog Round-Up & More

After a great time at this past weekend’s Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival, here’s a quick catch-up on recent appearances online as well:

At Criminal Minds: A glimpse at my writing spaces—both on campus and at home (my campus office is the photo at the top of this post)
At SleuthSayers: Some reflections on seeing Learning Curve, a new production from Chicago’s Albany Park Theater Project
And thanks to to B.K. Stevens for quoting me in her own post at SleuthSayers, celebrating Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday!

Additionally, I posted on Facebook several pictures of this year’s finalists for the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards for Best First Novel and for the Anthony Award for Best Anthology or Collection. Reproducing those pictures below and so pleased to have On the Road with Del & Louise and the Bouchercon anthology I edited, Murder Under the Oaks, included among all these fine books.

Finally, a quick glance ahead at an event in late August. I’ll be joining Tara Laskowski and David Olimpio for the August edition of the Reston Readings series , Sunday, August 28, at 5:30 p.m. Reston’s Used Book Shop, 1623 Washington Plaza North, Reston, Virginia. More on that later, but mark your calendars now!

Virginia Events: Alexandria and Suffolk

A busy week ahead, including a mystery writers panel at library Thursday evening in Alexandria, VA, and a full day of activities Saturday at the Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival, which features some terrific authors!

Below are details on each—and a quick bit of additional info: I’ll be sharing table space with my good friend B.K. Stevens all afternoon Saturday for meet and greet and book signings. We’ll have some giveaways at our table too, so everyone attending should stop by!

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Mystery Writers Panel with Con Lehane, G.M. Malliet, and Collen Shogan, Ellen Coolidge Burke Branch Library, 4701 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA • 7 p.m. (Books for sale by One More Page Books)

Saturday, August 13, 2016: Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival, Suffolk VA

Reading from On the Road with Del & Louise • 2:45 p.m.
Panel: “It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint: Pacing Mystery & Suspense,” with Frankie Y. Bailey, Mary Lawrence, Judith Lucci, T.J. O’Connor, Amy M. Reade, and LynDee Walker, Birdsong Theater • 3 p.m.

North Carolina Bookwatch

This week on UNC-TV, North Carolina Bookwatch airs an interview with me about On the Road with Del & Louise. Host D.G. Martin, a long-time friend, and I had fun talking about the book and also about Murder Under the Oaks, the collection I edited in conjunction with last year’s Bouchercon. The interview is scheduled to premiere on Friday evening, August 5, and then repeat twice in encore presentations over the next week. Here’s the schedule:

Friday, August 5, at 8 p.m.
Sunday, August 7, at noon
Thursday, August 11, at 5 p.m.

The full interview will also be posted online after the initial broadcasts, but in the meantime, here’s a promo clip that D.G. and I did after our interview—posted on YouTube and embedded below.

 

Chicago: Wit Rabbit Reading Series

On Tuesday, August 2, my wife Tara and I will be reading at Quencher’s Saloon in Chicago as part of the Wit Rabbit Reading Series, curated by Sarah Meltzer Allen—a good friend from our grad school days at Mason—and Sara Wainscott. We’re very much looking forward to the event, getting together with old friends, making new ones, and reading together—in the big, big city!

The Facebook event page for the evening is here, including full bios on all the featured readers, also including James Tadd Adcox, whose work includes the novel Does Not Love and the story collection The Map of the System of Human Knowledge, and Naomi Huffman, editor-in-chief at Curbside Splendor and the managing editor at featherproof books.

I hope that friends in Chicago will join us for the evening!

Looking back as well as forward, here are a couple of blog posts I’ve written recently:

At Criminal Minds on becoming an “overnight success” (not!)
At SleuthSayers on rereading books and rewatching movies

And stay tuned soon for more information on my appearance on North Carolina Bookwatch on UNC-TV, at the Ellen Coolidge Burke Library in Alexandria, VA, and at the Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival in Suffolk, VA—a busy month ahead!

August Readings: Suffolk Mystery Writers Festival & More

The Suffolk Mystery Writers Festival has just released the schedule for its star-studded program on Saturday, August 13—and I’m pleased to have both a reading slot and a nice panel assignment alongside a fine group of writers, including good friends Frankie Y. Bailey, T.J. O’Connor, and LynDee Walker. The all-day program takes place at the Suffolk Center for the Cultural Arts, 110 W. Finney Drive, in Suffolk, VA.

The festival is actually one of four events ahead for me in August, beginning with a reading series in Chicago and including a couple of events closer to home: a panel discussion at the Ellen Coolidge Burke Library in Alexandria, and the Reston Reading Series at Reston Used Books in… well, I guess you got Reston mentioned enough there.

The full schedule of August events is below, with a longer listing of events on my website here.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Wit Rabbit Reading Series with James Tadd Adcox, Naomi Huffman, and Tara Laskowski, Quenchers Saloon, 2401 N Western Avenue, Chicago, IL • 7 p.m.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Mystery Writers Panel with Con Lehane, G.M. Malliet, and Collen Shogan, Ellen Coolidge Burke Branch Library, 4701 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA • 7 p.m. (Books for sale by One More Page Books)

Saturday, August 13, 2016: Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival, Suffolk VA

Reading from On the Road with Del & Louise • 2:45 p.m.
Panel: “It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint: Pacing Mystery & Suspense,” with Frankie Y. Bailey, Mary Lawrence, Judith Lucci, T.J. O’Connor, Amy M. Reade, and LynDee Walker, Birdsong Theater • 3 p.m.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Reston Readings with Tara Laskowski and David Olimpio, Reston’s Used Book Shop, Lake Anne Village Center, 1623 Washington Plaza N, Reston, VA • 5:30 p.m.

NC Bookwatch & More: Celebrating Murder Under the Oaks

I’ve had a couple of opportunities recently to talk about and celebrate Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon Anthology 2015, for which I served as editor and which has been named a finalist for this year’s Anthony Award for Best Anthology or Collection.

The July newsletter from the anthology’s publisher, Down & Out Books, included an interview I did with three writers who made their crime fiction debuts in Murder Under the Oaks: J.D. Allen, Kristin Kisska, and Karen E. Salyer. Each of the stories from there writers is terrific—and each distinctive in its own way—and I appreciated the opportunity not only to spotlight their contributions here but also to learn more about the genesis of their stories, how these stories represent them as writers (first impressions are everything, after all!), and what they’ve been up to since last year. Read the full interview here.

Additionally, North Carolina Bookwatch has posted on YouTube a short chat between host D.G. Martin and me about the anthology—a preview/companion piece to an interview about my book On the Road with Del & Louise that will air on UNC-TV in early August. I hardly like seeing myself on video (worse than hearing your own voice by far!), but the discussion on Murder Under the Oaks can be viewed below (embedded in this post) or on YouTube (linked), and the episode featuring our main interview has been scheduled for Friday, August 5, at 8 p.m.—with encore broadcasts Sunday, August 7, at noon and Thursday, August 11, at 5 p.m.