Lise McClendon's Blog, page 9

Why it’s hard to like literary 007 in 2015

Lise McClendon:

I’ve read a couple Bond continuation novels and found them hard-going mostly. One I abandoned because it was like a movie script, action-action-action with absolutely no break or character development. The other, William Boyd’s SOLO, was better but ultimately I found the inner life of James Bond to be so dry and shallow that he is forgettable. Which is rather sad.

Here is a good review and critique of Bond and his times.

Originally posted on Funk's House of Geekery:

Last year, it was announced that acclaimed writer Anthony Horowitz would be writing the next James Bond continuation novel. Released in September 2015, Trigger Mortis hailed the publicity-grabbing return of Pussy Galore from Goldfinger, as well as throwing 007 head-on into the world of motor racing, where he must protect a British driver from the evil of SMERSH, before uncovering a deeper plot to destabilise the Western world!

For my part, I was excited to read a new Bond novel. The fact that Horowitz, author of one of my childhood favourite series Alex Rider, and creator of the excellent Foyle’s War for TV, was writing it was a sweet, sweet bonus. One of my friends was also super keen, but on the basis that Horowitz was the writer. I was interested to see what she would make of it.

Ultimately, she found it hard to get into. Rather…

View original 982 more words

Movie Review: Trumbo

Back when I was a young pup I wanted to be a film reviewer. My heroes were Andrew Sarris from the Village Voice and Pauline Kael from the New Yorker. I read the books they referenced in their reviews – which were much more than reviews actually. They were essays on popular culture, literature, movies, personalities, history. They were my graduate program out of college and I followed briefly in their footsteps, if not in breadth and depth than at least in a weekly film review. For a year-and-a-half or so I wrote a weekly column in the Bakersfield Californian and was paid $15 a pop for my reviews. This was 1977-1978, the years of such gems as the first Star Wars movie (which I gave -haha- four stars and a planet), a Bond flick I saw with my father, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Saturday Night Fever. There were also some stinkers in those years and eventually going to comedies that didn’t make me laugh led to the end of my reviewing career.

When I went for my master’s degree however I went back to film history and studied the 1950s House Un-American Activities Committee and their blacklisting of writers, actors, and others in the movie business for so-called Communist leanings. So when I saw that a new movie was being made about Dalton Trumbo, the screenwriter of the ’40s and ’50s and beyond, I was thrilled. I got to see it yesterday in Los Angeles (it will be out at Thanksgiving in general release.)

Trumbo stars Bryan Cranston who embodies the spirit of Dalton Trumbo, the “swimming pool radical” who was at one time the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood. He was one of the Hollywood Ten, the first ten writers called before Congress to testify to their Red backgrounds and to name names. This “squealing” on friends became the whole point of the HUAC committee because they couldn’t find any evidence or conspiracies. Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy, with the help of Roy Cohn and good old Richard Nixon (whose photo shows up a few times in old stills in the movie) and the FBI, built a frenzy of fear fed by the Cold War. While my classmates and I were hiding under desks in air raid drills, McCarthy assigned himself the duty of routing out Commie influences in American movies. Remember those? Me neither, and eventually McCarthy was censured by his colleagues in Congress and died of liver disease at 48. (This isn’t covered much in the movie but suffice it to say Joe McCarthy was a worthless human being whose spirit lives on in politicians today who use fear as a political weapon.)

Cranston is brilliant as the screenwriter, aging from 30s to 70s over the years, Trumbo angry, loving, cranky, driven, defiant, and clever, building an entire framework of “fronts,” writers real and imagined who put their names on his screenplays so he could work. If you’re not familiar with the history it will be an eye-opener. You may not like John Wayne any more (darn). You really won’t like Hedda Hopper, played by Helen Mirren to a venomous T, who stirred the pot, exerting her power over major studios, making them dance to her tune. You will learn to love Kirk Douglas if you didn’t before. (Read his Deadline Hollywood statement about Trumbo here.)  If you’re a film buff you will play the name-that-actor/director game.

This is a sort of anti-super heroes movie, for thinking adults. It is funny. It has many hilarious lines and — Louis CK! “I need to call my doctor before I can answer, Congressman. Why? To see if I can surgically remove my conscience.” But there are no car chases, no super powers, just ordinary men and women in a difficult time in our history, one we should never forget. When mass hysteria grips this nation, any nation, it can be very ugly. Only when people stand up to it, demand sanity and reason, can we go forward. Nobody is perfect in this movie. There are no saints, no evil-doers. There are some stupid people but most are just flawed as we all are.

May we never have to find out how many of our friends we would back to the end, and how many we would throw to the wolves.

Tagged: Andrew Sarris, Bryan Cranston, film criticism, films, Hedda Hopper, Joe McCarthy, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, movie, Pauline Kael, reviews, Richard Nixon, Trumbo

Lost in Name-land

When I first started writing I bought several baby name books to find appropriate names for my characters. This is one of the joys of being God of your little world, the naming of people who play out certain roles. Their names should reflect something, although as we know the emotional response of one person to a name isn’t necessarily universal.

So today, as I work on my NoOutMo, my Novel Outline Month (no “National” since the borders extend only to the edges of my desk, and my mind) I have been looking up character names. The new novel will be set in Scotland, as the Bennett sisters travel there to be part of Annie’s wedding to Callum, a Scot, so discovering Scottish names is my new obsession.

I will tell you names as I work out my outline (no sense naming a character who may not end up in the book) but along the way I put my own name into the online search baby naming sites, the modern version of my old school baby name books. Some have slightly hilarious character traits attached to them – great for building characters, by the way. Check out the folks at SheKnows.com who have some unusual ratings:

MacBean

Scottish Meaning: 

The name MacBean is a . In Scottish the meaning of the name MacBean is: Son of Beathan.

SoulUrge Number: 7

People with this name have a deep inner need for quiet, and a desire to understand and analyze the world they live in, and to learn the deeper truths.

Expression Number: 3

People with this name tend to be creative and excellent at expressing themselves. They are drawn to the arts, and often enjoy life immensely. They are often the center of attention, and enjoy careers that put them in the limelight. They tend to become involved in many different activities, and are sometimes reckless with both their energies and with money.

So, an extrovert who is an introvert. Okay. But I’ve been scouring the earth for my “SoulUrge” number… haven’t you?

Anyway I searched for my name since it is unusual. (I was named after the scientist, Lise Meitner.) SheKnows claims it is a Native American boy’s name, by the way. Don’t believe everything you read on the ‘net. In the process I discovered this quote from someone in comments on another site, BehindtheName.com. And I discovered this French song which is mildly appropriate but does make me appear to be an airhead. :-) The other comments weren’t as flattering, for full disclosure.

Have you heard this song by Emilie Simon? What are your go-to character naming sites?

Lise, the unhinger

The comment, followed by the full lyrics in French and English:

I’ve loved this name ever since I heard the French song “Lise” by Emilie Simon. It goes:

Lise prend des airs

Qui déstabilisent

Les valises de Lise

Sont pleines d’air

Lise sounds so sweet and beautiful. Reminds me of Elise, another name I love, but I prefer Lise to Elise. Lise is adorable. :)

— Anonymous User  7/3/2009






English translation

Lise puts on airs

that unhinge

Lise’s bags

are full of airWhat do you want me to tell her

She does everything askew

She works backwards

With her airs of a Marquise (noble)

Lise’s verses

Read around a glass

(Read around a glass)

Read around a glass

(Read around…)

She doesn’t lack air

You have to read

One or two of her verses

Light like a breeze

Lise, she never acquired

Your heart, She breaks it

Your soul, She loses you

In writing her verses

Lise’s verses

Read around a glass

( Lise’s verses

Read around a glass)

Lise’s verses

Read around a glass

(Lise’s…)

Lise, a peculiar girl

She turns backwards

She’s not so submissive

She makes you change your manner

Lise, disguises her verses

So as to not be understood

So as to not be taken

for a simple person

Lise’s verses

Read around a glass

(Lise’s verses

Read around a glass)

Lise’s verses

Read around a glass

(Read around…

…Lise’s)

Original (French)
Lise prend des airs

Qui déstabilisent

Les valises de Lise

Sont pleines d’airQue veux-tu que je lui dise

Elle fait tout de travers

Elle fonctionne à l’envers

Sous ses airs de marquises

Les vers de Lise

Se lisent autour d’un verre

(Se lisent autour d’un verre)

Les vers de Lise

Se lisent autour d’un verre

(Se lisent autour…)

Elle ne manque pas d’air

Il faudrait que tu lises

Un ou deux de ses vers

Légers comme une brise

Lise, elle n’est jamais acquise

Ton cœur, elle te le brise

Ton âme, elle te la perd

En écrivant ses vers

Les vers de Lise

Se lisent autour d’un verre

(Les vers de Lise

Se lisent autour d’un verre)

Les vers de Lise

Se lisent autour d’un verre

(De Lise…)

Lise, une fille singulière

Elle te tourne à l’envers

Elle n’est pas si soumise

Elle te fait changer d’air

Lise, elle déguise ses vers

Pour ne pas être comprise

Pour ne pas être prise

Pour une terre à terre

Les vers de Lise

Se lisent autour d’un verre

(Les vers de Lise

Se lisent autour d’un verre)

Les vers de Lise

Se lisent autour d’un verre

(Se lisent autour…

…de Lise)

Tagged:

NaNoWriMo for you?

This is a post from a previous year on NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, for the uninitiated. It’s a movement to jumpstart your novel by committing to writing 50,000 words in the month of November. They can be good words, or crap words (probably the latter as most first drafts are), but to win a prize they must be done within the calendar month, Thanksgiving weekend be damned.

Are you ready? If not, if you’re in the middle of a novel you might try my alternative outlined below, FiFiDraMo, or Finish First Draft Month. Or do what I’m doing this year: NoOutMo, Novel Outlining Month. Having 50,000 words in a messy pile is okay for beginning writers but for me it just causes headaches and inertia. I’ve learned that for myself, if I write a cohesive outline with plot points and strategy and tension, I’m way ahead of the game.

But to each his own writing! That’s what’s so awesome about this thing we do. Do it your own way. Check out my writing nuggets on Pinterest. And remember: There are no rules.

Write on!

————————

Since it’s November many of us will be plunging head first today into National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. I’m not sure why November got picked for this exercise in writing a complete (or so) novel in one month, since it’s not the longest month on the calendar, and is saddled with a long holiday weekend in the US, full of food prep, family visits, and other distractions like, well, indigestion.

Be that as it may, November it is. I have signed up for NaNoWriMo before and enjoyed the challenge but this year I’m doing my own deal: Finish First Draft Month, or FiFiDraMo. It’s not realistic for me to write an entire novel in one month. I could do it, I suppose, but it would be the sort of dreck that takes years to unwind, fix, and polish. That’s not worth the headache for me, at this stage in what I laughingly call “my career.” In fact, I could easily spend a more profitable month outlining a novel to come. That would be an excellent use of thirty days. I recommend that instead of trying to bang out 60,000 words just  for the numbers.

But to each his own. May your fingers fly and your creativity soar. Here’s to goals for every month of the year! Click here for info on the Young Writers Program at NaNoWriMo, a really cool project for kids.

My goal for the month of October was to get half of my new novel written. As of Wednesday, Oct. 30, I was not quite at the midpoint but in smelling distance, with 33,000 words written. That’s pretty close, so I am popping my buttons with pride! I still have about three scenes to write before I reach the midpoint where the consequences and the actions take a serious, dramatic turn and my protagonist has to leap into her Wonder Woman underpants. So if that takes another, say 5000 to 7000 words, the book will end up in the range of 70 – 75K. Maybe longer as I go back and wax a little in spots, filling in imagery and setting and emotional depth. And possibly shorter after cutting some early stuff too.

The outline I made (via Scrivener – my new favorite toolbox) has proved worth every penny, even though I am not following it exactly. It’s impossible to know what juicy tangents will come up as you write, and what is just not going to work even though it sounded great in the outline. Still it’s the underlying supports, the placement of certain scenes that makes the outline golden. I used a Beat Sheet Template written for Scrivener, based on the writing books of Larry Brooks, Story Engineering and Story Physics. If you have yet to discover the hidden structure in novels, Larry’s your man. There are other templates out there too. Find one that works for you and the way you write.

My goal for November? Finish that First Draft. As the cable guy says: Git ‘er done.

~~~

To get a sneak peek of what I’m writing now, sign up for the newsletter. I’ll be giving out the secret password to get a copy of the booklet, “Thalia Filbert’s Killer Cocktail Party,” with recipes from the new culinary thriller I co-wrote, Beat Slay Love.

Tagged: books, creative writing, NaNoWriMo, novel, writing, writing fiction

The October Surprise

It’s been a wild year for me… moving, traveling, and, unfortunately, not getting a lot of writing done.

That’s not to say I haven’t been working on book projects. One in particular has taken a lot of time. Writing, editing, designing, marketing: I’ve had my editor/publisher hat on for quite a bit of this one. (No not the one in the photo.) The book is a collaboration between me and my Thalia Press partner, Katy Munger, plus three other mystery writers. Well-seasoned, all of us – with tarragon and a hint of lemon.

And we’re ready to pull this cupcake from the oven. Stick a fork in it. It’s warm, it’s golden. It’s done!

On Thursday, October 1, my friends and I officially release our project, a group novel we call Beat Slay Love: One Chef’s Hunger for Delicious Revenge. It’s a dark comic send-up of serial killer novels, food mysteries, chick lit, and an iconic book you may remember, Eat Pray Love. We offer our sincere apologies to Elizabeth Gilbert and hope she can appreciate our tongue-in-cheek swipe at all that is holy. For we spare very few in this thriller. Reality TV chefs: done for. Pompous jerks: finished. Fakers and takers: outa here. Gleefully!

The book has been a blast. My friends — besides Katy the fabulous collaborators are Kate Flora, Gary Phillips, and Taffy Cannon — and I took turns writing sections, riffing on each other’s plot lines, developing protagonists and villains, taking our crew from coast to coast, from lobster in Maine to huckleberries in Montana, from food festivals to fine dining. We never really believed, in our heart of hearts, that it would work. Writers are notoriously individualist. Probably somebody would give up, go off the rails, throw up their hands. But, remarkably, to our surprise, it did work. Bestselling author Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries that inspired ‘True Blood,’ said this:

“This incredibly sly mystery has everything you’d want when you bite into a dish: suspense, spice, and a new take on an old classic. For anyone who’s ever watched Chopped or even stopped in at Williams Sonoma — Beat, Slay, Love is the perfect read.”

So the time has come. We hope you’ll enjoy ‘Thalia Filbert’s take on contemporary American food and crime. To celebrate we’ve put together a recipe book called Thalia Filbert’s Killer Cocktail Party. Comment below to get a copy free.

And enjoy Beat Slay Love as much as we did writing it. Think of it as a juicy October dessert. Mmmm.

Kindle    Nook     Paperback  

Tagged: amazon, culinary, Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, food, Gary Phillips, Kate Flora, Katy Munger, kindle, mystery, new release, Nook, suspense, Taffy Cannon, thriller

Here it is: People Lie

You’ve heard it before. Liars lie. It’s become almost a constant in our media-crazed culture. If you lie, deny it. If you lie and get away with it, well, there’s a compulsive liar at work. Because once you lie, the walls are breached. There is very little punishment for lying. Once in awhile everyone dumps on a celebrity. But mostly? They talk their way out of it.

My recent experience isn’t with politicians or talking heads. Or even villains in crime fiction. We expect a certain level of mendacity from these types. But when lying becomes second nature to the people you trust, who you deal with on an everyday basis? That really, really cuts.

At your workplace, your office, your dealings with doctors, lawyers, accountants, retail workers, service providers on your car, your house, and your internet and cable: you expect these people to treat you with respect, which means they tell you the truth. Even if it’s detrimental to their reputations, they say the truth. Even if it gives you bad news based on something they may have done by accident or on purpose, they are honest. They own up. They don’t blame other people. They give you the facts. They don’t shine you on, just so you’ll go away or think they weren’t the ones to blame.

Because, seriously? We are all imperfect. We are all ego-driven, full of ourselves, and protective of that shimmery thing we call our self-esteem. So if you screw up, big or small, what should you do?

I know from experience, it can be hard to admit to screwing up. When I was in college, I belonged to a sorority that I loved. Those girls were so good to me, so sweet. But I still felt a bit… of an outsider. I didn’t live in the sorority house. I was a “townie” who grew up in the city where the university was located. My father was a professor at the University. Just to pay monthly dues was a bit of a stretch, actually, let alone live in the house itself. But when I was hanging around the house as a freshman and sophomore I got asked to move cars of the upperclass women. They got spots in the very small lot but when someone wanted out we had to move cars. I backed a car out the narrow alley, drove over a raised curb between our house driveway and the next house’s, and possibly ruined somebody’s muffler.

I screwed up. When it came up later, I didn’t confess. I knew I did it but I shrank in my chair. I didn’t raise my hand.

Okay, I was 19. I was in college. But these things stick with you. The guilt of what you did, compounded with the guilt of not owning up to it. Ruining someone’s cheap-ass muffler is not much these days, but this is where it all begins, with small transgressions. I’ve always been a terrible liar, or so I thought. Until I lied by not saying anything.

I hope I’ve learned from that. I try to own up to my deficiencies now. To not screw up of course, but when I do, to say so. Life is a lot more complicated than when I was nineteen. But when I see people who should be upstanding, should be balanced, should be fair and honest with others, who shouldn’t be using their weak ego as an excuse to behave like jerks, well, the least I can do is write a blog post. Or tell them what jerks they are. Right?

Tagged: honesty, liars, lying, punishment

Make Time to Daydream

This fabulous lecture by Neil Gaiman to the Reading Agency in the UK has so many quotable lines I am tweeting it endlessly today. Libraries, reading aloud to your children, the value of fiction in opening doors, the value of escapist fiction in particular which is often denigrated, the future of physical books, and imagination.

Below he talks about writers, what we must do for our readers, engage them, tickle their imaginations, get them to read on, especially if we write for children. Do not bore your readers, number one. If you ever hear a librarian or a teacher or a parent trying to get a child to read something more “educational” or “literary” break into that conversation: Everything a child reads has value. That comic book or ghost story is a gateway drug to a lifetime of reading, of self-educating, of seeking out truths.

He reminded me about my first job. I was a broadcasting major and my first gig wasn’t at a TV station but at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, in the then-new field of Biomedical Communications. I wrote and produced such spine-tinglers as the twelve-part video series on the making of a denture for dental students. I loved that job. I had the freedom to do everything, from writing to producing to setting up lights in the studio, to directing and editing.

My desk however was in the same small office as my boss and he looked over his desk at me as I worked. It was on that job I learned to drink coffee at 8 a.m. :-) One day I was thinking about some project and staring at the wall in front of me. It might have appeared I was zoned out, doing nothing, but I was thinking about the slide show or whatever it was. Behind me the Vice President for Health Sciences, my boss’s boss’s boss, stuck his head in the door and said: “If only everyone spent time in thought” or possibly “We all should daydream like that.” At any rate it was positive. A compliment for daydreaming that I’ve never forgotten.

When I daydream ideas percolate up. When I am busy busy all the time I don’t have the quiet time required for daydreaming. Every writer should make time to daydream. Then dream big.

Neil Gaiman:

We writers – and especially writers for children, but all writers – have an obligation to our readers: it’s the obligation to write true things, especially important when we are creating tales of people who do not exist in places that never were – to understand that truth is not in what happens but what it tells us about who we are. Fiction is the lie that tells the truth, after all. We have an obligation not to bore our readers, but to make them need to turn the pages. One of the best cures for a reluctant reader, after all, is a tale they cannot stop themselves from reading. And while we must tell our readers true things and give them weapons and give them armour and pass on whatever wisdom we have gleaned from our short stay on this green world, we have an obligation not to preach, not to lecture, not to force predigested morals and messages down our readers’ throats like adult birds feeding their babies pre-masticated maggots; and we have an obligation never, ever, under any circumstances, to write anything for children that we would not want to read ourselves.

We have an obligation to understand and to acknowledge that as writers for children we are doing important work, because if we mess it up and write dull books that turn children away from reading and from books, we ‘ve lessened our own future and diminished theirs.

We all – adults and children, writers and readers – have an obligation to daydream. We have an obligation to imagine. It is easy to pretend that nobody can change anything, that we are in a world in which society is huge and the individual is less than nothing: an atom in a wall, a grain of rice in a rice field. But the truth is, individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining that things can be different.

Read the entire Neil Gaiman lecture here

Tagged: authors, books, creative writing, daydream, daydreaming, escapist fiction, fantasy, libraries, Neil Gaiman, reading, science fiction, writing

A Quick Note

… on this Sunday, that JUMP CUT is just 99 cents today. :-) It’s part of the Kindle Countdown deal which means it goes up to $1.99 tomorrow, then $2.99 on Wednesday before settling back to its regular price.

In JUMP CUT reporter Mimi Raynard is having a bad week, bungling her way through a television interview, and almost getting fired. But the Seattle-ite never gives up her dream even when her bad decisions come crashing down on her. Will narcotics detective Shad Mulgrew, with his own career problems, join forces with her to solve a human trafficking case? Will he join forces with her in other ways? Read this funny, gritty, romantic thriller and find out.

On Amazon

5 ★ Fast-paced, fun, and absorbing!
By Rita Kuehn

I loved Jump Cut! Mimi, a journalist, is funny, engaging, likeable and out to prove that she still has a career ahead of her despite her nervous faux pas and television bloopers in the face of reporting on a murder involving 3 prostitutes. Mimi’s struggles range from the humiliation of a young flirt who takes her job, to the ungrateful ex-husband-boss who gave it to her, to finding original ways to create interview tapes she’ll use to get a new job – like posing as a mafia madam and interviewing herself. The young flirt steels the fake tape, and when it’s aired on the evening news, all hell breaks loose for Mimi. Detective Shad Muldrew, with his own set of career issues connects with her romantically as well as in hot pursuit of answers to the murders.

Mimi’s journey takes her to the tiny, mostly unknown, country of Moldova, where her long-lost father is working on a clandestine project. As Mimi and Muldrew fight for their jobs and search for a resolution to the murders, they are surprised to find that not only is there a dirty detective involved, but Mimi’s father seems to have found his way into the tragic mix of things as well.

The characters in Jump Cut are well-defined and interesting. From Shad, Mimi, and Mimi’s grandma to the evil-doers from Moldova,and beyond, you get a real sense of who these characters are – beloved, abandoned, courageous, selfish, self-deprecating, good, evil, misunderstood, and more. For a good read, read Jump Cut.

Are Your Ears Ready?

It’s summer. It’s road trip time. And thusly… time for audiobooks!

What will you be listening to on your vacation? I’ve been devouring audiobooks this spring on my many road trips. Here’s a few I enjoyed.

Girl on a Train – Paula Hawkins. I’ve mentioned this one before. Unreliable (possibly lying, possibly just drunk) protagonist who will make you want to stay sober and an expertly done narration with three actors for the three points of view. I figured it out but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this dark tale.

A Rule Against Murder – Louise Penny. My first mystery by the Canadian crime writer. I often choose audiobooks from writers I’m simply curious about. Penny is a bestseller in the English manor house mystery tradition. This one is set on a remote lake in Quebec where one of the rich but annoying family members is killed when a statue of the patriarch inexplicably falls off its pedestal. Yes, that’s really the plot but I don’t think you really read Penny for the plot. Full of intriguing characters but slow going.

Act of War – Brad Thor. Again, my first time with Thor. The exact opposite of Louise Penny on the crime fiction scale. A manly action tale of spies on the run. I picked up an abridged version (at a truck stop!) because I am a sucker for spy stories. A reminder to not buy abridged in the future.

Til Death Do Us Part – Kate White. A light, frothy mystery without much substance but it kept me awake in the car, which isn’t a small victory.

Before I Go to Sleep – S.J. Watson. This was my favorite audiobook of the last few months. A story of a London woman who has lost her entire memory, and loses the previous day every morning after she sleeps. She begins to keep a journal to write down what she’s learned about herself from the day before and who the man in her bed is (her husband reportedly). In a ‘Memento’ way she slowly regains her self, despite the dangers. I love this sort of psychological thriller.

Dietland – Sarai Walker. This started out with promise, a young, overweight writer who writes Dear Abby advice for a fashion magazine, pitched as Bridget Jones meets The Devil Wears Prada. But alas, that is not anywhere near the plot. This novel is a heavy-handed rant against the diet industry, fat-haters, and pornography not to mention rapists, the fashion industry, and men. There are, of course, many reasons to dislike all those industries and/or people. But there is not a single likable man in the story. Written by a PhD in gender studies, the story isn’t bad, but the telling of It is strident and unnecessarily graphic. At one point there was a seemingly endless list of numbered lipstick colors. I was shouting ‘stop’ in the ‘B’s and it went all the way through the alphabet, nearly 200 names. Probably not so bad in print but it gave me a headache in the car.

• Dietland is not crime fiction. I chose the novel because my fellow Thalia Press writers and I have been writing a mystery together featuring a food blogger and an FBI agent on the trail of a killer taking revenge against TV chefs. She is similar to the character in Dietland, an overweight young woman who is humiliated and tired of her invisibility. But our novel is, we hope, funny and murderous and full of delicious food from sea to shining sea. Stay tuned for more on the Thalia mystery: Beat Slay Love: One Chef’s Hunger for Delicious Revenge, coming this fall.

And this just in

I have two new audiobooks! The Girl in the Empty Dress and PLAN X are now available from Audible and iTunes. I’ve got promo codes to give away and I’d love to give you one. You can get an audiobook free through Audible.com with the code. I’ll send instructions with the code if your name is picked. Comment below or on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LiseMcClendon to win an audiobook worth $17.95 or $19.95. Both are unabridged.

 The Girl in the Empty Dress: US

The Girl in the Empty Dress: UK

narrated by Denice Stradling

PLAN X: UK

• PLAN X: Australia

• PLAN X: US

narrated by Tassoula E. Kokkoris

Leave a comment to win an audiobook!

Tagged: audible, audiobook, Before I Go to Sleep, Bennett Sisters, book reviews, Brad Thor, crime fiction, Dietland, Girl on a Train, iTunes, Kate White, Louise Penny, mystery, Plan X, road trip, Rory Tate, SJ Watson

The Great Amazon Hysteria… Part 31

Lise McClendon:

I was just at the Jackson Hole Writers Conference where the confusion and sometimes anger about Amazon was evident. Please do your homework before you jump off that panic cliff! More here from the ever-wise David Gaughran…

Originally posted on David Gaughran:

Are you scared yet? Because you should be scared. Something really bad is about to happen. It affects all of us.

Our livelihoods are at risk. The ability to support our families. It’s just over the horizon. It could happen any minute. It’s coming for all of us!

WE ARE DOOOOOOOOOMED.

Ahem.

I’ve been around for long enough to know that authors can be a skittish bunch. Probably something to do with our over-active imaginations, with an assist from that old writers’ favorite: the whiskey brunch.

More seriously, we are going through a period of unprecedented change so it’s perfectly normal for people to be a little fearful. I think the disruption we are all experiencing is greater than that which has been faced by similar industries. In fact, I think the transition from print book to e-book is akin to going straight from vinyl to MP3, with all that…

View original 1,112 more words